Review: Cutter

Cutter, a simple yet cool looking ability... well, that is when it got the hat anyway. Still, blades of fury! ... Uh, spinning fury!

What do you do when you have Cutter? Duh! You cut stuff? "But isn't that what Sword is for?" you may ask? Pff, Sword doesn't have the awesome reach Cutter has!... But before you think the Cutter ability uses a really big sword, you're horribly mistaken. Cutter actually used, and still uses, a boomerang-like blade. Yes, a boomerang! Now, don't forget to catch it when it's coming back- Oh... too late.

Um, anyway, the Cutter ability made it's first appearance in Adventure. When you press the button, you'd overhand a boomerang forward, and then it'd come back. What? It's nothing special? Nothing special? You can hit enemies in front of you and from behind with an added bonus of long range! How is that nothing special to ya? Can't you see awesome when it's in front of you? Guess not, 'cause that blade you forgot to catch is coming back for revenge. *ducks*

The little guys that give you this ability are the ever awesome Sir Kibble! In Adventure, you see a small armoured ball with one of those fluffily things on top of his shining helmet. Suddenly, he flings out that fluffy thing out, and it cuts, dealing you damage! Shame on you for thinking it was harmless fluff! Regardless, this guy was pretty easy to dodge, just don't stand within range of his blade, and it'll go straight back to him. Then, you eat him, gaining its ever awesome Cutter ability.

Now, we go to Super Star for the SNES. Sorry, I haven't really played many of the others before Super Star, but I would assume that they would be the same for Cutter. No wait! Animal Helpers! Of course, how could I forget! While I haven't really played Dreamland 2 & 3, I knew that abilities changed. From what I know, Nago sends a cutter blade in a diagonal direction. And it should be coming back any time now- what? It doesn't? What? Yeah, that's right, Nago plus Cutter combo made it a straight out, or should I say "diagonally out", cutter blade. The fact you couldn't aim it either wasn't all that great. Just shoot one out upward and diagonally, meaning you can't hit anything that's on the ground in front of you, also meaning, Nago's Cutter ability sucked... for ground attacks. Another I remember would be Pitch, one of the best. Alright, so yeah, he gets sent out and hits enemies and all that jazz, only to come back to you. Now, here's the twist. When I say he comes back to you, I really do mean he comes back to you. He'll follow you too the end of time until you give him the chance to reunite with you.

Erm, now, back to what I was really wanting to talk about, Super Star for SNES! Yes, Kirby finally dons the wonderful cap we see him wearing today! Those cute little eyes along with the wings are just epitome of awesome. What made it better is that now Kirby pulled off the wondrous blade from atop his head! Yes, you heard me. Along with the cute eyes and the unneeded, though cool, wings, he also dons the blade he will throw at you. Pretty cool, huh? While this makes more sense, it still doesn't explain where he gets a new one each time you start spamming boomerang blades and/or forget to catch the previous one you threw. So, keeping the wonderful ranged attack that everyone loves so dear and getting a snazzy new hat, Kirby gained some close combat attacks. That's right, so if you happened to get too close to the enemy, just press the ability button, and he'd perform a series of slashes. The best part? When he shot up and came down, releasing a small wave forward that would damage enemies that were trying to gang up on you from the front, this being called Final Cutter! He also got an aerial one, but to be honest, it was less then spectacular then expected if you wanted to try doing that string of slashes and then the famous Final Cutter. He threw a boomerang blade and held out one, then he'd just kind of hit them. Nothing great, so, nothing to see here.

While this is just a small mention, Final Cutter is actually Kirby's up B in the Smash Bros. series! It's a blessing to see that awesome Final Cutter in full 3-D, isn't it? What do you mean his up B sucks? Pff, you don't understand awesome like I do.

Moving on, Kirby keeps the awesome hat in the Adventure remake, Nightmare in Dream Land! It is still an awesome hat, retaining it's awesome long reach attacks. Though, it didn't keep the close combat attacks, but it's a remake, so what are you gonna do, right?

Now, in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, or Kirby 64 for those who never bother to type out the real title, Cutter was changed majorly and in the bad way. Not only did Kirby lose the awesome hat, but now, instead of the boomerang blade we know and love, Kirby now flung himself as the blade. Yes, he flung himself out. Though, I admit, it takes some skill to cut through anything, let alone your face of all things. Kirby was at a disadvantage when he used his face as a cutter blade. Why? Simple; he was too restricted. He couldn't fly, he couldn't run. All he could do is walk away from danger until his face came back to him. His face would be like Pitch, as it would try to come back to you. I mean, I wouldn't want to throw my face at someone then it never comes back, how would I eat or play games? Regardless, it doesn't compare to the awesome Cutter we know now. Though, one thing in Crystal Shards was that when Kirby got duel Cutter, when he flung his face off, it would double in size, maybe even triple! Along with the volume increase, he would magically grow saw-teeth. The fact it was much bigger helps the horrible Cutter ability in Crystal Shards. And off we go to Amazing Mirror, and what a sight. Cutter has once again regained his awesome hat of awesome and- wait... What's the Sword ability doing with Final Cutter? WHY does it have Final Cutter? NO! That's not right! Final Cutter is Cutter's attack! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooo........* Yes, for all you people who thought that Final Cutter belonged to Sword, I hereby smack you on the head. Shame on you! *smack* In any case, besides Final Cutter being stolen from Cutter and tacked onto Sword which already had a combo attack, Cutter was still intact, though lacked it's Super Star close combat attacks. The sadness keeps flowing in. Still, the fact is that it retained it's original ability, so that alone is awesome as it is. But now it had an interesting perk. You could now aim and throw the boomerang blades further! So, didn't feeling like jumping each time for the blade to fly by you and behind? Just press B and hold up and it'd angle upwards and fly off in a diagonal angle. Didn't feel like getting closer to the enemy? Just hold down B longer to throw out a cutter blade out further then before. However, once the blade started to come back, you couldn't control it anymore, so best think about what you're doing.

And now, Squeak Squad- What's Sword still doing with Final Cutter? Well, again, Cutter has the improvements of Amazing Mirror. But, this time, in Squeak Squad, Kirby could get Copy Scrolls. Since these scrolls give certain abilities an added attack or effect, it was a treat as not all of the abilities got one. Cutter was one of the lucky ones to get a Copy Scroll. What did it do, you ask? Why, it made the boomerang blade bigger! Yes, along with great reach and the ability to move it up of down at your will, it got twice as big, dealing more damage, and thus you see more awesome fill up the screen.

So, Cutter. It cuts stuff, like the name implies, but does a heck of a better job then Sword ever will! That's why Sword had to steal Final Cutter from Cutter, just so Sword could even begin compare to Cutter's awesomeness. So, cut, cut, and cut some more! You'll be able to do it with the Cutter ability!

* Please note, I don't have anything against the Sword ability taking Cutter's Final Cutter or rather the Sword ability in general. I was just over-emphasizing the fact that it was originally Cutter's. Don't hate me :<

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