Final Cutter

Kirby's Final Cutter in SSB

Kirby's Final Cutter in Melee

Kirby's Final Cutter in Brawl

Final Cutter is Kirby's up special move and is a third jump. Kirby draws a silver blade, similar to a scimitar, jumps into the air a bit less than the height of Falco's full jump, and falls quickly, releasing a blue "wave" projectile forward if he lands on a solid surface, travelling the distance of a Falco Phantasm. Generally hits best on the way up, and at the very end of the attack. Although it lost much power and use in the transition from SSB to SSBM, it is still quite useful to skilled players. It should also be noted that the move as a whole can be moved much further horizontally when used on the ground as opposed to in the air. In Brawl, the Final Cutter is stronger than in Melee. The move has high hitstun, and can be used in numerous combos. Surprisingly, the move's projectile has more knockback than the slice itself. This move, as well as the ability to spit out enemies after using Kirby's Inhale, is Kirby's only projectile.

Players using this move should take note that if knocked out of it (except for in Brawl), they lose all their jumps.

The descent of the move delivers a heavy meteor smash, which is easier to use over a pit. This can develop into a technique known as Cuttercide. When the opponent is trying to recover one can use Final Cutter to intercept them and spike them downward, killing the player and most of the time their opponent as well (beware that the player using Cuttercide will pass the blast line first so it is not a good idea to attempt this when both players are on one stock each.) When used as a meteor smash, the move has set knockback, being one of the only two meteor smashes in Brawl to have this property, the other being Luigi's taunt spike.

This move is also useful against Edge-guarding if used high in the air at the top corners of stages, such as Final Destination (disambiguation) or Battlefield (disambiguation), if Kirby performed the move at a good enough distance and an edge-guarder was in the air coming for it, Kirby could potentially catch the opponent on the sword's descent, sending them towards the lower blast line and finding itself grabbing the edge.

Unlike most other third jumps, Final Cutter does not always throw Kirby into helpless; when the ascent is finished, Kirby falls quickly and retains the hitbox. However, Final Cutter can cause helpless by landing at the edge of a platform and being pushed off by wind, conveyor belts, F.L.U.D.D. or Squirtle's Water Gun while Kirby is still in his ground-slam animation; Kirby will quickly slide off into his helpless form.

Origin

Debuted as a special move seen in Kirby Super Star and If Kirby had the Cutter ability and was close enough to the enemy while attacking, the normally ranged Cutter technique would become a rapid slashing combo attack, ending in the Final Cutter. The "Final Cutter" move has more recently been used by Kirby's Sword ability in games such as Kirby and the Amazing Mirror. In Kirby and the Amazing Mirror and Kirby: Squeak Squad, coincidentally, the input for that move is Up-B.