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Meta Knight
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is a video game character that appears in Nintendo's created by Masahiro Sakurai and developed by HAL Laboratory. His first appearance was in the 1993 video game Kirby's Adventure. However, Meta Knight's name was not known in the U.S. until 1995, in the game Kirby's Avalanche. The character Meta Knight has been featured in other video games from Nintendo, on Nintendo's merchandising, on comic books, and on the . His mysterious nature has led to him playing more of a "friend or foe" role and less of an actual playable character throughout the Kirby series. Characteristics Meta Knight wields a powerful sword, and wears a blue cloak and light blue-silver mask. In some games, his mask is removed, revealing that he looks like Kirby, except that his body is blue (originally black), while his eyes and mouth are white. In one game only released in Japan, Kirby no Kirakira Kizzu, Meta Knight's gloves are also removed, revealing that he has no hands but stubby arms similar to Kirby's [http://kirby.wikia.com/wiki/Meta_Knight#Trivia]. There is a symbol on Meta Knight's left shoulder patch, the letter "M" with a sword behind it. It was first used as his symbol in Kirby Super Star and could be seen on the Combo Cannon. It was also used in the anime series. In the anime, Meta Knight appears to dislike people who lack intelligence. He won't help people who get themselves into their own mess and only helps people if it is not their fault they are in a situation. Meta Knight seems to have a close relationship with Tiff (known as Fumu in Japan), but that is because Tiff seems to be the closest to Meta Knight's intelligence. Also, in the fourth episode of the series, Meta Knight tells Tiff a lot about Kirby and Meta Knight's past inside of Kabu. That moment has been referred to in some episodes. Games Meta Knight is an enigmatic character. He follows a code of honor, and usually gives Kirby a sword before they fight to be fair. He is called Kirby's rival, and while Kirby often battles him, he is certainly not evil and they have also worked towards the same goals in the past. Little is known of his background other than his rivalry with Kirby, and how they share a similar appearance. Meta Knight appears to care for his home of Dream Land as much as Kirby does. Several unique monsters and allies comprise Meta Knight's army. He leads this small group of followers, called the Meta-Knights (note the hyphen), which consists of Axe Knight, Mace Knight, Trident Knight, and Javelin Knight. 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 eagle-like bird who pilots his Halberd in Kirby Super Star. Another part of his crew is a sailor-like Waddle Dee. Waddle Dee is a small, weak creature, who, in Kirby Super Star, stuck by Meta Knight for the fight against Kirby. Kirby's Adventure :Meta Knight's first appearance. He appears as the boss of the Orange Ocean level that you must battle to reclaim a piece of the Star Rod. At other times, he sends his band of followers, the Meta-Knights to attack Kirby. However, he also aids Kirby in his journey by giving him special Invincibility candy. In this game, Meta Knight does not have the ability to fly, or any other special abilities. However, he is very skilled with his sword, and it is almost impossible to attack him head-on (although he is significantly easier in the remake, Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land). When you defeat Meta Knight in Orange Ocean, his mask splits in two and you briefly see his face. Also, in the remake, he is a playable character if you have beaten Normal mode and Extra mode with 100% completion. He only has three health points. Kirby Super Star :Meta Knight has also played role of main antagonist; in the Kirby Super Star subgame, Revenge of Meta Knight, he attempted to take over Dream Land with the intent to end Dream Land's "lazy lifestyle" using a huge battleship called the Halberd. This is notable for being Meta Knight's only purely villianous appearance. Kirby attacks and begins to destroy his ship, eventually destroying its main engine. He battles Meta Knight, who refuses to give up, sprouting a pair of bat-like wings and pursuing Kirby as he escapes from the Halberd. After the ship sinks into the ocean, a tiny figure can be seen fleeing the wreckage, which is Meta Knight. :This is the first game where Meta Knight has his wings, as well as a host of mysterious abilities such as the power to create small tornadoes with his sword. He has kept most of these abilities in later games, but it is never explained how he came to possess them. (Although, his trophy in Super Smash Bros. Melee says that his cape turns into his wings, and this idea is supported by the E3 trailer to Super Smash Bros. Brawl where it shows the transformation.) :Meta Knight does offer Kirby a sword in this game. However, if you stall for too long he'll start the fight anyway. Originally listed as the effect of impatience, this is the only instance to date where Meta Knight will not indefinitely wait for Kirby to pick up the sword. It also probably has nothing to do with him being impatient, but rather that every stage in the Revenge of Meta Knight sub-game has a set time limit. Kirby & the Amazing Mirror :When evil threatens the Mirror World, Meta Knight is the first to try to stop it and save Dream Land. However, a character called Dark Meta Knight also appears in that game - an evil version of Meta Knight from the Mirror World. He looks like Meta Knight but with a gray body, red shoes, a scar on his mask and a tattered cape. He traps Meta Knight in the Mirror World while he disguises himself as the original one and attacks Kirby. :Kirby battles the disguised Dark Meta Knight, who has similar abilities. He does not give Kirby a sword for their battle, perhaps symbolizing that this Meta Knight is less honorable. :The sword the original Meta Knight wields is