Ah yes... the
most used ability in the animé, and probably the hot favorite
of the fanboys. Not to mention one CATCHY crown, and a few
decent uses... Fire Kirby!
Okay, Fire isn't THAT useful all in all, since Kirby generally
stands still and breathes fire ahead of him to attack... like
Ice, but he can't use his defeated enemies as projectiles. As
such, Fire isn't really too interesting to use, and seems more
like a basic attack HAL wanted for early game in most of
Kirby's platformers... it was a lot more interesting in
Kirby's Dream Land as
the Curry Rice (Spicy Food) item, which allowed Kirby to blow
fireballs ahead of him as if he had an uncontrollable case of
heartburn... which he DID. The item even appeared secretly in
the animé. But Fire Kirby is another story. He's immobile
while attacking, and firebreathing is overrated these days
(thanks mostly to Pokémon and all the Charizard fanboys)..
Of course, Fire DOES have some
slight potential. In Kirby's
Adventure, hal introduced the cannons to the Kirby
universe. Near the cannons are fuses, which Kirby can only
light with flaming hot attacks. The FIRST of these, in Level
4-3, led to a 1-up and was near a Hothead enemy, which gives
up Fire... Fire was also the way to use the cannon in 7-5 and
hope to make it in time, unless you Mixed for Crash in the
vicinity. However, Laser and Fireball also lit cannon fuses,
and those had better properties than Fire. And on top of that,
Fire was merely a chain of fireballs that Kirby could breathe
in front of him (blame NES graphics), and they could not
penetrate walls. All in all, not HAL's best work. Thankfully,
it got better. Kirby Super Star gave
Fire Kirby a multitude of moves to toast his foes. Fire Blow
was a weak 5 damage per hit move, but he could extend and
angle the flames... which STILL looked like fireballs lined
up. The Burning Attack (which is actually its own ability) did
14-16, and Fireball Roll and Fireball bounce did similar
damage. Fire Ball did a whopping
40 damage per hit, and
was death to anything too weak to take the heat... and to most
projectiles. However, Kirby couldn't move while using it. Fire
Kirby also had his catchy crown (a pallete swap of Ice and
Plasma), and a (sometimes) competent helper that the crown was
based on... Burnin' Leo (No, it's NOT Fire Lion). Fire was
pretty useful against bosses more so than anywhere else. In
fact, Bugzzy and Mr. Frosty were WEAK against Fire's attacks.
You could down the 160 HP beetle and polar bear with only 90
and 50 damage respectively using Fire... still couldn't blast
through walls though.
Kirby: Nightmare in
Dreamland just upgraded Fire to penetrate solid
walls. And I think it was tweaked to be stronger. The
crown also looked more like actual flames.
Kirby Air Ride
had a less realistic crown, but Kirby had a better
attack. Instead of breathing fire, he'd blow fireballs
on the course, which would burn a bit behind him... good
for dealing with tailgaters, or dealing slowing down
opponents in front of you or killing off enemies. The
attack reminds me of the blasts Heat Man uses in
Mega Man 2. Fire
Kirby can also angle his fireballs to go farther, or
just pretty much fall where he breathes them. Fun stuff,
though useless if you have a HUGE lead, or are FAR
behind, save for beating up enemies. The funky elephant
enemies (Fanfire? (like Fanfan)) show up wherever they
feel comfortable, which is anywhere but Celestial Valley
(there's A LOT OF WATER there, so it's understandable),
and will violently flap their ears and float above
racers, scorching them thoroughly, and then float about
waiting for their next victim... pests. Supposedly, the
new "Mirror Labyrinth" game will have Fire remain as it
was in NiDL.
The animé...
whoa! Eight appearances of Fire Kirby and the Toxic
Atomic Curry acting as the Curry Rice/Spicy Food. HAL
must be pyromaniacs. So far, Fire Kirby has never used
attacks in the way Burning Kirby does, nor has Burning
Kirby appeared. But Kirby (and Fire Lion) can use the
KAR method of blowing explosive fireballs, which is
always fun to watch. Fire Kirby has made short work of
Octocon, Gabon, Rex Galbo, Ray Elephant (Fridgey), and
Dedede's parade float... but failed against Fire Jelly
(Flame Feeder), who INCREASED in strength (and size)
when burned (Ice Kirby fixed THAT problem quickly). Fire
Kirby hasn't made his eight dub appearance yet, and his
battle with Fire Lion, while successfull, wasn't a
breeze (Fire Lion was fast enough to dodge the
fireballs... and since when can he breathe fire
anyway?). Fire Kirby looks better in ink and paint
traditional than in CG animation, though if his
appearance in the haunted house was CG, THAT wasn't so
bad. Tuff seems to enjoy seeing Fire Kirby the most,
little pyro... I wonder what would Kirby have received
from inhaling Wolfwrath's fireballs? Fire, Burning, or
indigestion?
Fire gets many rates... 3/10 for Adventure, upgraded to
5/10 for NiDL (crown and ability to go through walls).
6/10 for Air Ride, and 8/10 for Super Star.
Overall, a 5/10 from me... not too good, but not
totally horrible, unlike certain useless KA/NiDL abilities
that haven't been discussed yet... you know what I'm talking
about.
