Meta Knight

"Come back when you can put up a fight."

- Meta Knight

Meta Knight is a major character in the Kirby series appearing in most of the games, manga, as well as the anime. The intrigue and popularity surrounding Meta Knight within the Kirby fandom largely lies in his shrouded motives and his striking likeness to Kirby himself. Due to Meta Knight's way of doing things and his oft-hidden intentions, the relationship between Kirby and Meta Knight are unpredictable in nature, and range from anywhere between being bitter rivals to being steadfast allies to one another and can change at a moment's notice. He respects a code of honor, and always gives Kirby a sword whenever he fights against him. Meta Knight is a playable character in many spinoffs, and is presented in many of the newer games as a "friend or foe" character.

Meta Knight is the leader of an army of soldiers known as the Meta-Knights, and captains a large airship called Battleship Halberd which may accompany him into the heat of battle. Although Meta Knight first appeared in Kirby's Adventure in 1993, his name was not known in the U.S. until the game Kirby's Avalanche was released in 1995.

Physical Appearance
Meta Knight wears his trademark attire, which is his silver mask and his blue or dark purple Dimensional Cape with gold trimmings, and a pair of metallic shoes. He has the ability to turn his cape into bat-like wings and fly with them in the games. The wings' first prominent use is in Kirby Super Star, where Meta Knight chased Kirby near the end of Revenge of Meta Knight. In Kirby Air Ride, he flies with them whenever he took part in a race. Meta Knight wields Galaxia, which is a spiked golden sword with an embedded ruby in the hilt.

Meta Knight's most well-known trait is the fact that he is almost never seen with his mask off. In a few games, his mask is split into two upon defeat, revealing a face near-identical to Kirby's with misty white eyes and mostly-white facial features. In the event that he is ever unmasked, he immediately departs the field of battle. The similarity of his looks to Kirby has led to speculation that he is a member of Kirby's species.

Meta Knight's original artwork depicted him with as black with yellow eyes, wearing a crimson cape and without armor besides his mask. In Kirby's Avalanche, he had pauldrons, violet shoes, and a brighter skin tone. His design was revised again in Kirby Super Star. In Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land, he was made bigger than Kirby and given a yellow strap to hold his mask in place. Since Kirby Air Ride, official artwork shows his sword reflecting Galaxia's design in the anime. Since Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Meta Knight was again resized to Kirby's height.

His pauldrons always have a yellow lining and often gray in color, but are sometimes dark blue. In Super Smash Bros. and Kirby Wii, his left pauldron bears a version of his insignia, which is an "M" in front of a downward-pointing sword. Meta Knight's cape is blue in all instances except Super Smash Bros. Brawl, where it is purple. The blushes on his face are almost always clearly pink, though in one incarnation in Kirby Super Star, they were very light in tone.

Meta Knight's mask apparently gives a yellowish tint to the wearer's eyes. Meta Knight's white eyes turn yellow, and Kirby's blue eyes become light green (first seen in Super Smash Bros. Brawl) when they wear it. Meta Knight's eyes also change color when his emotions change in the anime. When they are blue, he feels happy or content. When they turn pink in the anime, he is amused, or something grabbed his attention. When they turn green in the anime, he is in deep thought, focused on something, or solving a problem. When they turn dark red, he is angry or possibly disturbed or suspicious. If they ever flash a mix of colors, he feels all the emotions that he is flashing.

Dimensional Cape
Meta Knight's Dimensional Cape cape allows him to manipulate space, and is a powerful weapon in its own right. First named in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, his signature cape never received its official name until relatively recently, much like Galaxia.

It is most commonly used as a pair of bat-like wings which grant Meta Knight flight and gliding capabilities, and Meta Knight can wrap it around himself to teleport away. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Meta Knight can use it to ebb out of reality for a short time. In his Final Smash Attack, the cape is used to petrify his enemies and cover the surrounding area in complete darkness, leaving them open to attacks from his sword.

