Meta Knight (Super Smash Bros. Brawl)

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This article is about Meta Knight's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. For other uses, see Meta Knight.

Meta Knight
Universe	Kirby
Also appears in	3DS/Wii U Ultimate
Availability	Starter
Final Smash	Galaxia Darkness
Tier	SS (1)
Character Statistics
Number of Jumps	6
Can Glide	Yes
Voice Actors
Voiced by (English)	Eric Newsome
Voiced by (Japanese)	Atsushi Kisaichi

Meta Knight (メタナイト, Meta Knight) is a starting newcomer in Super Smash Bros. Brawl from the Kirby universe. He was the very first newcomer announced at E3 2006.

He currently ranks 1st on the tier list. Meta Knight has extremely fast attack speed, unpredictable recovery thanks to four recovery moves and five midair jumps and amazing edge-guarding ability. However, he has poor KO potential and endurance, though his fast attacks and superior mobility more than compensate for his weaknesses.

Due to his incredible fighting prowess, general unpopularity in the Super Smash Bros. community (he was and is considered "broken" among many), negligible weaknesses and over-centralization of the metagame, Meta Knight was banned for a time between the period of January 9th, 2012 and April 16th, 2012 from the Unity Ruleset, which was being pushed as the only valid ruleset. This makes Meta Knight, Cloud, Bayonetta and Hero the only characters in the Super Smash Bros. series who have been banned from a standardized tournament ruleset, although Bayonetta and Hero's ban was far less prominent and Cloud being exclusively banned in doubles. Even prior to his banning, he has been placed in his own tier, SS, at the very top of the tier list. Since the Unity Ruleset committee has been disbanded, it is once again up to each tournament's organizer whether Meta Knight should be banned or not.

Attributes

Meta Knight is a small character, roughly the same size and shape as Kirby, and with the same weight as Pikachu. He also boasts the sixth fastest dash speed, fast walking speed, average falling speed (although he does have above average gravity), and average air acceleration, though his air speed is very low, tied for the third worst.

Meta Knight's greatest asset is his extremely fast frame data. Almost all of his moves have little startup and ending lag. The best example is in his up aerial, which can be performed three times within a short-hop, with it coming out on frame 2 and the move can be cancelled as early as frame 14. The reach of his attacks, though average overall, is disproportionate to his small hurtbox. As Meta Knight has a sword, many of his moves are disjointed, and many of his moves possess transcendent priority, except for Mach Tornado, Drill Rush, dash attack, and glide attack. When combined with his incredible attack speed, this makes Meta Knight's attacks very difficult to challenge and punish, giving him a powerful neutral game and approach, even though he lacks a projectile. He can easily pressure with his aerials and tilts, and his neutral special, Mach Tornado, covers a long horizontal distance and offers great protection, making it a potent approach option that is difficult to counter. All of his aerials are also capable of auto-canceling in a short hop, making them excellent tools to approach or retreat with. Though Meta Knight's air speed is poor, he is gifted with five midair jumps and the ability to glide twice, allowing him to weave in and out of danger.

While Meta Knight's moves deal fairly low damage, their speed and low power allow them to easily chain into one another, giving him a strong combo game. Again, this is demonstrated by his up aerial. Combined with his jumps, his up aerial combos into itself for as much as 30%, due to its speed and low knockback, and it can lead into other moves as well, such as Mach Tornado and Shuttle Loop. His KO power is also solid, especially for a lightweight. Though his forward smash has high startup and it is not very strong for a forward smash, it is his strongest finisher and it has low ending lag, potentially making it impossible to punish in some situations. Shuttle Loop has high knockback (especially at low percents), quick start-up, and is difficult to punish, as he can glide away to safety. Down smash is quick, hits on both sides, and has high power, making it his most reliable grounded KO move. His glide attack is fast, and can KO early near the upper blast line, though it is rather telegraphed.

Contributing to Meta Knight's strong KO power is his offstage game. Aside from up aerial, all of his aerials are viable finishers offstage. Neutral aerial is very fast and has relatively high knockback, his forward and back aerials can be used to perform a pseudo-wall of pain, and his down aerial is a deadly semi-spike. Aerial Shuttle Loop is a semi-spike with very high base knockback, making it a very powerful tool to stage-spike recovering opponents and unwise edgeguarders. His incredible recovery compliments his superb air game. He has five midair jumps and the ability to glide twice. Mach Tornado offers great horizontal distance, decent height, and protection. Drill Rush is horizontal and can be angled. Dimensional Cape allows him to vanish and move in any direction before reappearing. Finally, Shuttle Loop grants high vertical distance, and transitions into a glide. Altogether, these factors give Meta Knight the best recover in the game as it can theoretically travel an infinite horizontal distance, it is extremely difficult to punish and Meta Knight has many ways to mix his recover up. Despite lacking a meteor smash, his recovery and dominating air game make him a terror to face offstage, as he is capable of gimping and edge-guarding almost any foe.

