You saw it coming. HAL wanted it in the animé, but it
didn't make it. KSS gave it its best appearance ever.
Sentimental for some reason to Masahiro Sakurai...
Beam Kirby
Beam... not a bad power all in all. Many times has this power
been seen, but rarely used. Beam belongs to Waddle Doo, and
also has been used in Kirby's Dreamland by... what are those
clams called again? I'll remember eventually. Anyways, Beam
was a dangerous attack back then, as the signature move of
Waddle Doo, the clams, and Kracko. Kirby couldn't get close to
his foes to inhale them without getting Beam-whipped, and
Kracko had a dual beam attack, which kept Kirby from getting
close. Of course, Kirby's sole defense was the inhaling, and
that made problems against enemies with ranged attacks. Come
Kirby's Adventure, Kirby has his power to copy abilities, and
the first one you get is Beam. Kirby uses it just like the
Waddle Doos, swinging a beam whip in front of him to easily
strike foes. In Kirby's Adventure, damage was damage, and only
bosses really had a difference in damage they took. That
returned in the Nightmare in Dreamland remake, albeit with
Kirby now swinging a different beam than the enemies did (and
totally different than ever before; this thing looked like red
orbs of energy. Beam is often shown as an easy attack to use,
and there is a reason why...
Picture courtesy of Kine the Genius
Kirby Super Star...
HAL had incorporated an actual damage rating in this game,
based on the HP the enemies in the Computer Virus RPG battles
had and lost with each attack. Beam was among the weakest
powers there were (actually, it IS the weakest, as the
strongest it has is Beam Wave, which does 26 HP damage),
alongside Fire and to some extent, Plasma and Ninja. Kirby's
Beam Whip did 5 HP damage, and that went for the Beam Machine
Gun also (though that seems to have some decent damage if the
scepter touches the enemy). Cycle Beam wasn't much better
(12-18 damage per hit, but it multi-hits). Beam Wave was the
best attack, and that was only 26 HP damage, and needed a
charge to use... Sword, Fire, Parasol, Jet, Mirror, etc had
better and stronger attacks.
But wait... let's not ignore Capture Beam. Instant death to
enemies, and 60-70 HP off a boss character... Yep, Beam had a
deceptive danger to it... and it wasn't TOO hard to grab a foe
with it (easier than with Parasol and Fighter at times).
Capture Beam would come in handy against Kracko, who'd decided
to go back to using Beam attacks and Waddle Doos since his
humiliating Adventure defeat (though King Dedede my have told
him to go easy in Adventure, since Kirby was after the
pieces... Kirby would have been able to beat Nightmare if need
be, so who knows what orders Dedede gave to his minions, but I
digress). Kracko was otherwise a tough foe to damage with Beam
(too weak, and I think he had a resistance to it as well), and
you'd be better off with Mirror. KSS gave Beam Kirby a cute
look... yellow Kirby wears a red and yellow jester hat with
white polka dots (going by animé Mirror Kirby's look, they may
have been stars, and may have been on both parts of the hat),
and holds a green wand with a blue orb at the tip, which he
generally keeps concealed unless he's attacking. Nightmare in
Dreamland's Beam Kirby lacks the wand (he fires the beam from
his hand as before) and the yellow skin (he's his usual pink),
but still keeps the hat, but only has the Adventure-style Beam
Whip (for obvious reasons). If you beat the Extra Game with
Kirby, *SPOILERS* you'll see Beam Kirby skillfully battling
Bugzzy in the tower on 7-2. It's the HARD version of Bugzzy in
that level (good luck getting past Fanfan with Beam if you
take the upper door). HAL got MAD skillz to accomplish that.
Beam Kirby wasn't in the animé, much like Hi-Jump and poor
neglected Backdrop. For some reason, i think they WANTED to
use him, and wanted to use Spark sooner than they did, but for
some reason, they didn't. How would Beam Kirby transform? I
figure: jump/flip routine, stop in starry background. Get beat
by standard whip, then grab it, and swing it. While he swings,
a beam of light engulfs him, and it causes a small but bright
flash, which fades to reveal Beam Kirby, who poses with his
wand held high. The wand would basically replace the whip that
was beating him. Of curse, unless HAL and Warpstar go for
another 100 episodes of Kirby... forget it. But, it's a nice
idea, and Beam's really a cool power to use. I can't imagine
Kirby without some of his signature powers, and aside from
Parasol and Cutter, Beam ranks up there.
For the variety and ease of use, despite its low power, I rate
Beam Kirby an 8/10. Truth be told, if used in the right hands,
Beam is absolutely DEADLY, and I hope if HAL DOES make another
version of Kirby Super Star, aside from including Hi-Jump,
Tornado, Needle and Clean, they also have Beam return for it.
