Video Game / Kirby Fighters Deluxe

^{Kirby Fighters 2}

Kirby Fighters Deluxe is an updated standalone release of the Kirby Fighters sub-game from Kirby: Triple Deluxe, released for the Nintendo 3DS via the eShop on July 23rd, 2014 in Japan, August 29th in North America, September 24th in South Korea, and February 13th, 2015 in Europe and Australia.

Like the original Kirby Fighters, Deluxe takes the Platform Fighter concept and mechanics of the Super Smash Bros. franchise and essentially applies it to Kirby and his various Copy Abilities, allowing players to duel to the death on a variety of stages from Kirby's history with one of 10 Abilities (plus Beetle and Bell via Old Save Bonus). Deluxe additionally adds an expanded single-player campaign with new boss fights and extra Nintendo Hard difficulties, as well as various optional cosmetics for Copy Abilities and a Team option for 2v2 or 3v1 fights in local multiplayer.

On September 24th, 2020, a sequel to Kirby Fighters Deluxe, aptly named Kirby Fighters 2, was revealed and released for the Nintendo Switch. Much like fellow game Super Kirby Clash, 2 now features the use of the Kirby Star Allies engine and graphical style; in addition to the return of most of the content from Deluxe, the sequel adds new Stages, items, cosmetics, an expanded roster (including some of Kirby's friends from Star Allies and the brand-new Wrestler Ability), and a significant expansion to the game's base modes, including a Rank system, an all-new Story campaign and "Single-Handed Mode" where players mow down a gauntlet of increasingly-challenging foes.

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Kirby Fighters Deluxe and Fighters 2 provide examples of:

