User:Mega Ultra Kirby

"This mysterious baddie kidnaps the king and takes him up the Dreamstalk and to the floating islands of Floralia. What is his evil plan?"

- Official Kirby: Triple Deluxe website

Taranza is a major character and the secondary antagonist in Kirby: Triple Deluxe. An insect-like character who kidnaps King Dedede in the opening cutscene of the game, Taranza initially appears to be the main antagonist, but it is ultimately revealed that he is merely a misguided servant of a much more sinister villain, Queen Sectonia. He is never fought directly in the game, instead controlling King Dedede in order to fight Kirby.

Physical Appearance
Taranza is a floating, limbless creature a little over Kirby's height. He has a brown head with two beady white eyes, a wide, mischievous, fixed smile with two pointed orange teeth, and gray-white hair with a kind of curved tip. He has two orange, inward-curving, yellow-tipped spikes on the top of his head, likely meant to represent spider mandibles. On the front of his hair, he has what appear to be two orange eyes with white pupils, and he has four more eyes on the back of the hair, again likely to give him the appearance of being a spider. He wears a red scarf, tied at the front, and a dark green, yellow-orange rimmed cape with a spider-web design. His dark green body has two of what appear to be gray-white buttons on it's front, and red circle designs on either side. He has a red stinger-like appendage on his bottom and six gloved hands. The fingerless gloves are white, with orange wrists, U-shaped designs on the backs starting at the wrists, and orange tips on the thumbs.

Story


The morning after the mysterious Dreamstalk lifts Kirby's home and King Dedede's castle into the floating kingdom of Floralia, Taranza enters the king's castle (Kirby enters behind him shortly after, having discovered his house was no longer on the ground), easily dispatches several Waddle Dee guards, and captures King Dedede. He flees the castle with the king in tow, and heads higher into Floralia, with Kirby climbing the Dreamstalk after them.

Throughout Kirby's journey through Floralia's six worlds, Taranza attempts to impede his progress by creating or aggravating bosses. He uses spider web-like magic to turn inanimate objects to life, such as a flower into Flowery Woods, a cloud into Kracko, and a stone statue into Coily Rattler. On the other hand, he moves Paintra's painting, and throws a rock at a sleeping Pyribbit, aggravating both into confronting Kirby. Kirby continuously defeats the bosses and pursues Taranza, intent on saving King Dedede from his clutches.

Unbeknownst to Taranza, Kirby enters portals to many alternate dimension areas at Royal Road, and saves the People of the Sky he finds there. With their help, he then follows Taranza as he takes King Dedede into his hideout - a small structure reminiscent of a castle. As Kirby enters the castle, Taranza notes his persistence, but says he cannot allow Kirby to interfere with his plans. He correctly guesses that Kirby followed him in order to rescue King Dedede, who he calls "the hero of the lower world". He vaguely and briefly explains that the People of the Sky thought they could use the Dreamstalk to save their world, but he saw right though their plan. He then takes control of King Dedede, turning him into his masked form (Masked Dedede), warning that the "hero" may be more hostile than Kirby remembers him, and forces the king to attack Kirby, using strings and controlling King Dedede like a puppet. Kirby defeats King Dedede, breaking his hammer and part of his mask in the process, but Taranza zaps him with his strange magic, and he, after grabbing an axe, confronts Kirby again. Kirby defeats the king a second time, and the rest of his mask is destroyed, taking Taranza's control over him with it.

Taranza approaches an unconscious Dedede with disbelief, confused as to how they could lose, as he did just as his master ordered. He then considers Kirby to be the true hero of the lower world, and he quickly summons Queen Sectonia, hoping she'll save him from suffering the same fate as Dedede. Sectonia immediately attacks Taranza with her scepter, sending him flying out of the castle and into the sky, while criticizing his failure to follow her orders, as she told him to capture the hero of Dream Land, Kirby, who he mistook King Dedede as. Queen Sectonia then attacks Kirby, though she is defeated. She then combines herself with the Dreamstalk, stating that Floralia, Dream Land, and all of Planet Popstar will be her sustenance for eternity, and vines begin to cover the planet. With the help of King Dedede and the People of the Sky, Kirby causes the vines to retreat briefly, giving him enough time to confront Queen Sectonia for a second time. He defeats her, but she grabs Kirby by the foot with a vine and captures him. Taranza then reappears carrying Dedede, ready to help. He throws Dedede at Kirby, and Dedede uses his hammer to smack Kirby free of the vines. Dedede then throws Kirby at Taranza, who throws a Miracle Fruit at Kirby, turning him into Hypernova Kirby. Hypernova Kirby then fights and defeats Sectonia for the third and seemingly final time. Afterwards, Sectonia's vines rapidly disintegrate, and Kirby and Dedede begin to fall from the sky. The People of the Sky catch Kirby and his home, while Taranza catches Dedede. Taranza, Kirby, Dedede, and the People of the Sky then admire the fully-bloomed Dreamstalk, which serves as a new landmark in Dream Land, as flower petals fall from the sky around them.

Abilities
Taranza is shown to be a skilled wielder of magic, though he is never fought directly. He can fire purple balls of energy, possess and/or strengthen other beings, and use a web-like net of energy to capture others and carry them wherever he wants to. Taranza is implied to be physically weak, judging from how easily Queen Sectonia blasted him away with her scepter.

When possessing King Dedede, Taranza used strings (presumably spiderweb) attached to King Dedede's limbs to control him like a puppet.

Etymology
Taranza's name is derived from tarantula, the species of arachnid that he is based off of.

Quotes
"To think that you've made it this far. Aren't you a persistent little thing? But even you will kneel before us. I, Taranza, cannot allow you to interfere with Queen Sectonia's plans. Let me guess: you're here to save the hero of the lower world. The people of this land thought they were clever. They thought they could use the Dreamstalk to save their world. But I saw right through their plan. Well, since you're already here... I'll give you your precious hero back. But he may be a little more...hostile than you remember him!"

- Taranza

"Wh-what is the meaning of this?! I did just as Her Majesty commanded. The lower world should fall to its knees before me! Could...Could you be the true hero of the lower world? Curses! If that's true... Majesty! Your Majesty Sectonia! Oh, glorious Sectonia! Please come to my resc-- Glaaaugh! Wh-why...?"

- Taranza

Trivia

 * Taranza, with his simple, floating body, dark brown skin, and limbless hands, looks quite similar to Magolor.
 * A painting of Magolor appears in the background of Stage 3 of Wild World, hanging near a painting of Taranza. This could suggest that they are related in some way -- possibly even the same species.
 * Taranza is never directly fought by Kirby, which is unusual for a major antagonist in the Kirby series.
 * Sectonia is able to blast him away with a single blow from her scepter, implying that Taranza is fairly weak physically.
 * Taranza functions similarly to Kamek from the Yoshi franchise in that both influence the bosses fought within the game, and neither are directly fought.
 * Taranza's voice, provided by Hirokazi Ando, was first heard in the downloadable Dedede's Drum Dash Deluxe sub-game. It can be heard when Dedede hits a backbeat while wearing the Taranza mask. In a Miiverse post, director Shinya Kumazaki stated that the voice was "designed with the image of an androgynous young spider."
 * Taranza's keychain, like Magolor's, depicts his skin as black rather than brown.

Physical Appearance
Queen Sectonia has the look of a giant wasp, although instead of being black and yellow, most of her body appears to be a dark blue or violet, but the three stripes on her lower body are yellow. Her head is mostly dark blue, but there is a yellow area where her mouth and nose would be. She has large pink eyelashes and antennae, while her large insect-like eyes are purple. She wears a gold crown with a blue crystal-like object on it and a pink heart on the front. She wears what appears to be a regal pink and purple cape with a fluffy white collar, and red and blue hearts attached to it on her large, dark blue upper body and her upper body has a pink heart on it. The area of her body that appears to be her waist is extremely thin, but her lower body (what could be a thorax) is as big as her upper body. Her four wings are also very wasp-like; they are a golden yellow, and have gate-like holes in them. She has a tall golden staff topped with a dark pink, diamond-shaped crystal. Sectonia has white-gloved hands, but she is limbless, meaning she has no arms attached to them.

Her second form is a giant flower-like monster. Her five petals are bright pink with heart-shaped splashes of orange on the ends and blue surrounding the orange, and pink and purple designs closer to the flower's base. Sectonia's second form is similar to her first one, but the flower seems to replace her lower body, and her antennae are much longer. Her wings now float behind her flower body. She controls green vines in this form, that turn pink at the tips and have flowers on their ends that resemble her own flower form, except with four petals instead of five. The flowers have large black pupiled eyeballs in their center.

Story
Queen Sectonia herself does not appear until the end of the game, but her presence is implied long before; banners and other pieces bearing her image are littered across Royal Road, the game's final level. When Kirby finally catches up with Taranza at the end of Royal Road, the mage reveals that he, in fact, is a servant of Queen Sectonia, and that he had abducted Dedede on her orders because he thought that Dream Land's self proclaimed king was the hero the Floralians had tried to summon with the Dreamstalk. After Kirby defeats King Dedede, who Taranza promptly took control of after revealing his affiliation with Sectonia, Taranza realizes - to his horror - that Kirby is the hero, and quickly summons Sectonia while begging her to save him from Kirby. Displeased by Taranza's failure to abduct Kirby, Sectonia immediately blasts Taranza with her scepter, launching him out of Royal Road and towards the horizon, before declaring herself to be 'ruler of the heavens' and proclaiming that she will 'crush everything Kirby holds dear' before attacking him.

Kirby gains the upper hand in the battle and defeats Sectonia; however, as Kirby and the recently awakened Dedede celebrate, Sectonia recovers and fuses herself with the Dreamstalk, transforming into a flower-like monster. Vines encase the castle Kirby and Dedede are in, trapping them, and cover the entirety of Popstar and Floralia. As Kirby and Dedede panic, several People of the Sky appear and provide Kirby with a cannon-like device, which Kirby, with Dedede's assistance, uses to combat Sectonia's vines. Once an opening in the vines is made, Dedede shoots Kirby through it, and the latter ascends the Dreamstalk to confront Sectonia once again.

