Looking Back on Kirby Lore

[Glen-i]

I've been going back and forth on doing this topic for a while now, but after playing most of Returns to Dream Land Deluxe and being, quite frankly, astonished at the amount of impact it has on it, I'm taking the plunge and writing the topic on Deep Kirby Lore.

To this day, you can still find people online who think the concept that, out of all the Nintendo franchises out there, it's Kirby that has the most intriguing and most developed universe, completely laughable. It sounds like a joke, probably not helped by actual hilarious jokes about Mario having a timeline, or Donkey Kong having anything more complex then DK punching bad guys.

But trust me, Kirby lore is legit, and it's kept me captivated for years now. It hasn't always been like this, mind. There's a point in time when Kirby games were nothing more then fun, easy going, platform games designed for beginners with little hints of challenge for the more experienced gamer. I will mostly be overlooking these and jumping to the focal point when things started changing. From there, I'll go through each game in release order, looking at the subtle developments, implications, and reveals that each title has bought to the series.

Fair warning. Massive spoilers ahead! I won't be mentioning future games until I get to them, so don't worry if you haven't finished the likes of Forgotten Land, or RtDL Deluxe. I won't be covering those for a couple of months.

But before we dive in, there are a handful of games we need to look at first. They are three games collectively referred to as...

The Dark Matter Trilogy

  

Now, make no mistake, when these games first came out. The idea of underlying lore just wasn't a thing in the Kirby series, the only true connection between these three games was that they had a recurring villain (Kinda) throughout.

 

That thing on the left is Dark Matter Blade, some kind of malevolent force that continuously shows up in some way throughout the three games pictured above. In Kirby's Dream Land 2, it's posessing King Dedede, and only reveals itself if you collect all of the Rainbow Drops before hand. In typical 90's final boss fashion, it has a true form. Pictured on the right is Real Dark Matter.

In Dream Land 3, Dark Matter returns as the main villain, and again, it's posessing King Dedede. Collecting all the Heart Stars unlocks the true final boss, Zero.

Jesus Christ, how horrifying!

Ignoring the obvious of there being blood in a SNES Kirby game of all things, to this day, we still don't know a lot about Zero, what we can learn from that game is that it seems to be a source of Dark Matter. Simply put, Dark Matter isn't just one entity, and thanks to Zero, there are likely loads of them all over the place. What's their goal? No idea, but they seem to be somewhat parasitic in nature. That's unnerving to say the least, considering that being possessed by Dark Matter can't be a pleasant experience.

Seriously, Dream Land 3, WTF?

Zero would show up again as the true final boss of Kirby 64. Maybe... All I can say is that something looking a lot like Zero shows up. It's called 02, whether it's a reincarnated Zero, or a seperate thing altogether is unclear, but either way, there's a clear recurring thing going on between these three games, and it's worth remembering, because the implications of what this entails will be explored in much later games. But that would be getting way ahead of myself at this point.

Anyway, next week, I'll be getting into the first game that started properly developing the world of Kirby. Weirdly enough, of all things, it was an enhanced port.

Edited March 25, 2023 by Glen-i

[Jonnas]

Love this. I love hearing tales of Kirby lore. I love observing the unnerving aberrations the franchise comes up with.

And I love reading Glen-i's posts about minute pieces of lore and/or trivia that he's passionate about. It's a win-win all-around.

[Glen-i]

On 29/03/2023 at 10:53 PM, Jonnas said:

And I love reading Glen-i's posts about minute pieces of lore and/or trivia that he's passionate about. It's a win-win all-around.

I'm so passionate, it's disturbing. And that choice of word brings me nicely on to...

Kirby Super Star Ultra

Releasing for the DS in 2008 over in the states (Europe would have to wait over a year), this game is an enhanced port of the SNES title "Kirby Super Star". You might know that better as "Kirby's Fun Pak", which I'm certain confused more then a few Europeans when this came around with the American name. For the sake of clarity, I'm never mentioning the PAL name ever again.

Kirby Super Star was a collection of 8 different games (9 if you count the hidden Arena boss rush), most of which revolved around typical Kirby platformer fare. It's on the SNES NSO app, BTW. You should play it. The original SNES title pretty much serves as the template for what modern Kirby games would become, with copy abilities having different moves you could pull off with various inputs, and of course, it's the first game to have Kirby wear hats, which is easily the most important thing.

Kirby Super Star Ultra takes the original game, and adds 7 more games, as well as various other tweaks (Meta Knight's ship looks closer to how it appears in Smash Bros, for example)

Don't worry, I'm not gonna go through every game here, only 3 of them are relevant, and the first one was on the SNES version. So keep in mind that this particular game came out back when Kirby lore wasn't a thing.

Milky Way Wishes is the final main mode in Kirby Super Star, beating it lets you watch the credits, after all. The plot, which a lot of people can easily miss, (You have to wait on the title screen in order to see it) revolves around the sun and the moon fighting. Marx, an adorable jester, tells Kirby that he'll have to travel across the galaxy to find the comet Nova and ask it to stop the two fighting. Kirby has to collect "Star Power" from the various planets along the way in order to awaken Nova.

So far, so Kirby. Loads of platforming and random acts of violence later, Kirby arrives at where Nova is, and awakens it with the star power he has collected.

Let's talk a bit about Galactic Nova, shall we? It's referred to as a comet in the intro, but it clearly isn't anything of the sort. It's speech manner is obviously robotic in nature, and it has a whole bunch of junk attached to it, mostly various odds and ends you'd see on Earth. It supposedly has the power to grant a single wish, but Marx swoops in before Kirby can make his and wishes to rule Pop Star, revealing his true form, which is very much not adorable, trust me.

Spoiler

13:20, if the timestamp doesn't work.

Of course, you don't mess with Kirby. Because this doesn't go so well for Marx. Kirby makes some kind of spaceship with the star power he's collected, flies inside Galactic Nova, and blows it up. He then, for good measure, beats the crap out of Marx, and flings him into Galactic Nova, blowing the two of them to smithereens. Problem solved, Kirby goes back home and goes to sleep.

And that's about it for the SNES entry, a suitable little climactic finish for a game that was clearly meant to be standalone when it was first released, but then we got the DS remake, and they added new games, with more cutscenes...

Meta Knightmare Ultra

One of the extra games in the DS version tasked you with rushing through 5 of the original SNES games as Meta Knight, who handles like a more complex and stronger version of Kirby's Sword ability. A fun little extra mode with no impact on the story, until you finish the Milky Way Wishes portion, and then it suddenly does.

You see, at the end, Meta Knight reaches Galactic Nova, and uses the same star power Kirby collected to awaken Nova again. Looking a bit worse for wear after getting blown up by Kirby, Nova grants Meta Knight a wish. Meta Knight wishes to become stronger by fighting the "greatest warrior in the galaxy". Cue Nova calling forth an entity whose power was so great, it had to be sealed away. And Meta Knight just casually unsealed it for a scrap.

Thanks for that, Meta Knight, you jerk.

That's Galacta Knight, surprise final boss of Meta Knightmare Ultra, a completely different fight then Marx, which most players were expecting. It's also stupidly difficult compared to the rest of the game. This game doesn't go into much detail about this strangely Meta Knight-esque thing. All we have to go on is the cutscene I mentioned, and this little bit of background flavour text you can see if you pause the game while fighting him.

Quote

"This legend was sealed away long ago because of his power. He defies time to challenge you!"

