The God Slayer - Analyzing Kirby's Inhale

hello everyone mockrock here and welcome back to the signature move tier list where we dive into the history of an iconic video game technique break it apart in a series of trials and finally stack it up against the competition the voters have spoken and the contender this time around will be kirby's inhale first seen in the character's 1992 debut title kirby's dreamland the happy puffball has leaned on the ability ever since during his life of eating candy drifting through the breeze and slaying eldritch gods outside of his own quest inhale is also one of the most well-known abilities in every installment of the super smash brothers series some might even say notorious but will that include me at the end of this video let's begin [Music] cool sponsor today i think a lot of you will really like this one this video is brought to you by neuralis the robot set to crush humanity at super smash brothers it's sparred with the best of the best and me and while morales certainly lives up to its reputation i did get my time to shine and so can you several times per week you can participate in the beat the robot challenge over on twitch.tv slash norales defeat neuralis in a first to three and win a 25 gift card to amazon or the gaming platform of your choice it won't be easy but neuralis has paid out hundreds to the smash community and is 100 free to challenge so drop right in and afterwards make sure to stop by their youtube channel to see if you made the highlight reel links to both channels are in the description so be sure to subscribe if you like what you see thank you for the games norales as well as for supporting the channel as before we'll be exploring kirby's inhale throughout the video game world and evaluating it on power utility synergy style and design these scores will place it in either a b or c tier with further promotions or demotions into s and f tier done on a case-by-case basis to avoid ambiguity inhale in this video will refer to both the ability itself as well as any powers kirby gains as a direct result of using it on screen this entry into the signature move tier list was decided on by my supporters and if you'd like to make your voice heard both for the next episode of this series as well as for the next smash archetype analysis both polls are currently live on my discord server available to all patrons youtube members and twitch subscribers alright let's kick things off kirby's inhale is an inherently powerful technique in his home series even in its base form as a large persistent hitbox that can capture any moderately sized enemy in his path before either consuming them or spitting them out as a high speed high range projectile plus some occasional other possibilities like in the crystal shards where you can carry your victim on your back this also applies to plenty of environmental hazards a core part of his strategy against many bosses and inhale can often be used as a lingering frontal shield in these scenarios inhale isn't infallible as in some instances kirby gets exhausted after prolonged use or is even denied the ability entirely such as when he's under water is already inflated or throughout the entirety of games where he's in an alternate form such as kirby's epic yarn there are also certain large or stubborn enemies that inhale can't directly affect and others that will damage kirby for attempting it but overall the primary act of inhaling is still extraordinarily useful and of course we can't forget about the super inhale or hypernova upgraded versions of the traditional move that can affect considerably larger targets but let's be honest what we're actually here for are the copy abilities ever since his second adventure kirby has had the ability to absorb many enemies powers and use them for his own benefit and these tend to be very strong more often than not you want massive persistent hitboxes to put the already generous coverage of his base inhale to shame fire bubble or beam have you covered to name a few do you want to move this persistent protection above your head then look no further than the parasol or apply it around your entire body using stone spark needle the list goes on want that same protection without standing still i might recommend wheel ball or tornado which turn you into a nearly impervious force that barrels through anything in its path they do lock you into a pretty limited trajectory though so good thing you've got plenty of powerful close quarters abilities that allow you to stay far more mobile including throw sword staff hammer and even smash bros and of course there's nothing forcing you to close that gap either with plenty of abilities like laser esp cutter and archer giving you access to powerful projectiles or just don't even bother fighting at all and possess a minion to do your dirty work using the ghost ability this isn't close to a comprehensive list of even the basic powers kirby has access to from using his inhale and they've only gotten stronger with time as individual attacks have given way to varied move sets but these extend into other territory as well several titles have utilized the idea of mix abilities which let kirby combine different powers together by say inhaling two enemies at once or combining his own copy ability with a friend or elemental effect or both which can create either modified versions of existing powers or entirely new ones and these are generally stronger than kirby's already powerful base level attacks kirby also has access to limited use powers which typically act as screen nukes and can similarly access a number of super abilities and dangerous special power ups which are always appropriately deadly most of these abilities can't be used underwater although this isn't universally true and will usually get knocked out of the little guy if he takes a hit or two but you'll