Nightmare

Nightmare (eNeMeE in the English dub of the Anime) is a wicked final boss character and major character in the Kirby series, despite only appearing in two games, Kirby's Adventure and its remake. Nightmare is responsible for corrupting the Fountain of Dreams and attempting to spread his nightmares all across Dream Land. King Dedede tries to stop Nightmare from succeeding by breaking the Star Rod, but Kirby unwittingly summons Nightmare, and thus has to defeat Nightmare before his evil plans become reality.

He is the main antagonist of Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, where he acts behind the scenes through his company, Nightmare Enterprises, to attempt to take over Pop Star and conquer the known universe.

Physical Appearance
Nightmare begins the fight in his Power Orb form. In this form, Nightmare is a dark sphere covered in silver, glowing stars. A gradient runs across the sphere: the top of the sphere is dark blue while the bottom is dark pink. This design remains the same between both the original game, Kirby's Adventure, and it's remake.

After Kirby defeats him in his orb form, Nightmare reveals his true form. In this form, Nightmare resembles a wizard wearing a spinning, tornado-like robe. In the official art for Kirby's Adventure and the anime his robe is covered in stars, just like in his first form. In the actual games, Nightmare's cloak is simply a dark purple shadow-like robe. Underneath his cloak is his weak spot, a tornado-like accumulation of darkness. In the original game, Nightmare has two silver shoulder pads, and a small red medallion around his neck (obscured by his chin in-game). In the games Nightmare has human-like teeth, while in the anime his teeth are sharp and jagged. He has two thin, bony arms.

In Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land, Nightmare's second form is slightly changed. He now has a total of four shoulder pads instead of two, and much longer horns on his helmet. His chain and medallion are now both visible during the fight. He is also almost as tall as the screen now. His appearance in the anime is based on the new design, and his new size is reflected by the fact that he dwarfs even the Halberd.

Kirby's Adventure and Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land


Nightmare is a powerful entity that serves at the final boss in both Kirby's Adventure and its remake. In both games, he can only be defeated by the powerful Star Rod that Kirby collects in both games.

In Kirby's Adventure, Nightmare takes control of the Fountain of Dreams in an attempt to extend his control over Dream Land. Trying to prevent this, Dedede breaks the Star Rod and scatters it around Dream Land, temporarily leaving Nightmare unable to take control and seems to trap him inside the Fountain of Dreams. Kirby, unaware of Dedede's intentions, restores the Star Rod and places it back in the fountain. With the Star Rod back in place, Nightmare reveals himself. Nightmare and Kirby then fly into space (Kirby did this with the help of Dedede).



In his initial form, Nightmare, for the most part, stays on the right side of the screen, shooting stars at Kirby. The entire battle takes place in space as the two are falling to some floor (presumably Pop Star's surface). As such, if Kirby doesn't deplete Nightmare's health bar in time, Nightmare will flee, and Kirby will crash into the ground and lose a life. After the final blow is struck, Nightmare retreats and flies to Pop Star's moon. Kirby follows him using a Warp Star.

In his second form, Nightmare attacks Kirby by shooting stars at him, ramming into him, and using his tornado-like core to drill into him. He takes fewer hits to defeat than in his first form, but can only damaged by hitting his weak spot, the accumulation of darkness at his core, is usually protected by his impenetrable cloak. He reveals his weak spot whenever he attacks Kirby. After Kirby lands the finishing blow, Nightmare's body explodes, destroying a huge portion of the moon as a result. After this, Kirby returns to the Fountain of Dreams, places the Star Rod back in there, and everything returns back to normal.

Kirby: Canvas Curse
In Kirby: Canvas Curse, Nightmare appears as a painting in Paint Panic. He is the hardest painting to draw, with a total of four stages.

Kirby Mass Attack
Nightmare appears in as the final boss of the Strato Patrol EOS minigame. In his orb form, he attacks by teleporting around the area and firing stars and energy blades. In his second form, like in Kirby's Adventure and its remake, he only takes damage when his weak point is open and he teleports around the area. However, this time around, his attacks are almost completely changed. This time, he attacks by releasing energy orbs that follow the Kirbies until they disappear (he fires more orbs as he takes more damage). He also tries to drop stalactites on them, but they can be destroyed before he even drops them. Later in the battle, Nightmare will try to fire energy beams and stars at the Kirbies. Defeat him and he will be destroyed in the same manner as in Kirby's Adventure and its remake.

