WMG / Kirby: Planet Robobot

Pre-Release

amiibo Characters and Their Powers

With the few confirmations of what abilities the amiibo will give Kirby, let's see if we can guess some other amiibo abilities.

• Dr. Mario - the new Doctor ability - Confirmed.
• R.O.B. - Laser ability - Jossed, it gives Beam.
• Sheik/Greninja - Ninja ability - Confirmed for both.
  • Alternatively, Greninja - Water ability - Jossed.
• Pit/Dark Pit - Cupid ability
  • Alternatively, Pit/Dark Pit - Archer ability - Confirmed for both.
• Pikachu (and maybe Robin) - Spark ability - Confirmed for both.
• Meta Knight (Super Smash Bros. series) - Sword ability (no costume)
• King Dedede (Super Smash Bros. series) - Hammer ability (no costume)
  • Jossed; they don't give out the special costumes, but instead they change◊ Kirby's color◊.
• Lucario/Ryu - Fighter ability - Confirmed for Lucario, but Ryu gives a random ability, as do all other third-party amiibo.
  • Additionally, perhaps Duck Hunt. Why? Because the last time Kirby encountered a dog, the dog gave him the Fighter ability.
  • Duck Hunt gives the Archer ability.
• Ness/Lucas/Mewtwo - ESP ability - Confirmed for all three.
  • Alternatively, Ness - Yo-Yo Ability - Jossed
• Peach - Parasol Ability - Confirmed.
• Sonic - Wheel ability - Jossed, Sonic gives a random ability, as with other third-party amiibo.
• Jigglypuff - Sleep ability - Jossed, it gives Mike.
• Zero Suit Samus/Chibi-Robo - Whip Ability
  • Confirmed for Zero Suit Samus. Jossed for Chibi-Robo, who gives the Spark ability instead.
• Wario - Poison ability, obviously - Jossed, he gives the Wheel ability.
• Bowser Jr. - Wheel ability - Jossed, he gives the Bomb ability.

News got out that more Super Mario series amiibos are coming November 4th. We know Donkey Kong gives Fighter, Diddy Kong gives Bomb, Rosalina gives Ice, and Wario gives Wheel. But what will the others give you? Let's see if we can figure it out...

• Daisy will give Leaf, because of the daisies on her dress and earrings.
• Waluigi will give Circus, because he's such a joke.
• And Boo will give ESP. Since the Ghost ability isn't here, this seems like the closest thing we will get to an ability "spooky" enough to fit Boo.
  • Jossed. The game hasn't been updated to recognize the specific characters, so they give random ablilites.

Continuing from the three entries above. Now that there are a lot of amiibo after the release of Planet Robobot. We can have a little fun with amiibo characters (including 3rd party) and what would be their Copy Ability (note that only the abilities from Planet Robobot only). Potentially implemented in a future Kirby game.

• Callie/Marie/Pearl/Marina - Mike, because they're are idol singers.
• Pikmin - Leaf
• Roy/Cloud/Corrin/Alm/Celica/Chrom/Solaire of Astora/Young Link/Chrom - Sword
• Bayonetta - Poison
• Snake - Bomb, because Kirby's copy ability in Smash Bros. was throwing a grenade.
• Ice Climbers - Ice
• Pichu - Spark
• Ivysaur - Leaf, or alternatively Whip.
• Wolf - Jet, same as Fox and Falco.
• Ridley - Fire, from his neutral special in Smash Bros. Ultimate.
• Guardian - Beam, because it shoots lasers (and Laser ability not in the game).
• Daruk - Stone
• Revalli - Archer
• Urbosa - Spark, because Urbosa gave Link "Urbosa's Fury", which allows Link to send an electrical radius to stun enemies.
• Metroid - Spark, because it sends out bolts of electricity. Alternatively Poison, because it spit corrosive ooze.
• Octoling Boy/Girl/Octopus - Poison, same as Inkling Boy/Girl/Squid.
• Simon/Richter - Whip
• Dark Samus - Same as Samus (Bomb), or Poison.
• King K. Rool - Cutter, because his crown as a Battle Boomerang.

The final boss will involve the Halberd turning into a giant mecha.

Meta Knight AND the Halberd are in this after being absent in Triple Deluxe so it only makes sense they would play a bigger part. Plus "Meta Knightmare Returns" is in this game.

• Yes and no. The Halberd is instead copied by Kirby's mech for the unexpected shmup final battle.

