Inhale Prevails

[3bubby]

I'd like to discuss the King's neutral B, and how peculiar it is.

King Dedede was more often than not a boss character in the Kirby titles/franchise. His moveset reflects that rather entirely as he is offensive, but with the weakness to punishes. You have to beat the boss somehow!

One of those moves is the Inhale, in which The Young D3 can suck up an item or character, then launch the latter. As I main Dedede, my experience with Neutral B has been either to make a statement, reset to neutral, intimidate, or even kill.

Make A Statement: A mindgame. When opponents see their attacks become a meal, they are suddenly less confident. In short, I will eat a spammy (Toon) Link's boomerang until they think of something else.

Reset to Neutral: I haven't been lucky in finding frame data, but King Dedede's inhale comes out at a reasonable enough time to catch an opponent off guard, even when said opponent is up close and delivering a lot of pressure. There's something joyful about rendering an opponent helpless for a few seconds before spitting them out to their corner. They are effectively reset with the disadvantage of being open for a mean approach (FAir, hop FAir is what I would suggest)

Intimidate: Despite being a large, slow moving target, Dedede is equipped with several options to kill a greedy opponent. Inhale is one of those options. No one wants to lose a match to a recovering vacuum.

Kill: Spitting an opponent out underneath a stage is always so diabolical, but another option is to spit an opponent out at another opponent. Heavier characters like Ganondorf or Bowser will provide a devastating knockback that has, on multiple occasions, acted as a screen clearing blow.



AND THAT'S JUST ONE MOVE, FOLKS. Please tell me how you guys utilize this handsome bird's Neutral B, as well as his other tricks and moves.

 

[Arrei]

Honestly? Most of the times I use Inhale it's when I'm feeling like d*****g on my opponent for some reason or another, to trap a hapless victim in my gullet as I drag him down to the blast zone with me when I have a stock lead. I don't usually find much other use for the move, I'd actually like to see it get a utility buff whenever we get the next Smash where eating a projectile renders it unusable for like five seconds or something.

 

[DarkestNoon]

Don't forget about B-reversed inhales as a mixup option. It's a really nice tool when somebody's chasing after you if timed correctly. I love going for it when they're expecting you to pivot f tilt and they try to shield once they get in range.

 

[3bubby]

Don't forget about B-reversed inhales as a mixup option. It's a really nice tool when somebody's chasing after you if timed correctly. I love going for it when they're expecting you to pivot f tilt and they try to shield once they get in range.

GAAAASP. I didn't know you could do that with D3.That changes things.

 

[Muskrat Catcher]

I agree. DDD's B-reverse is amazing. If he was a bit faster in the air then it would REALLY be something, but alas, it is still enough to take your opponent by surprise. Most of the time when someone is taken by surprise they shield out of instinct, and they get swallowed.
Also, swallow is great in setting up an edge guard opportunity. Even if you are fighting near the middle of the stage, you can inhale, turn around, and spit out, and your opponent is off the stage regardless of how much damage they have taken.

However, I do have a question about inhale: the distance that your opponent goes after being spit out varies very wildly, so what determines how far they go? Is it damage? Button mashing? Weight? Or even random?

 

[Jatayu]

It's button mashing.

 

[Ghidorah14]

I love inhale. It's always funny to suck someone up and spit them back out, as if to say "nope, try again." I try not to suck up projectiles very often as the swallow animation can leave you open...but I cant deny how funny it is to watch a spamus sit there, wasting time charging her shot, and then have dedede just straight up eat it and be like "thank you, may I have another?"

And I wont lie; I will shamelessly go for dededecides any chance I get. And if I can spit them under the stage and preserve the 2stock, I will. And even if I dont catch them with it, that just means that they fear it, and will usually back off enough to allow me to return to the stage safely.