Yet again, the
discussions swerve into the path of a Kirby form seen
very frequently, and considered a mainstay within the
series: Stone Kirby!
Kirby has had his Stone ability since Copy Abilities
were even brought into existence, back in
Kirby's Adventure.
Of course, it wasn't something HAL was going to give
away with ease. The enemy that gives the ability out is
Rocky, a slammin' stone that tends to walk about with no
real purpose. On rare occasions, he'll just fall into
the area. Rocky's only dangerous in the event that he
happens to walk off a ledge and land on Kirby. And Rocky
isn't that common, usually found in out-of-the-way areas
of a stage. He's actually FIRST found in the fourth
stage of Ice Cream Island, and is sealed in a small
space, where he can't walk off a ledge, or even bump
into Kirby... found just before a Mr. Tick Tock miniboss.
After that, he's rarely seen, usually popping up in
mostly vertical areas to try to slam on top of Kirby's
head. But Kirby gets a hold of his talent if he eats the
guy. Stone Kirby is the model of invincibility in the
games. Press the "B" button, and he becomes an immobile
rock form of himself, invulnerable to enemy attacks.
Except, of course, for anything that involves physically
moving Kirby, such as being inhaled or grabbed. Other
than that, enemies will not harm him at all. To actually
make any offense with this ability, Kirby must land on
top of his foes while in Stone form. He'll do decent
damage that way, but against minibosses, it becomes a
problem at times. Some of them will try to home in on
Kirby, and usually stick VERY close to him, if not right
on top of him. This makes it dangerous to undo the
transformation to move or attempt a second attack. It
may take a very long time before Kirby gets a safe
chance to move again, especially aginst Mr. Tick Tock.
However, a better example of its prowess is given in the
ending movie during the credits. Against more mobile
bosses, such as Paint Roller, Stone is simply an amazing
ability to use for really dealing damage. In Stone form,
Kirby is also unaffected by the blast radius of an
exploding bomb or Bomber enemy.
Stone Kirby appears in
Kirby's Dream Course,
and is rolled down hills if he lands on them. He's also
appeared in the Dark Matter games (KDL2, KDL3, K64), but
not in such a flat form. He's more rounded. The Blocky
miniboss that holds this power was originally from
Adventures of Lolo.
In K64, he rolls down slopes, and can walk (but cannot
jump, duck, run, or slide), and also boasts some nifty
(albeit slightly dangerous) Power Combos. Mixing Stone
with Cutter gives up the ability to transform Kirby into
statues of his animal friends from the past Dark Matter
games (though Kine is now useless, and Chuchu isn't much
help either... you need Rick Stone for a Crystal Shard
on Aqua Star). Stone with Burning makes Kirby into a
living volcano that shoots lava rocks, much like the
Stone-bearing Pompey enemies (and for reference, Hack,
Cairn, and Rocky also give Stone, though Rocky is yet
again rarely found). Stone with Ice makes a curling
stone Kirby, which can... slide along the surface and
freeze things above it. Mix Stone with Spark to get a
boulder that Kirby can manipulate along with his
movements through use of an electric tether.
Stone+Needle makes the ever-so-useful Drill Kirby, while
Stone+Bomb makes the ever-so-dangerous Dynamite Kirby...
duck when the TNT is out, or the blast will cause damage
to Kirby. Double Stone just makes a bigger version of
the normal Stone Kirby of this game, and gives him a
slightly longer stride, so he covers distance faster.
Anything that touches Kirby while in Stone form is
destroyed or damaged. Some things can knock him out of
the statuesque state, though. Typically, only bosses and
Gordos can accomplish this.
Kirby Super Star
introduced us to Stone Kirby's brown skin color and...
interesting helmet. Similar to Ninja's, but it's blue, the
tassel is red, and the star on the front is yellow. Stone
Kirby works the same way he did in KA, doing 55 HP of damage
with his Stone Slam move. But now, Stone Kirby has a new
trick. He can dash, then go into Stone form, and if he touches
an enemy, they get a little damage done to them (26 HP
exactly). He can also kick up stars when he uses the Stone
Slam; these do 16 damage to the enemy. However, many of the
bosses in this game like to just stand there where Kirby is if
he uses Stone Slam on them. To counter this, Kirby in his
Stone form is COMPLETELY invulnerable, unable to be grabbed or
inhaled, and unaffected by tidal turbulence or high winds. The
Combo Cannon is VERY difficult to defeat with Stone Kirby, or
at least VERY tedious. Meta Knight just stands right where
Kirby is, slashing away in a frenzy... and Dedede almost never
gets his fat blue butt far enough away from Kirby for him to
make a getaway - you need to hope he jumps, and act quickly.