Galaxia
Main article: Galaxia The sword Galaxia is a solid gold blade with a ruby embedded in its hilt, with anywhere between zero to eight spikes protruding from its sharp edges. In earlier games, the spikes were absent from Meta Knight's then-unnamed sword.

In the games, Galaxia is capable of shooting out sword beams and standard sword moves. In Meta Knightmare Ultra, it absorbs the energy of a defeated foe, allowing Meta Knight to use special actions like the Mach Tornado and Meta Quick.

Kirby's Adventure and Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land
Meta Knight debuted in Kirby's Adventure as a minor character and a boss. When Nightmare tries to take control of Dream Land by corrupting the Fountain of Dreams, King Dedede entrusts Meta Knight with a piece of the broken Star Rod because he knows that his powers and his followers, the Meta-Knights, would prove to be a valuable asset against Nightmare's forces. He appears again in the game's remake, Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land, with the same role, with his updated design as seen in Kirby Super Star.

Throughout the game, Meta Knight sometimes helps Kirby by giving him invincibility candy (only in Kirby's Adventure), but also hinders his progress by summoning his foot-soldiers against him. By the time Kirby reaches Orange Ocean, Meta Knight challenges Kirby personally before he can reach Rainbow Resort and later the Fountain of Dreams. Meta Knight's true intentions can only be speculated, but it appears that he wishes to prepare Kirby for his final confrontation against Nightmare.

Whenever he fights Kirby, he always gives Kirby a sword to fight with (which Kirby must collect in order to fight him). Meta Knight attacks Kirby with his sword and can often block attacks which are thrown his way. Regarded as one of the most difficult bosses in Kirby's Adventure, the fight against Meta Knight was made significantly easier in the remake. During the fight, it is not possible for Kirby to lose the Sword ability, and the ability he had earlier will be restored after leaving the Meta Knight boss fight stage.

Achieving 100% completion in Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land in Extra Mode unlocks the Meta Knightmare sub-game. Meta Knightmare is the same as the regular game, but the player controls Meta Knight instead of Kirby. Meta Knight plays through the first seven levels and even fights another Meta Knight at the end of Orange Ocean. Because Meta Knightmare is a sub-game, the player is unable to save throughout the adventure, and must complete it in one sitting from the beginning to the end.

Kirby Super Star and Kirby Super Star Ultra
Before the release of Kirby Super Star, Meta Knight was still considered an obscure and underdeveloped character in the series. Although Meta Knight managed make an appearance in the spin-off, Kirby's Avalanche, he missed out on major titles Kirby's Dream Land 2 and Kirby's Dream Land 3. Kirby Super Star's release in 1996 features him as the antagonist with his own sub-game named Revenge of Meta Knight. This is considered to be his largest most well-known appearance in the series yet, which attributed to much of his popularity and subsequent looks, which are based this particular appearance.

Revenge of Meta Knight
In Revenge of Meta Knight, Meta Knight intends to dominate Dream Land for some undisclosed reason. With help from the Meta-Knights, Meta Knight's ultimate weapon, the Halberd, spreads its wings and takes to the sky, but Kirby intervenes and attacks the Halberd. Kirby boards the Halberd, which infuriates Meta Knight, so he ends up blasting him down into the ocean below. Kirby gains a warp star and attempts to board again, but is shot down by Main Cannon #2 and lands in the forest. With the help of Dyna Blade, Kirby boards the battleship once more, and destroys it piece by piece. With his crew beaten and his ship losing altitude fast, Meta Knight eventually decides to fight Kirby himself.

Again, he offers Kirby a sword, but this time the player can refuse it if they so desire by not taking it within several seconds. Doing this makes the battle longer, which is potentially dangerous due to the time feature in the sub-game. Meta Knight can parry attacks with his sword during the battle, and summon giant tornadoes to send Kirby up in the air and do damage. Some of his sword slash attacks can be inhaled and spat back at him.