So he's obviously from the past, not sure when, mind. But trust me on this, it's not the last time he'll show up.
Which begs the question, what are these things that resemble Kirby? It's pretty common knowledge that you see Meta Knight's face whenever you beat him in a boss fight and his mask falls off, is Galacta Knight a similar case? We don't actually see his face in Super Star Ultra, so your guess is as good as mine. But this one random curve ball of a boss started to sow the seeds of that Deep Kirby Lore, it didn't seem like much at the time, but looking back, it's clear the Kirby developers had plans.

Before I move on to the last game in Super Star Ultra, I want to mention the "Special Screen". That's the name of the special flavour text that only shows up when you pause during boss fights. Super Star Ultra was the first Kirby game to do this, adding snippets of background to plot relevant bosses, such as Marx. It's the main reason why some people aren't even aware that Kirby has lore. Most of it is hidden in the pause screen! It's kinda like how Dark Souls hides most of its lore in item descriptions, except Kirby started doing it 3 years prior.

Dark Souls can suck it.

The True Arena

In the SNES game, The Arena was effectively a boss rush that pitted Kirby against every boss in the game with limited healing supplies.
The True Arena takes that, replaces most of the bosses with the harder versions that the DS introduces, adds any new bosses (Yes, that includes Galacta Knight, and you have to beat him as Kirby, to boot), and replaces all the Maxim Tomatoes you have with crummy regular tomatoes that are only a quarter as effective.

It's bloody impossible!

But if you are dedicated and nutso enough to make it past Galacta Knight to the last fight, you get... Yep, another unexpected cutscene. Because only true Kirby Masters get to see all of the lore.

Kirby's getting quite annoyed that you're not dead yet

That's Marx Soul. Let's take a look at the special screen for him.

Quote

"He absorbed a Nova's power to bring back his evil soul... This really is the last battle!"

So, in a blatant form of retconning, Marx somehow managed to absorb some of Galactic Nova's power in the explosion mentioned above and came back to life. Amazingly enough, he's even harder then Galacta Knight! It took me many attempts to beat this mofo, for sure.

Of course, Kirby can do anything, being a soul with Earth-shatteringly terrifying powers won't stop Kirby from laying the beatdown on you.

So, this one little enhanced port gave us some background on whatever the hell Nova is, established the possibility that Kirby and Meta Knight might not be the only round ball of death around, and showed us that if blowing up an evil jester doesn't do the job, blow up his soul as well, just to make sure.

Speaking of, let's end this post with that.

Rated PEGI 3. The 3 must stand for the number of weeks a kid will have nightmares after beating this.

Next week, an actual new game. And the developers take the ball Super Star Ultra set up and positively run with it. Fun times!

Edited April 7, 2023 by Glen-i

[Dcubed]

There's something in that Marx Soul description that I never spotted when I first played it, but looking back on it NOW? I can't believe I never clocked on! The foreshadowing is ridiculous!!

[Jonnas]

The mere fact that they bothered to change Marx's sprite to make him even more terrifying is nuts to me. They could've just recoloured him for the Marx Soul concept, but no, they really bothered to go the extra mile and distort his eyes and mouth even further!

[Glen-i]

OK, let's continue our journey by returning to Dream Land.

Kirby's Return to Dream Land

I'm gonna preface this with a warning, because of the most recent Kirby game.
While my following post will not refer to any new content or lore that developed from the Switch game "Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe", I will be going into detail about things that were in the original Wii title (Known as Kirby's Adventure Wii in Europe). If you have not played the Wii title, but have plans on playing the Switch remaster, I advise against reading this post. For this reason, I'll be using a spoiler tag here.

Spoiler

Releasing in 2011 for the Wii, this is the first Kirby platformer on home consoles since Kirby 64. Unlike Kirby 64 and the multiple handheld games that came out afterwards, this game reverted back to the gameplay style of Kirby Super Star with more complex copy abilities with different inputs for different attacks. This marks a true turning point for the series, as all future games would adopt this style. In more ways then one.

OK, so here's a plot synopsis. Kirby, King Dedede, and Bandana Waddle Dee (It was just called Waddle Dee back then) are arguing over cake, while Meta Knight attempts to read a book. Things quickly escalate when some portal in the sky appears and some kind of spaceship crash lands on Dream Land. Investigating the wreckage, Kirby and friends discover Magolor and subsequently agree to help him find the 5 missing parts to his ship, the Lor Starcutter, as well as the numerous Energy Spheres that have scattered throughout the place.

He's a Kirby character, he's contractually obigated to be cute.

During the game, Kirby gets access to Super Abilities, such as the Ultra Sword, pictured on the box art. Using these abilities, Kirby can open a portal to a strange place where a creature called a Sphere Doomer resides. Once Kirby reaches the fifth part of the Lor Starcutter, it's guarded by a bigger one of these called a Grand Doomer

Much like Super Star Ultra, this game also has special screens for some plot-relevant bosses.

Quote

"Evil Sphere Doomers have come to Planet Popstar from another dimension, drawn by the lost Energy Spheres... This one is huge!"

Remember that phrase "another dimension", it shows up a lot here.

Kirby blows it up, gets the last ship part. Magolor returns the favour by taking the gang to his home planet, Halcandra, where his ship is shot down by a ferocious and evil dragon.

It's also fricking adorable!

Magalor reveals that this dragon is Landia, who has been asleep for ages, but recently woke up and went on a rampage. Naturally, Magolor asks Kirby to go defeat it, and he does. Kirby's just that kind of guy.

Here's Landia's special page.

Quote

"A four-headed dragon that sleeps on Halcandra, Landia has been revered as a protector since ancient times... until now."

It's a strange description that one, almost seems like Landia is, not all that bad? Well, back in the past, at least.
And yes, it turns out that this is a lovely bit of foreshadowing, because...

Timestamped for your convenience, but it's at 6:49 if it doesn't work

In a move that can be best described as "Nice job breaking it, Kirby", Magolor reveals that after attempting to fight Landia and subsequently losing, he took the Lor Starcutter and fled to Planet Popstar. He then decided to get Kirby to do the dirty work instead. He did all this to get the spiffy crown that Landia was wearing. It's called the Master Crown, and it grants great power to whoever wears it. I smell a boss fight! Which means another special screen. But honestly, it's not really relevant, just explaining what Magolor already explained in that cutscene. So I won't bother.

Anyway, Kirby don't appreciate it when he's tricked, so Kirby lays the beatdown, subsequently destroying the Master Crown, and sending Magolor to... heaven? He vanishes up in a shaft of light, so maybe? The dimension Magolor dragged Kirby to starts collapsing without the Master Crown, but Landia intervenes and uses the Lor Starcutter to send Kirby and friends back to Planet Popstar safely, gives a gesture that suggests that it doesn't want to be disturbed again and takes the Lor Starcutter back to Halcandra. Game done!

Well, kinda, there's a harder "Extra Mode" that, like most post credit Kirby content, gets pretty hard. One of the things it does is change bosses to have harder attack patterns, and in a couple of cases, even adds completely new bosses!

HR-D3's special screen? Got you covered.

Quote

"An ancient war machine that somehow drifted into this universe from another dimension. What a dream battle!"

Oh, look. "Another Dimension". What does it mean? Not sure, but it's worth noting that the naming of this boss is awfully similar to that random mech from Kirby 64, HR-H.

Cute reference, or something more? Who knows?

