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The Kirby Matchup Thread

SSS

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I've been waiting for somebody to start a Kirby matchup thread, but I guess it hasn't happened. I don't really have anything to say on his matchups yet, but I would love to see what others have to say about his matchups. So, you know, say stuff about his matchups.

:bowser2: BOWSER :bowser2:

:falcon: CAPTAIN FALCON :falcon:

:charizard: CHARIZARD :charizard:

:diddy: DIDDY KONG :diddy:

:dk2: DONKEY KONG :dk2:

:falco: FALCO :falco:

:fox: FOX :fox:

:gw: GAME-AND-WATCH :gw:

:ganondorf: GANONDORF :ganondorf:

:popo: ICE CLIMBERS :popo:

:ike: IKE :ike:

:ivysaur: IVYSAUR :ivysaur:

:jigglypuff: JIGGLYPUFF :jigglypuff:

:dedede: KING DEDEDE :dedede:

:kirby2: KIRBY :kirby2:

:link2: LINK :link2:

:lucario: LUCARIO :lucario:

:lucas: LUCAS :lucas:

:luigi2: LUIGI :luigi2:

:mario2: MARIO :mario2:

:metaknight: META KNIGHT :metaknight:

:mewtwopm: MEWTWO :mewtwopm:

:ness2: NESS :ness2:

:olimar: OLIMAR :olimar:

:peach: PEACH :peach:

:pikachu2: PIKACHU :pikachu2:

:pit: PIT :pit:

:rob: R.O.B. :rob:

:roypm: ROY :roypm:

:samus2: SAMUS :samus2:

:sheik: SHEIK :sheik:

:snake: SNAKE :snake:

:sonic: SONIC :sonic:

:squirtle: SQUIRTLE :squirtle:

:toonlink: TOON LINK :toonlink:

:warioc: WARIO :warioc:

:wolf: WOLF :wolf:

:yoshi2: YOSHI :yoshi2:

:zelda: ZELDA :zelda:

:zerosuitsamus: ZERO SUIT SAMUS :zerosuitsamus:
 
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bubbaking

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Since I'm bored at work right now, I guess I'll bite. :smash:

Kirby:Zard is incredibly frustrating. I don't think it's much worse than even, maybe slightly disadvantaged (45:55), but the MU is definitely tiresome. Every single one of Zard's hitboxes is larger than Kirby's entire body. Jab alone is bigger than Kirby and stuffs anything he tries to do, especially in the air. Luckily, his up-close CQC options aren't so good, at least not against someone as nimble as Kirby. That's one of the biggest reasons why I believe this MU isn't too bad. Once you get in, you can do some serious damage or at least pressure Zard extremely hard. The problem is getting into his space in the first place (hey, that rhymes :p ). Also, Kirby doesn't suffer from being juggled by Zard as badly as most other chars do, thanks to his aerial prowess and his large arsenal of moves (downB, upB sideways, dair, etc.) that help him get back to the ground. Survivability IS an issue, though.

Another 'regular' plus that Kirby has is his gimping ability paired up against Zard's fairly linear recovery. Zard's survivability is quite high, but that can be cut short quite feasibly. If you send Zard any appreciable distance from the stage at all, he'll be forced to glide eventually. At that point, you can go out to meet him and use a plethora of options to knock him out of the sky. You can use bair, which will always at least trade if it doesn't outright beat glair, dair, if you're coming down on top of him, or upB sideways, which has a really nice surprise factor and doesn't sacrifice your own ability to return to the stage. If Zard tries to go low to avoid this, you can just straight-up dair meteor him. Dair will hit through his upB.