Queen Sectonia is bested a second time after a long battle, and Kirby again celebrates, but one of Sectonia's vines grabs Kirby by the foot and captures him. Before Sectonia can finish off the hero, however, Taranza reappears with Dedede in his hands, and throws the king at Kirby, using his hammer to smack Kirby free of the vines; then, while Sectonia is recoiling from the blow, Dedede throws Kirby at Taranza, who tosses a Miracle Fruit at Kirby, granting him his Hypernova ability for the final time in the game. Kirby then confronts Sectonia once more. The buds on Sectonia's vines protect her with a shield, but Kirby inhales them and shoots them at one another until all four are destroyed. An enraged Sectonia then makes a last-ditch attempt to defeat Kirby by firing an enormous beam at him, but Kirby inhales it and sends it back at Sectonia, seemingly vaporizing her.

Dededetour
Queen Sectonia seemingly next appears in the Dededetour sub-game, where she once again abducts Floralia's inhabitants and makes a second bid at world domination. Unlike the main mode, however, it is King Dedede who confronts Sectonia - now labeled Queen Sectonia DX - in her fortress to stop her plans. In the ensuing battle, Dedede manages to best Sectonia DX, seemingly destroying her in the process.

However, Sectonia's fourth defeat was far from the end of Dedede's quest: Immediately after she is felled, the Dimension Mirror appears and Dedede is forced to fight two more battles - first against a dark version of himself known as Shadow Dedede, and then against Dark Meta Knight, the real villain behind Floralia's second wave of problems.

The True Arena
After defeating every other opponent, Kirby discovers that the real Queen Sectonia had not been slain during her 'final' battle against him: instead, she had clung to life long enough for her vines to find four Miracle Fruits, which a decaying Sectonia promptly consumes. She then transforms into a blue, orchid-esque form of herself known as Soul of Sectonia and fights Kirby as the penultimate battle of The True Arena. Soul of Sectonia is seemingly defeated after having her HP depleted, but she then stirs and rips herself out of the wilting Dreamstalk, engaging Kirby in a surprise final battle. When the final blow is dealt, Sectonia screams and explodes into a shower of blue petals, now permanently defeated.

First Form
The first fight against Sectonia is divided into three distinct phases. In the first one, she attacks with relatively weak orbs from her green scepter, and will occasionally exchange her scepters for swords to perform melee attacks. One melee attack involves Sectonia slicing her swords twice, and then charging forward in a similar fashion to Galacta Knight, leaving a trail of stars behind her; another is a multi-stab attack similar to the one Kirby himself uses that launches Kirby at the end of the attack if he is caught in it; a third involves Sectonia flying from either the foreground or the background and trying to slice Kirby with her swords mid-flight. Sectonia may also teleport around while using her pink scepter to fire dark lightning at the floor of the room. She can also create a golden ring, which she'll try to ram into Kirby with. She'll then expand it, and from the background, she'll expand it, and fire three giant rings at Kirby.



After a third of her health is gone, Sectonia will warp to the middle of the screen and produce a huge crystal in the background with her magic; she will then use her magic to throw Kirby onto the crystal, starting phase two. Here, Sectonia will initially attack from the foreground with yellow discs which are thrown in a sharp arc: Sectonia will first fire two sets of two discs, and then will fire a single, six-disc set which will cover the whole floor of the crystal. Sectonia can also warp closer to the crystal and create white, green, and red Antrs to distract Kirby; when these are defeated, Sectonia will attack before summoning more Antrs. Sectonia still uses her powerful dark lightning attacks during this phase, swiftly repositioning herself after every strike rather than simply teleporting, and also retains her sword attacks from her first phase, which can potentially knock Kirby off the platform if he is struck by them. When another third of her health is gone, Sectonia will use her scepters to shatter the crystal, blasting Kirby back to the first battle arena for the final phase of the fight and potentially dealing a substantial amount of damage if Kirby was directly struck by the scepters. If he is struck by them, Kirby will automatically lose his ability with no way to reattain it.



Sectonia's main attack here is to rapidly teleport towards the front of the screen, leaving after images behind her, before appearing next to Kirby and quickly slicing her swords; she tends to do this several times in a row. She retains the ability to summon Antrs, and often follows up on this by shooting several huge, damaging discs at Kirby's height; these will also destroy any Antrs caught in the disc's path. She can shoot more orbs as well.

Second Form (Eternal Dreamland)
During this phase, Kirby does not fight Sectonia herself; rather, her flowers. Kirby is loaded into a cannon (manned by King Dedede) and must break through the vines of the Dreamstalk to reach Sectonia's third form. To do this, players must control the cannon using the Nintendo 3DS's gyro controls to fire Kirby at the flowers. The "fight" is broken up into three rounds; the first round has just one flower, the second has three, and the third has five. The flower(s) will open and close repeatedly before a short pause, after which one flower will open and begin to charge up power. The player must then fire Kirby at the open flower to defeat it. The player must be fast and accurate, because Kirby will take damage if he misses the flowers altogether, hits a closed flower, or is hit by an attack from a flower that was not hit before it finished charging up power. When these rounds are finished, an opening in the Dreamstalk's vines will be created, allowing the player to shoot Kirby through to the third form of Sectonia. This second form does not have a health meter, as it is not technically a boss. This second form of Queen Sectonia is known on the pause screen as "Sectonia Vine."

Third Form (First Round)
In this phase, Kirby battles Queen Sectonia on multiple sets of platforms. In this phase, in order to damage Sectonia, Kirby must attack the flower buds that she summons. The flower buds are able to transform into swords to attempt to slice Kirby, or spiked balls that Queen Sectonia eats and spits at Kirby as they bounce across the screen. Sometimes, the buds will turn into blades, and try to spin into Kirby multiple times from the background and foreground. At other times, they will try to rapidly fire energy seeds at Kirby from the air. After dealing a certain amount of damage to her, Queen Sectonia will send Kirby flying upward and to a new set of platforms, which gets smaller as Kirby gets closer to her, and has gaps in certain areas. Eventually, after Kirby gets close enough to Queen Sectonia, she will summon 4 flower buds instead of 2. Now, the flowers start to fire lasers at this point, and even try to smash Kirby into the screen from the background. At a certain point, the four flower buds will team up with Queen Sectonia to fire a large laser at Kirby from the side of the arena three times at different angles. However, after Kirby seemingly "defeats" Queen Sectonia, one of her vines grabs and wraps around Kirby as Sectonia rises up, and attempts to finish off Kirby by squeezing him incredibly tightly. However, King Dedede and Taranza appear to help Kirby, as Taranza throws Dedede at Kirby so he could free Kirby by striking him with his hammer. Taranza then throws a Miracle Fruit, while King Dedede throws Kirby, both of them to colliding, transforming Kirby into Hypernova Kirby, beginning the final phase.

Third Form (Second Round)
The final battle in normal mode pits Hypernova Kirby against Queen Sectonia and her four budded vines. The background then changes from night time to daytime in front of the sun, and the main platforms are all filled so Kirby won't fall through. Sectonia's main attack in this form is having one of her buds fire out a huge stream of coconut-esque missiles that Kirby must catch in his mouth, creating a large clump. Sectonia will then fire a much larger, slower missile from her own body at Kirby, and the hero must fire the clump of smaller missiles at the larger one, causing them all to explode on impact with each other before they reach him. Sectonia's other attack is to send one of her vines' buds to try to swallow Kirby: but if Kirby evades this attack, which is done twice in a row as Sectonia's health gets lower, the bud is stunned and Kirby can inhale it to use it against Sectonia. The remaining buds will form a shield around Sectonia as one is inhaled, and the player must use the gyroscope to aim and fire the bud at another to destroy them and take large chunks out of Sectonia's health bar, eventually destroying all the buds and leaving Sectonia vulnerable.

Once all four buds have been destroyed, Sectonia will rush to the right side of the screen and charges a huge beam at Kirby as a last-ditch attempt to defeat him. Kirby will inhale the beam, and the control pad must be quickly pressed in a rotating pattern to ensure that Kirby inhales the entire blast. If not inhaled in time, the beam deals heavy damage to Kirby (about 1/3 of his HP) and sends Kirby bouncing around the screen before Sectonia fires another beam; when the beam is fully inhaled, Kirby will also inhale Sectonia's petals, some of the platforms under him, and even Sectonia's now-depleted health bar, and then fires the beam back at her, defeating her for the third time and ending the main mode.

Dededetour
Queen Sectonia DX's attacks are similar to those of the original queen, but a number of new or altered attacks are present. During the first phase of the battle, Sectonia is now quicker to surround herself with a magical golden ring and chase Dedede around the room with it: after she is done, she will move to the background and begin firing the same larger magical rings as she did in the first battle, although here she adds a fourth set of two at the end of the attack which hit the top and bottom of the screen.

The second phase of the fight plays similarly to the original battle, but Sectonia will now summon a larger number of assorted Antrs and, instead of waiting for them to be KO'd, will immediately resume the assault with her own attacks. Her first such attack is inevitably her disc attack, in which she will now throw two sets of four discs rather than two sets of two as in the original fight: The discs will instantly KO any Antrs struck by them.

Phase three also plays similarly to the original, but changes to the battle are still to be found. As before, Queen Sectonia will teleport towards the foreground to try to hit Dedede/Kirby with her swords; however, she may 'fake' trying to hit Kirby/Dedede before teleporting closer to the player and striking; Sectonia may do this several times before actually trying to hit the player; but she will only laugh before swinging her swords. After doing this several times, Sectonia will summon five assorted Antrs, use her large ring attack (which often defeats the Antrs mere seconds after they are summoned) and repeats this strategy until she is defeated.

Quotes
"Pitiful, Taranza... I have no use for a fool who cannot follow orders."

