Kirby (universe)
The Kirby universe refers to the Smash Bros. series' collection of characters, stages, and properties that hail from Nintendo's Kirby series of multi-genre video games. It was developed by HAL Labratory Inc., the same company that started the Super Smash Bros. series, and it revolves around the titular spherical, pink entity Kirby and his adventures around the galaxy of Dream Land. The series has had many games of several different genres, with side-scrolling platformers being the most prominent.
Franchise description
Masahiro Sakurai, the future designer for the Super Smash Bros. series, was designing a Game Boy platformer originally titled Twinkle Popopo, and it originally had a different main character design. Sakurai created a blob placeholder sprite for the character during development, and after a while he liked the placeholder sprite better as a main character design, so the character was named "Kirby" (either after the Kirby Corporation, a vaccuum cleaner company, or Nintendo's legal counsel John Kirby, who saved Nintendo from an infringement lawsuit involving the name Donkey Kong and its similarity to the name King Kong) and the game's title was made to be Kirby's Dream Land. After the game's release in 1992, Kirby and his fictional world and related properties became a mainstream video game franchise for Nintendo in the years to come.
Kirby's next appearance was in the critically lauded Kirby's Adventure for NES, which introduced his ability to inhale enemies, swallow or spit them out, and gain abilities from the enemies he swallowed; this became a Kirby trademark present in most subsequent games. It also introduced a rival figure to Kirby named Meta Knight. Alongside two more entries in the Kirby's Dream Land series, as well as various golf, puzzle, and pinball spinoffs, was 1996's Kirby Super Star for SNES. Then, aside from Kirby's appearance in 1999's Super Smash Bros. (developed by the same company as the Kirby games, HAL Laboratory), the franchise underwent a bit of a hiatus on the international side of things until 2000's Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. After Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble for Game Boy Color afterward, Kirby properties reprised their roles in 2001's Super Smash Bros. Melee.
The Kirby franchise continued its stream of releases at a seemingly annual rate with 2002's Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land for GBA, which was an enhanced remake of Kirby's Adventure, then the 2003 racing game Kirby Air Ride for Gamecube, which featured a menu interface and musical score remarkably similar to those of Melee (again, both were developed by HAL Laboratory). Then there was 2004's Kirby and the Amazing Mirror for GBA, 2005's Kirby: Canvas Curse for Nintendo DS, and most recently 2006's Kirby: Squeak Squad for DS. (It should be noted that because the Kirby and Smash Bros. franchises were made by the same company, Master Hand and Crazy Hand make cameo appearances in Kirby and the Amazing Mirror.) A new Kirby game is being developed for Wii; in addition, Kirby and Meta Knight are set to appear as playable characters in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
In 2001 an anime series based on the Kirby franchise was produced and aired in Japan until 2003 and finished airing stateside in 2006. This series, Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, is considered an alternate universe because it does not take place in the same canonical continuity of the video games. Through 100 episodes, the show depicts a Kirby series antagonist, the sorceror-like Nightmare, attempting to take over the Kirby universe with his demon-like army and company titled Nightmare Enterprises, and the "main" series antagonist King Dedede and his flunky Escargoon are made by Nightmare to hunt down the last remaining members of the faction that originally opposed Nightmare for the past thousands of years, the Star Warriors; these remnants include the almost infantile Kirby and the enigmatic, Zorro-like Meta Knight. Featuring characters seen throughout the game series, the show ends with Kirby's final battle with Nightmare. While it appears to be a kid's show, it also features darker themes, satire, parody, and self-referential humor that older viewers can pick up on. The series was highly popular and successful in Japan but not so much in the United States.
Kirby games in general feature characters, storylines, and gamaplay that are said to appeal mainly to young gamers. Sakurai has stated that this series of games is meant to accomodate those who are just starting to play video games, which includes but is not limited to children. As such, Kirby games can be beaten by a player of nearly any age; however, as is certainly the case with the Smash Bros. series, they are also designed to provide deeper challenges for more experienced gamers. Most Kirby games have garnered solid reviews from critics as a result of this.
In Super Smash Bros
The Kirby franchise is represented as one of several "standard universes" found in SSB, with one character, one stage, and two items.
Character
- Kirby: Kirby is is a small, pink, spherical creature with a positive disposition and several abilities and powers that are almost magical in nature. In the games and anime, he is characterized as being roughly eight inches in height; his dimensions are obviously increased in size for his appearances in the Smash Bros. series of games. He resides on a star-shaped planet named Popstar in the galaxy of Dream Land, and whenever some form of evil or danger threatens Dream Land, Kirby does not hesitate to go out on a journey to defeat it. Kirby in his Smash appearance demonstrates his ability to float through the air, as well as his trademark power to inhale opponents and copy and use their B-moves as his own B-move. His B-Up and B-Down moves resemble powers he gains when he inhales enemies in his games. He is a high-tier character in the original Smash Bros.
Stages
Super Smash Bros. features three Kirby-themed stages, though only the first is normally available (The remaining two require the game be hacked):
- Dream Land: This stage is a small area of colorful grassland where a common boss in Kirby games, an air-spouting tree called Wispy Woods, resides in the background and slowly blows fighters off to one side of the stage from time to time.
- Kirby Beta Stage 1: An early form of the above stage. For unknown reasons, it remains in the code of the game as a seperate level.
