12..Character Specific [CHSP]
Top Tier
Fox:
Difficulty: Very Hard
Watch out for: Shine, Off the top kills
Kirby Falls down when shined, so that’s an advantage. However, Fox can rack up amazing vertical kills at low damages if your not careful. What you want to take advantage of is his Fast Falling speed. Use it to get amazing U-tilt damage, Use it against him with the Dair while he’s recovering. The Dair can easily be used against the Firefox if you force Fox into that position.
Fox is a lot faster than you, and has MUCH more priority. He can also laser camp you after he gets a one stock lead. This is a VERY hard match to play,
Even though Kirby can’t be Wave shined, the Reflector is still a deadly move. It can Cancel out attacks here and there, Prevent Recovery, etc. It has amazing Recovery, or can be timed to attack in the air to beat out your Cutter. The Shine spike still affects you as well, so be careful and don’t just rush in.
One note on this, Kirby isnt a Vertical killer, which helps against a fast faller such as Fox.
Falco:
Difficulty: Very hard.
Watch out for: SHB, Pillaring, Spike,
Falco’s Blaster is Deadly. It kills your approach, can hit you when you Duck, and allows him safe passage into your zone. However, if you can copy it, you gain a SHDL, shooting not just one, but 2 per jump. It lacks the usefulness of Falco’s, but can still help. His shine is dangerous against Kirby, and can lead into, or get itself, some easy top-kills.
Once again, he's much faster and has more priority. Best you can hope for is gimping him, as well as up tilt combos.
He can also spike you despite your recovery, so be prepared for that.
High Tier
Sheik:
Difficulty: Hard
Watch out for: tilts, Grabs, and Aerials.
The Needles tend to be rather ineffective, and Kirby’s Crouch cancel kills some of sheiks combos. Kirby’s Aerials tend to be rather effective during this match up, and the D-smash will be of good use. Sheik can’t take advantage of her Needles because of the Crouch, ground needles don’t hit, and aerial needles don’t even faze him.
Tilt combos work rather effective, especially the Up tilt. Some good moves include Uair, Bair, or sometimes Fair. Because Kirby screws over sheiks approach and Needles, this allows him to get in a fair bit easier than some other characters. However, you must still be cautious. Sheik still can hurt you.
Just play Defensively until an opening comes. Sheik can’t Chain grab Kirby very well at all either, but once again, still out prioritizes you in the air and on the ground.
Marth:
Difficulty: Very-Hard
Watch out for: That sword, range.
The Main issue here is Marth’s sword range. Right at Kirby’s Prime attacking range is where Marth’s tip is, so it can be hard against a marth without getting bashed on. If you can get in, Bairs are quite effective, as they can be chained. Dair is effective for Kills if you time it, and trading hits with the Dolphin slash is sometimes a good route of action.
Your recovery is in danger. Marth is a great Edgeguarder, and can prevent you from getting to the ledge with his spike. You want to be as unpredictable in your recovery as possible, and grab the Ledge ASAP. Marth’s sword can outrange your Aerial Hammer Anti-edgeguard, so again, you want to mix it up. Try tricking him out.
Peach:
Difficulty: Very Hard
Watch out for: Turnips, D-smash
Peach’s D-smash Kills your Crouch cancel, so be careful when Ccing. This right away takes away a lot of your advantages. Her Turnips kill your recovery, and certain smashes can Kill at low percents.
Peach has an amazing Recovery. Its hard to spike or Edgeguard the Parasol if it comes from below, but if she goes to high, you can hit her out again. Generally, you want to Cutter-spike, as it will protect you, and send her down. Peach is Floaty, meaning you won’t be able to combo her easily at all. Just try to Guard and get random attacks in before killing.
Middle Tier
C. Falcon:
Difficulty: Easy
Watch out for: Grabs, Knee, Aerials.
Kirby can Duck, which messes up Falcon. It allows him to CC his Raptor boost, Duck his grab and Shuffled Knees, and hurt his approaches. However, if you get caught in a D-throw to Knee, it can kill at ridiculously low %'s, and you don't want that.
You can tilt his raptor boost, destroy his SHFFL approach, and his grab misses. But if he gets one good aerial in, he can follow it up easily, so be careful when going aerial. However, the same goes for you, if you get the U-tilt in, it can be comboed into an edge guard with Bair/Fair and other u-tilts.
