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Kirby: Dark Dawn | ||||
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Developer(s) | ![]() ![]() | |||
Publisher(s) | ![]() | |||
Platform(s) | ![]() | |||
Genre(s) | Action, Platformer | |||
Series | Kirby | |||
Release Date(s) | February 8th, 2019 | |||
Mode(s) | Single Player Multiplayer | |||
Age Rating(s) | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | |||
Media Included | ![]() ![]() | |||
Available Input | ![]() ![]() |
Kirby: Dark Dawn (also known as Kirby of the Stars: Dark Dawn in Japan) is a platformer Kirby game for the Nintendo Switch. The game was released worldwide on February 8th, 2019. It was developed by HAL Labs. and Shooting Star Studios. The game also supports amiibo and Nintendo Network connection.
Gameplay[]
The game is a combination between 3D and 2.5D sidescroller, in a similar fashion to Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. The game features 3D models with a very artistic theme, as the characters, background and environment are covered in different textures such as watercolor, paper, canvas, etc. However, this is not caused by anything involving the story and is just a cosmetic variation.
The game plays similarly to Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards and the cancelled Kirby game for Nintendo GameCube. You are able to play as Kirby, Meta Knight, Ribbon, Adeleine, King Dedede and a new character named Kotohime. Every character plays differently and have their advantages and disadvantages. Like in Kirby Super Star and Kirby Super Star Ultra, Kirby will be able to turn enemies into his helpers, and if there are no other characters playing, he can have up to 3 helpers with each one being controlled by the CPU or by real players. Other players also have their ways of summoning help: Meta Knight can summon Sword Knight, Blade Knight and Ax Knight when the power of his Galaxia is fulfilled. Ribbon is able to call her fairy friends when defeating certain enemies. Adeleine is able paint enemies to help her when defeating them. King Dedede can call his servants such as Bandana Dee, Captain Doo and Waddle Daa whenever he has defeated enough enemies. And Kotohime can defeat enemies and revive them in the form of a Bunny as part of her kind.
The game levels are somewhat large, with various secrets and ways to explore in them. There will be 6 lands Kirby will explore, and the last one which is in a mysterious spaceship. Copy Ability movesets return and new moves for abilities can be learned, kinda like in Squeak Squad. A new addition is the Warp Star portion of levels. The Warp Star zones will have the playable characters riding on a Warp Star in some kind of obstacle course that differs depending on the level it is. When entering this zone, a new score is displayed and depending on how well the player does in the Warp Star zone, the rewards at the end will vary.
A new ability Kirby eventually learns during the journey is the Matter Rift ability, in which he is able to turn into one of its many forms, but only after collecting the Cosmic Matter items, which is always a total of five. Some special enemies have to be defeated by this ability after getting special Cosmic Matter items. When normal Cosmic Matter items are collected, the Neutral Matter Rift is gained, which is used to create rifts that work as voids to get rid of certain obstacles and enemies. However, some stages feature Elemental Cosmic Matter items which, after being collected, grant the Matter Rift with a corresponding Copy Ability. Those elemental Matter Rift forms are Fire, Water, Stone, Tornado, Spark, Ice, Wood, Space (Gravity) and Time (Clock). Most of them, like Neutral, are used until their purpose in the stage is fulfilled, but Time is the only one that has one-time usage. In general, all of these forms are used in stages for the sake of overcoming greater obstacles in order to continue, and also serve as an essential element in the main plot.
The game features online multiplayer for subgames, from which you can choose to play with friends in your Nintendo Switch friend list or other people worldwide. The game supports amiibo, which can be used to get badges themed after the amiibo's characters.
Story[]
The peaceful Dream Land is now dealing with a mysterious Spaceship that has been stalking the whole land for days, with habitants starting to fear a possible attack from it. Kirby, like the curious Popopo he is, decides to follow the Spaceship as soon as he saw it passing by. The Spaceship starts to increase its speed all of a sudden, forcing Kirby to run even faster. However, Kirby starts to collapse, somehow weakened, and faints. Lying unconscious on the ground, Kirby is awakened by Meta Knight, accompanied by a royal female bunny, who introduces herself to Kirby as Kotohime, the rabbit princess. She explains that ever since the Spaceship appeared, her people had started to slowly lose their essence of life, becoming immobile stone statues, also explaining that her healing powers were useless against those who already became stone. Figuring out that the Spaceship's owner must have released some kind of magic to do so, their intentions, despite being mysterious, must be for something terrible.
Kotohime informs Kirby that she was saved by Meta Knight from also losing her essence, but that the rest of Dream Land is in danger and that they must stop the culprit behind it and halt the magic, as doing so may hopefully return the essence to their owners and release them from their stone prisons. Kirby decides to start their new journey to stop this unknown being from stealing all life from Dream Land and all Pop Star. Slightly later in his adventure, Kirby discovers mysterious cosmic items, and so he decides to collect them having absolutely no idea of what they do. After taking the fifth one from a mysterious enemy, Kirby gains a strange ability for the first time, Matter Rift. Kirby finds King Dedede and his two subordinates Bandana Dee, Captain Waddle Doo and Waddle Daa all entangled by Whacky Woods. Kirby defeats the tree, saving them and having King Dedede join his adventure.
After defeating Whacky Woods in Mount Marvelous and Amumu in Awesome Awesands, Kirby meets Captain Bard and his friend Sailor Archie on their ship in Grand Galleon, who were confronting two evildoers on an opposing ship. As Kirby helps them by destroying the other ship with the Matter Rift, the two evildoers ambush them, and so he fights Blitzoul and Veigar for the first time. Unable to defeat him, they both flee, and Bard thanks him for his help, telling him that he will return the favor sometime. A scared Archie interrupts them and signals upwards, noticing the big spaceship flying through the sky. The spaceship releases more of its dangerous magic and proceeds to leave Pop Star. A worried Kotohime wonders if they will do this to other planets, and Bard starts to brag that his ship can fly as well. As soon as Kirby and co. hear this, they decide that this is the time for him to return the favor.
