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.
Cutter Kirby