Ask Guru Gobbo #143

This was addressed, sadly, in the Mailbag already, but not here. How sad. Anyhoo, much like I said there, all it means is there is such a drought of shows to have on, they're going back to things that ran out of new episodes years ago. Due to the lack of attention span kids have these days, they probably don't remember seeing or didn't see it those years ago. There is no animated sequel in the works, however, as, if there was, first it would be announced from Japan. You know, where the show came from.

1) Great, there I was ripping through all nine of this person's questions (that weren't outright stupid) and filing them under the Repeat Response, which seems to be were everything goes these days, when this questions couldn't wholly be answered by linking to another. I mean, basic reasoning could connect the dots, but people tend to need a little push to do that. So, I guess I have to just flat out answer it. Well, shoot.

First, I'm going to ignore the first part of this question just due to how ridiculous the notion of me being unaware of that fact is. I totally haven't mentioned it here before! ... Several times. And be a well versed, aware employee at a Kirby game site that monitors and reports on games' releases.

Head biting aside (tell me I didn't have the right), I can't say whether you'd enjoy the play within Dream Land 3. It and the type of play in Super Star are completely contrary to one another. The prior is a slower paced, exploratory and secret based play while the latter is more rush, rush, smash, bang. I like both of the styles offered, but it seems a lot of Kirby fans camp on one side or the other and snub the opposition.

The battle crazed hat wearers don't have the attention span to trek through and enjoy the whimsy offered by the likes of the Dark Matter Trilogy. There's not enough things to beat up, the copy abilities are no where near as explosive, and regular enemies die in one hit while bosses take a lot more planning since they can't just be KO'd in under ten seconds. Then, there's all the thinking and getting of the Heart Stars which, I know, really turn a lot of fans off the games due to the difficulty. Some are in no way hard to do, just in figuring out what to do.

On the flip side, the bald headed pet riders can find the animated series fueled (that's how I call it) games too rushed, too rushed, and lacking real substance. I mean, I guess. It's not like I ever asked them. The fact that every boss in Super Star can be blitzed in a row all under ten minutes really clues one in to how fast and furious the game play is. And that's how these games are more played, action over adventure.

2) Super Smash Bros., in its basic, earliest, and most simple, I would label as junk. This game was like Pokémon in which no one foresaw what a hit it would become. So, shortly after the games release, a second was quickly pushed out. The original Green and Red in Japan were shortly followed by a Blue, which is the only version America and most other markets saw. It wasn't a full update like when the next generation came out (Gold & Silver), but enough was changed to at least make the game look better.

Smash Bros. was close to the same story. What is in the first one that can't be found in the sequels? You have a lot less characters, much less attacks, even less features, and probably worse game play on top of graphics due to its less advanced system base. It's all less. I don't really see any redeeming quality to it. Outside of novelty and retro-ness, I can't imagine why one, nowadays, owning any sequel, would purchase the first.

Keep in mind, this rule only applies to fighting games. Early, say, Mega Man, Mario, and Kirby games are, by right, "inferior" versions, but the game is self-sustaining. It offers interaction, levels, and unique challenges each time. A fighting game is merely a tool that connects two or more players together. Much like the eighty-million Street Fighter II releases, the later titles are just the previous with more to them. Of course, in that case, the additions are barely worth warranting purchase of a new game.

1) Just because someone worked with or for someone else, it doesn't guarantee that they will help out the former co-worker in the future. This is true in the work place whether its in an office, video game development, or the wrestling ring. Working on a project doesn't necessarily mean you like the project. Or, it could be the same case as with Sakurai -- he's moved on. What was then was fine and good, but that was the past. He could just feel that Kirby had his time and isn't going to bend over backwards to rush out a game he doesn't feel meets the criteria of the vast legacy this character has gardened over the past two decades.

2) You and the German Nintendo Fan Club said it. They'd get along great. You know, until Adrian had to find out all those missing persons were meals.

3) Kirby titles have a long history of delays, including the first title. As has been already stated in part one of this response, Kirby has a name to uphold. They don't want to just shove out a cheap product just for getting a few bucks. Yet, there's Ultra and a gazillion Pokémon titles flying around out there. Hm... Ah, I know: Nintendo is stupid.

As for your suspicions, no, the impending (or impeded) Wii title is not that, or at least there are no worthy signs of it. They've touched upon the plot, albeit years ago, which focuses on Kirby's Warp Star being stolen by King Dedede. Regardless of the amount of change that has undergone, they've never hinted at anything like it being a hodge-podge of micro-games. In fact, Ultra just coming out makes it more likely that this game would not be a fragmentation as they follow a fat pope with a thin pope when it comes to Kirby releases.

4) The lowest ranking candidate on the ladder for the most ideal and true-to-roots Kirby game would have to be, against all people's words, Kirby Super Star Ultra. It's not in this list for being a re-make but rather almost re-branding the pink puff into something that his games were never meant to be. While Super Star already had a lot more focus on just battling and having powers all the time, bordering a beat 'em style, Ultra just had the cake and ate it, too, with three modes that were purely meant to be action sans the adventure and exploration element.

Putting the puff around and finding things, the corner stone of general platforming, have always been key features in this series. Two parts of this game, in fact, Great Cave Offensive and Milky Way Wishes, utilize this element. However, the remake went to top it off with a double dose of Arena games. And, if you count playing through Helper to Hero with each possible helper, you really rack up the raw action portion of the game. That's only two, however, so there's one left. As most damning parts of the series, I throw my finger squarely upon Meta Knight and his latest Ultra exploit. This sub-game has the warrior doing everything Kirby did without any collection. No finding items, no finding powers, just breezing through. It's like the game was a rebellious teenager and tried to deny who it was halfway through its life..

5) His debut was Dream Land Dash, but since then he's been in Save the Day and, soon(-ish), Tuesday Knight Titans. So, yeah, he's been in some, generally playable. That was how he was designed, after all.

Yeah, because the talkin' Sailor Dee in Revenge of Meta Knight sure wasn't there a few sub-games and fourteen years earlier. Nope. Speaking with a bandanna makes for all the interest.

First, Waddle's have mouths, whether it be Dee or Doo. It reveals its elusive form in the mangas several times. Its normal absence is a stylistic representation like Rick's feet being round sacks one moment yet clawed digits in Ado's depiction. Truthishly, it's about as ridiculous a concept as assuming they lack lungs and other visceral organs just because "I don't see a torso on them."

Back on track, chalk up your confusion about them talking to the animated series, yet another strike against them in my book. Kirby, and most other Dream Landers with him, can speak but aren't shown doing it. Going back to ridiculous comparisons, no one ever assumed that Mario couldn't speak, but he did no gabbin' in his first how many games? Kirby is even had speaking in the introduction to games through the instruction manual's story set up.

Nothing ever said any Dream Lander couldn't speak. Nothing ever said that Waddle Dee couldn't speak. And, as pointed out at the top of the answer, it was a Waddle Dee that had one of the series' first in-game dialogue sequences. Not only can they speak, but they are one of the epitomic speakers on Pop Star.

This really shouldn't be a question for Gurus to handle. This can be found in any strategy guide across the wide, vast web that's worth its salt. It's a basic, fundamental question -- how do you fight the final boss? Also, it's pretty much the same from Kirby game to Kirby game: Get everything.

Whether its Rainbow Drops, Heart Stars, or Crystal Shards, Kirby can't face the true boss until he gets all the pieces to assemble the ultimate weapon. Only then does the true evil show its face and the ultimate battle ensue.