Getting to the end of Extra Mode will inevitably get you alternate special screens for Landia and Magolor.

Quote

"Landia has lived on Halcandra since ancient times, protecting the land and guarding the world's most legendary items, but..."

Quote

"Magolor stole the Master Crown and the Lor from their sacred resting places on Halcandra. He's a liar and a wizard... Defeat him!"

The thing that jumps out to me is the use of the word "items" in Landia EX's screen. It could mean just the crown and the Lor Starcutter, it could mean more. I can't confirm that, mind. Pure conjecture at this point, so you make up your mind.

And finally, there's an extra phase in the Magolor boss fight.

That's Magolor Soul, and I'm sure something immediately jumps out at you, but we'll get on to that. Special Screen!

Quote

"A sad shell possessed by the limitless power of the Master Crown, no more than a manifestation of the crown itself."

OK, so I'll say what we're all thinking. That kinda looks like Dark Matter, and yeah, it fits the M.O. So maybe the Master Crown itself is sentient? The description gives that impression, for sure. But nothing concrete.

And that about wraps it up for this game. We're starting to get some references to previous games, as well as some hints of possible future developments, but it's still early days, and...

Oh, for eff's sake, who let him back in!?

So yeah, Galacta Knight's back. Appearing as a secret boss in The True Arena, he's even harder than his Super Star Ultra fight, somehow. Naturally, he has a special screen.

Quote

"The most powerful warrior in the galaxy who somehow drifted into this universe from another dimension. What a dream battle!"

There's that "Another Dimension" phrase again. Still, we have confirmation of Galacta's origins at least, one step closer to finding out what exactly it is... I hope.

Anyway, that really wraps up the Wii version of Returns to Dream Land now. It didn't quite hit me when I first played this that Kirby lore was starting to take shape. It was only the second game, after all. I was probably just excited to get a fresh Super Star style game.

Kirby Triple Deluxe is next. It's about flowers, or something like that, I don't know?

[Glen-i]

Kirby Triple Deluxe

Oh right! Because it has 3 D's. I get it!

Releasing in 2014 for the 3DS, Kirby Triple Deluxe is the first time we got a new Kirby in the new style on a portable console. The big selling points were the stereoscopic 3D effects and the Hypernova ability, which allowed Kirby to inhale objects far, far larger then himself.

Jesus Christ, how horrifying!

The plot begins with Kirby going to bed for the day after a grueling day of fishing. During the night, a large seed falls from the sky and rapidly grows into a massive beanstalk, which the game refers to as the "Dreamstalk". Kirby wakes up, is presumably horrified that his pristine garden is ruined, and rushes over to King Dedede's castle, presumably to demand he lives up to his self proclaimed title and actually do something for the community. The problem is, his castle has been lifted up by the Dreamstalk. Kirby reaches the castle, where he meets Taranza, a magic toting tarantula.

Yep, Kirby character, it's cute.

Taranza abducts Dedede and legs it up the Dreamstalk, and then not much else happens plot-wise until you reach the end of the game.

Right, so the majority of this game takes place in Floralia, the kingdom of the sky. It's home to the imaginatively named People of the Sky. After beating up a hypnotised King Dedede, Taranza reveals that he works for Queen Sectonia. Queen Sectonia is a massive wasp like creature that has overthrown Floralia. The People of the Sky responded to this by dropping the Dreamstalk seed down to Dream Land in order to encourage the hero of Dream Land to climb it and help out. Queen Sectonia then countered this manuever by sending Taranza to capture that hero.

Yeah, Dedede isn't the hero. Taranza clearly has never played a Kirby game, the snob. Queen Sectonia throws a hissy fit and fights Kirby. And then I paused...

Quote

"The evil queen who bewitched Taranza is motivated by beauty and world domination. She seized control of Floralia and oppressed the People of the Sky with her cruelty. It's time to face the true mastermind behind the curtain!"

OK, not much there I didn't already mention, but it's the final boss, there's gonna be more phases. Sectonia merges herself with the Dreamstalk and becomes a big stonking flower thing, because why the hell not? There's two more special screens.

Quote

"Sectonia's parasitic species survives by leeching power from other life forms until they're weak enough to be controlled. The People of the Sky and King Dedede decided to fight back in an effort to save the planet Popstar from the evil queen"

Quote

"Sectonia has unleashed her terrible beauty. She has combined her form with that of the Dreamstalk and, in her madness, seeks rulership of not only Floralia but all of Popstar! Grant unto the wicked queen the eternal beauty sleep!"

There's not a lot to really say about this particular boss, all of the cool stuff happens after the credits, in the "Dededetour" mode. It's similar to Meta Knightmare Ultra, except you play as King Dedede. And the standard EX bosses are fought along the way. Until the end, where you don't fight Queen Sectonia.

Hey! Remember that GBA game, Kirby and the Amazing Mirror? Well yeah, turns out Sectonia had said Amazing Mirror after that game. How? No idea. But it's here.
For your information, the official name of this thing now is the Dimension Mirror, and it functions as a portal to the mirror world. Said mirror world has "Shadow" versions of the standard Kirby crew, and Dedede naturally ends up fighting his Shadow self.

Quote

"In the depths of a mysterious mirror hanging in the hall of the queen waits the dark king, Shadow Dedede! He wages battle against all comers, but Shadow Dedede's true opponent is the darkness in his own heart."

BTW, Dedede doesn't show up in Amazing Mirror, so it's nice to get confirmation that there is a Shadow Dedede, at least.
Speaking of Shadows. Dark Meta Knight from that game shows up, but there's nothing in the Special Screen that is noteworthy. So let's move on to this game's True Arena, which has a harder version of the Sectonia fight.

Wanna guess what her name is? Hah! Wrong! It's Soul of Sectonia. You suck!

Quote

"Taranza's final words and offering can no longer reach her ears. The former queen has become a pitiful husk in the throes of madness after losing everything. She has consumed the world, and all she has left to cling to is her vanity."

Quote

"She's fed off countless hosts and now cannot remember her true form. A voice called out to help her, but it has since fallen silent. Before the night ends, she must be given her eternal beauty sleep."

That second Special Screen is interesting. Allow me a moment to throw a theory around. I'll point out that as far as I'm aware, we haven't got confirmation of this, so I could be wrong.

Spoiler

OK, so one of the Special Screens talks about Sectonia's species being of the parasitic kind. But that last one hints that the insectoid Sectonia isn't actually her original form. So what is? I mean, if you've being paying attention, you probably know where I'm going with this.

I think it's a Dark Matter.

I mean it has all the telltale signs. If I'm right, then what happened to Dedede in Dream Land 3 would've gotten to the point where Dark Matter would've just taken him over completely had Kirby not intervened. And then that Dark Matter would've moved on to some other poor sap once Dedede's body got too old. It's unnerving to say the least.

That pretty much wraps up Triple Deluxe, no really. Galacta Knight isn't in this game. There's not much in terms of revolutionary lore in here, to be honest. Some neat references here and there. Speaking of that.

This boss is the sister of the villain from Canvas Curse

My favourite Kirby is next, because it has mechs and deep lore. Coincidentally, I love Xenoblade. Maybe there's a connection...

Edited April 15, 2023 by Glen-i

[Glen-i]

Sorry for the lapse in posting last week, someone was playing Wonder Boy III incorrectly, and I had to play through the entire Switch remake to wash the bad taste out of my eyes and ears.

