YMMV / Kirby Mass Attack

• Bizarro Episode: 4-10 and 4-11. In Volcano Valley, a fire-haunted area, we have chasing after a switch taken by astronaut monkeys, building a spaceship from a puzzle, Space Is an Ocean, monsters that create black holes, gravity switches in another space station run by said monkeys...
• Breather Boss:
  • Lady Ivy, the second level's boss, is insultingly easy after the hassle of getting the gold star from Whispy Woods in the previous level. Provided you can figure out that this is pretty much the only boss that dragging makes easier.
  • Skullord is the last boss before the final area, but is disappointingly easy, especially when compared to the miniboss that preceded it, Buzzy Bat.
• Goddamned Bats: Even though the Zombons in Volcano Valley, which are zombified Beanbons, are easy to beat, they just keep coming back.
• Just Here for Godzilla: The game is widely known to the majority of people as "The one that has Escargoon", despite the fact his role only appears as The Cameo as one of Dedede's attacks in the Kirby Quest subgame. Not to mention the handful of other characters exclusive to Kirby: Right Back at Ya! that make cameos...
• Memetic Mutation: In February 2022, the Skull Gang's theme started being used in a Bait-and-Switch meme called "THE SKELETON APPEARS", now having an entire Twitter page based around it.
• Moral Event Horizon: Necrodeus splitting Kirby into ten smaller Kirbys and immediately trying to kill them all; with one little Kirby escaping, thankfully. Making this even worse is that we are given absolutely no indication as to whether Necrodeus was trying to preemptively remove Kirby as a threat or just committing random murder for kicks. Given that his name means "death god", the latter is extremely plausible. Also, Daroach hints that Necrodeus despises beings of light, which presumably includes Kirby.
• Player Punch: Anytime every Kirby in your squad gets wiped out, the Heroic Heart trembles and vanishes, and then you see Kirby's soul about to ascend to Heaven in the Game Over screen. This starkly contrasts with the comical and non-consequential game over scenarios from about every other game in the franchise, and it's especially depressing to see such an upbeat and lively character legitimately dead.
• Scrappy Mechanic: In this game, the Kirbys have a limited air meter for swimming underwater that must be replenished by slurping up large air bubbles, or else an immediate Total Party Kill occurs if it runs out. This is as annoying and frustrating as it sounds, and it gets even worse later when you have to swim in toxic water that drains your air twice as quickly. Thankfully, the mechanic hasn't reappeared in any other installment.
• Sidetracked by the Gold Saucer: Kirby Mass Attack features the most expansive set of sub games of any Kirby game. The various games are quite diverse, ranging from pinball, to on-rails shooting, to RPG style combat! Not only that, but they feature many anime characters and a menagerie of Kirby references. These games can be quite addicting and can easily overshadow the main game in replayability. In fact, it's a common sentiment amongst Kirby fans that Mass Attack's sub games are outright better than the main game.
• Surprise Difficulty: Compared to the relaxed nature Kirby games are known for, this is the most tense and indeed punishing platformer in the series. The Kirbys are extremely fragile, dying in a mere two hits, yet have to be placed directly in danger's way to progress. Enemies are much larger and more aggressive than usual, many possessing One-Hit Kill attacks (the game just loves to crush the Kirbys). The icing on the cake is that finishing the story necessitates you acquire a specific collectible on every stage. And don't even get us started on 100% Completion...
• That One Boss
  • King Eelongo's battle requires dexterity, as it revolves around flinging Kirbys at underwater moving objects, some of which have spikes that must be avoided.
  • Buzzy Bat is the last miniboss in the game for good reason. The fight deals with breaking his shield of bats so you can hit him; but if you take too long, he combines with the shield to form a monstrous cycloptic tombstone that is invincible for a while. As you go on, the shields are arranged in more complex patterns and start to add giant, invincible, Pricklebats. The final shield has three of them and small openings to actually attack the main bat.
  • Mr. Shine and Mr. Bright in Strato Patrol EOS. It's a Dual Boss where Mr. Bright fires wide lasers or giant circles of energy at you while Mr. Shine becomes invincible and spins throughout the screen. If you kill Mr. Bright, Mr. Shine proceeds to revive him; and if this is done four times, Mr. Shine will merge with his partner's remnants and go berserk, firing lasers at fast speed and spinning in a new, more erratic pattern.
• That One Level:
  • Stage 3-6: This stage is very long with tons of enemies, and has a difficult underwater boss fight at the end. Keep in mind that this is the only Kirby game in which you have a limited air meter for swimming underwater, so you've got the constant threat of drowning to contend with on top of all that.
  • Stage 3-11: The stage takes place in the Teetering Tree that's swaying back and forth depending on which side you move the Kirbys to. If you lean the tree in one direction for too long, it will topple over, resulting in an instant death. The hardest part in this stage is around the halfway point, where you have to carefully dodge several rows of spike balls followed by a giant spike ball afterwards, which is almost impossible to do while moving all of your Kirbies upward. Fortunately, if you can make it past this sequence without getting hurt, the rest of the stage is much easier.
• That One Sidequest:
  • Of all the achievements, "Gold Star Champion" stands out as the toughest due to the fact that you have to beat each stage and the bosses without getting hurt to get all of the gold stars.
  • As far as gold stars go, the toughest level boss is the very first one, Whispy Woods, as the timing to attack him without him countering and hurting you in the process is very minuscule. Otherwise, he falls straight into Wake-Up Call Boss territory.
• Unexpected Character:
  • No one expected Escargoon, Max Flexer, Chef Shiitake and the NME Sales Guy, four characters exclusive to Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, to appear in any Kirby game. However, three of the four make their debut in Kirby Quest: the former assists Dedede in one of his attacks; while the latter two are unique enemies that reward Kirby with lots of experience upon defeat. The NME Sales Guy appears in the Game Over screen of Strato Patrol EOS.
  • Daroach and the Squeaks came as quite a surprise as one-off characters rarely had recurring roles in the series prior to this game's release.
  • Marx, Bandana Waddle Dee, Sailor Waddle Dee, Nightmare, and Dark Matter all had little to no recurring roles after their initial debuts, but make surprise appearances in the minigames.

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