Inhale

Inhale (named Swallow in Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Melee) is the neutral special move of both Kirby and King Dedede in the Super Smash Bros. series. The move is based on their natural inhaling ability in the Kirby series. Kirby and King Dedede inhale, creating a vacuum effect that draws in items and opponents (with the exception of Poké Balls, Master Balls, Cuccos, Mr. Saturns and Dragoon and Daybreak parts which are collected instead), King Dedede's inhale having a longer range. Kirby's inhale heals him when using it on items, while King Dedede's inhale does not. Certain items such as the Metal Box and Timer also give the player their standard effects in addition to healing damage, and explosive items do so when inhaled, which damages the player. Larger items such as Crates and Party Balls also take longer for Kirby to swallow, leaving him unable to do anything until he swallows, while with King Dedede it takes the same amount of time to swallow any item.

When inhaling a character, the player holds them in their mouth for a time before releasing them; in the original Super Smash Bros. Kirby cannot move after inhaling an opponent, while in later games both Kirby and King Dedede can slowly move. While an opponent has been inhaled, the player is able to spit them out as a star to both send them away and attack other opponents; King Dedede's attack, however, deals more damage. In addition, Kirby is able to swallow his opponents and copy their neutral special move, similar to the Copy Ability system of the Kirby games. After copying an opponent the player can lose the ability by taunting or by being attacked enough.

Kirby and King Dedede both have their own sets of custom special moves for this attack. Kirby's first custom move is Ice Breath, one of the Ice ability's attacks in the Kirby series; Kirby exhales cold air which deals multiple hits of ice damage, pushing opponents back, and freezes at the end. The second move is Jumping Inhale, which has Kirby leap forward as he inhales; the star that he spits out, however, does not deal damage. King Dedede's first variant is Dedede Storm, which draws in opponents, the breath hitting them repeatedly before knocking them up into the air. His second is Taste Test, which inhales faster but instantly spits out opponents as a star.