"Kirby for Nintendo Switch" redirects here. For other Kirby games on the Nintendo Switch, see Nintendo Switch#Kirby series games. |
"Star Allies" redirects here. For the final level, see Kirby - Star Allies. |
"Kirby (2018)" redirects here. For the other Kirby game that released in 2018 in North America and South Korea, see Kirby Battle Royale. |
“ | Turn enemies into allies with Friend Hearts! Combine your pals' powers to invoke mighty Friend Abilities as you fight to save the world! Play with up to four players by sharing Joy-Con.” |
— Past Adventures • Kirby games for Nintendo Switch |
Kirby Star Allies is a platformer Kirby game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It was released worldwide on March 16, 2018, except in Hong Kong, where it came out on April 3, 2018, and South Korea, where it was released on April 26, 2018. It is seemingly planned to release on the Nintendo Switch in China due to having a registered game code card, but has an unknown release date due to waiting for approval from authorities.[2] It is the first Kirby game released for the Switch, as well as the first traditional Kirby platformer since Kirby's Return to Dream Land to support cooperative multiplayer through the main game.
Story[]
“ | An evil force threatens Dream Land. Luckily, Kirby and friends are ready to team up and take on the challenge.” |
— Official Kirby Star Allies website |
In a part of space far away from Planet Popstar, a priest named Hyness floats up to the altar of the Jamba Heart, which is trapped in a seal. Using his magic, he commences a ritual to break the seal and revive his religion's god. However, since he did not fully understand how to break the seal, the ritual went wrong, causing the Jamba Heart to shatter and send its shards flying throughout the galaxy. Many of these pieces fall down to Dream Land, where many residents watch in awe as the shards fall from the sky. The shards then corrupt and possess anyone they have fallen near to. Kirby, however, is taking an afternoon nap and slept through the entire event. During Kirby's nap, a pink shard, which was not dispersed by the Jamba Heart, but rather the spears of the heart containing it in its seal, lands and dissolves on him, waking him up. Kirby then notices some Waddle Dees carrying a large amount of food to Castle Dedede, which has become surrounded by dark clouds; Kirby sets off to investigate.
Apparently, King Dedede has stolen all of the food in Dream Land for himself once again, forcing Kirby to go on a quest to stop him. At the beginning of his adventure, Kirby is ambushed by a Poppy Bros. Jr. and panics. However, he soon discovers that the pink heart gave him the ability to create Friend Hearts, which turn anyone they touch into a Friend. He then uses his newly found power to befriend the Poppy Bros. Jr. and other enemies and continues on his journey with his new friends. Along the way, Kirby and friends manage to defeat and free Whispy Woods from corruption and finally make their way to the castle, where they encounter a corrupted King Dedede eating all of the stolen food. After defeating King Dedede, Kirby and his friends celebrate, but the celebration is cut short when the Jamba Heart piece hovers back up into the air and flies away. Kirby and friends pursue the fleeing Jamba Heart piece, chasing it and more hearts throughout Popstar, before eventually encountering a corrupted Meta Knight. Kirby and friends manage to defeat and free Meta Knight, but then the ground begins to shake as a giant fortress then lands on the surface of the planet. Kirby and friends then hop on the Warp Star and fly to the fortress to stop these mysterious invaders.
Approaching the fortress, which is named Jambastion, the Fortress of Shadows, Kirby and his friends battle Pon & Con, who are guarding the gate of the fortress. Afterwards, the gate is opened for them and they enter the fortress itself, and work their way up to the top of the structure. During their infiltration, they encounter The Three Mage-Sisters, the magic generals who command the Jambastion and serve under Hyness. They first meet Francisca, who snatches a Jamba Heart shard before the heroes could grab it. She then introduces herself before explaining their task, which is to collect the shards in order to successfully complete the ritual, so that their visions will come to fruition. She warns the quartet not to interfere before attacking them; however, she is defeated. Francisca then promptly flees with the Jamba Heart shard as Kirby and friends chase after her.
The heroes next meet Flamberge, who had noticed them and preemptively jumped over to them. Absolutely furious that they hurt Francisca, she attacks them to enact vengeance. Nonetheless, she is also defeated, and flees with a shard as well. Kirby and friends at last find their way to the top, where they meet the final member of The Three Mage-Sisters and leader of the three, Zan Partizanne. After introducing herself and commenting that they had turned out to be more of an annoyance than she had expected, she attacks to end the threat they pose, but is defeated like the other two. In a last-ditch effort to eliminate them, she quickly grabs the Jamba Heart piece she was holding before and destroys Jambastion's power core, causing the fortress to crumble. Zan Partizanne escapes, and, with the help of the Friend Circle, Friend Bridge, and Friend Star, the Star Allies do the same.
After escaping the fortress, Kirby and his friends find themselves deep in space, far away from Popstar. Continuing onwards, they traverse various planets and moons of the galaxy, defeating foes corrupted by the shards. On Blizzno Moon, Kirby and his friends find Francisca once again, who is continuing her search for Jamba Heart pieces. She is surprised that they had somehow survived the Jambastion's destruction, and so decides to defeat them once and for all. However, she loses once again and is sent flying into the distance. While traversing through Sizzlai Moon, the Star Allies once again encounter Flamberge, who was taking a break from hunting for the Jamba Heart pieces before noticing them, and subsequently attacking them. Yet, like Francisca, she is defeated and launched into the horizon. Afterwards, Kirby and his friends finally arrive at the origin of this mess, the Jambandra Base, and traveling inward, they enter The Divine Terminus.
