Review: Rick Cutter

Cutter, by itself, is a respectable force. It has a great balance of range, speed, and rate of fire. There's even a good few tricks that can be done with it, such as tossing a blade and jumping it to have it zip clear across the screen. The cutters are, strangely, pulled from Kirby's form. Since he's made of it, why not use the whole supply all at once?

Rick Cutter has the beloved hamster toss his rider off his very back like a boomerang. Was this why the Americans gave the fur ball an Aussie accent? We'll never know for sure.

Back to the ability, the throw is like one super sized cutter. It flies clear across the screen and slices through any foe or obstacle in its way. After round one, the Kirberang soars back to Rick and, again, cuts along the way. Skillful handling of the helper can allow two wholly different paths to be cleared for the price of one shot.

"One shot." While on the subject, that's all you get, sadly. While three is the norm, there's only one Kirby for Rick to toss. While he's gone and out, Rick has to fend for himself. Only, he can't. The only thing Rick is capable of doing once the pudge ball is airborne is waiting. He curls up into a funny ball shape for some reason that escapes me. Maybe he's praying no one comes near him as he's a sitting duck.

Kirby has some, while not many, ways to defend himself outside of inhaling and copied abilities. He can at least spit air pellets and, in Dream Land 3, execute a sliding kick. Rick has no such luck. He can't even duck in this case, not that he could anyways in 2.

Thankfully, in Dream Land 3, things changed. The larger pets received an added bonus that the smaller lot didn't get to share. Because of their size, they commanded more weight. This meant they could trample smaller, weaker enemies with no effort at all. No inhaling required for this offense. Here, when Rick lets the Kirb-Cutter fly, he can at least hop on whoever it is that he missed. As long as the foe isn't dropping down straight from above, he can handle his own until the boomerang returns, and the rider rejoins.

Sometimes, however, you do not want them to be reunited. It's odd to think, but if you can pull off the return angle correctly, Kirby will never come back. Instead, he continuously flips around the hamster. This deadly orbit, again, takes some practice in handling to not break the cycle, but it's a small price to pay to have a twirling, mobile, damage dealing machine on the loose.

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