Meta Knight

Meta Knight
Meta Knight File:KirbySymbol.png Official artwork of Meta Knight from Kirby's Return To Dream Land.
Universe	Kirby
Debut	Kirby's Adventure (1993)
Smash Bros. appearances	Melee Brawl SSB4 Ultimate
Most recent non-Smash appearance	Kirby: Triple Deluxe (2014)
Console/platform of origin	Nintendo Entertainment System
Species	Kirby
Gender	Male
Place of origin	Dream Land
Created by	Masahiro Sakurai
Voice actor	Eric Newsome
Japanese voice actor	Atsushi Kisaichi
Article on WiKirby	Meta Knight

For fighter info, see Meta Knight (SSBB).

Meta Knight (メタナイト, Meta Naito) is a character from the Kirby universe, and is often seen as Kirby's rival or sometimes mentor.

Character description

Official artwork of Meta Knight from Kirby Squeak Squad.

Meta Knight is a major character in the Kirby video game series developed by HAL Laboratory. Kirby's Adventure was his first appearance, although Meta Knight was not given a name until Kirby's Avalanche/Kirby's Ghost Trap in PAL, released in 1995. He is a mysterious character and is seen as both a hero and a villain in the series. He is sometimes cast as an antagonist to Kirby, but his intentions are not generally portrayed as evil. In certain instances, he sends his troops, the Meta-Knights, as enemies against the pink protagonist as a sort of training.

Meta Knight's mask breaks almost every time Kirby defeats him, revealing a Kirby-like face underneath, leading fans to speculate that the two are of the same species. The only difference is that Meta Knight's facial features are pure white and his face is blue. His mask gives the wearer's eyes a yellow-ish tint; it makes Meta Knight's white eyes yellow and Kirby's blue eyes green, as revealed by various Kirby games.

Meta Knight also wears a cape that can turn into wings, which he uses to fly around. On certain occasions, he will take off his cape in battle.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee

Meta Knight's Trophy

Meta Knight's only appearance in this game is as a collectible trophy, unlocked as one of the 250+ trophies that can be collected randomly during normal play, such as in the Trophy Lottery and throughout the various Single-player Regular Matches (though it will only be available to start appearing after the player has played over 200 Vs mode matches). The trophy has two factual errors: The first is that the trophy is called "Meta-Knight", but his name is not supposed to have a hyphen in it, and the second is that his first appearance was in Kirby's Adventure in May 1993, not Kirby Super Star in September 1996. However, he was called Meta-Knight in the SNES version of Super Star.

Trophy Description

The mysterious head of the Meta-Knights, he wields his sword with dignity. He delivered his sword to Kirby and demanded single combat in show of his knightly honor; his strict adherence to his code of ethics makes him a rarity in Dream Land. Sometimes he throws off his cape in battle. It occasionally transforms into wings.

• Kirby Super Star 9/96

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Main article: Meta Knight (SSBB)

Meta Knight as he appears in Brawl

Meta Knight is a newcomer in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and he is available to play from the start. Almost all of his attacks involve his sword, Galaxia, and most of these attacks are extremely fast such as his up air that comes out in just two frames (2/60 of a second), referencing his swordsmanship in the Kirby franchise. Though his overall reach is average, the length of his sword relative to his small body gives him grossly disproportionate disjoint in all of his attacks giving him excellent spacing options. In addition to fast attacks, Meta Knight is equipped with incredible recovery potential. Like Kirby, King Dedede, Jigglypuff, Charizard and Pit, he has multiple jumps, but, despite physically resembling Kirby, he doesn't puff himself up to jump - instead he uses his wings to propel himself upwards, making him more similar to Pit and Charizard in that respect. Also like Pit and Charizard, Meta Knight has the ability to glide using his wings. Furthermore, Meta Knight is equipped with very versatile special moves that not only improve his already stellar recovery but also heavily define his neutral and edgeguard game.

At this point in time, Meta Knight is widely considered to be the best character in the game due to his lack of disadvantageous match-ups (with 1 documented but heavily disputed even matchup) along with his overwhelming dominance in tournaments. Due to being considered "broken", Meta Knight had been banned since January 9, 2012 on the Unity Ruleset and has been the only character in the Smash series to be banned in standard tournaments. However, after the disbandment of the Unity ruleset, prohibiting him is up to the TO.

Trophy Description

The head of the Meta-Knights, and something of a rival to Kirby. He's quite an accomplished swordsman. Following his code of knightly ethics, he once delivered his sword to Kirby and demanded single combat. His giant cape transforms into wings, giving him the power of flight. He's shown his face briefly before, but his relationship to Kirby is still a mystery.

: Kirby's Adventure

: Kirby Super Star

Trivia

• Meta Knight is the only character to have a victory theme different from the other characters in his series.
• In some official artwork, his sword has six spikes on its sides, and Meta Knight's shoulder pads are solid-colored. In Brawl, his sword has only four spikes, and he has an M on his left shoulder pad. In some Kirby games Meta Knight appears in, though, his sword has no spikes, simply resembling a golden version of Kirby's sword, and his shoulder-pads are a solid color.