However, Meta Knight has notable weaknesses. Being a lightweight, he has very poor endurance, though his quick momentum cancel in his up aerial aids him slightly. His above average gravity and air acceleration also gives him a rather exploitable aerial grab release animation, which leaves him vulnerable to grab release followups, notably against Marth, who can combo him into a variety of moves, including a down aerial meteor smash. His poor air speed, while easily worked around in some situations, can give him a hard time avoiding moves like Pikachu's Thunder. Meta Knight has many multi-hit moves that can be SDI'ed out of, such as Mach Tornado, limiting his ability to rack up damage against strong players, and this compounds his damage output, which is average at best. Though his neutral and approach games are strong, he has trouble fighting against competent campers, such as Snake and Falco. Meta Knight has a rather long 32-frame delay before he can meteor cancel. Combined with his light weight, this gives him trouble against characters with useful meteor smashes, particularly Falco. However, his extremely effective recovery negates much of this issue.

Overall, Meta Knight has overwhelming combat prowess, and his weaknesses are hard to exploit and can be worked around. His mobility, attack speed, range, priority, and recovery allow him to play both aggressively and defensively, give him a variety of ways to play depending on the situation, as well as giving him plenty of room for error against most characters.

Strengths

• Very fast attacks make him difficult to punish

• Possesses five jumps and four recovery options, making his recovery unpredictable

• Excellent juggling capability

• Incredible edge game, with great edge-guarding capability and many options for getting around other edge-guarders

• Mach Tornado is an excellent combo finisher, and punish tool

• Drill Rush is a useful horizontal recovery and can be angled up and down

• Shuttle Loop has great vertical and horizontal movement, with the gliding being able to be cancelled into an attack to punish approaching opponents; the glide attack and Shuttle Loop are both reliable finishers

• Dimensional Cape is a useful tool for escaping enemy combos, maneuvering around the stage in an unpredictable manner, sneak attacks, flanking opponents, retreat, recovery, and can be platform cancelled into other aerial attacks, as well as being a reliable kill move

• Jagged frame data and disjointed hitboxes gives him high priority

• Very fast jab that hits on both sides

• Forward tilt can attack three times, with the third attack having good horizontal range

• Down smash is an effective tool for punishing rolls and edge options because of its speed

• Excellent match-up spread, having favorable match-ups against all characters except Pikachu

• Fast on the ground, with fast dodging maneuvers

• Slow fall speed

• Can easily outmaneuver zoning opponents and deal very well with projectiles due to his good dodging maneuvers, multiple jumps, and high priority

• Many good approach options, Mach Tornado and Drill Rush being two in particular

Weaknesses

• Lightweight, making him easy to K.O.

• Few reliable kill moves that can kill early, with the only one being his forward smash which is among his slowest attacks

• All special moves leave him helpless, making them dangerous to use haphazardly off-stage or near an edge

• Lacks a meteor smash

• Drill Rush leaves Meta Knight open to attack at the end

• Dimensional Cape cannot grab onto the edge if the attack is used upon reappearing

• Poor air release makes him susceptible to meteor smashes and some chain-grabs

• Horizontal air movement leaves something to be desired

• Low damage output and launch power on many attacks

• Dash attack lacks transcendent priority, making it poor for approach

• Multi-hitting attacks can be escaped easily

Moveset

Ground Attacks

Normal

• Neutral Attack - Meta Knight yells and executes a lightning-fast flurry of slashes that also attack enemies behind him. Does 10% damage when just tapping the attack button. Can be rapidly tapped or held to extend the duration.
• Dash Attack - Does a running kick. His only attack (other than all of his throws, excluding the back throw) that does not use his sword. When MK attacks with his foot, it does 6%. When the body hits it does 8%. Possibly based on Kirby's Slide move.
• Side tilt - Slashes twice in front of him, then once upwards. Only pressing the attack button once will cause Meta Knight to perform only the first hit; press it twice more to slash the second and third times. 1st slash does 4%, next does 3% and the last does 5%, altogether 12%.
• Up tilt - Stabs upward. 10%, decent knockback, and in some cases at higher percents makes up for his up smash's weak vertical knockback. A possible nod to his upward stab attack in most of his boss fights.
• Down tilt - Thrusts his sword across the ground. Good for tripping, deceptive range, very fast, and it can be used to Pseudo Crawl. 4-6%

