The Beginner’s Guide to Kirby Lore

#6: Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards – Nintendo 64 (2000)

Kirby leaps into the third dimension! Well, kind of. With HAL deciding to stick to the core gameplay that made the series great in the first place, Kirby 64 only embraced a 3D space to the extent of enhancing the game’s graphics with 2.5D gameplay, using those new-fangled camera angles. Everything else was more or less as it had been for the series up until that point, and the story was no different in this regard, though it was the most ambitious yet.

On the planet Ripple Star, far away from Kirby’s home planet of Pop Star, a familiar black mass was descending from the sky. Their goal? Ripple Star’s Shining Crystal, protected by the fairies who inhabit the planet. Realising that the crystal mustn’t fall into the wrong hands, one of the fairies named Ribbon was task with taking the treasure and fleeing, but was quickly caught up to and attacked by three blobs of Dark Matter, forcing her to drop the Shining Crystal, which then shattered into many Crystal Shards that scattered across the solar system, with some of them landing on Pop Star. Of course, it wasn’t long before Ribbon met up with Kirby after falling to Pop Star, and everybody’s favourite pink puffball promised to help Ribbon retrieve the Crystal Shards and save Ripple Star.

As with Dream Land 2 and 3, Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards features an additional “true” ending that can be accessed by recovering all the game’s collectibles (i.e. the eponymous Crystal Shards). Here, it turns out that that a powerful Dark Matter entity had been infesting the Fairy Queen and, after being exorcised by the Shining Crystal (rated E for Everyone, kids!), was revealed to be Zero-Two (or 0²), seemingly a reincarnation of the original Zero. Despite Zero-Two’s efforts to crush Kirby and his friends, including enveloping the entirety of Ripple Star in Dark Matter to create Dark Star, the menace is ultimately thwarted, with Kirby, Waddle Dee, Adeline and King Dedede all bidding Ribbon farewell and returning to Dream Land.

Much like Dream Land 3 before it, Kirby 64 built upon the lore of Dark Matter, helping to better establish it in the Kirby universe as an intergalactic threat capable of infesting a planet from inside-out, corrupting and manipulating all that it possessed. Although this was Shimomura’s last mainline Kirby game as a director (with the exception of his role as co-director for the Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land along with series creator Sakurai), Dark Matter didn’t leave the series with him, and you’ll see the concept return a couple more times in this article.

#7: Kirby and the Amazing Mirror – GameBoy Advance (2004)

After Masahiro Sakurai left HAL Laboratory following the release of Kirby Air Ride in 2003,  a small amount of Kirby games were outsourced to other companies for their development, with a company named Flagship leading development on two mainline games, the first of these being Amazing Mirror, which was a collaboration between HAL Laboratory, Flagship, and DIMPS (better known for their work on the Sonic series, as well as certain Dragon Ball games such as Xenoverse). With its multiplayer component and a sprawling, interconnected and non-linear world, story took a back seat in this game, resulting in a narrative more in line with Kirby’s Adventure:

High above of the skies of Dream Land lies the Mirror World, a plane of existence where mirrors have the power to grant the wishes of those reflected in them. One day, a sinister force corrupted the Mirror World so they could only reflect malice and evil. When Meta Knight discovered what had happened, he set off to save the Mirror World. Upon his return, Meta Knight attacked a sleeping Kirby, with his sword splitting our hero into four coloured versions of himself, who then set off to investigate what really happened when Meta Knight went to the Mirror World.

Of course, this being Kirby, things are not as they first appear. In reality, Meta Knight was attacked by a dark doppelganger who sealed him in a mirror which was split into eight parts and scattered across the world. After the Kirbys repair the Mirror, they defeat Dark Meta Knight, as well as the latest eldritch abomination known as Dark Mind (who takes on the form of Nightmare during his boss fight and may be his reincarnation), saving the day. They also learn that Shadow Kirby, a dark reflection of Kirby who had attempted to hinder the group’s adventure, had in fact only done so because he wanted to protect the Mirror World by keeping out foreign beings, and he decides to stay and protect his home in the game’s ending should Dark Mind ever return.

As with the Dark Matter trilogy, Amazing Mirror introduces concepts that wouldn’t be expanded upon until years after its initial release, continuing the trend of newer Kirby games calling back to older ones in pretty big ways.