Making their way through, they enter the altar of the Jamba Heart, where Hyness is performing a ritual that is reassembling the Jamba Heart. Before they could approach him, however, Zan Partizanne appears and blocks their path to prevent interruption to the ceremony. She fights fiercely, but is beaten again. She weakly calls to Hyness, begging him for help, before losing consciousness. Displeased with the interruption, Hyness bats her body aside and confronts the heroes. He states the Jamba Heart still does not have enough energy for the ritual, and upset by the fact, goes into a frenzied rant. Here, Hyness explains his history, although it is heavily altered in the English localization for unknown reasons. In the original Japanese version, Hyness does not use the ambiguous "we", as he instead refers to a clan of his own. He states that his clan, who were powerful wielders of magic and worshippers of the matter of darkness, was once friends with people who used the power of science, and together they achieved great prosperity. However, one day, the science-users turned on them in fear of their power, and banished them to the edge of the galaxy. They then subsequently erased their very existence from history itself, not even leaving a sliver left. Hyness also states that his clan was responsible for stopping a "galactic crisis", but it is unknown what this crisis was. Enraged by this being how his clan was repaid, Hyness exclaims that the science-users' future is nonexistent, that the restoration of his clan is near, and that his religion has finally obtained the vessel from which its god would descend from and give his benevolence as told in the book of legend. It could be presumed that his clan wrote this book, akin to the Holy Bible and other religious books. He then says that the Dark Lord's revival is almost complete, and to prevent more interruptions in the revival ceremony, Hyness attacks. Upon his first defeat, Hyness' hood and veil are knocked off, sending him into insanity. He summons The Three Mage-Sisters to himself, promptly draining their life force to restore his own, and uses their unconscious bodies as weapons in the continued battle. Despite his attempt, Hyness is defeated again and is sent flying onto the ground. Getting up, he slowly limps over to the altar, realizing that an offering to the Dark Lord is the only option. In a last-ditch effort, he throws himself and the three unconscious mages into the Jamba Heart, reviving his god as Void Termina. The Jamba Heart dissolves into a dark cloud, and Void Termina flies into space. With the spears of the heart resonating with Kirby's friend power, Kirby and friends form the Star Allies Sparkler and fly after the dark god.
When they track him down on a circular arena in deep space, he solidifies into a titanic being, and the final battle begins. Midway through the fight, Kirby and his friends enter Void Termina to battle his core, where they find Francisca, Flamberge, Zan Partizanne, and Hyness wrapped in cocoons. After defeating his core for the first time, those four, along with the Star Allies, are ejected. Void Termina then gets back up and his arms transform into wings, allowing him to fly in the air as the battle resumes. However, Void Termina is defeated and knocked out of the sky, where Kirby and friends enter his body to fight his core once again. The Star Allies come out on top, as they are ejected out of Void Termina's body before it disappears, leaving only the core, his true form, behind.
Furious, Void Termina jumps into the air and transforms into something identical to Dark Matter. Void Termina and Kirby then face off in a laser battle, with Kirby's lasers overpowering Void Termina's. As Kirby's final laser knocks Void Termina out of his Dark Matter form, he creates copies of the friends he has made over his journey and launches them one by one at him, completely destroying Void Termina. Kirby and friends, using the Star Allies Sparkler, then fly away from Void Termina's massive explosion, dodging asteroids that are sent flying by the explosion's blast wave as well. However, the explosion soon catches up to them in a bright light. After the impact, Kirby awakens with his three friends by his side as they look on to Planet Popstar, which is shining as bright as ever. The Warp Star then flies in as Kirby and friends jump and cheer in joy. With peace restored, they hop on the Warp Star and fly back to their home planet, which is now freed from the Jamba Heart's corruption, after waving goodbye.
Sometime after the events of the main story, Hyness began repeatedly performing chants and prayers to open a dimensional rift, causing spacetime to collapse in The Divine Terminus, prompting Kirby and the Dream Friends to investigate. They enter a rift and find their way into Another Dimension. They make their way across the dimension, collecting Friend Hearts along the way. On their adventure, they come across parallel counterparts of bosses in the main story. They defeat these counterparts, which then drop the spears of the heart that used to contain the Jamba Heart in its seal. Eventually, the heroes find themselves in a parallel version of The Divine Terminus, where another Jamba Heart emerges from the pool on the ground. The four spears of the heart that the heroes collected then stab the heart, shattering it and revealing Hyness to be inside, albeit corrupted by darkness. Apparently, Hyness had fallen into a dimensional rift and ended up in Another Dimension, where the darkness in his heart left his body, transformed into a Jamba Heart, and consumed him. The heroes battle Corrupt Hyness and defeat him. However, Corrupt Hyness then flies into madness and summons three wood stumps with the outfits of the Three Mage-Sisters to use as weapons. Nonetheless, his efforts prove useless, as he is defeated once more. Before the heroes could celebrate, Zan Partizanne arrives from out of nowhere. She and her sisters had entered Another Dimension as well to search for Hyness. Bewildered by the current situation, she calls over her sisters after noticing the heroes. Flamberge expresses her shock before shouting in a fit of anger, while Francisca asks her to calm down and laments Hyness. Filled with repentance, the three subsequently fight Kirby and friends in grueling battle in an attempt to end their long-lasting conflict, but the heroes end up victorious. After the battle, all of the Friend Hearts the heroes collected come together to form a giant Friend Heart, which Kirby throws at the Three Mage-Sisters, waking them up and restoring them to their original colors. After thinking of what to do, the sisters nod their heads in agreement and presumably say a prayer of sorts, which then turns the battlefield into a brightly-lit arena. The Warp Star then descends from the sky, and Kirby and friends hop on. Before leaving, Kirby waves goodbye to the sisters and takes off, leaving behind a small heart which slowly floats onto Hyness, purging him of the darkness within. Hyness then wakes up, restored to his former glory. The sisters run up to him in joy and presumably make sure he is alright and tell him about what had happened as the screen fades to black. It is unknown if the sisters and Hyness decided to live on Planet Popstar with Kirby afterwards, but the 100% completion picture for Heroes in Another Dimension shows that they are now on good terms with each other.