Kirby: Planet Robobot

Releasing on the 3DS in 2016, this game is very much a direct sequel to Triple Deluxe, but instead of the Hypernova ability, Kirby has a mech! The Mech has different capabilities depending on the enemy it scans. Also, one of the new abilities is a big massive nod to Ness from EarthBound. It's a lot of fun, but that's not what we're here for.

The plot involves a massive spaceship called the Access Ark invading Dream Land and very quickly mechanising the planet, Dedede and Meta Knight attempt to fight back, but are promptly lasered. It falls to Kirby, who slept through the entire thing, to boot the mysterious invaders off of his planet.

OK, strap yourself in, this game goes places. Starting when you reach this boss:

This is Susie, she antagonises Kirby throughout the game by siccing bosses on him, but you do get to beat her up eventually.

Quote

"Executive assistant to the president of the Haltmann Works Company. While her job title is "secretary," she is the stakeholder of the ongoing invasion project."

Corporations? Evil? No! Anyway, you eventually meet said president.

Quote

" - The Noble Haltmann -

Noble Haltmann, we adore him
Kingly lord of time and space!
Every day we wish him glory,
Gazing on his noble face!

Yeah, he has a company song about how great he is. Not very loretastic, but it's amusing, nonetheless. Still, Kirby wins because water is wet, forcing President Haltmann to take drastic measures and activate his company's latest project.

Quote

"Fusing together with Haltmann, the most advanced computer in the galaxy has become self aware. To realize its old master's wish of eternal prosperity... it's decided to eradicate all life-forms in existence!

When will villains learn that making computers self-aware never ends well?

This is Star Dream, the final boss of this game. It's kinda nuts, because it's freaking massive, and Kirby has to scan the Halberd, Meta Knight's ship in order to fight it. One ridiculous pink paint job and lots of shooting later, it merges with the Access Ark, because of course it does.

It's just a massive sphere now!

Quote

"Haltmann's mind is being absorbed by Star Dream. Merging with the giant ship Access Ark, Star Dream has turned into a sentient planet. The machine has lost its master and purpose. It must be stopped!"

Yeah, Kirby's fighting planets now. Seems about right, more constant shooting causes that outer shell to gradually break off.

I think this was the moment when I realised Kirby lore was proper legit

There's a lot to unpack here, but I'll get the special screen out of the way.

Quote

"Its energy signature far exceeds that of the Invador Armor, our combat mech. The nearly infinite power within this life-form is astounding. Calculating probablility of survival... It doesn't look good."

OK, so I'll just say it. The Haltmann Works Company has constructed their own Galactic Nova. You remember that thing from Super Star Ultra, right? And in case you're thinking "Ah, they just pulled that out of their behind for cool points", I'll redirect your attention to something @Dcubed mentioned.

On 30/03/2023 at 8:22 PM, Dcubed said:

There's something in that Marx Soul description that I never spotted when I first played it, but looking back on it NOW? I can't believe I never clocked on! The foreshadowing is ridiculous!!

Yeah, I never noticed it either until I posted the Super Star Ultra post. But specifically, he's referring to this.

Quote

"He absorbed a Nova's power to bring back his evil soul... This really is the last battle!"

Notice how it's "A Nova" and not "The Nova". They've been planning to have another one since the DS!
The implications of this are staggering! Are all Nova's manufactured? Who made the original? Are there even more out there? What the hell are they even for?

Of course, this doesn't get answered, Kirby's more of the "Explode first, never think about it ever" kind of guy. And that's what happens.

Finishing the game unlocks "Meta Knightmare Returns", a tweak of the standard Extra Mode where you run through the game as Meta Knight. Naturally, there are harder bosses with alternate special screens. One boss in particular, the Holo Defense API, which made Kirby fight holograms of previous bosses, has a particularly interesting screen when fighting the recreation of the Sphere Doomers from "Returns to Dream Land"

Quote

"These monsters were created by Susie entering data she acquired from her travels. Where and when did she encounter the original monsters from another dimension? Who knows?"

It's worth noting that Sphere Doomers were only ever encountered in what RtDL called "Another Dimension" considering that the only things that could get into that dimension were a big massive spaceship designed to do so, and Kirby, it raises massive question marks about Susie's past.

Speaking of Susie, here's her second screen!

Quote

As a child, Susie was involved in an accident during a Mother Computer experiment and went missing. Why has she joined the company after all this time? Her full name is Susanna Patrya Haltmann.

Blimey! I don't think we've had a special screen that candid before. It's pretty obvious what has happened here, This accident sent Susie to Another Dimension somehow, and then she escaped. The thing is though, the rematch against President Haltmann reveals an interesting wrinkle to things.

Quote

"His full name is Max Profit Haltmann. Ever since losing his only child in an accident long ago, he's dedicated his life to the company. However, his only wish is to see his daughter once again..."

With the information that Haltmann doesn't recognise Susie, it seems that a long time has passed since Susie's disappearance and her getting hired by the company. Why she didn't tell her dad is not really revealed.

Anyway, final boss! Meta Knight can't use the Halberd though (No idea), so he gets a different set of final bosses. A whole bunch of clones that Star Dream made on the side. Specifically, it cloned Dark Matter and Queen Sectonia.

Quote

"Creating this dark swordsman pushed Star Dream to the limts of its abilities. The cloning process was a success, but only a partial data analysis was possible, and its true form has not yet emerged."

Quote

"Data was collected from traces of a giant flower the invaders stumbled upon. Cloning it produced the insect queen. Its data contains elements of creatures spanning a period of 1,000 years"

Star Dream just happened to clone two different Dark Matters (If my theory about Sectonia is on the money, anyway)? Coincidence? Probably. Anyway, there's a true arena and you know the drill with those by now...

OH, COME ON! CLOSE THE BLOODY DOOR BEHIND YOU!

No wait, hang on, Galacta Knight is back. The game even refers to this boss as "Galacta Knight Returns". HAL know what they're doing.

I suppose more then one game without Galacta Knight is too much to ask. Nothing actually new in the special screen here, but there he is, again, and harder...
Man, the sooner we see the back of him, the better.

Now for the True Arena, an absolutely brutal boss rush, even by True Arena standards, that culminates in Star Dream Soul OS. Each of the three phases have alternate screens.

Quote

"The final program has been activated. Its calculated probability is 99.99%. However, a small bit of Haltmann's soul has yet to be purged, which could throw a wrench in the plans."

Quote

"Why did I reactivate such a terrible machine? Oh, I remember--I wanted to see her just one last time. How foolish! I should have known that no machine could make such a dream come true"

Quote

"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."

Well, that's bloody depressing, isn't it?

Safe to say that President Haltmann is very much the most tragic villain in the whole Kirby series. Which feels weird to type, but to summarise...

• Susie gets sent to Another Dimension by a computer experiment gone wrong.
• Haltmann discovers a deactivated Galactic Nova
• His company reactivates it, and Haltmann wishes to see his daughter again.
• His wish comes true, Susie escapes from Another Dimension, but Haltmann doesn't recgnise her, likely due to her aging.
• Haltmann's soul gets absorbed by Star Dream when he sics it on Kirby, but eventually gets deleted by the time Kirby beats it up.

So despite my initial impression, Haltmann's company didn't actually make this second Nova, so we're still not sure where they came from.

That wraps up Planet Robobot. It's my favourite Kirby game for many reasons, one being that the lore is really kicking into high gear now. And it only gets madder from here.

