“ | Battle other Kirbys with powerful abilities! Up to four players can face off against each other in this dream battle mode! Sharpen your skills, and take your favorite abilities to the limit!” |
— Pause Screen description • Kirby: Triple Deluxe |
Kirby Fighters is a sub-game in Kirby: Triple Deluxe, which features both a single-player and multiplayer mode. As the name suggests, Kirby Fighters is a fighting game in which Kirbys can fight each other while wielding a Copy Ability. On-stage hazards appear in some of the stages. The game also has a multitude of items, which will randomly appear in each stage.
An expanded and improved version of the sub-game, Kirby Fighters Deluxe, was available on the Nintendo 3DS eShop. The sequel to Kirby Fighters Deluxe, Kirby Fighters 2, which has even more new features, is available on the Nintendo Switch eShop as well.
Gameplay[]
Single Player[]
Single Player mode allows one to play with one of the ten Copy Abilities like a classic fighting game. The player may choose from one of the ten Copy Abilities that follow:
After choosing an ability, the player has to select a difficulty. The difficulties are Easy, Normal, Hard, and Very Hard. After choosing a difficulty, press start. Round 1 will always be on Flower Land in which the player will fight an opponent. The following 3 stages will not be in a set order however. The next three stages are randomly chosen from Castle Lololo, Bubbly Clouds, and Coo's Forest. Once a stage is used, it cannot be repeated. Round 2 has the player against another opponent on one of the mentioned stages. Round 3 has the player against twin Kirbys, using the same Copy Ability, on another stage. Note that rounds with more than two Kirbys are not one-sided, as the CPUs can attack each other. Round 4 has the player against two Kirbys of different Copy Abilities on the remaining stage.
The next two rounds are chosen randomly from Dedede Arena and Factory Tour. Round 5 is a battle against triplet Kirbys on one of the mentioned stages. Round 6 is a battle with three Kirbys of different Copy Abilities on the unchosen stage. Round 7 is always Another Dimension, where the player will have to fight against Shadow Kirby. Shadow Kirby will always wield the player's Copy Ability as well as having much more health than usual. After defeating him, he will explode. Upon completing all seven rounds, the player will receive the total time, as well as a Bronze, Silver, Gold, or Rainbow Ribbon for beating the Easy, Normal, Hard, or Very Hard, difficulty, respectively. If the player is defeated, however, the choice to continue or to quit is given. Continuing will not reset the time from the round.
Multiplayer[]
Multiplayer allows one to play with up to three friends. Other spots will be occupied by CPUs, however these can be deleted. Players with the game get to choose one of the ten Copy Abilities. Players without the game are limited to Sword and Cutter. Each player can choose to handicap oneself, those being Very Easy, Easy, Normal, Hard, and Very Hard. Colors can be changed by pressing R or L. Each player can then proceed to choose a stage which will be randomly picked for the fight. However, the player hosting the room has access to more rules. Items can be set to Normal, Many, or None. Hazards can be turned on or off. Ghosts can be Enabled or Disabled. Handicap can be set to Manual or Auto (Auto sets all Handicaps to Normal by default. Handicaps will change based on performance). Once a stage is picked, the battle commences. If Ghost in enabled and a player or CPU is defeated, the Kirby can return as a ghost. Ghosts can attempt to attack other players to get back into the game and recover a little bit of health. However, ghosts cannot KO a Kirby. A similar mode, Training, can be played instead if one doesn't have any friends to play with at the time.
Handicap[]
“ | Changing your handicap affects your health, damage, recovery, and more!” |
— Kirby Fighters |
Handicap is a feature implemented into Kirby Fighters. It is set to Normal by default. Changing the handicap increases or decreases the difficulty of the gameplay as follows:
- Very Easy: Receive full health, 50% of standard damage, further-increased guard time, and 200% of standard recovery. Common autoguarding.
- Easy: Receive full health, 75% of standard damage, increased guard time, and 150% of standard recovery. Some autoguarding.
- Normal: Receive full health, standard damage, standard guard time, and standard recovery. No autoguarding.
- Hard: Receive 75% of full health, 150% of standard damage, decreased guard time, and 75% of standard recovery. No autoguarding.
- Very Hard: Receive 50% of full health, 200% of standard damage, further-decreased guard time, and 50% of standard recovery. No autoguarding.
Balancing[]
In order to make the Copy Abilities more balanced for competitive player vs. player matches, some tweaks were made to their attack properties. All invincibility frames were removed. If a Kirby is using a combo move on another Kirby in a corner, the attacker will be pushed back so the defender has a chance to escape or counter. Physical projectiles can cancel out other physical projectiles. However, energy-based projectiles generally cannot be canceled out. With the exception of the Whip ability, all abilities included were changed in some way:
- Sword: Delay before Drill Stab. Sword Beam from Sky Energy Sword is energy-based.