Gameplay[]
“ | Play with others by handing them a Joy-Con! Other players can join in any time by pressing SL + SR.” |
— Play together with other players! • Kirby Star Allies loading screen |
Kirby Star Allies is a traditional platformer Kirby game, in which the player controls Kirby, whose objective is to get to the end of each stage through the use of Copy Abilities. Kirby retains his traditional moves; the Inhale, Star Spit, Slide attack, Air Gun, and floating.
The game is a 2.5D platformer, meaning that the characters move on a two-dimensional plane in a 3D environment.
Two game mechanics return from previous installments of the Kirby series; those being Mix abilities (from Kirby: Squeak Squad, though in this game they are called Friend Abilities) and Helpers (from Kirby Super Star and its remake, though they are here referred to as "friends"). In a manner similar to the mechanic shown in the trailer for the unreleased Kirby GCN, there can be four player-controlled or CPU-controlled friends at one time. Kirby can throw a Friend Heart at certain types of enemies in order to turn it into a friend by using ; friends can also throw Friend Hearts in order to change their ability (when not controlled by the CPU) - all this can also be achieved with Copy Essences and Ability Stars. Even if Kirby has no friends, another player can join, taking Kirby's current ability similar to the helper mechanic in previous games; Kirby can also turn a friend into an Ability Item by performing the Unfriend move, which replaces the Drop Ability function if Kirby has no ability; this can also be achieved by throwing a Friend Heart at an enemy while already having three friends, and opting to cancel the action instead of replacing one of them. Friends can assist Kirby in multiple ways, allowing for Friend Actions such as the Friend Circle.
The player can also befriend Dream Friends; these are characters from past Kirby games, which otherwise act as normal friends. They can be befriended by using a Dream Rod, which are at Dream Palaces in the main Story Mode. Here, Kirby can select his Dream Friend of choice via a roulette.
In the post-game Guest Star ???? Star Allies Go! mode, they are sometimes found after hitting a Big Switch. In The Ultimate Choice, they can be chosen as part of the team the player constructs. In Heroes in Another Dimension, the player swaps between Dream Friends automatically when entering certain doors.
The player can also mix Copy Abilities to create Friend Abilities, by imbuing a base ability (such as Bomb or Sword) with an element ability (such as Fire or Ice). This is achieved by the character with a base ability holding up on the analog stick, whilst the character with an element ability then uses an attack on that character. The five elements which can be mixed with are Sizzle, Zap, Blizzard, Splash, and Bluster. Other Friend Abilities include Team-Up Attacks which are also triggered by holding up on the analog stick; only some Copy Abilities have these however and they do not require the user to mix abilities.
Main Games[]
- Story Mode: The main campaign of the game; available from the start. In this mode, the player experiences the story as they travel from level-to-level, progressing through each of the worlds.
- Guest Star ???? Star Allies Go!: A post-game mode unlocked after completion of Story Mode. In this mode, players play through an abridged Story Mode (similarly to Meta Knightmare Returns) which is split into 5 distinct "Levels". However, the mode also draws inspiration from Helper to Hero in that players select a Friend Helper or Dream Friend to play with for the entire run, which cannot be changed. Players can collect Power-Up Hearts during each Level to increase their attack, speed, and health, which reset each Level.
- The Ultimate Choice: A post-game mode unlocked after completion of Story Mode. In this mode, players construct a team of up to 4 players or play by themselves to face off against multiple bosses one after another, similarly to The Arena / The True Arena of prior titles. However, unlike prior titles, there is now an adjustable difficulty scale and score counter.
- Heroes in Another Dimension: A post-game mode added in the game's third update, this mode takes place after the events of the main story and involves Kirby and all of the Dream Friends traveling through Another Dimension. In this mode, special doors change the player into a different Dream Friend. Friend Hearts are the main collectable in this mode, with the amount collected determining the rank the player receives upon completion. This mode also introduces harder variants of bosses, known as Parallel bosses, as well as a battle with Corrupt Hyness and The Three Mage-Sisters. After completion, it unlocks the Soul Melter EX Difficulty for The Ultimate Choice, and getting an A Rank or higher (100+ Hearts) allows for the befriending of the The Three Mage-Sisters.
