Meta Knight (Super Smash Bros. Brawl)

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

Unveiled at E3 2006, Meta Knight (, Meta Naito) is a character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Originally from the Kirby universe, Meta Knight joins the brawl as a starter character who wields his short sword Galaxia as he fights. He currently ranks first on the Tier List due to his extremely fast attack speed, great priority due to good range and transcending priority found in a lot of his attacks (also found in lasers and needles), unpredictable recovery thanks to four recovery moves, ability to avoid being KO'd with his extremely fast up air momentum cancel, amazing edgeguarding ability, approach options, some fast and reliable killing moves, and amazing tournament results and match-ups. No match-up is thought to be a disadvantage for Meta Knight, although some matchups are approximately even.

Attributes
Meta Knight is a small character roughly the same size and shape as Kirby (although Meta Knight has a cape that transforms into a pair of bat-like wings) and with the same weight as Pikachu. With proper Directional Influence and partial Momentum Canceling, he can be hard to KO, despite his light weight. Meta Knight's small size and low weight mean that he is difficult to chaingrab, but a few characters can chaingrab or grab release combo him because of his poor, short air release (the third worst behind Wario and Squirtle when including small characters). Meta Knight's dash speed and rolls are quite fast, but his lateral aerial movement outside of a glide or any special move is very poor (in the bottom 5). His wings provide Meta Knight with five mid-air jumps and the ability to glide twice (by pressing and holding the jump button and then using his Up special). His moveset is mostly comprised of fast, high priority (due to long range and transcending priority also found in lasers and needles), long ranged moves with his sword Galaxia, which deal relatively low damage and knockback. The low power is compensated for by the fast speed and minimal lag of most of the attacks, allowing Meta Knight to easily set up combos and rack up damage. In particular, his Mach Tornado (neutral special) can quickly put up to 26% damage on the opponent. Another example can be seen in his Up Aerial, which when combined with his multiple jumps can combo into itself to 30% or more damage and/or other moves because of its speed. Many of Meta Knight's multi-hit attacks (such as Forward and Back Aerials, Forward Tilt, Up Smash, and Mach Tornado) are useful in racking up damage, but can all be escaped with Smash DI. Meta Knight's knockback comes from his down and forward smashes, glide attack, neutral aerial and his up special. These five moves are his only viable finishers, and none of them are meteor smashes (though he can gimp recoveries to remedy this and is considered by some to be the best edge-guarder). The up special and down smash are both especially notable for their quickness. Additionally, the up special puts Meta Knight into a glide, allowing him to use his extremely powerful glide attack. Meta Knight is the only character whose all special moves can be used for recovery (allowing him an unpredictable recovery and therefore making him nearly impossible to edgeguard) and put him into a helpless state. A common beginner's mistake for using Meta Knight's specials are to use any of his specials and accidentally go off stage, leaving to fall to his death (though this is not very common at higher levels of play). Meta Knight does lack a projectile, but Mach Tornado has high enough priority to break most opponents' projectiles, or he can just glide over them. Other abilities of Meta Knight include his ability to use his Dimensional Cape for mind games, Wing Dashing (an ability shared but more effectively used by Pit) which involves canceling the attack and the landing lag while sliding forward, leaving him completely able to use another attack or defend, and having two excellent approach attacks: Mach Tornado and Drill Rush, giving him a very unpredictable approach game. Additionally, these two approach attacks are not affected by Stale-Move Negation due to being natural combos. Meta Knight's final smash, Galaxia Darkness, is hard to land and does poor damage and knockback. It can, however, hit numerous enemies. This is of no consequence to competitive play, where final smashes are almost always banned.

Normal

 * Neutral Attack - When held, Meta Knight yells and executes a lightning-fast series of slashes that also attack enemies behind him. Low priority. Does 10% damage when just tapping the attack button.
 * 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%.
 * Strong Side - 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. It may be viable for biggest priority in the game hitting over things such as Marth's F-air. 1st slash does 4%, next does 3% and the last does 5%, altogether 12%.
 * Strong Up - Stabs his sword above him while spinning. 6-8% damage.
 * Strong Down - Stabs across the ground. Good for tripping, deceptive range, very fast, and it can be used to Psuedo Crawl. 4-6%

Smash

 * Side Smash - Pulls his sword back for a second, then slashes in front of him. This is Meta Knight's only slow attack. 15-19%.
 * 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 - Slashes in front of him, then behind. Arguably his best kill move due extremely fast speed. One of the non-dragging down smashes that 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.

