Ask Guru Gobbo #01

It is quite hard to truly gauge a species in Dream Land. There's little comparison to go by when you have hamsters that are the size of owls. There is much debate about whether the king is a penguin or a duck. However, typically when a Pop Star person "is" an animal, they lack any anthropomorphic qualities outside of standing upright.

There is no in-game reference as to what Dedede is, outside of Solid Snake's line in Smash Bros. Brawl. Pengy is a penguin, just by looking at his name that's obvious, but there isn't much similarities between the two. His castle was located in Iceberg for one game, which would lend credence to the flightless bird theory. However, there really isn't much to go on. The entire penguin angle could be based on nothing more than the fact that he has a beak because, really, that's the only avian quality he shows. Its not even much of a penguin beak, who tend to have longer, curled mouth pieces.

In truth, the series is rather lax on explaining what anyone is. Certain groupings of characters have similar makes with mild variations, like Bobo, while others share nearly identical forms save a few details, like Kirby, the Waddles, and any other pudge ball. Further still, some wildly contrasting folks share very much alike characteristics, such as seen in the very subject of this question, King Dedede, being able to puff, float, suck, and spit just like the titular hero. This begs the question of are they different "species" with alike abilities or one general race with highly variant appearances.

This really isn't too definitive of an answer, I know. Ir rather opens up more mysteries than it solves. However, I shall claim Missouri state motto and simply state that no other "Dedede" has ever been seen, heard of, or even referenced before. I can only assume he's an individual like Mr. Frosty or Marx. He shares characteristics with others, but no one quite syncs up with him, yet.

To get the tail end of your question, however, there is certainly not a species called "Dedede". That is his name, and King is his title. He is not called such for being their supreme ruler. He is actually the ruler of Dream Land, so unless they were called Dededes, that couldn't be true.

If this was of any help, I'd be surprised.

The deal with Meta Knight is that he is the mysterious, alluring character shrouded in mystic who only maintains a veil of intrigue when no inquiries to his secrets are revealed. However, now he's basically under the spotlight and has his thinly planned character model cracking under fan pressure. That's his deal.

Meta Knight is not a Kirby, or, at least, could not reasonable be a Kirby. He wears his face and could be of the same "species". However, there are only six "Kirbies" in the game series, all of which are stemmed to the pudge ball who bears that name: Kirby himself, the three dopplegangers split from Kirby by Dark Meta Knight in Amazing Mirror, Shadow Kirby in the Mirror World, and the yellow puff ball, Keeby, who serves as the second player in Dream Course, although that can barely be considered canon. As has just been cited, all of the "Kirbies" were tied to the Magic Mirror, so unless Meta Knight was one of these clones that time traveled back to the past to feud with the hero, that can't be claimed.

More to your point, he is obviously of the same stock as Kirby, whatever its name may be, which is not "a Kirby" as that is an individuals name. As was established in Dream Land, there are several other residents to Pop Star who appear similar to Kirby. However, only their backs are ever seen, leaving the face in question. There are several other beings who look nearly like Kirby, having smaller or larger eyes, an absent mouth, etc. It is well within reason to assume that Meta Knight shares a closer link with Kirby than most of the other characters, but whether his connection is "same hometown" or "same father" has come no where close to being revealed, if it ever is.

Meta Knight displays characteristics of both good and evil, as best shown in his first ever appearance in Adventure. One minute, he's hurling Invincible Candy at you, the next his squad of goons are trying to back your face in. Later, he's trying to seize power of Pop Star before trying to fix the problem of the Magic Mirror. It is these bipolar aspects that make Meta a Tweener, also known as a rebel, a bad boy, or his own boss. He does what he wants when he wants to, regardless of the consequences. If he was aligned to either one side, he would become stigmatized with the negative traits associated with such. He rides the middle path and avoids this mess to be loved by all.

As for the cape, it is not a true vanishing act. This is suppose to be blending into the shadows and hiding away, a feat commonly performed with dark cloaks back in the day. However, since he has incredible skills, he can manage to disappear from sight even in full sun light. In earlier series, however, Meta Knight did not wrap himself in his cape to disappear. Rather, he would twirl his cape about himself, chiefly to hide his true, unmasked face, and then would spring upward and way. This looked rather goofy, I'll admit, and the magic act packs much more mystic and less lameness.

A question about questions? Interesting. Well, good sir, the Gurus, to my knowledge, has had its doors closed for some long time. If anything has been sent to them as of late, its been received by deaf ears. I'm afraid this is the only pony left in the show.