typically have a pretty generous window to get it back or just don't sweat it and grab the next one you see it's probably pretty good too in kirby air ride inhale behaves about as you'd expect allowing you to spit out generic enemies with a homing attack or temporarily steal a copy ability if possible these behave similarly to the platformer titles and while they're less devastating than say mario kart's power-ups if life bars are turned off they're brutally punishing if this option is enabled air ride allows you to permanently eliminate opponents from the race and between swords automatic slices [Music] plasma's massive homing electricity blasts and mike's instant all-encompassing shock wave to name a few these can be genuinely nasty so yes to nobody's surprise inhale is extremely effective at dealing with kirby's traditional enemies but what happens when we pluck him out of that world and drop him into super smash brothers where his enemies are pretty much powerful protagonists or antagonists in their own right here in halo acts as a command grab meaning that it goes through shields which pretty much always ends up seeing use in a character's kit it's not the fastest or safest among the roster and the hitbox is smaller than it really should be but it is persistent and works on both opponents and in the newest smash title many projectiles where it can both provide a small amount of healing and spit larger attacks back at his opponent with the caveats that it needs to be done from a distance because of the lag and it doesn't play nice with explosives once inhaled kirby has the option of either spitting his opponent out or taking their neutral special for himself the spit option lacks the range of his home series since opponents can mash out of it and its damage output is modest but it still puts kirby in an excellent positional advantage and in some matchups this will be your go-to option in many others though you'll definitely want to steal your opponent's ability as neutral specials are often powerful moves that have central roles in a character's playstyle many characters notably have strong projectiles in this slot but we're also talking all-encompassing shields projectile deniers close quarters powerhouses [Music] two framing tools alternate lethal command grabs it's all out there for kirby to snag made even more appealing and ultimate where kirby gets a 20 damage boost on the majority of his copy abilities many of these abilities also offer kirby additional combo routes which will be covered in more detail in the synergy section but for now just know that they're very useful to have and of course there's no way i can talk about kirby and smash without bringing up the little brother strategy or inhaling your opponent off stage and dragging them to their doom dubbed the kirby side among fans this has become somewhat less effective over time as recoveries have gotten stronger and ledges became less abusable but it's always there and especially in the earlier games could be extremely annoying to try and get around for a lot of characters kirby's inhale is about as powerful as you could ever hope for in his home series and while not quite this strong in super smash brothers being a slightly risky attack that doesn't always grant you an amazing power up it's still at worst a persistent command grab and at best gives you access to some of the strongest moves in the game for power inhale receives a score of 4.5 out of 5. the utility of kirby's inhale action itself is respectable but unextraordinary allowing him to participate in a few environmental interactions when it comes to copy abilities though the possibilities explode the range of mobility and interactivity options presented to kirby are staggering including but not even close to limited to digging through the ground breaking metal blocks boosting speed numerous ways to augment his aerial mobility [Music] generating food lighting the environment traveling across water freezing water radically improved jumping abilities shrinking down to enter previously inaccessible areas teleporting chopping down grass wall clinging and lighting fuses if you can think of a way for kirby to interact with a level there's probably been a copy ability at some point that lets him do it in super smash brothers inhale itself has essentially no utility value but not literally none as it can be reversed and wave bounced techniques that alter your aerial momentum although inhale is not the ideal candidate thanks to the lag the move suffers as well as kirby's poor air mobility meaning that kirby's trajectory isn't going to be altered as dramatically as more nimble fighters things pick up a bit more when we look at kirby's copy abilities shulk's monado arts can provide improved air and ground mobility and numerous abilities allow kirby to further alter his aerial momentum which can be a valuable asset in everything from recovering to edge guarding some of the more notable examples include joker's gun [Music] jigglypuff's rollout meta knight's mock tornado mewtwo shadowball martha lucina's shield breaker and greninja's water shuriken which i didn't originally have in the script but as it turns out essentially grants you another jump and naturally while i tend to focus more on the competitive side of smash for these videos both the copy abilities and exhaled opponents can interact with various stage elements which are valid considerations once again the utility value offered by kirby's inhale in his base series is outstanding and while somewhat slim pickings in the super smash brothers series do bring it down a little bit inhale still achieves a utility score of 4 out of 5. kirby has a very expansive list of powers however this is almost entirely granted to him through the copy abilities he gains from inhale outside of this the character's move set is actually fairly basic that's