Daroach

"Those bejeweled hearts will be mine!"

- Daroach

Daroach is the greedy and tactical leader of the Squeaks and the main antagonist of Kirby: Squeak Squad. Daroach also appears in Kirby Mass Attack as a helpful character who enlists Kirby for help in his quest for medals. His first playable appearance is in Kirby Star Allies as a Dream Friend in the game's second update.

Physical Appearance
Daroach is a grey mouse-like creature with round, floating paws, and three long yellow claws on each forepaw. He wears a red hat and a jagged red cloak, and often carries around a magic wand, or the Triple Star. Daroach has large ears, and has dark orange eyes with yellow scleras.

Personality
He is responsible for his gang's quest for the treasure that would grant them endless power. By his own ambition, he ultimately became the victim of Dark Nebula and became Dark Daroach. As with King Dedede, Daroach is shown as not being inherently evil and is instead rather more of a mischievous bandit, whose goals involve stealing valuable treasures that unintentionally bring him into conflict with Kirby when his Strawberry Shortcake is stolen by Daroach's band of thieves; this is further proven when Daroach and the rest of the Squeaks return Kirby's cake after he frees them from the controlling grasp of Dark Nebula. It is not known what happens after this, except that the Squeaks return Kirby's cake and "decide to look elsewhere for treasure", which brought him to the Popopo Islands and their hidden medals in Kirby Mass Attack. According to the Kirby Star Allies Channel on Update 11, Daroach hates tomatoes, but still eats Maxim Tomatoes without complaining.

Kirby: Squeak Squad
Daroach is revered as the leader of the Squeaks, a gang of thieves who search for treasure. Daroach's motives for forming the gang are never entirely revealed. While scouring the planet for gold and treasures, he and his gang take a chest from King Dedede. Throughout the course of the story, Kirby mistakenly comes to believe that this chest contains his shortcake. However, both characters are wrong and severely misguided.

Daroach and the rest of the Squeaks make their grand first appearance when Kirby is on his way to King Dedede's castle to find the whereabouts of his missing cake. Kirby narrowly escapes the gang, but little does he know that they were responsible for stealing his cake all along.

Daroach and the gang return to the scene of the crime where they stole Dedede's treasure just as King Dedede tells Kirby about the treasure they stole from him. Just as the Squeaks escape, King Dedede gets his revenge by flinging Kirby at them, knocking them off balance and down into Nature Notch. Kirby has many more run-ins with the Squeaks from that point forward, including two run-ins with their leader, but he doesn't get a chance to fight Daroach until he makes it all the way to their frosty hideaway much later in the game. The hideaway is shaped like Daroach's hat, sprinkled with snow.

Daroach is the boss of level six, Ice Island. He attacks by accurately throwing small bombs (which can be inhaled for the Bomb ability), shooting beams of ice across the screen using his scepter, and blasting three ricocheting stars with the Triple Star that evaporate after a few seconds. He also teleports around the room, making it hard to attack him. The floor of his room is coated in ice, making it somewhat hard to dodge the well-aimed bombs and bouncing stars. By the same token, Kirby can use this floor to his advantage by using it to imbue his upgraded Tornado or Wheel abilities with the element of ice and use it in either of their attacks. Soon after Kirby bests him, Meta Knight appears and makes off with the treasure chest. However, Kirby is quick to follow and defeat him, once again reclaiming the chest. Just as Kirby is about to open it, however, Daroach comes out of nowhere and, in a power-hungry attempt to gain enough power to defeat Kirby once and for all, opens it. However, instead of being granted unfathomable power, the ambitious Daroach is possessed by Dark Nebula, turning him into the corrupt Dark Daroach, who Kirby must fight in Gamble Galaxy as the penultimate boss in the game.

During the battle with Dark Daroach, his attacks are upgraded versions of the attacks he used in the first battle. His ice beam attack now shoots a larger, more powerful beam at Kirby, and Daroach backs up while using it, preventing Kirby from attacking him from behind. He throws bombs more often; the bombs he throws are now red, larger, cannot be destroyed using a copy ability, and must be Super Inhaled; they also cause a larger explosion, and send a large pillar of fire into the air. He teleports considerably more often, and he will use his Triple Star attack twice in a row; the stars are larger, do more damage, and stay on screen slightly longer as well. There is no ice on the ground, so Kirby cannot use the upgraded Tornado or Wheel abilities; however, this also means that Kirby no longer slides around on the ground.

After his defeat, Dark Nebula comes out of Daroach's body as a dark star and flees. Daroach then drops the Triple Star, which Kirby can grab and use in the battle against Dark Nebula.

After Dark Nebula is defeated, Daroach and the rest of the Squeaks return Kirby's cake as an apology for the wrong that they caused him during the course of the game.

Daroach also appears alongside the other Squeaks in a graphic, assembled by collecting Graphic Pieces from Treasure Chests.

Kirby Mass Attack
Daroach appears in both the main game and as an opponent in Kirby Quest. In the main game, he has come to the Popopo Islands to search for the medals there, and he requests the Kirbys find them. His airship appears after the Kirbys make it through five stages in Green Grounds, and it is accessible from the stage select screen. After completing each island, another member of the Squeak Squad joins Daroach on his airship (except after clearing Volcano Valley and Necro Nebula).