- Queen Sectonia

"Bah...Aha... I...see. I expected as much from the hero chosen by the Dreamstalk. But I wonder... How will you handle this? You see, true beauty...is control. The Dreamstalk has guided you thus far. But its bloom will be your doom! Floralia, Dream Land, and this entire planet! You should all feel honored. You will serve as my sustenance... for eternity!"

- Queen Sectonia

Related Quotes
"Sectonia and Taranza were once good friends, but Sectonia became obsessed with vanity and delusions of grandeur. It wasn't long before her heart went evil, turning her into the power-hungry monarch she is today."

- VS Sectonia DX

Trivia

 * Kirby: Triple Deluxe ' s levels' first letters form an acronym when put together in order: F-L-O-W-E-R. This is a reference to Queen Sectonia's form after combining with the Dreamstalk, which is a giant flower-like creature. If one includes Eternal Dreamland, the acronym spells F-L-O-W-E-R-E-D, which is similar to the acronym used in Kirby's Return to Dream Land, C-R-O-W-N-E-D.
 * The name of the second battle theme is "Moonstruck Blossom".
 * According to director Shinya Kumazaki, Sectonia's tyrannical personality stemmed from excessive gazing into the Dimension Mirror.
 * Queen Sectonia is the third female final boss, and the second female main antagonist, in the Kirby series. The others are Grill and Drawcia.
 * Also, she is the first female final boss in the series not to be a stereotypical witch or sorceress, instead being depicted as a despotic royal figure.
 * Sectonia is the second villain to engage Kirby in a surprise final battle at the end of The True Arena sub-game in a "Soul" form, the first being Marx Soul from Kirby Super Star Ultra.
 * With no fewer than four unique themes played during the battles against her, Sectonia arguably has more boss themes in one game than any other boss in the Kirby series.
 * Soul of Sectonia is the fourth boss to carry the name 'Soul,' but the first to have "Soul of" at the start.
 * Queen Sectonia's theme is a major contrast from other villains and final bosses from the Kirby series: whereas other bosses, such as Magolor Soul and Necrodeus, are little more than symbols of death and destruction, Queen Sectonia has elements of bees and flowers, both of which signify birth and rejuvenation, and is visibly more elegant than most prior villains in the series.
 * There is a keychain of Queen Sectonia — meaning it is a sprite, despite the model not appearing in any past installments. This is also done with Taranza, Yin-Yarn, and Magolor.
 * Her keychain is acquired by collecting all of the Sun Stones in the game; therefore it is possible to see Queen Sectonia before she is actually revealed in the game by collecting her keychain before playing the final level.
 * Queen Sectonia's black lightning attack resembles Dark Matter's attack from Kirby's Dream Land 3.
 * Queen Sectonia is one of the final bosses known to laugh during their fight, the others being Marx, Marx Soul, Drawcia, and Necrodeus.
 * Her laugh in her first form is also notable in that it is more of a feminine laugh, rather than an ominous cackle like prior final bosses. However, her soul form does utter a more traditional, distorted cackle.
 * Oddly, Sectonia's large, flower-esque forms utter shrill roars instead of laughing.
 * Queen Sectonia's vine attack is very similar to Capamari's tentacle attack.
 * Queen Sectonia's laugh is noticeably quieter in the European version.
 * Queen Sectonia's flowers in her second form resemble Para Matter from Kirby: Canvas Curse.
 * The crystal Queen Sectonia creates mid-battle resembles the crystal floor Kirby stands on while fighting Dark Nebula in Kirby: Squeak Squad.
 * A part of Queen Sectonia's first form's battle theme (Sullied Grace) is a remix of 02's battle theme.
 * Queen Sectonia is voiced by Makiko Omoto.

Physical Appearance
King Dedede resembles a large penguin-like creature dressed in red royal finery, with his personal emblem (either a picture of himself performing the peace sign, or, in the anime and later games, just the peace sign alone) embossed on the back of his robe, as well as most of the items or weaponry he owns and/or endorses. King Dedede himself is rather portly, is blue-skinned and has a yellow mouth (which has been depicted as more of a beak). He is consistently seen with his round red cap, which has a yellow or golden rim and a white ball at the top (a crown in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards and the anime pilot). He has blue flipper-like hands, though they are usually covered by a pair of yellow mittens. He has a tan piece of clothing, but these are not shown in some games, revealing a blue belly. In addition, he has a red and yellow zigzag-patterned girdle-like band stretched across his waist. His trademark weapon is a large star-studded hammer which he can swing around with the greatest of ease. He is able to inhale objects and spit them out in a manner similar to Kirby. According to Super Smash Bros. Melee, he apparently underwent a series of rigorous training programs to learn and master the use of inhaled air to fly like Kirby. This occurred after the events of Kirby's Dream Land.

Personality
Although Dedede is a primary antagonist, he is not necessarily evil. Several of his deeds are performed when under possession by some other entity - three times by the Dark Matter, once by Yin-Yarn, and once by Taranza. Whenever he is the villain of his own volition in the games, however, it is usually due to selfish mischief, such as stealing food or trying to prove himself better than Kirby. Despite his greed and selfishness, he sometimes has pure intentions behind his actions. His role as the antagonist of Kirby's Adventure was ultimately to protect Dream Land from Nightmare by hiding the Star Rod. He has also willingly helped Kirby in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, Kirby's Return to Dream Land, and the Subspace Emissary story of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Dedede is sometimes seen to be on friendly terms with Kirby, especially in the more recent games. He shows no apprehension towards helping Kirby in Kirby's Return to Dream Land and is visibly very happy to see him towards the end of the Subspace Emissary, even going as far as to run up to hug him. Despite this, he is still the main antagonist (or the tertiary but more active antagonist compared to Customer Service and Nightmare, who both prove to be a much bigger threat) in the anime, although it is revealed near the end that he enjoys their one-sided rivalry to an extent and that he does not actually wish for Kirby to die, which eliminates his role as a villain at the anime's conclusion.

Although King Dedede's authority and influence over Dream Land is seldom questioned in the games, events and descriptions in several spinoffs and references including Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, and Dedede's trophy description and a Codec conversation with Colonel Campbell in Super Smash Bros. Brawl suggests that it is highly subjective depending on context. King Dedede himself takes it for granted, and his army of Waddle Dees serve him and staff Castle Dedede. Meanwhile, other creatures happily go about their business with or without him. In Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, when his people choose to defy him whenever he oversteps his bounds, he has little to no enforcement of his authority to stop them, short of ordering monsters from Nightmare Enterprises and having it backfire on Escargoon and himself.

Kirby's Dream Land
King Dedede first appeared in Kirby's Dream Land as the main antagonist, where he and several thieves acting on his part steal all of the food in Dream Land and, in either an attempt to crush morale or simply to cause needless mischief, he steals the inhabitants' treasured Sparkling Stars and gives them to his underlings. Appearing as the final boss of the game, his actions are reversed by Kirby upon his defeat, with a finishing blow that sends him flying through the ceiling of his castle.

Kirby's Adventure and Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land
In Kirby's Adventure and its remake, Dedede has broken up the fabled Star Rod and removed it from the Fountain of Dreams, giving him full control over the fountain. This leaves the people of Dream Land unable to dream, and Kirby is dispatched with the task of recovering all the pieces and punishing the king for his selfish actions. In a key plot revelation, defeating King Dedede makes it apparent that he was actually trying to protect Dream Land from the Nightmare that took residence in the fountain, and even goes so far as to spit out Kirby into outer space so Kirby can defeat them. This is one of the few instances where he is seen as helping Kirby as opposed to hindering him. Nonetheless, this started a popular trend in the series where King Dedede would serve as the apparent final boss, but collecting all the pieces of the game's key item would reveal the true instigator of Dream Land's problems.

Kirby's Avalanche
In Kirby's Avalanche, Dedede makes an appearance twice: The first time is at the ending of Easy mode, where he announces the Dream Fountain cup of the Avalanche tournament. The second appearance is as the final boss, where he challenges his rival, Kirby, for the championship. His dialogue with Kirby is as follows:


 * King Dedede: "Kirby!! Your dream has carried you far but here it ends. The Dream Fountain Cup will be mine!"
 * Kirby: "Welcome King Dedede. And good luck to you too."

Kirby's Dream Land 2
In what is seen as one of the darker points of the series, Dark Matter takes control over King Dedede's body in Kirby's Dream Land 2, plotting to rule Dream Land after separating the Rainbow Islands by destroying the Rainbow Bridges. After battling Dedede's associates across the seven separated islands, Kirby made his way to King Dedede's chamber in Dark Castle's looming tower. Under Dark Matter's control, Dedede was trapped in an unnatural sleep throughout his confrontation with Kirby, but otherwise fought exactly as he did in Kirby's Dream Land. He could also power himself up in fits of rage, making his attacks more explosive and giving them wider range, even being able to toss his hammer at Kirby, which would explode on contact.

Although Kirby could face his rival at Dark Castle to his heart's content, only after collecting the seven Rainbow Drops could he truly save the day. After defeating Dedede with the seven drops in hand, Kirby was rewarded the Rainbow Sword as Dark Matter emerged from the king's limp body, and the two dueled high in space. As shown in the game's ending, Dedede finally awoke and recovered after the battle, and was even glad for Kirby when Dark Matter was expelled from the land.

Kirby Super Star and Kirby Super Star Ultra
In Spring Breeze, the first sub-game of Kirby Super Star, King Dedede plays the same role he did in Kirby's Dream Land. He is also fought in The Arena and can be raced in Gourmet Race, in which he challenges Kirby to eat more food than him while running a marathon against him. He is also in the sub-game Samurai Kirby where he is the penultimate enemy (the last being Meta Knight).

In Kirby Super Star Ultra, Dedede has all the same roles that he did in the first game, but here his role was greatly expanded when he was given a new villain role in another sub-game; Revenge of the King. Here he plots Kirby's doom by once again stealing four of the Sparkling Stars to lure him into some old enemies that have gotten stronger. After Kirby fights his way through to the end of Dedede's castle, Dedede forces Kirby to take up a hammer for their final battle (though Kirby can opt not to use it by not picking it up and waiting). Dedede then reveals himself, wearing a mask and wielding a new, mechanized hammer, intending on settling the score with Kirby once and for all. The fight style here is similar to the Meta Knight battles where the similar weapon is offered, and their mask breaks after they are defeated. He does not offer the hammer in The True Arena.