Aerial Attacks

 * Neutral Aerial - Slashes while spinning in a circle. Similar to Pikachu's Neutral Aerial. Surprisingly powerful. Can hit twice for a total of 19% damage.
 * Forward Aerial - Slashes in front of him three times. Can perform a Wall of Pain variation. First slash does 3%, second does 3%, and last does 4%. Altogether 10%.
 * Back Aerial - Like his fair, but behind him and more slowly. To compensate for the slower slashes, this move has slightly more knockback. However, it still has almost no start-up lag. First slash does 3%, second does 3%, and last does 4%. Altogether 10%.
 * Up Aerial - Slashes above him very quickly, has decent knockback. Shortest ending lag aerial in the game. Great for juggling opponents into the upper blast line. 6% damage. If you have tap jump on and use this move repetitively, you will rise up. The distance is based on the number of midair jumps you haven't used.
 * Down Aerial - Slashes below him very quickly. Sends the opponent at a horizontal trajectory and is quite deadly offstage, especially against opponents with poor horizontal recovery. 7-9% damage.
 * Glide Attack - Slashes in front of himself. A fairly powerful move with great knockback. 12% damage.

Grabs & Throws

 * Pummel - Jabs opponents with his wings.
 * 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 - Like Kirby's: jumps into the air holding his foe, and then crashes down. The differences are that this throw doesn't create an explosion, like Kirby's, and has less launch power. Can KO at very high percents. 12% damage.
 * Down Throw - Also like that of Kirby: Throws opponent on ground and rapidly stomps them. However, unlike Kirby's, this has mainly horizontal knockback. Can chain grab a few characters. 11% 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.
 * Down Taunt -Spreads his wings while saying "COME!".
 * Side Taunt - Says "Fight me!", while examining his sword, slashing twice, and finally pointing his sword in front of him.

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.

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 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; 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, Sheik, 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 it 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.

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

Trivia

 * Meta Knight and Snake are the only two characters in the history of Smash to have had their own tiers, although both have since been grouped into a larger, single S Tier. However, their numerical positions remain the same.
 * Meta Knight is one of only three characters in Brawl able to perform three aerials (in Meta Knight's case, three Up aerials) in one short hop, the others being Lucario (rising Forward aerial, two Down aerials) and Luigi (rising Forward aerial, Forward aerial, then Neutral aerial or Up aerial).
 * Meta Knight's first jump is his only jump in which he doesn't use his wings to propel himself upward.
 * Out of all the Kirby characters, Meta Knight is the only one to speak in sentences, seen in his Down and Side Taunts, his Final Smash, his Down Special, and all three of his Victory Poses - this is most likely because he was the only character to have dialogue in the Kirby series at the time of Brawl ' s release. (King Dedede had dialogue in Kirby Super Star Ultra, but that was released after Brawl.)
 * Meta Knight is the only character in Brawl who has a victory theme different than the other characters in his particular franchise (Kirby and King Dedede share the Kirby Victory Dance theme, while Meta Knight has a rock remix of the theme). Sakurai stated that this was because Meta Knight's personality clashed with Kirby's cutesie victory theme.
 * Meta Knight can fall with either his cape or wings, depending on his actions while in the air.
 * When Meta Knight has midair jumps left, his wings are spread, but when he runs out of midair jumps, his wings are very limp and hang loosely above him, as if tired.
 * Meta Knight's eyes are never closed, but they do change in size.
 * The Prima Official Game Guide gave Meta Knight only 6/10 in the character ratings.

Potential Banning

 * It has been intensely debated if Meta Knight should be banned from tournaments. A rumor saying that Meta Knight had been banned from Italian tournaments ran through the Smash Community in September, 2008. This rumor was later proven to be false by Italian Smashers themselves, who were just having a poll in the Italian Smashboards asking users if they thought Meta Knight deserved a ban (these kinds of polls were popular in all the Smashboards around the world at the time). The results of the poll were misunderstood and posted on Smashboards as if Italy had banned Meta Knight.
 * However, the community had been continuing the debate over whether or not to ban Meta Knight, and the SBR promised they would have a decision after Genesis, a major tournament. The SBR has decided to allow community input on the decision, and thus a poll was created along with a forum as to help decide Meta Knight's tournament future. The forum can be found here. Pro-Ban won the poll, but did not win the super majority(2/3) so Meta Knight will in all likelihood not be banned from the tournament environment.