Kirby & Meta Knight - a Comparison
With two characters so closely tied in a game series and appearance, it's bound to cross many player's mind how both Kirby and Meta Knight stack up to each other. What are their differences? What are their similarities? Do they share the same strengths and weaknesses or do they play completely differently? These are the questions I hope to shed some light on based by comparing and contrasting the two characters.
Ground Speed
Meta Knight is much faster than Kirby on the ground. His dash starts up quickly and is really speedy. Kirby feels much slower than his counterpart while on the ground. This means Meta Knight can zoom up to an opponent and grab much more quickly like a cobra striking from a distance.
Aerial Speed
Meta Knight loses a lot of his mobility once he goes airborne. Both Kirby and Meta Knight are similar in how quickly they can go both horizontally and vertically in the air. However, they both have some excellent "surprise speed" they get from various attacks.
Kirby's B-air juts out quickly and gives the impression he moves back quickly when striking and then pulls back. His Giant Swing (aerial hammer) is also great to mix up horizontal movement both forward and backward since air control is excellent mid-swing. Final Cutter can come out quickly with a speedy vertical boost up and then down that is much faster than in Melee.
Meta Knight's aerial speed can be boosted with the use of Mach Tornado creating a high-priority attack with a lot of aerial mobility. Drill Rush can be a surprise horizontal boost that can be angled up and down to catch an unsuspecting target, but it can leave you open if you go into FallSpecial. Dimensional Cape is excellent to suddenly move in any direction - and if you don't slash when reappearing the lag is minimal. Meta Knight's best aerial surprise is definitely Shuttle Loop. This attack executes before your opponent can see it coming, has excellent knockback, boosts Meta Knight vertically and then allows him to go into a horizontal glide!
Meta Knight falls faster in the air than Kirby while, but they both Fast Fall at the same rate. He also has a higher initial jump (from the ground), but Kirby's first mid-air jump is higher which puts them almost even at that point all the way to the apex where Meta Knight is only marginally higher.
Attack Range
Looking at the size and shape of attacks for both Kirby and Meta Knight they appear very similar. Some attacks obviously have better range over others (Drill Rush opposed to Hammer), but since Meta Knight is slightly larger than Kirby and has a sword I'm going to say the range with standard attacks is better with Meta Knight.
Atack Speed
Meta Knight wins hands down. Almost all his attacks come out ridiculously quickly and have minimal lag. Many of Kirby's attacks have a bit of start-up and often time noticeable lag upon ending. Even Kirby's fastest attacks are about on par with Meta Knight's.
Damage Options
Building damage can be important to both Kirby and Meta Knight. Since Meta Knight's attacks all seem to do very small amounts of damage but with multiple hits, they tend to do about as much damage as Kirby's attacks in general or a little less.
KO Options
I have to admit, Kirby feels like a powerhouse compared to Meta Knight. Once you realize that Kirby's Hammer has been buffed, his Smashes are useful, and the Stone actually KOs, it gets a lot easier to take out your opponents.
Another important aspect of winning with a character is their "gimping" options. That is to say, attacks that you can use to KO opponents regardless of damage.
Kirby has always been known for "cheap" kills, or gimps, ever since N64 so it's no surprise that he still has some gimps up his non-existent sleeves in Brawl. Most of his Kirbycides have been stripped from him leaving only the Swallowcide as a 0% gimp. However, he can now follow-up his Swallowcide with a Footstool Stomp should his victim break free. His D-air lacks the uber spike from N64 days, and even from Melee, but this move too can be followed-up with a Footstool Stomp once it's finished. In addition to these gimps, Kirby can Air Guard very well in Brawl striking with strong attacks (Giant Swing & Stone) safely while fighting off stage as well as being very good at "Air Guarding" with b-airs and f-airs.
Meta Knight lacks gimps with his moveset. His honorable fighting method seems to restrict him to building damage and finishing off foes with a swift slash of his blade... or just to get them off the stage and keep hitting them until they can't get back. A "pseudo gimp" that works well is to strike an opponent with a Glide Attack or a reversed Shuttle Loop when an opponent is recovering, utilizing the knockback to send them off bounds.
Recovery & Resilience
Both Kirby and Meta Knight have great recovery options, but Meta Knight shines in this area even above the majority of all characters in the game. While they both have multiple mid-air jumps, Meta Knight's glide and Special Attacks put him on top for this. Giant Swing for Horizontal movement with Kirby is a boon to recovery, but it's nothing compared to Mach Tornado, Shuttle Loop, Dimensional Cape, Drill Rush, and, of course, the Glide.