During the fight against him as Masked Dedede, Dedede is armed with the "brand-new Dedede Hammer" and is capable of a much larger moveset, in addition to a lack of his signature flinching when taking damage (though only during attacks that utilize the Dedede Hammer in some way). Four of his new attacks include firing miniature rockets from his hammer, using it as a flamethrower, performing a spinning attack similar to Hammer Kirby's "Giant Swing", and making the hammer electrified in order to send out a wave of electricity along the floor after slamming it down. He still uses his trademark jump, but three times in a row this time. He also had apparently carefully thought up his revenge plot, to the point where he puts an electric cage around the arena, restricting Kirby's flight. Upon defeat, King Dedede is sent flying in a similar fashion to when he lost in Spring Breeze. He is seen in the ending credits dejectedly walking through a desert under a setting sun, in the company of his Waddle Dees. The desert area is similar to the one Kirby and Wheelie goes through at the end of Revenge of Meta Knight.

Kirby's Dream Land 3
King Dedede fought Kirby again in Kirby's Dream Land 3, this time as the boss of Iceberg.

Soon after meeting up with Dedede at the top of his castle, it quickly became apparent that he was taken over by a Dark Matter-like force once more. When the puppet king confronted Kirby (and Gooey) this time, he displayed not only his typical fighting skills, but some new and disturbing ones as well. At first he used his normal abilities, but once the finishing blow was landed, he became surrounded by an eerie mass of dark energy and began floating in the air, gaining an entirely new health bar. In this form, what appears to be Dark Matter finally shows itself, peeking its eye out of Dedede's body to shoot blobs of dark energy that would home in on Kirby and attempt to ram into him. Perhaps the most disturbing attack was when the king's stomach would split open into a large snarling mouth filled with sharp teeth and then would promptly chase after the player.

Defeating King Dedede and getting all of Iceberg's Heart Stars expelled the fiendish entity from his body. Further collecting all thirty of them revealed the way to the Hyper Zone, the cloud which housing Dark Matter and Zero, the source of all the strange behavior. King Dedede, alongside Kirby's animal friends, will bear witness to Kirby taking off to fight and defeat Dark Matter once and for all.

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
In Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, King Dedede is fought very early on in the game and is possessed by one of the Dark Matter once again. King Dedede, while surveying his kingdom, discovers a Crystal Shard and attempts to inspect it. Kirby attempts to retrieve it for Ribbon, but King Dedede stubbornly refuses and continues to inspect it. However, both are knocked back by a Dark Matter, and ends up possessed by the Dark Matter when the latter discovers that it holds the Crystal Shard. Although significantly weaker, his attacks are similar to the ones from the previous game; using his hammer and spitting out small Dark Matter-like blobs. After the Dark Matter is driven out, he gives his Crystal Shard (albeit bitterly). While the gang is departing, Waddle Dee tries to convince him to come along with them, which he clearly detests in doing - though he grudgingly follows and joins their group.

In some levels where Kirby wouldn't normally do much and probably wouldn't travel far, King Dedede comes and offers Kirby a lift. When controlling Dedede, the player will find that he can't do multiple jumps, but he can swing a hammer, which can break objects that Kirby couldn't, such as large walls or boulders. He can also charge his hammer, but it won't do any extra damage.

If the player loses all six units of life while controlling King Dedede, he falls unconscious with Kirby unharmed—he tries to shake Dedede awake and pulls off the white crown on Dedede's cap in the process. Despite the fact that Kirby is unharmed, the player still loses a life and has to start the room over again. Upon the completion of a Dedede portion, Kirby will direct Dedede as to where to go, to which Dedede will then grab Kirby and hurl him to his destination, waving goodbye as he does so.

When infiltrating Ripple Star Castle, Dedede will arrive to clear away a roadblock caused by cave-in.

In the false ending, Dedede is seen crying when departing from Ripple Star.

In the true ending, Dedede will accompany the party to Dark Star to destroy the Dark Matter threat once and for all. Dedede will then launch Kirby into the air by slamming a pedestal so he could fight the core of Dark Star, 02. Afterwards, he along with the rest of the party are awarded with medals made from the Crystal for their heroism by the Fairy Queen.

On an additional note, this was the king's last appearance without mittens on.

Kirby: Canvas Curse
In Kirby: Canvas Curse, a fake version of King Dedede appears in the game Cart Run as the opponent the player plays against. The king also appears as one of the drawings in Paint Panic.

Once the player defeats Drawcia using Waddle Dee, the player can unlock the real King Dedede in the Medal Swap section of the game. He is the biggest and heaviest unlockable character in the game. If the player taps him with the stylus, he will use his hammer, which is useful for breaking certain blocks, wooden pieces and taking down enemies. King Dedede has seven vitality points, and costs 20 Medals to unlock.

Kirby: Squeak Squad
King Dedede makes a first in the Kirby series by standing as the first boss in Kirby: Squeak Squad. Kirby suspects that Dedede had stolen his afternoon snack and confronts him. Dedede's attacks are the same as in other games, but he gains a new one: Whenever he screeches, a Parasol Waddle Dee will float down from the top of the screen. After his defeat, the Squeaks (who were really behind the robbery) attack and take his treasure chest thinking it contains an ultimate power and begin to run off with it, but the furious King Dedede quickly grabs Kirby and tosses him at them, knocking all of them into a pit that led to a cavern in Nature Notch. King Dedede is never seen in the game again.

Kirby's Epic Yarn
King Dedede serves as the boss of Snow Land in Kirby's Epic Yarn. However, he first appears back in his castle in Dream Land, bossing his Waddle Dees around. Noticing that one of them looks strange, Dedede is attacked by Yin-Yarn and his impostor Waddle Dees. Yin-Yarn then sucks Dedede into his magical sock, which transports him to Patch Land.

When starting the fight against Dedede, he spots Kirby, but just before he can act, a strange puppeteer-device flies at him and connects him to four strings that control him from above. His attacks range from jumping up and then slamming into the ground with his hammer, jumping up and down making shock waves and Gordos appear, and belly sliding across the slick icy floor. After the four strings have been plucked, the puppeteer-device is destroyed and Dedede is freed from its control. Kirby and Prince Fluff then obtain the sixth strand piece of Magic Yarn.

King Dedede appears once more in the game, following Kirby, Prince Fluff and Meta Knight back home to the yarn version of Dream Land, where his castle has been converted into a floating stronghold. There are also some King Dedede collectibles to be found such as a mini version of Castle Dedede and one of his robes. A doll of him can be bought from Chaise Woole in Quilty Square.

In the Japanese version of his dialogue, he tends to end his sentences with "-zoi" like he does in the original version of the anime.

Kirby Mass Attack
Dedede is fought as the third boss in Kirby Mass Attack. He starts out in a hot air balloon (which resembles his head) and tosses time bombs onto the Kirbys. These bombs must be bounced back at Dedede, so that they explode in his face when the clock strikes "0". After several hits, Dedede falls to the ground, where the Kirbys must tackle him to perform damage. After a few times of this, the balloon will float away and Dedede will resort to using stomp and hammer attacks. At this point the Kirbys' only chance to damage him is to get behind him when he uses his hammer attack and tackle him from behind. He is the only boss that can be accessed with only one Kirby (with the exception of the Boss Rush on Necro Nebula), and there is a checklist reward if the player can defeat him using only a single Kirby.

When defeated, a black/purple smoke is released from his body, implying that he may have once again been possessed, although it is never really explained.

King Dedede also appears in the Kirby Brawlball sub-game, where he will send Kirby to one of the boss levels when Kirby goes into his mouth. He also appears three times in the Kirby Quest RPG sub-game; as the boss of the first chapter, driving HR-D3 as the boss of the second chapter, and as a regular enemy in the final chapter.

Unused sprites of King Dedede exist in the coding of the game. These sprites show him as a playable character in Strato Patrol EOS. Rather than spitting a constant stream of stars like Kirby, he would have thrown a constant stream of hammers.

In the credits, if Kirby keeps fishing, it is possible to fish out Dedede. However, he appears to be knocked out.

Kirby's Return to Dream Land
King Dedede is a playable character in Kirby's Return to Dream Land for the Wii. Unlike in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards where he was reluctant about joining forces with Kirby, this time he is eager and willing right from the start. Of the four playable characters, Dedede is treated as the group's comic relief.

Dedede has almost the same exact moveset as Hammer Kirby, but with two notable changes. The first being that he is unable to perform the Giant Swing move (that is, Kirby's midair move in which he spins the hammer around his body); instead Dedede just swings the hammer in front of him when in midair, not much differently than from his normal hammer attack.

The other difference is that Dedede is able to perform the Hammer Throw attack as often as he wishes. Normally Kirby would sacrifice his ability when he uses this last-ditch attack, but Dedede does not, basically giving him infinite projectile attacks.

Another interesting detail is that since Dedede inflates himself to fly like Kirby does, he can also use the Air Pellet as an attack.

Also notable is that the Hammer Twirl attack, a downward hammer spinning attack which both Hammer Kirby and Dedede can use, was originally introduced as one of Dedede's attacks in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Kirby's Dream Collection: Special Edition
Besides his roles in Kirby's Dream Land, Kirby's Adventure, Kirby's Dream Land 2, Kirby Super Star, Kirby's Dream Land 3, Kirby 64: The Crystal Stars, and the three included episodes of the Kirby: Right Back at Ya anime, Dedede makes an appearance in the game's opening.

