Review: Ouch!

Ability : Ouch!

Titles : All

Reviewer : Mints


Many copy abilities are neglected in the Kirby games because they are less useful than some of the other choices. Ability reviews, however, shouldn't show the same neglect. If an ability is no good, it should be shown why, or -- if at all possible -- argue its case for usefulness.

Some copy abilities are not just bad, but actually the worst! What ability could that possibly be? Why, Ouch, of course.



In the Games:

The Ouch! copy ability (known as Ouch for short, or Ouchers !glesias Rodriguez for long) can be acquired from any enemy, and they need not be swallowed nor inhaled. Simply touching them will give Kirby Ouch, but it only lasts a second or two, so you'll need to touch another quickly in order to get it back. Mid-bosses will give you it without even having to defeat them first! Even main bosses will give Kirby this ability, too, as well as any enemy attack or even spikes! In fact, Ouch is the most prolific copy ability in all of the Kirby series -- you'll get it more times than any other power! It is even one of the select abilities featured in Dream Course!

Once Kirby has Ouch, he will be invincible for a short period of time. You don't even have to press the button, either. Talk about convenience! Kirby can walk through enemies and attacks unaffected, but if Ouch wears off while on a foe, Kirby'll be hurt again. Fortunately, he'll get Ouch and his invincibility back.

Be careful! Although getting Ouch may seem like a good idea, getting it too frequently will result in low life. In Super Star, you can block to prevent this loss of life, but as it turns out, blocking also prevents getting Ouch! What a gyp! And not that stupid, flying hog head, either.

Ouch has been around since the first Dream Land game, although like Mike, it wasn't considered a copy ability until Adventure. It has appeared regularly since then, but only in one other game -- that being Super Star -- does it receive its very own icon. It simply appears as a text label in the other Game Boy and DS titles, perhaps hinting that just how little the developers appreciated this ability. Don't worry, we still love you, Ouch!

Labeling Ouch as the worst copy ability is perhaps a bit extreme. There are, in fact, two worse abilities, found separately in Adventure and Super Star. Those are Miss and I'm Hit -- two abilities that are exactly the same despite having completely opposite names! However, the only way to copy these abilities is to lose all of your vitality or jump of a cliff. It is unknown whether or not it is only a temporary ability like Ouch or if it has any other useful effects since death follows soon after acquiring these skills, forcing Kirby to restart the scene without any powers.

In the later, 32-bit titles, these abilities are simply replaced with Ouch. It should be noted that this lack of Miss is one of the few differences between the original Adventure and the Nightmare in Dream Land remake, so I guess we'll never find out what Miss/I'm Hit does or if she's foxy, unless she decides to reappears in Super Star Ultra. It is not just super, but also ultra. Could little Miss/I'm Hit make a comeback? And if so, what will she have as a hat?

Ouch Kirby (that is, Kirby with the Ouch copy ability) has, since Super Star, donned a special invisible hat whenever he gains this ability. It is simply a palette swap (same graphics, but different colors, such as Ice and Fire) of Crash's hat, exchanging transparent pixels for invisible ones. I may be in the minority, but I'll go out on a limb and say that Ouch's looks better. Maybe that's just because Crash's looks too similar to Mike's hat for my tastes, which are obviously highly refined and polished if you've learned anything about me from this review. Or if you just can't read between the lines. Whichever.

So, on a scale from 2.5 to 14.4, 14.4 being Master and 2.5 being reviewers who can't make a sensible rating scale, Ouch ranks in at a 4.Q -- just above Sleep (which does nothing but make Kirby vulnerable and cute, but mostly vulnerable) and just below Stone. (Why be invulnerable and immobile when you can invulnerable and mobile with Ouch?) Of course, like Light and Mini, Ouch lacks any offensive capabilities, so chase after that star after it pops outta ya -- you're gonna need it!



In the anime:

Although it never appeared in the anime, they say that Kirby: Right Back At Ya was able to give all of its viewers Ouch.

And that, loyal patrons, is no joke.


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Last Updated - July 27th, 2008