#8: Kirby Squeak Squad – Nintendo DS (2006)

The second title developed by Flagship, Mouse Attack was a new take on the Kirby franchise just like Amazing Mirror was, this time being featuring far more localised exploration and a focus on character progression via the game’s “Ability Scrolls”, collectibles that allowed Kirby to learn new moves. Per tradition, however, the game’s story is simple enough at the surface level:

One day, Kirby’s about to tuck into some strawberry shortcake when it’s swiped from right under his nose…area… In the ensuing bloodthirsty rampage, which our hero aims at King Dedede under the assumption that he stole the cake, Kirby encounters the Squeaks, a band of rodent robbers who are plundering every treasure chest on Pop Star in order to find something in particular it seems…

With the advent of these new antagonists, Kirby redirects his unyielding rage onto the Squeaks (though not before giving Dedede a royal leathering), and after a few more levels finally catches up with Daroach, the Squeaks’ leader. After teaching him a valuable lesson in “The fundamentals of why you shouldn’t mess with Kirby”, the pink puffball is finally about to reclaim his hard-earned dessert before it is once again moved out of reach, this time by Meta Knight. After dishing out yet another asskicking, Kirby is again beaten to the punch of opening the coveted chest by Daroach, who explains that it actually contains the ultimate power source, which he intends to claim for himself. However, the actual contents of the chest turns out to be Dark Nebula, seemingly a reincarnation of Zero that was sealed away and forgotten about (though it’s strongly implied that Meta Knight knew about this, hence his efforts to keep the chest out of everyone’s hands). In the end though, even Dark Nebula’s return and subsequent possession of Daroach weren’t enough to stop Kirby’s rampant bloodlust, and after one final beatdown, the monsters disintegrates and Kirby flies home, with a new shortcake gifted to him the Squeaks to apologise for the trouble they caused.

Despite the Squeaks becoming well liked antagonists for Kirby (showing up to aid his quest in Kirby Mass Attack), as well as the fact that Animal is fondly remembered as a unique Ability that should be brought back to the series, Mouse Attack hasn’t been referenced by any subsequent mainline games outside of the keychains in Kirby: Triple Deluxe and the stickers in Kirby: Planet Robobot. Whether this will change with the release of Star Allies is unknown at the time of writing.

#9: Revenge of the King (Kirby Super Star Ultra Sub-Game) – Nintendo DS (2008)

One my personal favourite Kirby games, Revenge of the King is very light on plot, since the game is a remake of the hard mode of Kirby’s Dream Land in the same vein as Spring Breeze was in Kirby Super Star, updating the graphics and even the majority, if not all of, the generic enemies from the original game (swapping out Bronto Burts for more bird-like Koozers is one such example), and even reintroducing the flying fortress Kabula as a boss after an almost thirteen year absence since her appearance in Kirby’s Block Ball on the GameBoy.

As for the story itself, King Dedede wants to finally settle his score with Kirby after all his prior losses to the pink puff, and to this end has constructed a new, souped-up Dedede Hammer, as well as donning an intimidating mask to complete his persona of Masked Dedede (go figure).

Despite the very bare bones story, perhaps more so than any other game in the main series, Revenge of the King is significant for the fact that it showed real character development in the series, as Dedede has no attacked Kirby of his own volition in a mainline game since this one, instead becoming a steadfast ally of Kirby and a hero in his own right (but more on that soon). In addition to this, Revenge of the King marked the first appearance of Bandana Waddle Dee (or Bandana Dee), a mook who is staunchly loyal to the Dedede to the point that he takes on Kirby alone when all of Dedede’s other defenses have failed him. Bandana Dee would later return in

#9.5: Meta Knightmare Ultra (Kirby Super Star Ultra Sub-Game) – Nintendo DS (2008)

Meta Knightmare Ultra is to Kirby Super Star Ultra what Meta Knightmare was to Nightmare in Dream Land, a run through of the regular game with Kirby’s resident masked musketeer. In Ultra, Meta Knight wishes to become the strongest warrior in the galaxy, and so uses the Halberd to venture out into space, collect the Star Power from the planets Kirby visited in Milky-Way Wishes and restore the Galactic Comet NOVA. Upon doing so, he wishes for NOVA to summon the strongest warrior in the galaxy so that Meta Knight may duel him and assume his title. In response, NOVA summons Galacta Knight, a warrior who was sealed away for fear of his immense power (though it is unknown if his exile was self-imposed or not), and whose appearance greatly resembles Meta Knight (or perhaps the other way around?). Needless to say, Meta Knight disposes of Galacta Knight and becomes the new strongest warrior in the galaxy. Bada bing, bada boom.

All fairly basic information, but important nonetheless (specifically the story of Galacta Knight). Let’s move on.