not to say there's nothing to work with though at the most fundamental level kirby's other primary power is the ability to float which he can use to get into an advantageous position for abilities that say drop him downwards kirby can also enlist the help of animal friends in a few titles some of which expand the situations inhale can be used in such as when flying or underwater and they also alter his existing powers kirby sometimes has access to helpers such as in kirby superstar where they can be summoned by sacrificing his current copy ability if these helpers are other kirbys they can gang up to move larger items than normally possible and if it's gooey kirby can inhale him either for an impromptu projectile or as a sacrifice to boost his own health meter kirby has also been known to inhale his other friends and sacrifice them to steal their ability man there's a lot of living sacrifices in this series or on the less sinister side use them as a projectile where they do survive and in addition to using them to boost his own powers as described earlier he can also use his powers to boost them kirby squeeze squad also introduced the concept of ability scrolls which greatly power up the current copy ability kirby is using and the same can be said for planet robobot and its giant mechs kirby and airaid likewise has a very basic move set it is played with one button after all although he can perform a quick spin which some copy abilities positively modify not a bad showing for the kirby series by any means but this is the category where super smash bros really steps up and pulls its weight kirby's biggest weaknesses are his poor mobility and range making him somewhat susceptible to being camped however a lot of characters that can engage in this strategy will have projectiles in their neutral special slots meaning that if kirby can steal it he has a much better chance at being able to force interactions especially since his multiple jumps small body and low crouch frequently make him harder to hit than his opponent synergistic elements from his copy abilities can get far more blatant than this though since kirby is a brawler character with a lot of strong combo starters the moves he can follow up with naturally are already respectable but when he starts stealing abilities that's when things get really nasty try up tilt into darkest lariat for a clean 30 combo use down tilt to trip them into a giant punch drag your opponent across the stage with speed monado up air into tree back throw into dragon and that's to say nothing of the new combo starters kirby gains access to as well take a look at say needles to forward smash mega vitamin to back air regal blaster to neutral air paralyzer to up smash gale strike to final cutter and hey with a bit of creativity a lot of the time you can combine these even further most of this combo game applies to after kirby lands the inhale although he also does have a few pretty solid confirms into the move itself which can definitely help his gameplay to top it all off if kirby gets a shield break which several of the copy abilities can accomplish fairly practically his hammer is one of the strongest punishes in the entire game while again not every single copy ability can be said to have significant synergy with kirby's base moveset the vast majority of them can and combined with a moderate showing from kirby's home series inhale receives a synergy score of 4 out of 5. in both the kirby series and smash inhale has consistently been a very stylish ability with a massive array of different powers all represented with detailed high quality animations and particle effects both in 2d and 3d sometimes these effects will even change color with the cosmetic spray paint kirby is wearing a completely unnecessary but much appreciated touch in addition to feeling powerful and entertaining many of kirby's copy abilities are also genuinely funny see sleep existing almost solely as a joke or backdrop allowing you to pick up one enemy and use it to die from another from kirby superstar onwards he also began donning stylish hats to accompany his copy abilities no small feat to develop particularly in super smash brothers but greatly contributing to the enjoyment of using inhale sound design wise things are also very strong similar to link from the last episode of this series kirby is largely a silent protagonist but that has had no impact at all on the voice actress's ability to sell the pink puffball's performance in fact hearing upbeat squeaks from the little guy as he murders everything on screen never gets tiring the wide array of roles he plays thanks to his copy abilities also means that there's a good amount of variety in his voice even within these limitations with my personal favorite being his rob copy from the super smash brothers series perfect also this exists no i didn't edit that clip in typical nintendo first party fashion the rest of the sound design is fantastic as well whether we're talking about the act of inhaling itself [Music] or the combat sounds of a copy ability throw in numerous charming homages to everything from indiana jones to other nintendo characters and for style inhale receives five out of five kirby games are intended to be relatively easy this is common knowledge but while playing through these titles to create this video i was actually a bit surprised by how demanding some of the enemy and stage layouts were particularly in the earlier titles now i'm not saying they were incredibly challenging far from it but having gone a while without playing a kirby title the overall level design wasn't nearly as forgiving as i was expecting it to be many of these titles don't make the game especially easy by letting you waltz from one side of the map to the other they do it by making kirby overpowered largely through inhale i consider this to be a dramatically better