Next time, we will be looking at Star Allies. It might be half the framerate, but trust me, the lore makes up for that.

Edited April 28, 2023 by Glen-i

[Dcubed]

I freaking love Kirby Lore.  @Glen-i didn’t even elaborate on how Kirby ends up tearing Haltman’s soul to shreds piece by piece during the final battle, complete with Haltman’s blood curdling screams as you destroy the different parts of him!

[BowserBasher]

5 hours ago, Dcubed said:

I freaking love Kirby Lore.  @Glen-i didn’t even elaborate on how Kirby ends up tearing Haltman’s soul to shreds piece by piece during the final battle, complete with Haltman’s blood curdling screams as you destroy the different parts of him!

If I didn't know any better I'd say you were lying as that doesn't sound like Nintendo at all. Also Planet Robobot was the first Kirby game that got me into the series.

[Glen-i]

On 30/04/2023 at 4:55 PM, BowserBasher said:

If I didn't know any better I'd say you were lying as that doesn't sound like Nintendo at all. Also Planet Robobot was the first Kirby game that got me into the series.

He's exaggerating a little with the blood curdling screams bit, but you do hear Haltmann's screams during the last True Arena fight. It's very subtle. And disturbing.

But that's in the past, so we're moving to, well, the less distant past.

Kirby Star Allies

I was considering putting this in spoilers, but then I realised this game is 5 years old, so if you get spoiled by this, that's on you.

Kirby Star Allies' big selling points (apart from the jump to HD), are the heavy focus on multiplayer, and the ability to combine certain abilities with elemental effects which changed how those abilities work.
This game is also noteworthy for getting significant updates which exponentially expanded the game with extra modes and playable characters ranging from a wide variety of past Kirby games.

On a space station far from Dream Land, a crystalised heart explodes, the fragments of which scatter throughout Dream Land, causing Kirby's friends, such as Dedede and Meta Knight, to embrace their darker tendencies. One of these hits Kirby, but because he is literally incapable of being evil, it instead gives him the ability to befriend enemies by throwing hearts at them. He travels through Dream Land, brings Dedede and Meta Knight back to the side of happy rainbows and sunshine, and makes his way to the Jambandra Space Station.

The villains of this game consist of various residents of the Jambandra religion. The most recurring one being three generals named Francisca, Zan Partizanne, and Flamberge.

These three have been tasked with collecting the many shards of the crystal heart that are around Dream Star.
Of course, Kirby will end up meeting the man behind the minions, which is where the special screens start to become interesting.

I couldn't find a decent screenshot, so have some concept art instead

This is Hyness, and if you're thinking he looks a bit deranged, that's because he is.

Quote

"Hyness worships a deity of destruction whom he plans to bring back to life. However, a rite gone wrong has led to the dark power he needs being scattered across the galaxy. Now he seeks to gather this power at an altar. Stop him, Star Allies!"

Quote

His once carefully face now exposed, Hyness is on the rampage! Tossing the three unconscious sisters around like rag dolls, it's clear he's lost his grip on reality. It's up to the Star Allies to bring an end to this nightmare, and save... everything!"

Does he succeed in summoning that "deity of destruction"? Well, every Kirby game needs some sort of eldtrich horror for Kirby to blow up. So, you tell me.

 

This is Void Termina, and for the sake of understanding scale, it's around 4 meters tall, which in the world of Kirby, is effing massive!
Yes, some nerd actually calculated it's height. No, it wasn't me! I'm not that bored!

These special screens are structured a bit weird, the fight is 4 phases long as Kirby gets bounced back between Void Termina pictured above, and an inner core.
So I'm gonna post the ones specifically about Void Termina first.

Quote

"Rise! Oh, Dark Lord of Despair! Crush the stars! Lay waste to care!

Rise and cover the land in sorrows! May your sympathy of emptiness bring the end of all tomorrows!"

Quote

"Rise! Oh, Dark Lord of Despair! Crush the stars! Lay waste to care!

Upon your wing, dark judgment bring! May your symphony of tragedy cause the end of everything!"

I bet he's loads of fun at parties.

Before we really get stuck in on this thing, I'll go ahead and show the core of Void Termina, because they're intricately linked, and it'd be easier to treat them as one entity from here on.

...Huh... OK then...

There's a very specific reason why throughout this entire topic, I've refrained from referring to future Kirby games. Because, at the risk of sounding dramatic, this changes everything.

Quote

"The shocking true form of Void Termina has been revealed! Born from the total absence of care and composed of dark energy, he has awakened from a state of mere existence to that of true sentience. He now desires only one thing... to CRUSH all opposition!"

Quote

"As the spring breeze blows, a young traveler appears. After greeting new friends and bidding farewell to old ones, his path has finally led him here. Let's beat this guy already! After that, lunch and a nap!"

My head hurts. And I'm afraid I'm going to have dedicate 90% of the remaining post to talking about Void Termina, because there's a metric ton of things to unpack with it.

Starting with this. That gold thing at the top of the screen, it kinda looks like the Master Crown from "Returns to Dream Land" What the hell does that mean!? I mean, it's not the first time a Kirby final boss has made nods to previous final bosses, but that one is pretty blatant. I'm in the camp that it's not the same Master Crown, but some kind of recreation of it. Which makes a good case of how strong this thing can be if it can just conjure up one of those for the sake of firing massive lasers.

But yes, fine. The core looks disturbingly like Kirby. There's no getting around it. The "face" of it contorts throughout the fight, which is more then a little creepy.

But what exactly is it? Well, playing through "The Ultimate Choice", this game's take on The Arena, give us some more special screens that provide some more details. The first one courtesy of the Hyness fight.

Quote

"Hyness did not fully grasp how to completely break the seal. All that was written about Void Termina in the ancient scrolls was the progenitor of darkness was vanquished by four heroes of yore, using four spears of the heart. After that, they were never seen again."

Wait, now there's an ancient scroll? And who are these four heroes? Yeah, we're not getting any more clarification on that, sorry!
Getting to Void Termina on the Infernal Crisis difficulty gives you a harder version of that fight with different screens.

Quote

"Hatred, obsession, jealousy, greed... The darkness gathered by Hyness has transformed into a corrupt power within Void Termina that conflicts with his newly forged soul. Chaos descends, but... you'll be OK. The Star Allies have your back!"

Quote

"No one knows from whence he came, only that he has existed for aeons, unchanging and unrelenting. Perpetually roaming the cosmos, he has finally arrived. And now, he has begun to feel. To desire. To think. Within the void, there lurks... a Soul!"

There's actually a harder difficulty in "The Ultimate Choice". Soul Melter difficulty gives you a different final phase, against the predictably named "Void Soul"

Quote

"No telling if it's true, but according to the ancient scrolls, Void Termina may rise again in other forms depending on whether positive or negative energy is gathered. It seems this being of darkness will wander the galaxy until one day he is reborn into a new existence. When he returns, hopefully it will be as... a friend."

OK, so what we have here might possibly be some kind of explanation of the origin of Kirby.
Yes, really. That last special screen in particular, combined with what Void Termina's core looks like, really hints at this being the case. As far as I can tell, Kirby's entire species is born through the process of absorbing positive and negative energy from it's surroundings. It kinda checks out because Kirby, being born on Planet Popstar, is made of literally nothing but good vibes.