Plot and aftergame content

Susie will play Kirby like a fiddle and pretend to be a helpful character similar to Ribbon but desires something that he would have to collect, like the sun stones from Triple Deluxe, instead they'll be energy gears. Meta Knight's ship would likely be out of commission until it's absolutely needed, like a final boss or some ultimate power. also an analogue to Magolor from Return to Dream Land

• Energy gears has already been done. They should go with something else.
• Jossed. According to new magazine scans, Susie is the main villain outright.
  • Actually, she's the secondary villain. The Final Boss is Star Dream, not Susie.
• Also confirmed are not energy gears, but rather, Code Cubes. Which are used to access boss and extra levels, similarly to the Sun Stones from Triple Deluxe.

Meta Knightmare Returns would feature Meta Knight, with the usual improved bosses.

• Except who would be a reasonable superboss for the mode? Why not Nova from Kirby Super Star? In Super Star Ultra, it was able to pull Galacta Knight from space-time as the most powerful warrior in the universe, so why wouldn't Nova be the most powerful? Or did he just grant Meta Knight's wish the way he worded it when he said warrior rather than being? It's possible that Nova simply doesn't acknowledge himself as either a warrior or someone who's powerful/sapient. The Ultimate Boss Arena would probably pull a Jason X with Marx, reforging his spiritual remnants as a crazed cyborg with parts of Nova and whatever collectibles from the main adventure, calling his new form Galactic/Mecha Marx Soul.
  • Probably helps that Marx did die after Super Star. But in Super Star Ultra, he was fine, since you had to fully beat the game to watch the blooper reel, making Marx Soul's canon debatable at best, there's probably remnants of his body floating in the depths of space and there are still fragments of Nova still floating around after Marx's defeat. barring throwbacks like Kirby: Triple Deluxe having Dedede fighting and defeating Dark Meta Knight and smashing the Amazing Mirror.

:Speaking of which, Nova's condition is debatable if you're taking Galacta Knight into account, but not Marx Soul. Originally, when Kirby summoned him, he simply fell into frame (Original) or teleported in front of him (Deluxe). Marx's body absorbed the fragments of Nova to be a mindless soul-consumed enemy (series tradition), but since Nova was damaged when he was reformed by Meta Knight and wasn't destroyed after the fight with Galacta Knight — this would mean that Marx Soul cannot feasibly exist, though the interesting thing is that Nova came back with the damage that Kirby did when he tried to prevent it from crash-landing into Popstar. Would Nova malfunctioning be interesting as a plot hook?

• Sorta jossed. Susie isn't helping Kirby in this game, so she's more of a role that Taranza plays than Magalor.

• From footages of leaked copies of the game, guess who's back? Nova is inside the giant metal sphere all this time!
  • It's not just Nova that returns. At the end of Meta Knightmare Returns, Star Dream thinks Meta Knight is the new admin, and decides to test him by summoning clones of both Dark Matter and Queen Sectonia before finally summoning none other than Galacta Knight himself, who immediately cleaves Star Dream in two then faces Meta Knight.

Susie is similar to Taranza, that she's going to be the onscreen antagonist for the most part, but ends up being betrayed/blackmailed by the true villain, so she ends up helping Kirby at the end

• According to this screenshot at least, she doesn't help Kirby◊.
  • Here's an idea: Maybe she will meet Kirby at the beginning of the game, pretending to have made a Heel–Face Turn to help Kirby defeat Haltmann Co. But then, it turns out that she was actually The Mole, helping Haltmann the whole time by luring Kirby into a trap. Alternatively, what if she turns out to be a bigger threat than Haltmann Co?
  • Sorta confirmed. Susie stabs President Haltmann in the back right when he's about to use the Star Dream, only for the computer itself to take over Haltmann and stop Susie from using it, and then it decides to destroy all lifeforms. Susie then summons a Robobot Armor for Kirby, pleading for him to stop Star Dream before it's too late.

King Dedede will be forced to fight Kirby again

In addition, Kirby will have to go through mechanized Castle Dedede. Similarly, Kirby will have to go through a (even more mechanized) Halberd and fight Meta Knight, who will be possessed by the aliens

• Semi-Confirmed, new magazine scans as of April 13 show a Mecha-Meta Knight looking robot, as well as a mechanised Dedede.
  • Confirmed for Meta Knight, who's turned into an android called Mecha Knight by the aliens, but Jossed for the mechanized Castle Dedede and Halberd. The closest you come to fighting Dedede is a Haltmann Works-produced clone.