This also causes problems with the AI helper Rocky. He might
sometimes undo his transformation too early, and other times
keep it until the boss is about to attack again. Bosses that
like to stalk you might stalk Rocky, forcing you to lure them
into going after Kirby instead. The enemy Rocky is blue (the
helper is orange), and sometimes will jump to attempt to land
on Kirby instead of relying on Kirby standing under him. Just
guard to protect yourself. Mind you that Rocky has a lot of
endurance for a regular enemy, probably only second to a
Grizzo. He's still rare, though a bit more common than he was
in KA. If not coming from Rocky, Kirby will get this ability
from the rocks that Wham Bam Rock rains down from the
ceiling/his hands, or the stones that fall whenever Fatty
Whale spouts or does a belly flop (ever notice that a lot of
the time, the projectiles you're supposed to use as AMMO
aginst a boss make better use against them when copied for
their ability?). Kirby also adds to his "statue collection",
being able to go into Stone form and take the sahep of an 8-to
weight, a Kirby statue, his normal stone shape, a block with
the KSS star symbol on it, a sculpture of a male human being
(not sure exactly which sculpture it is), or two hidden
statues - Samus Aran and Mario (doing his peace symbol). This
feature was upgraded into
Super Smash Bros. Melee, in which Kirby dropped many of
the statues in favor of a Thwomp and a mace. The KSS block was
replaced with Lip's (of Panel
de Pon fame) Block (fitting, since her flower stick was
a new item in this game), and the 8-ton weight gained 92 more
tons... And like his KDC form, Kirby would slide down hills he
landed on. Also true to his KA roots, only grabs could budge
Stone Kirby.
The animé has made a bit of a hybrid of Stone Kirby. He's a
large stone form of himself, looking much like his KA/KSS
stone form, but with arms, legs and mobility a la K64.
However, animé Stone Kirby can JUMP in Stone Form, something
no game has allowed. Blocky was the first source of the Stone
ability in the animé (interestingly, he's a sumo stone at
first, perhaps a reference to Rocky as he was seen in KSS (he
has a headband, lending him the slight appearance of a martial
arts stone)), though Kirby can apparently just eat a large
enough stone and copy it to get the ability. I'd still like to
know just WHO made that Dedede Stone, however. Kirby can press
enemies itno the ground, or break them apart with his Stone
Slam move. His hat is accurate to the games, but a slight
difference from the Ninja hat.... where Ninja Kirby's hat
flaps like a curtain in the back, Stone Kirby's hat is solid,
but appears to be segmented as well.. An odd but significant
difference, one I'm curious as to why it was animated as such.
Stone was the first ability that Kirby already knew the name
for in the original version of the animé(I think the others
were Cook and Wheel, correct me if I'm wrong and/or missing
any others).
Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland
keeps Stone Kirby pretty much the same as his KA self, with
the addition of the hat AND the Turbo Stone ability from KSS.
He doesn't kick up the stars anymore, but to make Turbo Stone
less awkward, when executed, Kirby will jump a bit as he
transforms into his stone state. This move works much the same
way as the jump attack the enemy version of Rocky used in KSS,
propelling Kirby slightly forward in the air before he comes
straight down. He's also retained his immunity to grabs,
throws, and inhaling from KSS. I'm not sure exactly what went
into Stone Kirby's moves for
Kirby & the Amazing Mirror, but the hill rolling from
KDC is present. I think Turbo Stone is as well. Uniform
throughout Stone Kirby's career has been one trait, which I'm
sure is also present in KatAM: if Kirby is in Stone form and
falls into water, he will remain in Stone form until you
decide to change him back to normal, at which point he reverts
to the mask and snorkel (when used) and his water spout
attack. This is especially useful in KSS in the Great Cave
Offensive.
I rate the hard-hitting Stone Kirby a solid 7/10. Though I
like the invincibility and power, the immobility associated
with it (and the way the enemies behave about a statuesque
Kirby in KSS) makes this one a bit too unwieldy and risky for
my tastes.
