Kirby (SSBU)

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 his voice actor, using a combination of new voice clips and ones recycled from Super Smash Bros. 4.

Attributes

Kirby is known for being a small lightweight, being tied for the eighth lightest character in the game. Despite this, Kirby's mobility is subpar in the air and only average on the ground, giving him a mediocre mobility overall: he has the twenty-first slowest walking speed, fortieth fastest dashing speed, and a decently quick initial dash. He also has the fourth slowest air speed, fifteenth highest air acceleration, third lowest gravity, the fourth lowest falling and fast falling speeds, and above average traction. Due to these statistics, Kirby is a floaty character overall and has a hard time chasing opponents in the air. Although Kirby has five midair jumps, his recovery is average at best: despite his midair jumps and Final Cutter granting decent distance, his slow air speed combined with his low jump height means that he is extremely vulnerable to offstage edgeguarding.

Kirby's greatest strength is his fast frame data and combo potential due to the versatility of his moveset. The majority of Kirby's moveset is characterized by speed, possessing among the fastest tilts in the game, while his slowest moves instead boast very high power as a trade-off, while also being quite fast for their power. Neutral attack and forward tilt are fast and have decent range, allowing Kirby to quickly fend off opponents. Up tilt's low knockback and fast speed allows it to combo into itself or an aerial attack. Down tilt's low power is compensated by its very fast speed and it launching opponents at the Sakurai angle, which allow it to trip most opponents even over 80%. His smash attacks have good range, high power, and great speed, making them excellent at scoring a KO. Kirby is also very small, making him hard to hit, which combined with his very low crouch, allows him to avoid almost all grabs and several attacks. As a result, Kirby has a strong ground game, and a very useful defensive game thanks to his crouch, requiring opponents to be careful when approaching him in a neutral state.

The usefulness of Kirby's ground game also extends to his grab game. His grabs have short range but are among the fastest, while his pummel's meager damage output is counterbalanced by its very fast speed. His forward throw, unlike most other forward throws in the game, has combo potential, leading into aerial attacks from low to mid percentages. Back throw can be followed up by a back aerial at 0% on certain characters, and can KO at high percents. Up throw is his strongest throw and is able to KO almost all characters around 170%, or even earlier if it lands on a platform. Lastly, down throw is reliable for damage racking when no other throw can yield better results.

Kirby's air game is also serviceable, thanks to the versatility of his aerial attacks. Neutral aerial has a long duration, decent knockback on the clean hit, very low landing lag, and good coverage make it a safe landing option. Additionally, it can serve as a follow-up for combos and can be used as a KO move at high percents. Forward aerial is a powerful combo tool, chains fluidly and its first two hits can allow additional follow-ups due to its low landing lag. Up aerial has vertical knockback, low landing lag and a fairly quick auto-cancel window, allowing for many potential follow-ups and even opportunities to KO. Back aerial has decent range, and is Kirby's fastest and strongest aerial, making it one of his most useful options overall. Lastly, down aerial has considerable startup, but drags opponents downward before meteor smashing them and has low ending lag, making it a deceptively powerful edgeguarding tool. In addition, it is an effective combo starter with guaranteed follow-ups on grounded opponents.

Kirby's special moveset, while volatile, can provide some unique strengths. Inhale is his most notable example; it allows him to either copy the neutral special move of any character he inhales, or spit them out as a weight-dependent projectile. Kirby can also inhale projectiles, allowing him to heal himself, while certain ones (such as a fully-charged Charge Shot) can be stored in his mouth, enabling him to spit them out. The former, depending on what character he inhales, can give Kirby a move that helps him in matchups to various degrees, such as useful projectiles to counter-camp his opponent (Needle Storm, Charge Shot, Wolf's Blaster), powerful punish options (Giant Punch, Homing Attack), a reflector (Nayru's Love), or other massive benefits (Monado Arts). Kirby's version of the opponent's neutral special also has a 1.2x damage multiplier, encouraging him to rely on his Copy Ability. Additionally, since he can spit certain inhaled projectiles, Inhale gives Kirby a reflector; however, this has limited practical utility due to only working against a limited amount of projectiles, as well as the combined lag of inhaling and spitting the projectile, which is considerably slower than traditional reflectors. It can also be used to Kirbycide or put the opponent offstage, although mashing out fast enough will free the opponent. Hammer Flip is very powerful, especially when fully charged, and Kirby can move and jump while charging. However. its high startup and endlag, along with its short range, makes it situational and hard to land outside of punishing a shield break. Final Cutter is Kirby's recovery move, granting good vertical distance and decent horizontal distance, as well as protection in front of him during his ascent and descent. It also emits a shock wave upon landing, making it difficult to punish if not at point-blank range. Lastly, Stone causes Kirby to plummet straight down and ignore damage by any move that deals less than 25%. It is also very strong and can be canceled shortly after Kirby begins his descent, although similar to Hammer Flip, these benefits are limited by its slow startup and ending lag, and Kirby is still vulnerable to grabs while transformed.

However, Kirby has noticeable flaws, his most notable weakness being his poor endurance. Being light and floaty, Kirby cannot endure strong hits for long at high percents. He is also very vulnerable to juggling, due to his aforementioned slow falling and air speeds. This imposes as a risk in approaching opponents in the air, while also preventing Kirby's aerials from being used effectively out of disadvantage state, often forcing him to rely on his jumps or neutral aerial to escape and return to the ground or ledge, while also making him vulnerable to pressure.

Another big flaw is Kirby's poor approach. Characters who have fast mobility or can camp with projectiles can wall out Kirby, which includes examples such as Greninja, R.O.B., and Samus. Kirby's lack of reliable burst options makes his approach in these matchups problematic and sometimes predictable. In addition, characters with long disjointed hitboxes such as Ike, Chrom, and Mr. Game and Watch can outrange and wall out Kirby since his range is short relative to the cast. Final Cutter's projectile has decent range, but is very slow due to requiring Kirby to perform the entire rising and falling portions of the move beforehand, and he lacks other projectiles outside of spitting inhaled projectiles or opponents or using a copy ability. Despite having a great air acceleration, Kirby's air speed is also too slow for him to take advantage of it, hindering his aerial approach and recovery despite possessing five midair jumps. Kirby also has several KO moves, but most of them are hard to land without a setup due to their short range and Kirby's lack of setups into them. Rage further compounds these issues, as Kirby will be launched even earlier, while he will typically not endure long enough in order to take advantage of it.

Overall, Kirby tends to run hot and cold. He can inflict an impressive amount of damage if he gets close to his opponent thanks to his potent combo game, but doing so is difficult for him due to his poor approach. As such, Kirby functions well with a bait-and-punish playstyle, although being unprepared for an opponent's approach can be hazardous due to his unimpressive survivability.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. 4

Near the end of SSB4's metagame, Kirby had been considered a low-tier character, and was thus ranked as the 6th worst character in SSB4's most recent tier list (50th out of 55). In the transition to Ultimate, Kirby has been granted a mixture of buffs and nerfs, but has been noticeably buffed overall, albeit initially to a lesser extent prior to later updates to the game.

Kirby's buffs lie in the increased utility of his ground and aerial moveset. The first the first two hits of his jab can now jab lock, making them more useful for set-ups for downed characters, and the looping hits connect into the opponent much more reliably, albeit at the cost of reduced damage output. Forward tilt is a stronger neutral option, as its increased knockback gives it KO potential and its reduced ending lag makes it a harder move to punish overall. Dash attack has been completely reworked, reverting back to its Melee iteration—however, it is significantly stronger, dealing much more damage and knockback, has less startup compared to his previous dash attack in SSB4, can cross-up on shields, covers more distance, and is more reliable for catching opponents thanks to only consisting of one, long-lasting hit. These changes make it a stronger punish tool and a much more useful and versatile move overall than his previous dash attack. His smash attacks are stronger punish options, with forward smash having an increase in range, up smash having reduced start-up, and down smash regaining its semi-spike angle that makes it better for edgeguarding, similarly to one of its hitboxes in Brawl, and all three of have higher power, except for down smash, which has reduced knockback to compensate its lower angle, although it still KOs earlier close to the ledge. The landing lag in his aerials, already among the lowest in SSB4, was reduced even further and noticeably benefits him, making his aerials not only safer, but now capable of leading into followups, with forward air's first two hits now being able to follow up into forward smash, while his neutral aerial, one of his most situational attacks, has more range, more knockback and much less ending lag, making it safer and more reliable for pressuring, edgeguarding and KOing. In addition, Kirby's neutral and up aerials had their startup reduced. Many of Kirby's attacks, such as up tilt and all his aerials except for up aerial also have more range, partially reducing one of his weaknesses from SSB4. Inhale has received a large number of of significant improvements: it has noticeably reduced startup, reduced ending lag, more range, a much longer grace period in which Kirby cannot lose his Copy Ability, and a lower probability of losing said ability after this period has ended. Furthermore he can now eat the projectiles he swallows to heal himself (and store certain ones in his mouth as well, enabling him to spit them out as stars) and his neutral special receives a 1.2× multiplier compared to his opponent, albeit without a corresponding increase to knockback, giving him a greater incentive to Inhale opponents. Lastly, Stone has super armor during its start-up, making it more difficult to interrupt Kirby out of the attack, as in previous Smash games, he could be interrupted even when he fully transformed.

