Kirby Mass Attack

More Kirbys, more power.


The fourth Nintendo DS game of the Kirby series, Kirby Mass Attack (known as Atsumete! Kirby or Gather! Kirby in Japan) is yet another spin-off title, this time featuring a Lemmings-esque style of gameplay rather than the classic Mega Manning found in most Kirby games.

The game also features several minigames, which have cameo appearances of characters from previous Kirby titles.

The central plot revolves around Necrodeus, the Big Bad of the game who splits Kirby into 10 smaller Kirbies while the original Kirby is sleeping. Necrodeus manages to kill all the Kirbies save one that escaped alive. The lone Kirby then goes off on an adventure to save Dreamland and fight Necrodeus to reunite himself once more. In the meantime, Kirby is joined by the returning Squeak Squad, and Daroach, their leader, helps Kirby by giving him hints and general tips along the way.

The game was released in America on September 19th, 2011, in Japan on August 4th, 2011 and in Europe on October 28th, 2011.

Tropes used in Kirby Mass Attack include:
  • One Hundred Percent Completion
  • Abnormal Ammo: This game has a tank vehicle which shoots out live ammunition.Small-sized, pink ammunition...
  • All There in the Manual: Daroach is the only one who provides enemy names, as well as backstory for the islands and the Skull Gang, if you talk to him on his ship.
  • American Kirby Is Hardcore: A larger portion of the Kirbys on the North American boxart are either attacking or have furrowed brows compared to the Japanese boxart, but there are still angry eyes on both.
  • Apes in Space: Some gorilla-like oohroos haul a next level-opening switch onto a spaceship and take off with it. To retrieve the switch, the Kirbys must infiltrate the apes' terrestrial headquarters, find their super secret spaceship blueprints, and assemble a their own functioning starship. The advanced technology is remarkable considering it is all researched, planned, and built by some Mooks who die in one and a half seconds of pounding.
  • Ash Face:
    • Electricity does this to Kirby.
    • Letting the timer run out after being set on fire results in one of these. A second later, the affected Kirby disintegrates.
  • Asteroids Monster:
    • Giant jellyfish.
    • The shoot'em up minigame has more of these enemies including meteoroids.
  • Awesome McCoolname/Meaningful Name: Necrodeus literally means "Death God".
  • Back from the Dead: Kirby can save some of his clones from dying if he can grab them quickly enough. Also there's a Boss Rush at the end of the fourth world that has several resurrected bosses, and the final world which has the four world bosses back for another battle. All of this makes perfect sense considering that the main enemy Necrodeus is a Death God.
  • Badass Adorable: Kirby, especially now that he has ten Fun Size versions of himself to save the day. It's practically cuteness overload!
  • Big Eater: Kirby, of course. It's actually mandatory to eat a lot of fruit to gain more Kirby clones.
  • Blackout Basement: There are some of these levels and with two variations: One where only light comes from sources and the other one where light goes with flashes.
  • Boss Rush: The penultimate stage in Level 4 has harder versions of some minibosses, and the fifth level in its entirety before the final boss is this for the previous 4 bosses. And getting every single medal makes Daroach give you a special "Survival Rush" mode and then leave forever.
  • Butt Monkey: Beanbons are frequently the target of many hazard demonstrations.
  • But Thou Must!: Daroach asks you if you'll collect the medals for him. If you say no, he simply comments on your sense of humor and reiterates his "request".
  • The Cameo: In addition to the below mentioned Canon Immigrants, some characters not normally appearing in this game appear in sub-games, such as typical Kirby enemies, HR-D3 (which ended up as a proper Kirby platformer boss in Kirby's Return to Dream Land), Meta Knight, Nightmare, and none other than Dark Matter, in his first appearance outside his trilogy of games (i.e. Dream Land 2, Dream Land 3, and Kirby 64 The Crystal Shards).
    • Dynablade makes an appearance as a special move in Kirby Quest, as does a colored-in Kirby Tank from Kirby's Epic Yarn.
  • Canon Immigrant: A few characters from the Kirby: Right Back at Ya! anime such as Escargo(o)n and Customer Service make cameos in the game.
