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

Ice Skate (Dash)

• Tips
  • Starting the dash is almost instant; this is most notable on ice, where running without Ice has slow acceleration
    • However, running on ice is faster than Ice Skate on ice (and slide attacking), and the player can overcome the slow acceleration by starting with a dashed-short hop to almost instantly reach top speed, so for medium/longer distances it is recommended to run without the ice ability on ice, if possible.
  • On standard ground, ice skating is equal speed to frame-perfect slides.
  • Jumping from a run retains the horizontal speed from running. However, in the case of ice skating, jumping from Ice Skate retains the horizontal speed from Ice Skating, which is very useful as Kirby essentially jumps at the same horizontal speed as sliding.

• Speed ^[1]
  • Flat ground: 8.8 frames/block

Ice Breath (Press and Hold 1)

• Tips
  • Ice Breath has a sweetspot closer to Kirby. If used against bosses, try to stay close whenever possible. You should really be using Super Ice Sprinkle instead if you can though.

• Attack properties ^[2]
  • 1st hit near - 18 dmg
  • 1st hit far - 15 dmg
  • Following hits near - 15 dmg
  • Following hits far - 13 dmg

Ice Sprinkle (1 in midair)

• Tips
  • Outclassed by Super Ice Sprinkle. Avoid using this.

• Attack properties ^[2]
  • 22 dmg

Super Ice Sprinkle (Dash +1 in midair)

• Tips
  • Be sure to jump high (not necessarily a 100% full jump) so both hits damage the boss/miniboss. Outside of Ice Suction, this is Ice's strongest attack.
  • Kirby can move horizontally a little while using this; because of lack of invincibility, the player must space it properly to not get hit by the boss while attacking. This is easier said than done because this must be done out of a dash; it's easiest to use this against a wall to not worry about the initial dash speed.

• Attack properties ^[2]
  • 26 dmg per hit
  • Hits up to twice for a total of 52 dmg.

Ice Storm (Dash + Hold 1 or Press 1 three times then hold)

• Tips
  • Better DPS than Ice Breath, but lacks its range.
  • You should really use Super Ice Sprinkle instead though, if you're using this against bosses

• Attack properties ^[2]
  • 1st hit - 20 dmg
  • Repeat hits – 17 dmg per hit

Ice Ball (Dash, then Down + 1)

• Attack properties ^[2]
  • 38 dmg
  • Invincible for the duration of the move

• Distance ^[1]
  • 8.7 blocks between successive, well-timed Ice Balls on flat ground. This can vary slightly depending on how quickly you execute the Ice Ball after starting to skate.

• Speed ^[1]
  • Testing shows that Ice Balls can be done as fast as every 76 frames. It's possible that they can be done even faster, though. 76 frames requires very fast execution of the Ice Ball after starting to skate, so the distance would be slightly less than 8.7 blocks between Ice Balls. Suppose it's 8.6 blocks; then it's 76/8.6 = 8.8 frames/block.
  • With slower timing, say 82 frames between Ice Balls, it's 82/8.7 = 9.4 frames/block.

• Hitlag ^[1]
  • 7 frames for enemies, 0 frames for enemies encased in an ice block.
  • 3 frames for breakable blocks.

Ice Suction (Up or Forward next to object + 1)

• No invincibility, but can grab foes and objects in air.
• Leads into Ice Ejection if 1 is pressed

Ice Ejection (Ice Suction +1)

• Tips
  • To use an Ice Ejection in the air, use Ice Suction on something in the air and then press 1 before Kirby falls to the ground. Keep in mind that once Kirby lands while having something in him, he can't move.
  • This is the strongest grab attack in the game, in terms of hitting once. It is also very fast. Use it whenever possible.

• Attack properties ^[2]
  • 62 dmg

Ice Kick (Tap Frozen Foe)

• Attack properties ^[2]
  • Kicked Ice cube - 48 dmg

Ice Block (Guard)

• Tips
  • Negates chip damage. In other words, Kirby doesn't take any damage from light hits.

Ice Scatter (Release Guard)

• Tips
  • Though it damages enemies, there's more cooldown than letting go of standard guard.

• Attack properties ^[2]
  • 16 dmg

References

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} 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.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7} 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