However, Kirby has also received a few noteworthy nerfs. The most notable were to his grab game: The universal changes to the ending lag of grabs makes Kirby's riskier to throw out, his already mediocre grab range has been worsened (most notably on his pivot grab), and his forward throw has him jump up higher after the throw, which runs the risk of possibly landing on top of a soft platform, negating all follow-ups when it happens too early (although following up neutral air and forward smash can alleviate this issue), while back throw has lost its combo potential. Altogether, this grants Kirby a less effective combo game off of his grabs overall. Additionally, Stone no longer hits twice against shielded opponents, reducing its shield pressure considerably, and back aerial, one of his primary KOing options in SSB4, deals less knockback, although the clean hit now lasts for 3 frames instead of 2. Lastly, his down aerial, one of his most reliable combo starters in SSB4, has more range on the looping hits, but slightly less on the final hit and is less advantageous on landing due to the removal of frame canceling, reducing the effectiveness of its follow-ups since its landing lag was not reduced enough to compensate properly.

Overall, while Kirby has been improved from SSB4, he still retains many of the same issues (mediocre range, sluggish aerial mobility, down and forward air having noticeable startup, susceptibility to being camped) that made him a poorly viewed character in SSB4. Additionally, a majority of the characters that were ranked on the same tier as Kirby or lower in SSB4 have received notably bigger improvements than Kirby, which includes characters such as Pac-Man, Falco, Wii Fit Trainer, and King Dedede. This, coupled with his very sparse tournament results, has garnered him an overwhelmingly negative reception across the Smash community; multiple competitive players including ESAM, Leffen, Tweek, VoiD, Dabuz, and Samsora view Kirby just as poorly as in SSB4 or even as one of the worst characters in the game altogether, with Mew2King going as far as to give Kirby his own tier below bottom tier, dubbed as the "Kirby Tier". However, he has earned some representation in all levels of play, with players such as Komota, Jesuischoq, SuperGirlKels. As of now, his overall viability remains questionable.

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.
• One of Kirby's voice clips when taking high knockback has been changed to his alternate KO sound from Smash 4.
  • As a result, he gains a new KO clip, which sounds similar to one of his Melee knockback voice clips.
  • Kirby's unused damage yell from Smash 4 is now used when he takes medium knockback.
• 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 smiles during his side taunt.
• 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's idle pose at the end of his victory animation is more animate, with a gentle squash-and-stretch effect leading to a more rubbery feeling.
  • Kirby 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 has triangular eyes, and the visor is opaque as in Super Smash Bros.
  • Unlike Smash 4, his Jigglypuff cap matches his costume color, as in previous games up to Brawl.
  • 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 consistent with Ganondorf's Ocarina of Time appearance, effectively reverting to its design in Melee.
  • His Ike cap uses the hairstyle from his Path of Radiance design, as in Brawl.
  • His Wolf cap matches Wolf's Star Fox Zero-based appearance.
  • His Robin cap, upon exhausting the Thunder tome, will disappear like it does in all other cases, instead of just disappearing with no animation.
• Kirby's Boxing Ring alias has been changed to "The Pink Demon", making consistent with the Japanese release.

Attributes

• Like all characters, Kirby's jumpsquat takes 3 frames to complete (down from 4).
• Kirby runs faster (1.57 → 1.727).
  • His initial dash is noticeably faster (1.5 → 1.9).
• Kirby walks faster (0.93 → 0.977).
• Kirby's air speed is slightly faster (0.8 → 0.84).
• Kirby's traction is much higher (0.0493 → 0.116), going from below average to being tied for the 17th highest, making easier for him to punish out of shield.
• The changes to taunt interruptibility benefit Kirby more than any other returning veteran, as he can act quicker after discarding a Copy Ability.
• Forward roll grants less intangibility (frames 4-17 → 4-15).
• Back roll has more startup with less intangibility (frames 4-17 → 5-16), and more ending lag (FAF 31 → 36).
• Air dodge grants more intangibility (frames 3-27 → 3-29).
• Air dodge has significantly more ending lag (FAF 33 → 63), now being tied with Rosalina for the second slowest air dodge in the game duration-wise, only behind Jigglypuff.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • Neutral attack's first and second hits have altered angles (55° → 361°/180° (hit 1), 70° → 361° (hit 2)) and knockback (8 base/30 scaling → 20 base/25/20 scaling (hit 1), 15/30 → 25/15 (hit 2)) to keep opponents close to Kirby, akin to other neutral attacks. This allows them to jab lock, and noticeably improves their previously poor linking ability.
  • The first hit has less startup lag (frame 3 → 2), with its total duration reduced as well (FAF 16 → 15).
  • The second hit transitions faster into the infinite (frame 8 → 5) and has a lower SDI multiplier (1× → 0.3×), although with a slightly higher hitlag multiplier (1× → 1.2×).
  • The infinite has shorter gaps between hits (4 frames → 2), a consistent angle (55°/68°/80° → 361°), a lower hitlag multiplier (1× → 0.5×) and SDI multiplier (1× → 0.4×), and deals less knockback (6/4/2 base/100 scaling → 7 base/35 scaling). This allows it to connect more reliably and makes it much harder to escape.
  • The infinite's finisher has less startup (frame 5 → 3) and ending lag (FAF 51 → 40).
  • The finisher deals more damage (2% → 3%) and launches at a lower angle (45° → 361°), with knockback not fully compensated (80 base/120 scaling → 70/115), improving its KO potential.
  • All hits except the finisher deal less damage (2% → 1.8% (hit 1), 3% → 1.6% (hit 2), 1% → 0.2% (infinite)).
  • The first hit has a higher hitlag multiplier (1× → 1.7×), giving opponents more time to SDI it.
  • The second hit and each hit of the infinite have a shorter hitbox duration (2 frames → 1), and the latter also has one frame more startup (frame 6 → 7), although this is compensated by its faster transition from the second hit.
  • The finisher has smaller hitboxes overall (4.5u/6.5u/5.5u → 5u/5u/5u).
  • The finisher has a much higher hitlag multiplier (1× → 3×).
• Forward tilt:
  • Forward tilt has less ending lag (FAF 28 → 24). Combined with the increased shieldstun for ground attacks, this makes it much safer on shield.
  • It has much more base knockback (12 → 40), improving its KO potential.
• Up tilt:
  • Up tilt's closest hitbox is larger (4u → 4.8u), slightly surpassing the late hit in Brawl.
  • The late hit and foot intangibility last one more frame (frames 6-9 → 6-10), matching its duration from Brawl.
  • It has less base knockback (40 → 30/26 (clean), 26 (late)) and more knockback scaling (116 → 132/125 (clean), 110 → 130/119 (late)), allowing it to combo better into his aerials from low to mid percents, while also improving its KO potential at very high percents.
  • The hitbox at the tip of Kirby's foot launches at a slightly different angle (100° → 98° (clean), 88° → 86° (late)).
• Down tilt:
  • Due to the increased traction across the cast, opponents do not slide back as much upon tripping from down tilt, improving its reliability for starting combos.
  • It has more knockback scaling (30 → 43), causing it to stop tripping opponents sooner, but improving its combo potential at higher percents if it doesn't trip due to the aforementioned change.
• Dash attack:
  • Dash attack has reverted to its Melee iteration, where Kirby does a flaming tackle identical to the Burning copy ability from his home series, although it does not drop him off edges.
  • It hits only once instead of six times, possessing a clean hit, mid hit and late hit. This makes it more reliable overall than the previous dash attack, which could sometimes miss its last hit due to the looping hits' poor linking ability.
  • It propels Kirby a much farther distance forward, increasing its range.
  • It has less startup, with its hitboxes active fully throughout (frames 12, 15, 19, 24, 30, 35-37 → 9-17 (clean)/18-26 (mid)/27-34 (late)).
  • It has larger hitboxes (3.5u/3.5u/3.3u (hits 1-5), 3u (hit 6) → 5u (clean), 3.5u (mid & late)).
  • It has lower hitlag multipliers (2× → 1.3× (clean)/1× (mid)/0.8× (late)). In combination with its faster startup and consisting of a single hit, this makes it harder to DI.
  • The clean hit deals more damage (1% (hits 1-5), 4% (hit 6); 9% total → 12%), with knockback not fully compensated (100 base/70 scaling → 82/66), and launches at a more horizontal angle (65° → 46°). This turns it into a much stronger finisher, KOing opponents at around 160% from center stage and 105% near edges, compared to being unable to KO under 280% regardless of horizontal positioning.
  • The mid and late hits deal more damage than the previous dash attack's last hit (4% → 9% (mid), 6% (late)), and the former launches at a higher angle (65° → 76°), allowing it to KO slightly earlier despite its lower knockback values (100 base/70 scaling → 80/50).
  • It has more ending lag (FAF 54 → 60). Combined with no longer dealing multiple hits, this makes it much more punishable on shield, regardless of timing and despite mantaining the ability to cross-up shields during its early frames.
  • The late hit deals much less knockback (100 base/70 scaling → 80/50), hindering its KO potential despite launching at a higher angle (65° → 76°).
• Forward smash:
  • Forward smash's clean hit deals more knockback (30 base/102 scaling → 32/109), improving its KO potential.
  • Kirby lunges farther forward, giving it more range.
  • It deals more damage when angled down (14% → 15% (clean), 10% → 11% (late)).
  • It deals less damage when angled up (16% → 15% (clean), 12% → 11% (late)), although the clean hit is still slightly stronger than in Smash 4 due to its higher knockback values.
  • The clean hit has a higher hitlag multiplier (1× → 1.2×), making it easier to DI.
  • It has a different startup animation: Kirby pulls back before executing a thrust kick instead of performing a spin first, resembling Smash Kick, one of Smash Bros. Kirby's attacks in Kirby: Planet Robobot.
• Up smash:
  • Up smash has less startup (frame 14 → 12), with its leg intangibility frames moved accordingly (frames 14-19 → 12-17) and its total duration reduced (FAF 48 → 46).
  • The clean hit has a longer duration, with the late hit having a shorter duration instead (frame 14 (clean)/15-16 (mid)/17-19 (late) → 12-14/15-16/17). This improves its utility as an anti-air, as the clean hit now remains active when the hitboxes go above Kirby.
  • The clean hit deals more knockback (33/30 base/104/99 scaling → 36 base/104 scaling), improving its KO potential.
  • The mid hit's sourspot (12% → 13%) and late hit (12%/11% → 13%/12%) deal more damage.
• Down smash:
  • Down smash launches at a semi-spike angle like its foot hitboxes in Melee and Brawl (69° → 29°), significantly improving its edgeguarding ability and allowing it to KO earlier near edges.
  • It has much less knockback scaling (110 → 89), hindering its KO potential from center stage and across the stage.

