Kirby (SSBU)

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Kirby in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Universe	Kirby
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Melee in Brawl in SSB4
Availability	Starter
Final Smash	Ultra Sword

“	Kirby's ability to copy other fighters is totally unique! While he is light and can be launched easily, he can also jump up to five times in the air, so he has great recovery. Look for his new Stone transformation, too.	”
—Super Smash Blog, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Official Site

Kirby (カービィ, Kirby) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He was confirmed on June 12th, 2018. Kirby is classified as fighter #06.

Makiko Ōmoto once again reprises her role as the voice of Kirby, with most clips re-used from Super Smash Bros. 4.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. 4

Aesthetics

• As with all veterans returning from Smash 4, Kirby's model features a more subdued color scheme.
• Like many other characters, Kirby is more expressive, both with his face and his movement.
• Some of Kirby's animations, particularly his dash and initial jump, have been tweaked to closer resemble his appearance from Kirby's Return to Dream Land onward.
• Kirby's voice line for taking medium damage has been changed to his alternate KO sound from Smash 4.
  • As a result, he gains a new KO sound, which sounds similar to one of his Melee knockback voice clips.
  • Kirby's light knockback sound effect that went unheard in Smash 4 is now used.
• Kirby's on-screen appearance has a more intense, fiery explosion than in previous games. The large, cartoony stars that appear have been removed, and while the sparkle effects are still present, they have been drastically toned down. All in all, it more closely resembles how it appeared in the original Super Smash Bros.
• Up taunt has been shortened, with Kirby striking the ending pose without dancing first. The pose itself has been tweaked; Kirby now raises one of his feet, resembling the pose he makes when gaining an ability in his games.
• Kirby's victory poses have been modified. Two new dances are used, one with Kirby waving his arms and breakdancing, and another with Kirby moonwalking and sliding, both based off of Kirby’s Return to Dream Land and ending in a unique pose. Kirby also splits into three separate Kirbys when not in team battles, referencing his home series. This is the first and only game to have Kirby's victory poses finish differently.
  • Kirby now faces forward instead of away when "wiggling" in one of his victory poses.
• When Kirby gains a new Copy Ability, he briefly poses like he does in his home series. This animation can be canceled.
• Some Copy Ability hats have been changed.
  • His Samus helmet has a fully opaque visor, as it was in Super Smash Bros.
  • His Captain Falcon helmet now has triangular eyes, and the visor is opaque as in Super Smash Bros.
  • His Zelda cap has been changed from the wimple she wore as a child in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time to a hairstyle matching her new A Link to the Past and A Link Between Worlds-inspired look.
  • His Ganondorf cap is now consistent with Ganondorf's Ocarina of Time appearance, effectively reverting to its design in Melee.
  • His Wolf cap now matches Wolf's Star Fox Zero-based appearance.
  • His Jigglypuff cap now matches his costume color, just like in previous games.

Attributes

• Like all characters, Kirby's jumpsquat animation now takes three frames to complete (down from 4).
• Kirby walks faster (0.93 → 0.977).
• Kirby dashes much faster (1.57 → 1.727). As a result of initial dashes being standardized, Kirby's initial dash is also noticeably faster (1.5 → 1.9).
• Kirby's air speed is slightly faster (0.8 → 0.84).
• Now that taunts can be cancelled, Kirby can act quicker after discarding a Copy Ability.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • The first hit of neutral attack now has the ability to jab lock.
  • The last hit of neutral attack has less startup, deals slightly more damage, and has more knockback.
  • Neutral infinite connects more reliably, as it keeps opponents on the ground and thus can't be SDI'd out of.
  • Neutral attack deals less damage overall.
• Up tilt:
  • Up tilt has slightly more range on its front hitbox.
  • Up tilt has slightly more knockback.
    • This makes it easier to combo it into other moves.
    • This makes it harder to chain it into itself at low percents.

• Down tilt:
  • Down tilt no longer sends opponents at a backwards momentum once tripped, improving its reliability for comboing.
• Dash attack:
  • Dash attack has reverted to its Melee iteration, where Kirby does a tackle identical to the "Burning" copy ability.
  • Unlike in Melee, dash attack doesn't go off ledges.
  • Dash attack has decreased startup lag.
  • Dash attack deals more damage.
  • Dash attack can cross up shields.
  • Dash attack can't be SDI'd out of.
  • Dash attack has increased knockback, to the point that it KOs at higher percents.
  • Dash attack maintains Kirby's speed and momentum much better.
  • Dash attack has slightly more endlag.
  • Dash attack no longer has multiple hitboxes.
• Forward smash:
  • Forward smash has a different start-up animation: Kirby now pulls back before executing a thrust kick instead of performing a spin first, making it resemble Smash Kick, one of Smash Bros. Kirby's attacks in Kirby: Planet Robobot.
  • Forward smash deals slightly less damage when angled upwards.
• Up smash:
  • Up smash has reduced startup and ending lag.
  • Up smash's late hitbox deals more damage.
• Down smash:
  • Down smash has increased range.
  • Down smash acts similarly to the version in Brawl, but the whole move sends opponents at a horizontal angle, improving its KO potential as well as its edgeguarding potential when near a ledge.