called "Master" when Kirby uses it. (A similar sword appears first in the anime called Galaxia. After the anime aired, Meta Knight began using a sword with a similar shape in the games, apparently inspired by the anime design. Due to the specifics origins of Galaxia in the anime, it's impossible for them to be the same thing.) He gives it to Kirby to use to beat the final boss, Dark Mind. :Kirby can also use the 'Magic' Copy Ability to summon the original Meta Knight. The ability uses a roulette that causes certain things to happen at random, one of them being Meta Knight flying across the screen and damaging enemies. Players who don't know about Dark Meta Knight who use the magic ability can see that there are two Meta Knights during the battle. Kirby: Squeak Squad :After Kirby defeats Daroach, the leader of the thief band The Squeaks, Meta Knight appears from nowhere and takes the treasure chest that Daroach believes to contain an ultimate power and Kirby believes to contain his stolen cake. He then escapes through a door sealed by five colored stars called the Star Seals. If Kirby collects them he can open the door and follow him to the Secret Sea, where Meta Knight is again in his ship the Halberd, hidden beneath the waters. (It uses the same design as the one from ') :As the Halberd rises out of the sea and into the Gamble Galaxy, Kirby battles Meta Knight to reclaim the treasure, only to have Daroach take it again. But in truth the chest contained an evil entity called Dark Nebula. It is revealed in the ending that Meta Knight had really only taken the chest to try and stop the revival of Dark Nebula, again attempting to save Popstar. :As with Dark Meta Knight in Kirby & the Amazing Mirror, it is possible to battle Meta Knight without the Sword ability, although the Stars that he creates, when eaten and absorbed, can give Kirby the Sword ability. Meta Knight also has most of Dark Meta Knight's attacks from this game, including the tornado attack. Samurai Kirby :Samurai Kirby is a mini game in the game Kirby Super Star. It is a game of reflexes where when the ! appears on the screne you must press the button within a certain amount of time. You face five enemies, a Waddle Doo, a Wheelee, a Cook, King Dedede, and the last enemy is Meta Knight. On beginer you must respond in 10 hundredths of a second of less to beat Meta Knight, on novice you must respong in 9 hundredths of a second. If you defeat him, you cut his mask in half and he disapears into his cloak. Meta Knight in anime Personality and Background Meta Knight was also a regular on the anime series '. In it his role is much clearer. He is revealed as a member of the same group as Kirby, the Star Warriors, and is 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 is in truth an ally to Kirby and only stays with the king to keep a close eye on his schemes. He wields a golden, spiked sword called Galaxia which has some significance to the shows' plot, and had an episode devoted to it and its origins. He acts as a mentor to Kirby, occasionally training him or defending him when needed, but above all he wants Kirby to learn for himself to eventually be able to defeat Nightmare. (However, his idea of training is to 'push him to his limits', which typically involves putting Kirby into life-threatening situations.) He had a rather tragic past, as every one of his comrades was killed by Nightmare's monsters, leaving him as one of the only surviving members of the Star Warriors and GSA. Despite this, he doesn't come across as a depressed or angsty character as one might expect. Meta Knight manages to be a satirical yet serious character, with many odd quirks and habits that seem to parody the 'stoic loner' stereotype so commonly seen. One example is his habit of seemingly appearing from nowhere, often startling other characters. This entrance scheme (which is only used by Meta Knight in the anime, thereby adding to his enigmatic personality) becomes a sort of running gag as the series progresses. He nearly always appears standing on top of objects, from tables to statues to trees (some say that he's actually trying to compensate for his height). He is described as being rather cold, especially by Tiff, who often berates him whenever he allows Kirby and others to get in danger so they will learn their lesson the hard way. He shows a great dislike for stupid people and often refuses to fix other people's mistakes. He'll usually save someone if the situation isn't their fault, but if it is the result of their own action he believes they should get themselves out of it. Rarely does he show a softer side, but he is often seen doing rather mundane things, like watching television or going grocery shopping which can have a surreal effect. Relationships Though he works for Dedede, Meta Knight will obey or disobey him based on whether the king's orders further his own agenda of training Kirby. At one point when Dedede questioned his loyalty, Meta Knight insisted that he was his faithful servant- and then kicked him off a cliff. Meta Knight is accompanied by Sword Knight and Blade Knight, both of whom originally appeared as sword-wielding enemy drones in Kirby's Adventure. The back-story of their connection to Meta Knight is revealed in the episode of the series, "Hour of the WolfWrath" ("Loyalty! Sword and Blade!" in Japan). Nightmare's army attacked their home, leaving death and destruction in its wake, and the pair became bandits so they would not starve. During the pair's travels they attempted to rob Meta Knight and were attacked by a monster called WolfWrath. Meta Knight rescued them, after which they swore loyalty to him and joined him to help out on his quest to find more Star Warriors. The two of them are fiercely loyal to him, saying they would give their lives for his sake. They aren't as skilled in swordplay as he is, but they are quite intelligent with much of their strength in the building and repair of starships. While in the English dub they both