Ice Climbers:
Difficulty: Hard.
watch out for: Grabs, smashes.
One major thing to watch out for is the grabs. They only need a few good grabs to kill you, so be extremely cautious on the ground. However, even though their hammers are disjointed, they don't have the best range on them, meaning your Tilts can often Clang them out, or Beat them out completely.
Effective ways to separate the two include your Throws. The U-throw and B-throw both Move Kirby, preventing the other IC form attacking, and the D-throw can capture both of them. Also, if you manage to dodge a grab, you can use a D-smash to separate, then follow up on one. However, if you try this too much, they may get one fatal grab off, so be careful.
In the Air the Hammers start to take much more effect. They beat out a lot more of Kirby's Aerials. Also, if you come at them from too high, you may take a F-smash or U-smash, so watch out, and try to stay low.
-Credit to HonorBound for information on this match up
Samus:
Difficulty: Very Hard
Watch out for: Projectiles, grab.
Projectile’s hurt. A Samus that spams will be extremely hard to get at. She also has good up close fighting, but one issue is she can’t SH very well. Also, Samus is rather Floaty, so it will be hard to combo. Be Wary of using the bair while edgeguarding, Samus can use the Bomb jump to get really close, then Grapple. Try spiking her while she’s grappled, or smashing her against the edge. Her ability may help against her, it gives a good Projectile for Kirby, but it’s hard to get the swallow off. Again, just try to slowly rack up damage, because it’s hard to stay in.
Samus is also good up close. It’s hard to rush her down, and crouch cancelling can do nothing but get you grabbed. Her N-air is strong, and has good range to boot, so it can be hard to break past. However, she has a HIGH short hop, so try to take advantage of that, it you can.
Her F-smash is a real killer. It can finish you at low percents. This is a tough battle for Kirby. One strategy is to Bair your way through Missiles, then try to get an Aerial Combo going.
Dr. Mario:
Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Watch out for: Pills, Cape, F-air/F-smash
Pills are a good ability to copy. You can float and rain Pills down on below. Dr. Mario has the Cape, however, so.
His Bair is a powerful edgeguard. Its one of his better moves, along with U-air Combo's. Try to stay Below him if possible, but also watch out for his F-air. Its a powerful move. The D-throw to Fair can be pulled off on Kirby if you don't DI correctly. His D-smash and F-smash are both good Kill moves, so make sure to Crouch Cancel up close to save deaths at low percents. Doc's Pills hurt Kirby. You can try to duck and dodge them, but they create a wall. Doc's throw combo's are also vicious, so avoid grabs.
If you know how to recover well, Doc may have trouble edgeguarding you. As you well know, Edgeguard is one of Docs specialties. Finishing him may be hard, but try to get him off and edgeguard as best you can.
Jigglypuff:
Difficulty: Hard
Watch out for: Rest Combo's
Jiggly is hard. She is extremely difficult to Combo at times because of her floatiness and lightweight. Her Aerials may overwhelm you, an her recovery keeps her coming back no matter how far you send her out.
Kirby may be easy or Hard to Rest. He is rather short, forcing Jiggly closer to the ground, but he is rather fat. Her WoP is extremely effective, her Aerial Mobility is amazing, and it can be nearly impossible to chase her down with aerials. However, because she is light, one well hit U-air can kill at fairly low percents, or at least give you an edgeguard chance.
Her recovery is primarily horizontal, so if you can get a solid down aerial off on her, it will hurt her recovery. Especially if you do it multiple times.
Mario:
Difficult: Medium-Hard
Watch out for: Cape, Bair/U-air combo's, F-smash.
In a sense, Mario's Fireballs can force you up. They are too low to duck effectively, and your shield will get eaten. If you jump, Mario has you where he wants you, so try to find an alternative method. I prefer the F-tilt.
However, Most Mario's won't spam the Fireballs like Pills. Mario's U-tilt can lead into all sorts of U-air combo's, but you are a floatier character, and shouldn't have too much trouble DIing.
Mario can hurt your recovery. his B-air is vicious on the edgeguard, and the Cape, again, can turn around your cutter. However, if you are above the ledge using it, you should be able to move over the edge anyway. But this may give him a free attack.
