Kirby Primer v1.0

Kirby Primer          by: Langston       ver. 1.0

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Intro
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poyo~


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Overview
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Kirby, the puffball from Dreamland, returns to the fray and is now more viable than
any other game! ... Sort of.  He's not great, but he's cute and fun.  He specializes
in fast moves, on ground and air, mixing up his approaches and blending fundamentals
and shield pressure to terrorize your opponent.  His niche is his copy ability that
he's known for in his games - copying the "Neutral B" move of any character in the
roster - using their own weapons against them.

PROS:
- Fast ground and air game, many juggling options
- 5 Jumps
- True combos
- 50/50 throw setups
- a command grab and copy ability
- aerial endlag is nonexistent
- Superb offstage game
- OP crouch game
- fucking cute

Cons:
- Shit reach.  it's shit.
- Shitty projectile (outside of some Copies)
- 3rd lightest character in the game
- Punishable and difficult to land kill moves
- Grapple characters will give you aneurysms.
- Relies heavily on run up shields to safely approach



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Moveset Analysis
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---GROUND GAME---

Jab:
Fast, last hit knocks the opponent 45 degrees away from Kirby, and can be jab canceled
putting Kirby in a 50/50 position.  The jab is a good move to beat any OoS grab
attempt since Kirby can be quite difficult to shield grab in the first place.  The
fact that it comes out so fast means that it will also catch other moves that aren't
as fast.  After the first two hits of the jab, you can drop the full jab combo and
decide to reset to neutral, and follow up with a grab or attack depending on how your
opponent is reacting.
(a move like Dolphin slash will beat the reset, but it's quite difficult to react in
time since Kirby's jab is so fast anyway.)

Ftilt:
Decent range (for Kirby), and can be angled but to little use.  You won't be using
this move outside of a safe followup from dair.

Utilt:
This move is the shits.  Fast, combos at low percents and actually hits in front of
Kirby if the opponent's on top of him.  A good alternate "get off me" if your opponent
ends up behind you or is trying to roll into you often.  Can be shieldgrabbed at the
right range though, so use it smartly.

Dtilt:
This move is what ftilt wishes it could be.  Not only is Kirby's hitbox vertically
decimated to a pancake level but this move trips 30% of the time and combos into
Fsmash until the opponent's at a percent where he's knocked far enough away.  If
that's the case you can follow up with a grab, aerial, or dash attack.  Characters
with fast jabs have the frame advantage on block though, so if you're playing someone
good, be wary of following up with something.

Dash attack:
Multihitting and fast, this dash attack doesn't actually suck ass.  Use it wisely and
it will make your opponent respect your spacing options.

---AERIAL GAME---

Nair:
Kirby spins and attacks all around him.  boatload of active frames.  Catches rolls and
pops them up into the air to lead into combos and strings.  Somebody rolling into
Kirby is just what he wants when he's using this move at a safe distance.  This is
basically, outside of combos, a defensive move.

Fair:
Kirby's spacing tool and a good follow up option on a falling opponent.  He kicks 3
times in front of him, the last hit having decent knockback.  If you can predict a
greedy approach from an opponent, a short hop fair will smack them out of it.

Bair:
Like most bairs in this game, it's strong, and a kill move.  However it's quite
lagless and can be used as a decent follow up on strings because of it's quick start
up.  One of Kirby's kill moves, thought not quite as strong as his smash attacks, an
offstage bair is pretty powerful.  Strong OoS option.

Dair:
Kirby spins, hitting multiple times beneath him, and the last hit has a very weak
meteor spike.

Offstage - Despite being weak, Kirby carries the opponent during every hit of the
move, so this will carry the opponent down with Kirby before meteor spiking them.
This move is just amazing for gimping at any percent, since if you fastfall during the
active frames you can potentially footstool your opponent at low %s, following the
weaker meteor smash.  The lasting hitbox makes this pretty easy to land if your
opponent doesn't know how to get around it.  Just be careful of good opponent
predicting this and hitting you out of it - it doesn't have great priority.

Onstage - This move will almost always combo into ftilt, dtilt, or utilt, depending on
where the opponent lands.  If you land before the last hit, it will sometimes combo
into Usmash (this is dependent on rage and %, needs more testing).  Good for mixing up
approaches because of multiple hits.

