History YMMV / KirbySuperStar

* CommonKnowledge: Several fans refer to the beach area Kirby is shot to in the beginning of ''Revenge of Meta Knight'' as "[[VideoGame/KirbysAdventure Grape Garden]]," since that's what Meta Knight calls it. Except he never called it that. He actually said that the Halberd's next target was Grape Garden, while the player can clearly see it moving away from Kirby's general location. Also, the place Kirby lands in is a PalmtreePanic area that looks nothing like [[LevelInTheClouds Grape Garden]]. Given the order of areas Kirby goes through to catch up with the Halberd, some people instead interpret this area the mountain area after it as being Orange Ocean and Yogurt Yard respectively, the two worlds after Grape Garden. The fact that Meta Knight was the boss of Orange Ocean in ''Adventure'' only backs this up.

** And, of course, there's [[spoiler:Marx]]. Okay, so he did [[spoiler:incite conflict between the sun and moon just to trick Kirby into summoning Nova, granting him the power to rule Popstar and do whatever he pleases]], but...but he's so ''cute!'' There have been a number of fanfics either attempting to redeem him or altogether ignoring that he was evil in the first place. He's also often shown being buddies with [[spoiler:Magolor]], a similar character from ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand'', to the point that the two appear in a [[ExtraOreDinary Stone]] transformation in ''[[VideoGame/KirbyPlanetRobobot Planet Robobot]]''. [[spoiler:Marx]] becoming an ally in ''VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies'' also helps.

** There's an oddly popular theory that Sailor Waddle Dee dies at the end of Revenge of Meta Knight, since they're the only crew member who [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse never explicitly evacuates the sinking Halberd.]] However, it's just as common of a theory that Meta Knight [[AFatherToHisMen flies in to rescue them.]]
** It's a common theory that the warring Sun and Moon in Milky Way Wishes are actually Mr. Shine & Mr. Bright, due to both pairs being a sentient SolarAndLunar duo, with the Sun and Moon's designs resembling those of Mr. Shine & Mr. Bright's floating forms.

** In Milky Way Wishes, the Copy Ability, which is ordinarily pointless for Kirby to have, becomes this by allowing Kirby to bypass the gimmick of Milky Way Wishes and get his ability to copy back. Consequently, the Copy Ability is very well hidden. T.A.C., the ability's Helper, is similarly helpful. His attack is lightning fast, does surprisingly high damage, and his guard makes him completely unhittable. Also, he fully heals when copying an ability. And you can cheese "Helper To Hero" by playing as him.
** Wheelie, Wheel's Helper, is similarly overpowered in multiplayer as player 2 takes over Wheelie's movements while player 1 gains a new star projectile attack. These stars deal just as much damage as T.A.C.'s attack, just as fast.
** Jet is by far the best ability in the game for [[SpeedRun speedrunning]]. Kirby moves extremely fast with the ability and can even [[SkippableBoss bypass some mid-bosses]] due to how high the Jet can fly, causing it to completely fly over the usual area that would trigger the mid-boss battle. Its only weakness is that it isn't very effective against bosses compared to, say, Plasma or Hammer.

* RemadeAndImproved: While ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar'' is still regarded as a UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem classic, many Franchise/{{Kirby}} fans unanimously declare that its remake ''Kirby Super Star Ultra'' on the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS is the definitive version of the game, with improved graphics, the addition of seven new games (4 main games and 3 minigames), the ability to drop copy abilities without resorting to creating a helper, the introduction of many fan-favorite characters (Galacta Knight, Marx's soul incarnation and King Dedede’s Masked Dedede incarnation) and lore, and giving Bandana Waddle Dee a more prominent role in ''The Arena'' and ''Revenge of the King''. The only part that's generally considered a downgrade is the soundtrack, which had to be compressed a bit to fit on a DS cartridge (though it's still very solid, and the entirely new music is just as well-loved as the original).

* ThatOneBoss: Meta Knight. You thankfully aren't forced to use the Sword ability against him unlike in ''[[VideoGame/KirbysAdventure Adventure]]'' (by virtue of making a Helper, taking the sword, dropping the sword, and unmaking the Helper), but he's still incredibly fast, has good A.I., is a small target, and has several new hard-to-dodge attacks such as his Mach Tornado and Tornado Slash. In [[BossRush The Arena]], you can count on him to be the one to kill you (if you're just starting out) or force you to use a Maxim Tomato (if you're already experienced). Not to mention if you plan to do this [[SelfImposedChallenge without an ability]], the original game pretty much has him scarce in spawning any projectiles to suck in and spit back out at him (''Ultra'' thankfully remedies this by having produce more "free" stars).

* VindicatedByHistory: ''Super Star'' had the misfortune of releasing in America mere days before the Nintendo 64, which overshadowed it. Today, it's considered one of the best ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'' games and one of the best [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem SNES]] games.