As they follow the spaceship through the galaxy, Captain Bard's ship receives an attack from the mysterious spaceship, leaving them with no other choice than to land in the nearest planet, which happens to be Ripple Star. After landing, Bard notices that parts of his ship are missing. Kirby travels through Icicle Island in search of the pieces, but he later encounters various fairies being attacked by dark entities. Kirby defeats them, saving the fairies and his old friend Ribbon, who immediately joins him. Ribbon signals towards Cookie Chimney, where more of her friends went after being chased by these creatures.
After finding the rest of the ship pieces and saving the other fairies, Bard is able to fix the ship in order to depart from Ripple Star. They discover the Spaceship landing on Cavius. As Kirby goes through Arclight Arcstar, he is ambushed by Blitzoul, who reveals three possessed hostages: a fairy, a Blade Knight, and Adeleine. Forced to fight them all, Kirby defeats and saves them, forcing Blitzoul to retreat. Adeleine joins Kirby for the rest of the adventure.
The Spaceship flees from Cavius, and hides in Mekkai as our heroes follow. In Locoland, Kirby and co. discover the spaceship's location. It is revealed that even more of the dark entities seen in Ripple Star have been residing here. As Kirby and friends approach the spaceship, Veigar and Blitzoul appear, and alongisde them, Andaedra reveals herself. Kotohime becomes shocked as she recognizes her and begins to run towards them, crying. Andaedra orders Blitzoul to stop her, doing so by unleashing a paralyzing blast. While the worried heroes try to wake up Kotohime, Andaedra orders Veigar to do whatever he had planned. Both Blitzoul and Andaedra retreat into the spaceship as a crazy Veigar summons his latest invention, the Abominable Machine. After an intense battle, Kirby destroys the Abominable Machine, and Veigar flees. As soon as our heroes enter the spaceship, it begins to move, breaking through the dimensional portal that was being unsealed.
Kirby explores the spaceship, getting past its various traps and enemies in order to find Andaedra. After going outside the spaceship, they notice that she is looking far into the distance, and they realize they went into a bizarre alternate dimension. As Andaedra properly introduces herself, a weak Kotohime begs her to try to recognize her and remember her past. Andaedra, not feeling any kind of sympathy towards her, proceeds to explain her scheme. She reveals that all the essence she gathered was in order to unseal someone's prison and help them take over once again, believing herself to be a herald of the darkness of sorts. Meta Knight begins to worry, as he senses that this evil is familiar, to which Kotohime agrees. Andaedra takes her eye brooch off, and points it upwards into the distance. More essence of life starts to gather at the brooch, unleashing a magic blast that explodes far away and spreads a cloud of darkness. From it, an eye reveals itself and to Kirby's and his friends' surprise, it is Dark Matter. Blitzoul and Veigar start to worry about Andaedra, wondering what exactly is going on. Dark Matter begins to send darkness throughout the dimensional portal to the rest of the galaxy, and soon begins to embrace Andaedra as its vessel. Kotohime cries out loud and once again, begs Andaedra to stop this and return to her, to which Andaedra slightly reacts but is still embraced by Dark Matter. Both begin to transform, merging into one entity, and becoming the Dark Maiden. She flees, and our heroes convince Blitzoul and Veigar to help them steer the ship and follow her.
Kirby soon jumps off of the spaceship as he uses all his full potential to inhale Cosmic Matter and turn into his Void Matter Rift form. He lands on a road of nebula, in which Dark Maiden decides to show herself and kill him. Both battle through the moving nebula road, with Kirby using all rifts possible to counterattack Dark Maiden. As Kirby manages to weaken her, he prepares his finishing blow. However, Dark Maiden rises once again, but this time revealing an even more powerful Dark Matter, while Andaedra becomes near-lifeless. The spaceship catches up to where Kirby is, and Kotohime jumps off to heal Kirby and attempt to heal Andaedra as well, to no avail. Dark Matter's segment doesn't allow her, and prepares to attack. Ribbon reveals that she brought the real Shard Gun, throwing it as Meta Knight quickly flies towards Kirby, grabs him, and catches the Shard Gun, assisting him in a final battle against Dark Maiden. As Kirby performs his final attack on her, Dark Maiden begins to collapse and falls.
Dark Matter is weakened, and taking advantage of this, Kotohime jumps towards Andaedra and hugs her. Andaedra tries to push her away, but sensing Kotohime causes her to go through flashbacks and overcome her possessed form. She starts to remember everything, since she was a little child up to before she became a "herald of darkness". Her origin, her family, her friends, her home, in a matter of seconds she remembers everything, including the fact that the little bunny that is hugging her is her sister, Kotohime. Andaedra realizes that she had become the very thing she fought so hard against for so long: a threat to her sister, her people and the whole universe. Kotohime tries to heal her in hopes of separating her from Dark Matter, but Andaedra tells her that it is pointless. She has turned into Dark Matter and there was no escape. Andaedra begs Kotohime to forgive her, and to never forget what she cares for the most like she did. She pushes Kotohime away and in tears requests Kirby to destroy Dark Matter and her along with it. As the rest of Kirby's friends attempt to stop a desperate Kotohime from going back to Andaedra, Kirby is forced to use Matter Rift in its full potential combined with the Crystal Shards' power, creating a sealing void that starts to absorb all of Dark Maiden and Dark Matter's remains. Andaedra bids farewell while she and Dark Matter are sent into the void, blowing up into nonextistence as it closes forever. As soon as this happens, all the darkness and Dark Matter entities spread over the universe disappear, and all of the essence of life is restored, reviving those who turned into stone.