In the game's opening, Dedede, Meta Knight, and Kirby, meet each other appearing as their Kirby's Adventure sprites. After Kirby sucks in a Warp Star that he discovers, the three transform into their 3D appearances. They all strike poses and Dedede's stomach jiggles, distracting the king and causing him to irritably poke at his own belly. Two Waddle Dees run past carrying Star Blocks, and the group notices that they're building a "20th" monument out of them. Kirby, despite Dedede's warnings, sucks in the blocks (as well as Bandana Waddle Dee) and spits out a circular coin (as well as Bandana Waddle Dee). Dedede then, at Kirby's beckoning, swats Kirby into the coin with his hammer, forming the logo.

Kirby: Triple Deluxe
Dedede's castle is lifted high above the ground into a kingdom known as Floralia one night by a beanstalk called the Dreamstalk. The next morning, a spider-like creature named Taranza enters his castle, dispatches his Waddle Dee guards, and kidnaps him. Taranza ascends the Dreamstalk with Dedede in tow as Kirby follows behind, trying to save Dedede. King Dedede is a 'damsel in distress' character for the bulk of the game until the end, where he becomes the penultimate boss of Royal Road. Taranza takes possession of him by using silk strings like a marionette, and magically materializes a mask and mechanized hammer, forcing him to fight Kirby as Masked Dedede.



Masked Dedede's attacks are similar to those in Kirby Super Star Ultra, but with minor differences. The most noticeable difference is that Dedede's inhale is stronger and that he spits Kirby at the screen. When he is defeated, Masked Dedede's hammer breaks and his mask cracks after the first round. Taranza then strengthens him, causing him to roar angrily as his robes turn purple and he steals a large decorative axe, hoping to take his revenge on Kirby. Masked Dedede's Revenge can spin his axe around like he did with his hammer, dizzying him for a few seconds afterwards. He can also walk across the whole screen while swinging his axe in many directions. After Kirby defeats him, Taranza tries to awaken him but fails.

Taranza then summons Queen Sectonia, who confronts Kirby. King Dedede wakes up with his will returned as Kirby defeats Sectonia, only to watch in horror as Sectonia fuses with the Dreamstalk. The Dreamstalk's vines cover Planet Popstar as Dedede and Kirby panic. Several of the People of the Sky (which Kirby previously rescued) arrive with a cannon-like device that Dedede uses to fire Kirby into the Dreamstalk's overgrowth, weakening it, and creating an opening to Sectonia herself. Dedede fires Kirby through the opening and he confronts her for the second time. After defeating her, Kirby is grabbed by a vine. Taranza then lifts Dedede into the sky and throws him at Kirby. Dedede smacks Kirby free with his hammer and throws him at Taranza, who tosses a Miracle Fruit to Kirby, transforming him into Hypernova Kirby. Kirby then defeats Sectonia for the third and final time, causing her vines to disintegrate as the king and pink puff fall from the sky. Taranza catches Dedede while the People of the Sky catch Kirby, and they all admire Floralia as flower petals fall from the sky.



The player can play as King Dedede in the sub-game Dededetour. Dedede's moveset is similar to Kirby's Hammer ability and his moveset in Kirby's Return to Dream Land, though his neutral attack sends a shock wave along the ground at full health, and his charge attack fires a red beam. Dedede can still float and spit Air Bullets. When Dedede defeats Queen Sectonia DX, he must battle a dark version of himself named Shadow Dedede. After defeating Shadow Dedede and Dark Meta Knight's Revenge, the king smashes the Dimension Mirror, ending Dededetour.

One of the sub-games, Dedede's Drum Dash, allows the player to control Dedede as he bounces on drums while classic Kirby tunes play in the background. Collecting Musical Coins and hitting backbeats awards points.

Dedede's play control in Dedede's Drum Dash Deluxe is identical to that of Dedede's Drum Dash. He can unlock his mask from Kirby Super Star Ultra (and Kirby: Triple Deluxe) and wear it during the game, along with masks of Kirby, Meta Knight, Waddle Dee, and Taranza.

Dedede appears as the final boss of Kirby Fighters Deluxe, alongside 23-63 miniature duplicates of himself (with the final two being orange and slightly larger). The amount of duplicates depends on the difficulty and the number of attempts. After defeating all of his Mini Dededes, Dedede will grow large.

Kirby: Right Back at Ya!
King Dedede's appearance in the anime, Kirby: Right Back at Ya! is just like his appearance in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (excluding the gloves), with a blue stomach and a tan robe covering it. King Dedede's role is very much the same in the games execpt he has less of a soft side and is portrayed as more evil than he is in the games, with a meaner disposition (he is also much less intelligent and more bumbling). In the Japanese version of the anime, King Dedede has a verbal tic, ending most of his sentences with ぞい (-zoi), which carries no meaning. This is later carried over to the voiceover for his Japanese dialogue in Kirby's Epic Yarn. In the English dub, he speaks with a thick Southern/Texas accent (the accent is similar to Foghorn Leghorn) and often says ridiculous things. He is voiced in the Japanese version by Kenichi Ogota and in the English dub by Ted Lewis (who was credited as Ed Paul). He is the main antagonist of the show.

In the Kirby of the Stars Pilot, Dedede tries to get rid of Kirby using Wile E. Coyote-esque tricks and traps, only for them to quickly backfire in his face. He tries to help out when the sky darkens, but he gets zapped by what seems to be Nightmare. Strangely, his hat actually has a crown on it instead of the white bobble, reminiscent of Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards.



In Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, Dedede is the main villain of the show (next to Nightmare in the movie). His role is similar to his game roles - except that he has less of a good side, and is much more malicious, annoying, and very selfish. He constantly ignores or shrugs off any negative comments from the townsfolk, believing them to be below him. In addition, he has very little respect for anyone in town, treating their safety and desires as secondhand in his goals for whatever greedy thing he wishes. He now has a sidekick in the show named Escargoon, making a somewhat comical duo. He is angry at Kirby for having all the townspeople like him, and takes his anger out on Cappy Town. For instance, Tiff tries to stop Dedede, however, she usually fails and is done by the choice of the King, which is the way she is captured, after all, Tiff is Kirby's best helper so Dedede has to aim for the right one, the girl herself. Dedede can't defeat Kirby himself, so he orders monsters from Nightmare Enterprises and sends them after Kirby. He is very jealous of Kirby as he thinks Kirby gets more respect than him and is angry because he is seen as mean in the Cappy's eyes, the irony being that his bad attitude and poor moral judgement is what constantly gets people angry at him. However, despite his jealousy of Kirby, he actually does deep down enjoy Kirby's company, believing ruling Dream Land is far more interesting when he has an enemy. His castle is guarded by an innumerable amount of Waddle Dees and one Waddle Doo general, who seems to be able to translate what they say. On three instances, he has used the Waddle Dees for his own personal gain, once fired them all when he purchased a robot from NME, but he rehired them when he found out that said robot was stealing his riches and giving them to Nightmare Enterprises in order to pay off Dedede's huge debt to them. , again during a situation trying to re-pay Nightmare Enterprises by putting the Waddle Dees up for sale, and once more when he slashed their meal rations from their original dinner amounts to very poor and malnourishing sandwiches, which resulted in a revolt by the Waddle Dees. He was slightly redesigned for the show, looking somewhat "less cute". Dedede's attire never deviates from his royal finery similar to those he wears in the games. The only other things he is seen wearing every so often are a shower cap which he sometimes dons when taking a bath, a pair of green pajama's and nightcap when he's sleeping, and a pair of outrageous purple sunglasses in the shape of his peace sign when he is sunbathing.



He claims that he's the 17,052nd ruler of Dream Land and that the Dedede clan has been ruling over the Cappies for a long time. None of the Cappies believed him so he tried to "prove it" by placing fake artifacts and fossils in the ground and having them excavated (with Curio's help). He was found out, however, and his plans were dashed by Stone Kirby when he unleashed the Dedede Stone, Thus it has not been proven nor disproven if King Dedede is telling the truth, however the intent to cover it up with fake artifacts may imply it is a lie.

His favorite food is apparently Turban Shells (or possibly what's inside them), which he often cooks and eats over a barbecue. Because of this, at one point, he nearly cooks Escargoon alive after the snail takes refuge in a particularly large one after the King himself broke his old shell. Dedede is often criticized about his weight, particularly by Knuckle Joe who would call him "Tubby", amongst other things (the Knuckle Joe incident, however, is dub-only; in Japan, Knuckle Joe called him the equivalent of "gramps"). He is also insulted often by Escargoon, because of his body weight and intelligence, but that usually ends up with him being the victim of Dedede's trusty hammer (sometimes Dedede doesn't understand what Escargoon means when he insults him, but pummels him anyway), although there are situations where King Dedede is clearly insulted about his intelligence by Escargoon or others, but agrees with the criticism. In D'Preciation Day, King Dedede admits he is aware he is far stupider than Escargoon (while crying under the assumption he accidentally killed Kirby).



In a few episodes, it is emphasized that Dedede can't read unless he is read aloud to. However, in some episodes, he "can" read (at one point, Dedede even says he prefers books with pictures in them). One episode even reveals that part of his head is hollow, as if he has no brain. Why he's brainless is unknown but, despite this, he has attempted three times to create an education system to the people of Cappy Town. Each time has been led to failure and the destruction of the School.

In Kirby's Egg-Cellent Adventure, it is implied that he is an avid birdwatcher (though that was the only episode that this was witnessed). He also has an ambition to clear out the Whispy Wood's forest so he can build a country club and play his second favorite sport - Golf. His first favorite sport is apparently beating Escargoon to a pulp.

In some episodes, his trademark Hammer would be inhaled by Kirby to get the Hammer ability.

He eventually turns against Nightmare Enterprises nearing the finale, with Dedede and Escargoon also exacting revenge against Customer Service by force-feeding him one of Chef Kawasaki's poorly prepared meals.