In the Anime
Likely because the Kirby anime was meant to coincide with the release of Nightmare in Dream Land, Nightmare is the main villain in Kirby's anime series, despite actually appearing in only nine episodes (the whole series had 100). Instead of attempting the conquest of Pop Star by corrupting the Fountain of Dreams, this version of Nightmare is intent on universal conquest through more direct, forceful methods. He is responsible for the creation of Nightmare Enterprises (known as Holy NightMare Co. in Japan). He creates and sells hordes of monsters that Kirby often has to fight. It's implied that the monsters eventually turn on the customers as well. The money he makes from it always goes to his conquest goals. There was a time when the Star Warriors and Galaxy Soldier Army stood in his way, but his army of monsters wiped them all out except Meta Knight, Kit Cosmos, Sir Arthur, Sir Falspar, Sir Dragato, and Sir Noisurat.

It's mentioned by Kabu that Nightmare created one monster that didn't obey him, though who it is is never stated. This is heavily implied to be Kirby, but it is possible that it might also be Meta Knight who also seems to hold a grudge against Nightmare, as Kirby wasn't even born yet while the great war was going on. It is also believed by some people that Phan Phan or Fofa (Lola in the Japanese anime) was the disobeying monster created by NME.

Besides being able to create powerful monsters, Nightmare is also able to manipulate other peoples' minds, and even brainwash them. Just like in the games, he is also impossible to hurt without the use of the Star Rod. Nightmare resides deep within his fortress for the majority of the show, creating monsters.

Nightmare rarely interacts with anyone and spends his time alone. Occasionally, Nightmare speaks to Customer Service concerning their business, but mainly exists as a mysterious figurehead of the company.

Throughout the series, Nightmare is seen simply watching Kirby and Dream Land, and never seems to take Kirby for a threat. He constantly watches Kirby fight his monsters that he sells to King Dedede. One of the few notable actions was when he sped up the rate of an asteroid that was heading for Dream Land, which he seemed to mostly just do for his own amusement, as well as putting money in his pockets from his best customer: King Dedede.

Towards the finale, Nightmare seems to decide to end his amusement with Kirby and sends some of his Destrayer ships to kill him, but this also fails. Nightmare responds by sending another six, but these are destroyed by Meta Knight's battleship, the Halberd. Even when the Halberd heads towards the Destrayer, Nightmare still doesn't take the one ship for a threat and attempts to stop with one last monster called Heavy Lobster.

Even though that monster failed, it proved nothing compared to the defenses of the Destrayer, which the Halberd only just barely managed to get past with help from the other Galaxy Soldiers and Star Warrior who each hijacked a Destrayer. Despite that, once the Halberd entered and confronted Nightmare, it proved unable to do a thing against him and his fortress' defenses soon nearly crippled the ship. During this time, Nightmare appears as a giant, dwarfing the Halberd, though considering this form did not do anything, it is likely that it was not real. Nightmare then kidnapped Tiff (Fumu) to lure Kirby into a fight with him. As Fire Kirby, Kirby tried to attack him but his fire breath had no effect. Nightmare then entered Kirby's mind to torture him before finishing him off, but Tiff, who was also in there, tossed Kirby a dream version of the Warp Star to Kirby, which he swallowed to gain the Star Rod ability - the only thing that could damage Nightmare. Kirby harnessed the power of the Star Rod and used it to destroy Nightmare.

Nightmare appeared to also be the real villain in the Kirby of the Stars Pilot and to be the one who actually sends all the monsters at Kirby. In the end, he appears to attack Kirby and his friends with some kind of energy beam before Kirby wakes up and realizes that it was actually a nightmare. His appearance in the Pilot is based on his original in Kirby's Adventure, with small shoulder pads, a single jewel on his crown, and short horns.

Kirby: Right Back at Ya!

