Ask Guru Gobbo #93

1) No, of course that's not true. The newer the title is, the more innovation there has been. The problem is that the newer games aren't meeting their full potential. They should be so much more but almost seem to hold themselves back. I believe, truthfully, that when Masahiro Sakurai, the father of Kirby, left the creative team, a lot of the heart behind the series went with it. The team could get the ideas half way there, but they couldn't get it from being wowzers! Canvas Curse seems to have hit the mark, Amazing Mirror just seems like Great Cave Offensive on steroids to me, and Squeak Squad seemed rushed.

2) I've only played Mother 2/Earthbound. I don't see how this is relevant to Kirby games in any way. Please, try to stay on topic.

3) The actual piece came from a translation posted by Ivyna J. Spyder within the Forums. It was from an official guide book in Japan that was translated by PoyoPoyoKirby, who handles a lot of translations. The topic can be found right here.

Wrong. I'll stop you there. Where did you even get this from? There was nothing confusing about my language. Clearly stated is that Nightmare infected the waters, the fountain itself. The rod was the power source to the fountain -- it's magical battery. His presence was in the machine that churned out dreams, but King Dedede pulled the plug. Besides, if Nightmare was in the Star Rod, then he would have sprung out and caused chaos as soon as it was put back together. Rather, he was freed when it was returned to the fountain and the waters started to flow once more. So, I just cut out the rest of your rambling since it had not bearing or significance with anything. Thanks for the easy go.

I'm really puzzled by this. You cannot find any of the few dozen images of Birdon on the site? I could understand an older enemy from a low bit sprite generation needing described, but the 16-bit era was pretty clear, and the wing helper is pretty clear. But, no, I won't describe Birdon here as I already have dumped out what its appearance was as well as that of nearly every other pre-Crystal Shards enemy in the Kirby series at Kirbypedia.

1) All of the sprites have been catalogued at the Faces of Squeaky Bogg page and have been for some time.

2) "Water Kirby", first of all, is a poorly thought out fan created power for the animated series. They didn't want him to just turn bluish like Ice and thought it would be cool to have him turn translucent. I don't think he's actually made of water, though, is he? I'm certain his body is only water-like. It has liquid properties but still maintains control of its shape and form. After all, if what you were speculating about his body were true, then it would seep into a puddle when outside of the water. In or out, there shouldn't be a difference to what type of hold is kept on his shape.

All of the ability icon were just funny looking pictures. Since the Star Rod is a cliché magic wand, with its star shaped tip, it was best identified with witches and wizards, who both wear the wide brimmed, pointed hats. So, they stuck a funny hat on Kirby to illistrate the point of the ability. It's maaagic! It's not as though they had any way of knowing that, three years later, Kirby would wear costumes with his abilities.

1) Kirby could only chuck wood with Throw or some other ability with a toss, as is proper use of the verbage. However, since there are no wooden enemies encounted with such an action, as Kabu is rightfully a stone, Two-Face only appears in Dream Land I, and Whispy Woods cannot be picked up, such is an impossibility. Besides, only woodchucks can chuck wood. They're named for it.

2) The sun and moon fight was, as I took it, just the two arguing over time in the sky. They normally always take turns, rotating day and night, but when you are in a relationship for so long with someone, you get very easily ticked off at the smallest thing. Most likely, the sun was chilling there when the moon sneaked by, saying, "Hey, I think I'm gonna show up in the night and day time, 'cuz I'm totally rad." It never says what happened between the two, just that they did start to feud. It would wisely be assumed that Marx had something to do with, although I wonder how he would affect or even reach such a gigantic, celestial body before his NOVA empowerment.

3) I didn't make the Ometon. It's not my design.

4) People only blow through the cups of cheap joe. I'm pretty sure the Ometon nurses his java for a long since, unlike a rushed out piece of garbage, it's full of flavor.

5) He's not really brutalizing them. It's all fun violence. Cartoon violence is a lot different than plain, grueling, horrifying gore. Dynamite only blackens the face while being put through a sausage grinder pops you out in the shape of the encased meat. The wholesale murder is suppose to be looked at as comical rather than an atrocity. Good ol' cartoon violence: desensitizing youth from the horrors of reality.

6) You guessed it. I would like most important holidays to get one. You know, not Arbor Day. ... Although, now I probably will. Eventually, I plan to stick down all the "Holiday Boggs" into their own grouping in the Faces of Squeaky Bogg page.

1) This question is completely baseless. There is no way to quantify the "strongest" boss in Kirby. It is too arbitrary of a term. Is it to be taken as the most powerful, the most dominant, the most difficult to defeat, or several other possible meanings? The damage amounts, weapons, and other aspects of fights are always changing between games. Nothing is ever held constant. I could say that Dark Mind since, when fighting him, Kirby most likely has double his normal vitality and three other, albeit incompetent, helpers to go with him, and both of these tend to be used up. On top of that, Dark Mind has to be fought how many times? Forget two forms, this guy goes through three stages while needing defeated a good handful of times.

