Kirby's Rainbow Resort

Throw started out in Kirby's Dream Land with that bomb item allowing Kirby to blast past everything... in front of him. But it wasn't until Kirby's Adventure that Throw truly garnered the spotlight Kirby was able now to inhale two or more enemies at once, and if he chose not to copy or Mix their abilities when applicable, he could exhale them both in a powerful double star shot that cut a path through enemies, Star Blocks, and those blocks that squeaked whenever Kirby attacked them with an ability that COULDN'T break them (i.e. Fire, Beam, Ball, sliding, normal stars, Hi-Jump)... the squeaking was removed in Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland, and the blocks became gray to show difference... I liked their original colors better, but I digress. Double stars were nice, but for some reason, Kirby could not inhale both Cappy and its cap, nor Poppy Bros Jr. and his apple... saddening, really.

Enter the Throw ability... a mid-to-late game power, and not only VERY rare, but often hard or tedious to get. Rolling Turtle showed up in all of THREE stages (Grape Garden 4, LATE in the stage; Orange Ocean 1 in the VERY FIRST door, in a semi-submerged room where he's got a SEVERE speed advantage, and you've gotta jump a bit to exhale the attack and hope to connect; and either the fifth or second boss, depending on your choice of boss path in Rainbow Resort 2), and NEVER n any Arenas... aside from those instances, you get Throw by Mixing... so if you ever wanna know how the staff got Throw so early to use it against Whispy Woods in that little movie during the end credits, that's how... and they had the right idea. Rolling Turtle could unfortunately grab Kirby, so blazing through with Tornado or Hi-Jump or Fireball was OUT of the question... Kirby's best bet is to come equipped with Crash or Microphone for 6-1, and with Fire, Ice, or Stone for 7-2... by the order of the bosses, you're supposed to use the ability from one mini-boss on the next... however, Mr. Frosty dies in two songs, leaving you to either drop Mike, or kill him and go at Bonkers sans ability (he's usually not too far from a Chilly or Sparky, but since he starts the hard route, that MAY have been HAL's intent... But again, I digress. With Throw, Kirby could inhale a solitary enemy and catch it in his arms instead of his mouth... and fling it away as a double star shot! VERY useful, and in many ways...

1) The attack is two inhaled enemies for the price of one, and very strong.
2) When holding an enemy, Kirby's invincible, and anything that touches him is damaged... same with Backdrop.
3) Kirby can angle the throw 45 degrees if you hold UP or DOWN on the Control Pad... and can also turn around and throw behind him if need be

That makes Throw basically a souped-up inhale that's tough to get. However, for being twice as strong as a normal exhaled star, it's not a surprise they make it so rare. Still, it couldn't have hurt to have Rolling Turtle in the Yogurt Yard Arena, considering how fast you can reach Bonkers in 7-2 later... but then again, you'd need Hammer for the switch in 5-6, so... whatever... Maybe have him in the Orange Ocean Arena instead... Blowfire already has Fireball, who needs ANOTHER Fire Lion battle just to get that ability... you can just go to 4-4 for it.

Throw was left out of Super Star, unless you count Fighter Kirby's throws.. or a little fact I'm about to point out... in K:NiDL, Backdrop Kirby has Fighter's headband... and Throw Kirby has a blue one... in Kirby Super Star, Suplex Kirby was brown, and had a blue headband... Throw Kirby is pink with the blue headband... That lends itself to Throw being more or less akin to Suplex moreso than to Fighter... Hammer has a headband to be covered when I cover that ability. I can merely wonder what color headband Kirby would have if ever Fighter, Backdrop/Suplex, and Throw were to be in the same game. I'm betting Backdrop would have green, since Throw with blue headband seems to be HAL's final choice. Back to the main point of the ability in NiDL, Throw was weakened. It still cuts through enemies (when each enemy is a one-hit wonder, that's not saying much) and obstacles, but is less powerful against bosses. That's because the exhaled double star (and quite a few other abilities) lost power when the game was converted... It's still pretty useful and rare, but not as much of a boss wrecker as it once was. Rolling Turtle and his miniatures are replaced by the apple-flinging Fanfan. Throw Kirby still appears in the ending movie, though... beat Extra Game, and you'll see Kirby battling the enemies from 7-2 (the harder versions of Bugzzy and Fire Lion, and normal for everyone else)... Throw vs. Mr. Frosty... can we say, "foreshadowing"?

... surely we can! In the animé, Throw Kirby appears VERY LATE in the series run (much like the game), and at the time of this writing, is FAR from being seen in the dub. However, from what I've read about this episode, Fanfan's not evil, and Kirby faces off against FIVE MONSTERS... Poppy Bros Sr. (and no Bomb or Crash ability?), Mr. Frosty (and no Freeze or Ice Kirby?), two monsters called Whiskers and Jukido (I'm assuming Whiskers is the dark, evil-looking version of the armored boxer chick miniboss that gives you Fighter in KSS (whatever her name is), because I KNOW Jukido is the martial arts miniboss with Suplex in the same game... and you fight those four creatures in one of the miniboss battles in The Arena (the milder version of Whiskers, though; the dark one's in Megaton Punch ONLY)) and a monster known as Hittei (I THINK he's the psycho clown riding Fanfan in that screenshot of it I saw, but that could be Poppy Sr.). Given the meshing between animé and GBA games, I'd assume HAL prefers Fanfan to Rolling Turtle, and blue headbands on Throw Kirby (that's what he wears in the episode). However, the episode could have Throw used much like Suplex/Backdrop, instead of just to toss enemies... would be interesting if some day they had a power that allowed for both... Hopefully with INHALING; the dash capture on Suplex (and NiDL's Backdrop) is annoying.

It lost some power, and was left out of Air Ride (would have been useful)... but Throw Kirby manages an 8/10 for eliminating the need for UFO in some stages, or for double enemy inhaling... and because it can really rip bosses apart. Hopefully, HAL will bring it back to us someday...