Kirby

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One tough pink puff.
"First, you draw a circle. Then you dot the eyes. Add a great big smile and presto, it's Kirby!"
—Intro to Kirby's Adventure

Kirby is a pink blobby creature created by Masahiro Sakurai for Nintendo subsidiary HAL Laboratory and the star of his own series of games. He can fly, jump, suck enemies into his mouth, spit them out, or, starting with the second game, Kirby's Adventure, devour them and absorb their powers -- he takes the old maxim "you are what you eat" quite literally. Throughout most of his adventures, he journeys across the land of Dream Land on the planet Pop Star, squaring off against foes such as the dream-crushing Nightmare, an ominous Body Snatcher called Dark Matter, or the greedy penguin King Dedede.

The Kirby games are designed to be easy for young (or beginner) gamers to complete, but to also provide some extra challenges for experienced players, with one of the earlier challenges being Extra Mode in the first game, Kirby's Dream Land, which adds more enemies to the levels and replaces some of the ones from the normal one with tougher ones, with this mode being unlocked with a button combination on the title screen (available from the start, but the button combination isn't displayed in-game until after beating normal mode).

Besides games, Kirby starred in his own anime series, entitled Kirby: Right Back at Ya! [1]. It was licensed by 4Kids! Entertainment, so of course, a lot of the darker elements from the Japanese version were Bowdlerised out, but the dub, retitled Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, was still successful, managing to stay on the air for all 100 episodes. There is also an unrelated Kirby gag manga serialized by Korokoro Comics that has not been licensed.

Masahiro Sakurai retained a lot of creative input on the show. Kirby has also been featured as a regular character in the Super Smash Bros.. series (also created by Sakurai), and as of Brawl, he is joined by recurring series rivals King Dedede (a large bird wielding a hammer who debuted in the very first game, Kirby's Dream Land, as a villainous character, but later became more of an anti-hero or rival to Kirby) and Meta Knight (an honorable masked swordsman first appearing as an ally of Dedede's in Kirby's Adventure who notably refuses to fight an unarmed opponent).

Most of the Kirby games are Platformers, but the series has occasionally dipped into other genres, as well, as highlighted below:

It should be noted that four of these games (Kirby's Dream Land 2, Kirby's Dream Land 3, Kirby's Star Stacker and Kirby 64) were directed by Shinichi Shimomura instead of series creator Masahiro Sakurai and Sakurai has not directed a Kirby game since Air Ride. Shimomura's titles are slower-paced than their counterparts, and various characters introduced in them (Rick, Kine, Coo, Dark Matter, Adeleine) don't appear with major roles in other games.

Not related to Jack Kirby, or Kirby Morrow. It's also not related to Kirby vacuums, (or the vacuum named Kirby) but you're getting closer[4].

