#got kirby and the forgotten land today... and also a Big Kirby

[amegeddon]

My drawing tablet died but I wanted to draw Kirby so I have thrown him into a pleasant purple room via my mouse.

[laverrepalette]

kinda odd theory but still: what if "iron18" is a switch 2 edition of fire emblem: three houses

I have wondered so much what Iron18 is and why they just WONT show it to us. Engage had been done for awhile before release, its literally Fire Emblem's 35th birthday today and they still will not tell us anything thats not a mobile game update even after the Switch 2 direct

The Switch 2 direct was moreso about power and big reveals- Street Fighter 6 and FF7 and FromSoft games, and the only Nintendo stuff was huge IPs like Mario and Donkey Kong, a tech demo, and the reveal of a new Masahiro Sakurai game, mainly just BIG headline stuff.

I wanna believe Fire Emblem wasn't shown here bcuz it's just not as big, but at the same time, a FE4 remake would've been an amazing show of power and also potential use for mouse controls! It really made no sense to not reveal it in the Switch 1 or 2 directs... unless it just does not exist

So, I've got a theory!

We know iron18 exists between 3H and Engage as some sort of game made between these two. However, the fact that we've gone so long with no news has me kind of imagining it isn't something big and new

So, I really think iron18 could be a Switch 2 edition of Fire Emblem: Three Houses!

Nintendo has really pushed and really likes Engage- it was shown off in game card sharing, listed as one of the first backwards compatability Switch 2 games, shown as one of the games in the Switch 2 storage space showinng, and is confirmed to be on Nintendo Music soon!

Because of all of this, I don't really think Engage will get a Switch 2 edition. Nintendo has shown it off so much but hasn't flat out gone "btw this game will get an enhanced switch 2 version"

But what Nintendo hasn't talked about in awhile is Three Houses- to be honest I think Nintendo prefers Engage over Three Houses (it got a lot more merch and advertising overall aside from Smash Bros, most of 3H's merch was made when Nintendo realized "oh wait ppl like this we can milk it). I honestly think they expected 3H to do poorly and Engage be the big thing, which was the EXACT opposite of what happened

So I know I kinda just gave reason to why this wouldn't exist, but Intelligent Systems is the one making these games not Nintendo!

I think because of Three Houses' massive popularity, its in the same situation as Kirby & The Forgotten Land. It isn't the newest game in its series, but it sold so incredibly and is so beloved, why not do something with it?

I also think 3H would benefit a lot more than Engage from a Switch 2 Edition! Not to mention it sold far better, so I believe from a business standpoint it'd be the better choice to upgrade (like Kirby Forgotten Land)! I personally love 3H's nostalgic visuals, but you could enhance visuals, fix loading times, add more quality of life, add mouse controls.. and maybe even new content?

Now that Three Hopes is out, imagine if they actually added characters from Three Hopes to Three Houses to vary White Clouds from its Blue Lions focus? (ie: a golden deer only white clouds chapter that features holst, or a black eagles white clouds chapter where you beat up count varley)

Overall I do hope we get a new Fire Emblem game REALLY soon, but this is kind of my theory for why we still haven't seen iron18, and I think it'd be great for a Nintendo masterpiece like this to get such a refreshment!

[mysmashplaythroughs]

I see em up ahead. Let's Rock and Roll!

