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

Condor Head (Dash+1)

• Tips
  • This is one of the best moves in the game for speed runs, for the following reasons:
    1. Fast horizontal movement
    2. Slow loss of height in the air
    3. Being chainable into a Combo Dive at any time during the move, which offers great flexibility in horizontal spacing
  • If used above a door, chain it into a Combo Dive for a Fast Door Entry
  • To get on top of a ledge one block heigher than the current altitude without losing much momentum, use a Combo Dive just before hitting the block. Kirby will then slam on top of the block, and can then continue to use Condor Head without actually landing and with minimal slowdown. The easiest example is the second screen of level 2-1.

• Attack properties ^[1]
  • 1st hit - 14 dmg
  • 2nd & 3rd hit - 12 dmg each
  • Max total - 38 dmg
  • Invincible for the duration of the move

• Distance ^[2]
  • Successive, well-timed aerial Condor Heads:
    • No obstructions: 9.7 blocks per Condor Head
    • Against a (1/2) ceiling: no speedup or slowdown observed, but needs more testing.
    • Against a (1/1) ceiling: significant slowdown observed. This can be seen in the Wing Challenge, before the second ascent.

• Speed ^[2]
  • Successive, first-frame aerial Condor Heads are 59 frames apart. 59/9.7 = 6.1 frames/block.
  • Slower timing, say 63 frames apart, gets somewhere between 6.1 and 63/9.7 = 6.5 frames/block. It's not exactly 6.5, because Kirby is still moving forward between Condor Heads.

• Hitlag ^[2]
  • 1 frame for enemies, 3 frames for breakable blocks. However, enemies can sometimes get chained for multiple hits (3 or 4 hits at times) if they get carried along with the attack.

Combo Dive (Up, then Down + 1 during Condor Head)

This is the diagonal dive, not the straight-down dive bomb.

• Tip
  • Fast door entry: Combo/Condor Dive or Combo/Dive Bomb toward a door. Just as you reach the door, press 2 while holding Up. If you timed the 2-button press correctly, you will cancel the dive with a Hover Flap and then immediately enter the door. The timing is tricky because you must press 2 just before hitting the ground below the door.

• Attack properties ^[1]
  • Body hit is NOT comboed from Condor Head - 24 dmg
  • Body hit IS comboed from Condor Head - 21 dmg
  • Shockwave - 24 dmg
  • Boss invincibility makes Combo Dive hit once. The entire combo (Condor Head + Combo Dive) does 62 dmg max.
  • Invincible for the duration of the move

• Distance (for Condor Head -> Combo Dive) ^[2]
  • Varies, since the Condor Head can be cancelled into a Combo Dive at any time.
• Speed (for Condor Head -> Combo Dive) ^[2]
  • Generally, if you wait until near the end of the Condor Head to do the Combo Dive, it's about 7.1 frames/block for flat ground.

Dive Bomb (Down + 1 in midair)

• Tips
  • Dive Bomb can be cancelled by a Hover Flap, which can be linked into another Dive Bomb. Thus Wing Kirby can chain Dive Bombs in very quick succession by [Down+1 -> 2 -> Down+1 -> 2 and so on)
  • However, each Dive Bomb moves Kirby a few pixels backwards. Against aerial bosses, Wing Kirby will need to either readjust with a Hover Flap or switch directions by turning around in the hover flap in between. Against grounded bosses, Wing Kirby will need to land a shockwave to deal slightly less damage but be able to quickly readjust at the same time.
  • This makes Dive Bomb the best, most versatile attack in the game for bosses and minibosses, as successive Dive Bombs can be used on every boss for excellent DPS in every situation possible, also thanks to the inherent mobility of Wing.

• Attack properties ^[1]
  • Body hit - 24 dmg
  • Shockwave is NOT comboed from body hit - 18 dmg
  • Shockwave IS comboed from body hit – 15 dmg
  • Max total - 42 dmg

• Speed ^[2]
  • Downward: 2.7 frames/block. So nearly twice as fast as simply falling.

Hover Flap (2 in midair)

• Attack properties ^[1]
  • 4 dmg

• Speed ^[2]
  • Upward movement
    • Flapping at about 11.6 hz: 8.3 frames/block
    • Flapping at about 8.6 hz: 8.7 frames/block
    • Much faster than fluttering.

• Hitlag ^[2]
  • 1 frame for enemies, 3 frames for breakable blocks.

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 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7} 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.