The collectibles in this game will be destructibles instead

You have to destroy all the generators the aliens are putting down on Popstar to return it to normal. Once again. the final boss can't be accessed until you do so, similar to the Dark Matter Trilogy.

• In effect, zig-zagged. To reach the last world, Kirby does have to destroy the legs of the Access Ark... But to get to them, he has to get code cubs to unlock the Boss stages to reach them.

The HR-D3 will show up at one point in this adventure

Good idea! What better place for it to reappear?

• Jossed.

And maybe even HR-H from Kirby 64

Very likely, especially with Factory Investigation^note HR-H homeworld's famous theme confirmed to be part of the game's soundtrack.

• Jossed.

World name acronyms

In the recent Kirby games, the first letter of each world forms a word that relates to the final boss. For example, in Triple Deluxe, it's "F-L-O-W-E-R", which refers to Queen Sectonia fusing with the Dreamstalk and becoming a giant flower. What do you think the acronym for this game will be?

• R-O-B-O-T: Seems like a logical choice.
• R-O-B-O-B-O-T: Even more fitting, though it would be hard to come up with 3 unique O names and 2 unique B names.
• R-O-B-O-T-I-C: This could also work. Same amount of letters as the above, but could be easier to come up with names.
• P-O-W-E-R: Not only does it rhyme with "FLOWER", and not only does it sound cool, but it could refer to both strength and electrical energy, which would be extremely fitting for this game.
• M-E-T-A-L or M-E-T-A-L-L-I-C: Not only does this refer to everything being turned into machines, but it could also mean that we get heavy metal music for the final boss! Wouldn't that be awesome?
• Turns out it's P-R-O-G-R-A-M.

There will be a Shout-Out or Take That! to Five Nights at Freddy's

Considering how popular the game has gotten recently, it would be fitting. Perhaps there could be an animatronic character as a boss or miniboss. As a little callback to Triple Deluxe's Circus of Fear level, maybe this character will be introduced in a haunted Suck E. Cheese's level.

• Jossed.

This game will have one of the most terrifying characters that the Kirby franchise has seen in years.

What with all the machines, and the fear of losing your home and friends, there are a lot of possibilities for horror. If the developers are feeling bold, they might take advantage of this and create a character — probably a boss — just as disturbing as 02. Let's face it — although some games are still fairly dark, it seems like the franchise has softened up a bit nowadays. This seems like a good chance to get really dark again. If the above theory is true, then it will probably be the animatronic character.

• Arguably confirmed, but not by appearance like 02. Deleting souls is pretty nightmarish
  • I don't know. Star Dream is absolutely disturbing, but I, the OP, was hoping that it would gain a reputation as infamous as 02, which doesn't seem to have happened — yet, at least.

The final boss will be scary — but in a different way than usual.

Instead of being a giant, raging Eldritch Abomination, it will be a robot who falls deep into the Uncanny Valley (intentionally, both in-universe and out). May or may not be the same character mentioned in the above 2 theories.

• Maybe it will spend a lot of time staring right at the player, have eerily calm battle music (or no music at all), and/or have a creepy childlike giggle.
  • Sorta confirmed? The final boss, which resembles the Galactic Nova from Kirby Super Star, spends a lot of time staring right at the screen, though whether it falls into the uncanny valley comes down to opinion.
  • OP here, to say that I for one think this is confirmed. The battle music really is eerily calm, and Nova's eyes are creepy as well. In fact, they even look like animatronic eyes, so that's close to confirming my theory about a Five Nights at Freddy's reference (though it probably wasn't an intentional reference, so that theory is still jossed). Actually, it's kind of a combination of the usual "giant raging Eldritch Abomination" and an Uncanny Valley robot.

Escargoon will show up at one point in the game.

This might be a stretch, but Kirby Mass Attack did give him a cameo in a certain sub-game, and considering he was a Mad Scientist in the anime, it would fit the robotic theme of the game. He might even be the mastermind behind everything, who knows?

• If he does appear, I'm kind of hoping that he'll just be a lackey for Haltmann Works Co. who makes a Heel–Face Turn, though it would be awesome if he was the Big Bad. If this happens, maybe he's seeking revenge against King Dedede for firing him? (Or whatever Dedede did to get rid of him.)
• Jossed.

