Kirby (SSBM)

Kirby in Super Smash Bros. Melee
Universe	Kirby
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Brawl in SSB4 in Ultimate
Availability	Starter
Tier	F (25) (North America) H (25) (Europe)

Kirby (カービィ, Kirby) is a starter character in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Makiko Ōmoto reprises her role Kirby in Melee, combining recycled voice clips from Super Smash Bros. with newer, higher-pitched ones.

Currently, Kirby is ranked 25th in the F tier, a vast drop from his 3rd place position in Smash 64, one of the most severe declines in viability of any character between games, and his worst placement in the series. While Kirby offers a handful of useful normal moves, defensive use of his low crouch and small size, many midair jumps, a decent edgeguarding game, Sacrificial KO options in Kirbycide, and the ability to use his opponent's neutral special against them, Kirby's options to approach and take stocks are among the worst in the game. Kirby is saddled with slow, weak, and/or short-ranged attacks, low air mobility, which contributes to a subpar combo game and makes him easy to edgeguard, an ineffective projectile game (with little to no means to combat projectiles himself), one of the worst grab games, with borderline unusable throws, and numerous other minor flaws. Finally, Kirby is very light, which combined with his low fall speed and susceptibility to edgeguarding makes him easy to KO, especially off the top.

Owing to a variety of undesirable traits and a bad moveset, Kirby has terrible matchups across the board and is a poor character choice in any competitive setting, and while that has not stopped players such as Cereal Rabbit, KrazyKirbyKid, and Triple R from achieving some notable placements, even their performances were most likely reliant on matchup inexperience and have been seldom replicated. To this day, Kirby's results remain minimal, even compared to other similarly ranked characters like Bowser.

Attributes

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Kirby acts as a light, weak character who is intended to outmaneuver opponents through his small stature. While he has a below average dashing speed, he has poor air speed (being tied with Ganondorf as the 3rd worst in Melee), which is exacerbated by a bad aerial combo game, so his small size is intended to act as his primary way to approach. Owing to his low falling speed and high short hop, Kirby has a poor SHFFL, while his high traction gives him a short wavedash.

Despite his poor air mobility, Kirby has a decent edgeguarding game. With six jumps and a low falling speed, Kirby can easily recover due to his multiple midair jumps, while Kirby's back air can be used as a rather powerful edgeguarding technique, referred to as the Fence of Pain. Assuming Kirby can knock opponents off the edge, he can make foes have a hard time recovering.

Owing to his small size, Kirby also has a solid defensive game. His small hurtboxes can potentially allow him to avoid attacks, while his small size also lends itself to a large shield, making Kirby relatively safe from shield stabbing. A low crouch also makes his hurtboxes even smaller, supplemented with his down tilt as a potential camping and spacing tactic, as his makes him able to avoid most jabs.

Kirby also has good tilt attacks as well, as Kirby's three tilts, while short-ranged, have a variety of practical applications; his forward tilt and aforementioned down tilt can act as spacing tools, while his up tilt can potentially be used as a combo starter. Kirby also has an above average grab range, allowing him to potentially use his unusual throws to his advantage; a notable application of his up, back, and forward throws involves Kirbycide, a specific type of Sacrificial KO and gimp that forces both Kirby and his opponent to lose a stock. This technique is able to KO opponents at any percentage, and can be done at any percentage. Although, unlike every other character, Kirby has some escapable throw animations, leaving little to no opportunity to pummel. His down throw is also a great tech-chasing option that can notably lead to another down throw or a down smash.