Kirby and co. return to Mekkai, and using both Andaedra's Ship and the Gigantia, all of them go to Ripple Star. There, Ribbon thanks Kirby for all his help and bids farewell to her friends once again, not leaving before giving Kirby a kiss on the cheek, to which he blushes and reacts humorously. Both ships depart to Pop Star, and as soon as they land, Bard and Archie thank Kirby for letting them be part of his "crew", and the Gigantia sails off as they say goodbye. Then, both a saddened Veigar and Blitzoul apologize for all the trouble, and are ready to leave. However, Kotohime tells Veigar thay they don't need to apologize, and requests he returns to the kingdom, also allowing Blitzoul to stay there with them. Both accept, and the three thank Kirby and co. for their help, inviting them to visit the Usagi Kingdom soon. The story ends with Kirby, Meta Knight, King Dedede and Adeleine waving goodbye to Kotohime, Veigar and Blitzoul, who are far in their way back home.
Characters[]
Playable Characters[]
Image | Name | Description | Ability/es | Helpers |
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Kirby | The hero of Dream Land will never let it lose hope. Kirby is ready to save his people from becoming stone statues and will do whatever is possible to stop the culprit, using his many Copy Abilities with his powerful inhale. | ![]() Inhale & Copy Abilities |
Kirby can turn certain enemies into helpers by sacrificing his current copy ability. |
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Meta Knight | After surviving the dangers of the unknown spaceship and saving Kotohime, Meta Knight helps Kirby during his quest in order to stop the stone chaos, using his great sword techniques. | ![]() Various sword (Galaxia) moves. |
Summons Sword, Blade and Ax Knights when the power of his Galaxia fulfills |
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Kotohime | Kotohime, the Rabbit princess of the Usagi Kingdom. Being considered a sacred entity and a goddess to her servants due to her miraculous powers, she is capable of transforming, healing and sensing far away presences. Kotohime is not able to float or fly, but her jumps are the highest in the game. | ![]() Magic abilities, mimicking. |
Defeats enemies and turns them into Bunnies to help her. |
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King Dedede | King Dedede, the self-proclaimed "King" of Dream Land. This stubborn penguin helps Kirby again after being saved in the first world. King Dedede comes with a powerful inhale (although he cannot copy abilities like Kirby) and use his powerful hammer to defeat most enemies. | ![]() Various hammer moves, Inhale. |
Calls Bandana Dee, Captain Doo and Waddle Daa when defeating enough enemies. |
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Ribbon | Ribbon returns to help her friend Kirby in his new adventure. After being saved from the attack on her home planet Ripple Star, Ribbon joins Kirby with her ability to fly and use her shard gun replica. | ![]() Capable of flying, Shard Gun |
Calls her fairy friends when defeating certain enemies. |
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Adeleine | Adeleine, the aspiring artist of Pop Star, was kidnapped and held captive in another planet along with other victims. After she is saved and tuned back to her normal self, she joins Kirby with her magic painting abilities. | ![]() Painting items, other useful objects and helpers. |
Paints her own helpers after defeating them. |
Other Major Characters[]
Image | Name | Description |
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Captain Bard | An egocentric and loud pirate who owns the Gigantia, an hybrid ship built by his ancestors. Bard travels through the seas and the sky, looking for all kinds of treasure, and beating up any enemy that tries to steal from him. Despite being a powerful leader, he only counts with his not-so smart sailor, Archie. Despite their polar opposite personalities, both seem to be great friends. Bard and Archie meet Kirby during their adventure, and will help them reach Andaedra's Ship to discover its purpose. |
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Sailor Archie | Archie is a clumsy and unlucky sailor, who works under Captain Bard's orders. He helps Bard look for treasure, but often makes stupid mistakes when confronting enemies, which sometimes ends up making them almost lose and causes Bard to get furious. Despite this, they both get along well in their own way, and he is always forgiven by Bard for his silly mistakes. |
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Blitzoul | A newbie, dark magician who seeks a leader to teach him well in order to become a successful mage. Seeing Andaedra as the ideal leader, he follows her orders with such loyalty. Despite this, he has no idea of the disasters that could happen if they accomplish their scheme. |
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Veigar | Veigar is a space bunny who is crazily obsessed with weapons. Developing a crush on Andaedra, he is willing to do anything to make her happy, which has caused him to blindly follow her orders. Veigar is desperate for Andaedra's attention, and often creates more innovative weapons only to impress her, to no avail. |
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Andaedra | Andaedra is a mysterious being that steers the spaceship named after her. Andaedra has been guiding this spaceship throughout different planets, releasing a mysterious magic (possibly created with the help of Blitzoul) in order to steal the essence of life from living beings. In the process, she turns all these people into stone if they're strong enough, but if that's not the case, she kills them. But for what purpose is she gathering all this essence? Only our heroes will find out. |
Dark Matter | The true main antagonist and (in a way) the final boss as it merges with Andaedra and becomes Dark Maiden. All of Dark Matter was sealed within the Lost Dimension after it was supposedly destroyed by Kirby. Andaedra traveled through the galaxy fighting any kind of its remains, looking for all of Dark Matter's concentration in order to destroy it properly. Dark Matter, however, managed to possess her, manipulating her into gathering essence of life to break it free and leading to the events of the game. |
Enemies[]
Bold denotes new enemies.
