Kirby Mass Attack

US box
PAL box
JP box
US logo
JP logo

Kirby Mass Attack

Title (JP)

あつめて! カービィ (Atsumete! Kābī)

- Translates to

Atsumete! Kābī (lit. Gather! Kirby)

Developer

HAL Laboratory

Publisher

Nintendo

Release

Nintendo DS

August 4, 2011

^[1]
September 19, 2011^[2]
October 10, 2011
October 27, 2011
December 1, 2011

- Re-release(s)

Wii U Virtual Console

December 3, 2015

March 2, 2016

July 28, 2016

Genre

2-D Platformer

Mode(s)

Singleplayer^[3]

Rating

^[3]

MSRP (launch)

$34.99^[4]

Platform(s)

Nintendo DS

“	In this game, poor Kirby was split into 10 weaker copies of himself by the villainous Necrodeus. Using the stylus, players guided these mini Kirbys on an amazing adventure to restore Kirby to his former self. If Kirbys were lost along the way, collecting fruit restored them. On top of this main game, seven minigames added to the action.”
	— Summary • Kirby's Dream Collection Special Edition

Kirby Mass Attack is the fourth and final Kirby game for the Nintendo DS, originally released in Japan on August 4, 2011, and was then later released on September 19, 2011 in North America; on October 10, 2011 in Europe; on October 27, 2011 in Australia; and on December 1, 2011 in South Korea.

Released in the system's waning years, it was not a high profile title at E3 2011, although its US title was announced during the press conference in the form of a logo pop up nearing the end, which had mainly highlighted the Wii U and the 25th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda franchise. Nintendo did not have an area for the Nintendo DS, so the game's playable representative at the convention was a Japanese demo of the game presented by roaming attendants in the Wii U area. A localized demo of the game was made available for download through the Nintendo Channel for users who own both a Nintendo DS and Wii on September 8th; this demo was eliminated upon the Nintendo Channel's discontinuation on July 27, 2013.

The unlockable sub-games in Kirby Mass Attack make many references to past games in the series and Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, in gameplay, key characters, and Copy Abilities.

The game saw re-release for the Wii U Virtual Console platform in PAL regions and in Europe on December 3, 2015; in Japan on March 2, 2016; and in North America on July 28, 2016.

Plot

Introduction

Excerpt from game introduction - "A Bold Start!"

One day, Kirby went exploring in the Popopo Islands, in the south of Popstar. He was snoozing in a field, napping the day away. But then dark clouds filled the sky, and a skull-faced fiend descended. It was Necrodeus, the leader of the Skull Gang. The Skull Gang wanted to drown light in darkness.

Necrodeus raised his staff and struck Kirby with his mischievous magic. Necrodeus split Kirby into 10 copies of himself, each having only a fraction of Kirby's greatness! The fiend was easily able to defeat each of these weaker Kirbys.

Before long, there was only one Kirby left. Popstar was about to lose its greatest defender... and plunge into darkness forever. As the last Kirby raised his head, he saw a star shining brightly. That light was from Kirby's own heroic heart, which had flown to safety. His heart called out to him! "Kirby! Follow me! We can fight Necrodeus together!"

So began Kirby's quest to save Popstar — and restore Kirby back to his usual self! If they could defeat Necrodeus, they could use his magic staff to make everything right!

Events

KMA Daroach screenshot — Daroach approaches Kirby

Kirby starts out at Green Grounds, where Daroach approaches him in his airship and offers his help. He asks Kirby to collect medals, which he claims to have a magical power to dispel the magical darkness surrounding Necrodeus' stronghold, which makes it impossible to approach.

After Kirby defeats Skullord, Daroach tells Kirby that in order to enter Necrodeus's lair, Necro Nebula, he needs to get every single rainbow medal, one hidden in each stage. After collecting all of the rainbow medals, the power of the rainbow treasure appears and gives him access to the fifth and final world, Necro Nebula.

Kirby then confronts the four bosses he met along the way in Necro Nebula before commencing a final showdown against Necrodeus.

Epilogue

Excerpt from epilogue - "Kirby among the Stars"

The Kirbys finally defeated Necrodeus — thanks to the heroic heart that had guided them every step of the way! Necrodeus faded into oblivion, leaving his staff floating in space. The heroic heart called out to the Kirbys...