Smash

• Side Smash - Pulls his sword back for a second, then slashes in front of him. Has below average knockback, but is his strongest move in terms of knockback. This is Meta Knight's only slow attack, although that's only the start-up which is 24 frames: it has a very fast charge release and has very little ending lag, less cooldown than his Down Smash. 15-21%.
• Up Smash - Slashes above him three times. Like Link's Up Smash, but much faster. 4% each slash, in total 12%. [9% damage uncharged]. Low knockback.
• Down Smash - A front to back sword strike where he slashes in front of him, then behind. One of the non-dragging down smashes where the second hit attack has higher knockback than first hit. Front slash does 12-15%, and back slash does 15-18%.

Other

• Ledge attack - Slashes with blade. 8% damage.
• 100% ledge attack - Gets up slowly, then slashes with blade. 10% damage.
• Floor attack - Slashes on either side of himself. 6%, both slashes.

Grabs & Throws

• Pummel - Jabs opponents with his wings' claws. A slow pummel. 3% damage.
• Forward Throw - Kicks the opponent in front of him. A very fast throw. 8-10% damage.
• Back Throw - Teleports and slashes the opponent behind him. 10% damage and good knockback.
• Up Throw - Similar to Kirby's: jumps into the air holding his foe, and then crashes down. The differences are that this throw doesn't create an explosion, and it has less launch power. Can KO at very high percents. 12% damage.
• Down Throw - Stomps on the opponent multiple times, then ends by slamming down on them. It is much like Kirby's Down Throw, but it is a little slower and has a horizontal trajectory. Does 12% damage.

Taunts

Both his Side and Down Taunts provoke battle. This is because he would always challenge Kirby to an honorable fight.

• Up Taunt - Wraps himself in his cape, as if teleporting via his Down Special, while grunting. Resembles when Meta Knight is defeated and teleports away in Kirby's Adventure.
• Down Taunt - Spreads his wings while shouting "come".
• Side Taunt - Says "Fight me!", while pointing left hand in front (at opponent), slashing twice, and finally pointing his sword in front of him.

Special Moves

Meta Knight's Special Moves
	Brawl	3DS/Wii U	Ultimate
Standard Special	Mach Tornado
Side Special	Drill Rush
Up Special	Shuttle Loop
Down Special	Dimensional Cape
Final Smash	Galaxia Darkness		Darkness Illusion

In competitive play

 

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Character Matchups

Avg.

Meta Knight has by far the most favourable matchup spread in Brawl, with a weighted total of 252 (more than twice the amount of Ice Climbers, the character with the second highest weighted total) on the current SmashBoards matchup chart. He has one even matchup, soft counters nine characters, counters thirteen, hard counters eleven, and has two close to unloseable matchups. Against other top and high-tiered characters, he has one even matchup, soft counters seven matchups, and counters one matchup. Even his one even matchup (against Pikachu) is highly disputed and even proven to be wrong, and many players, even Pikachu professional ESAM, believe it to be in Meta Knight's favour. The other closest to even matchups against Meta Knight include Falco and Ice Climbers, the former due to his ability to projectile camp against Meta Knight, and the latter of course due to their 0-death chaingrabs, but even then, they're heavily stage dependent, only coming close on neutral stages. Meta Knight is considered the hardest matchup for many characters, with certain characters, such as R.O.B. and Luigi, having their positions on the tier list significantly dropping in large part due to their poor matchups against Meta Knight. Meta Knight can easily beat every character in the game and is the toughest matchup for almost every other character.

Role in the Subspace Emissary

It is revealed that before the events of the Subspace Emissary, Meta Knight was attacked by the Subspace Army, who had the intent of taking the Halberd. He was able to hold them off until King Dedede attacked him, causing him to lose his ship.

