Ask Guru Gobbo #35

1) The loss of a friend is the easiest way to create a sense of tragedy and really tug at the heart strings of viewers. However, this normally works better in a book or movie in which the friendship is a significant one, such as with a main character. These meaningless, pick-up friendships that stop barely after they have started don't really meet the quality of making an audience care that much. So, they repeat the process. And that's covered in Lousy Story Writing 101.

2) Fumu/Tiff is the "moral compass" of the show, also known as "The Voice of Reason", "The Wet Blanket", or "Lisa Simpson". All of the other characters are exaggerations of some type of personality type, generally with comedic results. You have a lazy guy, a bumbling fool, etc. It's all pretty funny. However, you cannot have light without a shadow -- a black, dank spot that must counterbalance all of the over-the-top, interesting characters. This is where you get your conservationist, your whiner, and general thorn in your back side. You don't really want them there, but they are needed to maintain some sense of a story and to keep everything from just all-out going into complete chaos.

3) Tokkori, that bird that I think made Pitch cry upon the comparison, is just another of the "colorful" characters the creators of the animated series thought would be needed to provide dialogue and interpretation for the speechless hero. Hey, when the alleged star of the show can't do any talking, something has to establish the story. This foul fowl allowed a constant speaking source of observation for Kirby even when others weren't around. This way, at least he could say what happened instead of Kirby. He is not based on any of the game characters, however, despite there being plenty that he could have come from.

4) Escargoon is a moron, or, actually, what episode was this? Was it the TV episode? Bah, it doesn't matter, probably. It was most likely just a thoughtless gag to be pulled with a wink and little thought into the overall scheme of the show. I could say that wouldn't be the first time such was done.

5) The "pie" thing is part of the joke. Getting hit by a pie is a staple of low brow comedy and is horribly humiliating. Having you learned anything from watching early Power Rangers episodes? What do you mean that was before your time? Bulk and Skull and comedy gold, fool's gold!

1) Both titles are sequels to Dream Land, in effect. Dream Land 2 doesn't really take anything, story-wise, from Adventure but can be taken as a sequel to it or the original. Due to the system that it was produced for, it carried on the naming legacy of the original despite, technically, being after the NES game. I mean, there's not really an official chain to these sorts of things. Kirby is not The Legend of Zelda with a timeline that loops, intersects, and contradicts itself. It's pretty much straightforward. Start at point A (early game) and move to point B (later game).

2) The most lethal air puff belongs to Whispy Woods, without question. Kirby, if anything, has the weakest as it can't even cause damage to anything of any considerable size. King Dedede's breath, much like Kirby's, sorta wheezes out of his lungs and then drags to a halt. The mighty tree, if you recall, fires a deadly barrage of crushing blows that zip clear across the screen. Now that's some powerful air pellets!

3) The darkest game in the series, I would say, would be a tie: Dream Land 3 and The Crystal Shards. Both had their fair share of dark material, and the over all plot of a mass of blackness swallowing and dominating entire worlds. All of the possession undertaken, particularly in Crystal Shards is pretty heavy when you get down to it. Of course, 3 did have a Dedede that split in half. Both also had bloody and all-out-weird Dark Matter/0, which is just freaky in all rights.

4) King Dedede's flying ability, I would think, wouldn't require much training. Since he had the inhaling capabilities, I just took it that he could do what Kirby could. I would say that he just had to lay off the burgers, but if Kirby can lift off with all he eats, I don't all the fried food in the world would weight him down. So, probably, the battle field (that is to say, the screen) just got bigger and more spacious so he could pull out the new move from his bag of tricks.

I don't know subtitling. I don't even know how to subtitle or understand Japanese. What you are asking about is Ivyna J. Spyder's territory. You can appeal to her, if you want, but I don't think it's source of video to translate that is holding up further subbing but will to do the work that is holding it up. At least, I think. I don't know. I work in game information and fan submittals. The whole animated series stuff is clear on the other side of the office. This work place, keep in mind, is figurative.

Well, the single, standing sprite may look alright, but you have to realize it was originally created in a walking animation. That, now, looked heinous.

I don't believe there ever is a Kirby cameo in Stafy games. The Cameos section details all of the Kirby has been in and those in his games. Stafy is only said to have similarities Kirby games, but never actually appears in them. He does, however, appear in Mario & Luigi: Super Star Saga on a poster next to Kirby.