Sub-games[]
- Chop Champs: A sub-game available from the start. Players compete to see who can chop down a tree the quickest whilst avoiding Capillers and Gordos under a time limit. It has three levels of difficulty. This mode supports up to four players as well as optional Joy-Con motion controls.
- Star Slam Heroes: A sub-game available from the start. Players compete to hit a meteor the furthest by charging up their baseball bat and then timing their shot properly. This is strongly reminiscent of Crackity Hack. It has three levels of difficulty. This mode supports up to four players as well as optional Joy-Con motion controls.
Characters[]
Playable characters[]
- Kirby
- Blade Knight
- Sir Kibble
- Poppy Bros. Jr.
- Rocky
- Wester
- Bonkers
- Bio Spark
- Gim
- Jammerjab
- Burning Leo
- Chilly
- Waddle Doo
- Plugg
- Driblee
- NESP
- Birdon
- Broom Hatter
- Knuckle Joe
- Bugzzy
- Beetley
- Como
- Parasol Waddle Dee
- Vividria
- Chef Kawasaki
- King Dedede
- Meta Knight
- Bandana Waddle Dee
- Rick & Kine & Coo
- Marx
- Gooey
- Adeleine & Ribbon
- Dark Meta Knight
- Daroach
- Magolor
- Taranza
- Susie
- The Three Mage-Sisters
Post-launch updates[]
The game received three updates adding new Dream Friends. At launch, three Dream Friends were available: King Dedede, Meta Knight and Bandana Waddle Dee. The Wave 1 update (version 2.0.0), which was released on March 28, 2018, added Rick & Kine & Coo, Marx, and Gooey. In the update, a new celebration picture was added, and playing Guest Star ???? Star Allies Go! with the new Dream Friends reveals additional stages and music. The Wave 2 update (version 3.0.0) was released on July 27, 2018, adding Daroach, Dark Meta Knight, and Adeleine & Ribbon. Like before, it also added three new celebration pictures and altered Guest Star ???? Star Allies Go! with additional stages, graphics and music when playing as the new Dream Friends. The Wave 3 update (version 4.0.0) was released on November 30, 2018, adding Magolor, Taranza, and Susie. In the update, three more celebration pictures were added, long with a new mode, Heroes in Another Dimension. Beating Heroes in Another Dimension unlocks an additional difficulty setting in The Ultimate Choice, and collecting 100 Friend Hearts would unlock The Three Mage-Sisters as a Dream Friend, along with three more celebration pictures.
Bandana Waddle Dee and the Wave 1 Dream Friends are unlocked after clearing Donut Dome; King Dedede and the Wave 2 Dream Friends are unlocked after clearing Clash at Castle Dedede; Meta Knight and the Wave 3 Dream Friends are unlocked after clearing Sacred Square; The Three Mage-Sisters are unlocked after collecting a total of 100 or more Friend Hearts at the end of Heroes in Another Dimension.
Non-playable characters (cameo appearances)[]
- Popon (Goal Game)
- ChuChu (Cleaning moveset)
- Nago (Cleaning moveset)
- Pitch (Cleaning moveset)
- I3 (Adeleine & Ribbon moveset)
- Batamon (Adeleine & Ribbon moveset)
- Ghost Knight (Adeleine & Ribbon moveset)
- Ice Dragon (Adeleine & Ribbon moveset)
- Octagon (Adeleine & Ribbon moveset)
- Waiu (Adeleine & Ribbon moveset)
- Spinni (Daroach moveset)
- Doc (Daroach moveset)
- Storo (Daroach moveset)
- Squeakers (Daroach moveset)
- Queen Sectonia (Taranza moveset)
- Dyna Blade (Seen flying in the background of World of Peace - Dream Land)
- Shadow Kirby (Seen flying around on a Warp Star in Fortress of Shadows - Jambastion)
- Galacta Knight (absorbed by Morpho Knight)
Enemies[]
- Anger Masker
- Beetley
- Big Kabu
- Bio Spark
- Birdon
- Blade Knight
- Blado
- Blipper
- Blizzard Guard
- Bomber
- Bouncy
- Bronto Burt
- Broom Hatter
- Bugzzy Jr.
- Burning Leo
- Cappy
- Chilly
- Chip
- Como
- Coner
- Donpuffle
- Driblee
- Floaty the Cell Core
- Gabon
- Gim
- Glunk
- Gordo
- Grizzo
- Jambeliever
- Jammerjab
- Kabu
- Key Dee
- Knuckle Joe
- Kracko (painting)
- Mamanti
- NESP
- Noddy
- Nruff
- Parachute Bomb (painting)
- Parasol Shotzo
- Parasol Waddle Dee
- Plugg
- Pon Jr. & Con Jr.
- Poppy Bros. Jr.