had gruff, deep voices (only mumbling in the case of Blade Knight), in the original they were both voiced by women and sounded much younger. The only character he regularly associates with aside from them is Tiff. She can be seen as a rare source of intelligent conversation in Dream Land, though she often disagrees with Meta Knight's methods of training Kirby and general cold-heartedness, they get along fairly well. He often goes out of his way to help her when she's in danger or needs assistance. Meta Knight is often described as chivalrous, which could explain why he often protects her. Meta Knight had many more acquaintances in the past, mainly his fellow Star Warriors and others in the GSA. Some of them received more focus in different episodes. One was the unnamed father of , who had been a Star Warrior and a good friend of Meta Knight. At one point Joe's father was captured by Nightmare's forces, and when he returned, he was under Nightmare's control and Meta Knight was forced to kill him. Another was the mother of , Garlude. Meta Knight doesn't actually talk about her himself, instead having the statue Kabu tell the story. She was a member of the Galaxy Soldier Army, and she and Meta Knight had gone to the lair of to retrieve the sacred sword Galaxia. Garlude was killed in the process despite Meta Knight's attempts to save her. Miscellaneous Meta Knight's actual bedroom is never shown, however we do often see him in his small living room. It is decorated sparsely, in a rather Japanese style with a tatami mat, paper lantern and hanging watercolor scroll. Weapons that belonged to Sword and Blade are hung on the walls, they say to remind them of Meta Knight's kindness. There is also a large jar of candy on display, suggesting that he may have a sweet tooth. He also has a television, and sometimes watches Dedede's network 'Channel DDD' which, somewhat out-of-characterly, he finds funny. His eyes also change colors to indicate his mood, perhaps to compensate for how his mask hides most of his face. Yellow is the normal color, while green seems to indicate a serious or thoughtful mood, with blue for happiness, pink for amusement, and red for anger. Occasionally they flash white, but there doesn't seem to be a particular mood attached to it. When he sleeps his eyes do not appear to close- they only dim to a dull amber color. Also his face behind the mask was never shown, although in the video games, once he is defeated as a boss, is revealed to look almost exactly like a blue Kirby. Meta Knight does not have wings or any of the other special abilities he shows in the games. The only special technique he is shown used is the Sword Beam. It is a massively powerful attack, capable of slicing through solid stone. 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 seiyÅ« Atsushi Kisaichi. There he has no accent to speak of, his only speech quirk being a tendency to use random English words in his sentences. Meta Knight also appeared in the prototype for the anime as one of monsters. Unlike his counterpart in the final version of the anime, the prototype anime Meta Knight seems to show some expression on his mask as well as in his eyes. Meta Knight's name is most likely referred from Mennonites, a culture very similar to Amish people but have some modern items like cars. This is somewhat shown do to the fact Meta Knight uses a sword and is a stereotypical knight for the most part, but owns a battleship. Playable appearances in games In the remake of Kirby's Adventure, Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land, players who completed the game and the additional "Extra" mode with 100% 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-like wings in order to fly about like Kirby (without the limitations present with Kirby's method of sucking in air). His running speed is also as fast as Wheel Kirby can move. His 'death' animation shows him appearing to explode and his mask falling off the screen, rather than allowing the player to see his face. 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 accumulative 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-like 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.(Ironically, he has one of the lowest attacks in the game.) He is also a little bit slower than Wing Kirby. Also, in City Trial, since he is not a "machine", and therefore cannot blow up, he falls down when his health is reduced to zero, and can barely move at all. During the final boss sequence and after Kirby & the Amazing Mirror was beaten, Kirby could wield Meta Knight's sword. The name of the sword is "Master", which can perform any special action in the game (lighting fuses, pounding stakes, smashing gray blocks, etc.), effectively making it the "master ability". In Kirby: Canvas Curse, Meta Knight is an unlockable character. He is the fastest character in the game, although his health is the lowest. After appearing in Super Smash Bros. Melee as a trophy, Meta Knight has been revealed as a character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl: He is a very fast character, able to move swiftly across the playing field. He also has the ability to glide after jumping, using his bat-like wings to fly in the direction he's facing. Meta Knight can also use his "Down Special" to wrap himself in his cape to teleport behind opponents (Dimensional Cape). His "Special" move the ability to create a small whirlwind around himself and hover around, similar to Kirby's Tornado Ability (Mach Tornado). His "Side Special" move is the power to rush forward in a powerful, corkscrewing dive (Drill Rush). His "Up Special" is a swift, upwards slash that goes directly into a glide (Shuttle Loop). He will also have a darker voice. His "Final Smash" attack, "Galaxia Darkness", involves using his cape to capture an enemy. If he succeeds, he then engulfs the field in darkness, slicing the captured foe and other characters on the field. 
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