The following tropes are common to many or all entries in the Kirby franchise.
For tropes specific to individual installments, visit their respective work pages.
  • Alliteration: Whispy Woods, having appeared in just about every game. Also, almost every world in Adventure, Amazing Mirror, and Return to Dreamland.
  • Action Bomb: Bomber
  • Adipose Rex: King Dedede.
  • Affably Evil: King Dedede. When he isn't trying to clobbah that there Kirby, he is actually helping Kirby to protect Dreamland from a bigger threat (Kirby 64, Kirby's Adventure/Nightmare in Dreamland and Return to Dream Land are excellent examples of this). And sometimes he's just a bystander, too.
  • Airborne Aircraft Carrier: The Halberd
  • American Kirby Is Hardcore: Trope Namer
    • Averted beginning with Kirby Super Star Ultra. Changes in Nintendo of America's marketing division staff might have had something to do with it... although Return to Dream Land is also a return to form.
    • Also averted with Kirby 64 The Crystal Shards, which was released in 2000.
  • And Your Reward Is Colors: The Spray Paint cans in Amazing Mirror and Squeak Squad.
  • Anticlimax Boss: Dark Nebula is laughably easy compared to the battle just before it. 02 is also easier than Miracle Matter.
    • Then, in ‘’Super Star Ultra’’, one of the (mini)bosses met during the storyline or in the Arena is... a mere Waddle Dee!
  • Anti-Villain: Both Meta Knight & Dedede. Meta Knight, for being a Worthy Opponent with a strong sense of chivalry, who usually only fights Kirby to keep him from unleashing whatever ancient ungodly horror is potentially about to screw over the universe this week by accident (except for the one time when he tried to take over Dream Land himself, but that was only because he wanted to change it for the better through a benevolent dictatorship); Dedede for being not really that bad and usually just possessed by aforementioned ancient ungodly horror through no fault of his own.
    • Anti-Hero: occasionally in games what Meta Knight does isn't villainous at all and is merely mistaken by Kirby as such due to poor communication between them and Kirby's misinterpreting of the situation. In Kirby and The Amazing Mirror; he comes across as a straight-up hero who went to save the Mirror World until Dark Mind trapped him, with Kirby (who ended up split into four parts by Meta Knight's Evil Twin), and later in the game the Kirbys fight Dark Meta Knight disguised as the real thing, with the real one pointing his sword toward Dark Meta Knight to destroy any doubt that it wasn't really him after the Kirbys appear to be fighting Meta Knight in the eighth section of the game but tips off the fact that he's really Dark Meta Knight after he forgets to imitate Meta Knight's trait of throwing his opponents a sword to fight fairly.
    • Hell, in the instance where Dedede wasn't possessed by the enemy, he was actively trying to keep it away from the MacGuffin. Of course, Kirby had to mess that up, but at least he kicked Nightmare's ass afterwards.
    • Though, in the original Dream Land, he had his followers steal all the food in Dream Land for no good reason except to be a dick, and in Kirby 64, he takes the crystal shard Kirby needs to save Ribbon's planet, again to be a dick, even if he does decide to help after being attacked by and freed from Dark Matter.
  • Art Attacker: Many bosses; the most well-known is Paint Roller in Kirby's Adventure.
  • Art Evolution: Kirby's face has gotten bigger, while Meta Knight's arms have gotten a bit longer and thinner (leading to the derogatory nickname of "Señor Noodle Arms" in some parts of the fan community).
  • Art Initiates Life: There's Ado from Kirby's Dream Land 3, Adeleine from Kirby 64[5], Paint Roller from Kirby's Adventure, Drawcia from Kirby's Canvas Curse, and Yin Yarn from Kirby's Epic Yarn.
  • Art Shift: Kirby's Epic Yarn features a quirky string/patchwork/fabric-like style, which Kirby utilizes in game (pulling on zippers to reveal new areas, using his arm as a whip, etc).
  • Ascended Extra: Bandanna Dee first appeared in Super Star as the first opponent in "Megaton Punch". In Ultra, he has dialog and appears as a boss (albeit not much of one) in "Revenge of the King" (plus he's the only spectator in the stands during the Masked Dedede fight), and the Waddle Dee opponent in "The Arena" was changed to him. Now he's slated to be a playable character in Kirby's Return to Dream Land.
  • Authority in Name Only: Both in the games and the anime, Dedede is noted to have a castle, lots of guards, great wealth, and a fabulous outfit, but no actual claim to the throne.
  • Awesome but Impractical: The Hammer's up+ Y/B move (the Hammer Flip) in Kirby Super Star subverts this. It's the second most powerful attack in the game, but you're unable to move during its (rather lengthy) startup time, making it risky to use on most normal enemies. However, it's perfect for tearing though bosses in seconds - at least once you learn their patterns - turning this into Difficult but Awesome instead.
    • A straight example would be Fire's back+Y/B attack, the Fireball Inferno. It's the most powerful attack in the game — same damage as the Hammer Flip, and it deals damage at a much faster speed — but your character's immobility, combined with its lackluster range and how hilariously easy it is to be hit out of the attack, means that the only mileage you're getting out of this is on the Computer Virus and Whispy Woods (and Whispy Woods is a joke anyways.)
    • Also, Ghost Kirby. You can actually possess enemies, however it isn't very good for attacking and is completely ineffective against bosses. You can't even climb ladders.
  • Back from the Dead: Zero, Marx, Drawcia, and Magolor.
  • Badass: Meta Knight. Come on... that sword? That cape? That mask? How could he be anything but?
    • Well, once you see his real face, he's just cute. ...But still!
      • That's the point. He gets terrifically embarrassed when his true face is revealed.
    • Meta Knight wishes to have released the strongest warrior in the galaxy, locked away for fear of his power, for the sole purpose of kicking said warrior's ass. Which he proceeds to do. [6] Why? For training purposes. Or fun. Or just to prove he could.
  • Badass Adorable: Kirby. Who could ever disagree?
    • Meta Knight, made more adorable by the fact that he tries to hide it.
  • Badass in Distress: Meta Knight in Kirby and the Amazing Mirror goes off to quell the threat, but is sucked into the mirror world and copied.
  • Banging Pots and Pans: Cook Kirby does this, in the "time to eat" variation.
  • Battle Couple: Lololo and Lalala.
  • Battleship Raid: The Revenge of Meta-Knight subgame from Super Star and its remake, as well as the penultimate stage from Milky Way Wishes.
  • Batman Gambit: Marx and Magolor pull off some rather nice ones in Kirby Super Star and Kirby's Return to Dream Land, respectively. Marx manipulates Kirby to get the wish that grants himself ultimate power. Magolor tricks Kirby into beating Landia so he can obtain the Master Crown.
  • Beat the Curse Out of Him: Waddle Dee, King Dedede, and Adeleine, in Kirby 64 The Crystal Shards.
  • Berserk Button: Do not try to take Kirby's food.
  • Big Badass Bird of Prey: Dyna Blade.
  • Big Eater: Both Kirby and King Dedede; they even race to see who can eat more in the "Gourmet Race" game in Super Star.
  • Black and Gray Morality: You wouldn't think a series this cute would have it, but Kirby and his allies have a talent for making a bad situation worse through their "heroism", and as for the non-supernatural antagonists, see Hero Antagonist and Anti-Villain. There really isn't a perfectly good party. The final bosses, on the other hand, definitely belong on the "black" end of the spectrum. (Marx and Magolor, in particular, are semi-lite magnificent bastards. And then there's Dark Matter and Zero... hoo boy...)
  • Black Bead Eyes
  • Black Hole Belly: Kirby can swallow many things much larger than him.
    • Kirby: Right Back at Ya! and Squeak Squad seem to have made it canon that the inside of Kirby's body is a pocket dimension, making Kirby himself a literal black hole with a stomach.
  • Blackout Basement: Several levels of Kirby Canvas Curse require you to tap lanterns in order for you to see. Some levels in the main platformers have candles to be lit or carried, or light bulb (or just light) powers to utilize. In Kirby's Return to Dream Land, any power with electric or fire properties will extend the range you see in a dark room.
  • Bloody Murder: Zero (in all of its forms).
  • Blush Sticker: Kirby himself, as well as the Waddle Dees and several other enemies.
  • Boss Rush: In every game. Sometimes you have to unlock it, though.
  • Bottomless Pits
  • Breath Weapon: Spitting out air puffs and spitting out enemies and objects into stars since Kirby's Dreamland. Since Kirby's Adventure, fire and ice powers are that.
  • Brick Joke: A case that spans over a decade. In the second game of the series, a minigame let you control a crane machine's claw to snatch Kirbys and gain extra lives. In Kirby Mass Attack, one of the bosses your mob of Kirbys have to fight is... a crane machine's claw!
  • Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: Kirby fights Dark Matter three times. The first two times, he just came back even more powerful later.
  • Brown Note: Kirby's Mic Ability. Justified because apparently, Kirby's tone deaf.
  • Bubbly Clouds: Trope Namer.
  • Butt Monkey: Whispy Woods, no matter what game he appears in, and how powerful Hal make him; gamers always turn him into a Harmless Villain.
  • By the Lights of Their Eyes: Meta Knight while wearing his mask, as well as Magolor.
  • Cape Wings: Meta Knight.
  • Cartoon Bomb: Well, you have a bomb power in several games, and many enemies like to throw these too. Blocks with bombs in them are common too.
  • Character Name and the Noun Phrase: Kirby & The Amazing Mirror