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Bosses[]
Mid-bosses[]
Returning[]
New[]
Bosses[]
Image | Name | Location/s | Attack Method | Ability |
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Whacky Woods | Mount Marvelous | Whacky Woods is a rather more energetic and demented version of the familiar Whispy Woods. Whacky attacks by using vine plants to trap Kirby, if he manages to do so, he will proceed to attack by spitting a venom liquid at him. If not, he will spit it at different directions. Like Whispy, Whacky can shake in order to make fruits, Gordos and other enemies to fall down. | ![]() |
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Amumu | Awesome Awesands | Amumu is a big mummy who loves to sleep. When Kirby interrupts his long nap, he goes nuts. Amumu attacks by using bandages to wrap the screen, in which Kirby must find a spot where he doesn't touch them, as they will later explode. Amumu is also able to turn into a wild sand tornado, which Kirby can hardly avoid. If Amumu goes into the background, he will try to smash Kirby with sand pillars. | ![]() |
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Frozandra | Icicle Island | Frozandra is a former fairy who got corrupted by the ice and turned into an ice witch. Frozandra uses a handful of icy magic attacks, which range from ice blasts to summoning icicles and unleashing lasers of cold air. All in all, getting frozen by her is 99.9% likely to happen. | ![]() |
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Magmamonium | Cookie Chimney | A deformed entity entirely made of magma and lava rocks. It proclaims itself to be the guardian of the volcano known as The Chimney. Magmamonium manipulates the lava pool around it in order to attack Kirby, sending hands of magma, rains of lava rock, and sometimes attacks directly by slamming itself onto the platform. Whether it fails or not, it will explode into several goops of lava by doing so, before rebuilding itself again. | ![]() |
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Possessed Adeleine | Arclight Arcstar | Along with a possessed Fairy and a possessed Blade Knight assisting her, they're all victims of Blitzoul's dark magic. As the other two try to approach Kirby, Adeleine paints more enemies to attack Kirby, ranging from regular enemies such as Waddle Doo to mid-bosses such as Tedhaun. | ![]() |
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Blitzoul | Grand Galleon Arclight Arcstar |
A newbie dark magician who was recruited by Andaedra to assist her with her scheme. Blitzoul has no idea of what he's gotten into, and along with Veigar, he just assists her because he admires her as a leader. Blitzoul uses dark magic, which often includes dark blasts, lasers, and summoning dark creatures to attack Kirby. In Arclight Arcstar, he possesses three victims to attack for him. | ![]() |
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Veigar | Grand Galleon | Veigar, unlike Blitzoul, decides to use weapons to attack. Veigar is mostly just determined to impress Andaedra with his creations, usually failing to do so. In Grand Galleon, he fights using a plasma gun, shooting electric lasers and charged blasts at Kirby. In Locoland, he uses his newest dangerous invention, the Abominable Machine. | ![]() |
Abominable Machine Veigar | Locoland (Andaedra's Ship entrance) | A massive robot created by Veigar as his latest attempt to make his leader proud and destroy Kirby and friends. This machine attacks from the middle of the area, from which Kirby has to run around attempting to avoid his missiles and electric blasts. As soon as he prepares to slam Kirby with the machine's hands, Kirby must attack with all force to destroy them. | ![]() | |
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Andaedra | Andaedra's Ship (inside Lost Dimension) | Andaedra specializes in dark magic and sword techniques, combining both during the fight. While she uses agile sword slashes, she uses her magic to unleash magic blasts and dark sword replicas throughout the stage. Not only that, but she can also teleport around and go into the background and foreground to dive in or attack from afar. | ![]() |
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Dark Maiden (Phase 1) | Nebula Road |
An entity created after Andaedra merges with Dark Matter. The battle takes place in an auto-sidescrolling road of obstacles, with Dark Maiden attacking from the background with varied dark magic, including dark energy balls, lasers and even summoned Dark Matter enemies. Occasionally, Dark Maiden will go into the actual stage and spin around in hopes of hitting Kirby, and will sometimes summon a replica of her sword made out of dark matter to swing around and attack. The Void Matter Rift form is obligatory and given in order to counterattack her when she is in the background, sending attacks throughout the void rifts. |
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Dark Maiden (Phase 2) | Nebula Road | Andaedra has almost no stamina left, Dark Matter has consumed most of it and is ready to take over. With Meta Knight's assistance, Kirby flies and confronts Dark Maiden again. Similarly to 02's battle in Kirby 64, Kirby uses the Shard Gun given to him by Ribbon. It is essentially a shooting battle, and Kirby & Meta Knight must dodge Dark Maiden's attacks which consist in dark energy beams and blasts, summoning other magic through portals, etc. She also retains her ability to teleport around. | |
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Zethdin | Grumble Galaxy | An intergalactic guardian that has existed for millions of years and has been asleep for centuries, Zethdin was awakened by the events of Dark Maiden's rampage. It is fought in a nebula arena made of several floating platforms. It is capable of using background meteors to attack Kirby, teleporting around, and using flames of galactic matter to disintegrate portions of the area. Its flames can adopt the shape of weapons or enemies Kirby has seen before, including mid-bosses, or even clone versions of itself. | ![]() |
Abilities[]
Copy Abilities[]
62 Copy Abilities appear in Kirby: Dark Dawn, bringing back several Copy Abilities from past game, as well as adding 18 new Copy Abilities. This makes this game the installment with the most Copy Abilities in the series. In alphabetical order, these are:
To see information regarding these Copy Abilities, expand the tables below:

Normal Matter Rift Ability: Void
Matter Rift Abilities[]
As stated before, Matter Rift is a special ability that can be obtained by collecting up to five items named Cosmic Matter, which look like small starry orbs.
Collecting the default ones will give the usual Void version of Matter Rift, but certain stages have alternative versions named Elemental Cosmic Matter items which, as the name implies, give different elemental versions of the Matter Rift. Each version differs in attack and purpose, and are mostly granted in specific stages in order to get rid of certain obstacles and continue. All Matter Rift abilities are either temporal or one-use only.
