Kirby's Return to Dream Land/Characters and Copy Abilities/Cutter

Cutter has some uses for mobility, but it's limited in combat. Cutter's main form of movement is cutter dash, which is faster than sliding and goes through enemies. It also lets Kirby travel across one-block gaps without slowing down the cutter dash. Cutter drop is very useful for descending as well.

Cutter Drop combos into Final Cutter, which is cutter's best attack for grounded bosses. For aerial enemies, cutter's only reasonable option is its boomerang attacks, which are weaker.

• All attacks cut ropes
• Projectiles can travel up slopes
• Projectiles can be angled up or down; press up or down while the boomerang is tossed

Cutter Boomerang (Press 1)

• Attack properties ^[1]
  • 12 dmg

Hyper Boomerang (Hold 1, release)

• Attack properties ^[1]
  • No rebound hit - 24 dmg
  • Rebound hit - 16 dmg
  • Rebound combo hit - 14 dmg each
  • Max total - 72 dmg
  • Can rebound off walls up to 3 times.

Cutter Dash (Dash + 1)

• Tips
  • Successive Cutter Dashes are faster than slide attacks, and also pierce through enemies, so it should be used over slide attacks.
  • Cutter Dashes carry off past ledges, so they should frequently be used off of edges as well if dropping down or bypassing single-block gaps.

• Attack properties ^[1]
  • 16 dmg
  • Invincible for the duration of the move

• Distance ^[2]
  • Flat ground: 3.8 blocks

• Speed ^[2]
  • Successive first-frame cutter dashes seem to be 32 frames apart. That's 32/3.8 = 8.42 frames/block.
    • This is harder to do than first-frame slides, because both the dash and the 1-button press must be perfectly timed.
  • Slower timing, say 38 frames per cutter dash on average, would get somewhere between 32/3.8 and 38/3.8 = 10.0 frames/block. It's not exactly 38/3.8 because there is a tiny bit of walking/running between imperfect cutter dashes.

• Hitlag: 3 frames for both enemies and breakable blocks. ^[2]

Sweep Cutter (Hold 1 in air)

• Attack properties ^[1]
  • 22 dmg

Cutter Drop (Down + 1 in air)

• Tips
  • Use this for descending, as it's faster than just falling.
  • Though it has a hitbox, Kirby is not invincible for the duration of the move, so be careful not when using this.
  • If landed, can instantly be linked into any ground move. ^[1]

• Attack properties ^[1]
  • 22 dmg

Cleaving Cutter (1 next to foe)

• Attack properties ^[1]
  • Slash 1 - 12 dmg
  • Slash 2 - 8 dmg
  • Leads into Final Cutter if 1 is mashed

Final Cutter (Mash 1 next to foe)

• Tips
  • This is Cutter's best form of damage against grounded bosses/minibosses.
  • Combo this from a landing Cutter Drop for a quick extra 22 dmg for even better DPS.

• Attack properties ^[1]
  • Rising Slash – 7 dmg
  • Falling Slash- 8 dmg
  • Shockwave Near - 35 dmg
  • Shockwave Far - 40 dmg
  • The shock wave does more damage to a foe the farther away it is.
  • Entire combo (Cleaving cutter + Final Cutter) does 70 dmg

References

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7} An ability and damage guide at the Kirby's Rainbow Resort forums. It's mainly maintained by Plas Durock and contains contributions from several members of the Rainbow Resort forum and the GameFAQs KRtDL forum. http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/935607-kirbys-return-to-dream-land/62398037
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Frame tests by Yoshifan. This involved DVD-recording a test run, and then analyzing the recording frame-by-frame in 60 FPS using VirtualDub. For detailed info on the setup, see this SDA forum post. The block measurements and frames/block tests are particularly prone to inaccuracy, because the human eye is used to count "blocks" in the terrain and figure out exactly how many frames it takes for Kirby to travel a certain amount of blocks. It is estimated that test results may be up to 0.5 frames/block off from the actual values, possibly more if block-counting or math mistakes were made. If one could test on emulator, using a memory value to see what is Kirby's x and y position (or even x and y speed) according to the game, that could result in much more robust tests than these.