Modes of Transportation


In early episodes, Dedede would ride in a tank-like Jeep, often in the gunner seat, where he would often fire the cannon (in particular, it was Dedede firing the cannon that wrecked Kirby's spaceship, leaving him stuck in Dream Land. As usual - he blamed it on Escargoon). In later episodes, Starting from The Kirby Derby - Part I, he would be seen in the passenger seat of a car resembling an old-fashioned Rolls Royce Limousine he purchased from Nightmare Enterprises. The Limousine is apparently fast and full of sneaky tricks and traps. Both the tank and the limousine were driven by Escargoon. No origins has been given to how the King got his Jeep, or why he got rid of it, though it's likely that he also purchased his Jeep from Nightmare Enterprises as well, possibly as one of his first purchases.

Dedede also owned a practically indestructible tour bus for one episode. It was never seen since that episode.

It is notable that Dedede is one of only two characters that own and frequently drives an automobile. The other character is Mayor Len Blustergas.

Kirby
In the anime, for most episodes, Dedede sees Kirby as his enemy and ally. For the first few, he is jealous. However, deep down, he sees Kirby as the real hero of Dream Land and cares for him. In the later episodes, Dedede's plots start to less involve defeating Kirby and more of humiliating him. In some episodes, such as the episode where the Pengi clan invades Cappy Town, Dedede actually teams up with Kirby. In the episode "Prediction Predicament Part II", Dedede even swings peacefully with Kirby and doesn't even mind his presence. It is shown that Kirby might have a few harsh feelings for Dedede, too, as he sometimes shows he doesn't like his plans (mainly if it's against food), and seems to find pleasure in pulling pranks on him and scaring him. However, it is also to note Kirby was the only individual who was happy to come give King Dedede a present on his Appreciation Day (even though he ate it). Point being of all this, King Dedede respects Kirby, but doesn't show it.

Dedede's respect for Kirby was fully shown in "D'Preciation Day". After feeding Kirby bombs as a prank, Tiff got the town to agree to a pretend funeral. A letter was sent to King Dedede for Kirby's "memorial", driving Dedede into thinking that Kirby was dead, which resulted in King Dedede crying over the fake gravestone of Kirby. However, once he realized that Kirby wasn't dead, and Kirby's funeral was a counter-prank by the Cappies, Dedede was overjoyed, and instead of being angry at the Cappies for fooling him, claimed that he always needed Kirby as someone to compete with.

In the games, King Dedede initially started out as an enemy and a true rival. He stole the Sparking Stars in the very first Kirby game and the food, nearly starving all the residents of Dream Land. However, as the games progressed, Dedede became a bit more friendly with Kirby, and became his ally at points. In Kirby Super Star Ultra, he returned in Revenge of The King as the main villain, where he was beaten by Kirby. Since then, he has supposedly dropped the grudge with Kirby, as he gave Kirby his full support in Kirby's Return to Dream Land.

Waddle Dees
"You can't be mean to my Waddle Dees. Only I can be mean to my Waddle Dees!"

- King Dedede

The Waddle Dees are the king's most loyal servants. They serve King Dedede's every whim as well as keep the castle clean and perform guard duty.

In the anime, King Dedede owns many Waddle Dees. In "Pink-Collar Blues", it is mentioned that Waddle Dees are wanderers from across the sea and will settle down in an area where they are shown hospitality to return the favor. It can be inferred that Dedede is rather ungrateful for their work, as he has gotten rid of all of them twice. They seem to enjoy their work and do not have problems with King Dedede's personality. There are a few times were he shows appreciation for their loyal services. Most notably, in "Waddle While You Work", after he sells them all he realizes how much he needs them and is truly touched by their loyalty.

On one instance, King Dedede was shown by Escargoon that food costs for the Waddle Dees was astronomically high, resulting in him (rather greedily) reducing the food they got to thin mini sandwiches (to which Tuff remarks that they are transparent because they are so thin), which resulted in a revolt by the Waddle Dee's against the King. Luckily for the King, Kirby fixed the situation.

In Kirby Super Star Ultra, he keeps a bandana-wearing Waddle Dee as a personal assistant who keeps him calm during his panic attacks. This Waddle Dee is also seen following the king after his defeat in Revenge of the King. In Kirby: Squeak Squad, King Dedede summons platoons of them to help him fight. They also help him in Kirby Mass Attack, where they attack the Kirbys with bombs. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, they distract Wario so Dedede can steal the Luigi trophy. They're also part of his attacks called the Waddle Dee Throw, and the Waddle Dee Army. Interestingly enough, the Waddle Dee trophy description states that they don't consider themselves to be affiliated with Dedede, despite their actions. Waddle Dees attack King Dedede in Kirby's Return to Dream Land, so not all of them may be controlled by the king (though this might just be for gameplay purposes).

Meta Knight
Although there are many episodes where Dedede and Meta Knight are seen together, they rarely interact. This may be a sly allusion to the games. However, it is known that Dedede respects Meta Knight, although he falsely believes that Meta Knight is "on his side."

In the games, King Dedede and Meta Knight are rarely seen interacting with each other. One notable example is in the opening of Kirby's Dream Collection: Special Edition, as when Dedede is poking his stomach with his hammer, Meta Knight's eyes thin out, almost looking exasperated or disturbed.

Escargoon
Dedede sees Escargoon as his primary punching bag, even when it isn't Escargoon that makes him angry. Escargoon repeatedly insults Dedede, although there are times when Dedede does not respond, either because he's busy or is too dim witted to notice.

At times, Dedede seems to feel sympathy for Escargoon, but for the most part he is just simply cruel to him, such as stealing his prized jewel collection for selfish purposes. Dedede even started scaring Escargoon until Escargoon got back at him. The two do work together - for example, setting up traps for the Cappies - but most of the time, the traps would backfire on the two. Dedede often treats Escargoon like a child, making him wear silly bibs and bonnets while eating.

Tiff
Tiff is Dedede's opponent and criticizes him publicly more than anyone else. She is constantly suspicious of him, but often cannot find enough evidence or do anything to stop him until it is too late, so Dedede doesn't worry about her too much. Dedede never goes as far as killing her, although he still despises her nonetheless. He uses her as bait for Kirby, so he can be able to pummel him. He has used Tiff, Tuff, and Kirby as his targets, which has harmed them in many ways, such as trying to trick them into doing something for him and then trying to defeat them and destroy Kirby. But he was usually foiled by his pink rival.

He often makes fun of her just because he has the opportunity to do so. Dedede sees her brother and other children as pests. King Dedede doesn't really get along with Tiff, but they do work together with Kirby and the others towards the end of the anime to save Dream Land.

NME Salesman
Throughout the anime, King Dedede regularly deals with an individual he only sees from the waist up via video conversation. The NME Salesman seems to be fully aware of King Dedede's stupidity, and uses every opportunity to use it to his advantage. Whether it's distracting the King with a new item, tricking the King into buying something needless or expensive, or simply taking advantage of the King's intellect in general, the NME Salesman uses the King at any chance.

King Dedede holds no respect for the NME Salesman either, often stating he has no intention of ever paying his bills, openly yelling at and criticizing the NME Salesman often. Dialogue between King Dedede and the NME Salesman (with Escargoon typically around) often results in King Dedede being openly aggressive, while the NME Salesman laughs off anything King Dedede says while being passive aggressive.

The NME Salesman is the one who sells King Dedede his monsters. Despite constantly being taken advantage of, King Dedede always returns for more monsters. In the movie, King Dedede finally gets his revenge by tormenting the NME Salesman with Kawasaki's bad cooking while openly laughing.

Playable Appearances
Though the villain of the series, Dedede has had a handful of playable appearances in some of the more recent games.

Kirby Air Ride
"King Dedede on a bike. Is he really a king?"

- King Dedede's Flavor Text

King Dedede makes his first playable appearance in Kirby Air Ride, riding a burgundy Wheelie Bike and wielding his signature hammer. King Dedede's bike is similar in size and appearance to the available Wheelie Bike in the game, by which it is outclassed almost entirely. He has excellent offense, defense, weight, and above average top speed, but poor jump, handling, and acceleration. King Dedede also has a unique charge meter.

King Dedede appears in this game as a boss in the fourth variation of the Destruction Derby, in which his theme will sometimes play. Here, he is much larger, has higher stamina, and moves slower.

Playable Appearances

 * In Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, in addition to being a playable ally in some levels of game, King Dedede is a playable character in the sub-games.
 * In Kirby Super Star, Dedede is playable in the two player version of Quick Draw.
 * In Kirby: Canvas Curse, he is a Medal Swap unlockable after obtaining Waddle Dee. He is the heaviest of all available balls, and sinks in water easily. He also has seven HP, the most of any other ball. When tapped, he swings his Hammer around him, which can still press down switches and stakes.
 * In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, he is a playable character.
 * In Kirby's Return to Dream Land, Dedede is playable by Players 2, 3, or 4. He is also playable in The Arena and The True Arena after both are beaten with Kirby.
 * In Kirby: Triple Deluxe, Dedede is a playable character in the Dededetour sub-game, which is unlocked after beating the main game. He is also the main character in the Dedede's Drum Dash sub-game, as well as the downloadable Dedede's Drum Dash Deluxe.
 * In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, he is a playable character.

Dedede's Theme Music


King Dedede's theme song often plays during battles against him. The song was used for the Dedede battle in Kirby's Dream Land and Kirby's Dream Land 2. In Kirby Super Star, the theme was extended and the new version was used for subsequent games. His theme music was not in the original NES version of Kirby's Adventure, however; the generic boss fight music plays instead. It was added in the Game Boy Advance remake, Nightmare in Dream Land for the mid-boss tower stage in Rainbow Resort. A remixed version of the song plays during the races against the fake Dedede in Kirby: Canvas Curse. The version of the song from Kirby Super Star also appears in Kirby Air Ride, as an unlockable music for the Fire track. In Kirby Super Star Ultra's Revenge of the King, Masked Dedede's theme is a remix of the extended theme.

