Well,
Hi-Jump's a simple power, although often described wrong by
NOA. Kirby leaps into the air normally with a press of the "A"
button. Nothing spectacular. However, with Hi-Jump a press of
the "B" button sends Kirby skyward, and the leap is apparently
the vertical equivalent of Burning... whatever gets in Kirby's
way that's not thorns (and I believe Gordos also) is either
eliminated, damaged, or doesn't hurt the pink one. Useful, and
very powerful (stronger, I believe, than Sword, but weaker
than SPARK), and a must in vertical levels like Butter Building
or parts of Yogurt Yard and Rainbow Resort (HEY! Kirby just
Hi-Jumped on ME!!!). The jump is both travel and offense, so
it ranks high alongside Wheel, Tornado, and Burning. If you
need to float a lot to cover distance, Tornado and Burning may
suit you better. But to cover the height, look no further than
Hi-Jump (unless you have Tornado already).
Of course, there's a second part to Hi-Jump. The jump goes so
high, that at the peak (ceilings notwithstanding), Kirby is
high enough *HOUSE* to go into his dive attack when he
falls... something that can damage foes below him, except boss
characters and Gordo/Shotzo (and probably Togezo if it's
curled in a ball). Mind you, careless players can be caught by
foes like Rolling Turtle and Bugzzy and Fire Lion, and they
WILL get hurt... but I believe you're safe hitting the
BACK of them, and also getting them while they're
stunned after hitting the wall (not common for Fire
Lion, unfortunately). That attack, of course, applies to
the upward leap, not the dive... though in Nightmare in
Dreamland, the dive will destroy a fallen mini-boss...
weird.
Of course, I'm
overlooking ONE thing... Hi-Jump (and to about the same
extent, Tornado) absolutely OWNS Kracko and King Dedede... use
this, and they'll just about never TOUCH you. Hi-Jump gets you
to Kracko with ease, and it smacks him silly in battle (and
the poor schlemiel RELEASES Jumping Dans for you... Kracko?
Stupid lately?).
Speaking of Nightmare in Dreamland, Kirby's got a new trick in
it... no, he can Hi-Jump from a REGULAR jump in midair...
useful, though not by much... might help against enemies that
go airborne a lot. In this, AND in Adventure, the jump can be
stopped prematurely by tapping "B" again while going up...
good to know if you find yourself constantly going higher than
need be. Nightmare in Dreamland also gives Hi-Jump Kirby a
winged headband with a blue and red cape (making me LONG for
it in the animé), which has earned him the nickname,
"Superhero Kirby"... nice. But Kirby's already a superhero,
he's got electrical attacks, laser vision, fire and ice
breath... sounds suspiciously like a Pokémon... I smell a rat
here.
Of course, Hi-Jump's almost useless in caves and wasted in
watery levels... Stick with Parasol there, I say. But it does
make for a good solid attack outdoors, and great sky travel,
as previously stated. It's also semi-common, you'll find it
about three times in Butter Building (one being in the
Museum), first seen in Level 2-5, and it's on Grape Garden 3,
Yogurt Yard 3 and 5, and Orange Ocean 2... Rainbow Resort is
the only place missing it (but there's a lot of Mix potential
there), and it's too advanced for Vegetable Valley.
Sadly, I've never been fortunate enough to own Kirby's Dream
course, so I can't speak for it in that game... worse is they
left it out of Kirby Super
Star and K64... I'd have really liked using it against
Kracko again, but he went back to Waddle Doos and his Beam
attacks. I also wonder what kind of damage they'd have done in
that game (this, and Tornado; I'm guessing about 20-24 HP per
hit), but unless we get a Kirby Super Star DX game that has
these powers unlockable AND the RPG battle again, we'll never
know.
To conclude, I find Hi-Jump to be a power of limited ability,
but abundant usefulness... SiR6 rates it a 9/10.