Aerial attacks

• All aerials have less landing lag (10 frames → 6 (neutral), 13 → 8 (forward), 17 → 10 (back), 12 → 7 (up), 17 → 16 (down).
• Neutral aerial:
  • Neutral aerial has less startup (frame 10 → 8) and significantly less ending lag (FAF 73 → 53).
  • The clean hit deals significantly more knockback (30 base/90 scaling → 35/117), allowing it to KO reliably at around 150% from center stage.
  • All hitboxes are bigger (8u → 9u (clean), 7u → 8u (mid), 6u → 7u (mid-to-late), 5u → 6u (late)).
  • It auto-cancels earlier (frame 56 → 51).
• Forward aerial:
  • Forward aerial's first hit launches at a higher angle (45°/80° → 53°/84°) and deals less knockback (35 base/50 scaling → 43/39 (close), 35/38 (far)), allowing it to connect into the second hit more reliably.
  • The first and second hits have lower hitlag (1× → 0.8×) and SDI multipliers (1× → 0.5×), making them harder to escape.
  • The first and third hits have larger hitboxes (4.3u/4.3u → 5u/4.4u (hit 1), 4.9u → 5.1u (hit 3)), with the latter extending further horizontally (Z offset: 8u-12u → 7u-13u) and vertically (Y offset: 3.9u-4.2u → 3u-4.2u), improving their range.
  • Due to its reduced landing lag, and forward smash's improved range and knockback, the first hit has gained a KO setup into it at high percents.
  • The second hit extends further outwards (Z offset: 8u-12u → 7u-13u) and below Kirby (Y offset: 3.7u-4.2u → 2.8u-4.1u), improving its horizontal range, and allowing it to hit short or crouching characters, even in a rising short hop.
  • The third hit has a longer duration (frames 25-26 → 25-27).
• Back aerial:
  • Back aerial has larger hitboxes (4u → 4.5u (clean), 3.4u → 3.5u (late)), and they extend further horizontally (Z offset: 7u-10.5u → 6u-13u (clean), 7u-10u → 6u-11u (late)), noticeably improving its range.
  • The clean hit has a longer duration (frames 6-7 → 6-8).
  • The clean hit deals less knockback (20 base/104 scaling → 15/100), hindering its KO potential.
  • The clean hit has a higher hitlag multiplier (1× → 1.2×), making it easier to DI.
  • The late hit has a shorter duration (frames 8-14 → 9-12).
• Up aerial:
  • Up aerial has less startup (frame 10 → 8) and ending lag (FAF 40 → 36).
  • It deals more damage (9% → 10%) and has noticeably more knockback scaling (100 → 115), greatly improving its KO ability, without worsening its combo ability due to its reduced lag.
• Down aerial:
  • Down aerial's looping hits deal more damage (1% → 1.3%, total: 7% → 8.5%), with knockback scaling compensated (107 → 100).
  • The looping hits have a noticeably lower hitlag multiplier (1.5× → 0.8×), alongside a larger hitbox (5u → 6u), increasing their range and making them harder to escape from.
  • It can no longer be frame canceled, with its landing lag not reduced enough to compensate. As a result, it has more landing lag relative to Smash 4 if the landing hit connects, hindering its combo potential.
  • The last hit has a smaller hitbox (6.2u → 5.6u).

Throws and other attacks

• Grabs:
  • All grabs have more ending lag (FAF 28 → 34 (standing), 39 → 42 (dash), 33 → 37 (pivot)), albeit they are still among the fastest in the game.
  • All grabs have less range (Z2 offset: 10.2u → 9.4u (standing), 12.1u → 11u (dash), -17.9u → -15.7u (pivot)).
  • Dash grab has slightly more startup lag (frame 8 → 9).
• Pummel:
  • Pummel deals less damage (1.55% → 1%).
  • It has less startup (frame 9 → 1) and ending lag (FAF 10 → 6), but deals considerably more hitlag (4 frames → 11), increasing its effective duration.
• Forward throw:
  • Forward throw has Kirby jump slightly higher and further backwards at the end of the animation, able to reach the height of Battlefield's lower platform. The additional height weakens its combo potential at low percents, while the additional backwards distance prevents him from benefitting from the extra height at higher percents.
• Back throw:
  • Back throw has Kirby jump immediately after releasing the opponent, as opposed to a few frames later, causing him to be much higher in the air after the move ends. Additionally, Kirby lands a short distance forward relative to where the throw is initiated from, rather than in the same spot. This removes the throw's followups at low percents, and weakens its edgeguarding potential, as it now pushes Kirby away from edges.
  • It has an altered animation where Kirby doesn't squish as much upon slamming the opponent to the ground.
• Up throw:
  • Up throw has gained a collateral hitbox upon landing that deals 7%, similar to Meta Knight's up throw, increasing its effectiveness in battles with multiple opponents.
• Down throw:
  • Down throw's first nine hits deal more damage (0.8% → 1%, total: 10.2% → 12%).
• Edge attack:
  • Edge attack deals more damage (7% → 9%).