approach to designing a beginner-friendly platforming series as it still makes the game inviting to inexperienced players while giving them a sense of empowerment letting them efficiently tackle obstacles rather than not including obstacles to begin with and you're free to tackle these obstacles in a lot of different ways extending even to the majority of boss fights where you're given a default option to defeat them with exhaled stars but are also usually free to use the copyability of your choice provided you can smuggle it into the arena the myriad of different abilities kirby can acquire also creates strong extrinsic motivation to continue exploring the world in a very natural way seamlessly and intuitively tying both cosmetic and interactive rewards into the core of the gameplay loop while the thrill of discovery is certainly cool on a first playthrough though the use of copy abilities also greatly improves the replay value of each title making it easy to experience the same level in a different way especially valuable considering that sometimes you will need to revisit the same level several times even in a single play through the only times this sense of freedom will be taken away are generally for specific bosses or for environmental puzzles which require or at least strongly encourage a particular ability to capture a specific reward striking an excellent balance between player choice and the requirements to occasionally mix up your strategy at least for optimal play since you'll still typically be able to get through any level with any ability frankly the biggest design issue i can find with inhale and kirby's own titles would be the bomb and air ride look how much of the screen this takes up it's obscene otherwise though the game flows surprisingly well despite inhale and drifting sharing the same button a natural extension of the creator's desire to simplify existing game genres for wider audiences these principles are carried wholeheartedly into the smash titles fitting considering the same man developed both series where kirby is unabashedly the beginner character of choice see everything from his intuitive attacks to forgiving recovery to being available right from the first level in smash's story modes in that case what better way to introduce players to the concept of super smash brothers than by giving them a character who's not only simple to play but also can provide a taste of every single character's move set all while being incredibly charming and instantly capturing your attention as soon as you've donned your first hat of course you need to see the rest now competitively minded players might take a few issues with inhale like we've discussed its hitbox is smaller than the animation it's committal to throw out the leg after inhaling a projectile is excessive and while these are all valid criticisms they're also miniscule in the grand scheme of inhale's design while a more competitively viable inhale would be nice i think the role it plays in the series for the larger player base is incredibly more important to the degree that i think inhale is the single most important move in smash history so we need to ask a question here what does a five mean for a category in this series does it mean the signature move is flawless and can't be further improved i don't think so to me and my personal preference is all this tier list indicates anyways it means that the move has reached a threshold where the problems with it pale in comparison to its underlying strengths in the kirby series i think this threshold has been greatly exceeded with a few competitive gripes and smash not enough to pull it back for design kirby's inhale receives 5 out of 5. the points are in and now it's time to apply our weightings and generate the final score power utility synergy style design remember that scores can only dictate a placement into a tier any ascension beyond that comes from gut instinct kirby's inhale is not flawless or above criticism however it's so powerful so charming has been meticulously implemented with so much care and hard work behind it that if this move didn't meet the criteria for s-tier i'd question if anything could it allows for endless complexity and imagination to be introduced to his titles while keeping the character himself as simple as you can get a truly brilliant concept with even stronger execution thanks for watching everyone and hey if you liked it why not leave a like let me know your thoughts on kirbys and hail subscribe and hit the bell for more videos like this and follow me on twitter at mr mackrock to see what i'm up to as a reminder future episodes can be voted on by all patrons youtube members and twitch subscribers yeah i stream now under mock rock twitch it's been a lot of fun so far and you can also get a lot of other cool perks like discord access and early videos later people today's contender is one of the longest standing signature moves in the entire medium link's spin attack an all-encompassing sword slash first appearing in 1991's the legend of zelda a link to the past if you've played super smash brothers in any capacity the odds are that you've had your strongest move sent right back at you with a counter at some point

Channel: MockRock

Views: 212,628

Keywords: Smash Ultimate, Review, alpharad, Nintendo, little z, super smash bros ultimate, smash bros ultimate, tier list, nintendo direct, arlo, esam, hungrybox, ssbu, kirby fighters 2, alpharad deluxe, Nintendo Switch, Super Mario 3D All Stars, Gameplay, Speedrun, Lets Play, Fire Emblem Heroes, Pokemon, Animal Crossing New Horizons, Meme, Memes, kirby, minecraft, minecraft smash, nintendo memes, nintendo meme, speedrun, speed run, nintendo, super smash bros, kirby lore, nairo, nairomk, marss, wadi, hbox

Id: jhAa3JFxBEg

Length: 22min 40sec (1360 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 27 2020