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A long-missing Brawl veteran is finally confirmed to return to fight in Super Smash Bros later this year.  The popular Metaknight from Mr. Sakurai’s own Kirby series has officially arrived.  The still shots we have don’t shed an enormous amount of light on the changes that may have occurred to the character.  What we do know for sure is that after using his Up-B attack, Shuttle Loop, he no longer glides so the off-stage/recovery game has changed significantly.  Instead, Shuttle Loop will slash opponents twice while moving in a “large loop”.  The second hit may indicate that MK carries his opponents with him, perhaps launching them backwards and off the stage.  What this doesn’t tell us, unfortunately is how Shuttle Loop will be used to actually recover; if the loop is anything like Brawl’s you end up where you started, so once we see this in action we’ll know more.

Beyond Shuttle Loop, the handful of pictures released today show that Metaknight is likely to play very similar to his Brawl incarnation with a lot of quick, efficient slashing attacks and a strong air game.  Safe to assume that his signature Dimension Cape Down-B special will return, as the above pic has a similar visual effect to the previous incarnation.  Following Sakurai’s pattern we should get a bit more information tomorrow and possibly even Friday, since when a new character pops up he likes to showcase them (especially his own characters!) for multiple days in a row.

This was a long-anticipated announcement and now that it’s finally here, what are your thoughts on a new Metaknight?  Tell us in the comments or over on Twitter .

Tags: 3ds, Kirby, metaknight, Nintendo, Super Smash Bros., wii u