Those of you who know EU Smash will already be more than aware of Tom ‘G-P’ Scott and his work as one of the continent's premier TOs. A veteran of the game across Europe, he’s even worked on American supermajors, and he’ll be signing off as a TO with one final hurrah with Albion 4 at the Emirates Stadium in July. What you might not know about the man is that he’s also a passionate player, and in Smash Ultimate one of the players pushing the Kirby meta.

Related: Smash Ultimate tips and tricks

Any Melee player will also be aware that while Fox and Marth are very good, and Puff is OK, the secret S-tier best character in that game was Kirby, provided you could get a Falco hat for him. With that in mind, we sat down with the man behind Albion, DAT Smash and so much more to get his thoughts on what not to wear when it comes to Kirby hattery.

1: Olimar

When it comes to funny terminology, Smash has it all, and the "pluck glide" is right up there with the best of them. Tom is unequivocal on this one, saying simply "number one is Olimar power", and the video below shows you what he thinks is so great about this hat.

Tom says: “The best Kirby powerup by a significant margin. Not only does this give access to the most amusing facial addition (barring Pacman), but it also gives access to Pluck-Gliding, a movement option utilising the new powerup that looks eerily similar to wavedashing while also throw a projectile with next to no lag. It's important to note that Kirby's pikmin will overpower Olimar's ones and continue on towards Olimar, making this a candidate for Olimar's toughest matchup (when he has the powerup).”

2: Samus/Dark Samus

The charge shot. Let’s be real, we’ve all died trying to pull off the perfect charge shot, and the move is so iconic that there are Melee pros famous for their inability to hit it. This sort of projectile gives Kirby insane kill power, and also looks pretty cool, what more could you want?

Tom says: “(Dark)Samus: Now would be a good time to mention that when Kirby takes a power, his version has a x1.2 multiplier on it. This means that Kirby's full charge shot does a terrifying 38% and kills even earlier than Samus does. Combine this with the ability to kill confirm into it from Fthrow or Utilt as low at 50%, and feint with charge cancels combined with Kirby's multiple jumps, and you have a recipe for terror.”

3: Snake

Snake is an annoying, and currently top-tier character. One of the most annoying or top-tier things about Snake, depending on your point of view, is his ability to pull and use grenades, which both space for him and create opportunities when the opponent loses track of one, as will inevitably happen at some stage.

Tom says: “Kirby grows a beard (which is highly important) and arms himself to the teeth. With this powerup he's able to pull Grenades of his own and provide himself with a strong tool to make opponents dance around his minefield. Curiously Kirby can use multijumps still while holding a grenade, giving him vertical coverage with Grenades that even Snake can't match.”

4: Shulk

Shulk is a character that makes no sense. Using him is a confusing mess of weird hitboxes and variable speeds, but facing him online is like meeting some kind of superhybrid character optimised to the most perfect degree, or just facing a lunatic with a big jump.

Tom says: “Despite the rather boring aesthetic change, this is probably the powerup everyone looks to when they think of 'top Kirby powerups'. This powerup is difficult to learn and ever harder to master but once Kirby knows how to handle the Monado's power, he's able to bolster his strengths even further, and cover his weaknesses perfectly.”

5: Donkey Kong

Do you want a giant punch? Of course you do, why would you not? Well, that’s what you get if you swallow a Donkey, so to speak, and seeing the cutest pink orb unleash DK’s most dangerous attack, it just works…

Tom says: “Don't let this little ball of fluff fool you, DK-Kirby packs a giant punch! The hitbox is deceptively large, mimicking DK's gigantic arms instead of Kirby's little stubs, and being able to combo into it from utilt for very early kills.”

There you have it, a far from definitive and entirely subjective list based on the experiences of a man who is deep into the EU Smash scene. The best character in Smash Bros Ultimate seems to change almost week to week right now, so there is no better choice than the one pick that lets you be any character you want, or at least a little bit of them.





Video and images: PackAttack04092 and KokiriGaming