  • Chef of Iron: One of the monsters is a fighting cook, and of course, Kirby can assimilate his skill. Also Kirby's Final Smash in Super Smash Brothers Brawl.
  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Kirby, at one point, had a large supporting cast, including his sidekick Gooey and his many animal buddies: Rick, Coo, Kine, Chuchu, Nago, and Pitch. Almost all of them have gone missing from any significant part of the series and are now relegated to minor cameos, and the series is focusing almost entirely on Kirby, Meta-Knight, and Dedede.
    • Interestingly, this creates a sort of reverse Sonic effect, where characters slowly disappear.
    • The animal buddies get a Shout-Out in Kirby 64 as Kirby's various Rock + Blade forms, and in Return to Dream Land as one of his Stone forms.
    • As noted above, Dream Land 2/3 were made by a different producer, which is why Rick, Coo, Kine, etc., haven't appeared in other games.
  • Collision Damage: Slight change: Minor enemies are also damaged when Kirby runs into them.
    • Minor enemies like Waddle Dees in later games die when they bump into Kirby, even unpowered.
    • Some Copy abilities in Super Star even let Kirby shield himself and damage enemies, even bosses, if they touch him.
      • Blocking damages enemies, even bosses. (It doesn't hurt them very badly, but still!)
    • In Kirby's Epic Yarn, there is no collision damage to enemies and other things unless it's sharp, made out of fire, or they're projectiles.
  • Color-Coded Multiplayer: Air Ride, Nightmare in Dream Land, Amazing Mirror (as long as certain spray paints aren't used), and Return to Dream Land all have color-coded Kirbys available in multi-player.
  • Continuity Nod: In Revenge Of Meta Knight, Kirby caused the Halberd to crash into an ocean. In Squeak Squad, the "Secret Sea" is one of the worlds, and you eventually enter the flooded wreck of the Halberd, still at the bottom of the sea. And then Meta Knight reveals that he's repaired it and flies it into space.
  • Crap Saccharine World: Pop Star, thanks to the fact cute little Kirby's the hero, and the final bosses are horrible beings who attack a sweet, innocent paradise planet. Also, Shiver Star looks like a sweet, winter-themed star on the surface, but if you look closer, you'll see it's a frozen-over planet Earth (complete with a single yellowish moon orbiting it) where there is plenty of man-made technology but no trace of humanity. Although the second level there is a Fluffy Cloud Heaven, so things might've turned out okay.
  • Cutscene: Adventure has one introducing each level. After defeating King Dedede in the same game, a much longer one depicts King Dedede desperately trying to prevent Kirby from putting the Star Rod back because doing so would unleash Nightmare.
  • Cute and Psycho: Scarfy starts out cute, but if Kirby tries to eat it, it goes psycho as in showing off an ugly cyclopean face. Brrr...
  • Dark Is Evil: Dark Matter. Amazing Mirror later brings us Dark Meta Knight and Dark Mind, while Squeak Squad gives us Dark Nebula.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: Gooey. Despite being made of and by Dark Matter, he's just a good-natured goof ball. Also, Shadow Kirby from Kirby and The Amazing Mirror.
    • Meta Knight.
  • Death From Above: Kirby's Stone ability.
  • Defeat by Modesty: Meta Knight just can't keep fighting once his mask is broken.
  • Defeat Means Friendship: In Kirby Super Star, you can relinquish Kirby's powers and reform them into an enemy that uses those powers, who can then be controlled by a second player. This is extremely helpful in getting 100% Completion, but the AI is marginally intelligent enough to do the job.
    • Your entire party (sans Ribbon) in Kirby 64 is also gained this way through mini-boss battles while on Pop Star.
  • Demonic Possession: Dark Matter really likes doing this. Yin-Yarn pulls it off twice in ‘’Kirbys Epic Yarn’’.
  • Detonation Moon: At the end of ‘’Kirby's Adventure’’.
  • Development Gag: Kirby Mass Attack takes place on the Popopo Islands in southern Dream Land. Popopo was Kirby's planned name.
  • Digital Destruction: The Virtual Console release of Kirby's Dream Land 3 changes the background colors in Dark Matter/Zero's Boss Rush stage from yellow, red, and blue to a less-pleasant yellow, orange, and green. Most other games with noticeable graphics edits (i.e. Super Mario RPG) had this done because of increased seizure awareness, but this doesn't seem to have been done for any particular reason.
  • Directionally Solid Platforms: They're present and throughout the whole series, more so in some levels than others. Some you can drop back through again, others you can't.
  • Dishing Out Dirt: Wham Bam Rock in Kirby Super Star and Wham Bam Jewel in Kirby Super Star Ultra.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: Squeak Squad starts with Kirby's slice of cake being stolen. Cue him going on a rampage through the entire country, killing (or at least maiming) everything on his path to retrieve it. Starting with Dedede's castle, just because Kirby thinks Dedede might have taken it.
    • Granted, that is the sort of thing that Dedede would do, so Kirby was actually quite justified in thinking that he was responsible. The revelation that Dedede is innocent serves as the cue for the real culprits to arrive on the scene. Dedede then gets a minor Crowning Moment of Awesome by using Kirby as a bowling ball to knock the Squeaks over.
  • Door to Before: After beating the final boss of the Great Cave Offensive segment in Kirby Super Star, one ends up running from the cave up to the original entrance.
  • The Dragon: Dark Matter, to Zero. Also, Meta Knight played this role to Dedede in ‘’Kirby's Adventure’’; he reprized this role in the anime, becoming a definitive example of a Dragon with an Agenda.
    • As Zero is the core organism of Dark Matter, and all other Dark Matter entities are spawned from it, and all but Gooey are controlled by it, its Dragon is essentially a physical extension of it with a limited degree of free will to operate outside of its direct control. This has interesting implications.
  • Dramatic Unmask: Meta Knight tends to lose his mask upon defeat. He's so cute! And he looks exactly like Kirby, only with white (sometimes gold) eyes, purple feet, and blue skin.
  • Dream Land: It's named for being home of the fountain where dreams come from. A nightmare tries to come through the fountain in Kirby's Adventure, but King Dedede removes the fountain's power source, the Star Rod, to stop it. As a consequence, no one can dream until Kirby puts the Star Rod back.
  • Drop the Hammer: Dedede and Bonkers the gorilla, the latter of which Kirby can inhale for (what else?) the Hammer ability. Hammer is used as one of Kirby's B-button moves in the various Super Smash Bros. games.
  • Dual Boss: Mr. Shine and Mr. Bright
  • Dub Name Change:
    • Mark to Marx
    • Galactic Knight to Galacta Knight
    • Dark Zero to Dark Nebula
    • Mahoroa to Magolor
  • Duel Boss: Meta Knight, of course. With few exceptions, he even gives you a sword if you don't already have one. He refuses to start the fight until you pick it up, in every game except Revenge of Meta Knight. And even then, he'll wait for half a minute, which is very chivalrous of him considering you're both on an airship currently plummeting towards the ocean.
    • In Kirby and the Amazing Mirror, the way you can tell you're not fighting the real Meta Knight is because the impostor doesn't throw you a sword.
  • Early Installment Weirdness: The original Kirby's Dream Land was very different from the later games--Kirby couldn't dash or slide, and while he could suck up, then swallow or spit out enemies, he wasn't able to copy abilities. It also included some bizarre enemies that have not been seen since. That, and the cover art for the game shows him being white. He would take on his trademark pink coloring by the second game, Kirby's Adventure.
  • Easy Levels, Hard Bosses: The bosses are much harder than the levels.
  • Eat the Bomb: What Kirby can do to disarm just about any bomb outside of minigames. And he can probably use it against whoever was throwing explosives around to begin with.
  • Eldritch Abomination: Many final bosses, especially Dark Matter. In a Sugar Bowl setting, it's as odd and jarring as it sounds.
    • Dark Matter is notable in that its core, Zero, is essentially an already Eldritch Abomination's One-Winged Angel form. That's in Kirby's Dream Land 3, whereas in Kirby 64, you skip fighting Dark Matter and go straight to Zero's own new form - you'll see it written above and below as 02 or Zero Two. This is a mistake - that 2 is actually a superscript: 0^2. In other words, you're fighting Zero Squared, or the embodiment of nothingness given an extra dimension. It's white, has blood red wings and gives you a fantastic little moment of Mood Whiplash when you first see the smiley face it aims at you and then watch the mouth open into a blood red eye. Have fun!
  • Elemental Powers/Weapon of Choice: Here's a good list of the powers Kirby has copied.
  • Eleventh-Hour Superpower: If the game features a nightmarish true final boss, Kirby usually manages to acquire a special weapon just in time to face it. An exception happens in Canvas Curse, where it doesn't show up until after Kirby couldn't stop the mysterious evil of the month from cursing Dream Land. And then you get to use it for the entire game.
  • Eternal Engine: Mecheye/Mekkai, the Halberd, NOVA, the final levels of Shiver Star, and Egg Engines.
  • Everything's Better with Monkeys: Bonkers
  • Everything's Better with Penguins: Dedede
  • Everything's Better with Rainbows: The Rainbow Sword.
    • One of Water's attacks from Return to Dream Land (hold down, then press up + 1) produces a rainbow.
  • Everything's Worse with Bears: One of the more recent minibosses is a bear-like creature.
  • Everything Trying to Kill You: Even a knocked-out miniboss can hurt you if you touch him.
  • Evil Laugh: In Super Star's Revenge of Meta Knight:

Ax Knight: Kirby is getting close to the twin cannon.
Captain Vul: Kirby will be torched! Wahahahahahaha!
Sailor Dee: Hahahahahaha!
Captain Vul: Wahahahahahaha! Gahahahahahahaha! Hum.

Ax Knight: Kirby is now approaching Main Cannon #2.
Captain Vul: He'll be burnt to a crisp. Hahahaha!
Sailor Dee: Ahahaha!
Captain Vul: Bwahahaha! Gahaha! ...Hm.

Magolor: Anyway...MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

  • Excuse Plot: Squeak Squad. Your reason for playing the whole game? To get your cake back.
  • Expy: Lololo and Lalala are either distant cousins or younger versions of Lolo and Lala from the Eggerland/Adventures of Lolo series, another popular series created by HAL Laboratory in the NES days.
  • Extreme Omnivore: Kirby, Gooey, and King Dedede (the latter without Power Copying).
  • Eye Scream: Zero in Kirby's Dreamland 3 rips out its iris to attack you.
  • Faceless Eye: Kracko. Big Bad Dark Matter, Dark Mind, Dark Nebula (I'm sensing a pattern here), and Drawcia all also apply.
    • Miracle Matter in Kirby 64 cranks this Up to Eleven, being a twenty-sided dice with eyes on every side. Zero also qualifies.
      • Zero is pretty much the core of Dark Matter. The controller. The eye of the eye.
        • And Zero's alternate form 02, of course.
    • Waddle Doos have this as well.
  • Face Ship: The Halberd, which has Meta Knight's mask at the bow.
  • A Father to His Men: Meta Knight.
  • Feather Flechettes: Kirby's Wing ability in Kirby Super Star, as well as its remake.
  • Fire-Breathing Diner: Kirby's Dreamland, as well as a episode of the anime.
  • Flaming Sword: Kirby 64's Fire + Cutter ability. It's also a BFS that's about thrice Kirby's size.
    • And Squeak Squad's Fire + Sword. Do not use Final Cutter with it in Cushy Cloud, or you'll burn the ground you're falling on (with predictable results.
  • Flunky Boss: Whispy Woods in Kirby 64, and Kracko in most others.
  • Frickin' Laser Beams: Laser, UFO, and the Chuchu + Spark combination in Kirby's Dreamland 3.
  • From Nobody to Nightmare: Instead of the usual Dark Matter-esque Eldritch Abomination, Marx, the final boss of Kirby Superstar, is just one of the tiny, marshmallow-like denizens of Dream Land, who manages to gain ultimate power with an Evil Plan involving Kirby and the wish-granting comet Nova.
    • There's also Magolor from Kirby's Return to Dream Land, a seemingly hapless but friendly alien whose ship crash lands on Pop Star--which turns out to have been part of his plan to control the universe. His final boss forms reference Nightmare, Marx and Dark Matter/Zero, if that tells you anything. Not to mention the background of his battle, which takes place in an alternate dimension, has a hole in which Pop Star is prominently displayed. Magolor happens to be on his way through the alternate dimension to conquer Pop Star, so imagine what would happen if Kirby didn't manage to defeat him...
  • Gameplay Roulette: Super Star.
  • Get Crap Past the Radar : THIS! Kirby Dream Land 2, Level 5-5. NSFW(!). It is very similar to a similarly shaped level layout in Yoshi Island, Level 4-1. Maybe the same pervert/bored programmer?
    • The Extra Boss Zero, in Kirby Dream Land 3 (Who reappears in Kirby 64) is basically a giant eye attacking you with bloody gibs from its limbs, then later explodes in a gory fashion. All the other Final Boss have some sort of Nightmare Fuel, for that matter.
  • Giggling Villain: Marx, Drawcia, and Necrodius.
  • Go-Karting with Bowser: Kirby and Dedede.
  • Good Wings, Evil Wings: Played with and subverted. Meta Knight's cape doubles as your typical evil bat wings, but Meta Knight isn't evil, just the Worthy Opponent. On the other hand, Zero Two has feathered angel wings. He's a very clearly evil Eldritch Abomination. So does Galacta Knight, presumably also evil.
  • The Goomba: Any Waddle Dee that isn't an ally of Kirby, such as the ones in Kirby 64 and Return to Dream Land. In the former, the friendly Waddle Dee is the only one in the game as opposed to also being enemies in the latter; in it the Goomba is a different creature called N-Z.
  • Goomba Stomp: Although, unlike in Mario games, Kirby has to fall from a very great height to do this.
  • Gotta Catch Them All: The Crystal Shards, Rainbow Drops, treasures...
  • Guide Dang It: Collecting some of the shards in Kirby 64 are a bit unintuitive the first time around, even though the game itself does try to give you some hints.
    • One particularly unintuitive shard to retrieve involves using a skill combination that transforms you into stone versions of the Animal Friends from Dreamland 3, keep using it until it transforms you into Rick the hamster, and then climb a wall up towards the shard that is too high to reach it via regular flight. Not something easy to figure, since nothing tells you that said form can climb walls that are rare to begin with. Guide Dang It indeed.
      • Perhaps it's a bonus for people who played Kirby's Dream Land 3... the hamster, Rick, could climb walls in that game, too, and upon playing around with Rock + Cutter, they would probably reckon that the Rick statue could do the same thing. And they'd be right.
    • The location of the secret planet ??? in Milky Way Wishes could pretty much be found only if you look it up, or just fly around aimlessly for no particular reason.
  • Gusty Glade: The series has quite a few places with this, especially in Kirby's Dreamland 3.
  • Hailfire Peaks: Halfmoon in ‘’Super Star’’'s Milky Way Wishes is Jungle Japes in space. Also, Hotbeat is Underground Level mixed with Lethal Lava Land.
    • A level in Dreamland 3 takes you through an apparently arctic volcano.
    • The fourth world of Kirby Mass Attack starts as a Lethal Lava Land, followed by a few graveyard-themed levels, then two levels that ultimately take the Kirbys to Outer Space, then back to the graveyards, and finally to the volcano for the boss.
    • Most of the Orange Ocean zone in Adventure is a mix of tropical islands and underwater levels. The last few levels, however, are cold and have lots of mystical-looking crystals, probably as a prelude to the next zone, Rainbow Resort.
  • Happy Dance: Where Kirby often gains an ability to clone himself.
  • Harder Than Hard: "Insane!/Ouch!" difficulty in Star Stacker.
    • The True Arena from ‘’Super Star Ultra’’.
  • Heel Face Turn: Kirby's allies in Kirby 64 are an ex-enemy, an ex-boss, and King Dedede himself. They were all just possessed by Dark Matter though, and returned to normal after they were defeated.
  • Helpful Mook: Zebon in Dream Land 3 (and later Kirby 64) is classified as an enemy, but all he does is blast you up to reach places you normally wouldn't be able to.
  • Hero Antagonist: Meta Knight. Considering that his motives for opposing Kirby are almost always to stop a Nice Job Breaking It, Hero scenario[8]. Since the skittishness is highly justified on Meta Knight's part, seeing as Kirby does that sort of thing a lot, this trope is a more accurate description of Meta Knight than Anti-Villain.
  • Human Cannonball: In large part of the games, Kirby can enter cannons to be shot away.
  • Human Snowball: Kirby 64's Ice + Ice ability.
  • Hyperactive Metabolism: All of Kirby's healing power-ups appear as food.
  • Idiot Hero: In Kirby's Adventure (and its remake Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land), Kirby thinks that King Dedede is responsible for Dreamland's lack of dreams, but doesn't know that Nightmare was behind all the problems in the land.
    • Also, in Kirby: Squeak Squad, Kirby thinks the treasure chest the Squeaks stole contained his strawberry shortcake, but he didn't know (although Meta Knight did) that the chest was actually the prison of Dark Nebula.
