Matchup Charts on Kirby

[Deleted member]

Seeing a bunch of Kirbies face off against numerous people, ranging from swordies to up-close fighters, I decided to make a matchup chart...on KIRBY! By then, the meta has made certain matchups crystal clear, while others are as unclear as you can get.
65:35:
60:40:
55:45:
50:50:
45:55:
40:60:
35:65
30:70 (HELLFIRE):

Updates: I’m rearranging it, so if there’s anything else you’d disagree on, let me know.

Update 1.2: Rearranging some matchups because I haven’t done so for around a month and a half. Also counting copy abilities assuming Kirby is able to get them. Juggleboy and Jesuischoq provided some insight on some of my views so some of the matchups changed. For instance Ganondorf is one of Kirby’s best matchups because some moves (including a point-blank Wizard’s Foot) can be crouched on; Ganon is also a comfortable punching bag for combos and edgeguarding despite his greater power. Alternatively, Yoshi is HELLFIRE because of his distinct armor bypassing his combos, possessing a fearsome projectile, and having greater KO power while being more difficult to KO himself. The Sonic matchup from 4 is nowhere near as bad as some people believe but it’s still annoying to deal with his speed.

 

[The Rhythm Theif]

Honestly, Kirby can absolutely demolish Ness and Lucas if you know how to dodge PK Fire. So the PSI kids would rather be in 55:45 in my opinion. But otherwise, great job!

 

[Mogisthelioma]

Kirby has pretty good matchups against most heavies save Dedede because of his projectiles and disjoints. It's not like many heavies can do much against some of Kirby's combos.

 

[shade3134]

Honestly, Kirby can absolutely demolish Ness and Lucas if you know how to dodge PK Fire. So the PSI kids would rather be in 55:45 in my opinion. But otherwise, great job!

How do you dodge PK fire?

 

[The Rhythm Theif]

How do you dodge PK fire?

It's simple. JUMP.

 

[shade3134]

It's simple. JUMP.

Against a competent Ness, they'll see that from a mile away and fair or nair you.

Kirby's airspeed is too slow to approach anything by jumping.

 

[Deleted member]

If Ness PK Fires and then jump, no I don't see anything wrong after Kirby forward airs you and then racks up a bit of damage. Remember that Ness is still in his animation of unleashing his projectile and that Kirby has a handful of frames to act.

So I think The Rhythm Theif is correct.

 

[The Rhythm Theif]

Against a competent Ness, they'll see that from a mile away and fair or nair you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQSU1RYMew8
PK Fire has some endlag after the move is finished, so if you're up close to a Ness using this demonic attack:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WszTpIC_rvc
Just jump and D-Air them.

 

[Deleted member]

Against a competent Ness, they'll see that from a mile away and fair or nair you.

Kirby's airspeed is too slow to approach anything by jumping.

If Ness is in the middle of his animation of PK Firing, Kirby has enough frames to forward air him. Also competent Kirbies expect nairs and fairs so if they read on what Ness is doing they'll just punish him.

 

[The Rhythm Theif]

If Ness is in the middle of his animation of PK Firing, Kirby has enough frames to forward air him.

Y'mean this, right?

 

[Deleted member]

Yeah if that's how you wanna put it :D

 

[shade3134]

If Ness is in the middle of his animation of PK Firing, Kirby has enough frames to forward air him. Also competent Kirbies expect nairs and fairs so if they read on what Ness is doing they'll just punish him.

A competent Ness will anti air your nair/fair with his fair.

 

[Deleted member]

Again, it really depends what Ness is doing. A competent Ness might be in the middle of his PK Fire animation. Kirby will simply fair him.

If not, Ness will try to nair or fair, and Kirby will simply shield and prepare an aerial.

 

[boysilver400]

This looks pretty good, but what makes Pichu or Peach(those two are def even imo) a worse matchup than the Links or Snake?

 

[Deleted member]

At the time, I was accounting for Pichu’s faster speed, having a reliable projectile, more reliable KO moves, a better (and harder to intercept) recovery, and more raw power.
I think I was overestimating Paisy’s attributes a little too much.

 

[BitBitio]

Definitely think that the Belmont matchup is more favorable for Kirby. Sure, it’s tough to get in, but basically one short hop fair can lead to to an edge guard, where Kirby shines. Also Kirby destroys Shulk with copied Monado Arts.

Edit: Kirby also goes 50:50 with Wii Fit, ZSS, and Fox.

 

[Deleted member]

..........

 

[Deleted member]

Where. The. Hecc. Is Yoshi. You’ve probably already seen my explanation about him in the other forum but I would put him as Kirby’s worst matchup

He’s so bad I can’t place the lizard in any spot.
Jokes aside I’ll add him in as 30:70...

 

[SteadyDisciple]

Edit: Kirby also goes 50:50 with Wii Fit, ZSS, and Fox.

Wii Fit main dropping in to spy on your matchup charts. I can't speak for the other two you posted, but I'm here to say that the MU vs WFT is definitely in Kirby's favor. The puffball has the perfect tools to deal with Wii Fit offstage, the low profile crouch destroys Wii Fit in neutral, and if you get the copy ability Trainer is now forced to approach. If anything, it might be closer to 60-40.

 

[Deleted member]

Yeah I really haven’t updated it that much. I forgot to make a chart a long time ago. Let me fix it for now.

 

[Deleted member]

..........

 

[Ethan Weegee]

I've never fought a G&W before, what puts him so high above us in the matchup?

 

[Deleted member]

Game and Watch’s disjoints are powerful, aerials more effective, recovery much harder to intercept. Also A projectile that can fiddle around with Kirby.

 

[BitBitio]

Edited looooool

 

[YaBoiDMK410]

Jump over it...

