Kirby: Planet Robobot

"Guide Kirby in his latest adventure as he fights to save Planet Popstar from the Haltmann Works Company and its robotic army! Defeat enemies with Kirby's Copy Abilities and navigate obstacles with the Robobot Armor to advance through each stage of the game."

- Instruction manual

Kirby: Planet Robobot (Hoshi no Kābi: Robobo Puranetto or Kirby of the Stars: Robobo Planet in Japan) is a game in the Kirby series for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems. It was released in Japan on April 28th, 2016 and in North America on June 10th, 2016.

Gameplay
Kirby: Planet Robobot is a traditional platformer Kirby game; in it, the player controls Kirby, whose objective is to get to the end of each stage by using Copy Abilities. Kirby retains his moves from Kirby: Triple Deluxe, including the inhale, Star Spit, Slide attack, air bullet, floating, and guarding. In addition to these abilities, Kirby is now able to climb grates as well and carry some objects underwater.

The game is a 2.5D platformer, and characters move on a two-dimensional plane in a 3D environment. The game's camera moves around to show different angles in some stages, similarly to Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. The physics and graphics of the game are mostly reused from Kirby: Triple Deluxe.

The most major mechanic that is introduced in this game is the Robobot Armor. In several levels, Kirby can take these mech suits, either by defeating an Invader Armor or by finding a suit in the stages themselves, and use them to solve puzzles or to explore secret areas. Unlike the Super Abilities from Kirby's Return to Dream Land and the Miracle Fruit from Kirby: Triple Deluxe, which were designed to appear near the end of several stages, most stages with the Robobot Armor are designed to be used throughout them. In some cases, the Armor is entirely optional or hidden, and isn't required to complete the stage.

Normal Abilities
Kirby is able to use all of his regular moves in Kirby: Planet Robobot, including his inhale, floating, running, jumping and the slide attack.

Copy Abilities
27 Copy Abilities appear in Kirby: Planet Robobot. Of these, four make return appearances from older games (Jet and Mirror, returning from Kirby Super Star Ultra, Smash Bros. returning from Kirby & The Amazing Mirror, and UFO returning from Kirby: Squeak Squad) and three are new (Doctor, Poison and ESP). Many of the returning abilities retain their designs and movesets from Kirby's Return to Dream Land and/or Kirby: Triple Deluxe.

Kirby's Copy Abilities

 * The Smash Bros. ability is available through the Kirby amiibo (Super Smash Bros. series) or through a rare Copy Essence.
 * UFO is available through Kirby amiibo (Kirby series) or through 100% completion of the game.
 * The following Abilities have alternate costumes that can be unlocked via amiibo:
 * Hammer (King Dedede amiibo)
 * Parasol (Waddle Dee amiibo)
 * Sword (Meta Knight amiibo)

Robobot Armor Modes
The Robobot Armor is able to scan and obtain up to 13 Copy Abilities, known as Modes.

Story
As Kirby naps under a tree, a group of robotic invaders from the Haltmann Works Company descend from the skies of Dream Land and overrun Planet Popstar with machinery. Both King Dedede and Meta Knight retaliate against the invaders. King Dedede uses his castle's cannons and Meta Knight uses his Halberd, but the enemies' weaponry easily defeats both. Kirby wakes up, and seeing the machinery, sets out to stop the invaders.

Shortly into his adventure, Kirby is attacked by one of the Haltmann Works Company's soldiers, piloting a large mech suit called Invader Armor. After Kirby defeats it, the grunt is knocked from the pilot's seat, allowing Kirby to hijack the mech for himself by transforming it into Robobot Armor.

After defeating Clanky Woods in Patched Plains and Holo Defense API in Resolution Road, Kirby reaches Overload Ocean, where he meets Susie, the secretary of the Haltmann Works Company. She informs him that the company is harvesting resources from Popstar, and its natives are nothing more than nuisances to be removed. However, her personal mech suit proves unable to defeat Kirby, forcing her to flee.

