Ask Guru Gobbo #17

An astute observation. Yes, if you take too long against Nightmare Orb, or True Dark Matter in Dream Land 2, Kirby smashes against the ground. In Adventure, this happens since, if you recall, King Dedede launches Kirby after Nightmare. It appears that he's flying, but he's really just hurtling through the sky on a prayer. Since what goes up must come down, if too long is taken to defeat the evil Nightmare, Kirby gets squashed against the dream land below.

Seriously? Well, Super Star Ultra packs all the same features from the beloved original, including Spring Breeze, Dyna Blade, Great Cave Offensive, Revenge of Meta Knight, Milky Way Wishes, and The Arena, plus two new modes, Revenge of the King and Meta Knight Ultra. Plus, all the old minigames and some new, multiplayer ones like that shooting gallery.

There's a very good reason to each of these. As for Lololo & Lalala, the two were borrowed characters. It's been gone over before, but the two were from the Eggerland series, also known as The Adventures of Lolo. It, too, was a HAL title. They appeared in Super Star's Spring Breeze since, being a remake of the original, they had to appear, but this was the sole reason for it.

Kaboola presents more of a special case. The blimp never reappeared since the manner in which Kirby battled it, the Mint Leaf/Sweet Potato, never returned. You didn't fight the sky cannon in the typical "suck and spit" manner as the rest of the bosses. In fact, the fight scene looked more like how the final battles take place in the later Kirby titles. You blast the foe on the right side of the screen with some suped-up item while soaring on the left side. Kaboola actually set the trend! Now, as trend-setting as this may have been, it really set a damper for it to appear in later games. You don't want the big, last stand to mimic a fight you just had a few moments ago.

The Mint Leaf, and Spicy Food and Microphone for that matter, never appeared in later titles, at all. Since of this, they weren't in Super Star, and thus the weapon used to take down the blimp was, also, not there. Since of the several missing pieces, the jigsaw of Kaboola could not be formed. The aircraft did, however, appear in a non-platform title, Block Ball, as a stage boss, so there was a repeat performance. However, until they think up a way to do battle against the cannon-toting float with things to inhale (although that's barely needed at this point in the series, but I digress), it will remain more a figure of the past.

1) I... actually have little to say on the matter. I have not purchased any of the mangas and, truthfully, have a limited knowledge on them. As for purchasing them, I could only think to look for them on eBay since I live in the backwater Midwest and have little if any access to such imports. And, if such is had, it would be for the more popular mangas.

2) The 4 Koma sit with me the best. The artwork is adorable. In particular, I like how they are just short scenes from the games, completely non-sequitur. I like a good gag. A lot don't even need dialogue and just use visuals, which is great since I can't read Japanese. Some of those Koro Koro ... yeeeah... Odd. However, a special place is held in my heart for the German Club Nintendo comics. I know they don't really count as a true manga, but they are just so much fun!

3) All in all, I enjoy the mangas. Kirby is pretty crazy character who doesn't get much time to be a character in his games. These comics let loose a whole new side of him and all the supporting characters. Where else can you see Gooey actually doing anything?

You shouldn't worry about asking multiple questions. How many times have I responded to multi-part inquiries (up to eight!) and double Q's? I'm not even all that certain when you last had an answer given. I don't quite have a cap on the question load yet.

Anyways, I agree that ability combinations are an enjoyable aspect. It provides a much wider and interesting level to how to manage your abilities. However, there are several reasons I feel this won't be appearing again.

First, there are hats. This is the Kirby that everyone has come to expect in recent times, sadly. Combinations would offer quite a pickle in making unique and distinct headgear for the hero to don. You can easily set apart twenty or so completely different powers, but when you have eight or so variations of Needle? Things get a bit more complicated.

Next, it's an ability gimmick. Mixing powers with pets or with one another are a far step away from extended ability move sets or bubbles. That's the way they are leaning now. Squeak Squad said it would offer ability mixing, and what did it yield? Putting elements on your sword and in your bombs? That's how original they are now. The insight that fueled those older games is about lost since. Before, making Kirby turn into a curling puck was a great idea, as odd as it was, and having a hamster balance an umbrella while rolling Kirby on it was another great idea, even though it was impractical in most of the game. These aren't cool enough. Why make an odd and funny power that no one will use when you could just make the abilities people like, Sword, just do more? I'd hate to say it, but I agree with that tactic. As fun as it is to bat Pitch around like a golf ball, it has little practical application. But Fighter having a multitude of attacks? Those will be used.

