Dark Matter (species)

Dark Matter (referred to as !? in Kirby's Dream Land 2's bad ending) is a major villain in Kirby's Dream Land 2, Kirby's Dream Land 3 and Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. It is controlled by Zero, as well as its revived form 0². It is a shadowy sphere lined with smaller orange (originally purple) spheres, with a single eye in the middle. It usually possesses someone to help it with its goal. This is almost always King Dedede.

"Dark Matter" does not necessarily refer to an individual, but rather any of a number of shadowy clouds. These clouds can amass to form a comet the size of a planet (containing Zero or 0² at its center) from which they can break off of to wreak havoc on Pop Star or even envelope entire planets, as shown during their attack on Ripple Star. Although Zero can be thought of as the Dark Matter clouds' collective mind, they actually appear to be a "species" capable of independent thought - Gooey is mentioned to be "made from the same stuff as Dark Matter", suggesting he is a docile cloud who rebelled. Some generic enemies such as Nidoo and Mariel appear to be made out of Dark Matter, though not the entity's base form.

The Dark Matter race made its last major appearance in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, where they invaded the surrounding planets and broke the Power Crystal of Ripple Star. All of the Dark Matter clouds came together to form Dark Star, the home of 0². The mass of Dark Matter was eventually destroyed once Kirby and Ribbon beat 0².

Kirby's Dream Land 2

In Kirby's Dream Land 2, a cloud of Dark Matter steals the rainbow bridges that connect the islands of Dream Land. Taking control of King Dedede, the sinister being hid itself away in Dark Castle, plotting a future of darkness for Dream Land. The only way Kirby can fight Dark Matter is to collect all of the Rainbow Drops and defeat King Dedede, who has fallen into an unnatural sleep, possibly a result of his possession. Once this is completed, Kirby gets the Rainbow Sword to fight Dark Matter's two forms with. Dark Matter leaves Dedede's body and flies high into the sky with Kirby in hot pursuit.

DarkMatter revealed — Dark Matter is forced out of Dedede's body by the Rainbow Sword

Dark Matter first confronts Kirby as a swordsman-like being. It attacks by dashing forward trying to stab Kirby, firing energy beams from its sword, and by kindling and launching dark energy orbs. Although Kirby can deal minor damage to Dark Matter with the Rainbow Sword itself, to significantly deplete its health Kirby must slice Dark Matter's energy orbs back at it. When defeated, Dark Matter turns into its true form and Kirby must fight it again while slowly sinking earthward. His true form is a black blob with an ominous eye positioned in the center and purple orbs surrounding it. This time it attacks in a pattern, first releasing its purple orbs at Kirby twice, then shooting dark beams in a circular motion twice, then launching itself forward three times, and finally shooting two thunderbolts from its eye three times. To ultimately defeat Dark Matter, Kirby has to repeatedly slash its spherical linings back at it during its first attack, similar to the swordsman battle, and then damage it directly during the rest of its attacks. If Dark Matter is not dispatched quickly enough, Kirby will reenter the atmosphere and begin taking a single point of damage at regular intervals, eventually killing him.

After its defeat, Dark Matter was banished. Kirby's animal friends and even an awakened King Dedede celebrated from Pop Star as their benefactor rode his Rainbow Sword through the air. With one last wave of the sword, Kirby restored the islands' rainbows and reversed Dark Matter's plans.

Kirby's Dream Land 3

In Kirby's Dream Land 3, Dark Matter returns as the main antagonist (whether or not it is the same one from Kirby's Dream Land 2 is never stated) and once again possesses King Dedede. Again, Dedede is in an unnatural sleep. If Kirby collects all of the Heart Stars, he fights Dark Matter with the Love-Love Stick in Hyper Zone. Dark Matter retains his thunderbolt attack, and his orb attack is modified to have the orbs home in on Kirby. After Kirby defeats Dark Matter, he comes face to face with their mastermind and patriarch, Zero. Once his Life Meter is first depleted, the battle isn't over yet. The red eye will rip itself out of the white body and attack Kirby by ramming into him in a hopeful last-ditch effort. After Kirby defeats Zero's eye, the Dark Matter threat is ended and everything returns to normal. Hyper Zone explodes, and Kirby flies home with Gooey.

180px-Darkmatterhyperzone — Dark Matter residing within Hyper Zone

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards

Dark Matter takes over the planet of Ripple Star and its population. Ribbon flies away on the power crystal which seems to be the only thing that can purge a Dark Matter from a victim without seriously harming the host in the process. Three Dark Matter follow her and shatter the crystal, the pieces of which fall across several different planets across the galaxy. Three Dark Matter (perhaps the ones that shattered the Power Crystal) possess a Waddle Dee (coincidentally turning it into a Waddle Doo), a painter named Adeleine (who also paints Dark Matter,) and King Dedede because they each find a crystal shard (and join Kirby afterward). During the battle against Adeleine, Dark Matter will appear as one of the artist's paintings. She uses the attacks from Kirby's Dream Land 3 and is easily beatable.