Now I'm going to get to a very important part of this MU and most of Kirby's MUs: his Copy ability. As in most MUs, Kirby has the ability to use his opponent's special even more effectively than his opponent can. Flamethrower walls Zard out extremely effectively. He can't do anything about it, even when greatly diminished. He's forced to jump over it or wait until Kirby stops. A really good application of this is while falling from the air during the neutral game. Kirby can drift forwards or backwards while spewing the flames to cover his descent. The flamethrower can also be B-reversed to further his aerial mobility while using the move. A large potion of the fire hitbox is on Kirby's body, so it's really lenient if you're falling on top of Zard with it. If you catch Zard in a shield with it, this move will probably poke him and it tacks on a decent amount of damage. The move is also somewhat effective as a quick and broad edgeguarding option. It can catch glides, thus making Zard easy gimping fodder if he runs into it offstage. Getting the Copy isn't all that hard either. Once you get in on Zard, you'll have plenty of opportunities to suck him up immediately or tech-chase him into the Inhale. If you ever predict a shield, you can just leap in with your mouth gaping wide. I would actually be willing to surmise that, with this ability in tow, the MU switches from Zard's favor to Kirby's favor, if only for a while.

So yeah, I'd plug this MU at 45:55 or maybe even just an even 50:50 if you factor in Kirby's advantages while using Zard's flamethrower ability.
 
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Rizner

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What I consider bad matchups:
Lucas - he's faster and can jab to clank with dash attack then get a hit on you.
Samus - depends on the stage, in a set with bottom row neutrals she'd likely have an advantage on 2 out of 3 matches
Ice climbers - I don't like them.
Link - probably close to even but a pain to get to
Kirby - his one true counter

Good matchups:
Zelda - can get in on her
Roy - not hard to get in on and can gimp by trading dair with his up b
Kirby - counters him hard
Spacies - probably about even but a fun match

I'll add more as I think about it and have more exposure to the rest of the cast
 

Frost | Odds

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Marth is super rough.
Falco favors Kirby slightly, I think. Depends how good you are at powershielding. I've played a ton of Jiggs vs Falco in Melee, though, so this fees pretty straightforward.
Mario seems hard.
CF favors Kirby a bit, I think. Maybe stage dependent.
Fox is really hard for Kirby.
Still not sure about D3.
 

bubbaking

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Lucas is annoying, but I don't think it's that bad after playing some games with Pink Fresh. The MU is around even, IMO. Lucas is easily combo'd and if he can't get to tether distance quickly, he can also get messed up offstage. If you mix up your DA approaches with fair and upB sideways, he shouldn't be able to just stuff everything with jab.

I heavily disagree about Samus. Kirby can duck the super missiles, some tilts, and some smashes. I'm not sure about the grab, but possibly that as well. Also, Kirby's aerial zoning can directly challenge, and is superior to, Samus' ground-based zoning (the big reason that Jiggs beats Samus in Melee). Our command grab also punishes Samus for shielding if we're above her, so we get an Inhale/dair mix-up in that situation. Samus has always been weak to grab games, and Kirby has one of the best ones out there, and I believe dthrow > usmash KO is a thing. Kirby is also one of the few chars that can gimp Samus at any time, be she bomb-jumping, tethering, or Screw Attacking. In any case, Kirby can actually out-camp Samus thanks to that upB sideways, and if Samus is lured into the air, she can be heavily punished. The Charged Shot glitch is annoying, but in general, we can also use Charged shot as a standard zoning tool as well as Samus, if not more flexibly because of our mobility. IMO, Kirby solidly beats Samus.

Ice Climbers suck, IMO. Call me crazy, but I don't think Kirby:ICs was that bad in Melee. Kirby has pretty decent tools to separate them and stay safe, and once they're sepeated, Kirby kinda just craps on them.

Link probably out-right beats Kirby. In my experience, I've noticed that one of Kirby's biggest problems is getting in on big hitboxes, especially disjointed ones. Link's projectile and CQC games are actually top-notch in P:M in general, and I can't see Kirby having a fun time trying to deal with those. If we ever get Link's power, Kirby's SH is floaty enough that he can quick-bow after a SH bow and most of his aerials, so that's a plus, but quick bow isn't that useful... :ohwell:

The spacees MUs ARE a ton of fun and I don't think any of them are actually that bad for Kirby. We can TC and gimp them all over the place. :)
 

Rizner

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bubbaking said:
Lucas is annoying, but I don't think it's that bad after playing some games with Pink Fresh. The MU is around even, IMO. Lucas is easily combo'd and if he can't get to tether distance quickly, he can also get messed up offstage. If you mix up your DA approaches with fair and upB sideways, he shouldn't be able to just stuff everything with jab.