    • Possibly justified in that (A) nobody really lets Kirby (or anyone else in his gang) in on their plans, instead deciding that it would be better to pick a fight to prevent his passage, and (B) Dedede and the other assorted villains really need some work on conveying their noble intentions to others. Seal an Eldritch Abomination in the Fountain of Dreams by removing its power source? Not a bad idea. Entrusting that broken pieces of that Star Rod to people who have problems along the lines of A with Kirby? Not so much. Not telling anyone what you were up to in order to point out that they shouldn't worry, in turn risking that Kirby might think you're up to something bad? Yeah, uh, not a good idea. Using the Fountain of Dreams as your own personal swimming pool for the duration? Okay, Big Guy, we need to have a little chat about how this works.
  • Improbable Use of a Weapon: Bandana Dee along with Kirby with the Spear Copy Ability can spin their spears above their heads and hover in the air like a helicopter (with the spear acting as the helicopter blades), hurting any enemies that hit the part of the blade overhead (like a helicopter, going sideways changes the position of the blade as well).
    • Less improbable, but in Super Star and other newer games except Amazing Mirror the Cutter ability, which is typically used as a ranged attack since it uses what are essentially bladed boomerangs, can also be used melee-style to slice up enemies multiple times while tapping the attack button repeatedly while next to it, with the last blow involving jumping into the air and slamming the blade on the enemy. (The jumping slash ability still appears in Amazing Mirror even though Cutter only has its basic attack in that game; it is the Sword and Smash abilities' up+A move.)
    • The modes where you play as Meta Knight in Nightmare in Dream Land and Super Star Ultra let you trigger switches that Kirby can only press with Hammer or Stone. You can also light fuses with it, which seems improbable, until you remember the fire and lightning based attacks he sometimes uses as a boss.
  • Indy Escape: In a few parts of Kirby's Dreamland 3, you have to outrun several rocks going downhill, although it's one of the slowest examples of this trope.
  • Invincibility Power-Up: The "hyper candy" or "invincibility lollipop" item.
  • Invincible Minor Minion: The Shotzo cannons. Gordos are an odd example as they could be destroyed in the first game but the method for doing so has been left out of every sequel since.
  • It's All Upstairs From Here: The third stage of Kirby's Adventure, the Butter Building.
    • Single-level example: the last stage of Ripple Star from Kirby 64.
    • Another single-level example: the miniboss towers in Adventure/Nightmare in Dream Land in Rainbow Resort and a Continuity Nod and Call Back to it in Return to Dream Land in Nutty Noon.
  • Jerkass: Dedede is this, rather than outright evil.
  • The Jimmy Hart Version: The series makes infrequent use of sound-alike motifs, most prominently the Kirby Dance theme which appears to be based on part of "The Walrus and the Carpenter".
  • Kappa: There's an enemy based on them. They're Cutter-type.
  • Kawaisa: ...until the Mood Whiplash kicks in!
  • Kid Hero: Kirby in the anime is pretty much a baby. His age in the games is rather unclear.
  • Killer Rabbit: Scarfies, they go One-Winged Angel on you after you try to inhale them.
    • Plus Kirby himself, as an extent.
  • Killer Yoyo: Some enemies in some games have them. It's also one of the many things Kirby can use for himself.
  • Koosh Bomb: Almost all explosions are drawn this way.
  • Laser Blade: In Kirby 64, Kirby's Electric + Cutter power is a bright yellow double lightsaber.
  • Laughably Evil: Dedede.[context?]
  • Leave Him to Me: In Super Star, Meta Knight makes everyone abandon ship so he could take on Kirby alone, in one of the hardest boss battles in the series. Then, after he escapes, he comes back after you in a last-ditch attempt to stop Kirby from taking down his ship.
  • Levels Take Flight: The Halberd.
  • Light Is Not Good: Galacta Knight might count, if we actually knew whether he was good or evil.
    • Can't forget Zero Two. He's pure white, and in The Crystal Shards, he goes as far as to have angelic wings and a halo. That's because Zero Two is the spirit of Zero, back from the dead to antagonize Kirby once more, a fact enforced by the Band-aid marking where Zero's eye used to be before it tore itself out of Zero's body, spraying blood everywhere.
  • Lost Forever: In Kirby 64, you're only allowed to fight the Waddle Doo, the possessed Adeleine, and the possessed King Dedede once and only once. After you beat them, these battles do not reappear when revisiting their levels. The only way to fight them again is to start a new file.
    • Thankfully the the same game subverts it in another case, you can appear to miss the Cutscene that plays after defeating Ripple Star's boss without all the shards; if all the shards are collected by the time the boss fight is available (thus making it impossible to do it otherwise), the one that plays when defeating it with all the shards plays and appears to leave a gap where the other Cutscene is, but fortunately defeating the quintessential One Hundred Percent Completion-requiring True Final Boss typical of the Dark Matter Trilogy unlocked by getting finishing Ripple Star this way adds the temporarily missing Cutscene to the Cutscene player after the save file is loaded after the ending.
  • Makiko Ohmoto: The voice behind Kirby since the original Super Smash Bros.[9].
  • Manipulative Bastard: Given that Kirby has the mind of a child, it's not very surprising that several villains would try to take advantage of him.
  • Mask Power: Masked Dedede in Kirby Super Star Ultra. Rocket-fueled hammer sold separately.
  • Mega Neko: Nago, the obese large calico cat.
  • Metroidvania: Kirby and the Amazing Mirror, and the "Great Cave Offensive" game in Kirby Super Star.
  • Mini Boss (Try naming a Kirby platformer that doesn't have at least one.)
  • Mini Game Credits: A very odd example in Kirby and the Amazing Mirror. When you give Dark Mind the final hit in his third and final phase, do you expect him to blow up and the ending to play? No. Instead, the credits roll while you continue to shoot at the boss, and the game keeps track of how many hits you give him. After the credits finish, Dark Mind finally explodes and the epilogue kicks in.
  • Mood Whiplash: Kirby is cute. The world is cute. Even the enemies are cute. And then you run into a final boss that's a giant eyeball. That shoots its own blood at you. And then it tears out its own iris and launches said iris at you like a kamikaze pilot on crack in a last-ditch attempt to take you down. That's just the worst of the Kirby end bosses who look a lot more, well, evil than the rest of the game...
    • Meta Knight's very existence in Dream Land seems to be a perfect example. Then there's his airship that has more weapons than the Death Star.
    • Speaking of Nightmare Fuel, Marx Soul. The scream. Good lord.
    • Kirby Canvas Curse's final level looks like a mixture of something Salvador Dali would puke up and something Picasso would have a nightmare about, rather than the cute, interesting levels expected of a Kirby game. Oh, and the final boss turns into a five eyed screaming ball of paint that can tear pieces off of itself to attack you.
    • Speaking of the other type of Mood Whiplash, you'll get one for beating masked Dedede in Kirby Super Star Ultra.
    • The Crystal Shards has a notable example; the first level of Ripple Star basically mimics the first level of Pop Star. However, as soon as you begin the second stage, you'll be greeted by the darkness-shrouded palace and that creepy music...
  • Monster Is a Mommy: Dyna Blade.[context?]
  • Morality Pet: King Dedede may be greedy and jerkish, but in spite of it all, he seems to genuinely care about his Waddle Dee servants.