So will Customer Service.

After Nightmare Enterprises went under, maybe he got a new job at Haltmann Works. He'll likely be seeking revenge on the heroes too. What if the explosion of NME's headquarters injured him so badly that he had to get a new robot body? What if Kirby gets to fight him in this game?

• Jossed.

So will Captain Vul

It kinda feels like They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character in his case. This guy needs a comeback, and it would be great if he Took a Level in Badass!

• Jossed.

The game will draw somewhat, if not heavily, from Super Smash Bros For Nintendo 3 DS Wii U.

Aside from the obvious Smash Bros. ability, Metaknight's Smash-inspired redesign, and the usage of the amiibo, there's also the fact that in the brief footage of Team Kirby Clash, The Hammer Lord uses what looks to be a chargeable Hammer Flip, like how Kirby's Side-B and King Dedede's Down-B worked in Smash. Whether this extends to the ability in the maingame is yet to be seen, however.

• Confirmed for some abiltiies, such as ESP, Doctor, and Smash Bros. ESP is based off of Ness' moveset and not just his hat, Doctor is the same as ESP is to Ness as Doctor is to Dr Mario, and Smash Bros. has a guard animation with the Smash Bros' spherical block shield.
• Also One of Meta Knight's powers in Meta Knightmare is Galaxia Darkness, his Final Smash.

The Robobot Armor only gains its Copy Ability powers because Kirby is riding it.

Think about it. In Dream Land 2 and 3, the Animal Friends got the Copy Ability when Kirby was riding on them. The Invader Armors also don't seem to be able to copy abilities, so the only real explanation is that Kirby is imbuing the mech with his own power. This also explains why it's so much more powerful than Kirby normally is despite being a quickly-hacked version of a mass-produced mech — Kirby's power is flowing into it, and the same power that makes Kirby so much stronger than your average puffball is being infused into an already-strong mech.

• Seems to be confirmed: on the instruction panel on the final form of the Star Dream, it realizes that the Robobot Armor that Kirby is riding on has far too much power for a normal Invader Armor, and identifies Kirby's unlimited power as a threat... and can't figure out the probability of defeating him. Keep in mind, this is an AI which deemed organic lifeforms incomplete and weak and tried to destroy all of them, and it's scared of a single pink puffball driving its own creation.
• Fully Confirmed thanks to this following quote when pausing the game:
  This mysterious mech produces different powers depending on its pilot. Kirby's Copy Ability power has transformed it into a shape-shifting copy robot!

By the end of the game...

President Haltmann survives his final fight with Kirby, and, to make up for his What Happened to the Mouse? status, will undergo a Heel–Face Turn in his next appearance, much like Magolor.

• Seemingly jossed. His soul is deleted and his mind is fused with Star Dream. His body is inside Star Dream when Kirby drills through it and blows it up. However, in the Star Dream.Soul OS fight, the pause screen is him regretting activating Star Dream, meaning he could be still alive somewhere in there.
  • Completely jossed. The very final pause screen text for Star Dream Soul OS confirms that Haltmann has been completely deleted by that point.

Pause Screen: "All of Haltmann's memories have been deleted from the OS. Even his soul—the last trace of Haltmann—has vanished. Star Dream has gone from a near-perfect being to a cold, mindless machine."

Post-Release

Haltmann Works originates from (or at least visited) Halcandra. Also, Magolor has some connection to them.

The main grunts of HWC look very similar to the enemies that replaced Waddle Dees in the Halcandra stages of Return to Dreamland. Egg Engines, an area from the same game, was an heavy mechanized industrial area, similar to what HWC may have built. There are midbosses in Robobot that look and fight exactly like the Metal General boss from the same area. Additionally, Dubior, the only one that was really in Halcondra, returns in its original shape. Also, Magolor shares some similarities with Susie and Pres. Haltmann. If they didn't come from Halcandra, then I have a feeling that they may have built Egg Engines as both a weapons factory and a base there.

Magolor could have been working for Haltmann and may have been assigned to Halcandra to look for ancient technology. Given how the Holo-Defense API is based of Pix from 64 and how their main ship is a rebuilt Nova, it would seem that Haltmann has a great interest in that sort of stuff. However, after finding the Lor and learning about the Master Crown, Magolor may have ditched Haltmann Works in order to keep it all to himself.

