Kirby has some pretty hard counters, mostly swords. Like playing Ichi, Lloyd or Link with Kirbs is about as futile as it gets, so you better have other options.

Haha Link def destroys Kirby.

Link is by far kirby's worst matchup in my experience, one of the reasons ive been meaning to pick up a pocket character.

You're all wrong, Link ain't got nothing besides dair and Boomerang.

Believe it or not, I'd say Kirby actually soft/hard counters Link depending on the playstyle they use. Your playstyle is also plays a big part in this, as Kirby usually has to mix it up between matchups.

Reason why I say Kirby is on par with Link is because of a few things:

1 - Link BARELY outranges Kirby.
2 - You can easily outmanuver most of his projectiles due to they're speed/range.
3 - Kirby combo's the living tar outta Link.
4 - Nether of them have a mobility advantage, besides maybe Link's natural airspeed.
5 - Link CAN gimp Kirby, but Kirby does it better.

Sure Link has is annoying grabs and grounded uspecials, but Kirby can still hold his own against most. The matchup isn't impossible guys, just need a bit of experience.

I dont think the matchup is impossible, I just think its very difficult for Kirby, and I'd be better off counterpicking another character against Link.

You can maneuever around his projectiles sure, but they still do a very good job of limiting kirby's approach options. Link is pretty good at keeping kirby out basically. Also i know thisll be fixed later but the shield poke bombs are pretty brutal.

For the most part, link does barely outrange kirby, but the issue there is that not only does he outrange kirby, most of his moves are disjointed so trades are rare, etc etc.

Again the matchup isnt unwinnable, but kirby definately does not beat link.

I am a bit iffy on link being kirby's worst matchup in hindsight, but he's definitely up there.

I actually find Link really annoying but fairly easy to hit. I'd say air hammers do best against him, along with the back aerial.

What are good combos for Kirby to use against any character?

EDIT: Screw it, I hate you Link.

Perhaps it's the trouble of having good Link players to practice with, though I still don't believe that it can be that troublesome. I've had lots of experience with Link in the past, so I'm used to most of his tricks outside of the Bomb/Arrow combo.

My advice is not playing the defensive Kirby that he's ment to be in this matchup. Why?
Think of it as this.... If Link has time to think, then he'll run away and throw more projectiles. If he can't think, then you have and advantage in pressuring him.

He doesn't have alot of options OoS, so just shield the intial hit of Spin Attack. Since nether of you really have a mobility advantage, you can pretty much chase him down all ya like.

It's basically the Olimar matchup in Brawl all over again, just pressure him, alot.

Trades dont exist in this game.

that explains that rofl

For the most part, link does barely outrange kirby, but the issue there is that not only does he outrange kirby, most of his moves are disjointed so he has an easier time hitting kirby out of his attacks than the other way around, etc etc.

whatevs idk

Once Kirby is able to get demon fang, the match up is more attainable. Kirby can outspace Lloyd then.

(This is a long post, if you're into Kirby as a main, don't just TL DR it, you can throw crap at me to prove where i'm wrong, keep in mind i don't have much experience online or vs humans, so feel free to give feedback or whatever. Or just keep it in mind.)

I wouldn't be too sure about that, Demon fang may have the speed but it's easily out prioritsed (a jab or d-tilt can break it.) and can be powersheilded. I guess it depends on how you use it though i mean, if you're getting chased and fight back with Demon Fang, it's not going to work well unless you have the element of surprise up your sleeve. Kirby's main problem with Lloyd is that Lloyd has a better set of aerial attacks both ranged better and power wise, Kirby's aerial attacks are more suited for small combo's or juggling and requires more precise timing and making sure that you punish your opponents attack whenever they make a mistake and with Kirby's Back air being the best Kirby has to offer, it's a tight match, but it's not unwinnable but out of all the Swordsmen, Lloyd (and Metaknight to a lesser extent) would give Kirby the most trouble.
My advice on Lloyd is focus on being below him, Lloyd has a diagonal "Divekick like" Rising Falcon AKA D-air this and N-air are his only hope of ever escaping a juggle. So try and make Lloyd real jumpy, that way you can get him in the air where you want him and U-tilt or U-air to start a juggle.

If i'd have to say, ZSS or Samus would seem likely to be Kirby's worst MU. Samus with a great air game forcing Kirby to rely more so on his ground game. Kirby's main focus would have to be to find an opening or bait a D-tilt from Samus as it is one of her slowest endlag moves, U-tilt is also a long attack, but it seems as if only shield grabs would work to punish or an attack from behind like rolling behind her and then make your move. (Don't forget that D-spec though, it's tough.) Your main Projectile concern would be charge shot, but if you're on a platform stage like Battlefield, Missiles can add to your problem.