"Hey! You can't be mean to my Waddle Dees! Only I can be mean to my Waddle Dees!"

  • Musical Assassin: One of the regular enemies and one of the minibosses. Their powers can be taken.
  • New Game+: Kirby's Dreamland has an extra game mode after beating the regular game once, that turns the game Nintendo Hard by making enemies deadlier, adding a whole lot of new ones, and cutting your health to three hits.
    • Kirby's Adventure also had an extra mode where you couldn't save, and you only had three life max. The rest of the game was unchanged. In the remake, Nightmare in Dreamland, you can play through the game as Meta Knight, again with a 3-hit life bar and the inability to save. This is made up for by Meta Knight being an awesome Badass.
    • Kirby's Return to Dream Land has an EX mode that is unlocked after beating the main mode of the game. While the levels remain largely unchanged, the bosses have been made considerably more difficult. Kirby's health is also reduced by one-third.
  • Nice Hat: Kirby's current ability is often denoted by one of these, ranging from a crown of flames to a pointed hat very similar to another famous swordsman.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Kirby has a bad habit of letting the final boss out by stopping the one before it.
  • Nintendo Hard: Think the original Kirby's Dream Land is too easy? Then try playing Hard Mode on it -- even the most seasoned gamers will be given a run for their money. That's still too easy for you? Try changing the options to giving you no lives and a max of one point of vitality. If you get hit even once, you'll have to redo the entire level over again. Kirby's Adventure followed suit by having an extra mode which cut Kirby's health down to three hit points and took out the save feature -- although its remake Nightmare in Dream Land gave you a save feature in its extra mode, it compensates with Meta-Knightmare mode, which does not have a save feature. That said, neither of them can touch the original game's hard mode in terms of just how insanely frustrating it is. Also, The Arena from Kirby Super Star and The True Arena from Super Star Ultra -- the latter is almost as hard as the original Kirby's Dreamland's hard mode, even with the trusty hammer at your side! Helper to Hero in that game can also get downright nightmarish to play with the weaker characters.
    • Believe it or not, minigames can be like this. Take "Super NES MG 5", for instance. You have to go through all five of the memory-based minigames consecutively. If you get one wrong, then you have to do all five completely over again if you want to get One Hundred Percent Completion.
  • Non-Standard Character Design: Wham Bam Rock in Kirby Super Star is claymation-style, unlike other characters. His design is more conventional in the remake.
  • No Pronunciation Guide: Is King Dedede's name pronounced "Dee-dee-dee", "Day-day-day?" or "Deh-deh-deh"?
    • Dee-dee-dee! Day-day-day? Dee-dee-dee! Day-day-day?
    • The reason for this is that it's supposed to sound like "DDD" -- the letter D is pronounced as "dee" in English but as "day" in Japanese.
    • Also, Zero-Two. There are at least three different variations. "Zero Two" (Zero Tsū) is the official pronunciation, however.
  • Won't Work On Me: Kirby can't inhale Scarfies. If you try, the results can be horrendous.
  • Nostalgia Level: Kirby's Adventure's penultimate level reminisces about Kirby's Dream Land.
    • Also, Kirby 64 intentionally has a lot of things in common with Kirby's Dream Land 3.
    • The entire "Spring Breeze" sub-game of Super Star is a cut-down version of Dream Land. Revenge of the King from Super Star Ultra is a slightly less-stripped down version of Dream Land's Extra Mode.
    • The final world of Kirbys Epic Yarn is Dream Land transformed by Yin-Yarn, featuring arts-and-crafts versions of classic Kirby game elements such as star blocks and Shotzos.
    • The final non-boss level of Nutty Noon in Return to Dream Land is a tower filled with minibosses much like the one in Rainbow Resort in Adventure and its remake Nightmare in Dream Land. Both towers have a hidden entrance above the main one and the expanded soundtrack in Nightmare in Dream Land made King Dedede's theme from Dream Land the level music instead of simply the miniboss theme as in the original version, and this carried over in Return to Dream Land.
  • Not Me This Time: Kirby often goes after King Dedede for whatever evil plot is going on, whether or not he had anything to do with it. Most notable in Squeak Squad (granted, stealing a cake is the sort of thing that Dedede would do - and has done in the past - so Kirby can't really be blamed for blaming Dedede in that case.)
  • Not the Fall That Kills You: In Nightmare in Dreamland, Dedede propels Kirby sky-high to chase after Nightmare. Kirby won't stay up there forever, and if you're not fast enough, you will actually see the ground rise into view...
  • Not Using the Z Word: Dedede is generally considered a penguin by the fandom, and looks a lot like one, but this has never actually been confirmed.
  • Oculothorax: A lot of the bosses in the series follow this pattern. There's Kracko, Dark Matter, Dark Nebula, Zero, Zero-Two, Drawcia Soul, and Dark Mind's second form.
  • One Hundred Percent Completion: Required in Kirby's Dreamland 2 (Rainbow Drops), Kirby's Dream Land 3 (hearts) and Kirby 64 (crystal shards) to unlock the true last boss and the best ending. [10]
  • Only One Name: Every single character![context?]
  • Only Sane Man: Arguably Meta Knight, for (usually) being one of the only people who isn't either an idiot or incompetent (or both).
  • Oxygen Meter: In Mass Attack, the Kirbys do not have their normal scuba masks and the game makes use of this.
  • Palette Swap: The Spray Paint cans and Dark Meta Knight.
    • Milky Way Wishes and Nightmare in Dream Land.
  • Paper-Thin Disguise: Whispy Woods in Dream Land 2.
  • Pinball Spinoff: Kirby's Pinball Land
  • Platformer: Most of the games, though they break from traditional platforming in that Kirby can usually fly.
  • Player Mooks: In Squeak Squad.
  • Playing Tennis With the Boss: Dark Matter's first form in Dream Land 2. Also Drawcia in Kirby Canvas Curse.
  • Point of No Return: In The Amazing Mirror, when you first started a file, there was a series of rooms that contained a few treasure chests and a giant chest that contained the world map. The door that brings you to the main area is a one-way door, and once you enter it, you can't go back again.
  • Power Copying: He didn't start with this power like the former Trope Namer did, and some games drop it from his arsenal, but he certainly gets a lot of mileage out of it when he does have it. He even gets it in Super Smash Bros. (although in that series, Kirby usually has to inhale characters rather than items to acquire their power).
  • Power-Up Food: Lollipops make Kirby invincible.
    • The original Kirby's Dreamland also had "Spicy Food," which lets him spit fireballs.
      • And it had the Mint, which showed up only once and allowed him to shoot an infinite number of air-puff-blasts while still flying. Which turned that boss into a shmup.
  • Powerpuff Girl Hands: Kirby has them.
  • Powerup Mount: Rick the hamster, Kine the fish, and Coo the owl in Dream Land 2; joined by Nago the cat, Pitch the bird, and Chuchu the octopus in Dream Land 3. Also, the helper Wheelie in Super Star.
    • Also, Dedede in 64.
    • Also, all of your co-op partners in Return to Dream Land.
  • Precision-Guided Boomerang: Kirby 64's Cutter ability.
    • In Kirby's Dreamland 3, having the Fire ability and Pitch as a partner allows you to use him as a boomerang fireball!
  • Prepare to Die: Meta Knight says this to Kirby in the English version of the original Kirby Super Star before their duel, which was replaced with "Come meet your doom!" in its Nintendo DS remake.
  • Psychotic Smirk: During the fake Ending of Kirby 64; by the ruler of Ripple star, behind Ribbon's back.
  • Punny Name: {{Kirby 64 Pop Star, Rock Star,}} and Yin-Yarn.
  • Puzzle Boss: The Halberd's Reactor in the Revenge of Meta Knight segment in Kirby Super Star.
  • Quirky Miniboss Squad: The Meta-Knights.
  • Real Men Are Pink
  • Recurring Boss: Many.
    • King Dedede and Meta Knight are the most well known, being major characters, and appearing in nearly every game since their debut, including spinoffs. They are in Brawl for a reason.
    • Whispy Woods and Kracko, who were two of the five bosses in the original game, are right behind those two in number of appearances. Even when the characters themselves don't appear, an Expy probably will, such as King Golem and Mecha-Kracko (duh), respectively.
  • Recurring Boss Template: Half of the bosses in Amazing Mirror are blatantly Alternate Universe counterparts to previous bosses. King Golem is Whispy Woods, Dark Meta Knight is obvious, and the final boss starts off as an Expy of Nightmare before ending up as an expy of Zero.
  • Recurring Riff: Gourmet Race and Green Greens.
  • Reflecting Laser: "Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. (And it bounces off walls, too!)". Also, the Halberd's Reactor Core. (You may have to take advantage of this to get the laser to strike the Reactor itself, which is the only way you can damage it.)
    • In Kirby's Dreamland 3, Kirby gains a chargable beam that bounces off walls when he has both the Spark ability and Chuchu as his partner.
  • Remilitarized Zone: The Halberd and Mecheye/Mekkai.
  • Respawning Enemies: Usually the scrolled-offscreen varation.
  • Ret Canon: Happens several times with material that showed up in the anime. For example, Plasma Kirby (from Super Star) was originally pink, a la Spark Kirby; the anime portrayed Plasma Kirby as having green skin, so when the time came for Super Star Ultra (and Air Ride before it), Plasma Kirby was given green skin.
  • Ridiculously Cute Critter: Kirby and just about everything else that isn't a final boss. Subverted by minor enemy Scarfy, which turns One-Winged Angel when provoked. Defied by Meta Knight, who hides his cute face with a mask and Badass attitude.
  • Riding Into the Sunset: Kirby after sinking the Halberd. In Revenge of the King, Dedede does his walk-of-shame into the sunset accompanied by his still-loyal Waddle Dee subjects.
  • RPG Elements: Parodied in Kirby Super Star with the Computer Virus boss.
  • Roger Rabbit Effect: Featured in these ads for ‘’Kirby's Adventure’’ and ‘’Kirby's Dreamland 2’’.
  • Savage Setpiece: Scarfy, though in some games they will chase you like any other enemy if you get too close to them.
  • Scenery Porn: Kirby games, which are often produced late into a system's lifespan, will try to use the color palette at its greatest, resulting in some very impressive-looking backgrounds.
  • Sdrawkcab Name: TAC.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: Besides the previous mention of Dark Matter, there's Dark Nebula from Kirby Squeak Squad, and Nightmare from Adventure and Nightmare in Dream Land.
    • A Gordo is a black orb with eyes, covered in spikes. They're invincible, and often can float (but only in patterns). They can't, however, break blocks; and the series often likes to present you with side rooms completely filled with blocks and trapped Gordos, with food and 1-ups behind them.
    • Galacta Knight from the Meta Knightmare Ultra mode in Kirby Super Star Ultra.
  • Sequential Boss: The worst offender is the final boss in Kirby and the Amazing Mirror, which has you fight against the second-last level's boss again but with more attacks, then the same Warlock-ish form of Dark Mind four times, with the only reason being to have a different area to fight him in and some power-ups, then a giant eye form of Dark Mind, and then a smaller version of that eye flying away, with you trying to finish it off during the credits. Although, once the credits start, you've already won, and are just playing a scored game of No Kill Like Overkill.
  • Shotoclone: The Fighter ability turns Kirby into one.
  • Shout-Out: Kirby's Sword ability has him donning Link's cap, with a puffball on the tip. And he can shoot beams with it at full health, in a further Shout-Out to The Legend of Zelda. In some games, the sword that comes with it looks almost exactly like the Master Sword.
    • In Kirby's Return to Dream Land, both Kirby and Meta Knight can perform the Spin Attack Link uses from A Link to the Past onwards.
    • In some installments, Meta Knight's sword is named "Master", though it doesn't look like the Master Sword.
    • Fighter Kirby has been able to use Hadoken and Shoryuken, called Star Wave and Rising Break respectively.
    • Yo-yo Kirby seems to be based off of Ness. The background for this ability even has the same background as Earthbound's first menu screen. This is because Kirby and EarthBound were both made by HAL Laboratories.
      • In one of the ghost levels in Kirby Mass Attack of World 4, one of the pieces of background music played is very reminiscent of the Threed section in Earthbound.
    • Dedede makes a shout out to another in-game character (Meta Knight) in the Revenge of The King arc in Super Star Ultra. He gets an intimidating mask and lets Kirby take a hammer at the beginning of the fight (as opposed to Meta Knight letting you have a sword), and his weapon is also significantly better than yours.

