First, you draw a circle. Then you dot the eyes. Add a great big smile and presto, it's Kirby!
—Intro to Kirby's Adventure
Kirby is a pink blobby creature created by Masahiro Sakurai for Nintendo subsidiary HAL Laboratory and the star of his own series of games. He can fly, jump, suck enemies into his mouth, spit them out, or, starting with the second game, Kirby's Adventure, devour them and absorb their powers — he takes the old maxim "you are what you eat" quite literally. Throughout most of his adventures, he journeys across the land of Dream Land on the planet Pop Star, squaring off against foes such as the dream-crushing Nightmare, an ominous Body Snatcher called Dark Matter, or the greedy penguin King Dedede.The Kirby games are designed to be easy for young (or beginner) gamers to complete, but to also provide some extra challenges for experienced players.Besides games, Kirby starred in his own anime series, entitled Kirby of the Stars*
Known as Hoshi no Kirby in Japanese
. It was licensed by 4Kids Entertainment, so of course, a lot of the darker elements from the Japanese version were Bowdlerised out, and it was retitled Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, but it was still successful, managing to stay on the air for 100 episodes.Masahiro Sakurai retained a lot of creative input on the show. Kirby has also been featured as a regular character in the Super Smash Bros.. series (also created by Sakurai), and as of Brawl, he is joined by series rivals King Dedede and Meta Knight.Most of the Kirby games are Platformers, but the series has occasionally dipped into other genres, as well, as highlighted below:
Kirby's Block Ball (1995, Game Boy; a Breakout-like game)
Kirby Super Star, known as Kirby's Fun Pak in Europe and Hoshi no Kirby Super Deluxe in Japan (1996, Super NES; eight*
actually nine
games for the price of one)
Kirby's Star Stacker (1997, Game Boy; another Falling BlocksPuzzle Game; received a Japan-only Super Famicom version called Kirby no Kirakira Kids in 1998)
Kirby's Epic Yarn (2010, Wii, initially planned as an original, non-Kirby game called "Fluff's Yarn"; Prince Fluff ended up being an optional partner for Kirby)
It should be noted that four of these games (Kirby's Dream Land 2, Kirby's Dream Land 3, Kirby's Star Stacker and Kirby 64) were directed by Shinichi Shimomura instead of series creator Masahiro Sakurai. This explains why those games are slower-paced than their counterparts, and why various characters introduced in those games (Rick, Kine, Coo, Dark Matter, Adeleine) don't appear with major roles in other games.Not related to Jack Kirby, or Kirby Morrow. It's also not related to Kirby vacuums, (or the vacuum named Kirby) but you're getting closer*
He might have been named after John Kirby, the lawyer who defended Nintendo back when Universal Studios sued them over the name of Donkey Kong.
Added Alliterative Appeal: Whispy Woods, having appeared in just about every game. Also, almost every world in Adventure, Amazing Mirror, and Return to Dreamland.
Affably Evil: King Dedede. When he isn't trying to clobbah that there Kirby, he is actually helping Kirby to protect Dreamland from a bigger threat (Kirby 64, Kirby's Adventure/Nightmare in Dreamland and Return to Dream Land are excellent examples of this). And sometimes he's just a bystander, too.
Averted beginning with Kirby Super Star Ultra. Changes in Nintendo of America's marketing division staff might have had something to do with it... although Return to Dream Land is also a return to form.
Hell, in the instance where Dedede wasn't possessed by the Cosmic Horror, he was actively trying to keep it away from the MacGuffin. Of course, Kirby had to mess that up, but at least he kicked Nightmare's ass afterwards.
Though, in the original Dream Land, he had his followers steal all the food in Dream Land for no good reason except to be a dick, and in Kirby 64, he takes the crystal shard Kirby needs to save Ribbon's planet, again to be a dick, even if he does decide to help after being attacked by and freed from Dark Matter.
Art Attacker: Many bosses; the most well-known is Paint Roller in Kirby's Adventure.
Art Evolution: Kirby's face has gotten bigger, while Meta Knight's arms have gotten a bit longer and thinner (leading to the derogatory nickname of "Seńor Noodle Arms" in some parts of the fan community).
, Paint Roller from ‘’Kirby's Adventure’’, Drawcia from Kirby's Canvas Curse, and Yin Yarn from Kirby's Epic Yarn.
Art Shift: Kirby's Epic Yarn features a quirky string/patchwork/fabric-like style, which Kirby utilizes in game (pulling on zippers to reveal new areas, using his arm as a whip, etc).
Dream Land 3 also uses a pastel crayon or colored pencil style, as Kirby Mass Attack (which originally looked more plain).
Ascended Extra: Bandanna Dee first appeared in Super Star as the first opponent in "Megaton Punch". In Ultra, he has dialog and appears as a boss (albeit not much of one) in "Revenge of the King" (plus he's the only spectator in the stands during the Masked Dedede fight), and the Waddle Dee opponent in "The Arena" was changed to him. Now he's slated to be a playable character in Kirby's Return to Dream Land.
Authority In Name Only: Both in the games and the anime, Dedede is noted to have a castle, lots of guards, great wealth, and a fabulous outfit, but no actual claim to the throne.
