Dededestroyer Z

“	Ha! I've got something special for you up my sleeve. Follow me, Kirby!”
	— King Dedede • Kirby Battle Royale

Dededestroyer Z is a final boss in the Kirby series, debuting in Kirby Battle Royale.

Physical Appearance[]

Dededestroyer Z is a giant robot built in King Dedede's image. It is constructed of four segments: the Kirby Printer which serves as the core, an inner shell, an outer shell, and a cockpit. The inner shell is blue and serves as the robot's torso. It has missile launchers on its back. The outer shell is red and yellow and resembles Dedede's robe. A giant crank (like the one that was previously on the Kirby Printer) and a mechanical mallet arm are connected to the outer shell's sides.

The mallet is red, yellow, and cyan with a stippled pattern. The hammerhead has massives spikes on its two ends. The cockpit portion is mounted as the robot's head. It is covered by a glass dome. The pilot sits in a large blue chair and uses a computer panel to operate the mech.

Games[]

Kirby Battle Royale[]

Story[]

King Dedede holds The Cake Royale so that Kirby would be humiliated in front of Dream Land's residents, but the pink puff defeats all the opponents he creates. After losing a final battle, the king challenges Kirby to one last bout and dashes through a doorway. While pursuing Dedede, Kirby finds himself in the King's throne room, and the player takes control of him in walking onto an elevator located behind the throne, while ominous mechanical noises are heard. Before doing this, Kirby is able to speak to the Waddle Dee who had been frantically operating the crank on the Kirby Printer throughout the entire Cake Royale. He is now collapsed from exhaustion, with the Printer nowhere to be seen. Following an elevator ride to a mysterious hidden arena, Kirby sees Dededestroyer Z assemble with Dedede in the pilot's seat, and the Kirby Printer repurposed as its core. They prepare to fight as crowds watch through electronic screens.

Kirby defeats the robot in battle, causing it to explode. This launches Dedede and the Kirby Printer high into the air. The Kirby Printer crashes into the League hub. It explodes and the Kirbys it produced dissipate.

Battle[]

The battle takes place on a ring (though walls block off half of it). It uses the same side-view gameplay mode as Robo Bonkers, and has strong similarities to that mode, although the available arena does not wrap around on itself. At the beginning, Kirby cannot hit Dededestroyer Z because the robot floats in the middle of a ring. It starts by turning its crank and creating a colored Kirby to fight the hero. Before the battle can properly get underway, it halts abruptly when Bandana Waddle Dee tosses a Cannon onto the stage. From this point on, Kirby can damage the final boss.

Dededestroyer Z uses few main attacks, often relying on its printed Kirbys for offense. In addition to producing colored Kirbys, it uses a hammer attack: It homes in on the hero and, after a few seconds, slams its mallet into the platform, temporarily exposing the electrical wires underneath. As the match progresses, it gains two new attacks. Dededestroyer Z reveals a laser cannon from under its cockpit, fires a beam, and swivels so the beam crosses the entire area; Kirby can crouch or jump to dodge it. The robot also covers much of the area in targeting icons before firing eight missiles to detonate on the selected spots.

To defeat the final boss, Kirby must damage and stun the colored Kirbys produced, toss them into the Cannon, and fire them at the robot. This is done in a very similar manner as with the rockets and opponent Kirbys in Robo Bonkers. Kirby can also fire himself at the robot, though this will damage himself. Hitting Dededestroyer Z's inner shell or cockpit deals a great deal of damage, hitting the robot's outer shell deals a lesser amount of damage, and hitting the robot's back has no effect. After losing a great deal of health, Dedede is stunned and Dededestroyer Z collapses onto the platform. This is the player's opportunity to wage a heavy assault on the cockpit using Kirby's moves. The robot eventually gets up and continues to attack, but can be stunned and collapsed several times during the fight.

When Dededestroyer Z's health bar is completely depleted, the robot begins falling apart. Dedede panics before being launched skyward by the ensuing explosion.

There are no opportunities for health recovery in this battle, and Boost Orbs cannot be used.

Etymology[]

Dededestroyer Z's name is a portmaneau of Dedede, a reference to its design/pilot, and destroyer, a reference to its destructive capabilities. The letter Z in its name may have been included because it is a common ending to titles in Japan, popularized by the Dragon Ball Z franchise.

Related Quotes[]

“	Kirby! Come back! We don't have any idea what's in there!”
	— Bandana Waddle Dee • Kirby Battle Royale

“	Defeat all rivals before they beat you!”
	— Announcement • Kirby Battle Royale

Trivia[]

After Kirby has finished half of the battles in the Platinum League, a Waddle Dee mentions that Dedede is determined to upgrade Robo Bonkers and that "he must like robots a lot." This comment may be foreshadowing the final boss, though it could simply refer to the multiple stronger variants of Robo Bonkers.
The symbols used by the laser and missile targeting systems are those used on Dedede's robe and Castle Dedede, respectively.
A segment of the music that plays during the battle against Dededestroyer Z is a remix of the beginning portion of "Kirby's Triumphant Return" (which plays after Marx collides with Galactic Nova) from Kirby Super Star.