Representation of Kirby games with stages in Smash [Part 1]
Warning: While most of the content in this article is factual, there is some mild speculation
Kirby is arguably one of Nintendo’s biggest character-driven franchises outside of “The Big Three”- having appeared on almost every Nintendo system except for the Virtual Boy. Not only that, but the series was also created by the very same creator of Smash, Masahiro Sakurai. With all this in mind, the Kirby series having a lot of content in the Smash games isn’t at all surprising. So in the final stage analysis for now, I will conclude this series with one last article about Kirby‘s stages in Super Smash Bros. I have already done articles on Mario, The Legend of Zelda and Pokémon, so feel free to read up on them too. As with the last two analysis articles, this one will be split into two parts. Part 1 of this analysis will cover every Kirby stage in Smash, while Part 2 is dedicated to statistics, predictions and other trivia.
Representation of Kirby games with stages in Smash [Part 2] (Statistics, Trivia and Speculation)
Super Smash Bros.
In Super Smash Bros. on the Nintendo 64, there is only one Kirby stage in the game. This is true for all series with stages with the exception of Mario, which has two.
Dream Land: Where dreams come true. Except Whispy Wood’s dreams. They never come true.
Kirby‘s singular stage in Smash 64 is Dream Land from Kirby’s Dream Land. Unlike most series in the game, Sakurai went with the first game in the series rather than its latest. The stage is set in Dream Land‘s first level, Green Greens, which is home to Whispy Woods. Whispy will occasionally blow a gust of wind which will push fighters in the direction he is facing, but this is rather weak and can be ran through easily. This behaviour is inspired by an attack in the games where Whispy would fire puffs at air at Kirby in an attempt to hurt him. The floating platforms are logs cut horizontally, which is what the platforms leading to the boss fight with him looked in Kirby Super Star (Kirby’s Fun Pak in Europe). Whispy’s design itself is also based on his Super Star incarnation, which has a pointed nose instead of a flat-ended one. In the background of the stage can be seen several islands, including one in the shape of a star. This island is the one seen in Kirby’s Super Star Stacker, which was only released in Japan. Bronto Burts and King Dedede can occasionally be seen flying by in the background. The stage’s theme is a faithful remix of Gourmet Race from Kirby Super Star.
With its single stage, the Kirby series represented its first ever game, featuring one of Kirby‘s most iconic locations and bosses. Kirby Super Star, the most recent Kirby game directed by Sakurai at the time, was acknowledged with a song and some of the design elements of the stage. The rather obscure Kirby’s Super Star Stacker was also acknowledged with the background. Overall, with just one stage, the Kirby series was able to have both its roots and the overall look of the SNES era of Kirby acknowledged. Kirby’s Dream Land would again receive a stage in Melee.
Games represented:
Kirby’s Dream Land
Games referenced:
Kirby Super Star
Kirby’s Super Star Stacker
Super Smash Bros. Melee
As with the majority of series represented in Super Smash Bros. Melee, the Kirby series has two new stages, with one representing Kirby’s Dream Land again. It was also one of only three series from the original Smash Bros. to have a returning stage.
If fighters come into contact with the water, does it influence the dreams? Will Popstar be dreaming of Link fighting DK tonight?
The first of Melee‘s two Kirby stages is Fountain of Dreams from Kirby’s Adventure. This was the second Kirby game Sakurai directed, so it following a Kirby’s Dream Land stage makes sense. High above Rainbow Resort, this stage takes place at the fountain of where the legendary Star Rod normally resides, where Kirby and King Dedede faced off at the end of the game. The layout of the stage is pretty straightforward, with the only notable active element being the outer two platforms suspended by spouts of water, which randomly raise or lower without any influence from the fighters. A rather notable features is the water on the main platform of this stage, which reflects the backdrop of the stage as well as the fighters, albeit heavily pixelated. The location is radically different from how it looked in the original game, which featured a different design for both the fountain and the area it resided in. Whereas the original location had yellow ground and purple skies with clouds, here the fountain appears to be high above the atmosphere, surrounded by trees and towers with a backdrop of stars and an aurora. This redesign would go on to be used a year later in Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land, a remake of Adventure. The stage’s background is also influenced by the world it originates from, Rainbow Resort, which featured coloured rings and auroras in the sky of some levels and the hub room. This stage’s song is a dramatic, slower-paced orchestrated remix of Gourmet Race from Kirby Super Star, which would also be used in the remake.
And right below you can see Dream Land’s ocean, Blue Blues.
Kirby‘s second stage in Melee is Green Greens from Kirby’s Dream Land. As with many other series in the game, this stage is a new take on a stage from Smash 64, hence why this game has been given a stage again. Similarly to Dream Land in the last game, this stage takes place in the first level of Dream Land and features Whispy Woods who can blow a gust of wind to push fighters. He now also has the ability to shake out a bunch of apples from his leaves, which can damage fighters and be used as throwing items, and very rarely recover health instead. While Whispy has always been able to drop apples to attack, shaking out a bunch of them at once is an ability he first displayed in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. A major new feature to this game’s take on the location is the addition of Star Blocks. These fall from the sky and gather at both ends of the main platform, stacking up to five blocks high before stopping. While they first appeared in colour in Kirby Super Star, the design of the blocks here feature more rounded stars like the ones in Kirby 64. Bomb Blocks, which first appeared in Kirby’s Adventure also appear here, and if attacked they explode violently, dealing damage and destroying nearby blocks, unlike in the games where they destroy every nearby block in a chain reaction. Their appearance is based on their design from Super Star, but they also flash which has never happened in any of the games. The design of the pathway on the main platforms is the same as the pathways that appear in the first level of Kirby 64, and the clouds seen in the background resemble what clouds looked like in the level Bubbly Clouds of the original Kirby’s Dream Land. The islands seen in the background aren’t based on any particular island this time, but the design of the mountains on them are the same as the ones that appeared in the background of some stages in the Dyna Blade sub-game of Super Star. The theme of this stage is an orchestral remix of the Green Greens theme from Kirby’s Dream Land, but also includes the ending fanfare from the Milky Way Wishes sub-game of Kirby Super Star at the end.
With the increased amount of stages, more of the Kirby series was able to be explored in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Kirby‘s second game Kirby’s Adventure was given a stage, while its first game was revisited with another stage that explored another concept of the series with the Star Blocks. Both these stages also included references to other games, whether it be through music or parts of the stages’ designs, allowing for other notable Kirby games like Super Star and The Crystal Shards to also be present in some way. The Dream Land stage from the previous game also returned as one of the few past stages in to be in Melee. The next game in the series would go on to include a stage from another Kirby game that has been acknowledged these first two games.
Games represented:
Kirby’s Dream Land
Kirby’s Adventure
Games referenced:
Kirby Super Star
Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
Continue on to Page 2 for Kirby‘s stages in both Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U.
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Man, I love the new games. I don’t get why we needed more Super Star remixes and stages in SSB4, especially on the stage that not many people would want to play on normally. It’s gone from a little quirk to an actual problem in representing newer Kirby games.
Indeed it has. It’s such a shame that Return to Dream Land, Epic Yarn and Triple Deluxe were all ignored in Smash 3DS/Wii U. I don’t have a problem with games having more than one stage in Smash, but I do have a problem with it when it clearly made many other games miss out. Smash 4 had mixed priorities in that regard.
I’m hoping for a stage from a Kirby game that hasn’t had one yet in Smash for Switch. Even if it was Air Ride; just give me a game that hasn’t had a stage before.