King Dedede: Now, Kirby! Arm yourself!

      • Said weapon, a jet-propelled hammer, was first seen in Smash Bros. Brawl.
      • In Revenge of the King, Kabula fires what seems to be Bullet Bills from the Super Mario Bros. series at you during your boss fight with it.
    • In Kirby 64, Spark + Cutter = Darth Maul's double-lightsaber.
    • In The Great Cave Offensive game from Kirby Super Star, some of the treasures Kirby collects are items from other Nintendo series. This is including (but not limited to): Donkey Kong, Metroid, and Fire Emblem.
      • Also from Super Star (and Ultra), you can see Mario characters in the audience of King Dedede's wrestling ring.
      • Plus, occasionally when using the stone power, Kirby will turn into a gold statue of another Nintendo character. He also sometimes turns into a statue of one of the animal helpers from Dream Land 3, a reference to the Rock + Cutter ability from 64.
    • A mission in Kirby's Dream Land 3 has some Metroids show up. At the end of the stage, Samus Aran is there waiting for you. Another stage involves collecting the pieces of a R.O.B.
      • More obscure examples include Donbe and Hikari from Shin Onigashima and Goku and Chao from Yuuyuuki, both being adventure games for the Famicom Disk System.
    • There's an enemy in several Kirby games that is a witch with a hair ribbon riding around on a broom. Her name is Keke, a reference to Kiki's Delivery Service.
    • Kirby has a new Whip ability in the Wii game Kirby's Return to Dream Land, complete with a fedora.
    • "Kirby Master" is a sub-game in Kirby Mass Attack featuring a logo and menu design similar to that of a certain RPG produced by HAL, featuring music from the Kirby series' two senior sound composers.
  • Showdown At High Noon: The Quick Draw minigame from Adventure.
  • Single-Stroke Battle: Parodied in the "Samurai Kirby" minigame in Kirby Super Star and the Quick Draw minigame in Adventure and Nightmare in Dream Land.
  • Slippy-Slidey Ice World: Nearly every single game has one.
  • Snowlems: Chilly.
  • Spell My Name with an "S": Kaboola/Kabula, Mr. Frosty/Mr. Flosty, Combo Cannon/Main Cannon #2, Aqualiss/Aquarius, Cavios/Cavius, Mecheye/Mekkai, Iron Mam/Iron Mom. There's also some confusion on whether or not Ado and Adeleine are supposed to be the same person.
  • Spike Shooter: The Needle ability.
  • Spiritual Successor: Kirby and the Amazing Mirror to Kirby Super Star's Great Cave Offensive segment.
    • Kirby: Mass Attack to Kirby: Canvas Curse.
    • The story mode of Super Smash Bros. Brawl plays a lot like Super Star and 64 - which makes sense, as they were all designed by the same person.
  • Spike Balls of Doom: Gordo is a lively example of it.
  • Spikes of Doom: They make appearances here and there.
  • Stalactite Spite: Explosive coconut variety.
    • Some icy areas (Kirby's Dream Land 2 & 3) also have falling ice stalactites.
  • Stealth Pun: Bubbly Clouds, located just above the (ice cream) Float Islands.
  • Sugar Bowl: Pop Star and the other stars in its general area.