 * "Sell him Fofa. Better yet, chop it and charge him double!" *laughs* -Nightmare to Customer Service, The Fofa Factor
 * "Hello. Are you hurt? Then take some of this! Take it and your very life will be restored." -Nightmare to Knuckle Joe's Father, Here Comes the Son
 * "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm growing rather impatient. What do you say we speed it up a bit?" -Customer Service to Nightmare, Prediction Predicament - Part I
 * "What a wonderful idea!" *laughs* -Nightmare, Prediction Predicament - Part I
 * "Well, it looks like Kirby and his Warp Star aren't invincible after all." -Customer Service to Nightmare, Air-Ride-in-Style - Part II
 * "It's only a matter of time until the Warp Star will be ours for the taking." *laughs* -Nightmare, Air-Ride-in-Style - Part II
 * "They're growing desperate... They'll realize I have them beaten. I was hoping they'd be foolish enough to attack, so I've prepared a surprise for them." -Nightmare about the Halberd crew, Combat Kirby
 * "Heh. It was a mistake to come here, Kirby. As you can see, you and your puny band of Star Warriors pose no threat to me. Challenging me is the last mistake you will ever make!" -Nightmare, Combat Kirby
 * "Hahaha... It's too late, child. Kirby is about to face his worst nightmare." -Nightmare, Fright to the Finish
 * "Hahahaha... This is checkmate, Kirby. The game is up!" -Nightmare, Fright to the Finish
 * "We shall see about that! Before this match is over, you will learn the force of my power." *laughs* -Nightmare, Fright to the Finish
 * "Hahahaha... Your friend has chosen an unfortunate time for a nap!" -Nightmare, Fright to the Finish
 * "He has used up all his energy... Kirby is now completely helpless. I can crush him with little effort... But first, some fun! I shall enter his sleep and give him a nightmare, and you can join him. I think you'll find this dream a real scream!" -Nightmare, Fright to the Finish
 * "Ahahahahaha! What a dreamscape. All Kirby cares about is food!" -Nightmare, Fright to the Finish
 * "You're wasting your time! This is Kirby's dream. There is no Warp Star here!" *laughs* -Nightmare, Fright to the Finish
 * "Foolish child... There is nothing you can do to help your friend." -Nightmare, Fright to the Finish
 * "He swallowed the Warp Star..." -Nightmare, Fright to the Finish
 * "The Star Rod?! AAAAH!" -Nightmare, Fright to the Finish
 * "Aah! Aaaah! No... How did Kirby discover the secret?! That pitiful little Star Warrior has found my only weakness! I am helpless against the power of the Star Rod!" -Nightmare, Fright to the Finish
 * "True to my name, I am but a dream that lives in your heart. Therefore, I am immortal. For as long as there is fear in your heart, I will someday return." -Nightmare's last words, Fright to the Finish

Trivia

 * In the Japanese version of the anime's last episode, Nightmare says these famous lines while Tiff and Kirby and the others are escaping his fortress: True to my name, I am but a dream that lives in your heart. Therefore, I am immortal. For as long as there is fear in your heart, I will someday return. These lines were edited out of the dub. It is also interesting to note that these lines could also be a reference to the fact that Dracula of Castlevania fame is often resurrected many times thanks to the darkness in the hearts of people who wish to see his revival and pay him tribute.
 * Nightmare's Power Orb form makes a cameo in the Japanese intro. It is a circus ball that Kirby, and later Tiff, walk on. The ball is all blue, however, and has yellow stars.
 * Nightmare is fought on Pop Star's moon - the same battlefield where Kirby would later fight Marx. Unfortunately, this detail is lost in Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land, which changed the background during the fight with Nightmare.
 * Despite only making one major appearance in a game, Nightmare is considered a memorable villain by many fans. He has four cameos, one in Kirby: Canvas Curse as a picture Paint Roller conjures, another in Kirby: Squeak Squad as an unlockable picture of past series antogonists, yet another in Kirby Super Star Ultra as a card in Kirby Card Swipe, and finally in Kirby Mass Attack as the final boss of the Strato Patrol EOS minigame. His artwork in these instances seems to combine features from both appearances. His orb form also made a brief appearance in the spin-off, Kirby's Avalanche.
 * In Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land, he is known as "the Nightmares." This is thought to be a translation goof, as the NES translation was perfectly accurate.
 * Nightmare's mirror counterpart might be Dark Mind's first form, as they look very similar.
 * Strangely, when Meta Knight fires a beam at Nightmare in Fright To The Finish, Nightmare absorbs it by spreading out his cape, normally where his weak point would be, and the blasts go straight through it.
 * The first phase of the Nightmare is fought in a manner similar to the pattern used to battle Kabula.
 * There is also a boss in Metroid: Other M, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, and Metroid Fusion called Nightmare, but they don't have any visible similarities or relations.
 * In the English version of the anime, Nightmare is known as eNeMeE and the capitalized letters in his name is an abbreviation that represents the name of his company called Nightmare Enterprises, Holy Nightmare Corperation in the Japanese version.
 * Nightmare's death sprite in Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land depicts him screaming while his eyes fire beams into the sky, the latter is not in his Kirby's Adventure sprite.
 * Nightmare's sprites in Kirby's Adventure have a transparent cloak, which the background stars show through. The cloak is no longer transparent in the remake, and the stars are imprints on it rather than part of the background.

Artwork
ナイトメア