After being defeated, he quickly departs for a rest, giving Kirby time to escape with a dutiful Wheelie that he freed earlier. Before he can do that, Meta Knight returns and flies after him, and the three escape right before the Halberd crashes into the sea below, ending the subgame.

Meta Knightmare Ultra
Meta Knight appears in Kirby Super Star Ultra, reprising his role from the original game. He is a playable character in the Meta Knightmare Ultra subgame, which is the equivalent of the Meta Knightmare subgame in Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land. In the original Meta Knightmare, he goes through the levels of Kirby's Adventure, but in Meta Knightmare Ultra, he goes through each original subgame instead (save for The Arena, Gourmet Race and the minigames). Although progress can be saved this time, the player must select "new game" to replay the sub-game after beating it.

By taking out enemies with his sword, Meta Knight accumulates points. He can spend them on four abilities activated on the touch screen. The abilities are:
 * Meta Quick: Speeds up Meta Knight and his Helper.
 * Heal: Fully heals Meta Knight and his Helper.
 * Summon Knight: Summons a Sword Knight or Blade Knight. Acts as a Helper. Sword Knight can use an upwards thrust, but Blade Knight cannot.
 * Mach Tornado: Has similar function to Crash but does slightly more damage.

There are cutscenes at the start and end of each sub-game that he plays through, and a few parts are skipped. Namely, he does not fight himself, unlike in the original Meta Knightmare. The Halberd still ends up being destroyed, however. After completing Milky Way Wishes, he summons Nova and makes a wish to fight the greatest warrior in the Galaxy. Nova grants the wish by summoning Galacta Knight, an immaculate warrior sealed away long ago, who fights against Meta Knight as the final boss.

Meta Knight appears in the minigame Samurai Kirby, where he is the difficult and final opponent.

Meta Knight appears in the sub-game Helper To Hero in Kirby Super Star Ultra, but he does not offer a sword due to the fact that helpers cannot obtain abilities without Kirby.

Meta Knight appears in the minigame Kirby on the Draw as one of the targets that Kirby must shoot to gain points. Successfully striking him earns the player 100 points.

Kirby & the Amazing Mirror
In Kirby & the Amazing Mirror, Meta Knight senses danger in the Mirror World and rushes off to protect it. Kirby follows him in and the adventure begins. (After a series of events, Kirby ends up splitting into four separate entities. Kirby can refer to each individual or all of them collectively). Meta Knight isn't seen until well into the game at level eight, Radish Ruins, where Kirby fights what appears to be Meta Knight in a duel. Unlike in previous fights where he offers Kirby a sword, this time he doesn't and the battle begins immediately. He is more aggressive and uses stronger versions of attacks that he used in Kirby Super Star and its remake Kirby Super Star Ultra. It turns out that the Meta Knight that Kirby fought in the Ruins wasn't the real Meta Knight at all, but a copy of his dark side known as Dark Meta Knight - the real Meta Knight was sealed within the Amazing Mirror. Dark Meta Knight has a greyed-out color scheme, but otherwise has similar apparel and eye color to Meta Knight himself.

Dark Meta Knight later makes a reappearance as the penultimate boss. Once the Kirbies enter the Dimension Mirror, Dark Meta Knight engages them in battle once more. Right then, the real Meta Knight shows up standing on a large pillar and reveals Dark Meta Knight for the fraud that he is.

After Dark Meta Knight is slain, Kirby get sucked into a worm hole which leads to Dark Mind. Meta Knight, who was watching the battle the whole time, quickly throws his sword into the worm hole for Kirby, who catches it and gains the Master ability. After Dark Mind is destroyed, Meta Knight drops the sword, then-unnamed but referred to as the Master sword, in the Central Circle, signifying the end of the game.

Kirby: Squeak Squad
In Kirby: Squeak Squad, Meta Knight once again plays a friendlier role, although is completely misunderstood at first. Although he doesn't come into play until later in the adventure, Squeak Squad is one of his most prolific roles in the series to date.

