Kirby (SSBU)/Neutral special

Kirby's neutral special, Inhale, when it starts.

Kirby's neutral special, Inhale.

Overview

Kirby opens his mouth and begins to inhale. It possesses a grabbox and can be held indefinitely until the player decides to release the B button. 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, walk around slowly, or perform a short hop. Alternatively, Kirby can descend from the air and inhale opponents near the ledge, attempting to perform a Kirbycide. Opponents caught off guard will try to mash out, resulting in Kirby being given the chance to footstool the opponent and likely net a KO. If the opponent is caught, it would be best to either accept the stock trade or buffer their recovery move right after Kirby releases the opponent.

Most characters will give Kirby a slight variation of their neutral special (such as Monado Arts and Pikmin Pluck), allowing Kirby to use the abilities to varying degrees of usefulness. In most cases, however, these copy abilities will always possess unique niches that can benefit him. This is more noticeable in doubles play, where a teammate like Samus or Shulk can allow themselves to get inhaled, setting Kirby up to get the ability and allow him to pressure foes with the aforementioned abilities.

Update History

2.0.0

• 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 multiple Inhale Glitches:
  • Fixed a visual glitch where Kirby would retain parts of Metal status with Wii Fit Trainer.
  • Fixed a 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.
  • Removed Infinite floating glitch that occurs when Kirby uses multiple copied Mii Swordfighter's Gale Strikes in the air after perfoming a throw that left him in the air.
  • Removed Gliding glitch when Kirby uses a copied and B-reversed Mii Swordfighter's Gale Strike while running.

6.0.0

• Inhale has less startup (frame 14 → 10) with its total duration reduced as well (FAF 68 → 64).

Throw and Hitbox data

Inhale

ID	Radius	Bone	Offset			G	A
Grabboxes (start)
0	6.0	top	0.0	6.0	5.0
Grabboxes (loop)
0	5.3	top	0.0	6.4	10.2
1	5.8	top	0.0	6.4	6.2

ID	Radius	Bone	Offset			G	A
Item searchbox (start)
0	4.0	top	0.0	7.0	8.0
Item searchbox (loop)
0	3.0	top	0.0	7.0	8.0

ID	Part	Rehit rate	Damage	SD	Angle	Angle type	BK	KS	FKV	Set weight	Radius	Bone	Offset			H×	SDI×	T%	Clang	Rebound	Effect	Type	G	A	Sound	Direct	Hit bits	Hit part	Blockable	Reflectable	Absorbable	Flinchless	No GFX	Heedless
Windboxes (loop)
0	0	10	0.0%	0		Forward	0	100	30		8.5	top	0.0	7.0	15.5	0.0×	0.0×	0%					d		None		No stage gimmick	All
1	0	10	0.0%	0		Forward	0	100	25		7.8	top	0.0	7.0	9.7	0.0×	0.0×	0%					d		None		No stage gimmick	All

Swallow/spit

Kind	ID	Damage	Angle	Angle type	BK	KS	FKV	H×	Effect	Type	Sound
Swallow
Throw	0	10.0%		Forward	0	0	0	0.0×			None
Break	0	4.0%		Forward	0	100	0	0.0×			None
Spit
Throw	0	6.0%		Forward	0	0	0	0.0×			None
Break	0	4.0%		Forward	0	100	0	0.0×			None
Grab release by knockback
Break	0	5.0%		Forward	0	100	0	0.0×			None

Star

The star's damage depends on the spat out character, correlating loosely to their weight. If a projectile is spat out, it is instead equal to 0.8× of its damage rounded down, with a minimum of 10%.

ID	Part	Rehit rate	Damage	SD	Angle	Angle type	BK	KS	FKV	Set weight	Radius	Bone	Offset			H×	SDI×	T%	Clang	Rebound	Effect	Type	G	A	Sound	Direct	Hit bits	Hit part	Blockable	Reflectable	Absorbable	Flinchless	No GFX	Heedless
0	0	0	0.0%	0		Speed-based	70	78	0		2.5	top	0.0	0.0	0.0	2.0×	1.0×	0%							Kick		All	All

Characters	Weight range	Star damage
	62 - 68	10%
	75 - 81	12%
	82 - 87	13%
	88 - 94	14%
	95 - 100	15%
	101 - 107	16%
	108 - 113	17%
	116 - 118	18%
	127 - 133	20%
	135	21%

Timing

Inhale

The searchbox is used for item-swallowing. After one full loop, the move can be ended by releasing the special move button at any point.

Loop points	10-11, 34-35
Start	10
Loop	11-44 (windbox rehit rate: 10)
Interruptible (from release)	64 (20)
Animation length (from release)	63 (19)

Opponent inhaled

The timing is from since the opponent enters Kirby's mouth. When coming in range with the inhale's grabbox, it takes at least 4 frames for the opponent to enter Kirby's mouth, then the additional frames depend on their distance from him.