One of Mario's main weak points is his killing. However, his F-smash is vicious, and hard to dodge if Mario does it correctly. You may need to CC a couple, but don't let him get you off.
Ganondorf:
Difficult: Easy-Medium
Watch out for: Low percent Kills, F-air, Range.
One quality that may help is the fact that you dodge a lot of his attacks just by Crouching. However, his strength and Ganondorf players generally above par mind games may be able to kill you easily.
First, you can crouch his Jab, Grab, some tilts, even his Down B. His Side B is weakened severely by your crouch. D-tilts work well.
U-tilt combo's are easy and effective. Ganondorf is heavy, allowing good comboing into a U-air. The Edgeguard is confusing, seeing as Ganons recovery can grab you out of nearly all your attacks. You need to time them right in order to hit.
Ganon has Long ranged melee attacks. the F-tilt has good range, etc. Kirby may be able to get in by CCing, but that leads to a game of hit and run. ganon doesn't need to hit alot before he's on the edgegaurd, and Kirby's Recovery is easy for Ganon to kill.
Low
Link:
Difficulty: Hard
Watch out for: Sword, Projectile setups.
Projectiles AND swords? Sounds like a nightmare! Well, he's not as bad as one may think. You can actually duck the hitbox of the spin attack, only at the tip though. IMO its safer to wait it out.
Link is heavy, that means he's easy to combo. However, its getting in thats the problem. His sword can keep you at bay, albeit not as effeectively as Marths, it can still do it. Also, his Projectiles are made to keep you where you want. and iff he spams them, it can get annoying.
I would try Shielding the projectiles. Link can't execute them as fast as otehr ones, so it may be easier to get in. Once inside, the sword is more dangerous. His Tilts are rather slow, however, so just watch out for the D-smash, U-tilt, or NeutralA. His SHFFL game is great. He has a short Short hop, and he can kill easily.
Make sure you sweetspot. The spin spike is nasty, and you do not want to get hit by it. His Bairs and Nairs are two of his best edgegaurders.
His recovery, can be difficult, or easy to handle. If he uses spin attack, just land a D-air right in the center. If he hookshots? Then try spiking his hookshot, or Bair him against the stage. If so, he will lose his hookshot, and be helpless if he used his second jump.
Luigi:
Difficult: Medium
Watch out for: Aerials, No-Ping uppercut, wavedash
His Aerial game, and overall mobility is increased because of whats called a SHWD, or SHort hop Wavedashed Aerial. THis llows him to attack, then Follow up with a Wavedash to anotehr attack. Since his Wavedash is so Long, Its hard to feel safe. His D-smash is deadly when Wavesmashed, and his shield game is great.
His recovery is Horizontal, then Vertical. Try to take advantage of this. However, if he misfires, you can end up taking alot of pain, so be wary before just jumping out there.
His F-air and D-air are, IMO, two of his most effective killers. I'm no Luigi player, but they are both quick, can be SHWDed. However, Luigi's SH is rather high. It may be possible to duck the Fair, and CC the Dair.
DK:
Difficulty: Medium
Watch out for: Low percent kills, and his range.
DK has good range on most of his attacks, and he has fair power, so that can be dangerous allowing him to get low percent kills on Kirby. However, he has primarily Horizontal recovery, allowing low, low percent spike kills on him. The Spinning Ape gains VERY little height, and it gains it slowly, allowing you to go and spike again, and again, until he gives up. the fact that Kirby's Meteor is multi hit hurts him even more, preventing Meteor cancels.
However, it can be hard to get in. He has good range on alot of his ground moves, and in the air, disadvantaging you. However, if you do get in, DK is heavy, and easily comboed. One good technique is the SHAH to Grab combo. Once you get a U-tilt combo started, it can go for awhile.
Kirby needs to get DK up to high percents to kill him horizontally, so for the kill, i recomend Knocking off to Dair.
-Credit to King Kong For information on this matchup.
Roy:
Difficulty Medium-hard
Watch out for: Sword.
Similar to the Marth matchup, yet a fair bit easier. For a number of reasons
- The sweetspot is not at the tip.
- Roy is Slower
- Roy is heavier.
this, not only allows you to get in easier, yet combo easier. Still, its hard to get in because of the sword, but not to the severity of Marth because of the Location of the sweetspots.