- Kirby Beta Stage 2: Another early form of Dream Land, also locked away within the code of the game.
Items
- Maxim Tomato: One of the powerups Kirby often collects to replenish depleted health in Kirby games is this tomato-like item which restores Kirby to full health. It is normally harder to find than the other, less-effective health-replenishers. In Smash, the Maxim Tomato, perhaps contrary to its name, restores the health of the character who picks it up by 100 % rather than restoring all accumulated damage which the Heart Container from the Zelda series can do. It is still a powerful healing item, however.
- Star Rod: A central plot element to Kirby's Adventure is this powerful artifact, which when inserted into the Fountain of Dreams ensure peace and good dreams for Dream Land and its denizens, and Kirby must use it to combat Nightmare in the final battle. In both that game and the Smash Bros. series, the Star Rod can be used as a bludgeoning weapon, and can also launch a star as a projectile when swung with force.
In Super Smash Bros. Melee
While Melee is much bigger than Smash, Kirby is still the only playable Kirby series character. Kirby returns swinging a mallet (a power he can absorb in Kirby games from a simian enemy called Bonkers) as his new B-Forward move; however, due to a combination of minor alterations to Kirby's design and the redesigned Melee gameplay engine, Kirby suddenly becomes one of the lowest-tier characters in the game.
Stages
Super Smash Bros. Melee features three Kirby-themed stages:
- Dream Land: Green Greens: This stage is thematically similar to the Dream Land stage, with Wispy Woods blowing toward either end of the stage, but the layout is rather different, consisting of the ground being divided up in three by two sets of building blocks that fall from the sky to build up walls that can be broken. Some of these boxes are explosive in nature.
- Dream Land: Fountain of Dreams: A stage with a layout similar to Battlefield, this is the Fountain of Dreams that safeguards the Dream Land galaxy so long as the Star Rod is inserted into the fountain's shaft. The dreamy music heard here was reused in Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land when Kirby battles King Dedede at this location.
- Past Stages: Dream Land: This is the original Dream Land stage from Smash, returning in Melee totally unaltered.
The All-Star Teleporter also borrows many elements from the Kirby series, such as the background music, but is still a part of the Smash Bros. universe.
Items
The Kirby universe features four separate items that can be used in battle in Melee:
- Maxim Tomato: Returns from Smash unchanged in type of function, but its healing power has been nerfed down to 50% points.
- Parasol: A new item which often manifests as a copyable power for Kirby in his games, allowing him to attack enemies and also float down to earth slowly. In Melee, this can be used as a bludgeoning weapon, but this item's peculiar nature is revealed when the character holding it jumps up and falls down; the parasol opens up and the character floats down to earth slowly, like Peach's Up-B move, though the Parasol doesn't damage while opened.
- Star Rod: Retuens from Smash essentially unaltered.
- Warp Star: A new item which is essentially Kirby's mode of long-distance transportation in his games. This is one of the most destructive items in Melee; when picked up, the character will ride and hover on it for a moment, launch straight up, and crash back down with lightning speed and explosive force, dealing major damage and knockback to opponents in the area of the landing zone. Warp Stars in flight can be steered either left or right to a limited degree before crashing down.
Full Trophy List
- Kirby's three game trophies
- Maxim Tomato
- Warp Star
- Star Rod
- Parasol
- Wispy Woods
- Fountain of Dreams
- Fire Kirby
- Fighter Kirby
- Ball Kirby
- Waddle Dee
- King Dedede
- Rick
- Gooey
- Meta-Knight (incorrect trophy title, should be "Meta Knight")
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Considering the comparatively small number of total characters and stages that have been revealed about Super Smash Bros. Brawl through trailers, a comparatively large amount of Kirby-universe content have been confirmed for the game. This may be attributed to the fact that the Smash Bros. series and the Kirby series were both developed by HAL Laboratory.
First off, Kirby reappears to reprise his role and traits from Melee almost exactly, but like other returning characters he is given a "Super Smash" attack, which appears to consist of dunking his opponent into a boiling pot in a power called "Cook".
A more sensationalized addition, however, is the new appearance of the enigmatic Meta Knight as a playable character. He is a Zorro-like masked-swordsman character ostensibly of the same species as Kirby, but with a dark blue body and facial features in white that can be seen whenever he takes his mask off. Meta Knight's roles in his various appearances in Kirby games and the anime have ranged from ally to villain; he has helped Kirby at times, but at one instance in Kirby Super Star he attempted to take over Dream Land with the intent to end the lazy lifestyle of its inhabitants, attempting to kill Kirby in the process, but was defeated. In his appearance in Brawl, his cape transforms into wings which he uses to float in midair much like Kirby and Jigglypuff, and he demonstrate a new gliding ability.
In addition, revealed in Brawl trailers as a new stage is Meta Knight's flying fortress of a personal aircraft, the Halberd. The Halberd has been seen in several incarnations throughout the Kirby franchise; it is where the portion of Kirby Super Star concerning Meta Knight's villanous role takes place. The stage appears to start off in a dark warehouse, and as the match goes on the warehouse opens up, the Halberd takes off into the air along with the platform the players fight upon, and the Halberd flies around the backdrop of the now-floating stage. Apparently at some point the stage itself actually inserts into the balcony of the Halberd.