Special moves

• Inhale:
  • Inhale has less startup lag (frame 14 → 10), making it much easier to combo into.
  • It has a larger vortex hitbox (7u → 8.5u) with altered hitbox placements (Y offset: 7.5u → 7u, Z offset: 13u → 15.5u), and an additional vortex hitbox, increasing its range.
  • It has less ending lag when failing to inhale anything (FAF 73 → 64), and after copying an opponent (FAF 30 → 21), preventing the copied opponent from being able to hit Kirby before he can move.
  • The swallowing hitboxes are larger (4.2u/4.6u → 5.3u/5.8u), increasing the safety of copying an opponent when others are nearby.
  • It can catch projectiles to heal Kirby, albeit with noticeable ending lag.
    • Kirby can keep certain projectiles, like a fully charged Charge Shot, inside his mouth and then choose to spit them out as a star that deals damage or swallow them to heal himself.
  • Kirby dies later when performing a Kirbycide, though he still dies first. This gives the opponent less time to recover after Kirby is KO'd.
  • Kirby receives a 1.2× damage multiplier for his Copy Abilities compared to the copied opponent's neutral special.
  • Kirby cannot lose his Copy Ability by getting hit for 20 seconds after receiving it, allowing him to keep it much more efficiently.
  • The distance an opponent travels in a star scales with damage, allowing Kirby to KO spat opponents near edges more effectively at higher percents.
  • Rather than a 3.125% chance regardless of move, the chance for Kirby to lose his Copy Ability by getting hit is determined by the formula (damage taken / 70) * 70%, thus increasing it for hits that deal more than 3.125% damage. As a result, after the 20 second period, multi-hit moves are less likely to remove Kirby's Copy Ability, but more significantly, a vast majority of other attacks are more likely to do so.
  • Inhale has a more opaque visual effect.
• Hammer:
  • Hammer launches at a lower angle when not fully charged (53° → 48° (grounded), 55° → 50° (aerial)), slightly improving its KO potential.
  • The grounded version has intangibility (frames 2-10) and more super armor (frames 11-13 → 11-17) when fully charged.
  • The aerial version deals slightly more damage (15%-27% → 16%-28%) with no compensation on knockback.
  • The aerial version sends at a higher angle when fully charged (45° → 50°), slightly reducing its KO potential despite its increased damage.
  • 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 has less landing lag (34 frames → 30).
  • It can snap to the ledge earlier (frame 36 → 33).
  • The rising hit has a longer duration (frames 23-24 → 23-26). The set knockback during the additional active frames is lower (117/102 → 60/50) to link into the falling hit as well.
  • The landing hit no longer has set knockback (120 set/100 scaling → 85 base/95 scaling).
  • The falling hit has smaller hitboxes (6.5u → 6u (meteor), 6u → 5.5u (late)).
  • The falling hit's meteor smash portion has slightly less set knockback (100 → 96).
  • The projectile has a lower hitlag multiplier (1× → 0.7×), although this is compensated by the universal increase to hitlag.
• Stone:
  • Aerial Stone has super armor during startup (frames 19-28).
  • The landing hit launches at a higher angle (0° → 25°) and has much more base knockback (40 → 86), although with its knockback scaling compensated (40 → 24), allowing it to set up edgeguards more effectively, while also increasing its KO power.
  • The aerial hit can no longer combo into the landing hit, significantly decreasing its shield damage.
  • If Stone is hit with a reversing move such as Cape, the transformation will visually spin around.
  • Stone can transform into a Treasure Chest found in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's shrines.
  • If Kirby is metal when using Stone, the transformation will also be metal.
  • Kirby doesn't change back to normal if he lands underwater.
• Ultra Sword:
  • The final hit has less knockback scaling (100 → 95), hindering its KO potential.
  • It features a special background effect upon usage, in a similar fashion to the use of Super Abilities in Kirby's Return to Dream Land.

Update history

Kirby has been noticeably buffed via game updates. Update 2.0.0 improved his ground game by reducing the ending lag of his forward tilt, along with granting it increased base knockback, giving it newfound KO potential at very high percentages, while also boosting its safety at low percents. Dash attack's clean hit was also given a larger hitbox, and its damage output was increased overall. 3.0.0 improved the duration of up smash's clean hit, making it easier to land on aerial opponents, and reduced the ending lag on neutral aerial. Inhale's Copy Ability grace period was also extended, allowing Kirby to safely keep his abilities for longer, and the probability of him losing them when receiving damage was also reduced. Furthermore, his down throw's damage-racking capabilities were improved, and his Final Cutter can grab ledges earlier, making it safer for recovery.

Update 6.0.0 granted Kirby some of his most significant improvements. Both neutral and up aerials had their startup reduced and their knockback increased, improving their combo and KO potential. Inhale had its startup reduced as well, and the grace period for Copy Ability was further increased, along with a further reduction to the probability of losing his abilities. Up smash's sourspot had its knockback increased, improving its consistency, and neutral attack's startup was reduced by 1 frame. As such, he stands noticeably better in comparison to release.

1.1.0

• Up aerial has less ending lag (FAF 40 → 38).
• Final Cutter has some animations updated.

1.2.0

• After copying Pac-Man's Bonus Fruit, Key will no longer be discarded when it is recycled.

2.0.0

• Dash attack has more range.
• Dash attack deals more damage (10% (clean)/7% (mid)/4% (late) → 12%/9%/6%) with knockback not fully compensated.
• Forward tilt deals more base knockback (12 → 40), causing it to KO at high percents.
• Forward tilt has less ending lag (FAF 28 → 24).
• The aerial version of Stone has super armor (frames 19-28).
• Fixed a visual glitch in Team Battles where the smoke effects of Kirby's doubles were still present if Kirby is on a winning team with more than two characters.

3.0.0

• Up smash's clean hit has a longer duration, with the late hit having a shorter duration instead (frame 12 (strong)/13-14 (mid)/15-17 (late) → 12-14/15-16/17).
• Neutral aerial has less ending lag (FAF 63 → 55) and auto-cancels earlier (frame 56 → 51).
• The first 9 hits of down throw deal more damage (0.8% → 1%, total: 10.2% → 12%).
• Inhale
  • Kirby dies later when performing a Kirbycide with Inhale, though he still dies first. This gives the opponent less time to recover after Kirby is KO'd.
  • Kirby cannot lose Copy Abilities received by Inhale for a longer period of time (5 seconds → 10).
  • Kirby is less likely to lose Copy Abilities when getting hit (Chance to lose: Damage Received/70 * 130% → Damage Received/70 * 100%).
  • Fixed a majority amount of Inhale Glitches:
    • Visual glitch where Kirby would retain parts of Metal status with Wii Fit Trainer.
    • Visual glitch where Kirby’s Bandana from Snake would move during the camera view of each frame.
    • Opponents now properly gain intangibility when caught by Inhale; previously opponents would become stuck in a hitstun during Inhale.
    • Infinite floating glitch that occurs when Kirby uses multiple copied Mii Swordfighter's Gale Strikes in the air after performing a throw that left him in the air.
    • Gliding glitch when Kirby uses a copied and B-reversed Mii Swordfighter's Gale Strike while running.
• Final Cutter can snap to the ledge earlier (frame 36 → 33).

3.1.0

• Kirby can no longer perform the initial dash cancel to Pikmin Throw.
• Fixed an issue that resulted in Kirby being unable to perform dodges, shield and crouch after attempting to change then losing the chosen Monado Art.
• Scenarios where the opponent would not escape from Inhale after Kirby gets hit at a specific frame has been fixed.

6.0.0

• Neutral attack's first hit has less startup (frame 3 → 2), with its total duration reduced as well (FAF 16 → 15).
• Up smash's clean sourspot deals more knockback (30 base/99 scaling → 36/104), with the knockback values matching the sweetspots.
• Neutral aerial has less startup (frame 10 → 8), with its total duration reduced as well (FAF 55 → 53), and the clean hit has greatly increased knockback scaling (100 → 117), KOing under 150% from the center of Final Destination and making it one of the strongest neutral aerials in the game.
• Up aerial has less startup (frame 10 → 8), with its total duration reduced as well (FAF 38 → 36), and deals more damage (9% → 10%) with more knockback scaling (108 → 115), KOing under 160% from ground level and partially restoring of the KO potential it had in Melee, while keeping its combo ability intact due to the reduced lag.
• Inhale has less startup (frame 14 → 10), with its total duration reduced as well (FAF 68 → 64), making it easier to eat projectiles and to combo into.
• Kirby cannot lose Copy Abilities received by Inhale for a longer period of time (10 seconds → 20).
• Kirby is less likely to lose Copy Abilities when getting hit (Chance to lose: Damage Received/70 * 100% → Damage Received/70 * 70%).

Moveset

• Kirby can perform five midair jumps.