Degouts from Kirby: Return to Dreamland are actually Haltmann Data Collectors

Degout, the Halcandra version of Scarfy and Mumbies, exclusive to Halcandra itself (although you can find them on Popstar in EX mode), for some reasons, can be found in Triple Deluxe. Supporting the above WMG about Haltmann and Halcandra's relationship, these Degouts may be the very reason that Haltmann got the data about Coily Rattler and Queen Sectonia's DNA. Not to mention they also appear in this game.

The HR in previous robot boss names (HR-E, HR-D3) stands for Haltmann Robotics.

• But this game specifically refers to the corporation as "Haltmann Works". Still an interesting theory, though. Maybe President Haltmann simply changed the name of his company? Maybe he intentionally used the wrong name and initials for some reason?
• Perhaps the name change happened when they added nanogenetics and cloning to their repetoire? Or Haltmann Robotics is simply a subdivision of Haltmann Works.

Dark Matter couldn't take its true form because Star Dream mixed DNA

The Dark Matter in Dream Land 2 had purple petal things, a completely dark eye and plica semilunaris, and wasn't round, more Gooey-shaped. Many people simply wrote off Dark Matter in Dream Land 3 as a redesign, but I personally believe they're different in some way. The Dark Matter Blade in Planet Robobot had orange petals. Perhaps the clone was imperfect as a result of Star Dream mixing the DNA of different species of Dark Matter?

• It's mentioned in-game that Dark Matter couldn't take its true form because of incomplete data on Dark Matter itself. This would also explain why the same projectiles that could only be deflected by the Rainbow Sword can now be deflected with a simple slide.

Zero is alive.

Zero's death at the end of Kirby 64 was implied to wipe out all the Dark Matter in the universe. However, the Japanese version of the game mentions that the Dark Matter clone was created from some 'dark substance' in storage. Add to that the fact that a rogue form of it survived in Dark Nebula, and our favorite, blood-crying eyeball may still be around. Just in time for the 25th anniversary...

• It's worth mentioning that Kirby Triple Deluxe fell on the tenth anniversary of Kirby and the Amazing Mirror and this game fell on the twentieth anniversary of Kirby's Dreamland 2 and Kirby Super Star. Next year just so happens to be the twentieth anniversary of Kirby's Dreamland 3...
  • Seemingly confirmed, as the villain in Kirby: Star Allies, Void, contains several nods to Zero, even mimicking his color palette in his final form.
• Look at Star Dream. Now look at Zero 2. Notice any resemblance?
  • Actually, Star Dream was built from the likes of Galactic Nova, so it's unlikely.
  • Making the assumption that the two are unrelated, yes. Star Dream was built to be a wish-granting computer, similar to Nova being a wish-granting comet. This would be the perfect lure for tricking someone like Haltmann into bringing Zero Back from the Dead... and Star Dream has been shown to have the same kind of corruptive influence as Zero (albeit with the Evil Is Visceral elements removed). Of course, it could just be an example of As Long as There Is Evil...

The real reason for what the Robobot Armor did at the end

At the end, in a scene similar to Big Hero 6, Kirby is sitting, unconscious, in the Robobot Armor as they float in space amongst the debris of Star Dream. The Robobot Armor then pulls Kirby out of the seat and gently tosses him so that he'll float back to Pop Star. The Armor, however, continues to float away. What if it sacrificed itself like this not because it didn't have the ability to fly down to Pop Star, but because it thought it didn't belong there, in a no-longer-mechanized world? Hopefully in a future installment, Kirby will find the Robobot Armor and convince it to join him and his friends.

• Could you imagine the Robobot Armor being in a direct sequel/follow-up to Kirby Air Ride? Just think of the possibilities!
  • Then again, Air Ride actually has mixed reception, it's highly unlikely that we're ever going to get a sequel. And how is this related to the Robobot Armor surviving?

Kirby possesses Spiral Power

It explains whys he's able to defeat the Final Boss by drilling through it.

The Star Dream Accident involved Susie getting sucked into Another Dimension

The Holo-Doomers 2.0 description states that Susie witnessed these creatures herself. When Star Dream summons Galacta Knight, the portal it opens looks very similar to the star portals that Kirby and Co jumped into in Return to Dreamland after Kirby took care of business with the Super Abilities. Perhaps the accident sucked Susie inside and it got her traumatized.