* HypeBacklash: While the game is still loved today, there are plenty of fans who don't see what the hype is about and disagree with the game's reputation as being Kirby's greatest game (even if they find it to be a good game in its own right). It doesn't help that its formula would become the standard for ''Kirby'' starting in the mid-2000s, with later games refining and expanding upon its ideas (particularly the games directed by Shinya Kumazaki), [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny making it difficult for some to see the game's appeal today]].

* VindicatedByHistory: ''Super Star'' had the misfortune of releasing in America mere days before the Nintendo 64, which overshadowed it. Today, it's considered one of the best ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'' games, one of the best [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem SNES]] games, and one of the best first-party Nintendo games period.

** Wham Bam Rock's appearance (especially his original design) is rather unsettling. His new design looks like a floating mask, his old design looked like a bunch of organic facial features floating in the dark. However, the old design gets a nod in ''Ultra'', through [[spoiler:BonusBoss Wham Bam Jewel, who looks like and has the same creepiness of the original Wham Bam Rock.]]

* DesignatedVillain: Nova getting blown up by Kirby at the end of ''Milky Way Wishes'' reeks of GuiltByAssociation; since, as a wish-granting being, it only went along with Marx's EvilPlan in the first place because it literally '''had''' to, after Marx hijacked Kirby's wish. [[AuthorsSavingThrow Fortunately]], ''Ultra'' manages to lessen the issue by having Meta Knight use the Star Power again to revive it at the end of ''Meta Knightmare Ultra''.

** The Parasol ability's Drill attack, in contrast with future games where Kirby can perform the move, lacks invincibility frames. This makes the move impractical against bosses, since Kirby will inevitably take contact damage unless the attack connects at the very end of the dash. It makes the ability's already low damage-output even lower, forcing Kirby to rely upon Circus Throws to ''really'' cause some damage. Ninja's dash attack has a similar issue, and it may actually have it even worse. It can have this problem against even regular enemies, as it's possible for its collision physics to push the enemy up into the air and land on Kirby's head.

** The Parasol ability's Drill attack, in contrast with future games where Kirby can perform the move, lacks invincibility frames. This makes the move impractical against bosses, since Kirby will inevitably take contact damage unless the attack connects at the very end of the dash. It makes the ability's already low damage-output even lower, forcing Kirby to rely upon Circus Throws to ''really'' cause some damage.
** Ninja's dash attack may actually have it even worse; it can have this problem against regular enemies instead of just bosses, since it's possible for its collision physics to push the enemy up into the air and land on Kirby's head.

** "Gourmet Race" and "Candy Mountain" are subject to many [[StupidStatementDanceMix Stupid Statement Dance Mixes]] on websites like Website/YouTube.

** There's an oddly popular theory that Sailor Waddle Dee dies at the end of Revenge of Meta Knight, since they're the only crew member who [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse never explicitly evacuates the sinking Halberd]]. However, it's just as common of a theory that Meta Knight [[AFatherToHisMen flies in to rescue them.]]

* UnderusedGameMechanic: A common criticism from fans and critics is that because the game is split into several different small games instead of being one big game, none of the gimmicks or ideas presented within the different games really get as fleshed out as they would have if they were the central focus, making them feel underutilized as a result. It should be noted that several of the subgames' structures would be used for their own dedicated games: the world map of "Dyna Blade" would be used for ''[[VideoGame/KirbyTripleDeluxe Triple Deluxe]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/KirbyPlanetRobobot Planet Robobot]]'', the semi-{{Metroidvania}} structure of "The Great Cave Offensive" would be fleshed out into an outright Metroidvania for ''[[VideoGame/KirbyAndTheAmazingMirror Amazing Mirror]]'', the planet hopping of "Milky Way Wishes" would be used for ''[[VideoGame/Kirby64TheCrystalShards The Crystal Shards]]'', and the racing/EatingContest gameplay of Gourmet Race would be expanded upon in ''[[VideoGame/KirbysDreamBuffet Dream Buffet]]''.

** Smirror vs. CERO[[labelnote:Explanation]]On the Japanese box art for ''Super Star Ultra'', Smirror's face is blocked out by the CERO rating (a trait also shared in most other regions, save for the South Korean release). The inherent silliness of the imagery resulted in it becoming a subject for redraws and parodies among Japanese fans.[[/labelnote]]

* GrowingTheBeard: If ''VideoGame/KirbysAdventure'' is the game that codified the Kirby formula, than this is the game that perfected it. It controls far better, has more interesting and varied level design and is the first game to add multiple moves to the copy abilities, giving them more variety and depth. This game would serve as the standard for later games going forward (particularly the games from ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand'' and onward) with several of the game's elements becoming staples, such as its copy ability system and the Arena mode (and its rules).

* SpiritualSuccessor: ''Kirby'' creator Creator/MasahiroSakurai developed both this game and ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'', which features a near-identical system for attacking. In fact, ''VideoGame/TheSubspaceEmissary'' from ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' can be summed up as "''Kirby Super Star'' in 3D, but you have to fall off the screen to die".