Meta Knight appears at the end of Ice Island. After Kirby narrowly defeats Daroach and reclaims the chest presumably holding his precious Strawberry Shortcake, Meta Knight comes out of nowhere and steals it, and travels to a secret place in Orange Ocean called the Secret Sea. The passageway to the Secret Sea is blocked by a door that can only be opened by collecting the five sacred Star Seals. Meta Knight is confronted as the boss of the seventh level, Secret Sea.

Shortly before the boss battle, Meta Knight reactivates the Halberd, which flies him and Kirby up into Gamble Galaxy. The Halberd is where Meta Knight is fought ,and is the setting for the first level in Gamble Galaxy and the last few levels in Secret Sea. Meta Knight himself doesn't offer a sword before the battle, but in the room before him Kirby can access a Bubble with the Sword ability inside it. The stars Meta Knight kicks up during the fight will also grant the Sword ability.

He is very offensive in this game, and attacks almost non-stop, making it difficult for Kirby to get hits in. If attacked head-on he will simply strike back instead of blocking. He employs the same attacks used in previous games, but also gains a variety of new elemental moves, such as striking his sword down to create an electrical charge around him and shooting crescents of fire across the screen. He turns around much faster than in previous games as well, making it harder to attack him from behind.

Near the end of the game, Meta Knight's intentions are finally revealed. It turns out that the chest didn't contain the shortcake, but instead the ruler of the underworld, Dark Nebula. Meta Knight was really trying to stop the spread of evil during the game.

Kirby Air Ride
Meta Knight features as an unlockable racer in Kirby Air Ride. He has a permanent built-in Sword ability, and Wing ability which enables him flight. He is unlocked in Air Ride by gliding for 30 minutes total in air, and in Free Run by breaking open 1000 boxes in City Trial. Much like the Wagon Star, Meta Knight cannot charge or boost and has a bit of skid, and has the lowest health among all racers, but he more than makes up for his shortcomings in other areas, especially in offense and gliding ability.

One of Meta Knight's alternate colors in this game is loosely based off the colors of his sprites in Kirby Super Star and Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land.

Kirby: Canvas Curse
Meta Knight never appears story-wise in Kirby: Canvas Curse, but after unlocking King Dedede, the player can get him in Medal Swap for 25 medals. He is very bouncy, very fast, but has only three Health Points. Meta Knight uses an invisible sword to take down enemies; Players can hear a sound of him using it when he rolls into an enemy. Meta Knight floats in water, just like Kirby. He also appears (face only) in Paint Panic.

Kirby's Epic Yarn
Meta Knight appears in Kirby's Epic Yarn. After the player defeats King Dedede, the cutscene movie shows Meta Knight noticing strange changes in the Dream Land landscape while aboard the Halberd. Yin-Yarn ambushes him and turns him into yarn, making him the boss guarding the magic yarn of Space Land, the seventh and final piece of Patch Land. When the player fights him, he is being controlled by Yin-Yarn, (via magical swords) and his eyes flicker rapidly between purple and yellow when he is not attacking.

Meta Knight does not use Galaxia this time, but has four different swords provided by Yin-Yarn. As he uses up his yarn swords, Meta Knight's attacks grow more and more severe, firing multiple sword beams, covering the screen with fire, and he can summon tornadoes when he is down to his last one. His slashing attacks can only be dodged, but he is vulnerable to attack right after. Upon getting hit, Meta Knight falls backwards, and Kirby can disarm him by using the yarn whip on the button on his sword. After being defeated, Meta Knight is freed from Yin-Yarn's possession and disappear into his cape. He reappears in the next cutscene, apologizing to Kirby for attacking, and explains the situation in Dream Land. Kirby, Prince Fluff, Meta Knight and King Dedede go to Dream Land to stop Yin-Yarn, and he does not appear again until Kirby fights Mega Yin-Yarn, where Meta Knight flies overhead and drops the Tankbot metamortex for Kirby.

