Meta Knight

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is a fictional character that appears in many Kirby games, usually as the boss right before Dedede, though his evil twin, Dark Meta Knight, once took the usual role of Dedede himself. His first appearance was in Kirby's Adventure (though he only got his name in Kirby Super Star).

Character

Meta Knight, while often seen as a menacing and warlike figure, is extremely chivalrous, even to the point of providing Kirby with a sword before fighting him. He is not evil per se (though he has attempted world domination, as seen in Kirby Super Star. An interview with HAL has revealed that MK is possessed by what is left of Nightmare ), but seems to see Kirby as a rival. However, in Kirby and the Amazing Mirror, he was a great help in defeating the final boss, in that he provided Kirby with his sword, Master, the ultimate power in the game. When defeated, his dark mask often shatters, revealing a cute, round, blue creature that, aside from colouration, closely resembles Kirby himself. He often covers himself and teleports away in such an instance so as not to be seen, perhaps ashamed of his Kirby-like features, or at least possessing some desire for Kirby not to know of them.

As a boss

From time to time, Kirby must battle Meta Knight in order to progress. Meta Knight is unusual among Kirby bosses in that he is actually the same size as Kirby, rather than significantly larger. He compensates for this, however, by using extremely practical and varied sword movements, some of which are even, when analyzed, comparable to those used in Fighting games. He possesses many of Kirby's sword-power abilities, in addition to several other useful moves, such as the ability to block attacks (another difference from other bosses) and several aerial dives, thrusts, and devastating combos, that makes defeating him by brute force alone nearly impossible. In Kirby Super Star and Kirby and the Amazing Mirror, he and his copy Dark Meta Knight can both create a giant tornado from their swords.

Subordinates

Meta Knight commands an army of several unique monsters and allies. He has his own band of Meta-Knights (notice the hyphen), which consists of Axe Knight, Mace Knight, Trident Knight, and Javelin Knight. In English versions, they're renamed Meta Axe, Meta Lance, Meta Mace and Meta Droid. Since Meta Knight himself is the leader of the Meta-Knights, he is sometimes referred to as "Sir Meta-Knight". All of them appeared in Kirby's Adventure and Kirby Super Star at various points in the games to fight Kirby. Another minion of his is an androgynous bird who pilots his Halberd in Kirby Super Star. He abandons the ship when Kirby destroys the Core. And the other minion is his right-hand man, Waddle Dee. Waddle Dee is a small, weak creature, who, in Kirby Super Star, stuck by him for the fight against Kirby, while the Meta Squad ditched him.

Anime Meta Knight

Meta Knight was also a regular on the anime series , which revealed that he is of the same group as Kirby, a Star Warrior and a high ranking and respected member of the Galaxy Soldier Army which fought against the armies of Nightmare. As in the games, he works for King Dedede, but seems to be an ally to Kirby. In fact, in the show's five-part series finale (released in condensed form on video as Kirby: Fright to the Finish), he leads an attack on the Cloaked Nightmare's hideout.

On the show, Meta Knight is accompanied by Sword Knight and Blade Knight, both of whom originally appeared as sword-wielding enemy drones in the games. The backstory of their connection to Meta Knight is revealed in the 24th episode of the series, "Sword and Blade, Loyal and True" (also known as "Hour of the Wolfwrath" and "Loyalty! Sword and Blade!" in Japan). Nightmare attacked their home and were forced to escape, later becoming bandits. During the pair's travels they attempted to rob Meta Knight and were attacked by a monster called Wolfwrath. Meta Knight rescued them and they swore loyalty to him, to help MK find more Star Warriors.

In the English-dubbed version of the anime, Meta Knight spoke with a Spanish accent (provided by Eric Stuart), possibly an impersonation of Ricardo Montalbán (or perhaps just a satirical salute to Zorro, an even more famous masked swordsman). Similarly, the dubbed voice of Sword Knight had an English accent, while Blade Knight's dubbed voice usually mumbled. In the original Japanese version, Meta Knight is voiced by seiyuu Atsushi Kisaichi.

Meta Knight also appeared in the pilot for the anime as one of Nightmare's monsters.

Playable appearances

In , players who completed the game and the additional "Extra" mode with one hundred percent completion got a chance to play as Meta Knight. He had several more moves than sword-Kirby, and his sword was not only extremely powerful, but also could solve any puzzle, the proverbial cutting of the Gordian Knot. He was able to transform his cape into a pair of bat-wings in order to fly about like Kirby (without the limitations present with Kirby's method of sucking in air).

Meta Knight was one of the many "rides" in Kirby Air Ride. Meta Knight could be used in all of Air Ride mode and in the Free Run portion of City Trial. He had to be unlocked by the player in each individual mode, by gliding for a total of 30 minutes (not necessarily in one sitting) on Air Ride and by destroying an accumalative total of 1,000 boxes in City Trial. Meta Knight can be seen as possessing both the Wing and Sword abilities in one, as he uses his bat-wings to glide across the track and uses his sword to attack. Because of this, Meta Knight has decent top speed with good acceleration but lacks the ability to boost.Also, in City Trail, since he is not a "machine", and therefore connot blow up, when his health is reduced to zero, he falls down, and cannot move or get up, so he just twitches when you move him.

During the final boss sequence and after the game was beaten, Kirby could use Meta Knight's sword (with slightly altered abilities) in Kirby and the Amazing Mirror.

In , players can unlock Meta Knight to play as. He is the fastest character in the game, although his health is the lowest. Uses his sword against enemies when he's near them and emits blue and white stars while he dashes.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

After appearing in Super Smash Bros. Melee as a trophy, Meta Knight was revealed as a character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. What kind of play-style he will have is unknown but the trailer showed him utilizing his sword, wings, and cape (as a shield).

{| align="center" class="toccolours" style="width: 40em; text-align: center;" |- ! style="background:#FFCCFF;" | |- | style="font-size: 90%;" |Main characters |- | style="font-size: smaller;" |Kirby | Meta Knight | King Dedede | Cloaked Nightmare | Whispy Woods | Dark Matter | Waddle Dee | Other characters |- | style="font-size: 90%;" | Minor characters |- | style="font-size: smaller;" | Dark Mind | Drawcia | Poppy Bros. | Ribbon | Kracko | Kirby series enemies | Star Warrior | Sirica | Ice Dragon | Majuu | WolfWrath |-