The first Dream Land did have a classic delay that Shigeru Miyamoto put upon games until they went from "good" to "great". While it is widely known that Masahiro Sakurai was 19 at the time production started, the game did not come out until 1992. Since he was born in 1970, this would make 21 at the time it was finally released, or 22 at its American release (his birthday). So, it took two years, give or take, for Dream Land to become a reality.

You earn 100% in Adventure the same way you get completeness in any other game: complete everything possible. Defeat every boss, recover every piece of the Star Rod, defeat Nightmare, activate every switch, open up every door, turn all of their colors, etc. At this point in the series, I do not believe there is any outside-of-the-game thing needed to get the full 100% since you need that to even unlock the extra mode.

That's because their names were just kinda pulled out of a hat. They don't really have much meaning. But, fine, if you want them to be all shinied: "I'm Hit!", "Dead", "Cackle", "Plushie", "Smack", "Speechless", "Weeping", and the fake-face, "Beard-o".

Well, STAFJ, for one thing, I'd be surprised if they were able to make that. The two systems of games spread out in opposite theories of ability usage. The Adventure or Super Star method is to bomb the player with twenty-some different abilities to be able to use if gotten. The Dream land tactic, however, is to group those twenty-some into sets that are linked by either a specific Animal Friend or elemental power type. Combining both, even if only done with the original trio of pets, would lead to an insanely high number of different ways of using abilities. To keep each interesting and unique would be quite a lofty challenge.

For example, with just eight different abilities and three pets, you'd need 32 different usages (Kirby's a use himself, so its four variations each). Now, if you want that number of powers to be tripled and allow variation within use of the power itself, you're looking at over 80 different combinations, or 140+ with the full pet platter. I think its already hard enough to fill out the order for fifty-some combinations, so I can't imagine how they'd pull this off. It doesn't have to do with them being able to implement it, technologically. In the past, that may have been questionable, but now its just an issue of could they make them any good?

On paper, it'd seem like a great idea, but when actually done, it would probably lead to a lot of replication and uninteresting variations. This is why the Dream Land titles kept it simple and had "basic" abilities to modify. Rather than having all of those different, individual powers, you stick them in a pet combination. Burning's fireball tackle for Kirby and something more like Fire for Rick. Chuchu can have Laser in her Spark while Kine can have something more like Light.

I don't really know what you expect me to say. I already said that I accept your opinions but disagree with them. Anything else would just be repeating exactly what I said before, and no one wants to hear me say the same stuff again, but you apparently can't seem to let sleeping dogs lie, huh? So, folks, if you want, you can just scroll past this to the actual question that is highlighted below.

Similar boss battles are nothing new as Lololo & Lalala have had their fight scene reproduced twice in Nruff & Nelly and Pon & Con. The day and night duo, also, aren't the only team pair. The previously mentioned Lololo & Lalala, Pon & Con, and Twin Woods are all bosses that you fight at the same time, and each pair are actually fighting at the same time. No one else comes close to matching Mr. Shine and Mr. Bright with their sitting on the side lines.

That King Dedede comparison, now, I really don't get, as he's basically had his motive reproduced in every mini-boss battle ever. He invented the star-knock, sit there a while, and then act predictably again. Of course, that meant more when you couldn't just wail on him with copied abilities. Also on rehashed battle mechanics, "spitting thing, jumping, and charging" can be used to describe about any boss when you get down to it. I mean, really, Ice Dragon does that.

And I really, really don't get where you get me taking it too seriously when I even expressly stated, "Yeah, they don't do stuff that deep in these games." Stuff is generally taken at face value. It's plainly obvious to just look at what the things are suppose to be a mimic of and instantly say, "Ah, yes." As said before, they dropped the ball on this game gimmick. Proof enough of that is when they put regular Kracko in the game. He's pretty much waving around a sign saying, "Yeah, the game makers got lazy".

The Kirbypedia, I thought I already explain, that stuff wasn't suppose to be there. Sometimes (or, really, a lot) text is put down until more detail, solidified facts can be put in its place. The problem is that these faux-facts never got rightfully replaced. A lot of them exist for, well, games I've never played, so I can't very well go through and provide the inner details. I can bluff my way through various outer information, but not the nitty-gritty.

Actual Question! The Animal Friends can be abandoned in either title, but only in Dream Land 3 do they stick around. This allows Kirby to, say, drop Kine to fly up or squeeze through a crack to get an item. he can later rejoin with Kine, provided he doesn't part that particular scene. In Dream Land 2, however, pressing select sends away the pet in a starry ... thing? Pretty odd. So, once they leave in that one, they stay gone and don't come back until another sack is opened.

This question has a follow up in Session #42.