It's
that time again... Time to get philosophical and discuss
another Kirby ability. *hears groaning*. Aww, come on, it'll
be FUN! And no more doubles till the new Kirby episodes
start airing. Today's discussion is one of the sharpest
knives in HAL's box o' abilities...
Cutter Kirby!
Cutter started as one of the "enemy-only" abilities in
Kirby's Dreamland. Sir Kibble had his boomerang blade,
and would fling them at Kirby, keeping the little
eating machine safely at bay. I guess HAL wanted Kirby
to have as much of an edge, because the very next game
(Kirby's Adventure), Cutter becomes an early and
common ability. And to this day, it is STILL one of
Kirby's more popular powers, having been in almost
every game.
Kirby's
Adventure allowed Kirby to fling up to three cutter blades
that returned to him like boomerangs... albeit imperfectly.
Unlike the boomerang-based attacks of most
Mega Man bosses,
Cutter blades only return to where they were thrown, not
directly to the user... then again, what boomerang is gonna
fly back to someone who jumped to the ceiling? Anyway, Kirby
could catch and throw them again for rapid fire, or jump
over them to strike targets behind him. Because of their
straight flight path, if one went over or under Kirby, he
suddenly had a long-range attack, while the Cutter on its
own is about mid-range. Nightmare in Dreamland severely
weakened Cutter's speed, and Kirby can usually pull two at
best. It's probably the hat. Though HAL seems to have
un-cheapened a few other powers as well in that game, so who
knows? Cutter is best for dealing with mini-bosses, and it
helps immensely against Whispy Woods (Heck, it's in the
Nightmare in Dreamland ending), though not as well as some
OTHER abilities I shall get to later. Probably the biggest
problem Cutter has is that it's only but so strong, and
THAT's hardly a real problem.
Kirby's Dreamland 2, 3, and 64 (Supposedly,
Kirby 64: The Crystal
Shards was to originally be called Kirby's Dreamland
64) saw Cutter Kirby return to mix his abilities with his
animal friends or other powers... and he flings his face in
K64 (and probably the other two, but I never got the chance
to play them). Kirby unfortunately can't FLOAT while half
his body is flying around the screen, so don't use Cutter in
areas where you need to drift along, especially if there's
no ground below... (of course, what was K64's floating worth
anyway, the used the SSB weakened float... sometimes, I
REALLY HATE Nintendo nd HAL for making the SSB series.)
Cutter is best used with its Power Combos.
Cutter+Spark: Double-edged lightning sabre. Star Wars
Episode 1, anybody? Duck and tap "B" to conceal it
Cutter+Bomb: I already covered the exploding shurikens...
Cutter+Stone: CAMEO ALERT! Kirby can transform into
almost invincible statues... of his six animal pals
from Kirby's Dreamland 3 (3 of which were also in
Dreamland 2). Rick can climb walls, Pitch can fly for
a short while, Coo less so, Kine's useless, and Chuchu
and Nago can jump... though that's the ONLY way Chuchu
Stone moves, so what good is she... Nago rolls into a
ball when he jumps. You actually NEED Rick Stone to
get a Shard.
Cutter+Burning: Flaming Sword! You can't jump with
this or the double edged sabre in hand. However, you
can toss this one away.
Cutter x2: Instead of the small section of his face,
Kirby throws... roughly the same part of him, but now
it's HUGE and saw-toothed.
Cutter+Ice: Ice Skater! Is he imitating Paint Roller?
Jump to do a stylish spin... a far cry from Tornado,
but it's something..
Cutter+Needle: Bear trap! You can actually WALK while
your arms are held open to attack. Release "B" to
clamp down!
Yeah, nifty stuff, but a bit restricting in movement at
times.
However, Kirby Super Star made the best of Cutter Kirby.
You've got the three-blade toss, the dash, drop, and
Nonstop/Final Cutter. However, Cutter's weak. Your best bet
is to use Nonstop Cutter and the drop. Cutter Drop does 22
HP damage, while Nonstop Cutter's combo does 40 total. The
boomerang does 10, and I believe the dash does 18. Cutter's
useful in that it slices ropes holding up platforms...
you'll need this technique in Great Cave Offensive (however,
Sword, Ninja, and WING can also do this.... ). Best part of
it is that the helpers are smart enough to attack those
obstacles on their own. Useful for getting some hidden
treasure.
Animé Cutter Kirby has much the same ability as his
Super Star self... except he can apparently pull off
long-distance shockwaves with Final Cutter... useful
for splitting Dedede cars...
Escargoon: I'm afraid that we're both drifting apart.
Can't you feel it, sire?
Dedede: Us two ain't NEVER gonna split up!
(AFTER they notice the car's been split)
Dedede: ESCARGOON!
Escargoon: Your Majesty! Come baaaaack!
Dedede: We been De-De-divided!
Apparently, HAL wants to make Kirby out to be infinitely
more powerful in the animé than in the games... although,
they've never actually shown Cutter Kirby being able to
split monsters in two.... and apparently, Cutter Kirby can
do just that, as he was able to use his blade like the Moon
Rod to split the mismatched Rick and Tokkori in that one
episode... I wonder what ELSE he could do...
I rate Cutter Kirby an 8/10. Not too powerful, but
not too weak... Medium to long range attacks, but a few
dangerous (but worth the risk) close range moves. That hat
has GOT to go; it's cute, but it seems to be a good reason
the Cutter ability's throwing speed was weakened in
Nightmare in Dreamland.