Remember Amazing Mirror? Remember how it turns out that Shadow Kirby is trying to help you all along? I mean it, Kirby literally cannot be evil. Jury's still out on Meta Knight, mind. This might imply he wasn't born on Planet Popstar, but there's no confirmation of that, but it's generally accepted that Meta Knight's a good guy, all in all, so it still checks out.

Huh? What happens when negative energy is absorbed? Well... I'll direct your attention to the Dark Matter Trilogy in the first post. At this point, I can't see how all the various Dark Matters can be anything other then a Kirby that has absorbed mostly negative energy. That goes for Zero as well, BTW. Hell, that even goes for Gooey. Who's Gooey? He's that blue blob on the box art of Dream Land 3. The instruction booklet for that game says Gooey is made from the same stuff as Dark Matter, but lacks an evil spirit. Which checks out with how Void Termina works.

And just to hammer this point home, the last update for Star Allies added an even harder difficulty to "The Ultimate Choice", dubbed "Soul Melter EX" which gives more special screens.

Quote

"Void exists in all dimensions, but his shining form in another dimension inspired the ancients to transcribe his mysteries in sacred texts. What will be written next? Will the new scrolls describe a destroyer of worlds, or an ally to the stars?"

Quote

"The final battle at hand, Void takes his first steps toward a new age. In place of tyrannical rage, will he find... naptime? Gentle breezes? Treats? He may even dream again... A dream of friends reunited!"

This information on what Kirby is does provide a different spin on a lot of the final bosses in previous games. But let's not overlook the bit about "...The ancients to transcribe his mysteries..." in that first special screen. Now who are the ancients? I don't think I'm really spoiling anything at this point by saying that's gonna be showing up in the future.

But I've been at this for about 1 and a half hours now, so I think it's about time I wrap up Star Allies. A pretty amazing reveal that is sure to have lasting impacts on....

Geez! It's 5 o'clock in the morning, I'm starting to get bloody tired, Galacta Knight!

So, he's back... Yay... He shows up at the end of the "Guest Star ???" mode.
What's with the butterfly though? Well, yeah, uh... In a pretty amazing fake out, that butterfly absorbs Galacta Knight before you even start the fight. Instead, you fight...

Yes, it's bloody harder then Galacta Knight! It's bordering on ridiculous at this point!

Quote

"On the day of judgment, this fluttery fiend will fly into action. Brought into existence by "the greatest warrior in the galaxy" and reborn as a knight of doom through years of adversity - now begins an epic battle with a pure being twisted by a dark past."

Actually, now that I think about it, haven't I seen that butterfly before?

 

 

Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me!

Welp, chalk that up on the "HAL planned that all along" board. And yes, that's true, we've since learned that the cancelled Kirby game for the Gamecube was going to have a boss that looked a lot like Morpho Knight. They've been sitting on that one for a while.

Note the sword, it doesn't look like that in Star Allies

I'm going to bed. More next week!

[Dcubed]

Best bit is that the butterfly lore rabbit hole goes even deeper than @Glen-i is suggesting...

The very first thing you see when you start Kirby's Dreamland? The very first Kirby game?

Oh you little...

But wait! I hear you say! That could just be any old butterfly! It's black & white! You have no proof that it's the same butterfly from the modern Kirby trilogy!! Ohhohohoho! But we do have a way to tell... For thankfully, Nintendo & HAL decided to make an officially colourised version for us in the form of Kirby Superstar's Spring Breeze mode...

No way...

It is indeed yellow & orange... just like the modern butterfly... (granted, the wing pattern is a little different, but we can chalk that up to pallette & low res sprite limitations).  Oh, and if you're wondering if Super Star Ultra maintains the lore consistency?

Wait.  Isn't this a remake of a remake at this point?

It does indeed!

But oh no, this little fucker has plenty more appearances well before Kirby's Return To Dreamland...

If you look veeeeeeeeerrrrryyyyy closely, he's just on the right.  Little bastard can't even let Kirby enjoy his cake in peace.

Ok, there's some artistic liberties being taken with both games, but the fact that the first "Curse" game ends with a butterfly

and the second starts with the same butterfly... come on!

Little dude gets around

[Glen-i]

Oh right, I forgot. (Typing stuff up after midnight is a good idea, shut up!) There is one more thing that Star Allies has that's intriguing.

Before the main fight with Hyness, he gives a speech that mostly serves to establish who he is, but the majority of it is a mad rant that automatically scrolls by too fast to actually read.

Of course, naturally, someone slowed it down. And it does have some interesting tidbits. I'm not typing it all, because it's quite long, so here's the video.

Now, this does come from Hyness's own mouth instead of the all glorious special screen (Glory to the Kirby Special Screen!), so there might be some bias on his part. He is the villain, after all. But I'm going to assume that there is at least some truth to this.

What stands out to me the most is the mention of "those who were in such fear of our power". No idea who that could be, but definitely worth keeping it in mind.

Edited May 7, 2023 by Glen-i

[Jonnas]

Excellent. I haven't been here for the past 2 weeks, so it's a lot to take in, but it's all marvelous.

I already knew about Void Termina, so I was anxiously waiting for this latest update. I know nothing more, and can only patiently await with bated breath for more. I also assume Hyness' rant about "those who feared us" might refer to whoever built the Novas.

(The moment DCubed said something about the Marx Soul description, I reread it and caught right away what he meant, even though I hadn't played Planet Robobot. Yay me)

 

[Glen-i]

Kirby and the Forgotten Land

It's Kirby's first full 3D adventure! You'd think that would be enough of a selling point, but nah. This game also features Mouthful Mode, a slightly disturbing ability Kirby gets where he can wrap his body around inanimate objects and gain new abilities depending on what he tries to swallow.

This is the game with "Carby", and that's all you need to know.

Unlike Star Allies, this Kirby game is much more recent, so the rest of this post will be behind a spoiler tag.

Spoiler

This game is weird when it comes to handling Kirby lore. First of all, there's no special screen! Boy, did I start panicking when I realised that.
Thankfully, there's various collectable figurines you can find, and around half of them have descriptions, the really important characters tend to have more backstory in their figurine description.

Kirby is having a casual Warp Star ride when a sudden storm marks the appearance of a whole bunch of rifts, and Kirby is sucked through one. He finds himself in a mysterious city that appears to have been abandoned by the civilisation that once inhabited it.
The place isn't devoid of life, however, as Kirby discovers the Beast Pack, a group of various animals that are trapping Waddle Dees in cages, as well as an unfamiliar blue creature.

This is Elfilin, he's a Kirby character, which makes him impossibly cute. Unfortuantely, he's a Kirby character who offers to travel with Kirby and help him out on his quest to stop the Beast Pack, which at this point in time, makes him incredibly suspicious to us hardcore Kirby fans. I know for a fact that I wasn't the only one, so don't deny it!

All that said? There's barely anything here that links this game to previous Kirby games. 99% of the lore in Forgotten Land is self-contained, so if you're going into this post hoping for some revelations for previously released games, you're going to be disappointed.

Still, it might be relevant to future games, so lets look at it.

As Kirby progresses through the game, he discovers some of his old adversaries such as Bonkers and Mr. Frosty have joined the Beast Pack, and unfortunately, that includes King Dedede, which means that a fight is bound to...

HOLD UP! I have to ask, because this has bugged me ever since I played this game, but what is wrong with Dedede's face? For some bizarre reason, HAL changed Dedede's design in this game to resemble how he looks in Kirby 64. And if you think I'm mentioning this because it will be relevant, you're very mistaken. There's no reason for this other then HAL just felt like it. I'm not a fan.