Despite these benefits, Kirby's most fatal flaw lies in his almost non-existent approach options. With a poor SHFFL, short wavedash, terrible air speed, short range, a laggy, predictable dash attack, and no viable projectiles, Kirby has extreme difficulty in approaching almost all of the cast; this is especially prevalent against characters with disjointed hitboxes (such as Marth) or powerful pressure games (such as Falco). The lack of a projectile can uniquely be rectified if Kirby uses Inhale on an opponent; getting the desired Copy Ability, however, is risky, due to the attack's start-up and cool-down lag, and some characters will either fail to give him a highly useful projectile, or a projectile at all, on top of it being difficult to set up into an Inhale in the first place. Although most of his copy abilities give Kirby additional options, they can at times be inferior to the original character he would copy; Fireball from Mario, for instance, has the Fireballs disappear more quickly than Mario's, as Kirby's lower height causes them to reach the ground faster, and to have less kinetic energy when they finally hit the ground. However, copying Falco's Blaster grants Kirby the means of firing two lasers in one short hop, unlike Falco. Furthermore, some copied neutral special abilities can make way for advanced techniques involving the ledge, and back air setups with b-reversing.

Kirby's various attributes also give him an unremarkable combo ability; a low air speed prevents him from easily pursuing enemies in the air, and almost all of his aerials (except for his back air) either have long startup and cooldown periods (down and neutral air), high knockback (up air), or poor hitbox placement (forward air). Kirby's only noteworthy combos are his up tilt juggles, his down throw tech-chases and his Fence of Pain as mentioned earlier, and even the latter combo is inferior to Jigglypuff's Wall of Pain due to Kirby's significantly slower air speed. Kirby's wild card is his aforementioned Kirbycide technique, and even this is unreliable; his up throw requires precise placement at the edge of a stage and Kirby always loses when it's performed in a last stock situation. While his forward and back throws are much easier to perform, and these Kirbycide's always win when these are performed in a last stock situation, as previously mentioned, they are the only throws in the entire Smash series that can be potentially broken out of. As a result, if the opponent can button mash out of the grab and throw quick enough, they will remain unharmed while Kirby loses a stock, giving him one of the worst grab games in Melee, with all of his throws (except for down throw) having little to no utility due to their inability to set up combos and the forward and back throws' ability to be escaped from. To make things worse, after Kirby uses his forward or up throw, he will lose all his midair jumps.

Outside of his abysmal approach, Kirby also has trouble KOing other characters. A majority of Kirby's finishers suffer from poor range, slow start-up (such as his Hammer), weak knockback (such as his forward smash) or have precise sweetspots that make them unreliable (such as his Hammer and up smash). Arguably, Kirby's only effective finishers with relatively little end lag are his up and back aerials, which themselves can require a proper read and correct timing from the player in order for them to be low-risk attacks.

As a final disadvantage working against Kirby, he has major survivability issues, with his endurance being on par with Mr. Game & Watch and Pichu for the worst in Melee. Having among the lowest weight in the game alongside a low falling speed causes Kirby to be easily KO'd from both the upper and horizontal blast lines (Fox is especially notorious in the former category). Outside of this, Kirby's recovery is also slow, linear, and predictable, despite granting decent distance as a result of his multiple midair jumps (combined with aerials for an added horizontal distance); once again, Kirby is negatively impacted by his poor air speed, and Final Cutter grants almost no horizontal distance, coupled with being very easy to edgeguard against.

Changes from Super Smash Bros.

Kirby was known as one of the most dominant characters in Smash 64, even after receiving nerfs in the North American release. This was in part to his amazing power, attack speed, range and priority on his attacks, which subsequently gave him excellent KO and shield pressuring potential. In addition to this, he was also a very simple character to pick up and play (especially compared to the other high tiers); making him a very solid character to pick up in Smash 64, regardless of the player's skill level.

As a result of this, Kirby was immensely nerfed in his transition to Melee, to the point where he is not only the most nerfed character in the transition from Smash 64 to Melee, but notably, the most nerfed character in the entire Smash series.

Kirby's mobility both on the ground and in the air has been noticeably reduced; which has subsequently hindered his approach. The weakening of pivots have also made Kirby's approach worse and he doesn't benefit too much from the introduction of air dodging; due to his high traction and low falling speed. As a result of this, he has an unimpressive wavedash. When combined with many returning veterans having greater approach potential, this has made his approach among the worst in the game; especially in the air.