Awesome, but Impractical: The Hammer's up+ Y/B move (the Hammer Flip) in Kirby Super Star subverts this. It's the second most powerful attack in the game, but you're unable to move during its (rather lengthy) startup time, making it risky to use on most normal enemies. However, it's perfect for tearing though bosses in seconds - at least once you learn their patterns - turning this into Difficult, But Awesome instead.
A straight example would be Fire's back+Y/B attack, the Fireball Inferno. It's the most powerful attack in the game — same damage as the Hammer Flip, and it deals damage at a much faster speed — but your character's immobility, combined with its lackluster range and how hilariously easy it is to be hit out of the attack, means that the only mileage you're getting out of this is on the Computer Virus and Whispy Woods (and Whispy Woods is a joke anyways.)
Also, Ghost Kirby. You can actually posess enemies, however it isn't very good for attacking and is completely ineffective against bosses.
Bad Ass: Meta Knight. Come on... that sword? That cape? That mask? How could he be anything but?
Well, once you see his real face, he's just cute. ...But still!
That's the point. He gets terrifically embarrassed when his true face is revealed.
Meta Knight wishes to have released the strongest warrior in the galaxy, locked away for fear of his power, for the sole purpose of kicking said warrior's ass. Which he proceeds to do. *
Or not, since this boss fight, while not Nintendo Hard, is pretty painful the first few times, due to the fact that Galacta Knight is basically a computer controlled, white and feather-winged, extra-badass Metaknight with a lance and shield, making the fight as fun as it is awesome.
Why? For training purposes. Or fun. Or just to prove he could.
Battleship Raid: The Revenge of Meta-Knight subgame from Super Star and its remake, as well as the penultimate stage from Milky Way Wishes.
Batman Gambit: Marx and Magolor pull off some rather nice ones in Kirby Super Star and Kirby's Return to Dream Land, respectively. Marx manipulates Kirby to get the wish that grants himself ultimate power. Magolor tricks Kirby into beating Landia so he can obtain the Master Crown.
Big Eater: Both Kirby and King Dedede; they even race to see who can eat more in the "Gourmet Race" game in Super Star.
Black and Gray Morality: You wouldn't think a series this cute would have it, but Kirby and his allies have a talent for making a bad situation worse through their "heroism", and as for the non-supernatural antagonists, see Hero Antagonist and Anti-Villain. There really isn't a perfectly good party. The final bosses, on the other hand, definitely belong on the "black" end of the spectrum. (Marx and Magolor, in particular, are semi-lite magnificent bastards. And then there's Dark Matter and Zero... hoo boy...)
Black Hole Belly: Kirby can swallow many things much larger than him.
Kirby of the Stars and Squeak Squad seem to have made it canon that the inside of Kirby's body is a pocket dimension, making Kirby himself a literal black hole with a stomach.
Blackout Basement: Several levels of Kirby Canvas Curse require you to tap lanterns in order for you to see. Some levels in the main platformers have candles to be lit or carried, or light bulb (or just light) powers to utilize. In Kirby's Return to Dream Land, any power with electric or fire properties will extend the range you see in a dark room.
Breath Weapon: Spitting out air puffs and spitting out enemies and objects into stars since Kirby's Dreamland. Since Kirby's Adventure, fire and ice powers are that.
Brick Joke: A case that spans over a decade. In the second game of the series, a minigame let you control a crane machine's claw to snatch Kirbies and gain extra lives. In Kirby Mass Attack, one of the bosses your mob of Kirbies have to fight is... a crane machine's claw!
Chef of Iron: One of the monsters is a fighting cook, and of course, Kirby can assimilate his skill. Also Kirby's Final Smash in Super Smash Brothers Brawl.
Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Kirby, at one point, had a large supporting cast, including his sidekick Gooey and his many animal buddies: Rick, Coo, Kine, Chuchu, Nago, and Pitch. Almost all of them have gone missing from any significant part of the series and are now relegated to minor cameos, and the series is focusing almost entirely on Kirby, Meta-Knight, and Dedede.
Interestingly, this creates a sort of reverse Sonic effect, where characters slowly disappear.
The animal buddies get a Shout Out in Kirby 64 as Kirby's various Rock + Blade forms, and in Return to Dream Land as one of his Stone forms.
As noted above, Dream Land 2/3 were made by a different producer, which is why Rick, Coo, Kine, etc., haven't appeared in other games.
Collision Damage: Slight change: Minor enemies are also damaged when Kirby runs into them.
Minor enemies like Waddle Dees in later games die when they bump into Kirby, even unpowered.
Some Copy abilities in Super Star even let Kirby shield himself and damage enemies, even bosses, if they touch him.
Blocking damages enemies, even bosses. (It doesn't hurt them very badly, but still!)
In Kirby's Epic Yarn, there is no collision damage to enemies and other things unless it's sharp, made out of fire, or they're projectiles.
Continuity Nod: In Revenge Of Meta Knight, Kirby caused the Halberd to crash into an ocean. In Squeak Squad, the "Secret Sea" is one of the worlds, and you eventually enter the flooded wreck of the Halberd, still at the bottom of the sea. And then Meta Knight reveals that he's repaired it and flies it into space.
The RPG sub-game Kirby Master from Kirby Mass Attack features enemies and attacks from the anime and Kirby's Epic Yarn, including the Tankbot from Epic Yarn and Kabuki Kirby from the special 3D episode of the anime.