Intangibility	1-15
Animation length	15

Swallow

Throw release	8
Star hitbox	8-17
Interruptible	21
Animation length	42

Kirby
Star

Spit

When an opponent is spat out, the star lasts from 25 to 60 frames, depending on their percent difference with Kirby and button mashing from their part. The framestrips below show the star's minimum duration without button mashing. When a projectile is spat out, the star always lasts 50 frames.

Throw release	8
Star hitbox	8-32
Interruptible (grounded)	31
Animation length (grounded)	30
Interruptible (aerial)	39
Animation length (aerial)	38

Kirby (grounded)
Kirby (aerial)
Star

Inhaling item

Standard

Damage heal	11
Interruptible	52
Animation length	51

Food

Damage heal	11
Interruptible	38
Animation length	37

Heavy

Damage heal	11
Interruptible	86
Animation length	85

Explosive

Recoil damage	11
Interruptible	72
Animation length	71

Legend (1 square = 1 frame)

Lag time

Hitbox

Loop point

State change

Intangible

Flinchless hitbox

Grab

Throw point

Interruptible

Searchbox

Parameters

Inhale

When inhaling an opponent, after the initial intangibility period, the amount of frames the opponent is held in Kirby's mouth is determined by 180 + 1.1t - k, where t and k are the target and Kirby's respective percents when the target was inhaled. On the ground, button mashing reduces this amount by 12 frames per stick input, and 21.6 frames per button input (though they cannot be registered as quickly); in the air, these amounts are increased to 16 and 28.8.

Additionally, while Kirby has an opponent inhaled, his blast line detection is extended forward and down by 4 units, usually causing him to get KO'd first in Sacrificial KO attempts. Prior to update 3.0.0, this increase was of 10 units.

Minimum inhale duration	34 frames
Minimum opponent vacuum time before they are inhaled	4 frames
Offsets from Kirby for vacuuming opponent	[5.4, 6.8]
Opponent vacuum speed	0.9 (horizontal) 1.2 (vertical)
Walk speed multiplier with inhaled opponent	1.08
Horizontal stick sensitivity to turn with inhaled opponent	-0.2
Speed by directional input from inhaled opponent	0.8
Damage healed by inhaling projectile or standard item	1%
Recoil damage by inhaling explosive item	5%
Minimum projectile hitbox size to hold it in Kirby's mouth	5u
Maximum projectile hold time	180 frames

Swallow and Copy Ability

Vertical stick sensitivity to copy inhaled opponent	-0.7
Star Y offset	7u
Star duration	10 frames
Star initial speed	3.4
Star travel angle	62°
Star friction	0.17
Star rotation speed	8°
Copy Ability damage multiplier	1.2
Period before Copy Ability can be lost by damage taken	1200 frames (6.0.0 onward) 600 frames (before 6.0.0) 300 frames (before 3.0.0)
Chance to lose Copy Ability by damage taken (this * damage / 0.7)	0.7 (6.0.0 onward) 1 (before 6.0.0) 1.3 (before 3.0.0)

Star from lost Copy Ability

Y offset	4u
Initial speed	0.67 (horizontal) 2.67 (vertical)
Gravity	0.1
Fall speed	3
Lifetime	50 frames

Star spit

The star's travel speed and duration change based on both Kirby and the target's damage percents. The duration in frames is determined by 25 + 0.5t, with a maximum of 60, while its speed in units per frame is determined by 2.8 + 0.008(t - k), where t is the target's percent prior to being spat out, and k is Kirby's percent. The star's speed decreases by 0.05 per frame, and it releases the target when its speed drops below 0.4. The speed equation can be rewritten as ((2.4 + 0.008(t - k))/0.05) + 2 to estimate the number of frames—when paired with the frame equation, whichever is smaller will be the number of frames the star lasts.

Button mashing from the target reduces the star's duration by 10 frames per stick input, and 18 frames per button input (though they cannot be registered as quickly), with a minimum resulting duration of 4 frames.

Offsets	[7, 7]
Rotation speed	15°
Can pierce opponents?	Yes
Opponent's speed when escaping star	0.73 (horizontal) 2.3 (vertical)
Damage multiplier for spat projectile	0.8
Minimum damage for spat projectile	10%
Star duration for spat projectile	50 frames

Kirby's moveset

Neutral attack (1 · 2 · inf) · Forward tilt · Up tilt · Down tilt · Dash attack · Forward smash · Up smash · Down smash
Neutral aerial · Forward aerial · Back aerial · Up aerial · Down aerial
Grab · Pummel · Forward throw · Back throw · Up throw · Down throw
Floor attack (front) · Floor attack (back) · Floor attack (trip) · Edge attack
Neutral special · Side special · Up special · Down special · Final Smash