I heavily disagree about Samus. Kirby can duck the super missiles, some tilts, and some smashes. I'm not sure about the grab, but possibly that as well. Also, Kirby's aerial zoning can directly challenge, and is superior to, Samus' ground-based zoning (the big reason that Jiggs beats Samus in Melee). Our command grab also punishes Samus for shielding if we're above her, so we get an Inhale/dair mix-up in that situation. Samus has always been weak to grab games, and Kirby has one of the best ones out there, and I believe dthrow > usmash KO is a thing. Kirby is also one of the few chars that can gimp Samus at any time, be she bomb-jumping, tethering, or Screw Attacking. In any case, Kirby can actually out-camp Samus thanks to that upB sideways, and if Samus is lured into the air, she can be heavily punished. The Charged Shot glitch is annoying, but in general, we can also use Charged shot as a standard zoning tool as well as Samus, if not more flexibly because of our mobility. IMO, Kirby solidly beats Samus.

Ice Climbers suck, IMO. Call me crazy, but I don't think Kirby:ICs was that bad in Melee. Kirby has pretty decent tools to separate them and stay safe, and once they're sepeated, Kirby kinda just craps on them.

Link probably out-right beats Kirby. In my experience, I've noticed that one of Kirby's biggest problems is getting in on big hitboxes, especially disjointed ones. Link's projectile and CQC games are actually top-notch in P:M in general, and I can't see Kirby having a fun time trying to deal with those. If we ever get Link's power, Kirby's SH is floaty enough that he can quick-bow after a SH bow and most of his aerials, so that's a plus, but quick bow isn't that useful... :ohwell:

The spacees MUs ARE a ton of fun and I don't think any of them are actually that bad for Kirby. We can TC and gimp them all over the place. :)
Thanks for the tips, I will have to try that. For ice climbers, I don't necessarily think it's terrible. I just dont enjoy it. Probably just lingering feelings from brawl
 

SSS

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Bye bye ridiculously overpowered Meta Knight tornado. :(

Thanks for the tips, I will have to try that. For ice climbers, I don't necessarily think it's terrible. I just dont enjoy it. Probably just lingering feelings from brawl
I haven't fought a good PM Ice Climbers, but when I played Brawl, it was all about isolating Nana and gimping her. Kirbstomp happens to be very good at gimping Nana, and when I play in teams Kirby usually seems good at isolating one of the opponents from the other. . .I would like to explore what of Kirby's moves safely isolate Nana from Popo. Nair seems like a good choice, but i'm not 100% on that since i haven't actually tested it out.
 

bubbaking

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Nair probably is not that good of a choice, since it's a weak single hit with a small hitbox. Good separation choices would probably be things like Kirby's drill and his DA, especially when land-cancelled. He has a good grab game, too, and is one of the few chars that can avoid punishment from the non-grabbed IC with his throws. Falling down on them with Inhale and then spitting them out would also separate them.
 

SSS

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Nair probably is not that good of a choice, since it's a weak single hit with a small hitbox. Good separation choices would probably be things like Kirby's drill and his DA, especially when land-cancelled. He has a good grab game, too, and is one of the few chars that can avoid punishment from the non-grabbed IC with his throws. Falling down on them with Inhale and then spitting them out would also separate them.
ill believe dash attack, not dair
 

bubbaking

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You drift with it so that you edge-cancel or you land behind the ICs and can't be shield-grabbed. It's safe and pokes really well, not only because it's a high-priority drill but also because of its landing hit. This was the way to get it done in Melee, too. I don't know how this strategy worked in Brawl, Kirby's a whole different animal in Brawl.
 