Cut Scene: Adventure has one introducing each level. After defeating King Dedede in the same game, a much longer one depicts King Dedede desperately trying to prevent Kirby from putting the Star Rod back because doing so would unleash Nightmare.
Dark is Not Evil: Gooey. Despite being made of and by Dark Matter, he's just a good-natured goof ball. Also, Shadow Kirby from Kirby and The Amazing Mirror.
Defeat by Modesty: Meta Knight just can't keep fighting once his mask is broken.
Defeat Means Friendship: In Kirby Super Star, you can relinquish Kirby's powers and reform them into an enemy that uses those powers, who can then be controlled by a second player. This is extremely helpful in getting 100% Completion, but the AI is marginally intelligent enough to do the job.
Your entire party (sans Ribbon) in Kirby 64 is also gained this way through mini-boss battles while on Pop Star.
Development Hell: Since Kirby's Air Ride, HAL Laboratories have made repeated attempts to create a home console game for the Kirby series. The most known attempt was the GameCube game, announced in 2004, and widely believed to be reincarnated as Kirby's Return to Dream Land. However, a recent interview has revealed that the GameCube game was the first of four attempts at a home console game, the final being Return to Dream Land.
Kirby Air Ride itself was trapped in Development Hell for quite some time. It was originally intended as a Nintendo 64 game, but after spending many years in production it was quietly canceled. It was The Unexpected when it finally showed up as a GameCube title at E3 2003.
Digital Destruction: The Virtual Console release of Kirby's Dream Land 3 changes the background colors in Dark Matter/Zero's Boss Rush stage from yellow, red, and blue to a less-pleasant yellow, orange, and green. Most other games with noticeable graphics edits (i.e. Super Mario RPG) had this done because of increased seizure awareness, but this doesn't seem to have been done for any particular reason.
Directionally Solid Platforms: They're present and throughout the whole series, more so in some levels than others. Some you can drop back through again, others you can't.
Dishing Out Dirt: Wham Bam Rock in Kirby Super Starand Wham Bam Jewel in Kirby Super Star Ultra.
Disproportionate Retribution: Squeak Squad starts with Kirby's slice of cake being stolen. Cue him going on a rampage through the entire country, killing (or at least maiming) everything on his path to retrieve it. Starting with Dedede's castle, just because Kirby thinks Dedede might have taken it.
Granted, that is the sort of thing that Dedede would do, so Kirby was actually quite justified in thinking that he was responsible. The revelation that Dedede is innocent serves as the cue for the real culprits to arrive on the scene. Dedede then gets a minorCrowning Moment of Awesome by using Kirby as a bowling ball to knock the Squeaks over.
Door To Before: After beating the final boss of the Great Cave Offensive segment in Kirby Super Star, one ends up running from the cave up to the original entrance.
The Dragon: Dark Matter, to Zero. Also, Meta Knight played this role to Dedede in ‘’Kirby's Adventure’’; he reprised this role in the anime, becoming a definitive example of a Dragon with an Agenda.
As Zero is the core organism of Dark Matter, and all other Dark Matter entities are spawned from it, and all but Gooey are controlled by it, its Dragon is essentially a physical extension of it with a limited degree of free will to operate outside of its direct control. This has interesting implications.
Dramatic Unmask: Meta Knight tends to lose his mask upon defeat. He's so cute! And he looks exactly like Kirby, only with white (sometimes gold) eyes, purple feet, and blue skin.
Dream Land: It's named for being home of the fountain where dreams come from. A nightmare tries to come through the fountain in Kirby's Adventure, but King Dedede removes the fountain's power source, the Star Rod, to stop it. As a consequence, no one can dream until Kirby puts the Star Rod back.
Drop the Hammer: Dedede and Bonkers the gorilla, the latter of which Kirby can inhale for (what else?) the Hammer ability. Hammer is used as one of Kirby's B-button moves in the various Super Smash Bros. games.
Duel Boss: Meta Knight, of course. With few exceptions, he even gives you a sword if you don't already have one. He refuses to start the fight until you pick it up, in every game except Revenge of Meta Knight. And even then, he'll wait for half a minute, which is very chivalrous of him considering you're both on an airship currently plummeting towards the ocean.
In Kirby and the Amazing Mirror, the way you can tell you're not fighting the real Meta Knight is because the impostor doesn't throw you a sword.
Early-Bird Cameo: In King Golem's chamber in Kirby and the Amazing Mirror, the stained glass windows in the background depict some of the other bosses you'll meet later (assuming you haven't been Sequence Breaking, that is.)
Early Installment Weirdness: The original Kirby's Dream Land was very different from the later games—Kirby couldn't dash or slide, and while he could suck up, then swallow or spit out enemies, he wasn't able to copy abilities. It also included some bizarre enemies that have not been seen since. That, and the cover art for the game shows him being white. He would take on his trademark pink colouring by the second game, Kirby's Adventure.
Eat The Bomb: What Kirby can do to disarm just about any bomb outside of minigames. And he can probably use it against whoever was throwing explosives around to begin with.
Eldritch Abomination: Many final bosses, especially Dark Matter. In a Sugar Bowl setting, it's as odd and jarring as it sounds.
