“ | You gained [XXX] EXP! (Not that it matters.)” |
— Computer Virus • Kirby Super Star Ultra |
Computer Virus is a boss in the Kirby series, debuting in Kirby Super Star.
Physical Appearance[]
Computer Virus appears as three different computer windows that feature a message, an enemy, and a measurement of the enemy's life; the types of enemies summoned are often found in turn-based role playing games. In Kirby Super Star, the appearance of the windows resembles that of the Classic Mac OS, which was the current Macintosh operating system at the time; in Kirby Super Star Ultra, the windows instead resemble macOS, keeping in line with the current operating system. In Kirby Super Star, each enemy the Computer Virus summons only has a single sprite and no animations (aside from wiggling when using its turn to perform a non-offensive move), but in Kirby Super Star Ultra, each enemy features an idle sprite, a sprite when acting on its turn, and a sprite when being defeated.
When fought in The Great Cave Offensive and in its first fight in Meta Knightmare Ultra, the enemy window is on the left side and the life window on the right. When fought in Milky Way Wishes, The Arena, Helper to Hero, and for the second time in Meta Knightmare Ultra, the enemy window is slightly right of center and the life window is to the left; the message window is always at the top and centered.
The Computer Virus has five different enemies it can summon: a Slime, a Puppet, a Magician, an Evil Knight, and a Great Dragon.
The Slime has a green body with a round top and wavy bottom. It has two small droplets over its head and has two black beady eyes.
The Puppet resembles a wooden humanoid marionette doll wearing a light blue suit and pointed hat, pantaloons with red and white stripes, and brown shoes. A small tuft of brown hair can be seen sticking out from under its hat.
The Magician wears a blue robe and witch hat, a white suit with a red bow tie, and brown shoes. It has blond hair and carries a cane. When fought in Helper to Hero, its magic garbs are colored purple instead of blue.
The Evil Knight wears predominantly purple armor (gray in Kirby Super Star) and a horned helmet that resembles a skull with red eyes. He carries a red shield with a silver trim and a skull emblem (white symbol in Kirby Super Star), and wields a blue scimitar. When fought in Helper to Hero, the armor is predominantly black, the shield and eyes are now purple, and the scimitar and limbs beneath the armor are red.
The Great Dragon is a quadruped dragon with an orange body (red in Kirby Super Star) and tail, yellow horns, a white underbelly, and gray wings, spines, teeth, and talons. When fought in Helper to Hero, its body is purple and its previously gray features are now blue.
Games[]
Kirby Super Star and Kirby Super Star Ultra[]
Computer Virus first appears in The Great Cave Offensive as the boss of the Crystal Area. It attacks using a collection of three different enemies: a Slime, a Puppet (Dancing Doll in Kirby Super Star), and a Magician (Witch in Kirby Super Star), respectively. The enemies it summons stay within the computer window, only stepping down from the window for a short amount of time when it's Kirby's turn to attack. Random Copy Essences can occasionally appear on the sides of the arena when it's Kirby's turn.
The Slime and Puppet are mostly harmless, only having a single attack where they fire a star that can be inhaled; their only other tactics are to perform actions that amount to nothing. The Magician is the only real threat, having multiple attacks to damage the player, as well as spending a turn to reduce the damage it takes when it's the player's turn to attack. The Magician has no useless action.
Like certain other bosses, Computer Virus returns in Milky Way Wishes as the boss of Halfmoon; unlike the other bosses, whose fights are the same as before (although in Kirby Super Star Ultra, they are recolored and have slightly more health than their normal counterparts), the Computer Virus here summons different enemies: it now summons the Magician as the first enemy, followed by an Evil Knight, and then a Great Dragon (Red Dragon in Kirby Super Star); each of these foes have various attacks that they can perform. This version of the Computer Virus is fought in The Arena, and has a recolored version in Helper to Hero with slightly more health.
All enemies the Computer Virus summons have an attack where the enemy fires stars that Kirby can inhale. Some enemies also have similar attacks to each other.
In Meta Knightmare Ultra, Computer Virus is fought twice, as the game mode has Meta Knight play through The Great Cave Offensive and Milky Way Wishes.
Most attacks can be guarded against without taking damage. Certain moves can still do minor damage through the guard:
- Any ice attacks
- Any attacks that feature crescent projectiles
- Evil Knight's knives
Mirror and Simirror's Reflect Guard and Tac's Tac Hide allow damage to be completely avoided. In Helper to Hero, Simirror is depicted using the Reflect Guard against the Computer Virus.
Enemy | Sprite | Moves | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Normal Appearance | Helper to Hero Appearance | ||||
Slime | N/A |
| |||
Dancing Doll | Puppet |
| |||
Witch | Magician |
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Evil Knight |
| ||||
Red Dragon | Great Dragon |
|
Quotes[]
Main article: Computer Virus/Transcript |
Trivia[]
- The creatures are all pseudo-medieval/fantasy-themed, which is what RPGs often center around. The order of the five enemies is often typical within an RPG. The Slime and the Puppet can be seen as field enemies, weak enemies that roam the overworld map. The Magician and Evil Knight are more specialized enemies found in dungeons, and the Great Dragon can be seen as a boss or an enemy in the final dungeon (however, the use of the indefinite article 'a' when it is introduced seemingly implies the latter).
- After defeating Computer Virus in The Great Cave Offensive, Milky Way Wishes, and Meta Knightmare Ultra, one window will begin giving the player "experience points" for humorous things (such as Puffiness or Mask Shine for example, depending on whether the player is assuming the role of Kirby or Meta Knight respectively). The points given have no effect on Kirby or Meta Knight, however. Friendship/Teamwork will also be increased if there's a Helper with Kirby or Meta Knight, respectively.
- When fought in The Arena, Computer Virus closes its windows instantly after it is defeated, instead of giving useless status experience. However, in Helper to Hero, it doesn't close instantly, but rather says "The Helper defeated all the enemies!" before closing, as if the computer is surprised that the Helper could defeat the enemies single-handedly.
- Computer Virus is the only boss in Kirby Super Star whose name completely changed between the Japanese and English versions - The Arena spells the name "Battle Windows" in plain English. The reason the name was changed may be to avoid confusion with the Microsoft Windows operating system.
- The battle music for Computer Virus is a pseudo-8-bit remix and re-pitch of the boss theme in Kirby Super Star.
- In The Arena battle in Kirby Super Star, when picking up a Ninja Copy Essence, the Message box mistakenly states "Kirby becames a ninja!"
- In Kirby Super Star, the text overlaps Kirby should he be floating in its area.
- Great Dragon is so large that his invincibility frames cannot properly protect him against Beam Kirby's slow-moving Wave Beam attack; a single Wave Beam will deal damage to him twice.
- The Computer Virus is one of three bosses to show how much damage has been dealt to them, but the first in the series. The other bosses are Metal General from Kirby's Return to Dream Land and Robo Bonkers from Kirby Battle Royale. They show this in different ways, however.
- It should be noted that the Mid-boss Security Force from Kirby: Planet Robobot also shows the amount of damage dealt.
- Computer Virus is referenced in Team Kirby Clash, Team Kirby Clash Deluxe, and Super Kirby Clash when leveling up, as a message telling the players that a stat such as Roundness, Rosiness, or other non-existent stats increased, followed by the message "(Not that it matters)".
- In Kirby Super Star, when the Magician appears, the message says "Witch appears!" This is likely because the name in Japan is まほうつかい (Mahōtsukai), which can mean witch. However, all other sources, including the game's artwork, the battle window itself (in both languages), and its appearance in Kirby Super Star Ultra properly refer to it as "Magician".