- Propeller
- Puppet Waddle Dee
- Rocky
- Sawyer (painting)
- Scarfy
- Shotzo
- Sir Kibble
- Sizzle Guard
- Squishy
- Two Face
- Waddle Dee
- Waddle Doo
- Walky
- Wester
Mid-bosses[]
Bosses[]
- Guardian of the Forest - Whispy Woods
- Old-Growth Elder - Yggy Woods
- Otherworldly Arbor - Parallel Woods
- His Royal Nemesis - King Dedede
- Otherworldly Dark Liege - Parallel Dedede
- The Lone Swordsman - Meta Knight
- Otherworldly Frost Blade - Parallel Meta Knight
- Dual Defenders - Pon & Con
- The Metal Heavies - Goldon & Silvox
- Big Bad Mama - Grand Mam
- Frozen General/Bringer of Icy Doom - Francisca
- Cycloptic Stormcloud - Kracko/Dual Thunderheads - Twin Kracko
- Unearthly Storm Front - Parallel Twin Kracko/Unearthly Thunderhead - Parallel Big Kracko
- Blazing General/Bringer of Flame - Flamberge
- Lightning General/Bringer of Shock - Zan Partizanne
- Officiant of Doom - Hyness
- Fell Officiant - Corrupt Hyness
- Repentant Retaliators - The Three Mage-Sisters
- Reborn Butterfly - Morpho Knight
- Dark-Winged Disaster - Morpho Knight EX
- Destroyer of Worlds/The True Destroyer of Worlds - Void Termina
Copy Abilities[]
The game features 28 standard Copy Abilities. Of these, two have only previously appeared in Kirby Super Star and Kirby Super Star Ultra (Yo-Yo and Suplex), one has only previously appeared in Kirby's Dream Land 3 (Cleaning) and four are new (Artist, Festival, Spider, and Staff). Copy Abilities in bold (base) can be imbued with elements, and underlined abilities can grant elements, and italicized abilities are new.
Artist |
Beam |
Beetle |
Bomb |
Cleaning |
Cook |
Crash |
Cutter |
ESP |
Festival |
Fighter |
Fire |
Hammer |
Ice |
Mike |
Ninja |
Parasol |
Plasma |
Sleep |
Spider |
Staff |
Stone |
Suplex |
Sword |
Water |
Whip |
Wing |
Yo-Yo |
Items and Objects[]
- 1UP
- 3D Warp Star
- Apple
- Containers
- Cannon
- Electro Saw
- Energy Drink
- Food
- Friend Heart
- Invincibility Candy
- Key
- Maxim Tomato
- Meat
- Picture Piece
- Point Star (EX)
- Power-Up Heart
- Rare Picture Piece
- Switch
- Star Block
- Treasure Chest
- Warp Star
- Watermelon
Levels and Stages[]
Stages in italics are Extra Stages; these are unlocked by pressing a Big Switch in another stage. Stages in bold are boss stages; they are generally short and contain boss fights. Stages in italics and bold are unlocked by beating the game.
Story Mode[]
Heroes in Another Dimension[]
Demo[]
The demo for Kirby Star Allies was released on March 1 in Europe and March 4 in North America. It includes two stages: a combination of Green Gardens, Honey Hill, and Fruity Forest called "Grasslands Stage"; and a combination of Donut Dome, Friendly Field, Reef Resort and Clash at Castle Dedede, called "Cave & Castle Stage". A Nintendo eShop link appears beneath the stage links. A boss fight was present at the end of each stage: Whispy Woods at the end of "Grasslands Stage" and King Dedede at the end of "Cave & Castle Stage". As well as being released on the eShop, the demo was included in the software of Nintendo Switch demo kiosks at retail locations.
amiibo Compatibility[]
During Story Mode, the player can scan an amiibo. Scanning a Kirby-related amiibo (both from the Kirby series and their Super Smash Bros. counterparts) will give two Point Stars, either a Maxim Tomato or an Energy Drink, and two Picture Pieces. The same goes for scanning the Qbby amiibo from BOXBOY!, except it gives a milk carton Food item instead.
Scanning any other amiibo will give two Point Stars, a cherry, and one Picture Piece.
In addition, the game will only allow 7 different amiibos to be scanned per Stage attempt. The count resets if the player exits the stage without clearing it.
Update Changes[]
Although the updates advertise as only adding new Dream Friends, they change various other things in Kirby Star Allies as well. Most of these changes are minor, but some affect gameplay.
Update 2.0.0[]
This was the initial release version in Hong Kong and South Korea.
- New Dream Friends were added, being Rick & Kine & Coo, Marx, and Gooey.
- Some Levels in Guest Star ???? Star Allies Go! were changed when playing as the new Dream Friends.
- The title screen and file select screen's color changed from blue to yellow.
- New character animations were added to the title, file select, and menu screens.
- Bandana Waddle Dee, King Dedede, and Meta Knight now have their own colored splash screen and music when selecting them as Dream Friends. They also have their own intro menus in Guest Star ???? Star Allies Go! as well.
- Chop Champs's title screen music was altered a bit.
- Void Termina's core phase music was altered a bit.
- Enemies hit by some attacks will now bounce slowly on the ground, giving extra time to get their Copy Ability or make them a Friend.
- The new Dream Friends were added to the final cutscene in Void Termina's fight.
- A new celebration picture was added, being "Crazy Mischief in the Stars".
- Three new transformations were added to the Stone ability.
- The new and old Dream Friends were added to the giant golden statue at the end of Extra Planet δ.
- Murals of the old and new Dream Friends were hidden throughout various levels.
Update 3.0.0[]
- New Dream Friends were added, being Adeleine & Ribbon, Dark Meta Knight, and Daroach.
