Knuckle Joe

"Leave it to me!"

- Knuckle Joe

Knuckle Joe is an enemy appearing in four Kirby games as of now. He is, however, a recurring and semi-important character in Kirby: Right Back at Ya!.

Their helper forms are childish, elf-like fighters with spiky yellow hair wearing blue clothing and a modified headband. Their regular enemy counterparts look exactly the same, but are recolored (except for Kirby's Return to Dream Land, where Knuckle Joe looks exactly like his Super Star helper form).

Kirby Super Star and Kirby Super Star Ultra
Knuckle Joes are an uncommon enemy in this game, appearing as the only regular enemy in the game that gives the Fighter ability. They attack with various, fast-paced, martial-art moves. As a Helper, Knuckle Joe can use all of the same techniques as Fighter Kirby can, except for the Judo Throw. A red Knuckle Joe plays in Helper to Hero.

Kirby Super Star Stacker
Knuckle Joe fights Kirby over a star piece in this game. He first beats up Kirby and his friends before the match begins. After being defeated, he is carted off in bandages by Waddle Dee, an earlier enemy faced in the game.

Kirby's Return to Dream Land
In this game, Knuckle Joe behaves like he does in Kirby Super Star, and is a very uncommon enemy, only appearing in a few levels. Like in Kirby Super Star, Knuckle Joe gives the Fighter ability.

In Kirby: Right Back at Ya!
Knuckle Joe is often the source for obtaining Fighter in the anime as most Fighter Kirby ability appearances are in episodes featuring him.

Joe's first appearance saw him looking for the Star Warrior who killed his father. He originally appeared as a ghost-like form, but turned into a Joe with a purple coloration, somewhat resembling his enemy coloration. King Dedede convinced him that Kirby had done the deed and he challenged Kirby to a duel. Kirby didn't fight and was promptly turned into a punching bag. When Joe went for the finishing blow, Meta Knight intervened and told him the truth: Meta Knight challenged and killed his father when he was captured by Nightmare and turned into a monster. He wasn't completely evil - the love of his son, Joe himself, stopped him from being completely evil. All Joe wanted was revenge, however, and attacked Kirby again. Kirby inhaled his attack and turned into Fighter Kirby. Fighter Kirby used the same attacks he did. Eventually, Joe got so angry, he turned into a monster - a spiked ball similar to Togezo. Kirby changed into Needle Kirby after he swallowed another one of Joe's attacks and used his ability to defeat him. In his second appearance, he looks like the Kirby Super Star Helper. Here he is a Monster Manager for Nightmare Enterprises. He sent out an innumerable amount of small monsters to Dream Land. Kirby inhaled them all, which exhausted him. Joe released Masher onto Dream Land to deliver the final blow to an already exhausted Kirby. Eventually Kirby and Knuckle Joe team up and beat it. It turns out that Joe is now a Monster Hunter, and that he was after Masher for a while.

In Joe's third appearance he fights against a powered-up version of Masher, Masher 2.0, alongside Kirby. In his fourth and final appearance in the anime, Joe aids Kirby with his attack against eNeMeE.

In the anime, Joe has a tendency to wipe his "nose". Kirby often mimics this, both normally and in Fighter form, despite the fact that neither Kirby nor Knuckle Joe actually has a nose.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Knuckle Joe appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl as an Assist Trophy. In this role he attacks opponents by using a Vulcan Jab, followed by either a Smash Punch or a Rising Break after being summoned with both attacks being noted by him shouting their names upon using them. The last two attacks mentioned are basically to instantly KO enemies who happen to be in his way, which more than likely will connect as his multiple punches before these finishing moves allow little to no time to escape. If there are no enemies close to him he will make his way quickly to them as he jabs the air with punches and may occasionally fall off the stage and self-destruct without managing to do any damage at all. The Brawl version is blond, with a blue suit coloration, which makes him the helper counterpart. He also has a very high-pitched voice.

Knuckle Joe also has a regular Trophy as well.

Trivia

 * Knuckle Joe's appearance in Helper to Hero is the same as it is in Megaton Punch: Blonde hair, like a helper, but red clothing, like an enemy.
 * Mike from Drawn to Life has a hairstyle similar to Knuckle Joe's, and when the player rescues him, he starts wiping his nose over and over. This is pure coincidence, however.

Other Helper Icons
Knuckle Joe Knuckle Joe Knuckle Joe ナックルジョー