Dark Matter is notable in that its core, Zero, is essentially an already Eldritch Abomination's One-Winged Angel form. That's in Kirby's Dream Land 3, whereas in Kirby 64, you skip fighting Dark Matter and go straight to Zero's own new form - you'll see it written above and below as 02 or Zero Two. This is a mistake - that 2 is actually a superscript: 0^2. In other words, you're fighting Zero Squared, or the embodiment of nothingness given an extra dimension. It's white, has blood red wings and gives you a fantastic little moment of Mood Whiplash when you first see the smiley face it aims at you and then watch the mouth open into a blood red eye. Have fun!
Light 'Em Up: Light, although it doesn't actually damage enemies and is instead used to light up dark rooms. Interesting variations are Bomb + Spark from 64 and Kine's Spark power. The former turns Kirby into an exploding light bulb and the latter has Kine hold out a light bulb that damages enemies that touch it, with the option to shoot it at them. Both of these can also be used to see in the dark.
In addition, Kirby 64 allows you to combine powers, resulting in things like snowman bombs (Ice + Bomb); Dream Land 2/3 give you animal helpers that each put their own spins on whatever power you have when you use them; Squeak Squad has a few ability combos like Fire + Sword; and Return to Dream Land has super abilities: powered-up versions of regular abilities that can be used to kill enemies in one hit, destroy scenery, and solve puzzles. As well as...
Eleventh Hour Super Power: If the game features a nightmarish true final boss, Kirby usually manages to acquire a special weapon just in time to face it. An exception happens in Canvas Curse, where it doesn't show up until after Kirby couldn't stop the mysterious evil of the month from cursing Dream Land. And then you get to use it for the entire game.
Eternal Engine: Mecheye/Mekkai, the Halberd, NOVA, and the final levels of Shiver Star.
Evil Laugh: In Super Star's Revenge of Meta Knight:
Ax Knight: Kirby is getting close to the twin cannon.
Captain Vul: Kirby will be torched! Wahahahahahaha!
Expy: Lololo and Lalala are either distant cousins or younger versions of Lolo and Lala from the Eggerland/Adventures of Lolo series, another popular series created by HAL Laboratory in the NES days.
Flaming Sword: Kirby 64's Fire + Cutter ability. It's also a BFS that's about thrice Kirby's size.
And Squeak Squad's Fire + Sword. Do not use Final Cutter with it in Cushy Cloud, or you'll burn the ground you're falling on (withpredictableresults.
Flunky Boss: Whispy Woods in Kirby 64, and Kracko in most others.
Frickin' Laser Beams: Laser, UFO, and the Chuchu + Spark combination in Kirby's Dreamland 3.
From Nobody to Nightmare: Instead of the usual Dark Matter-esque Eldritch Abomination, Marx, the final boss of Kirby Superstar, is just one of the tiny, marshmallow-like denizens of Dream Land, who manages to gain ultimate power with an Evil Plan involving Kirby and the wish-granting comet Nova.
There's also Magolor from Kirby's Return to Dream Land, a seemingly hapless but friendly alien whose ship crash lands on Pop Star—which turns out to have been part of his plan to control the universe. His final boss forms reference Nightmare, Marx and Dark Matter/Zero, if that tells you anything. Not to mention the background of his battle, which takes place in an alternate dimension, has a hole in which Pop Star is prominently displayed. Magolor happens to be on his way through the alternate dimension to conquer Pop Star, so imagine what would happen if Kirby didn't manage to defeat him...
Marx has weird, colorful bat wings that possibly inspired those of Flandre Scarlet. Not only is he evil and the game's closest equivalent to the Big Bad, he's also the True Final Boss..
Goomba Stomp: Although, unlike in Mario games, Kirby has to fall from a very great height to do this.
Guide Dang It: Collecting some of the shards in Kirby 64 are a bit unintuitive the first time around, even though the game itself does try to give you some hints.
One particularly unintuitive shard to retrieve involves using a skill combination that transforms you into stone versions of the Animal Friends from Dreamland 3, keep using it until it transforms you into Rick the hamster, and then climb a wall up towards the shard that is too high to reach it via regular flight. Not something easy to figure, since nothing tells you that said form can climb walls that are rare to begin with. Guide Dang It indeed.
Perhaps it's a bonus for people who played Kirby's Dream Land 3... the hamster, Rick, could climb walls in that game, too, and upon playing around with Rock + Cutter, they would probably reckon that the Rick statue could do the same thing. And they'd be right.
A level in Dreamland 3 takes you through an apparently arcticvolcano.
The fourth world of Kirby Mass Attack starts as a Lethal Lava Land, followed by a few graveyard-themed levels, then two levels that ultimately take the Kirbys to Outer Space, then back to the graveyards, and finally to the volcano for the boss.
Most of the Orange Ocean zone in Adventure is a mix of tropical islands and underwater levels. The last few levels, however, are cold and have lots of mystical-looking crystals, probably as a prelude to the next zone, Rainbow Resort.
Heel Face Turn: Kirby's allies in Kirby 64 are an ex-enemy, an ex-boss, and King Dedede himself. They were all just possessed by Dark Matter though, and returned to normal after they were defeated.
Helpful Mook: Zebon in Dream Land 3 (and later Kirby 64) is classified as an enemy, but all he does is blast you up to reach places you normally wouldn't be able to.