Matter Rift Ability | Description | Notes | Icon |
Void | As the default form of Matter Rift, Kirby is able to create rifts on all kinds of surfaces and in selected locations which work as little voids, absorbing any attacks, enemies and normal obstacles that are near them. | Although multiple rifts can be created, those only absorb very nearby things. | ![]() |
Fire | An elemental Matter Rift granted by Fiery Matter orbs. Kirby is able to send massive fireballs forwards, essentially working as a very mobile attacking ability. Kirby can run as he summons the fireballs, destroying incoming obstacles. | Usually appearing in icy stages, this ability can get rid of ice surfaces that Kirby cannot pass through normally. | ![]() |
Water | The elemental Matter Rift obtained by collecting Watery Matter orbs. This ability allows Kirby to surf on a gigantic wave of lethal water that obliterates enemies in the way. It also allows him to create a force shield that destroys obstacles underwater and gives him much more agility. | Usually in underwater stages, it can destroy special underwater obstacles that other elemental abilities cannot. | ![]() |
Stone | Obtained by collecting the Rocky Matter orbs. Kirby is able to turn into a giant boulder and roll on specific roads. Able to destroy anything in the way, including other rolling boulders with ease, this ability grants superb mobility and access to areas normally unavailable. | Appears in mountainous stages, especially those that feature rock obstacles. The boulder ignores absolutely any attack as long as it rolls, only stopping after colliding with a wall. | ![]() |
Tornado | Collecting the Windy Matter orbs grants this ability. Kirby is able to send massive storms around him that sweep away enemies and obstacles. The storm allows Kirby to alter wind currents in various stages, allowing him to get past otherwise unreachable areas. | Mostly found in stages where wind currents are prominent. It is not very useful if used underwater. | ![]() |
Spark | Kirby is granted this ability by collecting the Electric Matter orbs. Kirby is given the ability to summon electric thunderbolts around him, which can cause small electric explosions that destroy most obstacles and activate secrets by taking advantage of metallic surfaces. | Usually appears in industrial and mechanical stages. The thunderbolts cannot be aimed, they just strike down onto the ground around Kirby. | ![]() |
Ice | Obtained by collecting the Icy Matter orbs. Allows Kirby to build massive snowballs and make them roll. The snowballs will trap enemies in and cause them to roll along with it. The snowball will crumble upon contact with a wall or by falling off heights. | Appears in fire-related stages for the most part. It is useful for turning extensive lava surfaces into rocky platforms for Kirby to cross. However, the snowball slowly melts as it rolls across them until it fully melts down. | ![]() |
Wood | Granted by collecting the Wooden Matter orbs. Kirby is able to cause trees to grow around him, allowing him to travel along with them. The trees can grow leaf platforms, and get rid of enemies in the vicinity area by squeezing them with tree roots. Only 3 trees can be planted. The ability wears off after the third tree fully grows. | Often appears in places with dead ends. The trees can move to the background or foreground to allow Kirby to get past these dead ends. | ![]() |
Space | Kirby is given this ability after collecting the Gravity Matter orbs. It can only be used twice. It creates a big force shield around Kirby that alters the gravity of anything around him. Additionally, Kirby gains low gravity movemets, allowing him to get past wide bottomless pits. | The force shields of anti-gravity can trigger special events in corresponding stages, so they must be used wisely. | ![]() |
Time | Collecting the Cosmic Clocks grant this ability. It is a one-use only ability, and it allows Kirby to stop time temporarily. When time stops, special clocks appear throughout the rest of the stage, which Kirby can collect to increase the effect's period of time. | When time stops, only Kirby is capable of moving. Everything else, including obstacles and enemies, stop moving. | ![]() |
Game Modes[]
Story Mode[]
1 to 4 Players
The main mode of the game. After his home planet is threatened by a spaceship's casted dark magic that steals essences of life and turns people into stone statues, Kirby, Kotohime and friends travel through 7 different lands in different planets using the Gigantia, Captain Bard's ship after helping him defeat Blitzoul and Veigar, in pursuit of the unknown spaceship to stop its magic. Throughout the adventure, Kirby finds more friends to help him, and eventually they reach the spaceship's final destination, Mekkai. In Locoland, they discover the spaceship in front of a big mechanical portal. It is then revealed that Blitzoul and Veigar are both members of the spaceship's crew and therefore take part in stealing essences of life. However, their leader later reveals herself as Andaedra. Kirby and friends venture into the spaceship as it unseals the portal and enters the Lost Dimension. After Andaedra is found she explains her scheme, which ends up being a surprise even to her subordinates. Kirby defeats Andaedra, but she then summons the evil that was sealed within Lost Dimension, Dark Matter. Merging with it, they become Dark Maiden and flee to cause chaos in the galaxy. With Blitzoul and Veigar now on their side, they follow her with her spaceship as Kirby obtains the Void Matter Rift, fighting Dark Maiden in Nebula Road. After two intense confrontations against her, Dark Matter is weakened and Andaedra regains her memories briefly after her sister Kotohime hugs her. Andaedra requests Kirby destroys Dark Matter even if she has to be destroyed as well, forcing Kirby to use Matter Rift's full power on her. Dark Matter is sealed and possibly destroyed, and so Kirby and friends save Pop Star and the rest of the galaxy.
Helper to Hero[]
1 to 4 Players
A game mode unlocked by beating the main Story Mode once. Similarly to its Kirby Super Star Ultra version, it allows the player to play as one of 50 Helpers in the game. All Helpers are given similar movesets to the corresponding Copy Ability they grant Kirby, meaning that they're more powerful than how they play in the main mode. Up to 4 players can play in Helper to Hero, each one with a different Helper, as they traverse through a slightly modified story mode. Each world is compressed into one sitting that must be completed before the player's progress and time can be saved and recorded. Like prior Extra Modes, this mode is more difficult than the main quest. Many enemies appear larger and are more numerous than they were before. Bosses and mid-bosses now have "SP" at the end of their names (meaning "Special"), use a number of new attacks, and have alternate color schemes. Additionally, Dark Maiden herself is not the final boss, but Dark Matter copies of the main playable characters are. As such, dark versions of Kirby and Meta Knight are the final bosses: Meta Knight Zero and Kirby Zero. All sections requiring the Matter Rift ability in the main quest are skipped by the Helpers, as they cannot access that ability, or any at all. As such, Cosmic Matter do not appear either.