For a gallery of Kirby's hitboxes, see here.

Note: All numbers are listed as base damage, without the 1v1 multiplier.

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack		Vulcan Jab/Smash Punch	1.8%	A one-two combo. When button mashed, Kirby performs the Vulcan Jab from the Fighter ability before concluding with the Smash Punch, also from the Fighter ability. It is very quick due to coming out on frame 2, and its first two hits have very minimal ending lag. These traits make it effective for jab canceling or as an out of shield option.
			1.6%
			0.2% (loop), 3% (last)
Forward tilt			8% (base), 7% (tip)	Throws a spinning roundhouse kick. It is quick, due to coming out on frame 5, having very little ending lag and can be angled. Due to its above average knockback, it can KO middleweights starting at around 132% at the edge of Final Destination.
Up tilt			5% (clean), 4% (late)	A scorpion kick. Although its damage output is low, it is a very useful combo starter at low percents, especially on fast-fallers, due to it coming out on frame 4 and having both minimal ending lag and disjointed range which slightly reaches behind him. It also renders Kirby's foot intangible throughout its duration.
Down tilt		Squish Kick	6%	A crouching shin kick. It is fairly spammable due to coming out on frame 4 and having minimal ending lag. When coupled with its tripping potential, it can be a very useful set-up option.
Dash attack		Burning	12% (clean), 9% (mid), 6% (late)	The Burn attack from the Fire ability. It has decent start up at frame 9 with a lengthy hitbox that grows weaker over time. When struck cleanly, it has great power, KOing middleweights at around 98% from the edge of Final Destination.
Forward smash		Smash Kick	15% (clean), 11% (late)	The Spin Kick from the Fighter ability. Due to becoming active at frame 13, it's fast for a forward smash. It can be angled and moderately moves Kirby forward, giving it deceptive range. Its clean hitbox also deals respectable damage and has very high knockback growth, which makes it a powerful and reliable KOing option. While near the edge of Final Destination, it KOs middleweights at around 80%. However, its late hitbox lacks reliable KO potential.
Up smash			15%/14% (clean), 14%/13% (mid), 13%/12% (late)	A bicycle kick. It can hit behind Kirby, while its clean hitbox deals respectable damage and has very high knockback growth like forward smash. It clean hitbox KOs middleweights at around 110% from anywhere on Final Destination. Kirby's foot is also rendered intangible throughout its duration. However, its mid and late hitboxes lack KO potential. Comes out on frame 12 and has 29 frames of ending lag, so its speed is only average for an up smash.
Down smash			14% (clean), 10% (late)	A spinning split kick. It hits in front of and behind Kirby, and its clean hitbox deals respectable damage and has very high knockback growth like his forward and up smashes. Comes out on frame 10. Semispike with above average power, with its clean hitbox KOing middleweights at around 103% from the edge of Final Destination. It also renders Kirby's feet intangible, albeit only during its clean hitbox. However, its late hitbox has significantly lower KO potential.
Neutral aerial		Twinkle Star	10% (clean), 8% (mid), 6% (mid-to-late), 4% (late)	A cartwheel, similar to the aerial attack from the Smash ability. Its very low landing lag makes it a decent set-up option at low percents or a tool for shield pressure when short hopped, while it's surprisingly high knockback growth makes it a decent anti-pressure and out of shield option. It has big hitboxes, especially at the beginning, giving good protection and coverage around Kirby. It can also edgeguard, but it has the highest amount of ending lag out of Kirby's aerials, although much safer than in SSB4 since its ending lag was reduced drastically. It has sex kick properties and autocancels in a full hop.
Forward aerial			4% (hit 1), 3% (hit 2), 5% (hit 3)	The Aerial Spin Kick from the Fighter ability. The first two hits have low knockback, which allows them to connect reliably with the third hit. Its low landing lag also allows the first or second hit to be used as set-up options into other moves, such as an up smash or forward smash at high percents. Good for combos. Can connect into itself for a Wall of Pain in certain instances. Autocancels in a full hop.
Back aerial			13% (clean), 8% (late)	A dropkick. It functions as a sex kick, but also has the lowest amount of start-up lag out of Kirby's aerials, due to it coming out on frame 6. It autocancels from a short hop and its clean hitbox also deals the most damage out of his aerials, and possesses very high knockback growth, which make it a viable KOing option. While near the edge of Final Destination, its clean hitbox KOs middleweights at around 105%. It also boasts good range due to its slightly disjointed hitbox, which makes it a viable edge-guarding option, and allows it to use it in a wall of pain.
Up aerial			10%	The Moon Somersault Kick from the Fighter ability. Comes out on frame 8,tied with neutral aerial for having the second lowest startup of Kirby's aerials. A decent juggling option, it can also be used for continuing a combo due to its low landing lag. Autocancels in a short hop.
Down aerial			1.3% (hits 1-5), 2% (hit 6), 2% (landing)	A diagonal corkscrew dropkick. An effective combo starter on grounded opponents and, due to the last hit being a weak meteor smash, it is a useful edge-guarding option, especially since its low ending lag makes it relatively safe to use off-stage. It can even lead into a footstool jump on fast-fallers and heavyweights. While it has the highest amount of start-up lag out of Kirby's aerials due to coming out on frame 18, and not autocanceling in a short hop, it can be auto-canceled on landing, giving Kirby a very large window to safely land while tumbling. Despite possessing a landing hit, it's landing lag is only moderate, with 16 frames,making it safe even if not autocanceled.
Grab			—	The Foe Grab from the Fighter ability. One of the fastest grabs, but has short range. Kirby's throws are based on attacks used by the Suplex and Ninja abilities.
Pummel			1%	The punch version of the Arm Throw from the Fighter ability. Weak, but one of the fastest pummels.
Forward throw			5%	The Pile Driver from the Suplex ability. Unlike the majority of forward throws, it possesses combo potential. Its most reliable follow-ups are neutral, forward and down aerials at low percents, and up aerial and Final Cutter at medium percents. Using it below a Battlefield platform will have Kirby land on said platform, hindering followups at lower percents, but extending them at higher percents.
Back throw			8%	The Big Suplex from the Suplex ability. Despite having an average damage output and very low base knockback, it has very high knockback growth. As a result, it has decent KO potential. While near the edge of Final Destination, it KOs middleweights at around 137%.
Up throw		Air Drop	10% (throw), 7% (landing)	The attack of the same name from the Ninja ability. Like Meta Knight's up throw, it can damage and launch bystanders upon landing. It is weaker than his back throw when used at the edge, but it is consistently strong regardless of where it's used on the stage. Great knockback, KOing middleweights at around 158% from anywhere on Final Destination, and the landing hit can KO at around 157%. Because Kirby jumps up to perform it, he can land onto platforms above him upon descending, which enables it to KO even earlier.
Down throw			1% (hits 1-10), 2% (throw)	The Fury Stomp from the Suplex ability. It is Kirby's most damaging throw at 12%, which makes it useful for damage racking. It can also damage nearby opponents.
Floor attack (front)			7%	Performs a spin kick before getting up.
Floor attack (back)			7%	Kicks on one side and then the other before getting up.
Floor attack (trip)			5%	The Break Spin from the Yo-yo ability.
Edge attack			9%	Performs a cartwheeling kick while climbing up. It has surprisingly good range compared to many other characters' edge attacks.
Neutral special		Inhale	10% (swallow), 6% (spit)	Inhales the opponent. It has a grabbox and can be held indefinitely. Upon Inhaling an opponent, Kirby can spit them out as a star to deal damage to them and any nearby opponents, copy their neutral special move, or walk around slowly and/or perform a short hop. However, the opponent can escape from Kirby's mouth via button mashing. Some characters will give Kirby a slight variation of their neutral special due to mechanics that would not work properly when copied, such as Luma Shot and Pikmin Pluck. When inhaling projectiles, Kirby will heal off a small amount of percentage, and when inhaling large projectiles, such as Samus's fully charged Charge Shot, it can be spat out as a star. Kirby' s copied neutral special's damage output has a x1.2 multiplier compared the opponent's version.
Side special		Hammer Flip	19% (grounded uncharged), 16% (aerial uncharged), 35% (grounded fully charged), 28% (aerial fully charged)	The attack of the same name from the Hammer ability. It is chargeable and, when fully charged, Kirby's hammer will ignite and deal recoil damage. He can also slowly walk and jump while charging it, while a fully charged Hammer Flip grants armor during part of the swing. When it is used in midair, Kirby will swing his hammer twice. While near the edge of Final Destination, uncharged Hammer Flip KOs middleweights at around 65%. Conversely, fully charged Hammer Flip KOs middleweights at around 6%. Although weaker, aerial Hammer Flip nevertheless possesses impressive KO potential. While near the edge of Final Destination, it KOs middleweights at around 86%. Conversely, its fully charged version KOs them at around 33%. When fully charged and on the ground, it makes Kirby invincible from frame 2-10 and gives him super armor from frame 11-17. Despite this power, the move is considered essentially useless in competitive play outside of shield break punishes due to its small hitbox, terrible startup, and huge endlag.
Up special		Final Cutter	5% (ascent), 2% (descent), 5% (landing), 6% (shockwave)	The attack of the same name from the Cutter ability. It can meteor smash any opponents he comes into contact with upon descending. The sword also emits a shockwave upon hitting a solid surface, which is Kirby's only projectile aside from spitting out an Inhaled opponent. A good vertical recovery move and has decent horizontal distance when angled. However, it is extremely predictable due to its high start-up. Kirby cannot sweetspot the edge until he starts to descend, and if the platform beneath him disappears or if he is pushed off while he is still in the landing animation, he will be rendered helpless.
Down special		Stone	18% (impact), 14% (shockwave)	The Stone Change (while Kirby is on the ground) and the Stone Smash (while Kirby is in the air) from the Stone ability. Thanks to its high damage output, Stone Smash KOs middleweights at around 108% and deals considerable shield damage. It can also be canceled in midair by pressing the special button, which can be used for mindgames. Although Stone Change is slightly weaker, it is a semi-spike. Kirby cannot be damaged while he is transformed, although his Stone forms have a set amount of durability, and he can be grabbed while transformed.
Final Smash		Ultra Sword	3% (stun), 5% (hit 1), 2.5% (hits 2-9), 16% (hit 10)	The Super Ability of the same name. Kirby wields a gigantic sword to repeatedly slash the opponent before enlarging the sword and then concluding with a powerful downward slash. While near the edge of Final Destination, it KOs middleweights at around 15%.