Besides his own theme, King Dedede is also associated with the Gourmet Race theme from the sub-game in Kirby Super Star. An orchestral version of this theme originally debuted in the Fountain of Dreams stage of Super Smash Bros. Melee, and a remix of this was employed during battle against him in Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land. Both King Dedede's theme and the Gourmet Race theme feature as alternate music for the Battleship Halberd Stage in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the former being a remix of the SNES version, the latter being a heavy metal remix. The orchestral version from Melee returns as alternate music used for the Green Greens stage in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The Gourmet Race theme was used again for the Castle Dedede stage of Kirby's Epic Yarn. In Kirby Mass Attack, the theme is used as the music for the bosses (with the exception of Skullord and Necrodeus, who use their own battle themes), including King Dedede. Its track name is "Tough Enemy". It also plays in Stage 5 of Nutty Noon in Kirby's Return to Dream Land, which itself is a reference to the boss tower in Kirby's Adventure, but even more so its remake.

In the Super Smash Bros. series


"Dedede is the self-proclaimed king of Dream Land. While he says he's king, Dedede prefers no administrative functions and the citizens of Dream Land continue to live as they always have. He's able to suck in air and fly like Kirby does, but only as a result of vigorous training he undertook after being bested by Kirby." - King Dedede's Trophy Description in Super Smash Bros. Melee

King Dedede was meant to be in the original Super Smash Bros. game, but was taken out due to memory limitations and time constraints. In Super Smash Bros. Melee, he was taken out supposedly due to Sakurai not wanting to over-represent the Kirby franchise at the time. However, he appears in the background of Dream Land in both of the games and as a trophy in Melee. He finally appears in the Smash Bros. series, along with Meta Knight, in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Dedede is voiced by Masahiro Sakurai himself, as he was in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. There are three stickers which feature him - one focusing on him giving Kirby a piggyback ride from the aforementioned game, another utilizing his design from Kirby: Squeak Squad, the last being his standard form from Kirby Super Star. He is set to appear in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U as a playable character.

Special Moves
Note: In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, each fighter can have his/her special moves customized in some way. These are the default specials.

Standard Special Move - Inhale: Exactly as he does it in the games, he sucks up his helpless victim, then throws him/her elsewhere by spitting them out. As this is Dedede's Standard Special Attack, Kirby is also able to use this when he inhales the King, but it will not be as potent as Dedede's. Similar to Kirby's inhale, Dedede can inhale items and projectiles, but explosive items will do some damage (about 6%). King Dedede also cannot copy other fighters' abilities like Kirby.

Up Special Move - Super Dedede Jump: The King jumps pretty high, as he always has done, then comes crashing down onto the floor (with a short range shockwave). He suffers from a little cooldown lag when he hits, however, pressing down can cancel the attack. If it is cancelled too late, or he hits a ceiling, he'll tumble about for a bit before getting back to his feet.

Side Special Move - Waddle Dee Throw (also called Waddle Dee Toss): Dedede takes a Waddle Dee out of his left sleeve and hurls it. When it lands, it waddles around the arena, damaging anyone who touches it as it randomly jumps up. On rare occasions, the King will pick up a Waddle Doo, who will wander around and use its Beam after being thrown. On even rarer occasions, he will throw a Gordo, which simply goes in a low arc, bounces once, and disappears the second time it hits the ground. The attack power of this move depends on what is thrown, with Waddle Dee being the weakest and Gordo being the strongest. The ratio that determines the frequency with which each one appears is 35:10:4 respectively. If the Waddle Dee Toss is used near a wandering Waddle Dee or Waddle Doo, King Dedede will pick it up and throw it instead of generating a new one. This is useful against other Dedede players. If the player plays a Slow Brawl and uses this move, it is shown that Waddle Dees/Doos and Gordos are taken out of Dedede's left sleeve. Any Dedede will also throw them if the player presses Attack and a direction while standing near one. On extremely rare circumstances, he will throw a Capsule instead, even if items are turned off. Usually, the Capsule will vanish after bouncing twice.

In Super Smash Bros for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, Dedede's Side special is called the Gordo Throw. Instead of throwing his minions, the king just outright uses Gordos, smacking them around with his hammer. Gordos can be aimed slightly using the circle pad/analog stick, which will also determine its bouncing behavior.

Down Special Move - Jet Hammer: A chargeable move, Dedede can charge up the jet engine in the hammer to deliver a hit with some force similar to the hammer flip. Dedede can still move whilst charging, but the charge can't be saved by pressing the shield button. Also, charging it for too long will also hurt the King over time.

Final Smash
His Final Smash is the Waddle Dee Army. A fitting Final Smash for someone who likes to leave all the hard work for everyone else, Dedede blows a whistle and calls forth a swarm of Waddle Dees to raise a ruckus across the stage. The Waddle Dees are much faster than the ones he normally summons, so players need to watch out to make sure they do not suddenly get swept off the screen. What makes this Final Smash even more dangerous is that Waddle Doos and Gordos appear in the riot.

In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, his final smash is Dedede Burst. Dedede inhales his foes in a similar manner to a Super Inhale. Anyone caught in this will then be rapidly smacked by his hammer before being blasted away by a bomb.

Misc. abilities

 * A few of his attacks, notably his Dash Attack, the Super Inhale and the Super Dedede Jump (and possibly his Forward Smash to some extent) are inspired by his attacks in Kirby's Dream Land.
 * Some of his abilities are jumping four times using his puff-up and fly ability (like Kirby).
 * He is classed as a heavyweight along with other Nintendo villains such as Bowser.
 * King Dedede carries his hammer around with him at all times, like the Ice Climbers.
 * When Dedede gets a Hammer or Golden Hammer, he swings both his own hammer, and the Hammer/Golden Hammer together, alternating swings for each hammer, though his own hammer will do no damage whatsoever, especially evident if the Hammer breaks or is actually the Squeaky Golden Hammer.
 * He enters a stage on a throne being held by four Waddle Dees. Though this may be a reference to his apparent laziness, in certain cultures, (particularly in ancient times) it is said that a king/ruler should not go into battle on foot, and are thus carried to the battlefield by servants or commoners.
 * Dedede's crouch animation is different because he actually lies down. Combined with the pose he makes, some players may use it as a taunt.
 * King Dedede can chain grab most characters with his down throw. To do this, King Dedede must do the down throw, dash up and grab the character again, do another down throw, and repeat. This only works on heavy characters such as Samus.
 * Dedede was also to be made into a character for the original Super Smash Bros., but scrapped from the game due to time constraints and space limitations.

Role in the Subspace Emissary
King Dedede was crucial in the capture and occupation of the Halberd by the Subspace Army. He attacks Meta Knight, unintentionally keeping the knight from repelling the Subspace Army's assault. King Dedede finds out about Tabuu's nefarious plot and the immense power of his Off Waves during the Halberd's capture. He starts worrying about the world's fate if all the heroes become trophies. No one will exist to revive the trophies, and the entire world will belong to Tabuu.

These scenes were to be incorporated into the Subspace Emissary, but were cut, presumably for time.

So he prepares a special type of brooch that fans have dubbed the Dedede Cap or Dedede Badge, though it is referred to as a Timed Badge for the cutscene. They are set to work on a timer; when the timer runs down, the brooch will restore a fighter from his or her trophy state back to their original form. All that needs to be done is to set the brooch on a fighter that had been turned into a trophy and leave it there. He puts the badges on Luigi's nose and Ness' shoulder. When he could not find any more with him, he realizes he has one on himself. He rather selflessly takes it off and puts it on the princess's gem. He may be posted as a hero, because he stole trophies from Wario, probably because Wario would just keep them for himself.

When King Dedede learns that Bowser and Wario have joined the Subspace Army and are turning fighters into a collection of trophies, he decides to start his own collection. He hides the fighter trophies he collects in his castle, confident the brooches will bring them back eventually just in case something goes wrong, however he ends up using the brooch he had made for himself on Peach (or Zelda), intending to make himself another one later.

The first time Dedede is shown, he uses his Waddle Dees to ambush an unsuspecting Luigi and turn him into a Trophy. It's implied that he did this so Luigi will act as bait for Wario before Dedede ambushes the latter. Then as Wario approaches on his bobsled carrying two Trophies (a princess and Ness), he tries to take the new Luigi trophy and is suddenly ambushed by a herd of Waddle Dees who throw Luigi into the sled. Dedede then steals the sled with the Trophies in tow.

Dedede is turned into a trophy by Bowser. Bowser then steals Peach (or Zelda).

After Tabuu turns everyone into a Trophy using Off Waves, the Timed Badges go off, reviving Ness and Luigi, who in turn decide to revive Dedede. Kirby is also revived because he ate the brooch that Dedede put on one of the princesses (this cutscene was humorously called "Kirby Revived By Hunger").

Eventually, Dedede goes to the Subspace where the players fight the final boss. He revives Bowser, but the Koopa king attacks Dedede. Dedede wins the fight and revives Bowser again, telling him that they should fight the main villain instead of each other. Dedede also finds his rival, Kirby, but is actually happy to see him alive. While Dedede is walking up a staircase, Wario attacks him. However, Wario backs off when he realizes that Luigi and Ness will aid Dedede, outnumbering Wario. Dedede, Luigi, and Ness then point the staircase, and Wario decides to help them fight the final boss.

Related Quotes
"Dedede's the self-proclaimed king of Dream Land. While he says he's king, Dedede performs no administrative functions and the citizens of Dream Land continue to live as they always have. He's able to suck in air and fly like Kirby does, but only as a result of the vigorous training he undertook after being bested by Kirby."

- Trophy description

"Big, heavy, and mallet-toting!"

- In-game description (playable)

"The self-styled king of the amazingly peaceful Dream Land. He continually does things unbecoming a king, like stealing the kingdom's food supplies or all the stars from the sky. He's not all bad, though, and sometimes performs good deeds. While he and Kirby often battle, they've been known to compete good-naturedly at speed-eating contests and minigames."

- Trophy description

"A fated bout with King Dedede! What can Kirby do against his new Dedede Hammer?!"

- Pause-screen description (boss) as Masked Dedede

"Looks like it's time for the big showdown with King Dedede! I'd say that the first thing to do is to get him out of his balloon and down to the ground. Watch the bombs he lobs down. Send them back his way at JUST the right time. They'll blow up in his face and take down his ship soon enough. I'd suspect that he'll lose his cool and start stomping you with his hammer. Stay on your toes and avoid those attacks. If you can get behind him, you might just have a chance!"