- Cutter: Throwing rate has been decreased. Delay before charging Hyper Cutter.
- Beam: Wave Beam attack has limited range. All attacks are energy-based.
- Parasol: Delay before using the Parasol Drill attack. Parasol can be used to block physical projectiles.
- Archer: Takes longer to charge arrow shots. Snipe Shot and Magic-Star Arrows cannot be canceled.
- Bomb: Throwing rate has been decreased. Bombs can be destroyed by energy-based projectiles.
- Hammer: Delay before a Hammer Nail, Giant Swing, and Ultra Giant Swing. Longer delay before Hammer Swing. No additional delay to Hammer Flip. Star from Hammer Nail is energy-based
- Fighter: Force Blast and Mega Force Blast have limited range and stop after hitting one target. Force Blasts and Mega Force Blasts can cancel each other out despite being energy-based
- Ninja: Knife-throwing-rate has been decreased. Knives don't do knock-back. Can properly wall climb.
Additionally, a visible guard meter has been added for every ability. This meter decreases on its own for as long as a Kirby's guard is held with the L or R button (similar to shield decay in the Super Smash Bros. series), and decreases further from withstanding attacks in the guard state. The decrease from attacks is directly proportional to the strength of the blow. If the meter reaches zero, the Kirby's guard is broken, and he is momentarily left stunned and vulnerable to damage. When not guarding, the meter will quickly replenish itself.
Stages[]
Name | Inspired by | Features | Image |
---|---|---|---|
Flower Land | Fine Fields in Kirby: Triple Deluxe | Three platforms | |
Castle Lololo | Wider version of Lololo & Lalala's arena in Kirby Super Star / Kirby Super Star Ultra | Three levels, Lololo & Lalala push their boxes, Blue Boxes, and Gordos across the screen | |
Bubbly Clouds | Kracko's arena in Kirby Super Star / Kirby Super Star Ultra | Two platforms, Kracko appears and uses classic attacks: star beam, rain storm, and lightning | |
Coo's Forest | Stage 5 of Grass Land in Kirby's Dream Land 3 | Three pairs of platforms, Coo, Rick, and Kine come through doors and attack: Coo shoots three Cutter feathers, Rick shoots a stream of fire, and Kine just flops around | |
Dedede Arena | King Dedede's arena in Kirby Super Star Ultra | Right and left sides of arena are raised, plaform above the main fighting area, Dedede drops from the ceiling and can throw Waddle Dees, Gordos, Hammers, Apples, and Oil Drums. He can also jump across the stage | |
Factory Tour | Stage 4 of Shiver Star in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards | Three Squeaky Hammer Machines slam the ground, sometimes in pairs, uncommonly all three | |
Another Dimension | Another Dimension in Kirby's Return to Dream Land | Flat area, no gimicks |
List of Items[]
- Food which replenishes health to the Kirby that touches it.
- Maxim Tomato which replenishes a health bar.
- Timed Dynamite which acts like it does in Story Mode. However, upon exploding, it hits multiple times.
- Gordo Ball, which can be picked up by players and thrown. When it lands, it will become larger and it will grow its spikes.
- Mike, originating from Kirby's Dream Land. Upon touching it, Kirby will yell into the microphone, sending nearby players flying and taking massive damage.
- Mint Leaf, also originating from Kirby's Dream Land, allows a Kirby to float and rapidly shoot air puffs, six at a time, four times, before finishing off with a big air puff. Holding down the B button will prevent Kirby from turning around, allowing him to shoot air puffs in the opposite direction he is flying.
- Invincibility Candy, which allows a Kirby to be invincible temporarily. However, Kirbys under this effect can still be squashed by the Factory Tour Squeaky Hammer Machines or be put to sleep. They just won't receive damage.
- Crackler, which rapidly shoots cannon balls.
- Dash Shoe, which increases the speed and jump height of whoever touches it, giving that Kirby a blue aura.
- Bomber, which can be picked up by a Kirby and thrown at the other players. After being thrown, it will walk around. After being attacked, falling off a ledge, or if its time limit runs out, it will explode. Multiplayer only.
- Blue Box, which, when destroyed, can drop one of any of the above.
- Action Star, which can cause various effects to occur.
Trivia[]
- Kirby Fighters' gameplay bears a striking resemblance to the Super Smash Bros. series of games, which was created by Masahiro Sakurai, the same person who created the Kirby franchise.
- As such, Flower Land acts as Battlefield and Another Dimension acts as Final Destination from the Super Smash Bros. series.
- When a Kirby is KO'd, he spins around and falls over like Kirby does when he is KO'd in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. A Kirby angel then floats away, which is a reference to a KO'd Kirby from Kirby Mass Attack. Both of these animations are reused in Kirby: Planet Robobot's Team Kirby Clash sub-game and Team Kirby Clash Deluxe.
Artwork[]
Logo[]
Gallery[]
References[]