is a fictional character in Nintendo's Kirby video game series created by Masahiro Sakurai and developed by HAL Laboratory. He first appeared in the 1993 video game Kirby's Adventure as a nameless character remaining there until the game Kirby's Avalanche. The character also appears in several Kirby comic books, in the , and in the Super Smash Bros. series. Meta Knight is a mysterious but honorable knight; due to this attitude he has played more a "friend or foe" role in the Kirby series, which led video game critics to debate his nature and allegiances. He has received mainly positive critical reception since his introduction; his development within the series, from a nameless character to one of Kirby's main enemies, was praised, and he has been described as a "cool" character by reviewers.