Meta Knight in the SSE

When Meta Knight is first featured in the Subspace Emissary, he attacks a lone Marth outside of a large castle. He quickly learns that Marth is not his enemy when they are both almost piled on and surrounded by Primids. After a successful battle, both warriors chase the Ancient Minister, who is carrying a Subspace bomb. Both are unsuccessful in their attempts in destroying the bomb (Meta Knight's left wing was shot by the Ancient Minister's laser, forcing him to land and change to his cape to extinguish the flame); luckily, Ike appears and uses his Aether to catch the Minister off guard and destroy the bomb. With the bomb destroyed, all three head back to the castle to clear out any remaining Primids.

Later, they are all seen traveling the wastelands together and battling Galleom. Meta Knight then saves Lucas and an unconscious Pokémon Trainer from a giant free-fall after they defeat the same boss. Meta Knight then begins to ascend a large cliff face, followed by the Ice Climbers (who see his ascent as a racing challenge), in order to reach the Battleship Halberd. At the summit, Lucario challenges Meta Knight to a sparring duel. To the relief of the Ice Climbers, the winner revives the loser, having no hostile feelings. The Halberd then crashes into the side of the mountain in an attempt to destroy the defeated Great Fox, which is being held by the arm of the Combo Cannon. Meta Knight and Lucario quickly board the Halberd, while the Ice climbers fall off the summit, into the canyon.

The pair run into Solid Snake while on board and join forces with him to take back the Halberd. After rescuing Peach and Zelda, the trio continues on to the control deck. There they discover that the ship is being piloted by a gang of Shadow Bug Mr. Game & Watches. Snake runs towards them and throws them all out of the window and onto the bridge, who fuse together to form a gigantic metallic monster called Duon. Once Duon is defeated, Mr. Game & Watch joins the group, along with Peach, Zelda, Fox, and Falco. (Meta Knight remains in the Halberd's control center and does not take part in the battle.)

Meta Knight takes back control of the Halberd and reunites with the members from other groups. The aircraft of the other heroes is placed inside the Halberd, which heads towards the Subspace Gunship with all of the Super Smash Bros heroes on board (except for Wolf, Toon Link, Jigglypuff, Sonic, Ness, King Dedede and Luigi). After using the Subspace Battleship's main cannon to create another Subspace portal, Ganondorf spots the Halberd on the horizon and orders the battleship to open fire. The Halberd is struck down, but the heroes are able to escape on board Samus's Gunship, Captain Falcon's Falcon Flyer, Olimar's Hocotate ship, and Falco's Arwing. Kirby destroys the Subspace Battleship by slicing through it is with the Dragoon racing machine and the heroes enter Subspace to pursue Ganondorf and Bowser.

Meta Knight is turned into a trophy by Tabuu along with the rest of the Super Smash Bros heroes upon their entrance into Subspace. He is later revived by Kirby. He rejoins the others in the fight against Tabuu.

Playable appearances The Battlefield Fortress The Wilds (Part I) The Glacial Peak Battleship Halberd Interior Entrance to Subspace The Great Maze (if rescued in Subspace (Part II))

Exclusive Stickers

The following stickers can be used only by Meta Knight or by a select few including him:

• Bonkers: [Weapon] Attack +16
• Cell Phone: [Slash] Resistance +4
• Dyna Blade: Launch Resistance +46
• Gordo: [Throwing] Attack +5
• Hot Head: [Flame] Attack +10
• King Dedede & Kirby: [Specials: Direct] Attack +21
• King Dedede (Kirby Super Star): [Leg] Attack +28
• Kirby (Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards): [Body, Spin] Attack +22
• Kirby (Kirby Air Ride): [Arm, Leg] Attack +17
• Maxim Tomato: Maxim Tomato Effect +50
• Meta Knight: [Slash] Attack +32
• Meta Knight Ball: Launch Power +8
• Nruff: [Body, Spin] Attack +5
• Starman (Kirby: Squeak Squad): Launch Power +33
• Whispy Woods: [Weapon] Attack +4

In Event Matches

Solo Events

• Event 2: Landmaster Ignition: As Fox with a Smash Ball, the player must survive against Meta Knight and Sheik. Fox must rely on his Landmaster as his opponents take less knockback from his regular attacks.
• Event 3: Pink Ball Repulsion: The player controls Meta Knight and must defeat Kirby before the platform reaches the Halberd portion of the stage.
• Event 20: All-Star Battle x1: Meta Knight is one of the eight opponents fought in this event along with Wario, Pit, Zero Suit Samus, Olimar, Lucas, Diddy Kong, and the Pokémon Trainer.

