Kirby's Epic Yarn is an entry in the Kirby series, released on October 2010 for the Nintendo Wii. Bearing much in common with a commercial for Kirby's Adventure from almost two decades ago, the game's overall design is vastly different from Kirby's other appearances. The animation style is meant to look like everything is a yarn outline with minor details such as facial features. The layout of the worlds and levels is scrapbook-like, with simple pieces of fabric such as cloth and felt. Many of the enemies are also made up of cloth, felt, and pipe cleaners.Another key feature in the game is that Kirby has lost the ability to inhale, as the air goes right through his new body. Instead, Kirby can create a whip-like object using yarn that he uses to wrap around enemies. The enemy will turn into a ball of yarn which Kirby can carry and throw at other enemies to defeat them or grab items. Kirby can also use this ability to pull down scenery such as walls to progress or scrunch up the scenery to make gaps shorter so that he can jump across them (as he can no longer puff up and float).The story kicks off when Kirby, out on a stroll, tries to chow down on a tomato. This turns out to be the head gear of Big Bad Yin-Yarn, who sucks Kirby into Patch Land. There, Kirby meets Prince Fluff, who explains that Patch Land has been broken into pieces and that the world has to be sewn back together. The two decide to work together to restore Patch Land and stop Yin-Yarn.
And Then What?: Yin-Yarn pulls this on himself at one point in the game. He really doesn't have a plan for what to do after conquering Dream Land, but he says he'll think of something.
And Your Reward is Cloth: Every time you beat one of the timed challenges back in Quilty Square, you get fabric from the resident.
Angry Eyebrows: Prince Fluff has them, but they don't prevent him from looking completely adorable.
An Interior Designer Is You: Kirby gets an apartment that you can decorate with items from shops and levels.
Art Shift: Imagine if your quilt-stitchin' Grandma was asked to design a Kirby game.
The scenes taking place in Dream Land aren't any better, with everything portrayed as choppily animated paper cutouts (Yin-Yarn is still portrayed and animated like the rest of the game, obviously).
Justified with Boom Boatyard, as Kirby is rushing straight into the heart of a pirate ship armada. If he stays in one spot, the missiles hit him. And to win the level, he has to unravel them or be unraveled himself. Therefore, the side-scrolling could be inferred as Kirby's choice, possibly showing Fridge Brilliance on the part of the developers.
Beat the Curse Out of Him: King Dedede and Meta Knight. They're justified, though, as Dedede is not so much "cursed" as "had his limbs attached to strings on a cross like a marionette", and defeating him means breaking the cross, and your goal with Meta Knight is to stun him long enough to destroy the swords that Yin-Yarn is using to control him.
Dangerously Genre Savvy: Yin-Yarn pulls an ambush on Meta Knight to capture him, as Meta Knight would shred him in a fair fight.
Dolled-Up Installment: The game started out as "Fluff's Yarn", starring a totally new character, Fluff. When the game didn't seem to be turning out very well, Nintendo suggested turning it into a Kirby game. The story appears to still hold elements of the original game, what with Prince Fluff being Kirby's partner.
Escort Mission: Carrie's minigames require you to carry her through various levels and get her to a certain spot within a time limit. Thankfully, they're only necessary if you want 100% Completion.
Foregone Victory: Pretty much every boss falls under this, due to game mechanics. Then again, the actual challenge is trying to exceed bead counts for Gold Medals, which unlocks bonus levels, by trying to obtain as much beads as possible without losing them.
For the Evulz: This really seems to be Yin-Yarn's only motivation for taking over Dream Land.
Humongous Mecha: Kirby can transform into one at certain points. In two-player mode, Prince Fluff teams up with him in this act, and together they make a Combining Mecha. Also, the final boss.
Hypocritical Heartwarming: "Hey! You can't be mean to my Waddle Dees! Only I can be mean to my Waddle Dees!"
Idle Animation: Kirby jumps rope with his whip (which is also part of his body).
If you go to the roof of the apartment building, crouching causes Kirby to sit and eventually fall asleep.
Interface Spoiler: The menu for choosing your furniture has silhouettes of all of the items you haven't gotten yet.
Last Lousy Point: So you bought out the shops and finished all of the minigames, yet you're still missing five fabrics. When the apartment tenants say they've come over to play, it means you can find them in Kirby's Pad. Each gives a personalized fabric if you've completed all of that tenant's minigames. Becomes Search The Freaking Forums on the GameFAQs/GameSpot boards due to the number and frequency of topics asking this.
Lens Flare: A tongue-in-cheek example is seen in beach levels, made of white yarn and what appears to be dryer sheets.
Lighter and Softer: Perhaps the lightest and softest of all Kirby games.No Eldritch Abomination taking over the world, cutesy setting...even King Dedede's routinely Demonic Possession is done with nothing more than marionette strings.
Mini-Boss: None other than Whispy Woods and Kracko themselves. And there are three Bonus Mini Bosses: Space Kracko, Main Cannon #2/Combo Cannon, and the Reactor.
Monstrosity Equals Weakness: Fangora is a fearsome dragon and one of the largest bosses in the game... and it's also the first boss (and thus the easiest).
Painting The Medium: The fight with Squashini is presented as a magic show, with yarn Waddle-Dees sitting in the "audience" with their backs to the Fourth Wall. They also give away Squashini's secret during the hat trick.
Recurring Riff: Many previous songs in the franchise were remixed in this game. In addition, the majority of songs unique to this game have a distinctive 12-note melody.
For older works, there's a Shout Out to Jack And The Beanstalk in the first world.
Squash + Harry Houdini = Squashini.
The boss of Space Land, Meta Knight, uses four different swords (though not all at once). Their colors? Green, blue, purple, and red.
Blub-Blub Ocean introduces the Dolphin transformation, which has the same controls and gameplay style as Ecco The Dolphin. It even has the same "Swimming through water paths in the sky" gimmick.
The title screen is a shout-out to the NES era*
especially first generation NES games
(and parts of the Super NES era), in which you choose between "1 Player" or "2 Players".
Sleep Cute: Fountain Gardens has two sleepy Waddle Dees right before the Tankbot section, with a red bead heart floating above them. Whether you let them be or unravel them mercilessly is up to you.
Smart Bomb: Kirby's saucer transformation can do that after capturing enough objects.
Spiritual Successor: Arguably, to Yoshis Island — both games have a unique visual presentation, and their respective protagonists make use of a long, thin object (the yarn whip in Epic Yarn and Yoshi's tongue in Island) to create projectiles as well as transform with the help of special bubbles.
Fangora: If he never stuck his tongue out, you couldn't grab it.
Hot Wings: If it never shot flaming birds at you, you wouldn't have anything to stun him with.
King Dedede: If he never belly-flopped at you, you'd never get a chance to stomp him.
You can also stun him with the stars he creates from his hammer attack. Apparently he still hasn't learnt anything since 1992.
Meta Knight: If he never shot projectiles, you wouldn't have anything to throw at him.
Yin-Yarn: If he didn't spawn smaller enemies, you couldn't hit him. Averted with his second form, which would haven been invulnerable if Meta Knight hadn't shown up.
Tube Travel: In a few levels, Kirby unravels into a single, long piece of yarn and travels through tight spaces. You can control moving forward and backwards, as well as move left or right when the path branches off.