- Some levels in Guest Star ???? Star Allies Go! were changed when playing as the new Dream Friends.
- Guest Star ???? Star Allies Go! now allows the player to create a save file for each friend. If the player has played the mode before the update, they can create a save file for the Friend through the Best Times records.
- Levels in Guest Star ???? Star Allies Go! for the regular friends have been upgraded.
- The color of the title screen and file select screens changed from yellow to red.
- New character animations including the new Dream Friends were added to the title, file select, and menu screens.
- The new Dream Friends were added to the final cutscene in Void Termina's fight.
- Secret areas were added to Clash at Castle Dedede, Echo's Edge, and Planet Earthfall.
- The Dragoon was added as an Easter Egg on World of Miracles - Planet Popstar's overworld map.
- Hyness' sound effect when going on his crazed rant has been lengthened to last for the entire speech.
- Boss and Mid-boss HP were scaled when playing multiplayer in Story Mode, but were unchanged in Guest Star ???? Star Allies Go! and The Ultimate Choice.
- Three new celebration pictures were added: "Friends' Getaway", "Chasing Our Dreams", and "Shadowy Partners".
- Three new transformations were added to the Stone ability.
- A new painting was added to the Artist ability, being Full Belly Kirby from Kirby's Blowout Blast.
- The new Dream Friends were added to the giant golden statue at the end of Extra Planet δ.
- Murals of the new Dream Friends were hidden throughout various levels.
Update 4.0.0[]
- New Dream Friends were added, being Magolor, Taranza, Susie, and The Three Mage-Sisters.
- Some levels in Guest Star ???? Star Allies Go! were changed when playing as the new Dream Friends.
- A new mode, Heroes in Another Dimension, was added.
- A new level of difficulty, Soul Melter EX, was added to The Ultimate Choice.
- Six new celebration pictures were added, being "The Shape of a Heart", "Rockabilly And Blues", "Break Time Breakdown", "Let Them Know We're Happy", "Bad Boss Brothers", and "A Farewell to Kirby".
- Five new transformations were added to the Stone ability.
- The new Dream Friends were added to the final cutscene in Void Termina's fight.
- The new Dream Friends were added to the giant golden statue at the end of Extra Planet δ.
- Shadow Kirby was added as an Easter egg on Fortress of Shadows - Jambastion's overworld map.
- Each of the original three Dream Friends were given a new attack.
- The color of the title and file select screens changed from red to rainbow and dark blue.
- New character animations including the new Dream Friends were added to the title, file select, and menu screens.
- Murals of the new Dream Friends were hidden throughout various levels.
- A secret area was added to Planet Caverna.
- Each Dream Friend now has their own symbol used to transition in and out of loading screens. Bandana Waddle Dee's symbol is his face. King Dedede's symbol is his own personal emblem, which is a peace sign. Meta Knight's symbol is his own personal emblem, which is an M with a sword going through its middle. Rick & Kine & Coo's symbol is Rick. Marx's symbol is himself riding on his ball. Gooey's symbol is himself. Adeleine & Ribbon's symbol is a Crystal Shard. Dark Meta Knight's symbol is the Dimension Mirror. Daroach's symbol is a Squeaker. Magolor's symbol is the Lor Starcutter. Taranza's symbol is a flower reminiscent of the ones on the Dreamstalk. Susie's symbol is the Haltmann Works Company logo. The Three Mage-Sisters' symbol is the emblem seen on their hats.
Music[]
Main article: Kirby Star Allies/Music |
Glitches[]
Main article: Glitch#Kirby Star Allies |
Reception[]
Kirby Star Allies received "mixed or average" reviews according to Metacritic, receiving an aggregate score of 73,[3] Gamespot gave it a score of 8,[4] and IGN gave it a score of 8.3.[5] Critics praised the game's soundtrack, visuals, and multiplayer while critiquing the easy gameplay.
Shortly after release, fans criticized the game, noting the relatively small number of playable stages (40) compared to other then-recent Kirby games (however, this was a misconception, as the game had about the same amount of stages as the others) and its very easy difficulty. Many accused the game of being too short and easy to be worth its $59.99 MSRP. Despite that, after the release of the third update, many fans were then content with the game, as the new features that came with the update had fixed some of the problems they previously had.[6]
As of December 31, 2021, Kirby Star Allies has sold 3.98 million copies worldwide; making it the third best-selling game in the franchise behind Kirby's Dream Land and Kirby and the Forgotten Land.[7]
Transcript[]
Main article: Kirby Star Allies/Transcript |
Staff[]
Main article: List of Kirby Star Allies Staff |
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Trivia[]
- Kirby Star Allies shares several similarities to Kirby Super Star Ultra.
- When first opening the game, a short cutscene, "Let's Be Friends", plays in a similar fashion to the intro cutscene of Kirby Super Star and its remake.
- The friend system is an improved version of the original helper system, with up to three friends active at once.
- The friend system's usage of multiple active friends with color palettes denoting player number was first seen in the cancelled Kirby GCN.
- World of Peace - Dream Land's story of King Dedede stealing all of the land's food resembles the plot of Spring Breeze.
- World of Miracles - Planet Popstar being the only level with a single boss stage resembles Dyna Blade. Furthermore, Sacred Square resembles Dyna Blade's Nest.
