chaosscizzors
Smash Journeyman
i just want to share some thoughts i've had about this topic since kirby was first released. i'm not advocating any sort of change, as always. i'd like to get your thoughts on this subject and i welcome anybody to call me out on any nonsense i mistakenly post in ignorance. i've never played melee kirby, plain and simple.
this is something that has been bothering me for a long time now. out of all the characters in PM, kirby is the only one that i don't like, and i'd like to explain why that is and why i believe the pmbr has betrayed kirby's archetype. i understand that kirby was constructed from melee's iteration of the character, but hear me out... PM is, if i'm not mistaken, supposed to take elements from all the smash games, so i find it a shame to see brawl and 64 being overlooked in this iteration.
the smash 64 and brawl kirby has a fairly specific archetype. kirby was more of a defensive character that utilized moves such as utilt to zone and wall opponents and then capitalize when the opponent is offstage with an effective gimp. the gimping potential is there and i have no complaints about that specific facet of his archetype. smash 64's iteration had a decidedly overbearing utilt, and i by no means think that such a move deserves to be in PM. let me go into more detail...
utilt:
this move in particular is my main complaint. utilt in smash 64 and even brawl was a very disjointed anti-air type move that was used to stuff approaches. in PM i was eager to use utilt in conjunction with wavedashing to keep my opponent from approaching me, similar to how a marth might abuse fair. to my chagrin i found that utilt in PM is not disjointed and it trades with pretty much everything, making it useless as a defensive and spacing tool.
uair:
this is one of those moves that i like and hate at the same time. i love the sourspot hitbox that send opponents at an awkward angle, which leads to some great gimping potential. what bothers me is that i can't use uair as a combo tool/approach option ala brawl. one of my favorite combos in brawl was fthrow > uair > pivot utilt > bair. uair in brawl was a magnificent spacing tool and combo starter and i'm disappointed to see to gone. if uair's sourspot hitbox was slightly extended so i could use it as an approach via shff'l this would be a null issue.
forward final cutter:
i don't hate this move. what bothers me is its recovery utility. i think this move would be better if it lead to lagless fall special. this would allow low ground combos or even creative platform combos but prevent players from abusing this move to recover with kirby's already adequate recovery. it's extremely easy to recover if you use the forward version of final cutter immediately after being launched, and then you can comfortably return to the stage with your 5 (!) midair jumps, areals and stone attack which is now much faster. giving this move lagless fall special would allow for quick follow ups but prevent him from having the very powerful recovery that he currently has.
inhale:
this move is a bit awkward to judge. on one hand i feel like players haven't adapted to it properly yet, and on the other hand i feel like it's just a bit too strong. inhale often functions similarly to a shine spike but it has a fairly good range. an easy solution for this is to alter the mechanics of its momentum altering properties. an easy solution imo is to give the move the stall properties it had previously, that is to halt momentum on execution, but also to retain it's current momentum acceleration properties. so basically, halt momentum on execution, but allow the player to move freely after execution, during the inhale animation itself. i'm not too invested in changing this move however. it's not "broken", but i think it might require some minor tweaking.
dash attack:
is awesome. actually i think it's great and this move kinda obsoletes the forward cutter as an approach. does kirby need approach attacks? personally i liked him better as a zoning character and i don't really feel like he needs either of these moves if he had his brawl utilt and uair tools.
this is something that has been bothering me for a long time now. out of all the characters in PM, kirby is the only one that i don't like, and i'd like to explain why that is and why i believe the pmbr has betrayed kirby's archetype. i understand that kirby was constructed from melee's iteration of the character, but hear me out... PM is, if i'm not mistaken, supposed to take elements from all the smash games, so i find it a shame to see brawl and 64 being overlooked in this iteration.
the smash 64 and brawl kirby has a fairly specific archetype. kirby was more of a defensive character that utilized moves such as utilt to zone and wall opponents and then capitalize when the opponent is offstage with an effective gimp. the gimping potential is there and i have no complaints about that specific facet of his archetype. smash 64's iteration had a decidedly overbearing utilt, and i by no means think that such a move deserves to be in PM. let me go into more detail...
utilt:
this move in particular is my main complaint. utilt in smash 64 and even brawl was a very disjointed anti-air type move that was used to stuff approaches. in PM i was eager to use utilt in conjunction with wavedashing to keep my opponent from approaching me, similar to how a marth might abuse fair. to my chagrin i found that utilt in PM is not disjointed and it trades with pretty much everything, making it useless as a defensive and spacing tool.
uair:
this is one of those moves that i like and hate at the same time. i love the sourspot hitbox that send opponents at an awkward angle, which leads to some great gimping potential. what bothers me is that i can't use uair as a combo tool/approach option ala brawl. one of my favorite combos in brawl was fthrow > uair > pivot utilt > bair. uair in brawl was a magnificent spacing tool and combo starter and i'm disappointed to see to gone. if uair's sourspot hitbox was slightly extended so i could use it as an approach via shff'l this would be a null issue.
forward final cutter:
i don't hate this move. what bothers me is its recovery utility. i think this move would be better if it lead to lagless fall special. this would allow low ground combos or even creative platform combos but prevent players from abusing this move to recover with kirby's already adequate recovery. it's extremely easy to recover if you use the forward version of final cutter immediately after being launched, and then you can comfortably return to the stage with your 5 (!) midair jumps, areals and stone attack which is now much faster. giving this move lagless fall special would allow for quick follow ups but prevent him from having the very powerful recovery that he currently has.
inhale:
this move is a bit awkward to judge. on one hand i feel like players haven't adapted to it properly yet, and on the other hand i feel like it's just a bit too strong. inhale often functions similarly to a shine spike but it has a fairly good range. an easy solution for this is to alter the mechanics of its momentum altering properties. an easy solution imo is to give the move the stall properties it had previously, that is to halt momentum on execution, but also to retain it's current momentum acceleration properties. so basically, halt momentum on execution, but allow the player to move freely after execution, during the inhale animation itself. i'm not too invested in changing this move however. it's not "broken", but i think it might require some minor tweaking.
dash attack:
is awesome. actually i think it's great and this move kinda obsoletes the forward cutter as an approach. does kirby need approach attacks? personally i liked him better as a zoning character and i don't really feel like he needs either of these moves if he had his brawl utilt and uair tools.