However, this battle is far less than epic as no weapon of magical power is needed. It's just Meta Knight's sword, which, while better than any regular sword, still pales in comparason to some sacred or legendary weapon fashioned from the combined powers from across Pop Star or the Rainbow Islands. Even the Star Chariot is made up of interplanetary powers. These weapons are so spectacular that they come to save the day, going to the hero in the time of need. I don't care how fancy some guy's sword or Triple Star are. They are, at the end of the day, just weapons. And the first person to spout any BS about "Galaxia" and its sacred heritage gets rightfully slapped with game/show dividing stick.

But, if you meant out of in-game terms and more of an overall evil presence, then, yes, 02 would probably be the top dog in that respect. He was able to ensnare several worlds under his power, which no one else has even come close to. They struggle to get a measly single slice of the pie, and here 02 went and took on the entire bakery. All of it but that piece of pie. The pie is Pop Star. People got that, right?

2) Zero and Dark Matter are pretty much the same being. It's not like they are brothers, and the one steps up to bat when the other one falls. Zero is the controlling entity to the Dark Matter, so, in a way, Dark Matter is always him. Besides, Dark Matter is commonly shown with a red eye. In the opening to Dream Land 3, in fact, his eye is crimson. The Dark Matter clouds, the shapeless forms that stretch over worlds and such, are typically depicted this way. This red eye, however, is hundreds of times larger than that on Dark Matter or any form of Zero, usually being seen from a great distance, so, by right, this eye is neither of theirs. It's just an ominous eye in Dark Matter (the substance, not the being).

3) There is only one Waddle Dee to spare people the confusion. Adeleine, King Dedede, and Waddle Dee are there to provide help to Kirby. They are each fought one time, and after that, they offer him assistance. It wouldn't be fair to have the player walk up to an enemy Waddle Dee to expect it to do something helpful and wind up getting hurt. You don't make helpers and foes the same thing. That would lead to more people griping than would be, not that any even should, caused by the appearance of just one in the game.

1) Wasn't this just featured in yesterday's Repeat Response? The answer is yes, yes it was.

2) If they wanted to prevent Nazi association, it wouldn't have appeared as "German" in the original Super Star. WWII didn't happen between '96 and now. No, what did happen is the wrestler Chris Benoit and a murder/suicide. His signature moves, as well as the Crippler Crossface and Sharpshooter, include a triplet of Germans. I'm pretty sure ol' Toothless aggression would bear much more weight in any decision making than some dusty faction since his atrocity was within two years. I doubt either had to do anything with it. I mean, really, they changed Kaboola to Kabula and a dump of other near meaningless changes. I just wanted to give props to Pegasus Kid's fine suplexin' abilities.

3) Kirby is a practical black hole. Matter goes in and is dissipated. That, or between games, there's a lot of stuff going on that no one wants to see.

This question is impossible to answer. Well, the Meta Knight part, at least. Kirby is a creation of Nightmare in the animated series, as has been mentioned a good many times in the last few sessions. Meta Knight, on the other hand, is never given a point of origin. It's not that I don't know where it is but they never say. In the games, it's an easy answer -- they come from Pop Star. Problem solved, nice and easy.

1) The FAQ page was largely modeled about types of questions that shouldn't be asked, not what specifically should be avoided. But, yeah, I really gotta update it. The problem is that I link to things on that page (or at least might have, I dunno), so I can't exactly take things off of the list.

2) On Pop Star, the ten second rule is counted in years, and instead of being declared unsafe for consumption, it gains crunch.

3) Kirby's mass is about that of airs -- a little less, actually, according to Smash Bros. When he sucks in air, he makes his density about equal to that of the surrounding air and can propel himself upwards. It's like a plastic bag in the wind. He still sinks when inflated, but working those flippers can get him airborne. He's not full of helium. If he were, he'd be floating all the time and wouldn't gulp in a big breath of nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and other trace gases to get off the ground.

As for hot air, if you look at a hot air balloon, it is canvas, hole, and heat source. The heated air has to enter the container. Kirby is a sealed vessel, and I'm taking it that his rubbery flesh is a strong insulator. The heat from the lava curves right around him and barely adjusts the temperature of the gases held safely within his pink form. Thus, he crashes and burns.

That sounds just like the kind of garbage that would be allowed in an entry at ol' Wiki. It's completely true; I'm 99% certain of that. In an episode, a very early one, first five most likely, Kirby is introduced to a caterpillar. Just a normal, run-of-the-mill larva, and he gets scared by it. This one-time, insignificant moment was enough for someone to think, "Oh, that totally needs put in his Wiki page." That, or if I am recalling incorrectly, something happens in episode 74, The Caterpillar Thriller that shows his dislike of them, although I see nothing suggesting any such thing in that episode (outside of Kirby sneezing like everyone else).