Kirby, Kirby, Kirby~

No, not Jack Kirby, but, good ol' Nintendo's pink friend, Kirby. This thread is just a discussion all about him. So, are you familiar with the Kirby series? If so, are familiar with Kirby's copy abilities? What Kirby games have you played? Which Kirby copy ability is your favourite? Which character from the Kirby games is your favourite? Which Kirby enemies are your favorite?

Feel free to discuss all your thoughts about Kirby here. :3

Oh hey, great topic! I've been a fan of the Kirby games for a very long time--probably about 15 years, in fact! I won't say I've played EVERY game, but quite a few, and I'm familiar with the anime, Kirby of the Stars, as well. (In fact, I still remember first hearing about it on the Fox Box several years ago, and being all "OMG, there's a TV show about Kirby!")

Kirby games I've played:

Kirby's Avalanche - This was actually one of the first video games I ever played, and it was how I first became familiar with some of the characters--like Waddle Dee and Whispy Woods and such. I was never that good at it, and I only played it at daycare, but this was my introduction to the world of Kirby.

Kirby Super Star - The first Kirby game I actually owned. I have fond memories of playing it with my cousin when he came to visit; we actually completed it together. Back then I used to draw a lot of fan art for that game too, which got really difficult when trying to do Marx's wings, for instance. Marx is still my favourite villain in a Kirby game.

Kirby's Dreamland 2 - When I was little, I composed songs about the Kirby characters to the tune of some of the songs in this game. I have since lost the lyrics to them, unfortunately... This was a game I could never finish because it was too hard collecting all those Rainbow Drops. I finally did collect all of them just a year ago, but I still can't defeat Dark Matter.

Nightmare in Dreamland - I remember seeing the TV commercials for this game a lot. For the longest time, I didn't even know that it was a remake of an older game, Kirby's Adventure. The NES came before my time, anyway.

Kirby Air Ride - To this day, this is the only racing game I like besides Mario Kart. I just love playing through City Trial mode over and over again, because something different and funny always seems to happen each time. Especially when I end up on totally the wrong machine for whatever minigame we play at the end (i.e. I end up on a very heavy Rex Wheelie and the game ends up being Air Glider). Plus I LOVE the music in this game. Music-wise, it's my second-favourite Kirby game, just behind Super Star.

Kirby Super Star Ultra - At first I was skeptical about this game, as I already had the SNES original and I thought it was just a remake of it. But then I found out that it has several new sub-games, including one where I could play as Meta Knight (my favourite Kirby character), and I bought it in a heartbeat. I still love it to this day. Well, except for the fact that it's much harder to do multiplayer (two game cards are needed).

Kirby and the Amazing Mirror - A game I had completely overlooked back when it came out, and back then I was too occupied with Nightmare in Dreamland anyway. But one day, I finally decided to give it a try--in fact, I even did a blind Let's Play of it. I really like how the map is laid out in this game, and how it's all non-linear. Nowadays I like to fool around with the order in which I visit the areas, and defeat the bosses out of order and everything. Of course, as with Super Star Ultra, it's really hard to do multiplayer since multiple copies of the game are required.

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards - To be honest, I wasn't really too excited about getting this game, but then my boyfriend got it for me, and I decided to play it anyway. It's kind of fun, especially with all the unique ability combos, but just not my favourite for some reason. And I'm still having trouble finding all those shards...

Kirby's Epic Yarn - Another one my boyfriend got for me. I really thought the developers did a good job of making this game really unique. I just love the design. I'm not too far into the game though, as I haven't had a lot of time to play it lately.

Favourite Copy Abilities

To be honest, I can't really decide on one overall. But I can think of a favourite in the context of certain games:

In Super Star/Ultra: Mirror and Ninja. I just love how Mirror Kirby looks, and the fact that Kirby can create mirror images of himself with it. With Ninja, I love how it features both close-range and long-range attacks. And I love the helpers for both abilities.

In Kirby's Adventure/Nightmare in Dreamland: UFO, hands down. I always rush to pick it up whenever I see a UFO enemy. I especially love the fact that it makes it much easier to fly, and to attack while doing so. And since I'm so used to Super Star's multi-technique abilities, I like how the UFO ability can attack with both a beam whip and various strengths of laser beams.

In Kirby 64: My favourite ability combos are the Fire Sword (Fire + Cutter) and the Animal Friend Statues (Stone + Cutter). Stone + Stone is fun too because it's just so awesome to walk over everything in the way, and I really like how Fire + Fire looks too.

But yeah, thanks for making this topic! I just love the Kirby universe, and there's just so much I can say about it.

LOVELY. The first game I ever beat on my own was Kirby 64, so of course, Kirby has a great place in my heart. They're some of my favorite games in general, because they're so easy to pick up and play. The graphical styles of them are all quite colorful and cute and make me happy (except Dark Matter is scary ummmm yeah). So visually, it's great too. I also regard Kirby's Epic Yarn as the most creative and visually appealing game I've played, so that falls right into the category.

I'm still working on completing Return to Dreamland and Dream Collection, but I enjoy them all tons.

The first time I played Kirby was Kirby 64. I rented it from the store and my exact words to my friend were, "Dude, you GOTTA see this game. I know it sounds weird, but you play as a pink circle that can EAT people and get their powers and FLY. IT'S CRAZY BUT AWESOME." And we never looked back. lol

I really love Kirby as well! My first Kirby game was Kirby 64 for the Nintendo 64. I really did like working with the poer combinations, with Flame and Cutter being my favorite combo (it makes the fire-sword!). Next I played Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land for the GBA, and, I used to think it was really tough to beat until I've played it about a couple of months ago.