  • Chain-Reaction Destruction: Bosses, minibosses, larger enemies and some other objects are destroyed like so.
  • Circling Birdies: This happens when Kirby is stunned.
  • Clown Car Grave: As to be expected of some of the Big Boo's Haunt levels.
  • Continuity Porn: The mini-games feature a lot of returns for old Kirby enemies, as well as canonizing a handful of anime-exclusive characters.
  • Corridor Cubbyhole Run: One of the desert levels has a very dense wind periodically occurring and cover must be taken from it.
  • Creative Closing Credits: One can speed up the credits reel.
  • Development Gag: The game takes place in the Popopo Islands. Popopo was the original name for Kirby during the development of the first game.
  • Determinator:
    • After losing in a fight to the Big Bad, Kirby still goes off to fight him once again.
    • When a Kirby takes a hit, he turns blue. When he takes another hit, the Kirby dies and floats up to heaven... At least, he would, if it weren't for another alive Kirby being able to launch himself towards the dead Kirby's soul, drag him down, and bring him back to life.
  • Divide and Conquer: Necrodeus utilizes a rather unique version of this in the intro: he splits up Kirby into ten clones, with each having only a small part of the complete Kirby's power. Without his special abilities, Kirby was helpless against Necrodeus, allowing the skull-faced fiend to destroy the Kirbys one by one. Necrodeus would have won then and there, if one Kirby hadn't escaped.
  • The Dragon: Skullord, he's a greedy pig who Necrodeus granted some of his powers to. He rules over some of the Skullys.
  • Duel Boss: One of the challenges requires to defeat Dedede with only one Kirby.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: The Kirbys encounter Big Birdee in the first stage, and then fight her in a later stage. Then she becomes an ally to the Kirbys in an even later stage.
    • Kirby Quest has one, too, but in regards to further in the series itself rather than further within the game. The final boss of chapter two is HR-D3, which appears as a typical Kirby boss in Kirby's Return to Dream Land's Extra Mode (its hard mode, much like the extra modes of Kirby's Dream Land and Kirby's Adventure). However, the insignia on its chest on Return to Dream Land is not King Dedede's sigil as in Kirby Quest, but a different symbol.
  • Electric Jellyfish: Cube-shaped jellyfish produce electricity.
  • Elite Mook: Skullions are this to Skullys.
  • Expy:
    • Necrodeus looks a lot like Nightmare from Kirby's Adventure.
    • World 2 has enemies which resemble Thwomps from the Super Mario Bros. series.
    • Big Birdee is very similar to Dyna Blade. With babies that need to be helped and Heel Face Turn as well.
  • Fat Bastard: King Dedede.
  • Flash of Pain
  • Giant Mook: A lot of enemies have a larger variation of them.
  • Giant Hands of Doom: Necrodeus's first phase. Also quite literally in the tower stage of Volcano Valley, where these gigantic stone hands manifest out of nowhere and try to pummel your Kirbies.
  • The Goomba: Beanbons, the turnip-like enemies, fill this role in this game.
  • Hailfire Peaks: Since there's only four main islands/worlds in the game, each one has two or three different Video Game Settings:
  • Heel Face Turn:
    • Daroach and the Squeak Squad are aiding Kirby. Not all that surprising, as they were remorseful at the end of Squeak Squad. They're thieves, not villains, especially when compared to the Skull Gang.
    • Big Birdee becomes an ally to the Kirbys after they bring her babies back to her.
  • Helpful Mook:
    • The sentient tiny raincloud. Although it occasionally strikes with lightning, its rain can make fruit-bearing and enemy-crushing plants grow out of the ground.
    • Certain aquatic enemies attack from beneath Directionally Solid Platforms, breaking steel blocks and pushing medals up from below inaccessible areas.
    • The Birdees become this after Big Birdee's Heel Face Turn.
  • Human Snowball: Kirby is a victim at one point. The more Kirbys, the bigger the snowball.
  • Inexplicable Treasure Chests: These contain a single coin.
  • Interface Spoiler: Not in the main game, but Kirby Quest. If you beat the subgame without a perfect, you still unlock the song in Dark Matter's First phase, "Strongest Sword". The only sword there is one of his attacks. Guess what the said sword is?
