Meta Knight is a supporting character appearing throughout the Kirby series. He is very mysterious and seems to waver between being a friend or being a foe depending on his appearance, although he has always been depicted with a strong sense of honor and seems to seek good ends. When he battles Kirby, he usually gives Kirby a sword.

Background

	Meta Knight in Kirby Super Star
Meta Knight
Eye color	White
Voiced by	Eric Newsome (2008-Present)
Debut	Kirby's Adventure

Not much is known about Meta Knight's background. In the past, he has fought both against and alongside Kirby. He wears a blue cloak and a light gray mask as well as shoulder pads with his personal emblem: a M with a sword in the middle. When the cloak and mask are removed, Meta Knight is shown to be creature that resembles a blue Kirby with white markings, implying that they are of the same species. Meta Knight leads a small army with several unique characters. The most important of these characters are the Meta-Knights. The Meta-Knights are made up of Meta Knight himself as well as Meta Axe, Meta Mace, Meta Lance, and Meta Droid. The Meta-Knights refer to their leader as Sir Meta Knight. Also unique is an eagle-like character and a sailor Waddle Dee who pilot The Halberd.

Dream Land

Meta Knight first appeared as a boss in Kirby's Adventure (as well as the remake Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland). In the Orange Ocean level, he guarded a Star Rod piece. Occasionally, he sent the Meta-Knights after Kirby throughout the level. At the end of the level, he and Kirby dueled with swords. Later in the game, he had a change of heart and helped Kirby by giving him a special Invincibility candy. However, it is likely that Meta Knight's motives in trying to stop Kirby from fixing the Star Rod were pure, as he might have been aware that Nightmare was sealed within the Star Rod.

Meta Knight made his return in Revenge of Meta Knight, one of the games in Kirby Super Star. Intent on destroying Dream Land's lazy life style, Meta Knight flew his ship, The Halberd, to conquer the land. Kirby managed to destroy the ship's main engine, and and both Kirby and Meta Knight proceeded to escape before the ship fell into the ocean. In the Kirby Super Star Ultra version, Meta Knight battles through his own version of the Super Star games known as Meta Knightmare Ultra in his quest to become the strongest warrior in the universe. At the end of his version of Milky Way Wishes, instead of fighting Marx (likely because this takes place after Kirby's version of Milky Way Wishes), he asks the revived Nova to let him fight the strongest warrior in the universe, leading to Nova summoning the deadly Galacta Knight, whom Meta Knight was able to best.

GBA/DS/Wii Era

When evil threatened the Mirror World in Kirby & The Amazing Mirror, Meta Knight was the first to help. However, Meta Knight's Mirror World self, Dark Meta Knight, captured him. Dark Meta Knight disguised himself as the real Meta Knight and battled Kirby. When Kirby rescued Meta Knight, Meta Knight loaned Kirby his sword to defeat Dark Mind. After Kirby managed to defeat Daroach in Kirby: Squeak Squad, Meta Knight stole the treasure they were battling for and escaped through a door sealed by five colored stars. Kirby collected them and followed Meta Knight to Secret Sea and then onto The Halberd. As the ship sailed into Gamble Galaxy, Kirby and Meta Knight battled once more, only to have Daroach claim the prize once more. In truth, the chest did not contain ultimate power, as Daroach believed, or cake as Kirby thought. It contained Dark Nebula, and Meta Knight had been trying to prevent its release.

Meta Knight also appeared in Kirby's Epic Yarn, where he was ambushed by Yin-Yarn aboard the Halberd and sent to Patch Land. There he was controlled by yarn and forced to act as the boss of Space Land, being the final boss faced in Patch Land. Kirby and Prince Fluff defeated him, at which point Meta Knight apologized for his actions and warned him about Yin-Yarn's plans to conquer Dream Land. They then returned to Dream Land, after which Meta Knight only briefly showed up in the final battle to drop a Tankbot metamortex for Kirby.

As an Unlockable Character

Meta Knight has been an unlockable character in several different games. In Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland, he was available in a special version of the game called Meta Knightmare (a precursor to Kirby Super Star Ultra's Meta Knightmare Ultra mode) if the game was beaten with 100% completion. In Kirby's Air Ride, Meta Knight is one of the unlockable rides. He's also an unlockable character in Kirby: Canvas Curse.

Abilities

Meta Knight is skilled with a sword. When Kirby uses the sword in Kirby & The Amazing Mirror, the ability is referred to as "Master", perhaps a nod to Link's Master Sword. Some games and the animated series name it the "Galaxia", Spanish for galaxy. He has also been seen using his sword to solve puzzles. This is probably an allusion to cutting the Gordian Knot.

Meta Knight also has the ability to fly. His wings, transformed from his cloak, resemble those of a bat. When Meta Knight runs, its roughly as fast as Kirby when Kirby uses the Wheel ability.