"Revenge of Meta Knight" is an exception, and it's really the only time he has committed an evil act — and even there, he was really just trying to conquer Dream Land (seriously, why the hell are conquerors invariably seen as villains?), and that wasn't actually a power grab, but a Well-Intentioned Extremist attempt to change it for the better.
. Since the skittishness is highly justified on Meta Knight's part, seeing as Kirby does that sort of thing a lot, this trope is a more accurate description of Meta Knight than Anti-Villain.
Human Cannonball: In large part of the games, Kirby can enter cannons to be shot away.
Idiot Hero: In Kirby's Adventure (and its remake Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land), Kirby thinks that King Dedede is responsible for Dreamland's lack of dreams, but doesn't know that Nightmare was behind all the problems in the land.
Also, in Kirby: Squeak Squad, Kirby thinks the treasure chest the Squeaks stole contained his strawberry shortcake, but he didn't know (although Meta Knight did) that the chest was actually the prison of Dark Nebula.
Possibly justified in that (A) nobody really lets Kirby (or anyone else in his gang) in on their plans, instead deciding that it would be better to pick a fight to prevent his passage, and (B) Dedede and the other assorted villains really need some work on conveying their noble intentions to others. Seal an Eldritch Abomination in the Fountain of Dreams by removing its power source? Not a bad idea. Entrusting that broken pieces of that Star Rod to people who have problems along the lines of A with Kirby? Not so much. Not telling anyone what you were up to in order to point out that they shouldn't worry, in turn risking that Kirby might think you're up to something bad? Yeah, uh, not a good idea. Using the Fountain of Dreams as your own personal swimming pool for the duration? Okay, Big Guy, we need to have a little chat about how this works.
Indy Escape: In a few parts of Kirby's Dreamland 3, you have to outrun several rocks going downhill, although it's one of the slowest examples of this trope.
Invincible Minor Minion: The Shotzo cannons. Gordos are an odd example as they could be destroyed in the first game but the method for doing so has been left out of every sequel since.
Light Is Not Good: Galacta Knight might count, if we actually knew whether he was good or evil.
Can't forget Zero Two. He's pure white, and in The Crystal Shards, he goes as far as to have angelic wings and a halo. That's because Zero Two is the spirit of Zero, back from the dead to antagonize Kirby once more, a fact enforced by the Band-aid marking where Zero's eye used to be before it ''tore itself out of Zero's body,spraying blood everywhere.''
Lost Forever: In Kirby 64, you're only allowed to fight the Waddle Doo, the possessed Adeleine, and the possessed King Dedede once and only once. After you beat them, these battles do not reappear when revisiting their levels. The only way to fight them again is to start a new file.
Thankfully the the same game averts it in another case, you can appear to miss a cut scene if you defeat Dark Matter with all of the shards if you didn't fight him with some missing, but it's unlocked after you defeat the True Final Boss.
Kirby had a voice in Super Star, where he may or may not have been voiced by Mayumi Tanaka
.
Mask Power: Masked Dedede in Kirby Super Star Ultra. Rocket-fueled hammer sold separately.
Mega Manning: He didn't start with this power like the trope namer did, and some games drop it from his arsenal, but he certainly gets a lot of mileage out of it when he does have it. He even gets it in Super Smash Bros..
Metroidvania: Kirby and the Amazing Mirror, and the "Great Cave Offensive" game in Kirby Super Star.
Mini-Boss (Try naming a Kirby platformer that doesn't have at least one.)
Mini-Game Credits: A very odd example in Kirby and the Amazing Mirror. When you give Dark Mind the final hit in his third and final phase, do you expect him to blow up and the ending to play? No. Instead, the credits roll while you continue to shoot at the boss, and the game keeps track of how many hits you give him. After the credits finish, Dark Mind finally explodes and the epilogue kicks in.
Mood Whiplash: Kirby is cute. The world is cute. Even the enemies are cute. And then you run into a final boss that's a giant eyeball. That shoots its own blood at you. And then it tears out its own iris and launches said iris at you like a kamikaze pilot on crack in a last-ditch attempt to take you down. That's just the worst of the Kirby end bosses who look a lot more, well, evil than the rest of the game...
Meta Knight's very existence in Dream Land seems to be a perfect example. Then there's his airship that has more weapons than the Death Star.
Speaking of Nightmare Fuel, Marx Soul. The scream. Good lord.
Kirby Canvas Curse's final level looks like a mixture of something Salvador Dali would puke up and something Picasso would have a nightmare about, rather than the cute, interesting levels expected of a Kirby game. Oh, and the final boss turns into a five eyed screaming ball of paint that can tear pieces off of itself to attack you.And according to the Japanese version, Drawcia was able to do that because she merged with Zero to gain her powers. Zero is the aforementioned giant eyeball that attacked you by shooting its own blood at you, and after being worn down, ripped its iris out of its body in order to charge at you kamikaze-style. Sweet dreams.
Speaking of the other type of Mood Whiplash, you'll get one for beating masked Dedede in Kirby Super Star Ultra.
The Crystal Shards has a notable example; the first level of Ripple Star basically mimics the first level of Pop Star. However, as soon as you begin the second stage, you'll be greeted by the darkness-shrouded palace and that creepy music...
Musical Assassin: One of the regular enemies and one of the minibosses. Their powers can be taken.
