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

Needle Attack (Press 1)

• Attack properties ^[1]
  • 16 dmg per hit
  • Extremely brief invincibility on start up
  • Sticks to surfaces.

Needle Burst (Hold 1 + Waggle or Mash D-Pad)

• Attack properties ^[1]
  • 16 dmg
  • Extremely brief invincibility when needles are fired.

Rolling Needle (Dash + 1)

• Tips
  • Just a bit faster than sliding on average. Use this to travel on the ground more quickly.
  • If this move is cancelled into a Needle Attack just as Kirby goes off a ledge, Kirby will fly off of the ledge with the Needle Roll's momentum. For maximum distance, don't touch left or right on the Control Pad after Kirby flies off the ledge.

• Attack properties ^[1]
  • 28 dmg
  • Invincible at start up and for the duration of the move
  • Can turn around in the middle of the move
  • Can be cancelled at any time into Needle Attack

• Distance ^[2]
  • Flat ground: 9.1 blocks.

• Speed ^[2]
  • Successive first-frame Needle Rolls seem to be 74 frames apart. That's 74/9.1 = 8.1 frames/block on flat ground.
  • With slow timing, say 79 frames apart, it's 79/9.1 = 8.7 frames/block on flat ground.

• Hitlag ^[2]
  • Enemies: 7 frames when Kirby is in the Needle ball, 0 frames after Kirby has come out of the Needle ball (there is a short time after coming out of the ball when Kirby still damages enemies).
  • Breakable blocks: 3 frames.

Mega Needle (Up + 1)

• Attack properties ^[1]
  • 16 dmg
  • Extremely brief invincibility on start up

References

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} 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.