Character weight can be seen as a part of recovery, sort of as a "passive" recovery (surviving) before you can actively attempt to make it back to the stage. Yes, both Kirby and Meta Knight are "Light Weights", but apparently their individual weights differ though the amount is so minor that I only saw it with Mario's D-smash, specifically, and it's only a 1% difference.
Kirby
Mario's F-smash: 96% h.
Mario's U-smash: 110% v.
Mario's D-smash: 129% h.
Meta Knight
Mario's F-smash: 96% h.
Mario's U-smash: 110% v.
Mario's D-smash: 128% h.
Summary
Apparently Meta Knight is a faster, multi-hitting Kirby with more general reach with his normal attacks. His recovery is the same as Kirby's but boosted with Gliding and various versatile Special Attack options. Kirby can deal more damage than Meta Knight with various attacks and Kirby's weaker attacks combo into other attacks more easily than Meta Knights, but Meta Knight has access to great damage-building attacks like Mach Tornado and F-tilt.
Kirby's advantages over Meta Knight is his ability to KO at much lower percents. His Smashes are all notably stronger than Meta Knight's, plus he has his Hammer and Stone which can KO at even lower percents. Kirby is also the "gimp master" with Swallowcide and attacks that either spike or lead into Footstool Stomp. Both Kirby and Meta Knight excel at "off-stage" combat to facilitate lower-percent KOs.
With two characters so closely tied in a game series and appearance, it's bound to cross many player's mind how both Kirby and Meta Knight stack up to each other. What are their differences? What are their similarities? Do they share the same strengths and weaknesses or do they play completely differently? These are the questions I hope to shed some light on based by comparing and contrasting the two characters.
Ground Speed
Meta Knight is much faster than Kirby on the ground. His dash starts up quickly and is really speedy. Kirby feels much slower than his counterpart while on the ground. This means Meta Knight can zoom up to an opponent and grab much more quickly like a cobra striking from a distance.
Aerial Speed
Meta Knight loses a lot of his mobility once he goes airborne. Both Kirby and Meta Knight are similar in how quickly they can go both horizontally and vertically in the air. However, they both have some excellent "surprise speed" they get from various attacks.
Kirby's B-air juts out quickly and gives the impression he moves back quickly when striking and then pulls back. His Giant Swing (aerial hammer) is also great to mix up horizontal movement both forward and backward since air control is excellent mid-swing. Final Cutter can come out quickly with a speedy vertical boost up and then down that is much faster than in Melee.
Meta Knight's aerial speed can be boosted with the use of Mach Tornado creating a high-priority attack with a lot of aerial mobility. Drill Rush can be a surprise horizontal boost that can be angled up and down to catch an unsuspecting target, but it can leave you open if you go into FallSpecial. Dimensional Cape is excellent to suddenly move in any direction - and if you don't slash when reappearing the lag is minimal. Meta Knight's best aerial surprise is definitely Shuttle Loop. This attack executes before your opponent can see it coming, has excellent knockback, boosts Meta Knight vertically and then allows him to go into a horizontal glide!
Meta Knight falls faster in the air than Kirby while, but they both Fast Fall at the same rate. He also has a higher initial jump (from the ground), but Kirby's first mid-air jump is higher which puts them almost even at that point all the way to the apex where Meta Knight is only marginally higher.
Attack Range
Looking at the size and shape of attacks for both Kirby and Meta Knight they appear very similar. Some attacks obviously have better range over others (Drill Rush opposed to Hammer), but since Meta Knight is slightly larger than Kirby and has a sword I'm going to say the range with standard attacks is better with Meta Knight.
Atack Speed
Meta Knight wins hands down. Almost all his attacks come out ridiculously quickly and have minimal lag. Many of Kirby's attacks have a bit of start-up and often time noticeable lag upon ending. Even Kirby's fastest attacks are about on par with Meta Knight's.
Damage Options
Building damage can be important to both Kirby and Meta Knight. Since Meta Knight's attacks all seem to do very small amounts of damage but with multiple hits, they tend to do about as much damage as Kirby's attacks in general or a little less.
Meta Knight's aerials do:
n-air (12%)
f-air (10%)
b-air (10%)
u-air (6%)
d-air (9%)
Kirby's aerials do:
n-air (12%)
f-air (12%)
b-air (12%)
u-air (10%)
d-air (14%)
You can see from this that Kirby does just a few percent damage more than Meta Knight. However, as important as aerials are to both Kirby and Meta Knight, Meta Knight's tilts do more damage overall. Most importantly is the fact that Meta Knight has access to Mach Tornado, an amazing attack for racking up damage as well as negating Stale Moves. Kirby lacks such an abusable, damage racking move (not taking Hats into consideration).n-air (12%)
f-air (10%)
b-air (10%)
u-air (6%)
d-air (9%)
Kirby's aerials do:
n-air (12%)
f-air (12%)
b-air (12%)
u-air (10%)
d-air (14%)
KO Options
I have to admit, Kirby feels like a powerhouse compared to Meta Knight. Once you realize that Kirby's Hammer has been buffed, his Smashes are useful, and the Stone actually KOs, it gets a lot easier to take out your opponents.