"Now! Everyone, grab the staff! Use its magic!"

The Kirbys... became one whole Kirby again! A Warp Star soared into view and picked up Kirby! As Kirby flew home, he looked out across the cosmos. The stars were so beautiful. Darkness had its place just as much as light, he thought. For the stars sparkled twice as bright in the dark depths of space!

As Kirby soared onward, he saw Pop Star in all its glory! Pop Star had never looked so wonderful. It shone like a brilliant beacon of hope. Kirby left the darkness of space behind, glad to be home at long last.

- The End -

Gameplay

While Kirby Mass Attack is a Kirby platformer, there are a few fundamental differences that makes it completely different from all the other titles. This is the first time where the player can control up to ten individual Kirbys instead of just one, although each has much more limited capabilities than the single Kirby due to Necrodeus' spell.

Health system

KMA topscreen — Interface showing Score (top-right), Kirby meter, Collectibles (bottom-left)

Fruit	Name	Point value
	Apple	1
	Banana	10
	Melon	30
	Maxim Tomato	100
	Grapes	unused

The health mechanic for the game does not follow the tradition where Kirby gobbles up Food to replenish lost health. Food no longer heals Kirby, but instead fills a meter which drops another Kirby down from the sky to join the existing group when completely filled. It takes 100 points to fill up the meter.

The only food available in the parts of Dream Land featured in the game is fruit. There are four different kinds of fruit, and different fruit give different values towards the meter. A fifth fruit, grapes, was planned to appear in the game, but was scrapped.^[5]

There are several ways to obtain fruit: Defeating enemies, bumping Kirbys into fruit trees and into certain floating crates will cause fruit to be dropped onto the ground, which the Kirbys can pick up.

Each Kirby essentially only has one point of health, and they turn blue when hit. If a blue Kirby is hit again, he will turn into a grayish-white angel and slowly float into the sky. Before he floats off the screen, however, the player can launch a Kirby and drag the defeated ally to the ground — this makes him return to his blue, hurt state. There are restoration areas similar in function to the ones in Kirby Air Ride which return hurt Kirbys back to pink. These are called Recovery Rings.

Collecting any item gives points towards a high score (top-right on the top screen). If the player is already at the maximum number of Kirbys, filling up the Kirby meter gives a 10,000 point bonus towards the high score instead. That means it is desirable to play through any level with a full complement of Kirbys to get the highest score possible. The player is rated at the end of each level with a medal - bronze, silver, or gold, depending on whether no Kirbys were lost (bronze), no Kirbys were defeated (silver), or no Kirbys got hurt at all (gold). Sometimes, however, the player may not be awarded with a medal at all if he/she properly loses a Kirby.

Levels

KMA level progression — Level progression and number of Kirbys needed (pre-release)

The main goal in the game is to gather a large number of Kirbys in a stage by collecting fruit, and successfully bringing enough of them to the end of the level and back to the overworld map. In stages, certain obstacles can only be removed when there are enough Kirbys pulling or pushing on it, and individual stages can only be entered from the overworld map only if the number of Kirbys matches or exceeds the number needed to get into the level - the game depicts the Kirbys pressing on a switch. Every main level hub has its levels represented in concentric circles, with links in between, and the boss right in the middle. Levels leading to the boss fight have increasingly-larger numbers of Kirbys needed. There is no specific order by which the levels need to be cleared, but stages are unlocked several at a time by activating rainbow bubbles which create Rainbow Bridges like those from Kirby's Dream Land 2.

There are initially a total of four levels in the game: Green Grounds, Sandy Canyon, Dedede Resort, and Volcano Valley, each with twelve stages except the first, which has eleven. Eventually, Necro Nebula, the fifth and last level, opens up with four stages and the final boss fight (which the game does not count as a stage), bringing the total stage count to 51+1, excluding sub-games.

Travelling between one world to another brings the Kirby count back down to one, since Skullys roam the skies and pluck Kirbys off the Warp Star as they fly. However, as long as a certain level of the destination world has been previously cleared, all food except Maxim Tomatoes in that level turn into melons that give 30 points each, allowing the player to quickly build back up to the maximum number of Kirbys. Once the player reaches 10 Kirbys, the bonus fruit turn back into the usual apple and banana mix. Unlocking Necro Nebula makes the Skullys around levels 1 to 4 go away, so the number of Kirbys no longer is reduced when travelling between islands except when heading to Necro Nebula. After the game is cleared, there are no more enemies in the skies of Pop Star and the Kirbys can move between any island safely.