Again, U-tilt and D-tilt combo's work, but still, watch out for that sword. It will still be fairly hard to win.
Young Link:
Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Watch ouf for: Sword, Projectile setups.
Same thing as Link essentially, except he will have a harder time killing you. However, his Projectiles are, IMO, much more vicious. There faster, and do more damage. What he loses, is alot of Up-close battle power, so that is where you want to be.
However, i'm not saying he is gonna be EASY in close, he still has a sword, and can still hit hard. His F-tilt, D-smash, U-tilt, and F-smash are all moves he can use either to combo you or clear you out. If your Crouch Cancelling, you should be able to stay in easily, but keep an eye on your damage meter.
Pikachu:
Difficulty: Hard.
Watch out for: Vertical Kills, U-smash, Thunderflip, Thunder jolt, etc.
Well, One advantage you have over him is his limited range. However, Pikachu has good Vertical Killing power, and he has a, different recovery. Pikachu is also light, but not not necessarily floaty, so he can be comboed, but not easily.
He is alot faster on the ground than you, and sometimes may play hit and run. If he does this, Try countering with a Short hopped hammer on the spot, it should hit, allowing you to go into something.
His recovery is hard to anticipate at first, but may get predictable later. He can use the Skull bash to get closer if he went high, and his Up B has fast and random recovery.
However, Pikachu has some range issues, which is an advantage to you. He may not be able to get in up close. However, at far, he can use his Thunderjolt to screw up your ground approach, forcing you into the air.
Bottom
Yoshi:
Difficulty: Medium
Watch out for: Eggs, D-tilt/D-smash.
One of Yoshi's main killing moves is the D-smash, which can be used to sneak under an opponents shield. However, Kirby is much lower to the ground, meaning the D-tilt D-smash under shield won't work. Also, CCing screws D-smash kills until high percents.
Yoshi's Aerials can't start much Combos on Kirby, due to his light nature, he drifts away from them. But Eggs pose a threat, s to D-tilts killing your Cutter, leaving you jumpless.
Zelda:
Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Watch out for: Thee toe, sparkles.
The Lightning kick hurts, alot. Kirby's Hitbox is rather fat, which means a sweetspotted kick will more offten than not hit. Also, Zelda's Recovery prevents Some of your better edgegaurd techniques, because of its invincible nature.
However, Kirby's Crouch Cancel is a pain to Zelda, and his Fence of Pain is a good tactics to use against her. When you are ducking, Itcan be alot harder for Zelda to hit you with the Kicks, so try to keep low with your CCand CCC.
Kirby also has a diffucult time Killing Zelda. Again, the Recovery, but also her weight. It can take awhile before the U-air kills, so just try to wait it out.
One of the harder things for kirby is getting in past the magic attacks and smashes. Zelda can create a "Barrier" preventing Kirby from closing in.
-Credit to DaRkNeSsOfHeArT for information on this matchup.
Mr. Game & Watch:
Difficulty: Hard
Watch out for: Nair, Grabs, Aerials.
Game and Watch is Painful for Kirby. Nearly all of his moves are disjointed hitboxes, and they all have range over Kirbys. His aerials all outrange him, and a lot of them hit hard.
He is floaty, too, which means he is hard to combo. Plus, he can pull off a Grab to Parachute combo with ease. This guy is Kirby's Nighmare. Best bet is to land a few lucky Fairs or Bairs, or maybe a U-tilt. The Hammer (Aerial) can come in useful for this battle as can the cutter. Those are kirby's two disjointed hitboxes, and will prove useful.
Ness:
Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Watch out for: Grab, Bat, F-air, B-air
Not necessarily how sure the YYG works, but even without it, Ness has some tricks up his sleeves. For one thing, his F-air is a killer in the air, and may kill your approaches. His Bat can kill you at low percents, as can hit Throws.
In the air, the Bair would say your best bet. Its one of Kirby's fastest aerials, and doens't have bad range. However, Ness's Fair still hurts and can break through. He also has DJC, allowing fast aerials on the ground.
Your Tilts own part of his ground game. But then again, he has the DJC, which hurts your ground. if he DJC's a fair on you into a grab or something, he can kill you if your at high enough damages.