 

[BitBitio]

Seeing a bunch of Kirbies face off against numerous people, ranging from swordies to up-close fighters, I decided to make a matchup chart...on KIRBY! By then, the meta has made certain matchups crystal clear, while others are as unclear as you can get.
65:35:
60:40:
55:45:
50:50:
45:55:
40:60:
35:65
30:70

Seeing as how the OP deleted their account, I would say, after several more months of experience:

Advantage:
Even or slight advantage:
Even or slight disadvantage:
Disadvantage:

So overall, Kirby is a viable counterpick, though barely. Nobody knows the MU and Kirby can deal with most of the cast to some degree. Notably, most swordies actually aren’t terrible MUs because they either have a bad recovery or have some sort of exploit such as their copy ability. Sometimes both in the case of Ike and Chrom. Common MUs that hurt for him include ROB, Greninja, Inkling, Snake, PT(Ivysaur), GnW, Luigi, Mega Man, and Yoshi. None of these are terrible MUs though. He can still live through them. Is Kirby solo-viable? Maybe not. We have a whole competitive lifetime to live through still.

 

[The Rhythm Theif]

BitBitio I approve.

 

[Ethan Weegee]

Seeing as how the OP deleted their account, I would say, after several more months of experience:

Advantage:
Even or slight advantage:
Even or slight disadvantage:
Disadvantage:

So overall, Kirby is a viable counterpick, though barely. Nobody knows the MU and Kirby can deal with most of the cast to some degree. Notably, most swordies actually aren’t terrible MUs because they either have a bad recovery or have some sort of exploit such as their copy ability. Sometimes both in the case of Ike and Chrom. Common MUs that hurt for him include ROB, Greninja, Inkling, Snake, PT(Ivysaur), GnW, Luigi, Mega Man, and Yoshi. None of these are terrible MUs though. He can still live through them. Is Kirby solo-viable? Maybe not. We have a whole competitive lifetime to live through still.

I personally disagree, we definitely lose to Pac-Man, YL, Zelda, Mario, and Banjo.

 

[BitBitio]

Slight disadvantage imo. Banjo isn’t that hard because Kirby can stuff out a lot of his approaches and use the copy ability to play keep away. Pretty easy to combo and keep in disadvantage as well. Vs Zelda, Kirby can beat her out in every single air to air scenario because he’s so hard to sweetspot fair and bair on his small model, and her disadvantage vs Kirby is a strugglebus. Vs Pac, Final Cutter is actually quite good for dealing with the hydrant and Kirby is an absolute monster with Bonus Fruit copy ability. Vs YL, you forget that Kirby can countercamp with crouch and arrows, has a decent advantage state, and is harder for YL to combo with that small floaty body. Vs Mario... Okay yeah Mario wins this one.

 

[The Rhythm Theif]

Vs YL, you forget that Kirby can countercamp with crouch and arrows, has a decent advantage state, and is harder for YL to combo with that small floaty body.

Also, you can avoid on-ground spin attack just by jumping.

 

[Ethan Weegee]

Banjo isn’t that hard because Kirby can stuff out a lot of his approaches and use the copy ability to play keep away. Pretty easy to combo and keep in disadvantage as well.

Banjo can zone us pretty well and escape disadvantage for free. Reading and reacting to it is already hard enough if you aren't in shield; if you are, but aren't close when he stops, he's unpunishable.

Vs Zelda, Kirby can beat her out in every single air to air scenario because he’s so hard to sweetspot fair and bair on his small model, and her disadvantage vs Kirby is a strugglebus.

She doesn't have to approach to see this scenario. Even if she does, she'll be relying on neutral air more often than not.

Also, you can avoid on-ground spin attack just by jumping.

Not when it's done out-of-shield. It's extremely quick and fairly big, there's nothing we can space that won't be hit by spin attack from shield.

 

[The Rhythm Theif]

Not when it's done out-of-shield. It's extremely quick and fairly big, there's nothing we can space that won't be hit by spin attack from shield.

But... what if you were to jump BEFORE it was done out of shield?

(And yes, this is coming from the guy who made 33rd place out of the Smash Ultimate Singles Bracket in the eUnlimited Byte tournament only using two of my secondaries (Mario and Triple D) and Joy-Cons.)

 

[Ethan Weegee]

But... what if you were to jump BEFORE it was done out of shield?

Okay, now you just need to react to it. At close range, that's unfeasible.

 

[BitBitio]

It all depends on how you hit their shield. If you land with nair or up air, they can’t punish and you can keep up the pressure or shield yourself. TBH there isn’t really a way to counter the spin attack if they do it right. Just space your aerials safely and be ready for it. Other than that, grounded spin attack is inevitable.

 

[whitesonic]

hi i need help if i am not wrong and i am not donig reply so i got a firend that playes kirby and always dos Down Special somewon got a matchup chart to deafet a kirby that always but ALWAYS dos Down Special ?

 

[Kewkky]

hi i need help if i am not wrong and i am not donig reply so i got a firend that playes kirby and always dos Down Special somewon got a matchup chart to deafet a kirby that always but ALWAYS dos Down Special ?

1) Since you know he always does down special, just grab him when he lands as a rock. You can shield it if you need to.
2) Don't stand under him when he's jumping around.
3) Remember that when he turns back into Kirby, he's an easy target for whatever attack you want to do.

That should be enough to beat a Kirby that does nothing but down special.

 

[whitesonic]

1) Since you know he always does down special, just grab him when he lands as a rock. You can shield it if you need to.
2) Don't stand under him when he's jumping around.
3) Remember that when he turns back into Kirby, he's an easy target for whatever attack you want to do.

That should be enough to beat a Kirby that does nothing but down special.

thanks