9 Multiplayer Characters Who BROKE Their Video Games

2. Meta Knight - Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Smash Bros is at its best being a giant mess of superpowers, characters you love, environments you recognise, and stonking great knockout blows that send opponents bouncing off the screen itself.

It's this aesthetic immediacy that made Smash Bros such a mainstream success, but under all the bluster and powerkeg special effects is a deeply balanced meta of frame data, combos, ring-out saves and everything in between.

I say all this, because with Meta Knight... ALL of that went out the window.

For whatever reason - and we know creator Masahiro Sakurai adores Kirby anyway, let alone characters from their games - Meta Knight's base coding put him above the competition in every respect.

Brutally effective combos that could be chained to keep the pressure on. Moves like Tornado that would take priority over everything. Base frame data letting Meta Knight get a blow in first against literally anyone. Even if you got Meta Knight off the field, they could just fly back up indefinitely, or use any special attack for a helpful momentum boost.

Mention "Meta Knight" and "Smash Bros Brawl" to anyone who played at the time, and watch the flashbacks come flooding back.