The enigmatic Meta Knight made his debut in the Kirby franchise with Kirby's Adventure back in 1993. While he's risen to prominence in a few Kirby games, his origins remain a mystery. Meta Knight is an anti-hero with a much more serious personality than his rival, Kirby. Certain Kirby games have Meta Knight be the first to realize something's amiss on Planet Popstar.
Newcomers to the Kirby series may be surprised to know that Meta Knight is not an antagonist nor one of King Dedede's minions. In fact, Meta Knight's played a supportive and heroic role more than a few times despite his common clashes with Kirby.
8 Kirby's (Extra) Epic Yarn: Giving Kirby The Tankbot Metamortex
In Kirby's Epic Yarn/Kirby's Extra Epic Yarn, Kirby is unable to copy abilities the normal way. Instead, he uses items called metamortex. Later in Kirby's Epic Yarn, Kirby fights against Meta Knight, who's possessed by Yin-Yarn. Once he's defeated, Yin-Yarn's grip on Meta Knight releases, and Meta Knight is seen apologizing to Kirby for attacking him.
During the final battle, Kirby fights Yin-Yarn's second form, Mega Yin-Yarn, with Prince Fluff. Although he doesn't fight Yin-Yarn, Meta Knight shows up with a Tankbot Metamortex, which allows Kirby and Prince Fluff to use the Tankbot Transformation. This gives them the advantage they need in battle against the final boss.
7 Kirby: Planet Robobot – Kirby And The Halberd
For the majority of Kirby: Planet Robobot, Meta Knight serves as an antagonist to Kirby. He's once again under possession by the enemy, and turned into Mecha Knight by the Haltmann Works Company. Once Meta Knight is freed, he flies off only to return later.
Meta Knight and Kirby then pilot the Halberd and pursue Star Dream into space. When the Halberd is heavily damaged in aerial combat, Meta Knight shoots Kirby from the Halberd and onto Star Dream, who serves as Kirby: Planet Robobot's final boss.
6 Kirby And The Forgotten Land: Protecting Waddle Dee Town
Meta Knight's role in the recently-released Kirby and the Forgotten Land is a downgrade to his more prominent roles in other Kirby games. That aside, he does appear in the Waddle Dee Town's Colosseum as the final boss in the Meta Knight Cup. Players would be wise to face him in battle if they want the Meta Knight Sword Blueprint for Kirby.
While players won't see Meta Knight's heroics this time, they'll find out that Meta Knight has been defending Waddle Dee Town offscreen. Kirby doesn't have to worry about danger befalling Waddle Dee Town while he's out rescuing Waddle Dees with Elfilin. It's also stated that Meta Knight was able to resist the same brainwashing treatment that was used on King Dedede thanks to sheer willpower alone.
5 Right Back At Ya!: Kirby's Mentor
Meta Knight appeared in the Kirby anime Right Back at Ya! in the pilot episode. However, it wasn't until episode 3, Kirby's Duel Role, that viewers learned more about Meta Knight's motives. In this episode, Meta Knight is sent by King Dedede to duel Kirby and learn his weakness. While this alone doesn't sound very heroic, it's quickly revealed that Meta Knight's purpose for dueling Kirby is to train him. In the anime, both Kirby and Meta Knight are Star Warriors, a group of heroes who fought against eNeMeE during the great war. While most of the Star Warriors perished, Meta Knight and two of his allies survived. Once Kirby landed in Cappy Town, Meta Knight saw this as an opportunity to train Kirby for combat.
In episode 3, Meta Knight swiftly gets the upper hand in battle against Kirby. However, when Kirby's about to be crushed by a rockslide, Meta Knight pushes him out of the way just in time. Later, Kirby is able to master Meta Knight's Sword Beam ability as Sword Kirby. He then uses this to defeat King Dedede's Bugzzy.
4 Kirby And The Amazing Mirror: Defending The Mirror World
The opening scene of Kirby and the Amazing Mirror have Meta Knight facing off against another Meta Knight in front of the Dimension Mirror. It turns out Meta Knight sensed the Mirror World was in danger and rushed off to save it. Unfortunately, he's defeated by his Mirror-Counterpart and sealed away in the Mirror World for the majority of the game.
It isn't until Kirby and his copies fight the Dark Meta Knight in Dimension MIrror that the real Meta Knight makes an appearance. While he doesn't help the Kirbys fight Dark Meta Knight, he does aid him by giving him his sword, Galaxia. This becomes the Master Sword (no, not that one), and Kirby uses it to defeat Dark Mind. Meta Knight is later seen leaving the Master Sword at the Central Circle to seal away the Mirror World at the end of the game.
3 Squeak Squad: "Storing" Dark Nebula
In Kirby: Squeak Squad, Meta Knight steals the treasure chest coveted by Daroach, leader of the Squeak Squad. Kirby, believing that the chest holds his strawberry shortcake, gives chase after Meta Knight into the Secret Sea. Meta Knight uses the Halberd to fly to Gamble Galaxy before he confronts Kirby face-to-face.
Once Meta Knight is defeated, players find out that the chest was containing Dark Nebula. So, although he aggressively fought off Kirby, Meta Knight's reasons for stealing Kirby's "treasure" was to prevent Dark Nebula from escaping. While attacking Kirby isn't heroic, Meta Knight's intentions are what someone may expect of a hero.
2 Kirby's Return To Dreamland: Upgrade To Protagonist
Meta Knight, alongside King Dedede and Bandana Waddle Dee, plays a role in the main story of Kirby's Return to Dreamland. Those playing multiplayer have the option of using Meta Knight instead of Kirby as their main character. In the story, Meta Knight agrees to help Magolor repair the Lor Starcutter, which crashlands on Dream Land.
Unlike most Kirby games, Meta Knight doesn't battle Kirby (outside Arena mode) and chooses to fight alongside him this time around.
1 Super Smash Bros. Brawl: Meta Knight In The Subspace Emissary
Set in a universe entirely separate from the Kirby canon, Meta Knight gets a main role in Super Smash Bros. Brawl's Subspace Emissary adventure mode. This time, he doesn't start out battling or assisting Kirby. Meta Knight is trying to get the Halberd back from the Subspace Army, who's responsible for destroying worlds with their Subspace bombs.
Eventually, he fights alongside Marth and Ike from the Fire Emblem universe. Later in the story, he rescues Lucas (Mother 3) and Red (Pokemon) from one of the bombs, and eventually takes back his Halberd from the Subspace Army.