Shuttle Loop is Meta Knight's Up Special Move. Meta Knight leaps quickly into the air with his blade pointed upwards, goes into a loop and glides forward with his blade extended.
Overview[]
The Shuttle Loop does around 9% of damage, and has good knockback, making it one of Meta Knight's few finishing moves.
It should also be noted that the end of the move used to automatically initiate a glide in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which can be used in addition to the vertical recovery to add good horizontal recovery. In addition, because Meta Knight can do a quick attack to conclude a glide, it can be timed to do two consecutive attacks - the initial upswing, and the quick swing from the glide. The glide from this attack is slower than his regular glide, and allows better control.
One should be careful when using Shuttle Loop while facing off of the edge, for unless the glide is quickly canceled, it is easy to glide right off the stage with no chance of recovery. Also, landing while in the glide puts Meta Knight on the floor, and the opponent can easily punish him. Using the Glide Attack or just pressing the Special move button right before hitting the floor completely cancels the attack and landing lag, leaving Meta Knight completely ready to use any move or evade an incoming attack that would have otherwise hit him.
In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, Shuttle Loop has been changed, and the glide is gone and the attack slashes opponents twice while spinning in a large loop.
Custom Variations[]
Blade Coaster[]
Blade Coaster is one of Meta Knight's Up Special Moves that can be used via customizations. Meta Knight flies forward instead of up. Enemies hit will be launched at a lower angle.
Strengths
- Better for horizontal recovery
- Good combo finisher
- Kill move
Weaknesses
- Less vertical distance
The Blade Coaster is better for horizontal recovery, going farther forwards instead of higher, travelling less distance vertically. The move is a good combo finisher, comboing out of dash attack, forward throw, down throw, and down tilt. The move is a kill move, but it kills off of the side blast zones instead of off the ceiling.
Lazy Shuttle Loop[]
Lazy Shuttle Loop is one of Meta Knight's Up Special Moves that can be used via customizations. Meta Knight rises slowly on a loop, and then strikes hard while rising quickly.
Strengths
- Better vertical recovery
Weaknesses
- Slower
- Cannot damage on the first loop
| Meta Knight's Custom Special Moves | ||
|---|---|---|
| Custom 1 | Custom 2 | |
| Standard Special | Entangling Tornado | Dreadful Tornado |
| Side Special | High-Speed Drill | Shieldbreaker Drill |
| Up Special | Blade Coaster | Lazy Shuttle Loop |
| Down Special | Shield Piercer | Stealth Smasher |
Origin[]
Shuttle Loop was used by Kirby in the SNES game Kirby Super Star (and its remake Kirby Super Star Ultra) when he received the Wing ability. The only differences are that it didn't make Kirby glide and it lacked the sword. In addition, the Wing ability's attack required to toss an enemy first.
Trivia[]
- It's actually possible to control the Shuttle Loop's glide in a way that will allows traveling all the way around the bottom of some stages and grab the ledge on the other side. This most notably happens on Final Destination and the Temple.
- If Meta Knight does Shuttle Loop from ground, he has a voiceline and starts gliding from higher.
- When Meta Knight enters the track in Kirby's Air Ride, he performs a similar move.