Copy Abilities that can grant different Helpers depending on the inhaled enemy are represented by only one of them, for example, Fire can give Hot Head, Galbo or Heat Phanphan as helpers, but of the three only Heat Phanphan can be played here. Additionally, some Copy Ability helpers are not available here: Laser Ball (Laser), Leafan (Leaf), Metarun (Metal), Needlous (Needle), and UFO (U.F.O.)
Playable Characters | |||||||||
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![]() Gaw Gaw |
![]() Ax Knight |
![]() Baton Waddle Dee |
![]() Waddle Doo |
![]() Beetley |
![]() Dingle |
![]() Poppy Bro. Jr. |
![]() Bomhub |
![]() Clown Acrobot |
![]() Keke |
![]() Relojet |
![]() Mr. Gustard |
![]() Tenshee |
![]() Sir Kibble |
![]() Knuckle joe |
![]() Heat Phanphan |
![]() Chilly |
![]() Uppadon |
![]() Bonkers |
![]() Starman |
![]() Pengi |
![]() Jellyfrizz |
![]() Capsule J3 |
![]() Mace Knight |
![]() Magnifee |
![]() Pyroro |
![]() Astrily |
![]() Simirror |
![]() Bio Spark |
![]() Toxiko |
![]() Parasol Waddle Dee |
![]() Psybam |
![]() HulaHula |
![]() Mekareza 1.0. |
![]() Grispy |
![]() Abaniko |
![]() Plasma Wisp |
![]() Spikkun |
![]() Rocky |
![]() Bugzzy |
![]() Blade Knight |
![]() Windelle |
![]() Blobat |
![]() Water Galbo |
![]() Wheelie |
![]() Whippy |
![]() Flappy |
![]() Wizz |
![]() Whispy Trunk |
![]() Gim |
Kirby Air Race![]
1 to 4 Players
A default sub-game mode that references Kirby Air Ride. The gameplay is very similar to that of the aforementioned game, albeit in a more simplistic way. There are eight stages to choose from, all of them referencing past games: Green Greens, Raisin Ruins, Butter Building, Grape Garden, Rainbow Route, Royal Road, Access Arc and Halcandra. The last four are unlockable stages. Up to eight characters can race. Default playable characters include all main story playable characters Kirby, Meta Knight, Kotohime, King Dedede, Ribbon and Adeleine, as well as their helpers: Bunny, Sword Knight, Blade Knight, Ax Knight, Bandana Dee, Captain Doo, Waddle Daa and Fairy Friends (Winter, Cherry and Sunny). Unlockable characters are Captain Bard, Sailor Archie, Veigar and Blitzoul. To unlock characters and stages, the player has to achieve from good to excellent rankings in races. All stages and characters are unlocked randomly.
Strato Patrol DX[]
1 Player
Strato Patrol DX, or Strato Patrol Deluxe, is a default shoot 'em up sub-game mode and sort of a sequel to Strato Patrol EOS from Kirby Mass Attack. In the game, the player controls one of six playable characters: Kirby, Meta Knight, Kotohime, King Dedede, Ribbon and Adeleine as they automatically shoot their respective projectiles. Power-up packs can be collected to increase the shot's firepower. Helpers can be temporarily summoned by defeating enemies in consecutive chains. L/R buttons are called "Bombs"; they unleash a large attack wave which wipes out all enemies on the screen when pressed on. Clearing each level gives one additional use of the attack.
There are 10 Levels, each one containing a boss and getting increasingly difficult:
- Level 1 - Grasslands: Whispy Woods
- Level 2 - Underseas: Acro
- Level 3 - Desertlands: Mr. Dooter
- Level 4 - Forestal Woods: Moley
- Level 5 - Skylands: Kracko
- Level 6 - Float Factory: Kabula
- Level 7 - Tower Lands: Mr. Shine & Mr. Bright
- Level 8 - Space Station: HR-D3
- Level 9 - Milky Way: Marx
- Final Stage: Star Dream
Dream Land Odyssey[]
1 to 4 Players
Dream Land Odyssey is an unlockable open-world RPG sub-game. It is unlocked after completing Kirby Air Race! and Strato Patrol DX. It is similar to Kirby Quest from Kirby Mass Attack and Team Kirby Clash from Kirby: Planet Robobot, especially the latter. Main story playable characters can be used, along with their usual helpers (Kirby once again summoning them by inhaling enemies, and Adeleine by painting enemies she defeats). The goal of the game is to travel across the world's maps, which includes interacting with non-playable characters such as shopkeepers that sell players healing and stat-increasing items, and confronting enemies. The battles against enemies and bosses work like in the main story. Each character has a set role in the sub-game similarly to how Kirby abilities did in Team Kirby Clash.
- Kirby - Hero: balanced role. Kirby can inhale enemies to obtain their abilities, as such, he is pretty diverse. Alternatively, he can summon helpers when inhaling them.
- Meta Knight - Slayer: swordsman role. Meta Knight can use various slashing moves with his Galaxia, which include attacks from past installments in which he was a boss. He has the second best attack and stamina, but has bad recovery, however. Can summon the Meta-Knighs to assist him.
- Kotohime - Support: healer role. Kotohime is capable of healing her teammates and has the best recovery at the expense of bad stamina and attack. Can summon bunnies to assist each character.