ZSS just seems to out match Kirby in almost every aspect. I think Kirby's strong point is that he's lighter than most other characters so he would be able to escape more attacks than others, allowing possible punishes. Kirby is out ranged, ZSS' S-spec is a real trouble maker for any frontal assault, ZSS Back Air is more safer than Kirby's due to mobility. Kirby really does have to put in every thing just to win.

As for Swordsmen characters, it's a little different considering they have boosted range, but because of this, they lack something else this , take Marth, yeah okay he's got great combo's and a good finisher, but what's all that worth if you can't switch between attacking with the Tipper and not attacking with the Tipper? Marth needs precise attacks in order to win and a good Marth needs Kirby to be where Marth needs him to be, that requires skill therefore IMO an even MU.

Ichigo as a swordsman is slow. Now i don't want to hear any flash step stuff, Want to take out ichigo's S-spec? Inhale, Double jump? He needs to attack which means he'll make himself vulnerable(apparantly his double jump makes him invincible, i don't know but i highly doubt it). F-air? Pffft, One hit wonder that's it before having to either land or Double Jump to get another attack in. Ichigo can be baited into all sorts of stuff, and if you've got an S-spec trigger happy ichigo, then you know his game. Ground game wise D-tilt, U-tilt and maybe S-tilt are your main concerns but Kirby should stick to his airgame for this fight. Now Ichigo's U-spec, is a little trickier, your options to punish it are very situational, you can either time a Final Cutter to make it's projectile hit Ichigo once he's in the "middle" of the attack, or prior to this, Copy him and use his projectile as it out prioritises the wind AND the blade with its multiple hits that it produces. But the most riskiest option and probably not the best option cause of it is to do a short hop Inhale towards Ichigo, and time it so that you're really close to landing near Ichigo and not jumping into the blade.

Link is more balanced than the two mentioned before a little more thinking is involved, is this Link a camper or an aggressive attacker? If it's a camper, Kirby's N-air can beat out boomerang and Arrows, you're main concern is Bomb's as they're relatively unshieldable and attacking a bomb is well... stupid. An agressive Link is prone to mistakes, do not forget that Kirby has one of the lowest crouches in the game and because of this you can actually duck under every onstage aerial attack with the exception of D-air vs Link. (and N-air but Kirby has to be RIGHT under him and also keep in mind that his is ONSTAGE, where the said character can still land on the stage after an attack, off stage is a different story)

Despite how badly Kirby may sound after looking at "Oh noes i have to do this and that to win" Kirby is just a all round character, i believe that it's the ligher and floatier version of Mario but with less down falls, but not necessarily more upgrades. Kirby is only as good as you make him to an extent and at this point of time that extent is beating the crapout of Metaknight, (And Ichigo, but i don't think Ichigo is as good as everyone thinks.)

When you think about it. What are you supposed to do as Kirby? Back Air may just be the no.1 tool to fight, but it gets old fast, and it will be exploited and punished. Kirby requires strategy and i've stated before that this strategy requires you to learn your opponent before fighting. And that really is the whole point when fighting anyway, as they say, Knowledge is half the game/power or something like that. Kirby has got the tools to win, (an above average if not strong Juggling game, a good airgame, and some really good finisher's as well as D-air as a meteor smash. Plus he's even got a decent ground game with most of his attacks being fast despite a lack of range compared to swordsmen). You just need to plan ahead. This is also why i think Kirby's MU's in brawl are pretty accurate and are almost similar to SSF2. Kirby only really has 1 or 2 characters that can really hard counter him if not hard counter then just a viable counter. But apart from those few characters, it's pretty much an even game from there on and completely up to the player's skill level.

And as i said in the Wario Thread, Kirby also has an annoying taunt (Considered by some people) a few Taunts/taunt cancels could indeed change the nature of the game and could possibly benefit you. I mean, why else were taunts in the game for? Another way of Saying GG? I doubt it....sometimes

Oh, one more thing
Never forget the Hammer

kirby is too short to get hit by any of ZSS's good combo starters or projectiles except dtilt which is punishable on shield. it's honestly a really bad matchup for zss since she relies on short hopped aerials so much but her ground detection is too high for her to kick low enough to hit kirbs.

if kirby gets a combo going zss is in serious trouble meanwhile zss has to rely on outspacing and hoping to get a bair/fsmash in for the kill.

Ah yes, i think i was focusing more on what can ZSS do more than Kirby, not really outlining Kirby's strong points against her.
And it's not really like you're going to fall for ZSS' S-spec everyday so...I over estimated ZSS in that regard

>tfw you miss an inhale online
Seriously the lag is horrendous, it leaves you vulnerable to a lotta things.

Quite frankly, he's pretty good. More designed for the air though since his ground game stinks outside of grabs and other things.