In general, Kirby has suffered from Melee's universal changes. Apart from the changes to pivoting, Kirby has greatly suffered from the changes to shields. While Kirby is less vulnerable to shield pressure, his own shield pressure is much worse due to the universal reduction to shieldstun and shield damage. Because of this, Kirby's attacks are much less safe on shield (with Kirby lacking any moves which even leave him at a frame advantage on shield, with the exception of back aerial and up aerial, which can leave him at a one frame advantage on a perfect landing) with the reduced damage, and increased ending lag on multiple moves, along with the weakening of L-cancelling only further exacerbating this. Because of this, Kirby can no longer perform any shield break combos and his attacks are generally much more punishable. In addition, Kirby's out of shield options are also worse largely due to his new neutral aerial; which is much weaker, slower and has less range than his previous neutral aerial. When combined with his shield drop being longer, this means that Kirby either has to use his grab or back aerial to punish a majority of moves out of shield.

Kirby's damage output and KO potential have also been sharply reduced (even relative to the cast). A majority of Kirby's moves have reduced KO power, such as his smash attacks, neutral aerial, back aerial, his up throw (his previous forward throw) and Stone. When combined with his lower damage output on most of his moves, this significantly hinders his ability to rack up damage and close out stocks. His smash attacks are slower and weaker, making them less reliable and more difficult KO moves to land. While his new up aerial is rather powerful, it is offset by how difficult it is to combo characters.

Kirby's oppressive up tilt has also seen rather drastic nerfs both directly and indirectly. The move has a shorter duration, much less range and more ending lag which makes it much less effective at stuffing out approaches and generally makes it easier to punish. The move is also noticeably weaker; dealing much less damage. The introduction of DI has made the move much less reliable as a combo move, while the changes to shieldstun combined with the move's decreased damage and increased ending lag has immensely hindered its safety on shield; completely removing its shield pressuring potential. Overall, while it is still one of his most useful moves, it is nowhere near as effective as it was previously, in Smash 64.

Kirby generally has worse frame data, especially compared to the rest of the cast. These moves include his aforementioned up tilt and neutral aerial, his forward smash is noticeably laggier; no longer being the fastest in the game (in addition to being much weaker). His down aerial has also seen a drastic increase to its startup lag and it hits less times, which significantly reduces its duration and maximum damage potential. It also greatly suffers from the introduction of meteor cancelling; significantly hindering its edgeguarding potential. Kirby also naturally suffers from the changes to L-cancelling; especially since most of his aerials have worse auto-cancel windows, which remove's his neutral, forward and down aerial's ability to auto-cancel in a short hop. When combined with the changes to shieldstun, this significantly hinders the utility and safety of his aerials.

Kirby also does not benefit much from having an expanded move list. Kirby's grab game is now one of the absolute worst in the game: while his new forward and back throws can be used for sacrificial KOs, however, the throws themselves uniquely can be escaped with mashing, which can lead to Kirby either self-destructing at worst, or leaving himself vulnerable to punishes after simply using his throws. As a result, his forward and back throws lack utility, being easy contenders for the worst throws in the game. Kirby's up throw is much weaker than his previous forward throw and it has gained two new issues; the move can no longer land on platforms above Kirby, unless they are very close to the ground, and Kirby now loses all of his jumps after using it (his new forward throw also has this issue); which has hindered the utility of the throw and has made it an unreliable KO option. Kirby's only useful throw is arguably his new down throw; which can set up tech-chases, though this is prediction reliant. His new side special Hammer is a very slow (yet powerful) move when sweetspotted on the ground, while in the air, it is very inconsistent and easy to escape its multi-hits; giving it very low utility compared to other side specials.