My favourite Kirby power back then was the Sword ability, because, well, the cap looks like Link's hat, eh? But then I came to appreciate the Beam and Fire powers, and, so, those three powers (Beam,Fire, and Sword), tend to be my go-to abilities to complete the game.

I never played Kirby's Epic Yarn, but I did hear good things about it! I'll try it out when I get the chance.

God, if anyone doesn't remember the commercial and the song for Nightmare in Dreamland, they didn't live. lol I wanted that game really badly actually. :( I blame that annoying but catchy commercial.

I wish they'd have power combos in more Kirby games though. I thought that was the best part about K64 really. And I'll let you know, Epic Yarn is very different from other Kirby games. There is no power absorbing in this game, but it's so...unique that it's hard to really be bothered by it. It all just works...really well. It's not my favorite Kirby game, but like I said, it's definitely the most creative and aesthetically pleasing game I've ever played. I really love games that feature graphics that differ from other games and kind of make it their own, if that makes sense.

As for my favorite power, I really love the Water power in Return to Dreamland. It's so fun and I feel like we waited long enough for that kind of power in Kirby, haha. Whip is also fun! And for kicks, Thunder/Ice in K64 is great. I love being a fridge. Is that where the idea for Frost Rotom came from?

... *takes bait*

[Another one of Pat's text walls approaching. Grab some popcorn or skip it or something]

I... think I still like Kirby? Like, I eagerly await each new game like a dog sits at the front door awaiting master when he knows master's coming through the door. The only reason I even pay attention to E3 is to see if there's a new Kirby game coming out, and that's it. I'm gonna make a terrible addition to the gaming industry.

He's still one of my favorite characters, but I can't help but feel drained and less enthused when I think about how much he's kind of... drifted.

Anyway, I used to be the biggest fanboy on the block, I knew EVERYTHING, way back before wikis when you had to get information from buying/importing Japanese guidebooks or hoping to come across a big deal type Japanese site. I believe I used to be staff for a short while at Kirby's Rainbow Resort, and I'd be like one of the few non-official gurus (I was more like a living encyclopedia). Problem was, it took a while for people to listen to me, everyone was used to terrible, terrible fan names for characters like Skainter, Jumping Dan and *groan* Climber Guy. Can't get any more unoriginal than that.

It's actually Paint Roller, Starman, and Bounder, btw.

I submitted music to that site, too, and did lots of art there, so it was a cool place. Kind of a weird split when the anime first came out...

Ugh, the anime. That's where it started. Fairly innocuous when it first came out. Heck, I watched it and was fairly neutral about it, unlike the typical polarization it had. Of course, I didn't think it'd have a long term effect of changing the way the rest of the series plays out. I have to say, it bothers me. Especially the treatment of Kirby. It's like he got a case of Homer Simpson syndrome and got dumber each game after the anime's debut. To me, it's sort of a big deal because I was a fan from the beginning, so it's like taking an at that point long established character and then just all of a sudden changing everything about him, but doing it subtly in a way that casual fans won't even notice. I don't like that. I wouldn't like it if they all of a sudden made Charlie Brown a street thug ten years after his debut. An extreme example, but still...

It's a weird feeling, because unlike Sonic fans that complain about Modern/Classic Sonic, you won't really find anyone talking about, or who even remembers what Kirby used to be like. Only a few of the older members at KRR still seem to have any memory of that. I feel a bit out of place, I must say. :\

Having gotten that rant out the way...

Played every game ever released except a few of the Toy Box games and Return to Dream Land. Bought most of them when they were new. The only one I bought after the fact was Adventure for not having an NES, and Squeak Squad because I knew from day one I wasn't going to buy an afterthought at full price. I finally bought it late last year, and yeah, it's not great just as I predicted. :\ Cheesing the last boss with five candies, though, is pretty funny, if only for the irony considering every other ultimate boss in the series had to be taken out by some sacred weapon. The ending, kind of ticked me off in the sense that it was a near copy-paste from Mirror's (which in itself was a copy-paste of Nightmare in Dream Land... man that GBA era was rough...), and just further flanderized Kirby as instinctively single minded like some kind of animal.

Alright, alright, I'll stop with the negativity. >_<

I will say, while I like basically all the games up to Air Ride (excluding NiDL), I loved Touch! Kirby (the paintbrush one, whatever it's localized as), Super Star Ultra (which I was skeptical about), Epic Yarn (need to finish), and Mass Attack. Still want to play Return to Dream Land because it looks like a step in the right direction for platformers after Squeak Squad. My favorite games will always be the side games, though. They have longer replayability due to the fact that platformers are generally unchanging and only require skill during your first play through. Star Stacker, Air Ride, Dream Course, Tilt n' Tumble... man, those can end up going anywhere. Like a good shmup, your skill is always tested. It's not just muscle memory at that point.

Plus, my sis and I love a rousing bout in Dream Course. Lovely music, 2 player hijinx, requires some skill and planning and funny characterization of Kirby and Keeby. :D That Course 6 and Course 8... those whales still give me goosebumps. I used to whomp my sister at this game all the time, but since it's like an annual tradition, now, we're pretty equal. It's way more fun when you never know who's game it'll be. If any game they need to update with online capabilities...

Star Stacker's BGM is my favorite soundtrack, still. My favorite characters from the series are Kirby, Kine, Coo and Rick, but I enjoy all the characters from Dream Land 1, 2 and Adventure. Favorite location is Castle Lololo, Rainbow Resort, Course 6 and 8, and the pyramid stages from DL3 and 64. I'm still awaiting the day they put Rick, Kine and Coo back into a game the proper way. I know Meta Knight's been big ever since the show, but just for a hot second, gimmie back the animals. O_O Kine + Spark. Spark Manbow. Me wantee now!