- Levels having multiple boss stages resembles Kirby Super Star Ultra.
- Fortress of Shadows - Jambastion's enemy base theme and great escape segment after the battle against Zan Partizanne resembles the Halberd and escape segment after defeating Meta Knight from Revenge of Meta Knight.
- Far-Flung - Starlight Heroes' world map, alternate mid-boss palettes, Planet Caverna, and Extra Planet α resembles the world map, mid-bosses, Cavius, and Floria of Milky Way Wishes.
- Guest Star ???? Star Allies Go! being a time-attack with power-ups resembles Meta Knightmare Ultra and its character select resembles Helper to Hero.
- The Ultimate Choice being a boss rush resembles The Arena and The True Arena and its ability/character select resembles Helper to Hero.
- Heroes in Another Dimension's punishing stages, tougher boss variants, and epilogue plotline resembles Revenge of the King while the collectible Friend Hearts resembles the collectible Treasure Chests from The Great Cave Offensive.
- Friends wear the hat that corresponds to their ability, unlike Helpers in Kirby Super Star and its remake.
- Friends reflect the colors of the player playing them. Any friends who are player 2 are yellow, friends who are player 3 are blue, and friends who are player 4 are green. This concept is reused from Kirby GCN. It, however, applies only to common enemies and midbosses; special characters (such as King Dedede and Gooey) always retain their normal coloration unless they are being used by multiple players.
- This is Nago, Pitch, and ChuChu's first appearance in the flesh since their debut 21 years before Kirby Star Allies in Kirby's Dream Land 3.
- In The Ultimate Choice's difficulty selection, there is a secret 8th difficulty, Soul Melter, which shows Kirby with red, evil eyes, grinning. This is a reference to the Kirby: Right Back at Ya! episode Frog Wild.
- King Dedede, when he transforms, greatly resembles his transformation in the same episode when he was possessed.
- This is the first Kirby game to be localized into Chinese, in both Traditional and Simplified forms.
- Before Kirby Star Allies' release date was revealed to be March 16, 2018 in the January 11 Nintendo Direct Mini, the official Nintendo website's Game Store page listed the game's release date as June 30, 2018. This may have just been a placeholder release date/window before an actual release date was officially announced.
- Kirby Star Allies is the first Kirby game to see release worldwide on the same day.
- The power of the new Artist ability, when paired with the hat, is reminiscent of Adeleine from Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards.
- Kirby Star Allies is Adeleine and Ribbon's first appearance since Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards.
- This is the fifth Kirby game to run at 30fps instead of the usual 60fps, the first four being Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, Kirby: Planet Robobot (depending on the amount of objects onscreen, but otherwise runs at 60fps), and Kirby Battle Royale.
- However, even though the game runs at 30fps, the menu, pause screens, and loading screens run at 60fps.
- This is the first Kirby game where Waddle Doo closes his eye, something only previously seen in Kirby: Right Back at Ya! and Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.
- On January 27, 2018, the My Nintendo rewards program released a Kirby Star Allies-themed calendar for the month of February. It was discovered to be a January calendar, as the month had 31 days instead of 28, and Valentine's Day was marked as the second Sunday of the month rather than the second Wednesday. This mistake was corrected shortly after.[8]
- When the official Japanese website of Kirby Star Allies launched on February 14, 2018, the URL initially spelled the game's title as "Star Arise". This was changed shortly afterward, and the original URL now redirects to the correct one. (The English words "Allies" and "Arise" have the same spelling in katakana, which is a phonetic form of writing.)
- In the Kirby Star Allies Original Soundtrack, Void's defeat sound effect is named "STAR ARISE".
- Kirby Star Allies is the first traditional platformer in the series to name individual stages.
- In the March 8 Nintendo Direct, when Gooey is shown as a future update Dream Friend, they state that his debut was in Kirby's Dream Land 3, when he actually debuted in Kirby's Dream Land 2 as a non-playable character. This error also appears on the official site for Kirby Star Allies.
- Although, this is probably due to the fact that Gooey's name wasn't revealed until Kirby's Dream Land 3, and that his appearance in Kirby's Dream Land 2 was a mystery to players when the game was first released.
- Kirby Star Allies consists of five levels, the fewest thus far of any game in the main series.
- When King Dedede is defeated, a false credits starts to play, which might be a reference to Kirby's Dream Land's ending where Kirby defeated King Dedede. A similar false credits appears at the end of Guest Star ???? Allies Go, after the player defeats Hyness.
- Kirby Star Allies, Kirby's Dream Land 2, Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble, Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, and Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe are the only games in the series thus far to save the player's life count.
- Kirby Star Allies is also the first game where Kirby's life counter can depict over 99 lives.
- However, in Kirby & the Amazing Mirror, Kirby can have a total of 255 lives, even though the life counter only goes up to a maximum of 99.
- Kirby Star Allies is also the first game where Kirby's life counter can depict over 99 lives.
- The first letter of all seven stages found on Planet Popstar, including the two unlockable stages, form an acronym spelling out the word "FRIENDS", which ties into the theme of friendship present in the game, as well as the game's main mechanic.
- Kirby Star Allies has the most standard Copy Abilities of any Kirby game, at 28.