Aerial attacks

• All aerials have less landing lag (Neutral: frame 10 → 7, Forward: 13 → 8, Back: 17 → 10, Up: 12 → 7, Down: 17 → 16).
  • Forward aerial has notably less landing lag, making it now possible to combo with the first hit of the attack into other moves, albeit much easier and safer than in previous games.
• Neutral aerial and down aerial do more damage.
• Neutral aerial has much less ending lag.
• The last hit of forward aerial has less startup, which makes landing all three hits easier.

Throws/other attacks

• Standing grab and dash grab have increased ending lag.
• Pummel is faster.
• Pummel deals less damage.
• Forward throw now has Kirby jump much higher during the animation, able to reach the height of Battlefield's lower platform.
  • Because of this, this can possibly interrupt many of his combos when under a soft platform.
• Up throw has slightly less knockback, hindering its ability to KO at lower percents.

Special Moves

• Inhale:
  • Inhale has more range.
  • Inhale has reduced startup and endlag.
  • Inhale can catch projectiles like a fully charged Charge Shot. Kirby can then choose to spit it out as a star that deals damage or swallow it to heal himself.
  • Spitting out inhaled opponents as a star deals more damage.
  • When swallowing an opponent and gaining their Copy Ability, Kirby now receives a 1.2x damage multiplier for his copied neutral special when compared to the copied opponent.
  • Inhale has a more opaque visual effect.
• Hammer:
  • Hammer deals more knockback when fully charged.
  • Hammer deals slightly less shield damage, making it less safe when hitting shielded opponents.
  • Hammer has intangibility frames when used both in midair and on the ground.
  • Kirby may use his uncharged or fully-charged voice lines from Smash 4 when swinging an uncharged Hammer.
  • A fully charged Hammer triggers Special Zoom.
• Final Cutter:
  • Final Cutter's ascending hitbox has been greatly improved.
  • Final Cutter has less endlag when landing.
  • Final Cutter's projectile travels slightly further.
  • Final Cutter's spike hitbox is much stronger and deals more knockback, heavily improving its reliability.
• Stone:
  • Stone now only hits opponents once instead of twice when grounded, significantly decreasing its shield damage.
  • Stone can transform into a Treasure Chest found in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's shrines.
• Ultra Sword now features a special background effect upon usage, in a similar fashion to the use of Super Abilities in Kirby's Return to Dream Land.

Role in World of Light

Kirby was among the fighters summoned to the cliffside to assist in defeating an army of Master Hands.

After Galeem absorbed all of the Master Hands during the opening cutscene, he began to unleash beams of light that vaporized all of the fighters and later imprisoned all of them. Kirby was the sole survivor after escaping on his Warp Star, barely warping away from the beams before they could engulf him.

Kirby crash-lands in a canyon area, and begins his quest to save the other fighters as the initial starting protagonist.

Alternate costumes

Gallery

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  Kirby artwork, as posted by Kirby's official Twitter account.

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  Link, Kirby, Mario, and Cloud artwork, as posted by Tetsuya Nomura's official Twitter account.

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  Kirby's fighter card.

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  "Mario Kirby" tossing a Fireball on Battlefield.

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  "Jigglypuff Kirby" using Rollout with Jigglypuff on Onett.

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  Using his Hammer on Little Mac in the Boxing Ring.

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  "Fox Kirby" using a Blaster with Fox on Mario Galaxy.

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  Performing Final Cutter on Tomodachi Life.

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  Inhaling an Ice Shot on Summit with the Ice Kirby-inspired costume.

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  Getting kicked by Diddy Kong on The Great Cave Offensive.

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  Inhaling Donkey Kong's grapes on Gaur Plain.

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  With King Dedede on Green Greens.

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  Kirby’s “unmasked Meta Knight” costume standing next to the real Meta Knight on Skyworld.

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  Kirby in his new Stone transformation below an aerial Mii Brawler on Skyworld.

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  Struck by Rosalina on Temple.

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  About to be eaten by Yoshi on Gaur Plain.

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  Kirby standing next to a Bomber on Green Greens.

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  Kirby struck by Knuckles's uppercut on The Great Cave Offensive.

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  Three Kirbys watching the Squid Sisters' concert on New Pork City.

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  With Meta Knight and King Dedede on Green Greens.

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  With Mario, Link, Inkling, Marth, Pit, Ridley and Villager on Battlefield.

Character Showcase Video

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Trivia

• Kirby's stock icon is one of four to show eyes (the others being Meta Knight, R.O.B., and Sonic), likely due to it being a simplistic pink circle otherwise.
  • It also greatly resembles his stock icon in the original Super Smash Bros..
• Kirby's pose resembles his character artwork in Kirby Super Star, but rotated to slightly face the screen. Coincidentally, this was also used for his character select artwork in the original Super Smash Bros.
• Kirby is the only Kirby series character to keep his Final Smash between Smash 4 and Ultimate.