Ogopogo

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Wario's Hat still gives you the power to tack on a good number of percent if you can catch someone with it. Can it be mashed out of, like a grab?
 

Rᴏb

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Kirby destroys ROB. This is one of the few instances where I think ROB's insane recovery isn't enough- THE GIMPS.
 

CaptainKirby

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Kirby:Squirtle is a rather annoying match-up, I find... Squirtle's nimble frame and side-b can prove to be a nuisance if he manages to get in.
 

Glick

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A good link outright beats Kirby, in my experience. You have to really download the player if you want any chance of weaving through the defenses. Up B out of shield is a nightmare, and it usually has to be baited out for any success in the matchup.
 

FreeGamer

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Are you able to duck under Spin Attack and his grab? Link is also at a good weight for you to stuff his face with u-tilt at low percents and combo him out of your dash attack or Stone at higher percents, whenever you do manage to get in on him.
 

Bazooka Joe

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What is your opinion on Ivysaur? I see him beating Ivy at the ledge game (recovering and gimping). When it comes to stage game though, he seems trouble getting in cause of Ivy's hitboxes and getting sweet spotted on upsmash seems like the end of the puff ball (can follow with seed bomb or vinewhip if chased right). Also, probably would have trouble approaching above. Would this be the time to abuse the dash attack and try to get it just right to land behind for an up-tilt?
 

Ogopogo

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I can see Ivy's range being a bother for Kirby. Vine Whip probably kills really early...
When Ivy is tethering in just grab the ledge and throw out a nair, that should stop her recovery. I guess if the Ivy isn't shffling when she throws out her bairs and fairs you could probably run in with a dash attack and continue from there.
 

Jethroo

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On sonic, if he tries to use his Up-B and come from below the stage and doesn't sweet spot it, kirby can sit on the edge, swallow him when he comes up, sit there and let him break out then he will fall to his death.
 

THK

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I've gotten too flustered to try but I'll keep that in mind the next time I play
 

Jethroo

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For Ike if you get him off the edge then jump after him and inhale fall at little and spit him out he's basically screwed.
 

SprayTanner

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Peach (and really any characters at a high enough percent/are floaty) are easily juggled with a dthrow from what I've been experiencing, you may have to play a little bit of catch when you get toward the hundreds when people start to DI but it's pretty doable. I just took a peach from 0 to 100 with no issues other than having to run around toward the end.
 

Frost | Odds

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I think Ivy actually favors Kirby - you're one of the few characters that can sorta gimp him, and the mexibeam is pretty cool. Good goddamn, though, sword characters are hard. Zelda is really tough (but sheik ain't bad) and Link feels next to impossible.
 

SSS

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I think Ivy actually favors Kirby - you're one of the few characters that can sorta gimp him, and the mexibeam is pretty cool. Good goddamn, though, sword characters are hard. Zelda is really tough (but sheik ain't bad) and Link feels next to impossible.
I will agree that Link is possibly his worst matchup. Arrows don't do much to help us, either. Zelda also has a lot of combos on Kirby.
 

Frost | Odds

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I will agree that Link is possibly his worst matchup. Arrows don't do much to help us, either. Zelda also has a lot of combos on Kirby.
It's not her combos so much as the fact that you attempting to combo her will result in you eating a toe.
 