DarkmatterKDL64cap1 — A group of Dark Matter pursue Ribbon and the Power Crystal.

The gang eventually reform the Power Crystal by defeating Miracle Matter, another being of Dark Matter. The cloud of darkness is lifted off Ripple Star and their adventure is seemingly over. However, the crystal apparently still senses the power of Dark Matter nearby, and it reacts by shooting a blast of light at the Queen Fairy (Only occurs when all the shards have been collected). It is revealed that she was possessed by Dark Matter all along (which can be deciphered somewhat during the basic ending, in which she makes an evil smirk for a split second), however, and the Dark Matter escapes to form Dark Star with the other Dark Matter clouds. Kirby travels to the core and encounters 0².

Once Kirby and Ribbon defeat 0², Dark Star is destroyed, seemingly along with all of the Dark Matter clouds that produced it.

Kirby Mass Attack

Years later, Dark Matter would suddenly appear in Kirby Mass Attack. It is the final boss of the Kirby Quest mode, and appears in both of its forms from its initial appearance. The swordsman and orb designs have been updated slightly to be larger and more intimidating than ever. If Kirby picked up Galaxia, it is super effective to both forms in reference to its original weakness to the Rainbow Sword. No form of Zero makes an appearance, however.

Members

Dark Matter
Zero (creator and leader)
0² (creator and leader)
Gooey
Blob
Mariel
Nidoo
Miracle Matter
N-Z

Other Appearances

Dark Matter Pilot — Dark Matter in the pilot.

Dark Matter appears in the Kirby of the Stars pilot as one of the enemies created out of the plumes of smokes when the sky went dark. It looks like the form Kirby first fights in Kirby's Dream Land 3. Kirby freezes him with the Ice ability after he inhales the Ice Dragon.

Dark Matter is drawn in Paint Panic in Kirby: Canvas Curse. Dark Matter's swordsman form from Kirby's Dream Land 2 also appears in a collectible painting depicting various Kirby villains in Kirby: Squeak Squad. He is also one of the cards in Kirby Super Star Ultra's Card Swipe sub-game, again in his swordsman form.

Trivia

Dark Matter appears capable of altering its form so it is suited to whatever task it must carry out. This is first seen when Kirby first confronts a Dark Matter in Kirby's Dream Land 2, where he assumed the form of a masked swordsman, presumably to combat against the overwhelming strength of the Rainbow Sword. This would strangely be the first and only time that a Dark Matter ever displayed such abilities, as in all later appearances (except for Kirby Mass Attack), they would only possess others to combat Kirby with or fight in their natural state.
The Swordsman form of Dark Matter has a laser attack with the same sound as the laser ball of Kirby's Adventure.
In Kirby's Dream Land 3, the intro video shows Dark Matter breaking through Pop Star's rings to get to the surface. When Kirby defeats Zero, the Dark Matter cloud explodes in the colors of Pop Star's rings (Blue, Yellow, and Red), presumably firing them back into Pop Star's Atmosphere.
Dark Matter takes its name from the real-life theory of Dark Matter, a supposedly invisible form of matter that affects the universe in various ways, befitting one of Kirby's strongest adversaries in their extraterrestrial origins.
In Kirby's Dream Land 3, Dark Matter was a simple circle with a white eye with a red iris and pupil, and orange circles lining it. In Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, however, the orange circles are gone, it is more of a cloud than a circle, and its eye is still white with a red iris, but this time with a black pupil and orange spike-like marks extending from the iris, making for a more frightening appearance. The reason for this redesign is unknown, though it is likely to have been the difficulties of making 3-D models of the original design.
Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards is the only game Dark matter appears in where it does not directly fight Kirby.
A Japanese player's guide for Kirby's Dream Land 2 states that Dark Matter targeted Pop Star because it grew jealous of Dream Land's lifestyle and it was lonely due to the fact no one wanted to be its friend. However, this was made when Dark Matter was thought to be a singular entity rather than mass-controlled by Zero, so it is unknown if it is still relevant.
Dark Matter and its various forms bear a striking resemblance to the Zelda series villain, Vaati.
Kirby Mass Attack is the only game Dark Matter appears in where it does not possess King Dedede. Also, for a split second during its transformation (and during its attacks), its orbs are pink like its original form.
Dark Matter's true form resembles Digdogger from The Legend of Zelda, without spikes.
An enemy from the Ratchet & Clank series called the Generator Pyromite Generator bears a heavy resemblance to Dark Matter from Kirby's Dream Land 3, both in appearance and form of attack.