Kirby proceeds through Gigabyte Grounds before meeting Susie again. After praising the Haltmann Works Company's CEO, President Haltmann, she reveals that Meta Knight was captured and mechanized into her own personal security guard. She deploys the newly-minted Mecha Knight before retreating again, leaving Kirby to battle his rival. The pink warrior triumphs, but Mecha Knight collapses into a deep ravine before he can be freed from the Haltmann Works Company's control.

In Rhythm Route, the final site of the Haltmann Works Company's harvesting operation, Kirby confronts Susie within a massive tower. Surprised by Kirby's ability to defeat Mecha Knight - which she attributes to a flaw in the "Mother Computer" - she deploys a clone of King Dedede to fight against the persistent puffball before making another exit. Despite a wide array of abilities, including the ability to split into three and take control of the massive D3 cannon, the cloned king couldn't stop Kirby from shutting down the final area supplying the company with power, allowing him to breach the Access Ark.

After fighting through waves of defenses and powerful robots, Kirby reaches the very heart of the ark; the office of President Haltmann himself. There, Susie again sends in Mecha Knight, newly upgraded into "Mecha Knight+"; still, Kirby manages to defeat him. With Meta Knight freed from her mind control, Susie prepares to take the situation into her own hands - however, President Haltmann chooses that moment to reveal himself. He expresses disappointment in Susie's performance, and dismisses her from the office before confronting Kirby himself.

Haltmann reveals that he has been studying the most advanced technologies in the world, allowing him to reactivate Star Dream, a super-computer so advanced that it could grant any wish. After showing the machine to Kirby, he engages him in battle, using a powerful mech suit of his own - nonetheless, the hero of Planet Popstar emerges triumphant yet again. Enraged by the "savages" of the world, Haltmann activates Star Dream by using a special helmet to take control of it. Suddenly, Susie betrays him by forcefully taking it off, revealing her plans to sell Star Dream to the highest bidder for profit.

When Susie tries to don the control helmet, however, she is shot down by Star Dream itself, which possesses Haltmann and speaks through him. It explains that it has been studying the cosmos through the Haltmann Works Company, and that it has found all organic lifeforms to be a nuisance and a hindrance to its master's goals of eternal prosperity. Announcing its intent to wipe out all organic life in the universe, Star Dream launches itself into space.

When Susie realized what happened, she summons Invader Armor and decides that Kirby would be the best suited to use it considering how far he's come. She then pleads for Kirby to stop Star Dream. Kirby immediately leaps aboard, transforming the armor into his Robobot Armor as Meta Knight arrives aboard the Halberd. From atop it, Meta Knight beckons to Kirby, who promptly uses the Armor to fuse with the Halberd and pursue Star Dream.

After a long battle, with the Halberd being shot down and Meta Knight ejecting Kirby and the Robobot Armor to finish the fight, Kirby loses consciousness. The Robobot Armor then proceeds to reach in and remove Kirby, sending him back to Popstar, but as the Robobot Armor floats into space, it sheds tears at the loss of Kirby. After all of the mechanization of Popstar is undone, Kirby wakes up on solid ground, being placed safely by Meta Knight. King Dedede and a Waddle Dee emerge from the rubble of the castle and rejoice, and Susie flies off into space in her mech suit. Kirby watches as Meta Knight flies on the Halberd, looking proudly off into the distance. Kirby waves to Meta Knight, and proceeds to run after the Halberd.

Major Characters

 * Kirby
 * Meta Knight
 * King Dedede
 * Bandana Waddle Dee
 * Susie
 * President Haltmann

Playable Characters

 * Kirby
 * Meta Knight

Bosses

 * Main Mode and Meta Knightmare Returns
 * Clanky Woods (2.0)
 * Holo Defense API (2.0)
 * Holo-Kracko (2.0)
 * Holo-Doomers (2.0)
 * Holo-Ice Dragon (2.0)
 * Holo-Coily Rattler (2.0)
 * Susie (2.0)
 * Mecha Knight
 * Dedede Clone (2.0) / Dedede Clones &amp; D3 (2.0)
 * Mecha Knight+
 * President Haltmann (2.0)
 * Star Dream
 * Stock Mecha Knight
 * Dark Matter Clone
 * Sectonia Clone
 * Galacta Knight
 * Team Kirby Clash
 * Gigant Edge
 * Mr. Frosty
 * Whispy Woods
 * Pyribbit
 * Landia
 * Landia EX
 * Kirby 3D Rumble
 * Masher
 * Mega Masher
 * The True Arena
 * Star Dream Soul OS

Items and Objects
(Other environmental elements)

Modes
Kirby: Planet Robobot has a story mode, Team Kirby Clash, Meta Knightmare Returns, Kirby 3D Rumble, The Arena and The True Arena.