Lastly, Kirby's few flaws from the previous game have not been properly addressed. While his endurance has slightly improved due to his increased weight and falling speed, it is still among the worst in the game. Kirby also still struggles to deal with opponents above him, especially with the nerfs to his up tilt combined with the universally increased falling speeds. His already limited combo options have been reduced even further due to the changes to his up tilt and his forward aerial; combined with the introduction of DI. His recovery has also become worse. His air speed and jump height have been reduced and Final Cutter covers much less distance, resulting in his recovery becoming rather mediocre, despite still having multiple midair jumps.

On the other hand, Kirby has received some buffs. Kirby has greater access to his Kirbycide as he can move around when swallowing his opponents (in addition to Inhale having reduced startup lag) and his new forward and back throws are more reliable tools to Kirbycide with (although this is completely nullified by the fact that those throws can now be escaped from). A few of his moves are also either slightly faster or stronger, such as his new up aerial, which is much stronger and has much less ending lag. All of Kirby's aerials also have less landing lag; with his average landing lag now being among the lowest. This makes the weakening of L-cancelling hinder him less than most other veterans, and hinder him less than it otherwise would have.

Overall, Kirby's few weaknesses from the previous game; including his limited combo options and significant survivability issues have been further exacerbated and he has received numerous new weaknesses as well (including poor KO potential, poor range, an extremely ineffective grab game and poor approach). His only remaining strengths are that he can abuse his small size to avoid attacks, his tilts are solid and he still has decent edgeguarding potential, although the latter two points are still not as accurate as they were previously. Lastly, the universal changes have significantly hindered Kirby with his approach, combo and shield pressuring potential prowess.

Due to these changes, he is an easy contender for the worst character in the entire game and is widely considered to be non-viable in competitive play.

Aesthetics

• The graphical upgrades of the Nintendo GameCube give Kirby a rounder body. His skin tone is a slightly darker shade of pink and his feet are larger.
• Kirby's green costume is now available outside of team battles.
  • Kirby additionally gains a white costume, referencing his original monochrome appearance on the Western box art and in-game for Kirby's Dream Land.
• Kirby gains a third victory pose, matching the rest of the cast.