On-screen appearance

Kirby rides in on his classic warp star, followed by a small explosion while flipping off of it.

Taunts

All taunts remove Kirby's copy ability, if he has one.

• Up taunt: Smiles and poses, producing a star.
• Side taunt: Spins around playfully, followed by a "Nyum!" while standing on one foot. (Based on his "character chosen" animation in Super Smash Bros.)
• Down taunt: Leans toward the screen and says "Hi!" while waving his arms.

• 

  Kirby's up taunt.

• 

  Kirby's side taunt.

• 

  Kirby's down taunt.

Idle poses

• Dozes off, then shakes his head awake.
• Turns to face away from the screen, then turns back.

• 

  Kirby's first idle pose

• 

  Kirby's second idle pose

Victory poses

Note: Outside of team battles, Kirby's victory poses have three separate Kirbys, referencing the Kirby dances from his home series.

• Left: Moonwalks to the left, twists, slides to the right, and jumps into a pose where he stands on one foot. Based on Kirby's dances in Kirby's Return to Dream Land and ends with a pose similar to his Brawl render.
• Up: Cartwheels to the left twice, wiggles, and does a front flip before posing.
• Right: Jumps twice, shuffles backwards, does a breakdance, and poses while facing away from the camera. Based on Kirby's dances in Kirby's Return to Dream Land, with the ending pose also appearing in said game.

The victory theme of the Kirby universe is a cover of the short recurring theme that plays when Kirby completes a stage or defeats a boss, debuting in Kirby's Dream Land, though the shortened version that this track is based on debuted in Kirby's Adventure.

• 
• 
• 

In competitive play

Since the release of Ultimate, many professionals immediately noticed Kirby's significant flaws from the previous installment have been retained, in spite of the mechanics suiting him better in comparison to SSB4. As a result, his representation in regionals and nationals has been minimal, with his reception being negative across the community. Players would deride on his subpar aerial game, poor range, slow aerial frame data, as well as platforms potentially negating all follow-ups should he start a combo with a forward throw. Throughout Ultimate’s metagame, many considered him a low or even bottom tier, with some going as far as putting him as the worst character in the game due to these weaknesses and his sparse results and representation outside of locals.

Patch 6.0.0 eventually gave Kirby more faster and stronger aerials, allowing neutral aerial and up aerial to not only have more KO power and versatility, but also partially restores his ability to follow-up on platforms. His results have slowly improved over time, with players such as Jesuischoq and Komota earning bigger impacts in comparison to release. Because of the patch, players believe he should be ranked higher, though his placement remains to be seen.

Notable players

Any number following the Smasher name indicates placement on the Spring 2019 PGRU, which recognizes the official top 50 players in the world in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate from February 1st, 2019 to July 7th, 2019.

Active

•  Ferretkuma - Placed 17th at Umebura SP 7, taking sets over players such as Suinoko and Atelier.
•  Jesuischoq - The best Kirby in Europe and one of the two best Kirby players in the world. Placed 4th at Salty Arena Cup 1, 9th at Ultimate WANTED 1, and 33rd at Albion 4. Has wins over players such as Destany, Fire, Homika, Otakuni, PEW and Yass. Currently ranked 17th in the French Ultimate Power Rankings.
•  Komota - The best Kirby in the United States and one of the two best Kirby players in the world. Placed 9th at Holiday Heist 4: Ultimate Edition, 17th at COST 2019, as well as 65th at Frostbite 2019 and The Big House 9. Ranked 10th on the Ohio Power Rankings. Has taken sets off players such as Katakiri, Jumpsteady, Cob, and AndrewT.
•  SuperGirlKels - Uses Kirby as secondary alongside her Sonic. Notably used him for a large portion of her Top 8 run at ICARUS V and managed to beat Exodia with him. She has also placed 7th in DreamHack Montreal 2019 using Kirby as one of her characters. Ranked 4th on the Montreal Ultimate Power Rankings.

Inactive

•  Captain L (#50) - Utilized Kirby as a secondary. Placed 1st in The Pinnacle 2018 using Kirby as one of his characters. While Captain L hasn’t officially dropped Kirby, he rarely uses him in bracket and opts to mostly use Pikachu in bracket.

Classic Mode: Gourmet Clash

Kirby's congratulations screen.

Kirby's opponents are characters who, like Kirby, are known for their large appetites. For each battle, Kirby and his opponent each spawn with 35% damage and several food items appear on the stage as the match begins.

Round	Opponent	Stage	Music
1	Pac-Man	Pac-Land	PAC-MAN
2	Giant Yoshi	Yoshi's Island	Ground Theme - Super Mario World
3	Donkey Kong	Jungle Japes	Jungle Hijinxs
4	Giant Wario	Gamer	WarioWare, Inc.
5	King K. Rool	Kongo Jungle	Mangrove Cove
6	King Dedede	Fountain of Dreams	Gourmet Race (64)
Bonus Stage
Final	Marx	Mysterious Dimension	Vs. Marx

Credits roll after completing Classic Mode. Completing it as Kirby has Staff Credits - Kirby's Dream Land accompany the credits.

Character unlock tree

Kirby's Classic Mode character unlock tree includes the following characters in order:

1. Ness
2. Jigglypuff
3. Pac-Man
4. Zelda
5. Robin
6. Corrin
7. Lucas
8. Palutena

Each character can be unlocked by clearing Kirby's Classic Mode, or the Classic Mode of any preceding character, if all preceding characters have been unlocked. Once all the above characters are unlocked, clearing Classic Mode with any of them will default to Mario's character unlock tree, starting with Sonic.

Role in World of Light

Kirby facing the World of Light, from the mode's opening cutscene.

Kirby in the start of World of Light's gameplay

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. Despite being the sole survivor, Kirby is still seen as a puppet in a few areas of the mode. It was later explained that Galeem had analyzed Kirby at some point during the story and was able to make puppet fighters in his image without needing Kirby himself.

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

He is later seen alongside several other fighters, as they make their final stand against Galeem and Dharkon.

Fighter Battle

No.	Image	Name	Type	Power	Stage	Music
06		Kirby	There is no fighter battle for Kirby, this fighter is available from the beginning

Spirits

Kirby's Fighter Spirit can be obtained by completing Classic Mode. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 500 coins. Starting World of Light and play as Kirby allows the player to preview the first spirit below in the Spirit List under the name "???". As a Fighter Spirit, it cannot be used in Spirit Battles and is purely aesthetic. Each Fighter Spirit has an alternate version that replaces them with their artwork in Ultimate.