When he is visited, he tells the Kirbys a small fact about something relating to the islands or otherwise, and then gives out hints for the Kirbys so that they can find the medals scattered across the four main islands.

Some of Daroach's hints relate to his own opinion on things, as well as his personality and experiences. For example, he reveals that his crew is like family to him, and that he entered Stage 4 of Green Grounds when he was young. He says that he dislikes cemeteries and slimy things, and even mentions that he's had a history of romance. He feels that a Nintendo 3DS is "worth its weight in gold" as well, which was meant as an advertisement for the then-new Nintendo 3DS system. Daroach even tells the player to charge his/her Nintendo DS when the light glows red. If he says the same message twice, he'll mention that he's said it before or even accuse the Kirbys of standing around for "small talk."

Once the Kirbys get all 186 medals, Daroach gives them the final unlockable sub-game, Survival Rush, in exchange for all the medals the Kirbys have collected. When playing or selecting a stage, all medals on the top screen are replaced with a gold pin that looks like Daroach's face. Daroach says his final goodbyes before piloting his airship away from the Popopo Islands. He is never seen in the Story Mode again.

In the sub-game Kirby Quest, Daroach appears as the first opponent in Chapter 4, but does not attack. If the player fails a round against Daroach, he will simply flee from the battle. Successfully defeating him without providing him a chance to flee yields a very large sum of experience points.

Kirby Star Allies
Daroach appears in the second wave of Dream Friends in Kirby Star Allies, which launched on July 27, 2018. He teams up with Kirby in order to get his claws on the Jamba Heart shards, which he believes are valuable jewels. He can use all of his moves from his normal and Dark boss fights.

When Daroach fights Morpho Knight, the theme that plays is a remix of the Squeaks' theme.

In the Super Smash Bros. series
Daroach appears as a collectible sticker in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, using his artwork from Kirby: Squeak Squad. The sticker can be used on any character to strengthen his or her electrical attacks by 24.

Quotes
"Welcome, my little friend! Or should I say...friends? I am Daroach, the captain of the treasure-hunting Squeaks. I have sniffed out a stash of riches that I must possess. Medals, on this island!"

- Daroach

"Returned for more advice? I'm always glad to share info..."

- Daroach

"I wish I could get my hands on one of those Nintendo 3DS systems. Seems like they're worth their weight in gold."

- Daroach

"As the captain of an airship with all sorts of buttons and blinky lights... I know the value of a good manual."

- Daroach

"If the power light on your Nintendo DS turns red, it's time to recharge the battery. Seems like a good thing to know."

- Daroach

"Saving the world from darkness can be exhausting work. Don't forget to take a break now and then."

- Daroach

"They say to always play games in moderation. That makes perfect sense to me. It leaves some time to scout out treasure!"

- Daroach

Related Quotes
"A hat based on that notorious thief. Perfect for stealing victories!"

- Outfit description "One of the Dream Friends being added in Wave 2 is Daroach, leader of the mysterious treasure-thieving Squeaks, from the Kirby: Squeak Squad game. Daroach can shoot beams of ice, just like in his boss battle. Enemies that are hit by this will freeze, and you can conveniently take them out all at once."

- Kirby Star Allies Channel (Update 7)

"The illustrious thief from Kirby: Squeak Squad is back, and there's nothing he can't-or won't-steal! If making friends is all it takes to find some treasure, this purloiner is happy to tag along with the Squeak Squad in tow!"

- Flavor Text

"The famous thief from Kirby: Squeak Squad heard tales of dark, gem-shaped hearts and set out to find them. Such seemingly wicked treasures are certainly worthy of his talents!"

- Guest Star Description

Trivia

 * Daroach is one of the few characters in the Kirby series to have toes, with others including Gao Gao, Sir Slippy, Bonkers, Storo, Box Boxer, Gaw Gaw, Moonja, Jumpershoot, and Acchi.
 * Daroach is the second antagonist in the Kirby series (the first being King Dedede) to be possessed by Dark Matter.
 * It is not mandatory to use the Triple Star after the fight with Dark Daroach, as the player can use Ability bubbles to replace it. Alternatively, the player can have Kirby use the Copy Ability he had before Dark Daroach’s defeat, if he had one at all; this is done by having Kirby discard his ability, inhale the ability star (without swallowing), and touch the Triple Star. When Kirby swallows upon entering the next area, he regains the Copy Ability he had before.
 * Unlike the rest of the Squeaks, Daroach does not seem to have any elemental weaknesses.
 * Daroach is the only member of the Squeaks that is not affected at all by Kirby’s inhale, due to his status as a major boss.
 * "Daroach Reunion," the music played when Kirby visits Daroach in his airship, is a rearranged version of the "Squeak Squad Theme."
 * Daroach is one of the few characters in the Kirby series that Kirby can visit and converse with outside of cutscenes. Others include, but are not limited to, Magolor and the inhabitants of Quilty Square.
 * Daroach delivers more dialogue than any other character in the series. He has over 300 lines in Kirby Mass Attack, excluding notes he wrote in the instruction manual.
 * Kirby: Triple Deluxe categorizes keychains by the game that they originate from. Internally, the game refers to Kirby: Squeak Squad as "Daroach".
 * Daroach makes an appearance as a sticker in Kirby: Planet Robobot.