Attributes

• Kirby walks slower (0.933 (28) → 0.85).
• Kirby dashes significantly slower (1.6 (48) → 1.4).
• Kirby's traction is much higher (0.0467 (1.4) → 0.08), going from the 3rd lowest out of 12 characters to the 7th highest out of 26, making it easier for him to punish out of shield but giving him a worse wavedash.
• Kirby's air speed has been considerably toned down (0.933 (28) → 0.78), greatly hindering his recovery, edgeguarding and ability to escape aerial pressure.
• Kirby's air acceleration is much lower (0.1067 (3.2) → 0.06).
• Kirby jumps extremely lower (40.96 (1228.8) → 26).
  • Kirby's short hop is also drastically lower (25.5 (765) → 14.82), this improves his ability to hit opponents low on the ground with short hop aerials, as well as his ability to quickly land and continue aerial pressure, but also hinders his ability to auto-cancel his aerials.
  • All of Kirby's mid-air jumps also grant less height, hindering his vertical recovery and ability to chase opponents above it.
• Kirby's fast falling speed is significantly slower (2.533 (76) → 2). The difference between his falling speed and fast falling speed is much lower (increase: 58.3% → 25%), which makes it more predictable when landing and gives him fewer options in the air.
• Kirby is slightly heavier (68.067227 (1.19) → 70), improving his endurance but making him more susceptible to combos.
• Kirby's foot hurtboxes now cover his entire feet, rather than ending just before the tips of Kirby's feet.
• Kirby's hands and feet no longer have grab immunity.
• The changes to pivoting have considerably hindered Kirby's grounded approach particularly with his up tilt.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • The first two hits of neutral attack have less ending lag (FAF 18 → 16 (hit 1), FAF 20 → 17 (hit 2)).
  • The first hit can transition into the second hit earlier (frame 10 → 6).
  • The first two hit's far hitboxes have been moved closer to Kirby (x offset: 2.33 → 1.17).
  • The second hit has a shorter duration (frames 3-5 → 3-4).
  • The loop hits have slightly larger hitboxes (1.66u → 1.75u).
  • The loop hits have more startup lag (frame 8 → 9).
  • The loop hits only hit five times instead of six.
    • However, this decreases the move's ending lag if it is not held (FAF 45 → 38).
  • The loop hits far hitbox has been moved closer to Kirby (x offset: 5.5 → 4.69).
  • There is a shorter gap between the first loop hit and the second loop hit (4 frames → 2).
  • The loop hit's ending animation is slightly longer (9 frames → 10).
• Forward tilt:
  • Forward tilt now deals consistent damage (11% (up)/10% (non-angled)/9% (down) → 11%), improving the non angled and angled down versions' KO potential.
  • Forward tilt has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 4-9 → 5-8).
  • Forward tilt has smaller hitboxes (4.16u/4.16u → 3.51u/3.9u) and the far hitbox has been moved closer to Kirby (x offset: 5.33 → 4.3).
• Up tilt:
  • Up tilt's clean hit's angle has been altered (96° → 92°).
  • Up tilt deals significantly less damage (14% (clean)/10% (late) → 8%/6%) without full compensation on its knockback (30/20 (base), 100 (scaling) → 40/(118/114)) hindering its KO potential.
    • However, this improves its combo potential at higher percents.
  • Up tilt has a shorter duration (frames 4-5 (clean)/6-11 (late) → 4/5-7).
  • Up tilt has more ending lag (FAF 18 → 24).
  • Up tilt's far hitbox has been moved closer to Kirby (x offset: 6.66 → 3.9 (clean)/4.68 (late)), noticeably reducing its previously infamous disjointed range.
  • The universal decrease to hitstun combined with the introduction of DI and its increased ending lag have significantly hindered up tilt's combo and juggling potential.
  • The move's lower damage and higher ending lag combined with the general reduction to shieldstun/shield damage have drastically hindered the move's shield pressuring potential with the move going from giving Kirby a rather significant frame advantage on shield to now being fairly punishable on shield.
    • This naturally removes the move's ability to perform shield break combos.
• Down tilt:
  • Down tilt deals more damage (9% → 10%).
  • Down tilt has increased base knockback (0 → 40), making it safer on hit at lower percents.
    • However, its knockback scaling is much lower (110 → 30), greatly hindering its KO potential.
  • Down tilt has a shorter duration (frames 4-10 → 4-7).
  • Down tilt has smaller hitboxes, especially the far hit (4.16u/6.83u → 3.9u/4.69u).
  • Down tilt has an altered animation where Kirby now swings his leg around, rathering than lunging forward.
    • This further reduces its range.
    • However, this also makes it a safer spacing tool.
• Dash attack:
  • Kirby has a new dash attack: he lunges forward in a fiery spiraling headbutt.