  • Invincible Minor Minion: Mummbons, in addition to Gordos.
  • Law of One Hundred: With fruits. Fill the meter to get either another Kirby or a load of bonus points.
  • Leitmotif: Necrodeus has one.
  • Limit Break: As shown in this video, if you get a perfect score on Stage 4 of the "Kirby Quest" subgame, you get challenged by Galaxia instead of Meta Knight. If you beat it, you can use the sword to defeat Dark Matter in one hit.
  • Man-Eating Plant: The fourth world has a few of these.
  • Metal Slime: There are golden enemies that are quick to flee. Killing these will result in filling out part of the checklist.
    • The Kirby Quest sub-game has more typical examples (being that its combat plays like a turn-based RPG), in that some enemies holding Maxim Tomatoes will give more experience than usual and the tomato will revive fallen allies for free. If an attack misses, however, they flee.
  • Mission Control: Daroach acts as this, giving the Kirbys advice and updating them on the situation at hand.
  • Nintendo Hard: Completing the game perfectly, especially considering one of the achievements involves beating every single boss and level without taking any damage! Most levels aren't too tough in this regard, but then you get to the last level of the fourth world and then you see just how tough this game truly is.
  • No Fair Cheating: Taking a goal shortcut will result in getting no star for the stage.
  • Oxygenated Underwater Bubbles
  • Oxygen Meter: This is one of the few Kirby games which has one.
  • Product Placement: One of Daroach's general tips promotes the Nintendo 3DS.
  • Public Domain Soundtrack: Several levels in Sand Canyon borrow riffs from, fittingly, "The Streets of Cairo".
  • Quicksand Sucks: Mainly in the second world and sparingly elsewhere.
  • Recurring Riff: World map themes of all worlds are similar.
    • The title screen theme pops up in several places across the soundtrack.
  • Roar Before Beating: Freezy Rex, the ice dragon.
  • Sand Worm: There are a few varieties but a segmented version with a single eye and curved jaws may stand out.
  • Scoring Points: Individual scoring for each level.
  • Sequential Boss: King Dedede and Necrodeus.
  • Shifting Sand Land: The second world has a few levels taking place in the desert environment.
  • Shout-Out: The sub-game Strato Patrol EOS plays a lot like a typical Cute'Em Up, mostly Twinbee.
  • Shows Damage: Some of the stronger enemies, bosses, and blocks show damage. Some show cracks, and some change color palette when damaged.
  • Soundtrack Dissonance: Stage 10 of Sandy Canyon has the Kirbys having to pass through by removing the plug in the sand. For the rest of the level, they have to outrun the rising sand. The first room has typical desert music, but you'd think that the larger areas after it, since they require outrunning sand they could sink in to their death, you'd think it would have intense music, right? Nope -- the music for the rest of the level is "Night Desert," a calm and peaceful song that plays in calmer desert areas, except for this exception to the "calmer desert areas" rule.
  • Spike Balls of Doom: In this game, a few enemies can carry and throw these. Of course, series staple Gordos are also present.
  • Spikes of Doom: They show up in some of levels but aren't numerous.
  • Stalactite Spite: Many icicles in ice stages wait patiently for the player to arrive.
  • Stealth Pun: The game's overseas name (Kirby: Mass Attack) could refer to Kirby: Mouse Attack, the name Kirby: Squeak Squad is known by in Europe.
  • Suspiciously Cracked Wall: These contain doors.
  • Title Drop: Daroach has one in one of his hints, saying that you should "mass attack" larger enemies to defeat them.
  • Treasure Is Bigger in Fiction: Pretty large coins are lying around there.
  • Turns Red: Most of the bosses and minibosses.
  • Unexpected Shmup Level: Other than the subgame, 4-10's second half, kind of.
  • Vile Villain Saccharine Show: In Kirby tradition, Necrodeus fills this role.
  • Weakened by the Light: One of the shadowy monsters turns into a scared skull when exposed to the light.
  • Wingding Eyes: The boxart for the game shows Kirby with blue star-shaped highlights in his eyes.
  • Yellow Lightning, Blue Lightning: Lightning and electricity in this game is yellow.
  • Zerg Rush: Essentially, the entire game.
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