Jethroo

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I played zelda before switching to kirby and these are somethings you should know.
If she uses neutral b you can take advantage of it right after it finishes because zelda vulnerable right after it for like a second. If possible you should try to bait out her neutral b and punish her for it. neutral b is the blue spinning thingy by the way. Also, this move will ALWAYS put you in front of her. She also likes to short hop this move to. It can also be used when ledge hopping.
If your close enough zelda won't be able to use the din fire because using the attack will leave her completely open. You can destory the din fires by attacking them and don't fight around them if you can help it, they explode and it hurts. p.s. the further they go before being set the bigger the radius of the explosion and the knockback.
Her grab range is incredible short, but it can grab people behind her to. You can DI out of range of follow ups after most of her throws. Unless something has changed don't expect a forward throw.
Be careful coming in above her because upsmash will probably stop most of kirbys attacks (not down B) and her utilt i'm guessing will kill kirby at the same % as fox's up smash.
Her lightning kick and backthrow which are 2 of her best killing moves you HAVE to DI up. It can save your life! Watch out for the out of shield lightning kicks to.
Don't let her teleporting game confuse you, she will either use it to attack/approach or stay a safe distance from you. Those are the only 2 options, so shield and punish if she attacks. Also she can ledge cancel teleport.
Dsmash is fast as **** and sends at horizontal angle. It is also very good for edge guarding.
Her dash attack is pretty good and will send you either up and away or horizontal (forgot which part of hitbox does what). If your close to ground you need to tech otherwise she can follow it up with another dash attack.
Lastly, teleporting from slightly under the stage for zelda is difficult.

Can't say i know how to fight her with kirby, but these are a few things you should know before fighting her.
 

SSS

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This was all very helpful "insider" information. I've always liked Zelda as a character. I think she's super cool.
Anyway, I don't have much to say yet, but I will think on it and come back later with some ideas.
Meanwhile, this:

Lastly, teleporting from slightly under the stage for zelda is difficult.
This means that returning from off the edge into an inhale can result in you spitting her under the stage. I know how awful recovering from under the stage is with Zelda from when I played with her in Brawl.

Aha! Question. What are Zelda's most commonly chosen moves when Kirby is returning from off the edge, high?
Also, what setups to aerials does she commonly use that we could read and shield-->OoS option (like Nair).
What of her moves do you think Nair (or really any other move) beats?
 

Jethroo

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I have yet to fight a zelda player with kirby or kirby with zelda, so all this is assumptions.

Aha! Question. What are Zelda's most commonly chosen moves when Kirby is returning from off the edge, high?
If she went for you in the air she would either want a lightning kick or an up air.

Also, what setups to aerials does she commonly use that we could read and shield-->OoS option (like Nair).
If zelda is going to approach on the ground with an aerial it with most likely be lightning kick (probably the back one with less lag after the attack), neutral air, or neutral b.
Also, her down air is a powerful meteor if you can sweet spot it and can kill if your on the ground, but don't expect her to use this move much, if at all.
I'm not sure what OoS would be best.

What of her moves do you think Nair (or really any other move) beats?]
If they know how use lightning kick and sweet spot it will beat kirby's forward and back air because of its range. Besides that i'm not sure.

Zelda tend to be on the camp/defense/punish game. She will use din fire to camp you, set up a traps where she is at an advantage, and force you to come at her.

Forgot to mention last time though every time she sets another din's fire it resets the explosion time of the other ones.

If want to watch zelda play style check out videos of zerudahime aka zhime.
 

bubbaking

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I'm not sure who has the advantage in the Kirby vs Ivy MU, but I will say that copying Ivy's ability plays a great part in that MU, because uthrow combos into Solarbeam at death %'s (and those %'s happen to be quite low when you're considering that it's Solarbeam).

Also, Sheik is not bad at all. We kinda mess her up just by crouching. We can crouch under her grabs and needles and we can CC the rest of her grounded moveset and retaliate with dtilt, dsmash, or grab. Once we hit her, she's easily combo'd and easily gimped. Also, Kirby with needles is pretty good.
 

Glick

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I've played zhime a bunch(the best zelda imo) and from my experience the matchup is probably something like 60-40 zelda. It's in your best interest to be as quasi-aggressive as possible. Meaning get into mid range but not close enough to get hit, and poke with your moves. Defensive aggressive, bait out the neutral b (it's invincible and land cancel-able). Down throw into fsmash works at certain percents. You can't really cheese her out with inhale as her recovery is stellar(unless you manage to shoot her under the stage). Zeldas one of those characters that will frustrate you to no end until you get used to the matchup. You can attack the dins fire bombs to make them go away, btw.
 
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