Uair:
Kirby flips backwards and kicks above his head.  This move has misleadingly slow
start up, but is more powerful than it seems and is good for juggling.  This move can
kill off the top if the opponent doesn't expect it.  Outside of juggling an opponent
above you, this move has little usage.

---SPECIAL GAME---
NeutralB:
Inhale.  Big risk, big reward.  The actual grab box is right next to Kirby, but the
vacuum will suck the opponent in towards Kirby and catch them with the grab box if
they don't attack or escape in time.  If you catch the opponent shielding right in
front of you, there's no escaping once the drop the shield.  This move has bad start
up though, and terrible endlag.  Don't use this at high %'s, and don't throw it out
without a good guess. However, many copied abilities will definitely help Kirby even
up some bad match ups, and spit is always a good way to get an opponent below and off
the stage.

Get rid of an unwanted ability by taunting.

SideB:
Hammer.  This move is... very... inapplicable.  The uncharged hammer is no stronger
than any of your smash attacks and has really bad start up.  A charged hammer will
deal a point of damage to Kirby every second and is generally impossible to land on a
player that knows what they're doing.  Still, if you're playing for fun, you can jump
with unexpected horizontal momentum while charging the hammer, so if a foolish
opponent tries to jump into you to knock you out of it you can catch them in the air
for a big hit.

DownB:
Stone.  Very unsafe move if used at a height that can't be canceled from before
touching base.  Can get you down from the top blastzone quickly though, and if you're
lucky you'll catch an opponent overcommiting in the air too much and potentially kill
them since it's pretty powerful.

Thanks to quick-stone tech though, this move has some unexplored uses punishing moves
and approaches on platform stages like Battlefield or Halberd. It's scored me a few
kills in the short time I've known about it - it's definitely worth looking into if you
plan to win with Kirby.
-Quick-Stone video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVPD10xOoFk

UpB:
Kirby's recovery, final cutter.  Sends a shockwave or blade or something when landing
on ground with it.  It sucks.  If your opponent is retarded you can spike them on the
ledge though like with Aether.


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How does Kirby play
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Looking up videos is, IMO, the best way to learn a character easily and quickly.  But
if you prefer reading I'll try to break down what I know.

Kirby's range is shit.  There's no sugarcoating it.  But up close, the frame data is
almost always in Kirby's favor.  You want to be a master of run-up shielding and
counterpoking.  Kirby's ground speed isn't that bad, and he can do things that
Jigglypuff can't.  The more perfect shields you preform as Kirby, the more you're
going to win.  Kirby is a character that is almost always doing the approaching.  It's
very easy to catch terrible evasive habits like roll-ins and spotdodge spamming with
Kirby because his neutral game is so quick and lagless.  Just shorthopping nairs at
roll-in distance can lead to a 20% combo effortlessly if your opponent tries to roll
into Kirby.  But Good players will be too busy keeping Kirby out to bother getting
close to Kirby, because close to Kirby is where Kirby shines.  Once you get in, do not
let your opponent escape.

Also, as Kirby has little means of safely approaching outside of run-up shields, you
might find yourself pulling Dahudges now and then.  Don't even underestimate the
validity of rolling behind your opponent now and again.  With mix ups and patience,
you can scare your opponent into leaving themselves wide open.


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Tech and tips
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Quick-Stone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVPD10xOoFk

bthrow > bair combos on some characters at very low %.  Doesn't sweetspot em all
though. sourspotting will put you at a frame disadvantage.  If you don't know who this
works on I don't recommend bothering.

fthrow > fair can be difficult to escape for some characters at certain %s, usually
range from 0-20%.  The fair can immediately be confirmed into another dash grab for
regrab shenanigans but characters with a fast jab will smack you out of it if you get
greedy with it.  In this case, follow up with an attack.  This grab at early %'s puts
the opponent close to Kirby so Kirby can instantly act on anything his opponent does,
which is what is usually called a 50/50, since you can either attack or grab them.

utilt > utilt > sh nair is a legit combo at low percents.  bair is a frame off but
works as well if the opponent doesn't buffer a dodge correctly.  uair > bair follows
up as well but is an escapable string.

If you've ever played street fighter, you can sort of treat Kirby's dtilt like a
crouching medium.  It lowers Kirby's hitboxes making some jump-ins whiff, has
low lag,  is a good poke and will lead into things.   Don't underestimate the
power of crouching as Kirby.