After Kirby beats Dedede, he does his typical victory dance, only for Dedede to wake up and kidnap Elfilin while Kirby is busy dancing, the fiend! Eventually you do catch back up to him and give him a second beatdown, despite Dedede's fancy new mask.

Quote

"The foul fiend standing guard at the bottom of Redgar Volcano was... King Dedede again?! He calmed back down after you removed his menacing mask. So why did he kidnap Elfilin? He said he was being controlled, even before some strange beast put that mask on him!"

BTW, Meta Knight also got dragged through to this game. But he's not part of the Beast Pack. He's hanging around in the village the Waddle Dees you rescue go to.

Quote

"The mysterious vortex brought Meta Knight to the new world too! He quickly tasked himself with finding a way back to Popstar... until the Beast Pack attacked Waddle Dee Town. The besieged settlement needed protecting, and a swordsman never ignores a chance to train!"

Good on him. Back to the actual plot, Kirby carries on up an elevator to discover something he has never seen before, actual voice acting, courtesy of a recorded message. Which I will now transcribe, because it's that important.

Quote

"Welcome, visitors, to the Dream Discoveries Tour of our science facility, Lab Discovera!

On this thrilling tour, you'll be introduced to the ultimate life-form, specimen ID-F86! From the moment ID-F86 arrived on our planet, it began a campaign of destruction that threatened the native wildlife of our entire world. Luckily, our research team managed to capture it before it could complete its invasion. Once it was contained, our lab began studying ID-F86's spatial teleportation ability - resarch that laid the groundwork for the planetary warp technology we enjoy today!

However, 30 years after our research began, a "warp-experiment incident" occured in this facility. A new life-form, separated from the main specimen, escaped in the aftermath. That new subspecimen has yet to be recovered. In the time since, ID-F86 has shown no signs of activity. It is now kept in a state of permanent stasis within the custom-made Eternal Capsule here on the top level of Lab Discovera.

And here we are! Let's meet the ultimate life-form: specimen ID-F86!

Specimen ID-F86 is indeed at the top of Lab Discovera, but there's also someone else.

Leongar is the leader of the Beast Pack, but unlike all of the other members of this pack, Leongar is capable of speech, and his little spiel before the boss fight gives some context for their plan, as well as what happened before Kirby arrived.

Quote

Long ago, the Great One granted the people of this world a miraculous power... Those people left this world behind... and entered a land of dreams.
Once the Great One is complete again... I know we will also recieve this miraculous power. We, the ones they left behind in this forgotten land.

For the sake of clarity, the Great One he's referring to is ID-F86. Leongar's plan is primarily to find the escaped subspecimen and reunite it with ID-F86, in the hopes that he can also get the same power to follow the previous civilisation into the "Land of Dreams"

It does sound like he's referring to Dream Land when he says that, but there's no real evidence supporting that theory. Believe me, I looked, it's pure conjecture.

One of the various figurines mention that the previous civilisation has left this planet far behind. Probably safe to assume that they managed to actually utilise this planetary warp technology and left the planet. In fact, the figurine for ID-F86's dormant form confirms as much.

Anyway, Elfilin is the life form that seperated from ID-F86, but even half complete, ID-F86 is capable of immense psychic capabilities and after the inevitable smackdown Leongar gets, it's revealed that Leongar is being controlled by ID-F86. ID-F86 opened the vortex to Dream Land in order to gather Waddle Dees to use as labour to keep the power in Lab Discovera going while hoping that the Beast Pack would bring Elfilin back.

It didn't account for Kirby though (They never do). ID-F86 decides the time for sublety is over, and decides to just consume everything in close proximity.

Jesus Christ, how horrifying!

Quote

The invading species, alone and incomplete without Elfilin, was trapped in the Eternal Capsule. Their only refuge was the realm of their dreams. Those dreams spread powerful waves of psychic energy all over the world, slowly taking control of the animals they reached. Escape would require more energy...

Well, that explains why Dedede was controlled, he's a penguin. Meta Knight lucked out there.

Things don't go swimmingly for Kirby though, Elfilin does get caught, allowing Fecto Forgo to become whole again.

"Ultimate Life-Form"? Yeah, right. Kirby's about to prove that wrong.

Quote

The Elfilin we first met was born from a small, compassionate soul that hid behind greater, invasive ambitions. Without a soul to temper its power, the creature's spatial-teleportation ability ran amok, opening mysterious vortices left and right. Now that they're whole again, they're already planning their next invasion...

Anyway, Kirby proves who the actual Ultimate Life-Form is by ramming a truck into Fecto's face, and the day is saved! But Elfilin has to sacrifice itself to prevent Fecto Elfilis from slamming the Forgotten Land into Dream Land. It's alright though, it's a fake out. The Beast Pack, freed from Fecto's influence, save Elfilin, but Leongar is missing, sending Kirby off to a mysterious realm called Forgo Dreams.

Quote

After their fight with Kirby, ID-F86's body was destroyed, but their powerful mind survived. They fled to the isolated isles of their own dreams... and brought Leongar with them. To prepare this new vessel, they cast out Leongar's soul, shattering and scattering it throughout the realm of Forgo Dreams.

Collecting all those pieces of Leongar's soul allows you to fight Fecto again, who's currently possessing Leongar. One more beatdown later and Fecto is forced to face Kirby outside of Leongar's body.

Well, actually, no. You don't fight Soul Forgo, because, well, yeah... A butterfly shows up...

You know, I kinda miss Galacta Knight...

Quote

The fluttering fiend that casts judgment upon final battles is drawn toward the isolated isles of Forgo Dreams. There, it feasts on the most powerful soul it finds and takes the fearsome form of a scarlet-clad knight... Let the most challenging battle of this new world begin!

So this is the one thing that gives a bit more context to a thing established from a previous game. Morpho Knight gets some new attacks that resemble the things that Fecto Elfilis utilises, so it's definitely making itself more flexible by absorbing these bosses. Yes, it's incredibly concerning.

Of course, this is a modern Kirby game still, and it does have a far, far, harder version of the standard final boss at the end of a grueling boss rush.

Bloody hell! It's not got "Soul" in the name!

Quote

A unique convergence of elements, from native-beast souls to ethereal butterfly, gave a stubborn soul one last chance at revenge. This new creation, driven by pure chaos, was defeated by the bright light of Kirby's hope. The last bit of life that remained willingly returned to Elfilin. At last, two became one.

Yeah, so after you beat it, it decides that it's not worth the hassle, and just lets Elfilin absorb it. Blimey, the villains are actually learning!

But yeah, that's Forgotten Land. Like I said, there's not much here that really expands the lore. It's a little disappointing in that regard. Now, it is the newest Kirby entry, so future games may elaborate on the things that happen here. There's a lot of hanging questions still. Biggest one is easily where are the civilisation that once inhabited the forgotten land?

There is still one more Kirby game to look at, mind. But it's up in the air as to whether I can write about it next week.
I'm really struggling with The Arena in that game...

 

Edited May 27, 2023 by Glen-i

[Jonnas]

On 21/05/2023 at 5:58 AM, Glen-i said:

I know for a fact that I wasn't the only one, so don't deny it!

I played the demo, and I thought the same. You are definitely correct.

[Glen-i]

Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe

Hey, look, it's this game again. Releasing this year, this is an enhanced port of the Wii title, Kirby's Return to Dream Land. The main selling point that wasn't in the Wii version is a certain extra mode called "Magolor Epilogue". Also, Dedede has his Forgotten Land look for some reason, and it still bothers me.