Kirby Wii
In the E3 2011 trailer for the game, it is shown that Meta Knight is a playable character, whose attacks are based on the move sets of Sword, while still being able to flap his Wings. He is shown in the E3 2011 trailer of Kirby Wii to be investigating the crashed alien spaceship with Kirby, King Dedede, and Waddle Dee, and in artwork looking at the spaceship's interior.

Kirby Mass Attack
Meta Knight appears in the SHMUP minigame as the penultimate boss. He attacks by charging horizontally from one side of the screen to the other, going downward each time until he reaches the bottom. He can also create five illusions of himself that will fire sword beams, though the illusions can be destroyed before they attack. Meta Knight himself can also fire sword beams.

In the Anime
In the Kirby of the Stars Pilot, which is the pilot anime of Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, Meta Knight appears as one of the enemies that appear out of the plumes of smoke when the sky turns dark. In this appearance, his mask is larger, his shoulder pads are more curled, and his gloves are smaller. He is defeated when Kirby spits Captain Stitch at him. This is the only time where Meta Knight is seen flying in the anime. He never flies in Kirby: Right Back at Ya!.

In in Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, Meta Knight is the only surviving member of the Star Warriors after the great war against Nightmare. He settled in Dream Land and became King Dedede's servant along with his followers Sword Knight and Blade Knight, thinking that Dedede's penchant for monsters will hopefully bring a young Star Warrior to Dreamland and join forces with him to defeat Nightmare. He secretly constructs the Halberd throughout the years under Castle Dedede which requires more crew than he currently has allies, to prepare for the eventual confrontation against Nightmare, but this is not revealed until nearing the series' conclusion. He teaches the new Star Warrior Kirby, to make him strong enough to beat Nightmare one day. Compared to the games, his intentions are much clearer - he is undoubtedly on Kirby's side, though he doesn't always show it when danger looms, but this is because he wants Kirby to grow stronger and braver. Throughout the episodes, his character is given more depth, in addition to revealing his past. It is in Kirby: Right Back at Ya! where his sword was directly referred to as Galaxia for the first time.

His eyes change according to his mood. When Meta Knight's eyes are supposedly closed, his eyes turn dark orange and when he is angry, his eyes turn red, as seen in the episode "Scare Tactics". He is extremely stealthy, and observant or well-informed, since no one ever sees him unless he speaks or shows himself, and he knows the events happening around him well enough. He knows every single of Kirby's abilities, but it took him a while to figure out Throw and Mike.

Uncharacteristically, he likes watching Channel DDD, although whether it is because it amuses him somewhat or whether it is to try and catch out Dedede's scheming early is unknown. He also may have a sweet tooth, as he has a jar of candy in his bedroom, and seems to like tea as well, as seen in the episode "Escar-Gone".

Meta Knight makes an appearance in almost every episode, even when his only role is to explain Kirby's abilities.

Meta Knight is voiced by Atsushi Kisaichi in the Japanese version of the anime and, and speaks with a smattering of random English words in his Japanese. He is voiced by Eric Stuart in the English dub for 4Kids. In the dub, Meta Knight speaks with a Spanish accent, possibly as a reference to Zorro.

In the Super Smash Bros. Series
Meta Knight is not a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Melee but appears as one of the collectible trophies. There are notable mistakes and inconsistencies regarding his description in the game. On his trophy, it states that his first appearance was in Kirby Super Star when it was actually in Kirby's Adventure, and he is referred to as "Meta-Knight" with a hyphen, which really refers to members of his army instead of him. His body is depicted as sliver and his cape purple when they are blue and purple in the Kirby series respectively.

Meta Knight is one of the playable fighters in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He is fast and light, and can jump up to five times like Kirby and King Dedede can, using his wings. He can glide as well, and fights using Galaxia. Some of his moves are based off that of his previous games. His flagship, the Halberd, appears as a stage, and plays an important role in Subspace Emissary, the game's story mode.



