Ask Guru Gobbo #46

1) Oh, that's quite the matching. One has explosive bombs while the other chucks heavy hammers. However, when stacked true to one another, the Poppy Bros. really consist of a senior and a junior. The Hammer Bros. don't lack this age distinction. I know there is, at times, a pair of older Pops, but I have to take into consideration what is generally to be considered the standard case. Out of usefulness of each member in the pairing, I think the Hammer Bros. have the edge.

2) As far as I know, any title called "Kirby Golf" would just be Kirby Bowl or Dream Course. Outside of that, I've never heard of any such thing.

Mario Kart, in, like, eight different ways, the forerunner being battle mode. I've wasted hours upon hours touring those same four levels with my brothers. This is on the original SNES version, now. I've played the newer ones, but nothing lives up to the classic, in my opinion.

1) It depends on the game for which ability has the edge. In Adventure, I liked Sword better, but the favorite changed to Cutter in Super Star for reasons of, "Why is Sword shooting stuff? If I wanted a ranged attack, I'd have gone with Cutter." Later in Amazing Mirror, they fixed Sword up a lot, giving it back some elements of its olden days. Despite having a totally stolen and completely broken Final Cutter in its arsenal, nothing beats the jumping, spinning slash of Sword.

2) Allegedly, all of the attacks should return as they were, however Nightmare in Dream Land changed plenty of how abilities were used from Adventure. They even went so far as to, what? Add a star burst to Hi-jump? They should leave most things untouched, but, in order to adapt to the most recent games, who knows if they'll stick ol' Final Cutter on its new daddy, Sword, instead. The game isn't out yet, I haven't seen much of it, and that's all I can certainly call at this point.

3) There's over 48 different abilities, not counting mixes, combinations of powers, or Super Smash Bros. character copies. I don't think we'll ever know how many he has the potential to copy since setting a cap would be a terrible hindrance to the puff.

Oh, shush. It's the space argument all over again. It's proper to capitalize the first letter in a name. In fact, the parsing applied to all question submittals automatically capitalizes the user names sent in. Know why? It's proper!

Anyhoo, in a battle with Kirby, the puff would come out on top. In-game or out, he'd still just eat Bogg, end of story. Now, Meta Knight would be more of a battle. However, all of these would really have the same outcome still, that being Squeaks losing. He's not a fighter -- or a lover -- and doesn't really pack much martial savvy. Sure, he carries a big, spiked ball in his belly, but this is more for bashing in the faces of pathetic, dime-a-dozen foes like Waddle Dees who offer little if any threat. It's just, well, an overkill method. Yeah, but when faced with a fight, Bogg is more likely to turn is crooked tail and bolt out of there. This is why the tournament he entered as no-rules race rather than a royal-styled rumble.

1) Frankly, I'm surprised they haven't turned him into one already. To date, he has been playable in what? A secret mode in Nightmare in Dream Land, a ball in Canvas Curse, a rider in Air Ride, a fighter in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and in a sub-game in the up-coming Super Star Ultra. It's a pretty good resume, I guess. They must either not want to blow his worth by making him regularly playable or just have no ideas of how to use him in a full fledged game. Due to all the trouble Kirby has had with titles this decade, I would bet on that pony.

2) I find it odd that not many people point out Droppy's ability to copy copy abilities. I mean, he has the power to deconstruct Kirby's obtained skills. It's rather phenomenal. However, there is a keen difference between the two. Kirby takes on aspects of what he digests. He gains their skills and abilities but otherwise remains the same. Droppy, however, undergoes a complete transformation. He takes on the talents and the body of the ability, something like, I dunno, a super copy. Take that, star of the games!

3) Yes, but that is in Brawl where one of the characters is specifically designed to be defeated. It's like asking if Mario should be able to best Bowser. Yeah, there's no logical way a giant draconic beast would fall to a simple plumber in a realistic scenario. Also, Meta Knight's size is greatly inflated, much like Kirby's, in the Super Smash Bros. series. They aren't really that big. I think they go up to people's knees if lucky. Realistically, it would just be a simple squish and dead, or a gulp and dead. Really, any onomatopoeia followed by dying would work. Even biff!

4-5) Both valid points. You get an e-cookie.

1) As mentioned at several places on this site, Super Star Ultra comes out September 22nd, 2008. And, unlike the Wii title, it shouldn't be delayed any.

2) The dash attack, having been changed from the previous burning tackle, is now the Break Spin seen in the dash attack of the Yo-yo ability from Super Star.

In truth, I like the American theme song, odd as it sounds. The thing I don't like about it is the terrible lie it tells. It fills me with hurt. Closer to the truth, it should be something along the lines of, "Kirby, Kirby, Kirby, he's sometimes in the show." I mean, really. He's like Captain Planet or Voltron. The show is named after him, but it's some goony punks that you have to endure until the titular character gets a chance to shine. Jeez, old cartoons, Nine Inch Nail references, I'm really out of touch.

He should but don't. For one, that would require something for him to slam. Also, the icon would be very large with the two bodies. Then, there's the catch of what emotion is exactly displayed with slamming something? I say, just pretend that Dead is a Backdropping. Hm. "Backdropping". Yep, no. Nothing sounds horribly wrong with that.

Yes, Kirby would most certainly speak. I would construct the show like the old Super Mario Bros. cartoon and the Kirby mangas since, well, they were great. Rather than have one overlording bad guy, however, I'd want there to be multiple. Why make it so one dimensional? King Dedede can be a jerk at times, but Dark Matter would be the threat, and a real one at that, in other episodes. Have some story arches with Drawcia or the Squeak Squad, why not? I look at it like a comic book based cartoon: the stories are already planned out, just bring them to life.

Much like his rogue's gallery, I'd make his ally's vary, too. Gooey may tag along one day, but he might need Kine's or Coo's help in some tasks, or Ribbon might have dire business that needs tended to on Ripple Star. You know, like in the games. Also, Knuckle Joe would be his potato shaped, doughy self, not that slimmed down version seen in the real cartoon. Hammer pants, for the win!

Have the guy explore Dream Land some, too. It's not all green hills and forest. Jump into Ripple Fields, trek the Sand Canyon, brave the Iceberg. There's so much stuff to see, and it sure is easy to make more.

I think it goes without saying that it would be a Saturday morning cartoon. That time slot really needs some recovery.

It is possible, sure. My take on it is they'd probably be ones to show up again like Meta Knight. Maybe the whole gang will pop up in another title, but it may just be the lead star, Daroach, that will continue to make appearances. Of course, there has been zero games released since Squeak Squad, and you probably should give at least two or three non-remake titles to see if a reappearance is in order. Who knows? Maybe the mice are doomed to the back room of forgotten faces with Pon & Con, Magman, and Burobot.