The Best Buy event I attended was the standard 2-minute Free-for-All with Items active. They gave everyone two consecutive games in a row. I spent my first one using each move to get a feel for how they felt and a general idea of any changes. The second game I played I played to win. I used Kirby exclusively for both of my games.
Here are my thoughts:
Standard Attack
Very similiar to the usual Vulcan Jab, but with an extra finisher to knock opponents away. This fixes the problem Kirby has had in the past where he could get punished by the opponent immediately following HitStun (Marth's F-smash, lol). If you hold the Attack Button down Kirby will repeat the first punsh indefinitely, the same as in Brawl.
Dash Attack
This is the same Dash Attack as seen in Brawl, but I am happy to say all the hits from Kirby's Dash Attack connect easily. There doesn't appear to be much of an option to follow-up after the Dash Attack because the last hit sends the opponent away with a fairly strong knockback. I only used it once so I cannot comment much on how strong the knockback was, but might be about on par with his F-tilt.
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F-tilt
Kirby's F-tilt hasn't changed much even after four games now. I believe there is more power behind the kick, so Kirby might be netting KOs with this again. As a generl idea of power, Kirby's F-tilt in Brawl KO'd about 180% depending on the weight - in SSB4 it might KO closer to 130% - 150% (hitting from a short distance from the boundary, such as one end of Battlefield).
D-tilt
I didn't hit anyone with this, but when I used it during the test round it felt like Brawl's D-tilt. I cannot confirm if it still causes a trip or not. If it does, it could potentially be a great way to hit-confirm into Smash Attacks to net KOs depending on how forced trips would work.
U-tilt
At first I thought this was nerfed in speed, but after testing a few of them out both whiffed and on opponents I'm going to say it pretty much felt like Brawl Kirby's U-tilt. The launches and juggles in this game felt a little different than in any other Smash game, so I will say it feels like the combo potential is there, but I don't know to what extent. It was probably modified to keep Kirby from getting *too* many U-tilts on fast fallers but to retain it's usefulness in setting up combos.
F-smash
I'm not even going to bother comparing this thing to Melee's F-smash because the difference is like night and day. When compared to Brawl's F-smash, I would say the start-up was reduced so that it hit faster. I would estimate it hitting closer to 8-frames now. I'm not entirely sure, but the 'sour-spot' from Brawl seemed to be mitigated so that it's way more likely to get a good, strong hit, but that might be from the faster hit frames.
D-smash
I don't have much to comment on this. I didn't hit anyone with it, but it's pretty much the same 'propeller' kick that Kirby's been using for over a decade now. I'll have to try this out again on Saturday because I would like to see if it got any better (I liked the duration it had in Melee to catch spot dodges, and it could have used a little more power in Brawl).
U-smash
There's still a horribly weak sour-spot on this attack when Kirby hits when the kick drops behind him. The good news is that it isn't nearly as bad as it was in Brawl/Melee so that you won't necessarily give your opponents free hits on you when you land it - it's about on par with Project: M's U-smash sour-spot. The U-smash itself isn't changed much, it's still used as a strong vertical launcher as expected from the standard U-smash.
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Kirby's Aerial Attacks were awesome. I felt like they were polished up, made more useful, and became more effective overall.
N-air
I will have to give this one more testing, but it felt like the problems it had in Brawl were addressed. I'm going to have to see how it could possibly be used during offense, specifically during combos/pressure, and get back to everyone on this after Saturday. I'm also interested in testing it out off-stage, against various opposing hitboxes, etc.
F-air
Kirby's F-air in SSB was great. In Melee it was garbage. In Brawl it was just underwelming. The main problem with Brawl Kirby's F-air was how akward and difficult it was to use the F-air. The last hit of Brawl Kirby's F-air was decent, but it just took too long to get there and with B-air being an overall better move the F-air just got over-shadowed. In SSB4 the akwardness seemed to be addressed the same way as the Dash Attack by making it easier to land the multi-hitting kicks. Additionally, with the change to the games mechanics, the F-air now has untapped potential! You can Fast Fall and convert to a ground attack such as F-tilt or reversed U-tilt, or you can go for the third kick and send your opponents over the edge. I'm very happy with this attack and cannot wait to use it more when the game launches.
B-air
This move has everything Kirby needs to do work in his battles. The range, power, and utility of this move is all still there, but the sweet-spot feels ... sweeter. I would say it reminds me of the B-air found in SSB which makes me happy.
D-air
The problem with D-air in all itereations of Smash Bros after the first was that the amount of reward you got when actually hitting with the thing was practically not worth it. In Melee you might get something off an L-canceled D-air but it was more likely to get stuffed before it came out, and in Brawl the follow-ups were a gamble. - and let's not even talk about how lackluster the off-stage was with this. But in the SSB4 demo this is all addressed. Successfully pulling off this slow attack on-stage felt like an almost guarenteed advantage or flat-out combo. Off-stage you won't be seeing the awesome Kirby Spike of Doom from 64 days, but you will at least drag your opponents down with you for a good distance with a very solid-hitting multi-attack. I am very pleased with how this looks so far, because I know that balancing this attack can be difficult (shortening the start-up, for instance, can make it very spammy off-stage, increasing the power messes with on-stage options and make it feel 'cheap' in lower level arenas, etc).
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I wasn't very impressed with Kirby's Specials. They felt similar to Brawl's and there really wasn't enough changed about them to get me excited about using them. This isn't to say that they won't be changed later, or that there isn't the chance for something cool to be discovered, but in the short time I had with the game, nothing stellar popped out for me.
Swallow (N-Special)
I believe this comes out faster, much like the speed of a grab. I'm thinking they must have done something about that wonky "gust" hitbox that he had in Brawl. I copied Zelda and he still has his "Young Zelda" hat. I'll keep this one in mind to possibly try out more on Saturday, but ... Man! I just want Sakurai to give Kirby his Abilities found in Super Star one of these days. :*(
Stone (D-Special)
I was not impressed with this attack. It didn't seem especially powerful but it was exceptionally slow. Unless there's more to this than I could intially see (like Armor Frames), then this move is a bust.
Final Cutter (U-special)
I didn't see much of a change in this attack, though the ending lag might not have been as bad. If that's the case, then at least that's something, right? Getting punished for sending out Final Cutter shots was lame.
Hammer (F-Special)
Okay, so this was fun, I'm not going to lie. It's still not necessarily a good move, but it's always great to land on unsuspecting opponents. One thing that was disappointing was the added lag time after an Aerial Hammer. It was a good amount of lag, too.
Okay, so I gotta go, but I'm definitely making plans on making another trip to the Saturday event this weekend! I want to say that already I'm really happy with the game and I can't wait to play more of it!
