Dimensional Cape

Dimensional Cape (, Dimension Mantle) is Meta Knight's down special move.

Overview
When the move is used, Meta Knight becomes invisible, teleports a short distance in any held direction (or remains stationary if no directional input is made), and then quickly reappears. If either attack button is held as Meta Knight reappears, he will suddenly strike with an outwards slash. After using the move, whether the attack is performed or not, he falls helpless. While invisible, he is intangible for a short time.

The direction in which Meta Knight attacks is based on the direction in which he teleported. He slashes forwards if he moved straight up or down prior. When attacking after moving horizontally, he slashes towards the position at which the move started; for instance, if he moved to the right, he will slash to his left side. If no movement was made, he slashes forwards; however, if the player inputs downwards while on the ground, he will attack behind him while remaining stationary.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the move is used most often at the edge, as the teleporting portion of the move allows for various edge-guarding techniques. With the correct timing, it is possible to teleport off of the stage and onto the edge using the move, setting up an edge-hog. It is also useful for planking, and the slash can be used after teleporting back onto the stage to punish recovering opponents.

The move was heavily buffed in Super Smash Bros. 4, granting Meta Knight more frames of intangibility and dealing slightly more damage and significantly more knockback; though it still has noticeable startup, it can be used as a surprise KO option. The move also has a new slashing animation after teleporting backward, wherein he slashes upwards without changing his direction. However, the aforementioned ledge techniques are no longer of any great use, due to Smash 4's new ledge mechanics.

In Ultimate, Dimensional Cape deals more damage if done on the ground without moving (15% → 16%), but it deals less damage if done on the ground moving backward (14% → 13%).

In all three games, Meta Knight mutters "Fool..." (, Naïve!) when he disappears.

Customization
Special Move customization was added in Super Smash Bros. 4. These are the variations:


 * 1) Dimensional Cape: Default.
 * 2) Shield Piercer: Becomes an unblockable attack (except against Witch Time), but deals reduced normal damage, doesn't go as far, and has increased startup lag and ending lag.
 * 3) Stealth Smasher: Allows Meta Knight to be concealed for longer (allowing for more free control for the duration) and deals more damage. Despite having "stealth" in its name, it telegraphs where Meta Knight is going by showing a visible blur, which is notably more prevalent on the 3DS version than the Wii U.

Infinite
In Brawl, holding down on the analog stick and rapidly inputting up smashes allows Meta Knight to indefinitely prolong the teleporting portion of the attack, effectively making him invisible and invincible. Because of its potential to stall matches, the technique is universally banned from tournaments.

Origin
This move is based on Meta Knight's ability to teleport using his cape in the Kirby games. Usually, after he is defeated in the games, his mask falls off, revealing a face similar to Kirby's and, after this he wraps himself in his cape and jumps, disappearing. Meta Knight's use of this technique to perform a sneak attack is plausible, albeit seemingly out-of-character for a swordsman who prides himself on honorable fighting. However, he is never shown to be actually capable of invisibility or teleporting outside of jumping away, and mostly fights without using his cape itself. He also uses a similar technique in Kirby Super Star to destroy the platform he is standing on and make a dramatic entrance.

Trivia

 * The move was first shown in Brawl's E3 2006 reveal trailer, when Meta Knight avoided and seemingly deflected 's Palutena Arrow using it. However it cannot reflect projectiles in the actual game. When describing down special moves, the Smash Bros. DOJO!! states that "Many of these do unusual things, like reflect enemy attacks," which caused players to speculate that the move may be a reflector.
 * The area around Meta Knight becomes blurry just as he is about to vanish. This also affects items close to him.
 * In Brawl, if the player pauses, zooms in on the blurring effect, and twists the camera, the game slows down due to the high amount of particle effects associated with the move.
 * This is Meta Knight's only special move that causes him to fall helpless with his cape instead of his wings.
 * Meta Knight uses a similar move in Kirby Battle Royale.
 * Dimensional Cape is the only down special that will always make the user helpless in the air.