Ball (form)



"He challenges the witch, but her magic turns him into a ball!"

- Introduction

Ball (called Ball Kirby or Kirby Ball in some games) is a form that Kirby takes in the Kirby series, debuting in Kirby's Pinball Land. He is shown to possess the ability to freely take on this form in certain games, specifically spin-offs. Other characters in the series, such as King Dedede and Meta Knight, take on this form as well.

Physical Appearance
When in this form, Kirby loses his limbs and becomes a complete sphere. He maintains his face, however.

Kirby's Pinball Land
In this game, Kirby takes on Ball form because it is the optimal way of traversing the Pinball Lands. He changes back into his normal self when he battles bosses, gets KO'd, rides a Warp Star, and confronts King Dedede at the end of the game. In pinball form, the pink puff loses his mouth and blush, though these features occasionally reappear for brief cutscenes.

Kirby's Dream Course
The main gameplay of Kirby's Dream Course has Kirby (and Keeby in two-player mode) launch around courses and roll through enemies before shooting for the hole at the end. Kirby converts into Ball form after his direction is confirmed. The player is able to control Kirby's power and add top spin, back spin, left spin, and right spin to his movement. Every shot consumes one of the tomatoes in Kirby's health bar and each defeated enemy regenerates one.

Kirby Bowl 64, a cancelled Nintendo 64 sequel to Kirby's Dream Course, would have featured Kirby in Ball form.

Kirby's Dream Land 2
Kirby takes on Ball form when his Animal Friends use certain Copy Abilities. These are Rick's Ice and Parasol attacks and Coo's Burning and Spark attacks.

Kirby's Block Ball
When Kirby enters an area, he jumps onto the paddle, spins around, and shrinks down into Ball form. The player can launch him off the paddle at one of four possible angles, and he slowly flies around the area. His trajectory can be altered by hitting him with the tip of the paddle or using the Burning or Stone Copy Abilities. When in Ball form, Kirby is small, weak, and vulnerable to spikes. He deals one point of damage to blocks and cannot destroy Power Blocks or Ability Blocks.

Pressing A when Kirby hits the paddle causes him to perform the Kirby Power Bounce technique. This propels him at high speed, causes him to grow in size, and makes him briefly transform into his normal self. In his normal form, he can survive encounters with spikes and destroy most blocks in one hit.

Kirby's Toy Box
Seven of the eight sub-games in Kirby's Toy Box feature Kirby as in Ball form.
 * Kirby's Toy Box - Baseball has the player hit a spherical Kirby with a baseball bat to score runs--Kirby has stitching running down his body to make him more closely resemble a baseball.
 * Kirby's Toy Box - Pinball is a pinball game in which Kirby serves as the pinball.
 * Kirby's Toy Box - Balls Round and Round has the player fire spherical Kirbys out of a cannon at blistering speeds. The goal is to shoot him through the tube and get him to land in a hole. The key is to get Kirby to achieve enough speed to bypass several holes but not enough to get all the way to the end, as the final hole is worth only 10 points.
 * Kirby's Toy Box - Cannonball uses spherical Kirbys as projectiles fired from robotic Ricks.
 * Kirby's Toy Box - Arranging Balls sees the player launch round Kirbys from a plunger into a board covered in pegs; the goal of the game is to get Kirbys to land in the nine holes to form three-in-a-row chains.
 * Kirby's Toy Box - Pachinko is a standard pachinko game in which the player can fire infinite Kirbys in the hopes of getting as many as possible into the small pockets scattered around the machine. Kirbys score more points if they land on the giant Kirby in the center of the screen.
 * Kirby's Toy Box - Ball Rally tasks the player with helping several Kirbys balls get through an obstacle course by popping platforms in and out of the background.

Kirby's Dream Land 3
When Kirby teams up with Nago, the pink puff is converted into Ball form and rolled around by his partner. Kirby is spherical for all of Nago's attacks except Clean. The four Copy Ability-Animal Friend attacks that turn him into a ball in Kirby's Dream Land 2 still do that in this game.

Kirby briefly becomes a ball when spat out by Pacto, Peloo, and Zebon. Gooey is able to turn into Ball form the same ways Kirby can.

Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble
Though the entire game centers around Kirby rolling the along ground and platforms, Kirby is not in Ball form, as his hands and feet are simply tucked more tightly into his body. He only achieves the form in the Kirby's Roll-o-Rama sub-game, which has the player tilt the Game Boy Color to roll two or more spherical Kirbys into holes under a time limit.

Kirby: Canvas Curse
The game begins with the sorceress Drawcia transforming Dream Land into paint, and when Kirby confronts her, she transforms him into a ball. He cannot be controlled with buttons or the +Control Pad; instead, the player must use the Magical Paintbrush (the Nintendo DS stylus) to tap him and draw rainbow lines on the Touch Screen. Kirby slowly rolls forward automatically, and tapping him causes him to perform a Touch-Dash technique: He gains a brief burst of speed that enables him to defeat most enemies without taking damage. To guide the hero, the player can draw rainbow lines under him, which he follows.

Additionally, Kirby floats in water, but Touch-Dashing causes him to dive. Various obstacles can halt or move him, so the player must learn to use these effectively or avoid them altogether to progress. He can use several Copy Abilities as well, all of which are controlled using the stylus. Kirby remains in ball form in the sub-games as well.

Other playable characters include Waddle Dee, Waddle Doo, King Dedede, and Meta Knight. All of them are balls and have different attributes.

By the end of the game, Drawcia is defeated; Kirby and Dream Land are restored to their normal selves.

Kirby: Canvas Curse ' s spiritual successor, Kirby and the Rainbow Curse features similar gameplay. However, Kirby is not in ball form--he simply chooses to roll by tucking in his hands and feet.

Kirby's Epic Yarn
In multiplayer, Kirby or Prince Fluff can Yarn Whip each other; one grabs the other and holds him over his head, and can then throw his partner as an attack. The character who is grabbed takes the form of a yarn baseball with eyes (and a crown in Fluff's case).

Kirby Mass Attack
The Kirbys take on Ball form twice in this game: once in the rainbow pinball table in Stage 2 of Dedede Resort, and again in the Kirby Brawlball sub-game. The former has the player fire Kirbys out of an autocannon into a pachinko machine; the Kirbys' goal is to collect the Maxim Tomatoes and Medals in the table's pockets while avoiding the skull pocket at the top.

Kirby Brawlball is an homage to Kirby's Pinball Land, and as such, the hero is used as a pinball. Following Kirby Mass Attack ' s theme of controlling multiple Kirbys, the player is able to spawn more balls by lining up three Kirby images in roulettes or hitting the miniature Marx during the last boss battle. The sub-game ends when all present Kirbys fall into the drain.

Trivia

 * Kirby: Canvas Curse was not first conceptualized with the Kirby series in mind. Employees at Nintendo wanted to create a game in which a character moved along a rainbow. When members of the staff thought about making the character a ball, they remembered Kirby, and the game ultimately became a part of the series.
 * Concept artwork seems to suggest that additional playable characters were considered for Kirby: Canvas Curse; these characters include Lololo & Lalala, 0, Dark Matter, and Nightmare's Power Orb form.