- King Dedede - Tank: powerful role. King Dedede attacks by crushing enemies with both his hammer and his powerful body slams. He can also switch his hammer to the 'Masked Dedede' version of it, which can alternatively cause shockwaves. Has the worst recovery and limited movement but the best attack and stamina. Can summon his subordinates Bandana Dee, Captain Doo and Waddle Daa.
- Ribbon - Mage: technical role. Ribbon can shoot blasts of magic dust from her own hands. She is also capable of flying. She can also grab her teammates, although depending on their weight, she can become slower. Has the best recovery but the worst stamina. Can summon her fairy friends Winter, Cherry and Sunny.
- Adeleine - Marksman: ranged role. In this sub-game, Adeleine attacks by shooting paint projectiles from her paintbrush, making her a great ranged character. She has the best movement, but the second worst attack, although her ranged paint projectiles compensate it. Can summon enemies she defeats by painting them.
There are eight missions, getting more difficult as the players progress. Missions are divided in area sections found in the world maps, meaning there are eight maps as well. In these area sections, several enemies are confronted, and defeating them allows players o gain experience and level up. There are 10 levels in total for each hero, each one increasing their stamina, attack, recovery, movement and team attack even more. After defeating waves of enemies in a map, a boss is confronted. The bosses are as follows.
- Mission 1 - Lands of Greenery: Flowery Woods
- Mission 2 - Unseen Caverns: Heavy Mole
- Mission 3 - Sea of Tranquility: Fatty Whale
- Mission 4 - Strawberry Sands: King Golem
- Mission 5 - Jurassic Jungle: Wham Bam Rock
- Mission 6 - Utopia in the Sky: Mecha Kracko
- Mission 7 - Grand Spaceship: Computer Virus
- Mission 8 - Road of Vanity: Queen Sectonia
The Arena[]
1 Player
A game mode where the player confronts all bosses and mid-bosses fought in the main Story Mode consecutively as fast as they can without dying. Here, players are given five Maxim Tomatoes and a choice of two random Copy Abilities between battles in the rest room. Like in Planet Robobot, bosses are fought in the same order they were fought in Story Mode. The final boss is, once again, Dark Maiden.
The True Arena[]
1 Player
The True Arena is similar to The Arena, but putting the player against the SP versions of bosses found in Helper to Hero. This mode is unlocked by beating Helper to Hero once. Only four normal tomatoes and a single Maxim Tomato in an Assist Star are available in the rest room. Numerous returning bosses not seen in any of the other modes also appear, along with a new phase of Dark Maiden, Dark Maiden Soul. These returning bosses are:
Levels[]
Level # | World | Name | Number of Stages | Boss/es | Description |
Level 0 | Varies | Gigantia | 0 | None | Captain Bard's ship and the game's main hub after Level 3. The ship has several rooms for Kirby to explore, from which he can access other worlds directly after unlocking them, as well as switch characters. When completing the game, a new room with all Copy Abilities is unlocked. |
Level 1 | Pop Star | Mount Marvelous | 5 | Whacky Woods | A grassy, mountainous and very natural location. This place is ideal for nature lovers! |
Level 2 | Pop Star | Awesome Awesands | 6 | Amumu | A desert full of mysteries. Pyramids, undergrounds and secret tombs, there's a lot to discover, and a lot to fear. |
Level 3 | Pop Star | Grand Galleon | 6 | Blitzoul and Veigar | A massive ship on a great sea. This galleon seems to travel aimlessly on its own, and is a place where pirates often meet to sort out their problems, or not. |
Level 4 | Ripple Star | Icicle Island | 7 | Frozandra | An icy island located in Ripple Star. Winter loving fairies live here and happily play on the snow. However, there are some dangers awaiting if you go to the icicle part... |
Level 5 | Ripple Star | Cookie Chimney | 7 | Magmamonium | A volcanic area that is usually avoided by the fairies. Some ancient temple debris can be found around too. Perhaps it used to be an habitable place before? |
Level 6 | Cavius | Arclight Arcstar | 8 | Blitzoul Possessed Fairy, Blade Knight, Adeleine |
A strange mountain where shooting stars usually fall upon. Throughout ages it has been decorated beautifully by such stars, giving light even to its darkest caves. |
Level 7 | Mekkai | Locoland | 9 | Abominable Machine Veigar | A mechanical amusement park, not too different from the rest of Mekkai. Technologically advanced and well built, many attractions might be a bit overwhelming... |
Finale | Lost Dimension & Nebula Road | Andaedra's Ship Nebula Road |
1 | Andaedra Dark Maiden |
One of the attractions in Locoland was not really an attraction, Andaedra's Ship was nothing more than the Spaceship our heroes have been following, and a lair where the essences of life have been gathering. The portal to the Lost Dimension has now been opened... |
Secret Level | Space | Grumble Galaxy | 10 | Zethdin | A very space-y level, taking place in space itself, obviously. Full of asteroids, starlight paths, star dust, nebula and many other space stuff. Be sure to get used to some gravity issues. |
Items and Objects[]
Item | Description | Notes |
Point Star | Point Stars are little collectibles that grant Kirby an 1UP after he has collected 100 of them. These are found in all stages in different sizes and colors, with these differences indicating their value: Yellow Point Stars are worth 1, Green Point Stars are worth 5, Red Point Stars are worth 10 and Blue Point Stars are worth 30. | Additionally, Point Stars collected in stages can be used as currency to unlock rooms in Gigantia, the main hub. |
1UP | Grants Kirby an extra life immediately after collecting it... That's about it. | 1UPs are usually very well hidden in stages, and require the player to look carefully and pay attention if they want to collect one. |
Badge | Similarly to keychains in Triple Deluxe, stickers in Planet Robobot and picture pieces in Star Allies, badges are special collectibles that, while not obligatory, are required if the player wants to complete the game 100%. There's a total of 240 badges in the game. In the stages the common ones look like blue & silver hexagons with a question mark in them, while the rare ones look like gold & rainbow octagons. | Badges can be given when clearing the Goal Game with an excellent score. |