Meta Knight's Moves

 * Up Grab - resembles Ninja Kirby's Air Drop


 * Down Grab - similar to Suplex Kirby's Fury stomp - performing a damaging charge while being invincible.

The Japanese version has Atsushi Kisaichi as his voice actor, as in the anime. In the English version, he is voiced by Jay Ward. A sticker of him from Squeak Squad and Canvas Curse appears in this game.
 * Mach Tornado (Standard Special Move) - similar to Kirby's Tornado ability. Meta Knight whirls either left or right in a vicious tornado. Mashing the button allows him to rise up slightly and extend the duration of his attack. As this is Meta Knight's Standard Special Attack, Kirby will be able to use this when Kirby uses the "Inhale" move on Meta Knight. After spinning for about three seconds, he will launch any opponents who were caught in the tornado. If the Special Button is pressed repeatedly, Meta Knight/Kirby can hover while using this move.
 * Shuttle Loop (Up Special Move) - Similar to Wing Kirby's Shuttle Loop maneuver. Meta Knight launches himself up into the air, sword first. He can then use his ability to glide afterwards, making it even more like Wing. The player can tilt the direction by pressing left/right. Can be used to recover from being knocked away, and enables Meta Knight to glide.
 * Drill Rush (Side Special Move)- Similar to Kirby's Master ability. Drill Rush is the name of Meta Knight's Forward/Side B attack. Meta Knight leaps sideways with his blade outstretched. He performs a combination lasting up to a good 2 seconds, knocking his opponent upward, and pulls back when finished. Meta Knight can change the course of the attack, as he is shown using the same attack upward, allowing it to be used as a recovery. However, after finishing the move, if Meta Knight is off of the stage, he will not be able to recover. After completing the move, he is vulnerable for a second if on the ground, as he cannot defend himself. If in the air, he must fall to the ground before he can launch another assault,
 * Dimensional Cape (Down Special Move)- Dimensional Cape is the name of Meta Knight's Down B attack. A defensive move, it allows Meta Knight to teleport away from danger. Holding a directional position determines where he will teleport to and pressing the attack button after teleporting allows Meta Knight to attack straight after using it. Use of this move can prove to be strategic.
 * Galaxia Darkness (Final Smash)- His Final Smash is known as Galaxia Darkness. He swirls his cape out in a wide sweep trying to hit his opponent with it. When Meta Knight hits with the cape, the stage turns dark, says "Behold..." or "Know my power...", and then Meta Knight slices strongly through the darkness. Enemies get launched helplessly. This attack affects everyone near Meta Knight (even team members)- not just the person who is trapped in his cape. However, the person(s) trapped in the cape take the brunt of the blow. The ability will only hit enemies trapped in or nearby the cape.

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 attacking a lone Marth outside of a large castle. He quickly realizes that Marth is not his enemy as they are both surrounded by Primids. After a successful battle, both warriors chase the Ancient Minister carrying a Subspace bomb. They fail to destroy the bomb, but Ike appears and he uses his Aether technique 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. After defeating Galleom, Meta Knight saves Lucas and the Pokémon Trainer from a giant freefall, and 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 contest. After the contest, both board the Halberd which has just shaken off the defeated Great Fox.

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 continue on to the control deck. There they discover that the ship is being piloted by a gang of Shadow Bug Mr. Game & Watches who fuse together (after being knocked out of the bridge by Snake) to form a gigantic metallic monster called Duon. Once Duon is defeated, Mr. Game & Watch joins the group, along with Peach, Shiek, Fox, and Falco.

Meta Knight takes back control of the Halberd and reunites with the members from other groups. The aircraft of the other heroes are placed inside the Halberd, which heads towards the Subspace Battleship with all of the Super Smash Bros heroes on board. 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 Fox and Falco's Arwings. Kirby destroys the Subspace Battleship by ramming through it it with the legendary 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 and rejoins the others in the fight against Tabuu.