Star Chariot Kirby

By SiR6

 

Naturally, Kirby can't use this until he's pretty much finished his quest, as is custom with Copy Abilities of the ultimate variety (i.e. Star Rod, Crystal Shooter). When Kirby is tricked by Marx and Nova plows through space towards Popstar, Kirby uses the power from the Dream Springs on the seven planets around Popstar to create this swift ride. Kirby can free-fly this like UFO, but no charging. However, it can rapid-fire. The shots? Star Bullets. Since that'd be a rather unfulfilling topic to end there, I'll detail the use of it a bit more to give a better description of its mechanics, because I'm just nice.  You must first fly this through the inner passages of Nova while the Sun and Moon try to hold it back from doing whatever to Popstar. On this flight, our in-flight movie is, "Kirby Better Not Fly This Thing Into Anything, Or It's His Funeral" Sorry, the walls will damage you even if you're not smashed against them (which is beyond damage, it's death). Fair enough, given the velocity at which Kirby's probably moving. It's probably a scaled down speed for the game's sake (I think the Star Chariot can move at light speed). However, along the way, there are many obstacles to accost the pink hero, and these also cause damage to the ship. So, all in all, DTA... Don't Touch ANYTHING. You must dodge the walls, and shoot the approaching onslaught of enemies. Yo're kinda trying to invade Nova's heart, so maybe this particular artery is really his bloodstream. Makes sense, given that some things seem to try to head Kirby off while others don't do anything out of the ordinary if Kirby's nearby. Shoot it all, then prepare to dodge some strategically placed (or not) walls and low ceilings before being whisked into the Heart of Nova. Free-flying is a great help here, but it'd b nicer if the Star Chariot weren't so fragile... some legendary weapon... This whole corridor reminds me of the rocket flight segement in Level 7 of Battletoads, only the obstacles don't suddenly speed up beyond belief, nor do any of the natural obstacles move to open/close, or flicker before actually crossing your path.

Out of the bloodstream, Kirby can suddenly run into the poles. Those that the mechanoids are attached to are in the background, while the thick poles holding those poles together, Kirby can just fly around (otherwise, they'll press him and the Star Chariot against the edge of the screen and crush him... but... this is a CIRCULAR room, so... WHAT IS GOING ON?!?! Anyway, odd mechanics with the Star Chariot. It can't touch anything one minute, the next, it can touch anything that's not a strange machine. Those machines in question, I've no idea EXACTLY what they are (something to power Nova's heart, which you see in the background in the center of this room), but... They come in four designs and colors. Kirby's gotta shoot them away, and the Star Chariot's star bullets work against the stuff in the passage to the Heart, so... why not here? There's a breakdown on each type of nasty mechanism to shoot away, and it's right here.

Red (3): 7/8 shots
Blue (2): 9/10 shots
Green (2): 10/11 shots
Yellow (1): 3/4 shots, unmoving.

I can't figure out why they sometimes go BOOM in the lower number of shots, and in the higher number other times. I'd say it's the rapid fire of the Star Bullets. It seems like a burst fire as well: one shot fires what looks like three bullets at once. When I look at it closely enough, sometimes, the finishing blow to a segment has some stars flying behind it, even without me tapping the button again. Other times, the finishing blow won't have stars behind it. So maybe sometimes, one shot hits twice. That's the only reason I can think of. Of course, these things can cut off 1/4 of Kirby's HP on contact, AND he can get squashed between the poles and the wall (WHAT WALL?), so in this area, shoot first, ask questions later.  As such, I've never REALLY tried SLOWLY shooting it, as I'd die. ESPECIALLY against the tough green ones. I did it ONCE before, which is how I got the higher number figures. But other times, I've tapered off the speed individually on one segment or another. NEVER on the whole thing.

Aside from the high number of shots needed in some cases, the thing speeds up when you blast past the first green segment, and then after shooting the next red one, it stops and goes in reverse. You might (usually, you will) be able to shoot the last blue segment dead before Nova's rotation moves it out of range. Occasionally, it won't move far enough into range before it goes in reverse. This can be dangerous. From the rear, the last two segments approach, and the last one (assuming you killed BOTH blues) is a low-lying green one with its bottom scrolled offscreen (obscured by the status bar), but apparently not so far that you will get past with ease. The reverse moves require you to pass the segment, THEN shoot it, because the Star Chariot can't turn around... Problem is, the Star Chariot can't fly AROUND the thick poles, either. So this is a tight squeeze, and often results in a hit being taken, even by the most careful player. If you're low on energy going into this part, I'd recommend skipping a segment going forward (preferably a red, as the stationary yellow one leaves no room to maneuver around it, and the reds are often easy to dodge with a decent clearance), taking this green one head-on, and then catching what you missed on the way back, as well as the last red segment. After you blow them all... oh, NOW the Star Chariot can fly around the thick structural poles, right? Only when the Heart of Nova goes critical and Kirby needs to escape can he pull off this much-needed maneuver that would have probably saved him a lot of lost HP earlier.

Mind you, a lot of the headache (and challenge) of going through Nova is taken away if you have a turbo controller. Set the button to turbo fire (read: YOU don't press the button at all, it presses itself repeatedly. The one where holding the button acts as repeated rapid pressing is auto fire), and you can focus your energies on dodging stuff. It's still very possible to take some HP loss in the corridor by mistakenly hitting walls, but now you can mostly forget about reacting to the enemies, other than to move around them when need be. If you get any damage against the Heart of Nova itself, it'd probably be from the closed-in green piece in reverse.

As to why you don't fight Marx in space with this instead of on the surface of what I THINK is one of Popstar's moons (assumedly the same place where you bested Nightmare in KA/NiDL, I'm also assuming Mr. Shine isn't that very moon, because if he is, Nightmare is puny), THAT is beyond me. I give the Star Chariot an 8/10. Fun to fly, but a bit too fragile for an ultimate power vehicle.