New Game Plus: Kirby's Dreamland has an extra game mode after beating the regular game once, that turns the game Nintendo Hard by making enemies deadlier, adding a whole lot of new ones, and cutting your health to three hits.
Kirby's Adventure also had an extra mode where you couldn't save, and you only had three life max. The rest of the game was unchanged. In the remake, Nightmare in Dreamland, you can play through the game as Meta Knight, again with a 3-hit life bar and the inability to save. This is made up for by Meta Knight being an awesome Badass.
Kirby's Return to Dream Land has an EX mode that is unlocked after beating the main mode of the game. While the levels remain largely unchanged, the bosses have been made considerably more difficult. Kirby's health is also reduced by half.
Nice Hat: Kirby's current ability is often denoted by one of these, ranging from a crown of flames to a pointed hat very similar to another famous swordsman.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Kirby has a bad habit of letting the final boss out by stopping the one before it.
Nintendo Hard: Think the original Kirby's Dream Land is too easy? Then try playing Hard Mode on it — even the most seasoned gamers will be given a run for their money. That's still too easy for you? Try changing the options to giving you no livesand a max of one point of vitality. If you get hit even once, you'll have to redo the entire level over again. Kirby's Adventure followed suit by having an extra mode which cut Kirby's health down to three hit points and took out the save feature — although its remake Nightmare in Dream Land gave you a save feature in its extra mode, it compensates with Meta-Knightmare mode, which does not have a save feature. That said, neither of them can touch the original game's hard mode in terms of just how insanely frustrating it is. Also, The Arena from Kirby Super Star and The True Arena from Super Star Ultra — the latter is almost as hard as the original Kirby's Dreamland's hard mode, even with the trusty hammer at your side! Helper to Hero in that game can also get downright nightmarish to play with the weaker characters.
Believe it or not, minigames can be like this. Take "Super NES MG 5", for instance. You have to go through all five of the memory-based minigames consecutively. If you getonewrong, then you have to do all five completely over again if you want to get 100% Completion.
Nonstandard Character Design: Wham Bam Rock in Kirby Super Star is claymation-style, unlike other characters. His design is more conventional in the remake.
No Pronunciation Guide: Is King Dedede's name pronounced "Dee-dee-dee", "Day-day-day?" or "Deh-deh-deh"?
Also, Kirby 64 intentionally has a lot of things in common with Kirby's Dream Land 3.
The entire "Spring Breeze" sub-game of Super Star is a cut-down version of Dream Land.
The final world of Kirby's Epic Yarn is Dream Land transformed by Yin-Yarn, featuring arts-and-crafts versions of classic Kirby game elements such as star blocks and Shotzos.
No Sell: Kirby can't inhale Scarfies. If you try, the results can be horrendous.
Not Me This Time: Kirby often goes after King Dedede for whatever evil plot is going on, whether or not he had anything to do with it. Most notable in Squeak Squad (granted, stealing a cake is the sort of thing that Dedede would do - and has done in the past - so Kirby can't really be blamed for blaming Dedede in that case.)
Not Using the Z Word: Dedede is generally considered a penguin by the fandom, and looks a lot like one, but this has never actually been confirmed.
One of the instruction manuals states that Dedede is a condor.
Oculothorax: A lot of the bosses in the series follow this pattern. There's Kracko, Dark Matter, Dark Nebula, Zero, Zero-Two, Drawcia Soul, and Dark Mind's second form.
100% Completion: Required in Kirby's Dreamland 2 (Rainbow Drops), Kirby's Dream Land 3 (hearts) and Kirby 64 (crystal shards) to unlock the true last boss and the best ending. *
And while the best endings for these games are happy in their own right, the alternative endings are basically distilled Accidental Nightmare Fuel, especially in Kirby 64.
Point of No Return: In The Amazing Mirror, when you first started a file, there was a series of rooms that contained a few treasure chests and a giant chest that contained the world map. The door that brings you to the main area is a one-way door, and once you enter it, you can't go back again.
The original Kirby's Dreamland also had "Spicy Food," which lets him spit fireballs.
And it had the Mint, which showed up only once and allowed him to shoot an infinite number of air-puff-blasts while still flying. Which turned that boss into a shmup.
Power-Up Mount: Rick the hamster, Kine the fish, and Coo the owl in Dream Land 2; joined by Nago the cat, Pitch the bird, and Chuchu the octopus in Dream Land 3. Also, the helper Wheelie in Super Star.
Also, Dedede in 64.
Also, all of your co-op partners in Return to Dream Land.
In Kirby's Dreamland 3, having the Fire ability and Pitch as a partner allows you to use him as a boomerang fireball!
Prepare to Die: Meta Knight says this to Kirby in the English version of the original Kirby Super Star before their duel, which was replaced with "Come meet your doom!" in its Nintendo DS remake.
Psychotic Smirk: During the fake Ending of Kirby 64; by the ruler of Ripple star, behind Ribbon's back.
The fakeFinal Boss of Kirby 64. You must hit it with the same element it's using. Kudos if you figured it out right away instead of thinking to hit it with the opposite element. And God help you if you got yourself stuck by trying to rely on one of the game's Game Breaker combos *coughrefridgeratorcough*.
