Review: Beam

Most abilities Kirby obtains are based on something that already exists. Elemental abilities, weapons, random objects or toys, but one copy ability stands out from the crowd in this regard: Beam. What is Beam, exactly? The description always says that the beam is "like a whip" but the power clearly isn't based on whips seeing as how the Whip ability is an actual thing. The aesthetics of the ability don't help either, seeing as how the ability is generally represented with Kirby wearing a yellow and orange jester hat, often with a wand of some sort to generate the electric balls that form the beam. Enemies aren't helpful in this regard, the only foes to consistently give this ability are Waddle Dos and Gemras, which don't seem to be based on anything in particular. If nothing else, one can say that this is Kirby's most unique, original power available to him.

Enough about the bizarre aesthetic, what exactly does Beam do? The ability was introduced all the way back in Adventure and like the vast majority of the powers from that game it had one simple technique. Kirby would generate an electrical beam that would sweep 45 degrees in front of him. Its range was reasonable, roughly the distance of Kirby's inhale. It was the first copy ability available in the game, and in that regard the first ability available in the series. Beam wasn't particularly helpful in puzzles, and its combat capabilities were not exceptional, but it had a simple job and it did that job well.

Technically its next appearance would be in Dream Land 2 with Rick's version of the Spark ability, but I'll leave the description of that for that particular entry. As such, we'll skip straight to Super Star. Here Beam gained a new life and identity. Nearly every attack Beam had was a weak, decently ranged, multi-hit move. The standard beam attack was somewhat elongated and due to its rather slow speed it could do multiple strikes in a single use if spaced properly. Its dash attack, the Cycle Beam, would generate a series of spinning balls that covered the entirety of Beam's range at once with similar damage output. However, both of these moves were quite lackluster compared to two particular options. Doing a dash attack in the air would unleash the Beam Blast, where Kirby would launch segments of the beam whip downwards as projectiles. This gave Kirby a slight midair hop, allowing him to chain the attack repeatedly and rain death from above. The other major technique was the Wave Beam. Not to be confused for Samus Aran's powerful sine wave shot type, Kirby's Wave Beam was a charge shot. After a short moment of charging, Kirby would fire off a blast of electrical power roughly equal to that of a double star. Multi-hit attacks are not generally effective on bosses due to their invulnerability time after being hit, and the Wave Beam was this power's only method of circumventing that issue. Even with these improvements, Beam still didn't stand out as a strong option for either combat or puzzles. The invulnerability mechanics of various enemies and bosses just didn't support the multi-hit playstyle Beam provided, and if players wanted a charge shot based attack they would just go towards Plasma instead.

After Super Star Beam was hit hard. Its appearances in Amazing Mirror and Squeak Squad were lackluster at best. The attack was reduced to its simplest form, the basic beam, once more. However, the attack was slower than ever, and weaker too. It couldn't even beat basic enemies without getting multiple hits in, and getting those hits was difficult as foes would often be knocked out of the beam's range before they took enough damage. The copy ability scroll of Squeak Squad was one of the few direct upgrade scrolls, giving the beam more damage and a longer range, but even with this upgrade that simply made it a normal, decent ability rather than anything amazing. The only notable aspect of this power was its electrical element which finally got a chance to shine in these two games. It was one of only two powers, the other being Spark, which could directly hurt the Amazing Mirror boss Mega Titan, and being one of the only electrical element powers in Squeak Squad gave it near-exclusive access to the extra effects of electrifying metal floors, water, and unleashing the power of certain storm clouds. However, all of these boons were minor and situational at best, nothing to really write home about.

Beam returned once more in Return to Dream Land, and like so many other abilities it was granted its Super Star moveset and more. The dash attack changed slightly, now with Kirby jabbing forward with his standard beam attack, this granted it more consistent damage with slightly less vertical range. A single new attack was added with the Circle Beam, allowing Kirby to hover midair while rotating the beam around him. Neither of these techniques were particularly helpful, and the issues regarding enemy invincibility frames from Super Star remained. However, new to Return to Dream Land was the Super Ability, and Beam had a super iteration with Flare Beam! Kirby would create a single large ball of electrical beam energy above him, which then could be guided by the player. Typically, this would be used to charge up certain beam blocks, with the player being required to quickly charge up all blocks nearby within a certain amount of time. This ability was a little slower than most other Super Abilities considering Kirby had to stop in his tracks to use it, but there is a joy to precisely taking out groups of foes with a large electric orb nonetheless.

The power returned in Triple Deluxe and Planet Robobot with no major changes from its Return to Dream Land iteration. The robobot armor did get a Beam form however! The robobot could fire off electrical balls that would bounce across the ground, and could charge these balls to do more damage and careen through more foes. This was one of the fastest and most effective abilities available to the armor, though it wasn't especially useful for puzzle solving like some other powers were.

Beam is a unique power aesthetically, but mechanically it often falls short in comparison to other options. It's always found early game and is generally effective enough at defeating regular foes, but when it comes to anything tougher its range and power just aren't good enough to let it keep up with its competition. Normally I end these reviews with a cheeky pun of some sort, but seeing how Beam isn't really based on anything, I don't have much to work with in that regard. As such, I'll leave y'all off with this. Sakurai once said that his favorite copy ability was Beam, and given that my favorite games in the series are Amazing Mirror and Planet Robobot I've often said "Sakurai didn't make MY favorite Kirby game!" It's pretty clear we don't perfectly see eye to eye on what makes something quality, and I'm afraid this is just one more instance of that.

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