Meta Knight's Finishers:
(117% h.) F-smash 14%
(119% h.) D-smash 13% (back hit)
(128% v.) Glide Attack 12%
(136% v.) Shuttle Loop 9%
(157% v.) U-smash 9%
(163% v.) Dimensional Cape 14%
Kirby's Finishers:
(75% v.) Hammer 23%
(100% v.) Stone 18%
(101% v.) U-smash 15%
(103% h.) F-smash 15%
(103% v.) D-smash 14% (up close)
(110% h.) Giant Swing 15% (2nd hit)
(117% v.) Giant Swing 17% (1st hit)
(140% h.) D-smash (at toes)
Gimping(117% h.) F-smash 14%
(119% h.) D-smash 13% (back hit)
(128% v.) Glide Attack 12%
(136% v.) Shuttle Loop 9%
(157% v.) U-smash 9%
(163% v.) Dimensional Cape 14%
Kirby's Finishers:
(75% v.) Hammer 23%
(100% v.) Stone 18%
(101% v.) U-smash 15%
(103% h.) F-smash 15%
(103% v.) D-smash 14% (up close)
(110% h.) Giant Swing 15% (2nd hit)
(117% v.) Giant Swing 17% (1st hit)
(140% h.) D-smash (at toes)
Another important aspect of winning with a character is their "gimping" options. That is to say, attacks that you can use to KO opponents regardless of damage.
Kirby has always been known for "cheap" kills, or gimps, ever since N64 so it's no surprise that he still has some gimps up his non-existent sleeves in Brawl. Most of his Kirbycides have been stripped from him leaving only the Swallowcide as a 0% gimp. However, he can now follow-up his Swallowcide with a Footstool Stomp should his victim break free. His D-air lacks the uber spike from N64 days, and even from Melee, but this move too can be followed-up with a Footstool Stomp once it's finished. In addition to these gimps, Kirby can Air Guard very well in Brawl striking with strong attacks (Giant Swing & Stone) safely while fighting off stage as well as being very good at "Air Guarding" with b-airs and f-airs.
Meta Knight lacks gimps with his moveset. His honorable fighting method seems to restrict him to building damage and finishing off foes with a swift slash of his blade... or just to get them off the stage and keep hitting them until they can't get back. A "pseudo gimp" that works well is to strike an opponent with a Glide Attack or a reversed Shuttle Loop when an opponent is recovering, utilizing the knockback to send them off bounds.
Recovery & Resilience
Both Kirby and Meta Knight have great recovery options, but Meta Knight shines in this area even above the majority of all characters in the game. While they both have multiple mid-air jumps, Meta Knight's glide and Special Attacks put him on top for this. Giant Swing for Horizontal movement with Kirby is a boon to recovery, but it's nothing compared to Mach Tornado, Shuttle Loop, Dimensional Cape, Drill Rush, and, of course, the Glide.
Character weight can be seen as a part of recovery, sort of as a "passive" recovery (surviving) before you can actively attempt to make it back to the stage. Yes, both Kirby and Meta Knight are "Light Weights", but apparently their individual weights differ though the amount is so minor that I only saw it with Mario's D-smash, specifically, and it's only a 1% difference.
Kirby
Mario's F-smash: 96% h.
Mario's U-smash: 110% v.
Mario's D-smash: 129% h.
Meta Knight
Mario's F-smash: 96% h.
Mario's U-smash: 110% v.
Mario's D-smash: 128% h.
Summary
Apparently Meta Knight is a faster, multi-hitting Kirby with more general reach with his normal attacks. His recovery is the same as Kirby's but boosted with Gliding and various versatile Special Attack options. Kirby can deal more damage than Meta Knight with various attacks and Kirby's weaker attacks combo into other attacks more easily than Meta Knights, but Meta Knight has access to great damage-building attacks like Mach Tornado and F-tilt.
Kirby's advantages over Meta Knight is his ability to KO at much lower percents. His Smashes are all notably stronger than Meta Knight's, plus he has his Hammer and Stone which can KO at even lower percents. Kirby is also the "gimp master" with Swallowcide and attacks that either spike or lead into Footstool Stomp. Both Kirby and Meta Knight excel at "off-stage" combat to facilitate lower-percent KOs.