Star Dream was always the Big Bad

Prior to fighting it, Star Dream states: "Through...this organic body... I have studied...all forms of life." When you think about it, this implies that Star Dream was using President Haltmann as a puppet. If you look on the right side of his head, you can see an antennae attached to it. My theory goes that Star Dream actually assimilated Haltmann prior to the game and was using his company to complete its development. This makes Star Dream The Man Behind the Man instead of The Starscream.

• The "assimilating Haltmann thing" might've been part of President Haltmann being the admin of Star Dream, actually.
  • That last pun, though. Fridge Brilliance to the max.

Susie's betrayal was mistreatment-induced

After Star Dream absorbs Haltmann and takes off to eradicate all life, Susie states that all she wanted to do was "Teach the old man [Haltmann] a lesson". She is never given a motivation for this, but it does suggest that she bears some kind of grudge against him.

• Sort of confirmed, though the "mistreatment" part wasn't really intentional on Haltmann's part, and it involves more than just Susie's secretarial position — she's actually his missing, long-since-forgotten daughter.

Haltmann constructed the Access Ark from the remains of NOVA.

Hence why, when you blow off its armor, you see his face.

DLC

Just like with Kirby: Triple Deluxe, there will be standalone Nintendo eShop software (and maybe even full games) of the two sub-games of Planet Robobot. They will be called Kirby 3D Rumble 2.0 and Team Kirby Clash 2.0. And Susie will be the Final Boss of one of those games, to carry out her next move that she was apparently planning in the ending.

• In Triple Deluxe, King Dedede was captured by the bad guys, brainwashed to fight Kirby, helps him save the day once he's freed from their control, and gets his own adventure mode where he takes on newer and much tougher enemies and bosses. Because Meta Knight takes the exact same role in this game, and Dedede is the final boss of Kirby Fighters Deluxe, it's safe to assume that the final boss of Team Kirby Clash 2.0 will be Meta Knight. After all, both Kirby Fighters and Team Kirby Clash involve battling colored Kirbies, and both sub-games each have a remix of the boss theme from Super Star in their title screens...
  • Adding to this theory, similar to how Dedede sent miniature versions of himself after you, maybe the Meta-Knights will come back to fill the role of Team DDD. This would also be the perfect opportunity to bring back Captain Vul, Sailor Waddle Dee, Heavy Lobster, or all of the above.
• Confirmed for the first sentence. However, almost everything about this WMG is Jossed. The titles will be called Kirby's Blowout Blast and Team Kirby Clash Deluxe, respectively, with the latter being released first.
• Further Jossed, the final boss of Team Kirby Clash Deluxe is not Meta Knight, but King D-Mind, a fusion of Shadow Dedede from Triple Deluxe and Dark Mind from Amazing Mirror. Susie herself doesn't appear as a boss, too. However, there is another Susie from an alternate dimension, called Parallel Susie, who appears as a later boss. Also, none of the Meta-Knights are present. Though at least Sailor Waddle Dee returns as one of the citizens of the Dream Kingdom.
• Now that Kirby's Blowout Blast has been released, I think it's safe to say that this is completely Jossed (save for the first sentence). The final boss of that game is not Susie, but instead, a giant King Dedede. As shown in the video I linked above. Also, the secret Extra boss is again, not the pink-haired cutie we know and love, but... you guessed it, a giant Masked Dedede.

The Nostalgia Games

Okay, this is a little complex and meta, so bare with me. Since Kirbys Return To Dreamland, there have been three Kirby games: Kirby: Triple Deluxe, Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, and this game. The theory/guess is that these three games, and possibly Return to Dreamland, are part of a series celebrating and deliberately referencing past Kirby games. While this may seem obvious, it's possible the connection goes deeper than it seems, especially with the latest three. Specifically, an intentional trilogy of games. For some evidence:

• All three games have overarching antagonists specifically linked to past games: a mirror linked to a shadowy other dimension, a magical entity with the power to transform landscapes through color, and a star-like mechanical entity with a face that grants wishes.
• Each game was released on the aniversary of the game they reference: Triple Deluxe and Rainbow Curse on the tenth aniversary, and Planet Robobot on the twentieth.
• Each game has been A Day in the Spotlight for one of the multiplayer characters from Return to Dreamland: Triple Deluxe for Deedeedee, Rainbow Curse for Bandana Waddle Dee, and Planet Robobot for Meta Knight. ^note  Additionally, the two characters who aren't in the spotlight are Demoted to Extra: either playing support roles, having doppelgängers appear, or being brought in by amiibo.
• All three games feature antagonists who are more sympathetic than first appears: Taranza and Sectonia in Triple Deluxe, Claycia in Rainbow Curse, and Susie and Haltmann in Planet Robobot.
• The games have all had possible alternate player characters: specifically, the one mentioned as having A Day in the Spotlight.