Levels
Incidentally, if the first letter of each world is combined, the letters spell out the word "P-R-O-G-R-A-M", which is a subtle hint towards the final boss, Star Dream. This is similar to the acronyms in Kirby's Return to Dream Land and Kirby: Triple Deluxe, which spell out "C-R-O-W-N-E-D" and "F-L-O-W-E-R-E-D," respectively. These are only a few of the many acronyms in the series, the others are "R-A-I-N-B-O-W" in Kirby: Canvas Curse, "H-A-L" in Kirby's Dream Collection: Special Edition, and "V-I-B-G-Y-O-R", spelled backwards, "R-O-Y-G-B-I-V" in Kirby's Adventure.

Demo
Kirby: Planet Robobot was promoted using a demo. This demo, titled, "Kirby: Planet Robobot Demo," was available for a limited time at retailers (though copies of the demo were not sold to customers). The demo was later released on North American Nintendo eShop on July 21, 2016. Like all eShop demos, the software can only be launched 30 times before the player must re-download it.

The Kirby: Planet Robobot Demo consists of two stages: Stages 1 and 2 of Patched Plains. These are selected from the title screen, and are called "Normal Stage" and "Robobot Stage," respectively. The player can access the electronic manual and the eShop by tapping other icons on the title screen. When entering a stage, the player is shown an image of a Nintendo 3DS XL with lines pointing to specific buttons, teaching Kirby's techniques. Stickers and Code Cubes that Kirby collects are not saved. When Kirby completed a stage, a scene plays depicting many moments in the full game, with a rendition of Green Greens' theme playing over it. After this, the player enters a screen showing Kirby and a suit of Robobot Armor, with the message, "Thanks for playing the demo!" The player can visit the eShop by tapping the icon on the Touch Screen or return to the title screen by pressing A.

If the player waits long enough on the title screen, Kirby will fly away in his Robobot Armor like in the full game. The demo then fades to black. Rather than showing the opening cutscene, however, the demo simply loops back to the title screen. The demo's Home Menu icon and Home Menu diorama are the same as the full game's, but with the word "DEMO" added to them. The demo shares the same Miiverse community with the full game.

amiibo Compatibility
During Story Mode, the player can scan an amiibo to instantly obtain a Copy Ability, whether random or character-specific, depending on the amiibo used (for example, the Mario amiibo will give Kirby the Fire ability). A line of Kirby series amiibo, featuring Kirby, Meta Knight, King Dedede, and Waddle Dee, was released alongside the game. When either of these is scanned, they will either give Kirby the UFO ability or one of three custom-designed versions of existing abilities. Ten amiibo can be scanned per stage, with each amiibo being scanned once per day.

Scanning any amiibo when playing Meta Knightmare Returns causes a food item to appear.

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Reception
Kirby: Planet Robobot has received generally favorable reviews, holding a critical score of 81 out of 100 on Metacritic and a score of 83.62 on Game Rankings.

As of April 27, 2017, Kirby: Planet Robobot has sold 1.36 million copies worldwide.

Controversy
Kirby: Planet Robobot delivers much of its story through copious amounts of text; however, large portions of Susie and President Haltmann's backstory are only hinted at in-game, leaving much of the story up to the player's perception. Due to this lack of in-game explanation, some players noticed a major inconsistency in the game's story following its release. President Haltmann's final lines of dialogue ("Why did I reactivate such a terrible machine? Oh, I remember--I wanted to see her just one last time. How foolish! I should have known that no machine could make such a dream come true.") appear incongruous with his behavior the entire game; he doesn't seem to recognize his own daughter even though he hired her and appears to obsess over her likeness.

Following the game's launch in North America and Europe, players complained about the apparent plot hole. The issue was resolved over two months later through an explanation by director Shinya Kumazaki during the Kirby: Planet Robobot Ask-a-thon event on Miiverse.