In his Smash appearances, Meta Knight uses the following moveset:

Standard Special Move: Mach Tornado - Meta Knight briefly spins around in a tornado-like formation.
Side Special Move: Drill Rush - Meta Knight lunges forward while stabbing his blade forth, in an attack that can double as a recovery move.
Up Special Move: Shuttle Loop - Meta Knight takes flight and loops through the air, temporarily gliding while extending his sword to attack others.
Down Special Move: Dimensional Cape - With this move, Meta Knight can use his cape to teleport elsewhere. This can be used as a recovery move.
Final Smash: Galaxia Darkness - When using a Smash Ball, this move causes Meta Knight to wrap a player near him with his cape, and the screen will temporarily turn dark, at which point Meta Knight attacks with a powerful sword slash that can hit multiple enemies. This Final Smash was replaced in Ultimate.
Final Smash: Darkness Illusion - Meta Knight's Final Smash in Ultimate. When used, he will grow an extra pair of wings and strike at the fighter. If successfully stricken, the background will turn dark while Meta Knight attacks the opponent with a series of slash attacks in the center of the stage.

Other Appearances

Video Games

In Yoshi's Woolly World, a Yoshi design based on Meta Knight's appearance could be unlocked by scanning an amiibo of Meta Knight.
In Super Mario Maker, Meta Knight's sprite from Kirby's Adventure appeared as one of the Mystery Mushroom costumes that Mario could transform into. The costume could be unlocked as a random prize for completing a 100 Mario Challenge on Normal or higher, or by scanning his amiibo.

Super Smash Bros.

Meta Knight in Brawl.

Meta Knight appears as a playable fighter in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He is known for quick movements and a variety of sword attacks that often utilize his wings. He also had alternate costumes based on Dark Meta Knight and Galacta Knight. Meta Knight's helmet has also been available as gear for Mii Fighters starting in the 3DS/Wii U game. Meta Knight was part of the initially playable cast in his initial appearances, but in Ultimate, he had to be unlocked through game's variable-based system for unlocking fighters or by awakening him in Adventure Mode (where he is found within the area of the Dark Realm known as the Mysterious Dimension).

In Ultimate, his Classic Mode route was "Two Sides of the Same Coin", and it consisted of three-way battles with the other two combatants being a character and their evil counterpart (such as Link and Dark Link, or Captain Falcon and Blood Falcon). The last pre-boss battle was against two duplicates of Meta Knight wearing the costumes of Galacta Knight and Dark Meta Knight. The route's final boss was against Master Hand and Crazy Hand.

Trophies/Stickers/Spirits

Meta Knight has also appeared as a trophy in Super Smash Bros. Melee, two trophies (one being of his Final Smash) and two stickers (from Kirby Squeak Squad and of the Meta Knight Ball from Canvas Curse) in Brawl, two trophies in the 3DS/Wii U game, a trophy for his Final Smash in the Wii U game and a Fighter Spirit in Ultimate.

Brawl: The Subspace Emissary

Within Brawl's Adventure Mode, "The Subspace Emissary", the Halberd had been stolen by the Subspace Army, and Meta Knight set out to reclaim it. He eventually teamed up with Marth to fight off minions of the Subspace Army outside the Battlefield Fortress (after briefly mistaking each other as enemies), and they were then joined by Ike when they attempted to pursue The Ancient Minister. The three swordsmen traveled throughout the land fighting off more of the Subspace Army's forces, including the mechanical Galleom, and along the way Meta Knight was also able to save Lucas and Red from a deadly fall.

Meta Knight then departed from his companions when he saw the Halberd battling the Great Fox and began scaling the Glacial Mountain with the Ice Climbers to reach it. At the peak, he then battled Lucario seemingly due to accidentally disturbing his meditation. After a battle between the two, they became allies and stormed the Halberd together. They soon met a third teammate in the form of Solid Snake. Together they eventually claimed the bridge of the Halberd after defeating the massive boss Duon. With the Halberd back in his possession, Meta Knight then rendezvoused with the other heroes for the attack on Subspace. The Halberd and various other spaceships owned by the other heroes then made a daring stand against Ganondorf's massive battleship. The Halberd was shot down. It is unknown if Meta Knight was on board, but if he was he must have somehow escaped as he was among the other main party when they entered Subspace for the final battles.

Other Media

Meta Knight appeared as a supporting character throughout the Kirby: Right Back at Ya! anime series. He is among the few surviving Star Warriors from the war with Nightmare and with his Meta-Knights becomes one of King Dedede's servants in hopes that Dedede's love of monsters would draw in a young Star Warrior capable of defeating Nightmare, which it eventually does in the form of Kirby. Throughout the series he trains Kirby in order to prepare him for the battles of Nightmare, and although he is more clearly an ally of Kirby in this canon, he is sometimes more aloof in order to help Kirby to become more independent and stronger. In the series finale, it was shown that he was secretly constructing the Halberd in order to battle Nightmare. Meta Knight lacks his wings from the games in this adaptation. However, his sword was named Galaxia in the anime, which influenced the sword's name in Brawl.

Trivia

In Super Smash Bros. Melee, Nintendo mistakenly says that Meta Knight first appeared in Kirby's Super Star. They also misspell his name by adding a hyphen.

Meta Knight

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