Despite this being a port of an old game, there are various developments that weren't in the original Wii release, so there are spoilers abound in this post, even if you've played the Wii game. All of this stuff happens after the credits, so you've been warned.

Spoiler

Like I said, there's nothing new in the main mode, so I'm gonna assume you read the post on that game.

Magolor Epilogue happens straight after the events of the main game, after Kirby lays the smack down on Magolor. You play as Magolor, stripped of all the powers he got with the Master Crown, and stranded in another dimension. After wandering around, he discovers a fragment of a big fruit which restores some of his magic and transports him to the Ethereal Altar. Magolor decides to find more of these fragments so he can get his powers back and get revenge on Kirby.

Throughout this mode, Magolor fights various tweaked versions of that main game's bosses, they all have special screens, which all hint that they're collecting fruit fragments for a certain head honcho.

The Grand Doomer, naturally, is in Another Dimension, but it's a lot more problematic then that.

Quote

"The boss of all Doomers has become a black-winged subjugator powered by the shards of the crown... and he's after Magolor's red fruit! Is this payback for making Kirby gather those ship parts!?"

Yep, shards of the Master Crown also made it to Another Dimension alongside Magolor. Remember how I suggested that the Master Crown was a lot like Dark Matter? Well, this only backs that up. And beating the Crowned Doomer only makes the Master Crown change tact, posess the fruit fragments that Magolor has been collecting and open up a dimensional portal.

Whispy Woods got a bit of redesign, huh?
OK, it's not Whispy Woods, because it actually puts up a proper fight.

Quote

"Those who wear the Master Crown will gain power, but so will the darkness in their hearts. Thanks to the red fruit, it's become a wrathful wreath - a destroyer called the tree crown without a ruler!"

Luckily, Magolor finds a sword nearby, and using his magic, rips Kirby off and makes the sword ultra massive!

Quote

"To free the tree and bring an end to the destruction... To take responsibility for his wicked ways... With all of his magic infused into the sword, he must strike! Magolor must atone for his misdeeds!"

Anyway, Magolor wins and all that, but you know what's really intriguing? The background of this fight. It kinda looks like a city, and it gets completely bulldozed during the fight.
Now, of course, there's no concrete proof of what I'm about to suggest, but... Well, we did just see a Kirby game mostly take place in a ruined city. I refuse to believe this means nothing. It's too convenient!

But if I'm right, then the "Forgotten Land" was destroyed inadvertently by Magolor bringing the Master Crown to it. I assume this might be when the residents used ID-F86's power to leg it, leaving behind the animals.

Again, pure theorycrafting on my part here. Back to what we actually know.

After Magolor finally destroys the Master Crown for good, one more portal opens up, so he goes through it, to find...

Huh... OK. Now that's interesting.

If you're not aware, that's the hub area from Team Kirby Clash Deluxe. Yes, that spin-off game? Canon. And the fruit fragments turn out to be one of those Gem Apples he sells. This has some ramifications, which I will have to go into in a future post. Yeah, we're not done after this. Sorry.

It's amusing to think that Magolor Epilogue is the story of how he introduced a medieval village to capatilism.

Oh, but that's not all. Extra Mode in this version has some interesting dialogue changes if you get all 120 energy spheres, courtesy of Magolor himself. Talking to him multiple times after each boss has him deliver a variety of interesting details.

Quote

"One last thing. I may have told you a teeny, tiny, itsy-bitsy lie. Sorry about that. Aw, don't give me that look. I guess it may have been several lies...but who's counting, right?

Anyway, the truth is...I'm not really from Halcandra. Have you seen the place? It's a dusty mess! But I did spend a lot of time traveling to different spots around here, and I eventually discovered the Lor Starcutter by the volcano.

So, the part about me being all alone on Halcandra for a very, very long time? That part's true. But I wanted you to come here too! That's why I lied. This planet is just too, too amazing... It's a veritable paradise of mysterious magic and unknown technology! Or so they say.

Anyway, I want to make things right, and there's no better way to do that...than to tell you about my lifelong dream! Truth be told, I want to hear the screams of every living being in the universe...
Screams of JOY, that is, as they visit my very own amusement park! It'd have all kinds of surprises! But I'd have to work suuuper hard to become the manager of an amusement park like that. Hmmm.

Maybe I'd start small. Open my own shop first. I could sell lots of different items... Ooo! If I do open my own shop, you'll have to come visit it, Kirby! I'll hook you up with the best deals. My prices will be so fair they're practically a steal! No foolin'!"

There's also various snippets of dialogue that retroactively tell us that the Lor Starcutter, that starship Magolor nicked, was made by the Ancients. It was guessable, sure, but there's hard proof.

Finally, there's The True Arena, which is the reason why this post took so long, it's really hard, as it now includes all the new bosses the Switch version has, and most of those are balanced around Magolor's overpowered abilities, which sucks, because you have to fight them as Kirby (Tip: Sand is the ability I used) and yes, there's a harder version of Magolor Soul at the end, it's completely bonkers! And it has two special screens.

Quote

"The one-eyed wreath grants power but swallows the soul... It devours, stealing any sense of self... Truly, this crown rules all. Free him from this nightmare! Take his hand and save a new friend!"

Quote

"Kirby... Ugh! I hate having to rely on you, and your vacant stare when I revealed my grand plan was truly insulting. Well, let's see if you can break this thing on my head. If you can, then someday... hee hee heee... I may get to toy with you again!"

No, there's nothing truly mind blowing, but I found it amusing that Magolor noticed that Kirby didn't really register anything that Magolor said when he revealed his plan.
Yes, that means I technically could've posted this without beating The True Arena, but well, I'm a stickler for detail.

 

[Jonnas]

Kirby lore? More like... Magolor

...

So, Rick is in Kirby Clash?

[Glen-i]

Spoiler

Super Kirby Clash

The Kirby Clash games refer to two spin-off titles based off of a sub-game from Planet Robobot available on the 3DS and the Switch. For this thread, only the Switch game is relevant.

The game takes place in the Dream Kingdom, where Kirby can assume one of 4 roles, Sword Hero, Hammer Lord, Beam Mage, or Doctor Healmore, and team up with 3 other players (or CPU's) to fight various bosses.

It's worth noting that this game was released before Returns to Dream Land Deluxe, so at first, it seemed to be non-canon, but thanks to Magolor Epilogue, we now know that the Dream Kingdom is effectively a parralel universe to Dream Land. So every character in this game is not the actual character that appears in other games (So @Jonnas it's technically not  that Rick, anyway, he's an NPC)... With two exceptions.

We already know of Magolor, but the final fight in this game is against a certain someone.

Medieval doors aren't very sturdy...

Hey, look! He's back! Galacta Knight is in this game, but in this title, he's referred to as the Aeon Hero. It's kinda hinted that he was a champion of the Dream Kingdom before falling from grace and becoming evil. You fight him four different times, and after the fourth fight, he's sealed into a crystal and sent through a dimensional portal.

Safe to assume this is before the point where Galactic Nova brings him to Super Star Ultra. I'm gonna put the time discrepancy down to parrallel universe shenanigans, OK?

So that's it, that's every game that's canon to the modern Kirby lore. Forbidden Land still has a lot of unanswered questions, but we'll have to wait until whatever the next canon Kirby game is. Maybe...