Trivia

 * On April 26, 2016, the Kirby: Planet Robobot ROM was leaked online. This is the first instance of a Kirby game leaking online before any official release date.
 * Kirby: Planet Robobot is the first Kirby game to be released at the same time in Japan and Korea.
 * The StreetPass Mii Plaza game Puzzle Swap contains a puzzle panel based on Kirby: Planet Robobot. When it is completed, the panel features Meta Knight, Kirby, and Susie soaring through the skies above Planet Popstar. Bandana Waddle Dee is also present on a nearby asteroid, waving towards the screen.
 * Kirby 3D Rumble appears to be greatly inspired by Nintendo's second attempt at creating the canceled game Kirby GCN.
 * Simultaneously, the art style of the game's logo, heads-up display, and overall appearance pay homage to Kirby: Triple Deluxe.
 * Kirby: Planet Robobot is the first game in the series to come bundled with an amiibo figure.
 * One of the pieces of artwork of Kirby greatly resembles his artwork for Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, which itself is based off of his Good Ending pose from Kirby's Dream Land 3.
 * This is the first game in the Kirby series to have a Roulette Copy Essence.
 * Dubior is the only returning mid-boss in the main game to not be mechanized, as it is already a robot.
 * In the Korean version of the game, The Arena's and The True Arena's names are written as "보스와 정면승부" (Boss Endurance) and "진 보스와 정면승부" (True Boss Endurance) rather than "격투왕의 길" (The Arena) and "격투왕의 길 마스터" (The True Arena).
 * This is the first 3D Kirby game to show Meta Knight without his mask.
 * When the player tries to delete his/her save file, an eerie, distorted version of the theme heard on the pause menu plays. This music is listed in the Jukebox as Track 105.
 * This is the first game in the series directed by Shinya Kumazaki since Kirby Super Star Ultra to not feature a "Kirby Master" celebration video when the game is 100% completed. Instead, the 100% completion video is a song praising the Haltmann Works Company. This music is listed in the Jukebox as Track 158.
 * Early in the development of Kirby: Planet Robobot, it was considered more of a direct successor to Kirby: Triple Deluxe. The Hypernova ability would have been included, but eventually was replaced with the Robobot Armor because the development team did not want to reuse certain elements from past games.
 * The "Kirby" part of the game's logo has the colors swapped: the normally pink letters are yellow and the normally yellow star is now pink.
 * The Robobot Jet Mode is similar to Landia when Kirby rides on it through Another Dimension.
 * Kirby: Planet Robobot was originally going to be named "Kirby: HAGANE" (hagane means "steel" in Japan), before being changed to "Kirby: Robot Planet." The name was viewed as too literal, so was then changed to "Kirby: Roborobo Planet" before finally reaching its current name. This would later be the influence for the name of the Robobot Armor.
 * Because Kirby: Planet Robobot displays large numbers of objects on-screen, it may experience more frame rate slowdown than the other games in the series.
 * Many of the songs in the game are remixed versions of themes from previous Kirby games, primarily Kirby Air Ride and Kirby: Canvas Curse.
 * The file select music is reused from the main menu music of Kirby: Triple Deluxe and, in turn, is a remix of the music that plays in the Save Cottages of The Great Cave Offensive from Kirby Super Star.
 * This game tends to have many references to Kirby Super Star. Some prime examples are the revelation that Access Ark is a repurposed Galactic Nova, most music tracks are reused or remixed from this game, and the Copy Abilities Mirror and Jet making a return.
 * The ellipsis punctuation mark is used 101 times throughout the game.
 * In Team Kirby Clash, when a Kirby is KO'd, he spins around and falls over like Kirby does when he is KO'd in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. A Kirby angel then floats away, which is a reference to a KO'd Kirby from Kirby Mass Attack. Both of these animations are reused from Kirby: Triple Deluxe ' s Kirby Fighters sub-game and Kirby Fighters Deluxe.
 * Since its release, this game's characters, locations, and/or music have been referenced at least once in every following Kirby game.
 * This is the final Kirby title that Satoru Iwata was involved in before his passing.