• And Your Reward Is Clothes: In addition to the usual Copy Ability hats that Kirby typically wears, Kirby can earn Rare Hats by clearing Single Player with an ability in the former game or by increasing his Fighters Rank in the latter game. While some are nice reskins, others are the hats of some enemies (Blade Knight's and Sir Kibble's helmets for Sword and Cutter respectively), and some are taken from other games (for example, Marx's jester hat for Beam and the Hydra for Beetle).
• Art Evolution: In Fighters 2, Shadow Kirby's body goes from bright purple to grey, most likely to be more faithful to his original Amazing Mirror design.
• Artifact of Doom: The true final boss of Fighters 2 is Waning Crescent Masked Dedede and Waxing Crescent Masked Meta Knight, which is King Dedede and Meta Knight using the Masks of Dark Bonds in an effort to defeat Kirby.
• The Artifact: Shadow Kirby was an SNK Mirror Boss in the original sub-game, but fighting a "boss" that acts the same as a player character (taking knockback, using AI instead of a preset routine, etc) became this after Deluxe introduced boss battles that act like standard Kirby fare. He stands out even more in the story mode of Fighters 2 as an inversion of Dual Boss against the mode's entire theme, although Single-Handed Mode is more like a traditional fighting game's arcade mode and retains Shadow Kirby as a fitting mirror match at the end.
• Big Bad: King Dedede is the primary antagonist in Deluxe, as per usual with the spin-offs.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: King Dedede and Meta Knight serve as the main villains of Fighter 2's Story Mode; seeking to finally defeat Kirby, they send him a challenge to fight them at the Buddy Fighters Tower.
• Boss Subtitles:
  • Giant Tree Twins, Twin Woods
  • Old Rivals, King Dedede & Meta Knight
  • Sworn Partners, King Dedede & Meta Knight
  • Moon Warriors, Waning Crescent Masked Dedede & Waxing Crescent Masked Meta Knight
• The Bus Came Back:
  • Dyna Blade from Kirby Super Star returns as a stage hazard on the Dyna Blade's Nest stage.
  • Twin Woods from the same game also returns in Fighters 2 as the first boss of Story Mode.
• Competitive Balance:
  • Kirby and his buddies can't fly indefinitely to prevent stalling. While this makes sense against other players both human and CPU-controlled, this can cause a jarring problem in the single-player campaigns, which have bosses whose attacks one would normally fly over until they're done. In this case, a player may attempt to fly over an attack only to notice that their character is running out of flight stamina, and then drop into the same attack they were trying to avoid.
  • Invincibility frames after getting hit are practically non-existent. Makes sense against other Kirbys...not so much against bosses. In Kirby Fighters Deluxe, a brief second-and-a-half of invincibility is given after getting hit by a boss' attack, however in Kirby Fighters 2, that is not the case.
  • Abilities were also tweaked, such as Sword, Hammer and Beetle's dash attack having startup lag and Ninja's kunai throwing speed reduced. Many attacks also lost their invincibility frames, although they are kept for boss fights.
• Continuity Nod:
  • In Deluxe, within the pause screen blurb of one of Kracko's boss fights, there are references to Kracko's appearances (and non-appearance) in Kirby's Adventure, Kirby Super Star, and Kirby: Squeak Squad.
  • In Deluxe, one of the added stages is The Fountain of Dreams, designed after its Super Smash Bros. appearance. If you get to Round 9 in Single Player on Very Hard mode, the Fountain instead takes on its appearance from Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land.
  • In Fighters 2, Shadow Kirby is suggested to be the guardian of the Mirror World far above in the sky; an explicit reference to the role he played in Kirby & the Amazing Mirror.
• Death as Game Mechanic: Dying causes Kirby to become Ghost Kirby, who can fly around the stage freely and can attack with a short-ranged punch. Punching a living Kirby deals damage and brings you back to life to fight again. The more times you die, the longer you stay down before turning into Ghost Kirby and the less health you resurrect with later.
• Demoted to Extra: Shadow Kirby, the original Final Boss of the single-player mode in the original sub-game, is reduced to a cosmetic option in Deluxe. This is reversed in Fighters 2, where Shadow Kirby is a major boss in Story Mode and is your final challenge in Single-Handed Mode. Kracko also underwent a reversal: he appeared as a major boss in Deluxe, but is ultimately reduced to a stage hazard just like the original sub-game in Fighters 2.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: In Kirby Fighters Deluxe, Item Sharing from Kirby Super Star returns for Team Battles, which looks a lot like kissing. This time, however, the game throws all implications straight out the window by having a "Smooch!" Written Sound Effect appear when two Kirbys share items.
• Double Unlock: In Kirby Fighters 2, you can unlock rare hats for Sword, Beam, and Staff based on the Three Mage Sisters from Kirby Star Allies as an Old Save Bonus. In the case of the Francisca Style, however, you must have Beam itself unlocked (which is achieved by reaching Fighters Rank 10) before you are notified that the hat is unlocked.
• Dual Boss: Kirby Fighters 2 has these in its Story Mode: Twin Woods, Duo Edge, and the team of Dedede and Meta Knight. The latter even specializes in combination attacks. If anything, Shadow Kirby stands out for being the Lone Wolf Boss of the game.
• End Game Plus: Clearing Chapter 4 of Story Mode in Kirby Fighters 2 unlocks the Final Chapter after the credits have rolled, as well as Meta Knight as a Player Character and the Stage of Destined Rivals. Clearing the Final Chapter unlocks King Dedede and the Stage of the Partners Who Shook the Heavens.
• Glass Cannon: The Mini DDDs in Kirby Fighters Deluxe on Very Hard. They die in one or two hits, but making contact with a single one deals 1/10th of your health in damage. Considering that there's also a Zerg Rush of them and no healing items, room for error in fighting them is rather small.
• Interface Screw: Both Kracko and Dedede can throw keychains from Triple Deluxe onto the screen to block your view. In Dedede's Very Hard battle, the keychains that appear are ones that do not appear in Triple Deluxe.
• Make My Monster Grow: In Deluxe, King Dedede uses the Fountain of Dream's power to make himself larger after he Turns Red when his Combo Dededes are defeated.
• Medley:
  • History of Dedede from Kirby Fighters Deluxe pays tribute to the King, mixing his themes from Kirby's Dream Land, Kirby's Adventure, Kirby's Dream Course, and a remix of "The Masked King" from Kirby Super Star Ultra into one track. An 8-bit version of the opening from "Masked Dedede's Theme" is even thrown in at the start.
  • In Fighters 2, Shadow Kirby (in Story Mode's Final Chapter and Very Hard of Single-Handed Mode) has a medley of themes from Kirby & the Amazing Mirror, while the True Final Boss has a medley of various King Dedede and Meta Knight themes from across the series.