So, while I'd like to see it, this hasn't been the road Kirby's been trekking down. Who knows, tho'? When that Wii title comes out, if it ever does, maybe the stacking of four different abilities will each create some new and interesting use, where what is stacked will modify the resulting attack in some manner. Who knows? They haven't really shown much of what that stacking can do, if it even makes it into the final version, so I guess I'll just have to wait before condemning it.

That's... about Super Star, isn't it? It really wouldn't surprise me at all if they put all the powers into a game. In fact, the in-progress Wii title seems to back a pretty good load of them. I, really, am not too concerned with how many abilities appear in a title. I care more for how they are used in it. You can have eight or two-hundred, but if their uses all come out about the same or nearly identical, or some other interesting gimmick wasn't twisted in with it, it's not a good accomplishment. Numbers = good. Uniqueness = better. Plus, I would wonder what face of the abilities would be seen. Would the highly variable Jet appear next to the single outcome Burning? Would Paint and Light be in there and practical, or would they be added on to in some manner? I never understood why the number of abilities was even all that important. I tend to gravitate to maybe a third of them, if that, and push off the chafe.

... I liked Mega Titan...

The reason why the masked swordsman is so beloved is due to his mystique. That's the way HAL wants it to be, too. They just leaked out enough to wet our taste buds. You fight this blade bearing boss and, suddenly, bam, Kirby is staring at a double of himself. Never before (Adventure) have you seen Kirby face to face with someone who had his same, well, face. You saw backsides of others in Dream Land, but these were good guys. Meta Knight is a bad guy, sorta. He has real anti-hero appeal. And, as we all know, Wolverine trumps a boy scout like Cyclops any day of the week in the eyes of fans. Well, outside of my brother, but he also thought that Leonardo was the best Ninja Turtle, so he's a dork. Additionally, they never tell anything about Meta Knight. He's blue, looks like Kirby, wields a sword, and has a flying battleship. Did I miss anything? Mystery leads to interpretation, which plagues this series enough. Everything is so open ended, fans let their imaginations run wild with possibilities. Now, take this norm and add in the fact that Metty looks like Kirby, and fans practically explode.

What is there to discuss about Mega Titan? Fans have no conversation starters with that. "Hey, who exactly is Mega Titan suppose to resemble? I mean, King Golem is like Whispy, and ... wow, that's the only case? That gimmick really fell apart, fast, huh?" And, from that point, they would discuss the general lacking banking on alternative versions of old bosses in Amazing Mirror rather than one boss in particular. There're a lot of questions that can be asked, but most of them have obvious answers. The final bosses are all incarnations of evil, for the most part, so their motives are simple. Meta Knight, however, squee! Endless possibilities! Fans drive fandom. Fan fictions drive fans. Unresolved issues drive fan fictions. Mysterious characters are such due to unresolved issues. Popular characters are the mysterious characters. Fandom surrounds the popular characters. And so the cycle goes.

The questioner has a follow up in Session #21.

Sign a contract? You're my legal property! Much like a child, I can make you do anything I want! So get back to scrubbin' my dishes. After that, there's a fence that needs painting.

Seriously, tho', Squeaky Bogg was created to be used as my avatar at Kirby sites, which really is just this one. It was previously noted although posted after you asked, but he's simplistic enough to blend in with the average fare seen in Dream Land through Dream Land 3. Technically, it's just a squat, deformed version of a previous avatar, so it is a self representation of sorts. Of course, as is my tendency, these stand-ins tend to sprout wings and go on to become their own self-sustaining creations of sorts separate from a lowly self being.

It's a good thing I made this new face ahead of time. I don't think I'd be able to capture my lost nature without it.

As for the parody, I would have to say Rowlin. Now, I never saw this episode, or any episode with a reallife analogue in it, but this one was actually not just a cheezy American insert. The actual Japanese character was named after J. K. Rowling which lends much more credit to its doing. I know in a lot of cases, celebrity references are swapped from whatever Japanese star it is to the closest relatable American equivalent.