Co-op Events

• Co-Op Event 5: The Yoshi Team of 50: As Meta Knight and Pit, both players must KO all 50 Yoshis on Rainbow Cruise before completing one lap of the stage.
• Co-Op Event 13: Blades of the Quick and Mighty: Marth and Ike must defeat Link, Meta Knight, and Ganondorf on Temple.
• Co-Op Event 20: The Final Battle for Two: Both players select a character and must defeat Bowser, Wario, King Dedede, Wolf, Meta Knight, and Ganondorf on Final Destination.
• Co-Op Event 21: The True All-Star Battle: Both players select a character and take on the entire roster on Battlefield.

Costume Gallery

Gallery

Meta Knight's introduction in the E3 2006 trailer

Meta Knight looking up

Meta Knight evading Palutena's Arrow

Meta Knight battling Pit

Meta Knight before Zero Laser hits

Meta Knight and Pit being hit by Zero Laser

Meta Knight in the Brawl intro

Meta Knight on Bridge of Eldin

Meta Knight fighting Pit on Lylat Cruise

Meta Knight fighting Kirby on Skyworld

Meta Knight on Castle Siege

Meta Knight's stock icon

Trivia

• Meta Knight is the first swordsman introduced to speak English.
• Meta Knight is the first top ranked character to not use a projectile.
• Meta Knight is one of the few characters to lack a meteor smash.
• Meta Knight is the only character that is able to glide twice in midair.
• Meta Knight, Snake, Ganondorf, Ice Climbers, and Luigi are the only characters to have ever been placed in their own tier on the tier list.
• Meta Knight is the only character whose entire set of special moves leaves him in his helpless animation.
• Meta Knight is one of only three characters in Brawl able to perform three aerials in one short hop, the others being Lucario and Luigi.
• Out of all the characters in the Kirby universe, Meta Knight is the only one to speak in complete sentences.
  • He is also the only one to have a different voice actor in the Japanese version of the game.
• Meta Knight's eyes never close, but they do change in size when he's damaged.
• Meta Knight is the only character in Super Smash Bros. history to have been alone in a tier more than once.
• Despite Meta Knight being part of the Kirby universe, he has a unique victory theme that plays after he wins a match, unlike every other fighter in any game in the series before Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.
• Meta Knight can preform an infinite Dimensional cape move, leaving him completely invisible for a long period of time until he attacks. This move can only be preformed with a Game Cube controller and is an almost guaranteed win when in a Sudden Death match.
• People who entered tournaments with Meta Knight had incredible performances and were practically invincible. Therefore, Meta Knight has been banned from most tournaments to avoid cheap victory.
• According to his moveset files, Meta Knight has a voice clip whenever he starts up his Down Smash, but it's never used do to the start-up animation being instantaneous. He does use the voice clip in the next game.
• Meta Knight is the only swordsman not to use his sword when using battering items.
• In The Subspace Emissary (through Subspace Part I), Meta Knight is one of the two villain characters to not play a villainous role. Meta Knight's role is in the SSE stages The Battlefield Fortress, The Glacial Peak, and Battleship Halberd Interior. The other character of the two is King Dedede in Subspace (Part I). (This does not include Mario and Donkey Kong who have been both a protagonist and a villain --and both appear as assigned characters through the first 28 stages-- and the Bowser fight --performed by King Dedede-- in Subspace Part II.)
  • Both characters are from the Kirby universe.
  • As for the remaining two villain characters --Wario and Ganondorf-- Wario joins the player's team by rescuing the Wario trophy in Subspace (Part I) while Ganondorf is unlocked (if not unlocked yet) by rescuing both the Link and Zelda trophies in Subspace (Part II). Bowser joins the team after the fight in Subspace (Part II) with King Dedede. Then all three of these villain characters --Bowser, Wario, and Ganondorf-- all become assigned in The Great Maze (but only if the requirements for Wario and Ganondorf are met). Wolf makes no concession --along with Toon Link and Jigglypuff-- and these three characters (Toon Link, Wolf, and Jigglypuff) join the player's team in the SSE by revisiting The Forest, The Ruins, and The Swamp after completing the SSE. (And if they have not been unlocked yet, they are unlocked as a playable character.) Therefore, this makes Wolf the only villain in the SSE to make no concession before completion of the said mode.

External links

• Meta Knight's page at Smash Bros. DOJO!!.
• Special Move Set
• Meta Knight Character Guide at SWF
• Video of Meta Knight's hit boxes