• Multi-Mook Melee: The final battle of Kirby Fighters Deluxe pits you against a whole mob of tiny Dededes.
• Nintendo Hard: Very Hard in Deluxe's Single Player mode, although to what extent can vary by the ability chosen. While the opponents' stats don't change, the AI becomes incredibly unforgiving, especially when it comes to aiming at you with projectile attacks, like Bomb and Archer. Also, the two bosses, Kracko and Team DDD, deal far more damage than before, and in Team DDD's case, the first phase comes stocked with even more Mini Dededes, and with no healing items between waves, to boot. The Easter Eggs are well worth the effort.
• Old Save Bonus:
  • You must have Triple Deluxe data with its StreetPass function enabled to unlock the Bell and Beetle abilities in Deluxe.
  • In Fighters 2, having Star Allies data unlocks outfits based on the Three Mage-Sisters (Francisca for Beam, Flamberge for Sword, and Zan Partizanne for Staff), while having Super Kirby Clash data unlocks a Sword Hero outfit for Sword.
• Other Me Annoys Me: Apparently, Kracko at least knows about Mecha Kracko from Squeak Squad. And from what we see from his Very Hard pause description, he's not very happy about being replaced.
• Promoted to Playable: As King Dedede first appeared in Deluxe as a boss character, the sequel makes him playable.
• The Resenter: The Very Hard difficulty in Deluxe reveals that Kracko really hates Kirby for the many times he's defeated him in the past, and as such, treats his fight here as finally getting his long-awaited revenge.
• Revenge: Again, the whole motivation behind Kracko's fight with Kirby in Deluxe is to finally get vengeance for the defeats he endured for 22 years.
• Rolling Attack: Kracko gains an attack like this, aided with his side-drills. Doubles as a Spin Attack to boot.
• RPG Elements: In the second game's Story Mode, after you win a fight, you get to pick one of three items. Items may increase your max health, attack, and other stats which last until you reach the summit.
• Stylistic Callback: The rotating segment of Butter Building is featured as a stage, complete with 8-bit enemies as stage hazards and UFO Kirby dropping food for players to collect.
• Suddenly Speaking:
  • In Deluxe, the flavor text for Kracko while fighting him on "Very Hard" mode is written from his point of view, which reveals his sole motivation for attacking Kirby this time is for revenge (he also mentions the Hi-Jump ability, Helpers, and Mecha-Kracko).
    Kracko: YOU...! Did you think I'd forget? The time you smashed into me with your Hi-Jump! That time I was betrayed by Helpers! Or when I was replaced by that mechanical cloud! I-I... Sniff... there's something in my eye...”
  • King Dedede has a moment of this as part of his Very Hard mode flavor text, when introducing his new and improved Team DDD 64 as part of the final battle —
    King Dedede: Hey! You pesky pink puffball! Are you ready for a team battle? Then let's go!
• Theme Music Power-Up:
  • The final battle of Deluxe starts out with the Gourmet Race music, but the game's main theme kicks in once you get down to the final three. Unless you play on the hardest difficulty, of course, in which case, it starts off with the music to The Fountain of Dreams (as it appears in Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land) before turning into a remix of Masked Dedede's theme that's also a medley of various boss themes (including a (mostly) 8-bit version of King Dedede's original theme).
  • Also in Deluxe, in Team Battles an item resembling a miniature Combo Cannon, named the "Team Cannon," can spawn in. While one player can grab it and fire at opponents, if at least two teammates grab it, they can charge it up and fire a massive beam in front of them while the "Bring On the Super Ability" music from Return to Dream Land plays.
• Took a Level in Badass: King Dedede take another level in badass in Deluxe. Dedede wields the Star Rod Hammer Dedede Custom, and in Very Hard mode, in addition to gaining even more attacks (in Dedede's case, he actually regains the abilities he had when he was using a battle axe while being boosted by Taranza from Triple Deluxe), his pause screen blurb actually has him taunt Kirby by essentially telling him to "bring it on".
• Training Stage: There's a training mode in Fighters 2 where you can beat up two immobile opponents in a stage which has walls with a blue and white square pattern, a reference to Kirby 64. This stage can even be selected for regular battles in Battle Mode.
• Turns Red: Defeating the Combo Dededes accompanying the King will cause this to happen, which is indicated by him doubling in size and completely replacing his entire old moveset with a far deadlier one. Twin Woods and Duo Edge in Fighters 2 also have desperation modes.
• A Twinkle in the Sky: Dedede goes out like this when defeated in Deluxe's single-player mode. It happens again in the Story Mode of Fighters 2, after Dedede and Meta Knight are defeated in battle in the Final Chapter and blasted by the Buddy Star Blaster. Before then, Meta Knight makes one when he flies off after Chapter 3.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: The bosses in Fighters 2 have slow and somewhat telegraphed attacks, and usually fight in synchrony. Shadow Kirby, on the other hand, is not like them; he uses the same ability as Kirby (or something very similar to the ability of his Buddy), fights aggressively, and all of his attacks are unpredictable. You're clearly in for a rude awakening when you fight him, especially in Single-Handed Mode's Very Hard difficulty.
• Walking Spoiler: Nothing foreshadows the fact that Dedede and Meta Knight secretly had a pair of powerful masks that slowly corrupts them and increases their strength as a plan B for the Final Chapter of Fighters 2.
• Warm-Up Boss: Twin Woods become this in Fighters 2, taking the place of the absent Whispy Woods.
• Wave-Motion Gun: The Team Cannon in Deluxe. With one Kirby manning it, it slowly shoots out small electric bursts like a BB gun. When two Kirbys get on it, it turns into this, complete with a dramatic pause and zoom-in effect with music, followed by a massive laser that deals critical damage to any opposing Kirby in the way. Getting three Kirbys on it just amps up the damage even further. Fighters 2's Buddy Star Blaster also falls under this category, provided the team manning it can hit their opponent(s).
• Wrestler in All of Us: Fighters 2 introduces the Wrestler ability to the series. It essentially works as a souped-up version of Backdrop and Suplex from other games, specializing in grab attacks but having a greater variety of non-grab attacks than Suplex.
• Zerg Rush: The final boss of Deluxe pits one Kirby against a horde of Mini DDDs. Depending on your difficulty level, you will have to go through at least 21 or up to 61 of them, who can all deal staggeringly high damage on contact.

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