  • Dash attacks can now travel off ledges.
  • Dash attack deals less damage (10% (clean)/8% (late) → 8%/5%) and shield damage (1 → 0).
  • Dash attack has more startup lag (frame 5 → 9).
  • Dash attack has a longer total duration (FAF 41 → 60).
  • Dash attack launches opponents vertically (361° → 105°) hindering its KO potential and removing its edgeguarding potential.
  • Dash attack has altered knockback (10 (base), 100 (scaling) → 70/66 (clean), 50/66 (late)).
    • This makes it safer on hit at lower percents.
    • However, this hinders its overall KO potential.
  • Dash attack has a smaller hitbox (5.33u → 3.52u) which has been positioned closer to Kirby (z offset: 6.66 → 3.52).
  • Dash attack has a longer duration (frames 5-8 (clean)/9-18 (late) → 9-15/16-43) which decreases its cooldown.
• Forward smash:
  • Forward smash's late hit deals more damage (12% → 13%).
  • Forward smash can be angled now.
  • Forward smash now has an extra hitbox which is in the middle of Kirby's foot.
  • Forward smash has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 10-13 (clean)/14-23 (late) → 13-15/16-21) no longer being the fastest in the game.
  • Forward smash has more ending lag (FAF 40 → 50).
  • The clean hit deals less damage (17% → 15%) and significantly less knockback (20 (base), 120 (scaling) → 24/96), going from the strongest non-angled forward smash in Smash 64 to the sixth weakest in Melee.
  • The clean hit no longer deals extra shield damage (1 → 0).
    • When combined with its higher ending lag and the changes to shields, these changes significantly hinders the move's safety on shield going from giving Kirby frame advantage on shield to leaving him at a huge frame disadvantage on shield making the move easily punishable and naturally removing its use in shield break combos.
  • The late hit deals less knockback (12 (base), 120 (scaling) → 18/96).
  • The late hit now launches opponents vertically (361° → 75°) hindering its KO and edgeguarding potential while still not being a reliable combo starter.
  • The far hitbox is smaller (4.66u (clean)/4.16u (late) → 3.52u/2.73u) and has been moved closer to Kirby (x offset: 4.66u → 3.12u). This significantly reduces the move's range, going from being disjointed to now failing to fully cover Kirby's feet.
• Up smash:
  • Up smash has less startup lag with a longer duration (frames 14-23 → 13-23).
    • However, the clean hit has a shorter duration (frames 14-17 → 13).
  • Up smash now has an extra hitbox which is in the middle of Kirby's foot.
  • The clean hit deals less damage and the far hitbox is now a sourspot (16% → 15%/13%). The near hit's knockback was not fully compensated (20 (base), 120 (scaling) → 30/118) while the far hit's knockback was reduced (20 (base), 120 (scaling) → 30/110).
  • The clean hit sends opponents at a less favorable angle (90° → 75°) which along with its lower damage slightly hinders the sweetspot's KO potential despite its increased knockback.
  • The clean hit has smaller hitboxes (5.33u/4.66u → 3.52u/3.52u/3.52u).
  • The clean hit now has a slash effect when the sweetspot connects.
  • Up smash has received a mid hit which lasts two frames, deals more damage on its sweetspots (12% → 14%/12%) and has higher base knockback (10 → 20) compared to the previous late hit.
  • The mid hit launches opponents vertically unlike the previous late hit (361° → 88°).
  • The late hit deals more damage on its sweetspots (12% → 13%/12%).
  • The late hit's near hitbox is larger (3.33u → 3.512u/3.512u).
  • The late hit has much less knockback scaling (100 → 50) and sends opponents at a less favorable angle (361° → 50°).
  • The late hit's far hitbox is smaller (3.83u → 3.512u).
• Down smash:
  • Down smash has less ending lag (FAF 56 → 50).
  • Down smash's near hit now consists of two hitboxes which are larger than the previous hitbox (3u → 3.9u/3.9u).
  • Down smash has a shorter duration (frames 7-10 (clean)/11-26 (late) → 7-9/10-22).
  • Down smash grants much less intangibility to Kirby's feet (frames 7-26 → 7-9).
  • Down smash's far hitboxes are smaller (5u/5u → 4.3u/4.3u) and have been moved closer to Kirby (x offset: 6u/6u → 4.69u/4.69u).
  • Clean down smash deals less damage (18% → 14%) although its sweetspot's knockback scaling was compensated (75 → 100).
    • However, the move's increased knockback scaling makes the late hit much stronger.
  • The sweetspot now launches opponents vertically (34° → 76°) hindering its KO and edgeguarding potential.
  • The clean hit's sourspots' knockback was barely increased (30 (base), 75 (scaling) → 20/80) making it much weaker due to its lower damage.
    • However, the sourspots launch opponents at a lower angle (35° → 28°) improving the late hit's edgeguarding potential.