It is not likely. While the Mario RPGs are ripe with cameos, the Star Rod from this game is more a generic magical wand and does not bear any resemblance to the white-and-pink striped artifact from the Kirby series. The stick-with-a-star on the end has been a staple of the generic wizards' junk drawer for ages. In fact, the rod in Mario looks more like the glow-in-the-dark wand from the old Medieval LEGO sets than the Kirby one. This was more of coincidence than homage. There were Star Spirits, a Star Haven, and Star everything else. They needed an enchanted rod, so it became the Star Rod. Sorry HAL. Its appearance was nothing like having Link or Samus sleeping away in a bed. The Star Rod in Smash Bros. now, that is the HAL/Kirby Star Rod. There is a big difference between the two. Or, really, just that one is striped and stuck in a fountain and the other grants wishes. Differences nonetheless.

There is little to no information regarding the up coming Super Star Ultra for Nintendo DS this September (shill!), however your question is very vague. Much like its non-ultra strength predecessor, which is it just a remake of, the game will be comprised of several, selfcontained mini-games that, in a way, are each their own story. Revenge of Meta Knight told a story as game play progressed, so since that is making a come back, yes, there is a story mode in Super Star Ultra, at least one.

Shoes are commonly the sole article of clothing for many characters in games. Yoshi of Mario Bros. only sports brown shoes and Sonic the Hedgehog just kicks his red sneakers. Kirby follows this trend and wears shoes. This is difficult to tell given the low detail level used in the Kirby games. Poppy Bros. are fully clothed, and their feet are just as flat and void of detail, but Marx has on laced up clogs. The trend makes sense, however. Many Dream Landers are mostly monochromatic. In fact, the original Dream Land cover has Kirby as just one color, which is white, but still one color. When their feet are a color that appears no where else on their person, it is probably clothing. Additionally, it is infrequent to see someone with just feet of a color. If the other color were spread to cover more of the bottom half, then it might be able to be labeled as body color. However, when strictly localized to an area so easily disjoined from the body, it is outer wear. And don't be trying to pull out, "But when using color sprays, the shoe/foot color is also his blush." That has more to do with sprite simplicity and color theory and organization than it does discerning flesh from cloth.

This question has a follow up in Session #11.

This question has another inquiry in Session #18.

One of the key points to maintaining interest in a game series is keeping it fresh while keeping the aspects that made it so loveable. In Kirby, this became his copied abilities. Now, there have been a lot of games, and each one has a different selection of what Kirby can copy. If they didn't, there wouldn't be enough change between the games. Then each title would just be newer graphics and different levels. Some people may think that's great, others not so much. The different abilities and different ways of acquiring, using, and performing them adds flavor to each title.

As for their worth, it comes down to secrets, difficulty, and difficult secrets. A sappy ability does not help much when faced with a mini-boss or even regular enemies, but this particular power could be needed to access a secret. For example, Clean in Dream Land 3: It, unanimously, is not that good, but it is needed to get more of the Heart Stars than any other ability. Why? Because its awkward and unwieldy. You have to try hard to get through the game with that ability. The same applies to Kine in Dream Land 2. When out of water, he, quite appropriately, behaves like a fish out of water! But, guess what? You need Kine to get a lot of Rainbow Drops, and most of those ventures are done topside.

If they didn't make new abilities, the game would go stale. Look at Magic. In Amazing Mirror, it was a single use power. However, folks liked it enough that it became a full fledged regular in Squeak Squad that didn't vanish at the drop of a hat. If games do not make an attempt to grow and expand, they decay. I'll be the first to complain that Back Drop/Suplex is not in more titles, trust me, but that is how game design goes. You gotta mix it up.

There is a large deposit of in-game sprites located throughout Rainbow Resort, and I'll admit that some of them are a bit buried. When in doubt about finding an image, it's always wise to check out the Multimedia section for that game. The link can be found on the individual game pages or through the Multimedia hub.

"SHWDOW", as you oh-so skillfully typed your hero's name, could not best a kitten with use of a tank, I'm afraid. Spelling aside, I will congratulate you on properly spelling elite in 1337. Far too many folks these days cap with letters instead of numbers.

Now, I'm actually glad I got this "question", a loosely used term in this case due to the lack of a crucial questionary marking at that end of that sentence. Again, loose terminology.

The Help Nook is for real questions. For your low brow, joking, or all caps questions, direct yourself to the Mailbag. Unless, of course, you'd rather have me pick it apart. In that case, go ahead.

However, I have promised to answer all questions to the fullest, so I must carry out my self-served sentence:

Kirby is a tougher-than-he-looks puffball whose pink exterior masks the powerful ability to spew objects of equal or larger size with ease or pilfer said consumed item's own natural talents. Shadow, on the other hand, is an uninspired "dark version" of a character whose only real power is to run fast. Now, it might be beyond the scope of a impartial decision, but I believe a battle betwixt the two would go something along the lines of Kirby eating the villainous hedgehog and then having the urge to cut himself for the next week.

This question has a follow up in Session #19.