You can edgegaurd his recovery easily if your fast enough. Make sure to space properly when spiking the PK thunder recovery. Ony idea is to absorb his thunder, or spike his vulnerable state.
-Thanks to Dekar for information on this matchup.
-Thanks to Vilness for information on this matchup.
Bowser:
Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Watch out for: Fortress, Low percent kills.
First of all, Kirby can Combo Bowser fairly easily IMO. Second of all, Bowser Can Kill Kirby at Really low percents. Third of all, you may have killing troubles due to his weight.
Bowser is massive. He is a huge, slow, hulking figure with amazing strength, but not so amazing Speed. However, he does have the Whirling fortress. A Powerful, Versatile, and quick move that can kill you at low %'s.
What you want to do is get him above you. This is where Bowser is limited, so use U-tilt Combo's, D-smash, U-throw, whatever you can. Try to keep him up there until you can Bair or U-air into the Edgegaurd. Edgegaurd, however, isn't too difficult. Just a Dair should do.
However, bowser can Kill Kirby really quickly if you aren't careful. His CCing makes it difficult to start combos, and his Ftilt/Fair can be used along with the fortress for Low percent kills. He can easily rack up damage and kill you at a damage you would feel safe at, so avoid damage as much as possible.
-Thank you to SonicZeroX for information on this matchup.
Kirby:
Difficulty: Medium
Watch out for: hammer, Cutter, Spike, Bair, Uair, anything you got, he got.
You have no specific advantages, Kirby is also floaty, so its hard to combo yourself, just , well, you know your disadvantages. Use your knowledge against him?
Pichu:
Difficulty: Easy.
Watch out for: F-smash, Nair
He has MUCH less range than you, is really light, and he hurts himself. Its partially the same as Pika, except Sans Power and alot less range and weight. However, he does have Alot faster running speed, so wait for him to come to you. Tilts all have more range than him, and your aerials can beat him out too.
His Nair is pretty good, Fast, fairly powerful, and it doesn't hurt himself. So in the air, try to space properly to hit him first.
Mewtwo:
Difficulty: Medium-Easy
Watch out for: Throws, Tilts, Fair.
Mewtwo is iffy, noone knows. So i will provide the best insight i can.
His Wavedash is long, and often used to move faster than his slow run. Which allows him to be more maneuverable. Also, he is much more maneuverable in hte air than you are, which is a problem. Your Aerials have good range, but his do too, add that to DJC or his aerial mobility and you have a problem.
However, on the ground you can duck his F-tilt, but then his D-tilt will get you, however the CC will mess it up. His tilts have great range, which takes away your advantage on the ground. However, you can still cancel them out.
Coming Soon... [COME]
- Shield Game
- Kirby Styles
- Kirby Colours
- Possibly some stuff on the swallow?
- And anything I/or others can think of.
Closing: [CLOS]
Well, thanks for reading this, its © Alex Cline (-Nitro- (nitro-blazer on the forums)), At least i think its ©.
CREDITS
Thank you too:
-Ominigamer: For providing me with a tonne of useful informaiton and quotes. A huge thank you for giving me access to your wealth of knowledge.
-
[A HUGE thank you to $PITE for Movelist Statistics. His are great, and i think it would have been impossible to complete without it. Seeing as i am HORRIBLE with researching things like that.
-Credit to Dr.Peabody for Hitbox of Burning Kirby going from Stronger to weaker.
-DeathscytheHello, for the Ground Hammer use if the enemy misses a laggy attack.
-Dekar for information on Ness Matchup.
-Vilness for information on Ness Matchup.
-SonicZeroX for information on bowser matchup.
-King Kong, for information on the DK matchup.
-DaRkNeSsOfHeArT for information on the Zelda Matchup.
-Omnigamer, for information on Sheik, Fox, Marth, Falco, Peach, C. Falcon, Dr. Mario, Ganondorf, Ice Climbers, Roy, Zelda, Yoshi, Bowser, Game and Watch, and possibly others.
-Yokoson, for providing opinions on the character matchups.
-HonorBound, for information on the Ice Climbers Matchup.
-The Kirby forum, for discussing Kirby and helping me learn about him.
-[YOUR NAME HERE]: For providing useful information to the guide.
-You, for reading this.
-HAL and Nintendo: For making a great game and a great character.