Aerial attacks

• All aerials have less landing lag (16 frames → 15 (neutral), 30 frames → 20 (forward), 30 frames → 15 (back), 20 frames → 15 (up), 37 frames → 20 (down)).
• All aerials except up aerial auto-cancel later (frame 31 → 38 (neutral), frame 29 → 38 (forward), frame 26 → 28 (back), frame 33 → 48 (down)). When combined with Kirby's lower short hop, this means that neutral and forward aerial now require frame perfect timing to be auto-cancelled out of a short hop while down aerial can no longer auto-cancel out of a short hop at all. This is further exacerbated with the weakening of L-canceling.
• Neutral aerial:
  • Kirby's previous up aerial from Smash 64 has been moved to his neutral aerial.
    • Because of this, neutral aerial's animation is significantly longer (49 frames → 79) increasing the amount of time Kirby cannot grab the ledge or use an airdodge/special after performing the move.
  • Neutral aerial has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 3-6 (clean)/7-30 (late) → 10-17/18-29/30-34).
    • However, its total duration was unchanged giving it less ending lag.
    • Additionally, the clean hit has a longer duration (4 frames → 8).
  • Neutral aerial has much less horizontal range.
  • Neutral aerial deals less damage (15% (clean)/10% (late) → 10%/8%/6%) and knockback (30/10 (base), 100 (scaling) → 10/80) significantly hindering its KO potential going from one of the strongest neutral aerials to one of the weakest.
  • Neutral aerial no longer has a landing hit.
  • Neutral aerial's hitbox is larger (3.66u/4.33u (clean)/3.16u/4.33u (late) → 5.08u), giving it better coverage around Kirby and allowing it to hit opponents above him more reliably.
• Forward aerial:
  • Kirby has a new forward aerial: he kicks three times in front of him, instead of drilling eight times in front of him.
  • Forward aerial has more startup lag (frame 8 → 10).
  • Forward aerial has a shorter duration overall (frames 8-9/11-12/14-15/17-18/20-21/23-24/26-28 → 10-11/17-18/25-26).
    • As a result of this, forward aerial has more ending lag overall.
  • Forward aerial's new animation is longer (39 frames → 49) increasing the amount of time Kirby cannot grab the ledge or use an airdodge/special after performing the move.
  • Forward aerial deals less damage overall (2% (hits 1-7)/6% (hit 8)/20% (total) → 5% (hits 1-2)/8% (hit 3)/16.83% (total)).
  • Forward aerial has smaller hitboxes (6.33u/6u → 4.69u/3.52u).
  • The knockback (30 (set), 100 (scaling) → 30 (base)/70) and angles (-90° → 60°) for the first two hits have been altered which along with their higher damage, the wider gap between them/the final hit and the introduction of DI; makes forward aerial connect less reliably.
    • Altogether, these changes combined with the weakening of L-canceling have hindered forward aerial's combo and edgeguarding potential.
  • Forward aerial's far hitbox has been repositioned further out (z offset: 7.33 → 10.55).
  • The last hit deals more damage (6% → 8%) and knockback (10 (base), 120 (scaling) → 30/130), improving its KO potential.
    • However, this also hinders its combo potential.
• Back aerial:
  • Back aerial has a shorter total duration (FAF 40 → 36).
  • Back aerial has a shorter duration (frames 6-9 (clean)/10-25 → 6-8/9-20), slightly increasing its ending lag.
  • Back aerial deals less damage (16% (clean)/12% (late) → 14%/10%), hindering its KO potential.
  • Back aerial has a new animation which is longer than the previous animation (39 frames → 43).
  • Back aerial's late hit's hitboxes are smaller (6.33u/6u → 5.08u/4.3u), which gives it less range and makes it cover less of Kirby's body.
• Up aerial:
  • Kirby has a new up aerial: a bicycle kick.
  • Up aerial deals much more damage (10% (clean)/8% (mid)/6% (late) → 15%) and no longer has set knockback (10 (base), 100 (set), 100 (scaling) → 30/0/100), making it