First things first... either A) reintroduce the single-hit version of Pikachu's fsmash, or B) remove all SDI from it - there are many times when I've had an opponent SDI out of the last hit of fsmash, when the last hit was all I really wanted... an old changelog read "There was no reason not to use the multi-hit version from the start", but there is, and it's called SDI. Pikachu's fsmash is inconsistent for KOing as is, and I think that being more consistent in Brawl than in Minus is just dumb [if I land it at KO percents in Brawl, they are dead - that's not the case in Minus, they might live because of SDI].
ALSO,
@Pin Clock I think Fire Bird should be changed in the following manner: Re-add the "Personally, I prefer FIRE!" with no flames around him during the saying. HOWEVER, if you press something (I dunno, hold B, A Z, whatever) either before the saying starts or before the word "I" or something, Falco blasts off with a Brawl or Melee or Smash 4 or 2.x.6 (just something shorter than the current length) Fire Bird travel distance, but if you wait until the word "FIRE!" he does the current full-length charge. As it stands, Falco is probably the hardest to gimp character in the game, because Fire Bird has so much protection around it on movement and startup, and because Falco has one of the best anti-edgeguard tools in the game, which is having multiple jumps and his dair [as well as side+b with a walljump to get around prospective edgeguarders at least somewhat, though this doesn't always work since he can be hit out of this move]. Currently, the only real counterplay available to the entire cast is a perfectly timed ledgehog and punishing the endlag on stage, and with so few ledge I-frames, this is VERY difficult. This change would at least make Falco somewhat easier to gimp, because as of now, he's harder to gimp than Puff in my opinion, which is kind of dumb.
At the same time, he NEEDS a fast version of fire bird [that is, as fast as the current version], or else he literally can't use fire bird vs Puff (the gravity taunt), and that's just stupid.
Thor, what I was getting at, is that Kirby doesn't lack KO power at all. Even if he didn't have uthrow he'd be fine. Raw KO power and ability to KO aren't the same thing. Kirby has good KO power with all his smashes and Uthrow as well as hammer and block (down B) He has great ability to KO by setting up into those moves with literally over half of his moveset. Utilt, dtilt, and fair can all combo into hammer. Ftilt can combo into his smashes. Any move that makes them airborne can be baired to death with improper DI, etc. There's a LOT that he can do even if he didn't have his uthrow is what I'm getting at. His combos can easily hit 60% which isn't something anyone can shake a stick at. Building damage is his specialty.
If by shake a stick at, you mean match...
If we're going with improper DI, Falco can EASILY do 60% combos. The problem is, you SDI his utilt and Falco's hosed, and you have to read SDI for nair to be any good.
60% combos that end with the uppercut on up+B as Ganondorf aren't that hard. Zero-to-death. He can do other 60% combos easily.
Falcon can do jab combo -> dash attack -> uair -> uair -> nair -> knee for a zero-to-death as well, and has other strings that go to 60% easily.
Pikachu has bair -> nair for a KO seupt, QAC -> fsmash for a potential shield break -> skull bash (though I'm under the impression our little mouse wasn't intended as a destroyer of shields, so I'd guess this is being removed...), uair -> anything, and can usmash -> thunder -> read tech (or just thunder KOs off the top). Bair -> uair -> bair -> whatever can work as well.
The problem with all of those Kirby setups is that they can be DI'd rather easily (except I guess dtilt hammer, I can't figure out for the life of me how to DI dtilt). Falco's dair is a somewhat reliable setup move in that it can combo into fsmash (But this has to be by the ledge to KO more often than not) or a uair if you've hit the dair well (Again, percents are picky). Ganondorf can setup into a number of easy reads that aren't DI-dependent [only tech dependent, and warlock kick vs ftilt the other direction covers literally every option] with a single side+b, and landing an aerial one allows him to do a stomp if they miss the tech [that tech is hard]. Falcon has almost anything -> knee or an edgeguard. Sheik can do ftilt -> basically anything (and ftilt KOs too). Most, if not all, of these setups are more reliable than a lot of Kirby's stuff. And as I've said earlier, I think Kirby doesn't have time to waste racking damage; trades for him are almost always of the negative variety (trading with the hammer, a smash attack, and getting a grab off his grab armor, are the only exceptions I can think of - almost any character in the game would be willing to trade with basically any other move at any percent below 100, and many at higher percents depending on position, which is not good for him).
Since shield shuts down all of his setups (except dthrow -> fair, which you can bet I'll be SDIing like crazy since I've had the whole dthrow animation to prepare), and allows most characters to set up whatever they want with a simple jump backwards, I'm of the opinion that he needs that grab to keep him able to apply better pressure. You can say Luigi is shut down by shield too, but Luigi is heavier and he can reliably chip at the shield from mid-range with fireballs - and if any of those aren't shielded, he can tornado in and convert (and he can tornado right on by if he misreads it, OR stay there - 50-50 as to if he goes on or not, and if they react wrong, a punish for Luigi or a reset). Most characters have something like this that alleviates their problems (or a throw directly into a kill move, not into a move into a kill move), but Kirby... he's got bthrow and dthrow into bair or fair, but SDI fair and DI bthrow away, and he's left with needing uthrow. That's how I see it, at least.
P.S: If he has his old silly fsmash that was almost unpunishable on shield (couldn't be shieldgrabbed) I'd be more inclined to agree with you, but all of his moves that set up into KOs are unsafe on shield except dtilt, which I think might be unsafe with a quick punish anyway (ex: Falcon might be able to drop shield run up SH uair or something.)
P.P.S: This all came about because some people were talking about some stuff as if they meant Kirby uthrow should be nerfed. I'm not saying buff it (that'd be dumb), I'm just saying it's fine as is (please don't nerf), and that I think it fits well into making Kirby a more rounded character, taking his KO options from mediocre to good. That's all. If you thought I meant something else, we can drop it or whatever.
