Meta Knight


 * For fighter info, see Meta Knight (SSBB).

Meta Knight (メタナイト, Meta Naito) is a character from the Kirby universe, and is often seen as Kirby's rival or sometimes mentor.

Character description
Meta Knight is a major character in the Kirby video game series developed by HAL Laboratory. Kirby's Adventure was his first appearance, although Meta Knight was not given a name until Kirby's Avalanche, released in 1995. He is a mysterious character and is seen as both a hero and a villain in the series.

Meta Knight's mask breaks almost every time Kirby defeats him, revealing a Kirby-like face underneath. The only difference is that Meta Knight's facial features are pure white and his face is blue. His mask gives the wearer's eyes a yellow-ish tint; it makes Meta Knight's white eyes yellow and Kirby's blue eyes green, as revealed by various Kirby games.

Meta Knight also wears a cape that can turn into wings, which he uses it to fly around. On certain occasions, he will take off his cape in battle.

Galaxia
The sword Galaxia is a solid gold blade with a ruby embedded in its hilt. It has six (or four) small spikes protruding from the actual blade. In earlier games Meta Knight's sword (then unnamed) had no spikes. The only game to refer to this sword by name so far is Super Smash Bros. Brawl, where Meta Knight's Final Smash is called "Galaxia Darkness". In the games, Galaxia is capable of not only standard sword moves such as stabbing and parrying, but also shooting out sword beams. Despite appearing alongside Meta Knight in virtually every early game he appeared in, the sword was never properly named until in the Kirby anime. In the Kirby anime, Galaxia may only be wielded by a select few. Here the Galaxia was shown to have virtually all moves by Meta Knight used in the past games, including the sword beam attack which appeared in Kirby Super Star (a bit smaller and weaker). In the anime, the beam takes the form of a concentrated blast powerful enough to shatter rock, create crevasses in the ground, and slice opponents in two. Galaxia is also unique in the fact that it emits a powerful consciousness. It can only be claimed as one's own by one who possesses enough power to hold it. Those who are not chosen can either end up being harmed or killed by the sword's overwhelming electric energy, or end up infusing evil upon themselves. In the Kirby anime, Galaxia was shown most prominently in a middle episode, and was even given a backstory. It was made by the race of light: Photoron long ago, and the anime's main antagonist (Nightmare) had sent a mighty monster to steal the sword. However, Meta Knight, and another fellow soldier(called Garlude) arrive. Garlude distracts Kirasakin, while Meta Knight gets the sword, Galaxia, and is the "Chosen One". He destroys the monster to find that the monster returns, while Kirby sucks up Galaxia and ultimately destroys the evil monster.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee
Meta Knight's only appearance in this game is as a collectible trophy, unlocked as one of the 250+ trophies that can be collected randomly during normal play, such as in the Trophy Lottery and throughout the various Single-player Regular Matches (though it will only be available to start appearing after the player has played over 200 Vs mode matches). The trophy has two factual errors: The first is that the trophy is called "Meta-Knight", but his name is not supposed to have a hyphen in it, and the second is that his first appearance was in Kirby's Adventure in May 1993, not Kirby Super Star in September 1996. The trophy reads as follows:

Trophy Description
''The mysterious head of the Meta-Knights, he wields his sword with dignity. He delivered his sword to Kirby and demanded single combat in show of his knightly honor; his strict adherence to his code of ethics makes him a rarity in Dream Land. Sometimes he throws off his cape in battle. It occasionally transforms into wings.''
 * Kirby Super Star 9/96

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl

 * Main article: Meta Knight (SSBB)

Meta Knight is a new character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and he is available to play from the start. Almost all of his attacks involve his sword, Galaxia, and most of these attacks are extremely fast such as his up air that comes out in just two frames (2/60 of a second), referencing his swordsmanship in the Kirby franchise. He has medium range due to the fact the his sword is not very long. All his specials put him into special-fall, but they can also be used in recovery. Like Kirby, King Dedede, Jigglypuff, Charizard and Pit, he has multiple jumps, but, despite physically resembling Kirby, he doesn't puff himself up to jump - instead he uses his wings to propel himself upwards, making him more similar to Pit in that respect. Also like Pit and Charizard, Meta Knight has the ability to glide using his wings. At this point in time, Meta Knight is widely considered to be the best character in the game due to his lack of of disadvantageous match-ups (although some match-ups are considered to be approximately even) along with his overwhelming dominance in tournaments.

Trivia

 * He is the only character to have a victory theme different from the other characters in his series.
 * In some official artwork, his sword has 6 spikes on its sides, and Meta Knight's shoulder pads are solid colored. In Brawl, his sword only has 4 spikes and he has an M on his left shoulder. In the Kirby games Meta Knight appears in, though, his sword has no spikes, simply resembling a golden version of Kirby's sword, and his shoulder-pads are solid.
 * Meta Knight and Shiek are the only characters in the Super Smash Bros. series to never show their face because they always wear a mask.