Food | Food are a variety of items Kirby can collect to replenish his health. They can be found on the ground, hidden behind blocks, in chests, after defeating enemies or by using Wizard or Adeleine's paint magic. Kirby can also replenish other player's health bars by using mouth-to-mouth. | The amount of health replenished depends on the type of food. Occasionally, Bandana Waddle Dee or a Fairy will give Kirby a different food in an Assist Star depending on the situation in a stage. |
Pep Brew | An uncommon energy drink that replenishes half of Kirby's health bar. | None |
Maxim Tomato | A powerful tomato with an "M" on it. It is basically the second rarest food in the game, as it heals Kirby's health bar completely. | Similarly to 1UPS, Maxim Tomatoes are usually well hidden or given by enemies on special occasions. |
Reviving Tomato | An upgraded version of the Maxim Tomato. This golden variant is the rarest food in the game, only given to Kirby if he has lost to a boss 5 or more times in a row. If used normally, it has the same effect as the Maxim Tomato. However, if Kirby dies with a Reviving Tomato in storage, it revives him and heals him entirely. | If Kirby defeats the boss without using a Reviving Tomato, it will turn into an ordinary Maxim Tomato. |
Invincible Candy | When collected, Kirby becomes invincible for a short time, and almost any enemy he touches will be instantly defeated, or at least damaged. | Despite its effects, it will not render Kirby impervious to falls or certain hazards that cause instant KOs. |
Cosmic Matter | Special orb items that are found in some stages. Cosmic Matter can be found either in its default form or in an elemental form. Collecting 5 of those in a stage grant Kirby the special ability Matter Rift. Its variations are: Fiery, Watery, Rocky, Windy, Electric, Icy, Wooden, Zero-Gravity and Clock. | Most stages that feature them require the player to collect the Cosmic Matter, as Matter Rift is usually obligatory to clear them. |
Amazing Capsule | A capsule that usually contains beneficial items for Kirby. Amazing Capsules are usually found in bonus areas or hidden rooms, and usually give Kirby several food (or one Maxim Tomato), Point Stars, 1UPs and occasionally even an Invincible Candy. | Well hidden as well in stages. Some Amazing Capsules move around avoiding Kirby, making it kinda challenging to open them. |
Switch | Switches are buttons found in stages that can benefit Kirby when pressed, by opening gates, triggering blocks to appear or break and reveal collectibles or passages that otherwise would have been unachievable. Their function vary by color: pink switches pop back up after a few seconds, blue switches stay permanently pressed; both of these usually open gates or break / make blocks appear. Green switches can activate or deactivate obstacles such as spikes, and the yellow switches are the ones that reveal hidden surprises. | Some switches come in the form of handles hanging from ceilings. |
Cannon | A cauldron-like cannon that require the associated fuse to be lit by Kirby himself, before racing the spark running along the fuse to the cannon, jumping into it, and being blasted off to a side screen or secret area on the stage. | Any Copy Ability with fire properties can lit the fuse. However, Laser, Robot and Wizard can also work. |
Treasure Chest | Treasure chests can be found in certain areas in stages. Chests that are easier to find usually have Point Stars or food, while the ones that are harder to find usually contain Badges. | None |
Assist Star | A bubble-like item that contains a single piece of food or a Copy Ability Essence, much like Bubble items in Kirby: Squeak Squad. Unlike in Triple Deluxe or Planet Robobot, and similarly to Squeak Squad, up to 3 Assist Stars can be stored. | Sometimes, Bandana Waddle Dee or a Fairy will give Kirby an Assist Star throughout a stage, usually before confronting a boss. |
Warp Star | It is a large, yellow star, usually seen to be floating, that flies Kirby to another part of a stage once he gets on it. Sometimes a Warp Star is the only way to reach the end of the level; sometimes they allow Kirby to reach secret areas; while other times, they just provide a faster (and safer) way to get across. | None |
3D Warp Star | It is a Warp Star constructed of two pieces: a five-pointed star outline and a central core. As with a regular Warp Star, a 3D Warp Star will take Kirby for a ride when they touch one. These special transports move the hero from one plane to another (from foreground to background or vice versa), something an ordinary Warp Star cannot do. | A yellow core indicates that the star will disappear after its use. An orange core indicates that the star will reappear, allowing the player to use it several times. |
Shooting Star | A Warp Star that can be controlled and shoots star projectiles. Riding one brings Kirby to the "Warp Star Zones", portions of stages that act as obstacle courses. Entering this zone triggers an additional score system, and depending on how well the player did with the Shooting Star, the rewards at the end vary from Maxim Tomatoes to badges. | Projectiles are shot in three directions forwards, but charging it allows Kirby to shoot a bigger, more powerful projectile. |
Trivia[]
- This game features the most Copy Abilities in any game in the series, with a total of 62 Copy Abilities. Additionally, this is mostly because it brings back most Copy Abilities seen in past games.
- Robot Kirby's hat and arm cannon closely resembles Samus Aran from the Metroid series. It also bears some resemblance to Masked Man from Mother 3.
- As one of the attempts to bring back what Kirby GCN could have been in its initial concept, this game brings back three new enemies that were only seen in Kirby GCN's trailer and didn't make it into any other game until now.
- Magma Kirby is very similar to the combo ability "Volcano" in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards when Burning and Stone are combined.
- This game brings back several classic mid-bosses and enemies from older games. In the mid-bosses' case, it brings back more older mid-bosses rather than recent ones.