Additionally, Kirby makes an appearance in various Support Spirits.

• 

  323. Kirby

• 

  326. Warp Star

• 

  327. Star Rod

• 

  328. Ultra Sword

• 

  329. Robobot Armor

In Spirit battles

As the main opponent

Spirit				Battle parameters							Inspiration
No.	Image	Name	Series	Enemy Fighter(s)	Type	Power	Stage	Rules	Conditions	Music	Character
48	File:Boo Spirit.png	Boo	Super Mario series	•Kirby		1,800	Mushroom Kingdom U (Slide Lift Tower)	•Invisibility	•The enemy is invisible •The enemy's shield has extra durability	Main Theme - Luigi's Mansion (Brawl)
50	File:Bob-omb.png	Bob-omb	Super Mario series	•Kirby (×3)		3,500	Mushroom Kingdom	•Item: Bob-omb	•The enemy's throwing-type items have increased power •The enemy has increased move speed	Airship Theme - Super Mario Bros. 3
66		King Bob-omb	Super Mario series	•Giant Kirby		4,100	Peach's Castle	•Item: Bob-omb	•The enemy is giant •The enemy is easily distracted by items	Main Theme - Super Mario 64
69		Piantas	Super Mario series	•Kirby (×2) •Kirby (×2) •Kirby (×2) •Kirby (×2)		1,600	Delfino Plaza	•Item Tidal Wave •Item: Mushrooms	•Certain items will appear in large numbers after a little while	Delfino Plaza
71		Luma	Super Mario series	•Kirby (×4) ()		3,500	Mario Galaxy	•Item: Stars	•Take your strongest team into this no-frills battle	Rosalina in the Observatory / Luma's Theme
74		Lubba	Super Mario series	•Giant Kirby		4,100	Mario Galaxy	•Hazard: Low Gravity •Item: Super Launch Star	•Gravity is reduced •The enemy starts the battle with a Super Launch Star •The enemy is giant	The Starship Sails
116		Viruses	Dr. Mario series	•Kirby (×3) ()		4,000	Mario Bros. (Battlefield form)	N/A	•Timed battle	Fever	Chill Virus (blue costume), Weird Virus (yellow costume), Fever Virus (red costume)
285		X Parasite	Metroid series	•Kirby Team (×10)		2,100	Lylat Cruise	N/A	•The enemy favors neutral specials •Defeat an army of fighters	Sector 1
327		Star Rod	Kirby series	•Kirby Team (×4)		9,200	Fountain of Dreams	N/A	•The enemy starts the battle with a Star Rod	Gourmet Race (Melee)
329		Robobot Armor	Kirby series	•Metal Kirby Team (×4)		4,000	Halberd	•Item: Drill	•Stamina battle •The enemy is metal	Pink Ball Activate!
331	File:Dragoon1.png	Dragoon	Kirby series	•Kirby		13,500	Pilotwings	•Item: Dragoon Parts	•Items will be pulled toward the enemy •The enemy has increased move speed	The Legendary Air Ride Machine
335	File:Gooey.png	Gooey	Kirby series	•Kirby		4,200	Dream Land	N/A	•Timed battle •The enemy favors neutral specials	Gourmet Race (64)
339		Whispy Woods	Kirby series	•Kirby Team (×5)		9,300	Green Greens	•Hazard: Heavy Wind	•Dangerously high winds are in effect •Reinforcements will appear after an enemy is KO'd	Boss Theme Medley - Kirby Series	Whispy Woods's apples
341		Nightmare's Power Orb	Kirby series	•Giant Kirby		4,000	Fountain of Dreams	•Assist Trophy Enemies (Nightmare)	•Hostile assist trophies will appear after a little while •The enemy is giant •The enemy starts the battle with a Star Rod	Vs. Marx
360		Waddle Dee	Kirby series	•Kirby Team (×4)		3,700	Dream Land GB	N/A	•Take your strongest team into this no-frills battle	Kirby Retro Medley
362		Waddle Doo	Kirby series	•Kirby (×3)		2,500	Dream Land	•Hazard: Zap Floor	•The floor is electrified •The enemy starts the battle with a Super Scope	Butter Building (for 3DS / Wii U)
366		Scarfy	Kirby series	•Kirby Team (×4) (,x3)		1,400	Dream Land	N/A	•Reinforcements will appear after an enemy is KO'd	Green Greens (Melee)	Angry Scarfy (red Kirby)
368		Rocky	Kirby series	•Metal Kirby		2,600	The Great Cave Offensive (Battlefield form)	N/A	•Timed Stamina battle •The enemy favors down specials •The enemy is metal	The Great Cave Offensive
370	File:Bomber Spirit.png	Bomber	Kirby series	•Kirby		3,500	Dream Land GB	•Item: Bomber	•The enemy starts the battle with a Bomber	Butter Building (Brawl)
380		Prince Fluff	Kirby series	•Kirby		1,900	Super Happy Tree	N/A	•The enemy's throws have increased power •The enemy favors grabs and throws	Green Greens (for 3DS / Wii U)
432	File:DugtrioSpirit.png	Dugtrio	Pokémon series	•Kirby (×3)		1,500	Pokémon Stadium 2 (Ground type)	•Earthquake	•Periodic earthquakes will shake the stage after a little while	Pokémon Gym/Evolution - Pokémon Red / Pokémon Blue
438	File:Geodude Spirit.png	Geodude	Pokémon series	•Kirby Team (×4)		1,400	Pokémon Stadium 2 (Ground type)	N/A	•The enemy favors down specials	Pokémon Gym/Evolution - Pokémon Red / Pokémon Blue
458	File:Ditto Spirit.png	Ditto	Pokémon series	•Kirby		3,400	Pokémon Stadium	N/A	•The enemy favors neutral specials •Only certain Pokémon will emerge from Poké Balls (Ditto)	Road to Viridian City - Pokémon Red / Pokémon Blue
470		Marill	Pokémon series	•Kirby		1,700	Pokémon Stadium 2	N/A	•Water and ice attacks aren't as effective against the enemy	Pokémon Gold / Pokémon Silver Medley
546	File:Diamantus.png	Diancie	Pokémon series	•Reflect Kirby (×2)		3,900	Kalos Pokémon League	N/A	•The enemy reflects projectiles •The enemy favors down specials •The enemy takes less damage while in the air	Battle! (Champion) - Pokémon X / Pokémon Y
553		Pyukumuku	Pokémon series	•Tiny Kirby (×4)		1,600	Wuhu Island	N/A	•Only certain Pokémon will emerge from Poké Balls (Pyukumuku)	Battle! (Wild Pokémon) - Pokémon Sun / Pokémon Moon
559		Nihilego	Pokémon series	•Kirby (×3)		4,100	The Great Cave Offensive (Ω form)	•Hazard: Poison Floor	•The floor is poisonous •The enemy loves to jump •The enemy falls slowly	The Battle at the Summit!
623		Wrys	Fire Emblem series	•Kirby		2,500	Temple	N/A	•Timed Stamina battle •The enemy tends to avoid conflict •The enemy heals over time	Shadow Dragon Medley
806		White Pikmin	Pikmin series	•Tiny Kirby Team (×13)		4,400	Distant Planet (Battlefield form)	•Item: POW Block •Hazard: Poison Floor	•The floor is poisonous •Timed Stamina battle •The enemy favors dash attacks	Forest of Hope
809		Rock Pikmin	Pikmin series	•Tiny Kirby Team (×8)		1,800	Garden of Hope	•Hazard: High Gravity	•Stamina battle •Your jumping power decreases •The enemy favors down specials	Garden of Hope (Original)
948	File:Ghosts spirit.png	Ghosts	Pac-Man series	•Kirby •Jigglypuff •Squirtle •Pac-Man		3,500	Pac-Land (Battlefield form)	•Assist Trophy Enemies (Ghosts)	•Hostile assist trophies will appear	PAC-MAN	Blinky
1,122		Unira	Clu Clu Land series	•Kirby Team (×4)		1,800	75m	•Item Tidal Wave •Item: Unira	•Certain items will appear in large numbers •The enemy is easily distracted by items	Clu Clu Land
1,155	File:Hakkun Spirit.png	Hakkun	Sutte Hakkun	•Kirby		2,100	Yoshi's Island	•Invisibility	•Timed battle •You are invisible after a little while	Flower Field
1,180		Tomatrio	Tomato Adventure	•Kirby (×3) ()		1,600	Yoshi's Island (Melee) (Battlefield form)	•Item: Maxim Tomato	•The enemy is easily distracted by items	Mixed-Up Scramble
1,186		Mattel	The Legendary Starfy series	•Kirby		1,800	Delfino Plaza (Large Island)	•Assist Trophy Enemies (Starfy)	•Hostile assist trophies will appear	Tortimer Island Medley
1,226		Magkid	Slide Adventure MAGKID	•Kirby Team (×4)		1,800	PictoChat 2	•Assist Trophy Enemies (Devil)	•Hostile assist trophies will appear •The enemy can deal damage by dashing into you •The enemy has increased move speed	PictoChat
1,278		Qbby	BOXBOY! Series	•Kirby (×4)		9,300	Wii Fit Studio	•Item Tidal Wave	•Certain items will appear in large numbers	Ice Cream Island
1,330		Slime	DRAGON QUEST Series	•Kirby Team (×5) •Giant Kirby		1,700	Gaur Plains (Battlefield form)	N/A	•Stamina battle •The enemy favors neutral air attacks •Reinforcements will appear after an enemy is KO'd	Fighting Spirits - DRAGON QUEST III	King Slime (Giant Kirby)
1,336		Liquid Metal Slime	DRAGON QUEST Series	•Metal Kirby		5,700	Great Cave Offensive (Battlefield form)	•Move Speed ↑ •Defense ↑ •Attack Power ↓	•The enemy has super armor and is hard to launch or make flinch •The enemy starts the battle with a Franklin Badge •Timed stamina battle	Battle for the Glory - DRAGON QUEST IV
1,343		Jiggy	Banjo-Kazooie Series	•Gold Kirby (×5)		2,000	The Great Cave Offensive	N/A	•Timed stamina battle •The enemy falls slowly	Treasure Trove Cove
1,355		O-Tetrimino	Tetris series	•Kirby		2,000	Mushroomy Kingdom	•Assist Trophy Enemies (Thwomp) •Item: POW Block	•Hostile assist trophies will appear •The enemy prefers down specials in the air	Tetris: Type B