- A new composer to the Kirby series was introduced in this game: Yuuta Ogasawara. He composed the music for Planet Earthfall, Planet Towara, the sub-games, the Kirby Dance, the music that plays when selecting Dark Meta Knight, the remix of Central Circle music that plays when in the room with the blocks that spell out Dark Meta Knight's name in Guest Star ???? Star Allies Go!, the remix of the boss theme and Dark Mind's theme from Kirby & The Amazing Mirror that plays when fighting Morpho Knight in Guest Star ???? Star Allies Go! when playing as Dark Meta Knight, the remix of the Rainbow Resort music that plays when viewing the "Friends' Getaway" celebration picture, and the remix of the Olive Ocean music and the music in Stage 5 of Cushy Cloud that plays when viewing the "Shadowy Partners" celebration picture.
- When Kirby defeats the first four bosses (Whispy Woods, King Dedede, Meta Knight, and Pon & Con), he can throw a Friend Heart at them to positively affect them. King Dedede and Meta Knight are converted into friends, Whispy Woods happily drops dozens of items from his branches, and Pon & Con eagerly open a gate for Kirby to pass through. The latter is required to continue through the game.
- Kirby can also damage Void Termina's core, Void Soul, and Void with Friend Hearts.
- As listed in the game's credits, the third-party company Eighting provided development assistance for the Star Slam Heroes and Chop Champs sub-games. Kirby Star Allies is their first collaboration with HAL Laboratory.
- Notes from the ESRB describe how Kirby Star Allies earned its E10+ rating. In addition to its cartoon violence and the sounds and effects of that violence, the notes mention "frenetic melee moves" and a boss fight where "players pilot a starship and shoot projectiles at a winged-creature from a third-person perspective."[9]
- Not counting the grouped Dream Friends separately, Kirby Star Allies has the most playable characters out of any Kirby game, with a total of 38.
- Kirby Star Allies is the first Kirby game since Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards to feature a bad ending to the game's story, where it specifically happens in the Heroes in Another Dimension sub-game. The bad ending only happens if the player has collected less than 100 Friend Hearts. In the bad ending, Kirby and friends defeat The Three Mage-Sisters and perform the Kirby Dance. After that, they then simply walk away, leaving behind the Mage-Sisters and Corrupt Hyness. The camera then slightly zooms in as the Mage-Sisters are enveloped in a dark aura while the jingle in the bad ending for Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards plays.
- Kirby Star Allies is the most heavily censored Kirby game to date, due to religion being one of its main themes, and thus having religious concepts that could potentially cause controversy. Some examples include changing "God" to "Dark Lord", changing "Prayer Song to God" to "Song of Supplication", altering the lyrics of the Song of Supplication and those found in Void Termina's pause descriptions, altering Morpho Knight's pause description, and changing various boss titles (e.g. Hyness' originally meant "Demon General", but was changed to "Officiant of Doom").
- Similarly, Kirby Star Allies has the most misinterpretations and non-censoring alterations out of any English localization of the text and dialogue of a Kirby game to date. Some examples include replacing the mentions of Hyness' clan with an ambiguous "we", removing the statement that they were once friends with the people who banished them, misinterpreting most of the parallel bosses' origins, removing two lines of text in Void Termina's second phase's Soul Melter EX description, and stating that Susie is still mechanizing planets and people in her Guest Star description.
- Kirby Star Allies has the largest voice cast of any Kirby game, with a total of ten voice actors.
- Kirby Star Allies is the last traditional platformer to be released in the Heisei Era in Japan.
- The returning Copy Abilities for Kirby Star Allies were chosen before the 25th Anniversary Copy Ability Poll;[10] coincidentally, the game features many of the top ten abilities in both polls in some form: Yo-Yo, Sleep, Plasma, Suplex, Sword, Cook, Wing, ESP, and Water all return, Mirror is referenced in Dark Meta Knight, Paint is referenced in Artist, and Animal and Magic are referenced in Daroach.
- Kirby Star Allies is the only Kirby game for Nintendo Switch:
- To use the series logo used since Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land; the logo's final use was in Kirby's Extra Epic Yarn.
- To not feature a Past Adventures section advertising other Kirby titles.
- In the core series in which the Jukebox does not display song titles.
- To not use the capabilities of Nintendo Switch Online.
- Kirby Star Allies and Kirby's Dream Buffet are the only Kirby games for Nintendo Switch to not be co-developed by Vanpool prior to its shutdown in May 2023.
- Kirby Star Allies is the final game to use Wing Kirby's original design, as it went through a change starting with Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe.
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- ↑ https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kirby-Star-Allies-Nintendo-Switch/dp/B072QN7FWK/ref=sr_1_1?crid=4CE1OVDU5GIF&keywords=kirby+star+allies&qid=1567874373&s=gateway&sprefix=kirby+staR%2Caps%2C180&sr=8-1
- ↑ Nintendo Soup
- ↑ Metacritic
- ↑ GameSpot
- ↑ IGN
- ↑ https://kotaku.com/kirby-star-allies-developers-explain-how-they-improved-1833813511/amp
- ↑ 2022CESAゲーム白書 (2022 CESA Games White Papers). Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association. 2020. ISBN 978-4-902346-42-8.
- ↑ Nintendo Wire
- ↑ ESRB
- ↑ Kirby Star Allies director on the name, selecting new / returning Copy Abilities, Pon & Con's return, more