God bless you, Sakurai. Just two days after the funny tease, Meta Knight has been confirmed as a returning character in Super Smash Bros. You can find screenshots of him below from both Wii U and 3DS versions.
On Miiverse, Sakurai wrote: “‘Looks like there was an impostor in the earlier posts, so I introduced him to my sword!’ …I’ll leave it up to your imagination if he really said that or not. The veteran hero, Meta Knight, returns to battle!! We didn’t forget the Battleship Halberd either!!”
In a follow-up comment, he added: “Meta Knight’s Up Special Move, Shuttle Loop, changed quite a bit in this game. The glide is gone, and the attack slashes opponents twice while spinning in a large loop. This has turned into a highly technical and effective move.”