The "comic" stickers are a shout out to Jack Kirby.

Firstly, there are both manga and comic depictions of Kirby and friends in the game's stickers. This means that HAL is aware and acknowledge that both Japanese and American comics are different by at least artistic merit, and since Jack Kirby is arguably one of the most famous American comic book artist/writers, chances are they have heard of him. Secondly, the comic styled stickers have shading very close to Jack Kirby’s style of shading. Finally, Jack Kirby's surname is also Kirby's name despite the two having no connections.

Kirby is still in Cyberspace.

At the beginning level 6-4, Kirby goes through some kind of portal into a surreal dimension. However, we never really see him leave. The next level starts in the same place, and the boss level opens with a long elevator ride up to Haltmann's office, where the walls flicker like television static, briefly show the same background as the two Cyberspace levels just before, then turn a generally more sinister color.

Kirby never escaped Cyberspace. The fights with Mecha Knight+, Haltmann, and Star Dream were all just distractions to keep him from stopping Haltmann's plans. This would also explain why Star Dream constantly changes size during the boss fight, and how Meta Knight was somehow able to remove all of his "improvements" and fix up the Halberd while Kirby was fighting Haltmann.

That "well-deserved nap" Kirby's taking during Meta-knightmare Returns? That's a nice way of saying he's trapped in a simulation that was probably created by Star Dream until someone can hack him out.

• If this were true, then Meta Knight would have to be stuck the same way, since he went through the same levels Kirby did. Although, there's no reason to assume that the portal that led him to Haltmann's office wouldn't have counted as an exit.
  • Actually, Miiverse confirmed that Meta Knightmare Returns is a "what-if scenario", therefore it isn't canon. Only the main modes are canon; as the Extra Games and Arenas are non-canon to the main storyline.

The Robobot is an extension of the Helper

Because Kirby can't quite get a copy ability from it, he tries an experimental sort of thing with the Invader Armor once he sees only the pilot was beaten. He hops in and tries to imprint the Helper from Kirby Super Star onto it to replicate Wheelie Rider, only for it to go so much better than Kirby initially intended. The armor and the Helper's influence combine to create a sapient machine capable of replicating Kirby's copy abilities on the fly. It can also explain why the ending plays out the way it does.

President Haltmann is somehow related to Redmond and Blutarch.

His last name ends in "mann". Maybe he's Gray's son, considering his company's emphasis on robotics.

The Haltmann Works Company is the game-universe equivalent of Nightmare Enterprises.

The games and show aren't just separate canons; They're alternate universes. In one, Nightmare escaped into the real world and disguised his chaotic plans as a completely legitimate company providing Monsters of the Week. In the other, King Dedede and Kirby stopped Nightmare from ever escaping. And then, without competition, a smaller family business was able to soar to prominence.

The flavor texts for all the abilities and bosses are data files from the Haltmann Works Company.

They're much more technical than the flavor texts from previous Kirby games, almost like scientific documents; the descriptions for the Holo defense and the bosses it summons are a good example.

Both The Arena and The True Arena in this game was a bad dream Kirby was having.

I'll throw this one in anyway, considering the canonicity. The flavor text for Meta Knightmare Returns states that Kirby is currently napping while Meta Knight does his job. In my opinion, while Kirby's sleeping, he begins to dream about the events of the game along with his previous boss encounters (Dark Matter, Queen Sectonia, and Galacta Knight) as cloned boss fights (save for the latter). Star Dream Soul OS may actually be a figment of the puffball's mind, as Kirby might've thought that Star Dream would return and destroy him, despite finishing it off in the main storyline. Meanwhile, in the real world, Galacta Knight destroys Star Dream out of plagiarism for summoning him as he engages the fight against Meta Knight.

Galacta Knight is from Halcandra.