As a minion

Spirit				Battle parameters							Inspiration
No.	Image	Name	Series	Enemy Fighter(s)	Type	Power	Stage	Rules	Conditions	Music	Character
67		Shine Sprite	Super Mario series	•Rosalina & Luma •Kirby (×3) ()		13,100	Delfino Plaza (roof)	•Temporary Invincibility •Sudden Final Smash •Item: Stars	•Defeat the main fighter to win •The enemy will suddenly have a Final Smash •The enemy will occasionally be invincible	Delfino Plaza (Remix)	Piantas
72	File:Hungry Luma Spirit.png	Hungry Luma	Super Mario series	•Rosalina & Luma •Kirby		1,900	Mario Galaxy	•Item: Super Launch Star	•Take your strongest team into this no-frills battle	Egg Planet	Hungry Luma
104	File:Genosmrpg.png	Geno	Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars	•Sheik •Peach •Kirby •Bowser •Mario		13,700	Mario Galaxy (Battlefield form)	N/A	•Defeat the main fighter to win •Timed battle •The enemy's FS Meter charges quickly	Rainbow Road Medley	Mallow
332		Rick	Kirby series	•Pikachu •Kirby		4,100	Green Greens	•Hazard: Ice Floor	•The floor is frozen •The enemy starts the battle with a Fire Flower •The enemy has increased move speed	Planet Popstar	Kirby
333		Kine	Kirby series	•Squirtle •Kirby		3,600	Wuhu Island (Rocks at sea)	•Buoyancy Reduced	•You can't swim •The enemy starts the battle with a Freezie	Float Islands	Kirby
334		Coo	Kirby series	•Falco •Kirby		4,100	Dream Land	•Hazard: Heavy Wind	•Dangerously high winds are in effect •The enemy loves to jump •The enemy falls slowly	Forest/Nature Area	Kirby
690	File:Ball Spirit.png	Ball	Game & Watch series	•Mr. Game & Watch •Pac-Man •Jigglypuff •Kirby		3,900	Flat Zone X (hazards off)	•Item: Balls	•The enemy favors grabs and throws •The enemy's throwing type items have increased power	Flat Zone 2	Ball
723		Viridi	Kid Icarus series	•Mii Swordfighter (Moveset 1232, Viridi Wig, Viridi Outfit, High Voice Type 6) •Kirby		13,700	Reset Bomb Forest	N/A	•Defeat the main fighter to win •The enemy's special moves have increased power •Timed battle	Wrath of the Reset Bomb	Cragalanche
1,107		Fighting Alloy Team	Super Smash Bros. series	•Captain Falcon Team (×4) •Zelda Team (×4) •Mario Team (×4) •Kirby Team (×4)		3,300	Final Destination (Battlefield form)	N/A	•Take your strongest team into this no-frills battle	Cruel Smash	Green Alloy
1,119		Devil	Devil World	•Ridley •Kirby (×2)		3,900	75m (Battlefield form)	•Assist Trophy Enemies (Devil)	•Hostile assist trophies will appear	25m Theme	Bon-Bon
1,197		Munchy Monk	Rhythm Heaven series	•Ken •Tiny Kirby (×3)		1,500	Spirit Train	Item: Food	•Defeat the main fighter to win •The enemy favors up specials •The enemy is easily distracted by items	Fruit Basket	Dumplings
1,216	File:Drlube.png	Dr. Lobe	Big Brain Academy series	•Dr. Mario •Kirby (×2) ()		3,400	PictoChat 2	•Hazard: Low Gravity •Hazard: High Gravity	•All fighters have reduced jump ability •Gravity is reduced after a little while	Title Theme - Big Brain Academy
1,286		Clip & Snip	Snipperclips - Cut it out, together! series	•Pac-Man •Kirby		3,600	PictoChat 2	N/A	•The enemy starts the battle with a Killing Edge	Noisy Notebook	Snip
1,301		River Survival	Super Mario series	•Bowser •Kirby •Yoshi •Rosalina & Luma		5,500	Kongo Falls (Ω form)	•Bob-omb Festival •Item Tidal Wave •Item: Food	•Survive until the timer runs out •Bob-ombs will rain from the sky after a little while	Slide	Goomba

Alternate costumes

Gallery

• Kirby SSBU Banner.png
• 

  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.

Trivia

• Kirby's stock icon is one of four to show eyes (the others being Meta Knight, R.O.B., and Sonic), due to it being a simplistic pink circle otherwise, in order to tell that it is his stock icon.
  • 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.
• Since Kirby is the starter character of World of Light and part of the starter roster, it means he's the only character that isn't unlockable in the game for any mode.
  • This also makes Kirby the only character in the entire series that is never unlocked in any mode.
    • This means it is impossible to see the message saying that "Kirby joins the battle!".
  • Despite his status as the mode's starter character and closest thing to a main character, Kirby's depiction in marketing or artwork for Ultimate is no more prominent than any of the other starter characters, apart from Mario and Link who collectively serve as the game's mascots.
• Kirby has the highest amount of voice clips for any character in the game, with 95 clips.
• Kirby is the only starter character in Ultimate whose universe has more than one character to not include any characters in their Classic Mode unlock table, as Meta Knight is in Link's, and King Dedede is in Donkey Kong's. Namely:
  • Mario's unlock table includes Luigi and Dr. Mario.
  • Donkey Kong's unlock table includes Diddy Kong.
  • Link's unlock table includes Young Link and Toon Link.
  • Samus's unlock table includes Dark Samus.
  • Fox's unlock table includes Falco and Wolf.
  • Pikachu's unlock table includes Pichu.
• Unlike other characters, Kirby can actually taunt online when playing outside of arenas, but only to discard his copy ability.
• As a result of not being captured, Kirby is one of the few characters that doesn't have copies of him produced by Dharkon or Galeem during their boss fights.
• Ironically, while the Kirby Dance has traditionally been composed of reused animations in the game, Kirby uses the slide in one of his new victory poses despite not using it in the entire Smash series.
• Since Kirby was never possessed by Galeem like everyone else, his presence in many spirit battles went unclear for some time, until Masahiro Sakurai addressed this in an interview; stating that Galeem managed to analyze Kirby halfway through the story, making it possible to create puppets of him.
• Kirby is one of the five veterans from Smash 4 to have their Boxing Ring alias changed in Ultimate, the others being Link, King Dedede, Mega Man, and Ryu.
• Kirby is the only Kirby character to face Marx as his final boss in his Classic Mode route.