King Dedede and Meta Knight are the most well known, being major characters, and appearing in nearly every game since their debut, including spinoffs. They are in Brawl for a reason.
Whispy Woods and Kracko, who were two of the five bosses in the original game, are right behind those two in number of appearances. Even when the characters themselves don't appear, an Expy probably will, such as King Golem and Mecha-Kracko (duh), respectively.
Half of the bosses in Amazing Mirror are blatantly Alternate Universe counterparts to previous bosses. King Golem is Whispy Woods, Dark Meta Knight is obvious, and the final boss starts off as an expy of Nightmare before ending up as an expy of Zero.
Reflecting Laser: "Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. (And it bounces off walls, too!)". Also, the Halberd's Reactor Core. (You may have to take advantage of this to get the laser to strike the Reactor itself, which is the only way you can damage it.)
In Kirby's Dreamland 3, Kirby gains a chargable beam that bounces off walls when he has both the Spark ability and Chuchu as his partner.
Ret Canon: Happens several times with material that showed up in the anime. For example, Plasma Kirby (from Super Star) was originally pink, a la Spark Kirby; the anime portrayed Plasma Kirby as having green skin, so when the time came for Super Star Ultra (and Air Ride before it), Plasma Kirby was given green skin.
Ridiculously Cute Critter: Kirby and just about everything else that isn't a final boss. Subverted by minor enemy Scarfy, which turns One-Winged Angel when provoked. Defied by Meta Knight, who hides his cute face with a mask and Badass attitude.
Savage Setpiece: Scarfy, though in some games they will chase you like any other enemy if you get too close to them.
Scenery Porn: Kirby games, which are often produced late into a system's lifespan, will try to use the color palette at its greatest, resulting in some very impressive-looking backgrounds.
Sealed Evil in a Can: Besides the previous mention of Dark Matter, there's Dark Nebula from Kirby Squeak Squad, and Nightmare from Adventure and Nightmare in Dream Land.
A Gordo is a black orb with eyes, covered in spikes. They're invincible, and often can float (but only in patterns). They can't, however, break blocks; and the series often likes to present you with side rooms completely filled with blocks and trapped Gordos, with food and 1-ups behind them.
Sequential Boss: The worst offender is the final boss in Kirby and the Amazing Mirror, which has you fight against the second-last level's boss again but with more attacks, then the same Warlock-ish form of Dark Mind four times, with the only reason being to have a different area to fight him in and some power-ups, then a giant eye form of Dark Mind, and then a smaller version of that eye flying away, with you trying to finish it off during the credits. Although, once the credits start, you've already won, and are just playing a scored game of No Kill Like Overkill.
Shotoclone: The Fighter ability turns Kirby into one.
Shout Out: Kirby's Sword ability has him donning Link's cap, with a puffball on the tip. And he can shoot beams with it at full health, in a further Shout Out to The Legend of Zelda. In some games, the sword that comes with it looks almost exactly like the Master Sword.
Also from Amazing Mirror is the "Smash" ability, gained from swallowing the mini-boss forms of Master Hand, which gives Kirby all of his special attacks from Super Smash Brothers.
Yo-yo Kirby seems to be based off of Ness. The background for this ability even has the same background as Earthbound's first menu screen. This is because Kirby and Earthbound were both made by HAL Laboratories.
In one of the ghost levels in Kirby Mass Attack of World 4, one of the pieces of background music played is very reminiscent of the Threed section in Earthbound.
Dedede makes a shout out to another in-game character (Meta Knight) in the Revenge of The King arc in Super Star Ultra. He gets an intimidating mask and lets Kirby take a hammer at the beginning of the fight (as opposed to Meta Knight letting you have a sword), and his weapon is also significantly better than yours.
King Dedede: Now, Kirby! Arm yourself!
Said weapon, a jet-propelled hammer, was first seen in Smash Bros. Brawl.
In Revenge of the King, Kabula fires what seems to be Bullet Bills from the Super Mario Bros. series at you during your boss fight with it.
In The Great Cave Offensive game from Kirby Super Star, some of the treasures Kirby collects are items from other Nintendo series. This is including (but not limited to): Donkey Kong, Metroid, and Fire Emblem.
Also from Super Star (and Ultra), you can see Mario characters in the audience of King Dedede's wrestling ring.
Plus, occasionally when using the stone power, Kirby will turn into a gold statue of another Nintendo character. He also sometimes turns into a statue of one of the animal helpers from Dream Land 3, a reference to the Rock + Cutter ability from 64.
A mission in Kirby's Dream Land 3 has some Metroids show up. At the end of the stage, Samus Aran is there waiting for you. Another stage involves collecting the pieces of a R.O.B.
More obscure examples include Donbe and Hikari from Shin Onigashima and Goku and Chao from Yuuyuuki, both being adventure games for the Famicom Disk System.
There's an enemy in several Kirby games that is a witch with a hair ribbon riding around on a broom. Her name is Keke, a reference to Kiki's Delivery Service.
"Kirby Master" is a sub-game in Kirby Mass Attack featuring a logo and menu design similar to that of a certain RPG produced by HAL, featuring music from the Kirby series' two senior sound composers.
Single Stroke Battle: Parodied in the "Samurai Kirby" minigame in Kirby Super Star and the Quick Draw minigame in Adventure and Nightmare in Dream Land.