His official background is that he's a warrior so powerful he was sealed away, and... that's about it. However, Star Dream is capable of pulling him from another dimension to battle Meta Knight (he also doesn't show up in a crystal like he does in his other appearances and instead gets sealed in one after being defeated, but that's a theory for another time). Whereas the other summoned bosses are specifically noted in their bios to have been salvaged by the Haltmann Foundation in some way, no comment is made on how or why Galacta Knight is also part of Star Dream's administrator tests. Keep in mind that in Return to Dream Land, Magolor's dialogue claims the ancient people of Halcandra created clockwork stars — plural, not singular — which can suggest Star Dream was scavenged from Halcandra like the Lor Starcutter was. Additionally, Star Dream gives an example of Galacta Knight's power ("He may end up destroying a planet or two, but such is life."), even though he was sealed away in a "forgotten time."

It's also worth noting that in both its boss fights against Kirby and its cutscenes with Meta Knight, Star Dream always uses heart-shaped portals to summon objects, with one exception: Galacta Knight is the only object that is summoned through a star-shaped portal — the exact same kind of portal used by Magolor (who unambiguously refers to Halcandra as his home planet) during his own boss fights. The dimensional rift that Galacta Knight opens during his battle sometimes allows the player to see the Lor Starcutter floating through space inside the rift. Even in Return to Dream Land's own True Arena, he shows up as a completely unannounced Superboss and challenges you in an arena with a background shared only by the final stages of Halcandra. Why would Galacta Knight be so heavily associated with Halcandra?

Kirby: Planet Robobot will be the first in 'The Susie Trilogy.'

While Kirby successfully stops the invasion of Popstar, Susie is still alive and is shown escaping in her mech. It's very likely she'll want to take revenge on the pink puffball, but maybe she'll get to star in an extra two games in an attempt to accomplish that goal?

• Where do people get the impression that Susie still holds a grudge against Kirby? She behaves civilly and politely to him throughout the entire game and saves his life on at least one occasion. She is, at worst, only mildly indifferent towards him, and likely wouldn't consider any further interaction with him to be fruitful or worthwhile.
• She wouldn't have any plans for popstar itself as she knows it's not worth the effort of fighting Kirby. However she'd try to get his help to deal with though obstacles. There's something suggesting she'd be in Star Allies eventually so there might be truth to this. In short while she may not become good, she's pragmatic enough to avoid pointlessly provoking Kirby again.

Susie is the one who composed "The Noble Haltmann"

Back when she was still a little girl. Explaining why most of the lyrics sound so goofy — they were written by an innocent child to demonstrate how awesome and glorious her father was to her. And explaining why Haltmann has her sing it for him in the present day, and explaining why Susie continues to sing it to herself even when he's not around: for all her bitterness, she likes to think back and remember the time when she was still just Daddy's little girl.

NOVA also has a Soul OS, and that OS was responsible for Marx Soul

It's not too much of a secret (anymore, at least) that Star Dream and Galactic Nova (aka NOVA) are pretty dang similar to each other. And we also know that Star Dream has a Soul OS that it can tap into when it takes too much damage at once.

With that in mind, it's not too crazy to think that NOVA also has a Soul OS hidden somewhere in its inner mechanisms. It would certainly explain what happened to Marx after he absorbed NOVA's power. Or maybe, did NOVA absorb him...!?

• This troper is not sure if this theory (Marx Soul being an extension of NOVA) is based on the fact Magolor Soul is an extension of the Master Crown.
  • It wouldn't be impossible, especially since both NOVA and the Master Crown are said to be creations of the Ancients of Halcandra. In either case, Marx has canonically escaped the horrible fate that faced President Haltmann.

Galactic Nova originally looked like Star Dream, but was damaged.

Nova and Star Dream are clearly meant to be the same type of machine, and there are lore hints all over the latter end of the Kirby series that there are multiple Novas (Magolor mentioning that the Ancients crafted "clockwork stars", the pause screen text of Super Star Ultra saying Marx Soul absorbed the power of "a nova"), yet the two have several design differences, such as Nova being coin-shaped while Star Dream is sphere-shaped, in addition to the numerous pieces of junk attached to Nova.

When it was first built, Nova looked like Star Dream, but was somehow damaged, and several pieces of its body (such as the outer sphere) were lost. In the process, Nova's Soul OS was reactivated, causing it to turn from silver to gold, like what happened to Star Dream during the True Arena. The extra power unlocked its wishing powers, but also damaging its mind, preventing Nova from truly repairing itself without someone actually making a wish. As such, the broken star roamed the cosmos, pieces of junk slowly collecting on it over the years. That's why Nova looks different from Star Dream despite being the same type of machine.

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