Kirbys Epic Yarn Narrator: It's the perfect little land... if you like that sort of thing.

  • Super Drowning Skills: A large part of the enemies cannot stand water, since it makes them die almost instantly.
  • Super Not-Drowning Skills: Kirby. In later games, he gains a scuba mask when he is under water.
  • Surprise Creepy: In a series where almost everything is cutesy, the final bosses will catch you off guard.
    • Scarfies.
  • Suspicious Videogame Generosity: In many modes in Kirby Super Star, you'll know you're about to hit a boss room when you reach a single room with nothing but Copy abilities and a Maxim Tomato.
  • Tears of Blood: Zero and Zero Two. Enough said.
  • Teleport Spam: Some final bosses tend to do this.
  • Thief Bag: TAC enemies have these.
  • This Cannot Be!: Captain Vul says this in Kirby Super Star Ultra when he reacts to his fellow crew members reporting that Kirby destroyed Main Cannon #2. In the original Super Star, his reaction? "Holy cow! What happened?"

Mace Knight: The main cannon has been destroyed!
Captain Vul: Holy cow! What happened?

Axe Knight: Ahh! Main Cannon #2 was destroyed!
Mace Knight: The cannon's a wreck! We can't use it!
Captain Vul: What?! How could this be?

  • This Means War: King Dedede says this at the beginning of the Normal mode in Kirby's Star Stacker.
  • Throw It In: Kirby's appearance was originally intended to be a placeholder.
  • Too Dumb to Live: Kirby. Kirby. Think for a second... Why would freakin' Meta Knight steal a chest containing cake!?
  • Took a Level in Badass: King Dedede in his "Masked Dedede" incarnation in Kirby Super Star Ultra. It shows in the difficulty level of the fight as well.
    • Everything about the normal King Dedede fight took a level in badass. His appearance, his weapon, his attacks...
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Maxim Tomatoes. Watermelons in the anime.
  • Transformation Sequence: Every time Kirby absorbs a monster with a special power. Averted in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. More elaborate in the anime.
  • Trash Talk: In Kirby's Avalanche, where he is shown to speak full sentences, Kirby loves insulting whatever opponent he is facing, sometimes throwing incredibly lame puns in the mix.

Kirby: You couldn't even hit a barn-sized lightning rod, Kracko!

  • Underground Level[context?]
  • Unexpected Shmup Level: A recurring pattern for the final bosses in the series.
    • The last normal stage of Milky Way Wishes (from Super Star and Ultra) is a side-scrolling shooter, as are the boss fights against Kabula in Kirby's Dream Land (and the Revenge of the King segment of Super Star Ultra), the first form of Nightmare in Adventure, Dark Matter and Zero in Dreamland 3, and Zero2 in Crystal Shards.
    • The final boss of Amazing Mirror is fought in a vertical Shmup style during the credits.
    • Kirby's Epic Yarn features two levels that are partly shmups, and two levels that are fully shmup.
    • Kirby Mass Attack features a sub-game called SHMUP. Guess what the gameplay format is?
    • Kirby's Return to Dream Land gives us the Landia segments.
  • Updated Rerelease: 3D Classics: Kirby's Adventure in the Nintendo 3DS.
  • Victory Cake: Kirby can be seen snacking on foods in celebration at the end of some games (and at the end of every stage in others).
    • Literal Victory Cake at the very end of Squeak Squad, as a gift/apology from the Squeaks.
  • Video Game 3D Leap: Kirby 64 was a presentation upgrade; the game still played on a 2D plane.
  • Video Game Flight: Kirby is one of the few characters who can generally fly anywhere, any time. Don't think you can just fly over everything, though - there are enemies in the skies, and some levels are pretty tight. A few games also have a time limit on how long you can fly, namely Crystal Shards and the Smash Bros. games.
  • Video Game Remake: Super Star Ultra. Also, the Spring Breeze mode of Super Star is a condensed remake of the original Kirby's Dream Land, while Revenge of the King in Super Star Ultra is a somewhat more faithful remake of the original game's hard mode.
    • Nightmare in Dreamland, which is a remake of Kirby's Adventure.
  • Vile Villain Saccharine Show: This series uses this trope all the time.
  • Villainous Glutton: King Dedede.
  • Visible Sigh: Whenever Kirby's flight ability is canceled, either manually or automatically by touching the ground. You can hurt enemies with the puff it makes.
  • Visual Pun: Tacs are cats with the ability to steal your current power-up. They're cat burglars.
  • Walking Head: Kirby, Meta Knight, and most of the enemies are nothing more than heads with feet & arms attached.
  • Wall Master: Fake doors in Kirby's Dreamland 3.
    • Inverted with the Mirra from Amazing Mirror: it resembles a mirror (which are functionally identical to doors in the game), but won't attack when you draw near it, and in fact will actually escape if you don't kill it quickly enough - which you don't want it to do, since it will not leave an actual mirror behind unless you defeat it before it escapes.
  • Warmup Boss: Whispy Woods in every game, with the exception of Amazing Mirror which has an expy in King Golem.
    • He and those in his likeness manage to put up a surprisingly good fight in a few games.
  • Weird Moon[context?]
  • Weirdness Magnet: Dream Land, in its entirety.[context?]
  • When Trees Attack: Whispy Woods.[context?]
  • Worthy Opponent: Meta Knight.[context?]
  • Wrestler in All of Us: Any game with Bugzzy in it. If Bugzzy is absorbed, then all of Kirby's moves become wrestling slams.
  1. ↑ Known as Hoshi no Kirby in Japanese
  2. ↑ actually nine
  3. ↑ Well, 15 games
  4. ↑ He might have been named after John Kirby, the lawyer who defended Nintendo back when Universal Studios sued them over the name of Donkey Kong.
  5. ↑ Both of whom may or may not be the same character
  6. ↑ Or not, since this boss fight, while not Nintendo Hard, is pretty painful the first few times, due to the fact that Galacta Knight is basically a computer controlled, white and feather-winged, extra-badass Metaknight with a lance and shield, making the fight as fun as it is awesome.
  7. ↑ The beasts in question are doves.
  8. ↑ "Revenge of Meta Knight" is an exception, and it's really the only time he has committed an evil act -- and even there, he was really just trying to conquer Dream Land (seriously, why the hell are conquerors invariably seen as villains?), and that wasn't actually a power grab, but a Well-Intentioned Extremist attempt to change it for the better.
  9. ↑ Kirby had a voice in Super Star, where he may or may not have been voiced by Mayumi Tanaka
  10. ↑ And while the best endings for these games are happy in their own right, the alternative endings are basically distilled Nightmare Fuel, especially in Kirby 64.
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