Spell My Name with an S: Kaboola/Kabula, Mr. Frosty/Mr. Flosty, Combo Cannon/Main Cannon #2, Aqualiss/Aquarius, Cavios/Cavius, Mecheye/Mekkai, Iron Mam/Iron Mom. There's also some confusion on whether or not Ado and Adeleine are supposed to be the same person.
Is it Meta Knight, Meta-Knight or MetaKnight? The most-often-used spelling in the games is Meta Knight, but his trophy in Super Smash Bros. Brawl calls him Meta-Knight. And of course, it's written as one word (Metanaito) in Japanese, since the Japanese language doesn't use spaces.
Super Star: The "hyper candy" or "invincibility lollipop" item.
Surprise Creepy: In a series where almost everything is cutesy, the final bosses will catch you off guard.
Scarfies.
Suspicious Videogame Generosity: In many modes in Kirby Super Star, you'll know you're about to hit a boss room when you reach a single room with nothing but Copy abilities and a Maxim Tomato.
This Cannot Be!: Captain Vul says this in Kirby Super Star Ultra when he reacts to his fellow crew members reporting that Kirby destroyed Main Cannon #2. In the original Super Star, his reaction? "Holy cow! What happened?"
Mace Knight: The main cannon has been destroyed! Captain Vul: Holy cow! What happened?
Meta Knight again in his version of Milky Way Wishes, for wishing to unleash the most powerful warrior in the universe, locked away specifically because people were afraid of it, just so he can kick its ass to prove he's stronger. Then again, if he weren't such an overconfident, arrogant badass, he wouldn't be Meta Knight. And he did win.
Kirby falls for the "help me take over the world!" scheme again in Return to Dream Land.
Took a Level in Badass: King Dedede in his "Masked Dedede" incarnation in Kirby Super Star Ultra. It shows in the difficulty level of the fight as well.
Everything about the normal King Dedede fight took a level in badass. His appearance, his weapon, his attacks...
Transformation Sequence: Every time Kirby absorbs a monster with a special power. Averted in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. More elaborate in the anime.
Trash Talk: In Kirby's Avalanche, where he is shown to speak full sentences, Kirby loves insulting whatever opponent he is facing, sometimes throwing incredibly lame puns in the mix.
Kirby: You couldn't even hit a barn-sized lightning rod, Kracko!
The last normal stage of Milky Way Wishes (from Super Star and Ultra) is a side-scrolling shooter, as are the boss fights against Kabula in Kirby's Dream Land (and the Revenge of the King segment of Super Star Ultra), the first form of Nightmare in Adventure, Dark Matter and Zero in Dreamland 3, and Zero2 in Crystal Shards.
The final boss of Amazing Mirror is fought in a vertical Shmup style during the credits.
Kirby's Epic Yarn features two levels that are partly shmups, and two levels that are fully shmup.
Kirby Mass Attack features a sub-game called SHMUP. Guess what the gameplay format is?
Vaporware: Kirby, with the addition of a pink, curly hair on his head, was originally supposed to star in a Spinoff Babies game, Kid Kirby, for the SNES; it was never finished, and all that remains of the game now are a few sprites and one stage layout.
Air Ride began on the Nintendo 64 and was scheduled for a late 1996 release. It went through years of delays until it was quietly cancelled in 1998. It caught the public by surprise when a Gamecube version was announced in 2003.
When the Nintendo 64 was in development and still called the Ultra 64, one title in development was Kirby Bowl 64 — Kirby Bowl being the Japanese name for Kirby's Dream Course. The snowboarding mode it featured likely led to Kirby's Air Ride as described above.
Also, Kirby's Tilt 'n' Tumble 2 for the GameCube, using the Game Boy Advance and cable to control the same way as the original title.
Victory Cake: Kirby can be seen snacking on foods in celebration at the end of some games (and at the end of every stage in others).
Literal Victory Cake at the very end of Squeak Squad, as a gift/apology from the Squeaks.
Video Game Flight: Kirby is one of the few characters who can generally fly anywhere, any time. Don't think you can just fly over everything, though - there are enemies in the skies, and some levels are pretty tight. A few games also have a time limit on how long you can fly, namely Crystal Shards and the Smash Bros. games.
Video Game Remake: Super Star Ultra. Also, the Spring Breeze mode of Super Star is a condensed remake of the original Kirby's Dream Land, while Revenge of the King in Super Star Ultra is a somewhat more faithful remake of the original game's hard mode.
Nightmare in Dreamland, which is a remake of Kirby's Adventure.
Visible Sigh: Whenever Kirby's flight ability is canceled, either manually or automatically by touching the ground. You can hurt enemies with the puff it makes.
Visual Pun: Tacs are cats with the ability to steal your current power-up. They're cat burglars.
Walking Head: Kirby, Meta Knight, and most of the enemies are nothing more than heads with feet & arms attached.
Inverted with the Mirra from Amazing Mirror: it resembles a mirror (which are functionally identical to doors in the game), but won't attack when you draw near it, and in fact will actually escape if you don't kill it quickly enough - which you want to do, since it will leave an actual mirror behind.
Warm Up Boss: Whispy Woods in every game, with the exception of Amazing Mirror which has an expy in King Golem.
He and those in his likeness manage to put up a surprisingly good fight in a few games.
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