- Daroach

"This selfish Dream Land king wields a big hammer that's almost as big as his mouth!"

- King Dedede's Cast Description

"Under the influence of Taranza's hypnosis magic, and now donning a mysterious mask, the powered-up king wants to do battle with Kirby. Come to your senses, King Dedede!"

- VS Masked Dedede

"The revitalized king overflows with power after suffering defeat at the hands of Kirby! Kirby's rival has had his limiter removed, and now he swings a giant axe around with ease. Be careful--this battle machine is on the fritz!"

- VS Masked Dedede's Revenge

"At long last—Dededetour! This land will not be ruled by Queen Sectonia. No! It will be ruled by the king! The self-proclaimed Great King of Dream Land embarks on his own adventure!"

- In-game description (playable)

"Energized by the Fountain of Dreams, the original king is here with his team in tow, ready to cause some ruckus! He's hoping his royal pride and some solid teamwork will help him feel like a final boss once again!"

- VS Team DDD24

"The king is back, looking for a last shot at revenge. His team members may be miniature, but they sure mean business! "Hey! You pesky pink puffball! Are you ready for a team battle? Then let's go!"

- VS Team DDD64

"He calls himself the King of Dream Land, but he doesn't have a lot of interest in ruling. He really loves to eat, so it's no surprise he's a heavyweight fighter. Despite his size and low speed, he can easily recover with his four jumps. His Jet Hammer will leave a mark on everyone he meets."

- Trophy description

"For the Gordo Throw side special, King Dedede smacks a Gordo bouncing with a hammer strike. It bounces off walls—or sometimes gets stuck in them. After a while it'll disappear. If an enemy hits one, it'll bounce back toward you. Use the special again to whack it back at them!"

- Trophy description

Trivia

 * For some reason, his theme plays while fighting Meta Knight in Kirby: Squeak Squad.
 * In illustrations or cutscenes, King Dedede has one of two symbols on the back of his robe.
 * An illustration of himself giving a peace sign, used in earlier games, including Kirby's Dream Land, Kirby's Adventure and Kirby Super Star.
 * An emblem of a hand giving the same sign. This is more commonly used, but its design is slightly changed in Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land.
 * On his sprites in Kirby's Dream Land, the back of Dedede's robes originally had a white "0" outline.
 * In Kirby Super Star, it was changed to a yellow square outline, but the closeup during the Gourmet Race intro had an illustration of him giving the v-sign.
 * In Kirby's Dream Land 3, that was simplified to a yellow circle with a red image of a hand giving the same symbol (though his robes had a yellow circle with a black swirl in the intro).
 * In the Super Famicom version of Kirby's Super Star Stacker, the circle became white and the symbol itself became yellow.
 * In subsequent games, he has consistently been given a yellow circle with the silhouetted v-sign in blue for 3D portrayals, and a bare version of the same symbol for 2D depictions (though his robes were once bare red in Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble).
 * In the original Kirby's Dream Land, King Dedede's name was spelled as King DeDeDe. This spelling was also reused for the English localizations of Kirby's Adventure and Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land, although it has since been phased out. His mountain was also spelled Mt. DeDeDe in Kirby's Dream Land and Kirby Super Star.
 * In Kirby Air Ride, King Dedede's vehicle looks like the Wheelie Helper.
 * Although spinoffs imply he has a hatred of stars, his hammer is shown with an image of a star on it.
 * Kirby's Adventure and Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land are the only Kirby games that do not play King Dedede's battle theme when fighting him.
 * Even though he is a boss in almost every Kirby game, he is never the main antagonist except for in Kirby's Dream Land.
 * Dedede's portrayal in Kirby: Squeak Squad most resembles his appearance in the anime. His castle as seen in the background and cutscenes also resembled how it appeared in the anime. When fighting Dedede, the machine in the background bears a resemblance to the monster delivery machine in the anime.
 * In Kirby Super Star / Kirby Super Star Ultra,
 * When fighting Dedede in Spring Breeze, Mario, Luigi, Birdo, and Toad appear in the crowd (Peach is also faintly visible, and Bowser is off-screen but part of the game data). In the DS version, Peach, Mario, Luigi, Wario, and Toad appear, while the former set still appears in Megaton Punch.
 * When fighting Dedede in Revenge of the King, the only one in the crowd is Bandana Waddle Dee, because Dedede has already sent everyone else after Kirby. King Dedede solemnly declares the ensuing fight to settle their grudge. Obviously, this is not the case in later games. This fact is again refuted in Kirby Fighters Deluxe, as King Dedede appears as the final boss. The flavor text for the fight during Very Hard mode even suggests that this attempt is his last at revenge.
 * In Quick Draw, Dedede is the fifth and final challenger, wielding a large gun that shoots a retractable boxing glove. If Kirby is faster, the king will be dispatched by a cannon. In Samurai Kirby, he is the fourth challenger, with Meta Knight taking his previous place. King Dedede uses his trademark hammer here, though Kirby can defend against this with a party cone if he is fast enough.
 * Masked Dedede's theme is based on the theme of King Dedede in Kirby's Super Star Stacker, which explains why they sound similar.
 * Despite his girth, King Dedede runs fast in Gourmet Race, as he is able to catch up with Kirby.
 * King Dedede shares Kirby's immense appetite for food. In the episode Fitness Fiend, Dedede ate enough bags of potato chips to have the bags scattered all over his throne room.
 * In Kirby's Epic Yarn, Dedede cannot use his inhale attack. This is probably because he was turned to yarn like Kirby.
 * There is a glitch in Revenge of the King. When the player defeats King Dedede in co-op wireless play, King Dedede might yell Mike Kirby's final move sound rather than the usual "NOOOOOO!" There is also a similar occurrence in Spring Breeze, in which Kirby's final Mike sound will play as opposed to the sound of its first use. It is unknown whether or not this was intended or a glitch. However, said sound was put in the soundtrack, so it was possibly intended. This glitch also occurs in the original Kirby Super Star, although still very rare.
 * King Dedede's name is translated "Roi Dadidou" in the French versions of the Kirby series. Dadidou is a common onomatopoeia to describe the sounds babies make, and roi means king.
 * The German name for this character is "König Dedede" (formerly "König Nickerchen" which means "King Nap" in German).
 * King Dedede is one of the few bosses to help Kirby. The others are Meta Knight, Landia, Bandana Waddle Dee, Dyna Blade, Daroach, and the Lor Starcutter. This does not include the monsters in the anime.
 * In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Solid Snake discusses with the colonel about the hammer King Dedede carries, and how it is far too heavy for Snake to even remotely lift, despite King Dedede waddling around with it with no issue, implying King Dedede has massive strength. Whether his hammer is heavy, or if this is because his hammer is mechanical in Brawl is not said.
 * Because of his role in Subspace Emissary, King Dedede, along with Wolf, is the only one of the Nintendo Rogues gallery to not be evil in the game. He did serve the Subspace Army at one time, but left as soon as he became privy about Tabuu's true plans. This reflects Dedede's role in most Kirby games, where he is initially a foe and turns into an ally near the end of the game.
 * In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, unlike in the main Kirby series, Kirby is able to inhale King Dedede and gain his Copy Ability. This results in Kirby basically keeping his own inhale ability, but not being able to copy other foes as long as he is wearing Dedede's hat, only being able to spit them out as stars (as was the case in Kirby's Dream Land).
 * His Dedede Hammer in Kirby Super Star Ultra might be based off the fact that his hammer in Super Smash Bros. Brawl is mechanical.
 * Although his real species is unknown, it is believed that he may be a penguin due to his appearance. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Snake calls him a 'giant penguin' when speaking to the colonel.
 * King Dedede's voice actor in the anime (as well as Escargoon's), Ted Lewis, is also known for doing a majority of the voice of another huge antagonist in a Nintendo TV show: Giovanni, the leader of Team Rocket in the Pokémon anime.
 * Dedede's iconic theme is used as the standard boss theme in Kirby Mass Attack.
 * Dedede's hat in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards is different than all other games as he has spikes on his hat rather than a sphere.
 * When making a custom emblem in Mario Kart DS, an available "template" for use is the v-sign sometimes found on the back of Dedede's robes.
 * In the Japanese version of the anime, King Dedede usually ends his sentences with "zoi", which means nothing and is just a verbal tic common with some anime characters (such as Naruto's "dattebayo").
 * King Dedede's most notable feature in Super Smash Bros. Brawl is his infinite chain grab. This has been the primary reason why many stages (such as Bridge of Eldin) have been banned in tournaments.
 * King Dedede is one of two Super Smash Bros. characters (the other being Meta Knight), to have been planned to be a playable character twice (in the first one and Melee).
 * King Dedede ranked first in  Super Smash Bros. Brawl' s Japanese character inclusion poll.
 * King Dedede has the fastest falling speed in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, yet paired with Zelda for having the third slowest dash speed and slowest air speed in the game.
 * In the Spanish versions of the Kirby games, he is known as "Rey Dedede", "Rey" meaning 'king' in Spanish.
 * In Kirby's Epic Yarn, it says that King Dedede's theme is new, but it was in many games before that.
 * Several pre-release screenshots of Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards show that King Dedede was playable without Kirby riding him at one point in development.
 * When fighting Masked Dedede on his second phase in Kirby: Triple Deluxe, a remix of his Masked Dedede Theme from Kirby Super Star Ultra plays.
 * King Dedede makes a cameo appearance as a purchasable hat in the Nintendo 3DS built-in game StreetPass Mii Plaza.
 * In Kirby's Avalanche, his AI is used by Satan in Puyo Puyo. However, he does shake the board similar to Zoh's AI, which Heavy Mole uses, but their AI is not the same.
 * In Kirby's Return to Dream Land, Kirby's Dream Collection: Special Edition, and Kirby: Triple Deluxe, Dedede is voiced by Shinya Kumazaki (the director of all three games).