Medal collectibles are hidden behind obstacles throughout the game - collecting them unlocks sub-games and Checklists when their number reaches a certain threshold. There are between one to five in each level, and there are two types; a gold one, and a shiny rainbow-colored one. Both count towards unlocking extras, but only by collecting all the Rainbow Medals will Necro Nebula be unlocked. There is always one hidden, special door leading to a short cut in the form of a catapult in each level. As long as it is found in a previous play-through, the next time Kirby journeys through the area, he has the option of taking the catapult to largely bypass the trickiest parts of the level, although that would mean missing out on most of the collectibles and points as well. Also, if the player fails to complete a level three times, Invincibility Candy will appear in parts of that level to help the player. This is different to the regular Jumbo Candy variety that makes the Kirbys larger - it just makes them invincible.

Controls

KMA Heart of Courage2 — Kirbys falling over each other to follow the heroic heart

Kirby Mass Attack is played exclusively with the stylus on the DS's touchscreen, similar to Kirby: Canvas Curse. The player's stylus moves Kirby's heroic heart, which the Kirbys faithfully follow around. Tapping on any location and the Kirbys will try to move there. Double-tapping makes them dash over instead of walk.

Tapping on an enemy or object sends all the Kirbys on it. They will pummel enemies and attempt to pull down whichever obstacle is in their way, as long as there are enough Kirbys to perform the action. Flicking the stylus while on a cluster of Kirbys will send them in the direction of the movement one by one. Sending them bouncing off certain trees will dislodge fruits. Holding the stylus in place for a while makes all the Kirbys cluster around the heroic heart, which starts glowing. Dragging the stylus on the screen at this point will draw a line similar to drawing Rainbow Lines in Kirby: Canvas Curse, and the player has limited ink as well, but the Kirbys follow the heart closely instead of following any drawn line. Some occasions call for tapping a button that pops up to help the Kirbys to pull or push an object or enemy.

Sub-games

Sub-game	Details
Field Frenzy	Whack Moles, Oohroos and Whispy Woods to earn points. Don't whack Gordo. Defeat Robo Moley or Moley at the end to win.
Fishing Pond	Rapidly tap the button when it appears to fish up items and enemies. This is only playable during the credits and can earn the player a medal on the first play.
Dash Course	Tap the right shape at the bottom screen to progress. It is similar to 100-Yard Hop from Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. Kirby's speed will increase if the player taps the correct symbol, and decrease if he/she taps the incorrect symbol.
Kirby Brawlball	A game of Kirby pinball. Rack up points to get the high score. Enter Dedede's mouth and defeat all 4 bosses: Whispy Woods, Lololo & Lalala, Heavy Lobster, and Marx. It is similar to Kirby's Pinball Land, albeit shorter and more akin to a real pinball table.
Kirby Curtain Call	Count the right number of Kirbys. Don't mistake other things for Kirby. It is similar to Tamasan's counting sub-game from Kirby's Dream Land 3, but Kirbys are counted instead of Gordos.
Kirby Quest	Tap the screen when the bar is at the pink or blue areas to attack. Missing will have one or a certain amount of Kirbys get hurt and turn blue. There are four stages, each having one boss, with the final stage having multiple bosses, including Daroach. The final boss in this game is Dark Matter.
Strato Patrol EOS	The player guides the Kirbys through the sky with the stylus, while they automatically fire shots forward. The player gains more Kirbys by rescuing them from Skullys, and the power of the shots fired can be increased as well. The final boss in the sub-game is Nightmare.
Survival Rush	After beating the game and collecting all the medals, the player unlocks this final sub-game which is essentially a boss rush to see how fast the player can defeat every single boss in the game without getting KO'd. It has a mini lobby with three Boss Doors that have a 1, 3, and 5 (in order of difficulty with 5 having all the main bosses), a recovery ring and three Maxim Tomatoes in case the player loses a Kirby during the battles.

Islands

Characters

Playable Characters

Allies