Element

Elements are properties of certain objects or abilities that the player can interact with and take advantage of during gameplay. They have long been an important part of the Kirby Series, and are primarily presented through Copy Abilities, although enemies, bosses, and environmental hazards are known to have properties of elements.

Since the introduction of Copy Abilities in Kirby's Adventure, elements have served an important role in puzzle solving, notably in lighting fuses with the aid of the Sizzle element through the Fire, Burning, and Crash abilities. While all elements have an impact on element-specific environmental gimmicks, they all also affect enemies in their own ways, like with Blizzard freezing small enemies solid.

Despite their debut in Kirby's Adventure, Kirby: Squeak Squad was the first game to explicitly categorize elements into Fire, Ice, and Thunder. Kirby Star Allies would be the next game to categorize them, now into Blizzard, Bluster, Sizzle, Splash, and Zap, with Sizzle, Blizzard, and Zap replacing Fire, Ice, and Thunder respectively.

While elemental takes on Sword, Bomb, and Wheel first appeared in Kirby: Squeak Squad, they became a central gameplay mechanic in Kirby Star Allies as certain abilities (known as base abilities) are able to be imbued with elements from the elemental attacks of Friends. All base abilities with elemental attributes will have their attack strength increased by 25%.