Another post so once again I'm doing an off-topic one. Admittedly making this post was partially my motivation to finally finish that previous post. The reason being of course tomorrow we'll finally get official details of the Switch 2. As I said before, whilst I am interested in the console itself, what interests me far more is seeing what games are coming up. The Direct tomorrow wasn't the only news however since we got a Direct last week for the original Switch as likely the final Switch 1 exclusive Direct. I'll admit it wasn't one of my favourites, but as is often the case with Directs I feel for some people if there's something specific there it'll be 'one of the best ever' and I know plenty of people who love Tomodachi Life. I was pleased to see it myself, it's just not a franchise I get particularly excited for. Perhaps the bigger thing to me is despite the Direct we still haven't really had anything new added to the specific release calender, what with a lot of games in the Direct still being a vague '2025' and '2026'. There was that new Nintendo Today app on mobile which I feel is such a Nintendo move, I think it's pretty cool but making it so you can't simply look at an archive of articles for things you missed and they disappear if you haven't looked at them that day is such a crappy choice I can't really defend. I love the idea of getting new artwork such as small comics as well as profiles of characters there so it's a real shame they have to make it so needlessly limited. Anyway, I guess the main thing for this blog is so far there wasn't really anything announced at the previous Direct that will change anything on my list, no games that made a character playable for the first time, brought in some specific outfit from Smash or simply made one of the games on my list more accessible. Still, of course I consider it all a starter before the main meal tomorrow, and at an hour long with two Treehouse Live sessions following it, I'm excited to see what's coming.

My life situation has changed since I posted last, I mentioned getting a job and so far it's been going very well. I do realise however I've gotten lucky with my placement and I could be moved to a position I'll find far worse, still currently things are good. Also, despite now having less time I've actually managed to achieve a lot when it comes to my list. So far I've got almost as long a list of games I've beaten this year as last year, and since we're only in April I'd consider that a big achievement. I guess it's best to mention that of those games a lot of them were shorter ones, I still haven't played through Tales of Symphonia yet for example, however I did got back and play through some games I'd skipped over before such as Princess Peach Showtime and Kirby and the Forgotten Land. I won't review every game I've gone through, but Peach Showtime was I thought a lot of fun with my only issue with the game being how if you miss a Sparkle Gem in a stage you most likely will have to replay the whole stage from scratch, which wouldn't be as bad if it weren't for the stages often having unskippable text you have to wait for. It honestly was the only thing that I really found awful in the game with the rest of it being a lot of fun. Kirby and the Forgotten Land on the other hand was a great game, I'd heard good things and it was definitely one of the best Kirby games out there. I didn't initially have it on my list, however I came to realise it's actually the only game in the franchise where Kirby can wear a mask of Meta Knight (the only other he wears a small version on the side of his head instead of the full mask like in Smash) which made me put it on my list for Kirby's hats. Besides those games, I also made some progress on my list of games for Mii costumes. I skipped over a couple of really long ones for now such as Tales of Symphonia, Persona 3/4 and Monster Hunter, but I played through a fair few difficult games such as Cuphead and Undertale's genocide run. When I reached Fallout Tactics I realised that was going to be a tough game to play which was when I decided to go back to games I skipped.

Following this however I decided to do something different with my list, what I'm sort of thinking of as "The Great Replay". In this case I am returning to every game I've beaten so far on my list to have a bit of a play around with them. In cases where the game's somewhat open I'm revisiting various areas in the game just to wander around and possibly fight an enemy or two, in other games such as F-Zero I've been playing through a Grand Prix and in ones like Star Fox I've played through a couple of levels again. However, one aspect of this I've decided to do is where possible, if a game is now on Switch Online and I originally played it on Wii U or something I've been trying to complete them on Switch. I don't plan to do this for everything as games like Fire Emblem would take ages, but I have beaten a couple of games such as Earthbound, Ocarina of Time (which I'd already played halfway through so decided to finish) and Metroid Zero Mission. It's been a lot of fun and allowed me to get screenshots I was lacking for games I already beat. I must admit, playing some again there are things I realised were way bigger of a deal for me than I remembered when writing my posts for them, the Water Temple for example in OOT I always tended to say 'wasn't that bad' but this time I honestly found it really frustrating, I can't remember why right now but I remembered looking back at my post and wondering how I forgot how irritating various factors were in it, and it wasn't even just having to swap on the Metal Boots. There are some games I'm also holding off of since I'm hoping they might get an actual rerelease sometime soon.

Given this is the first new console launch since I started this blog, I might make a follow up post to this tomorrow when we've seen what's shown. My biggest hope personally is there'll be stuff I can add to my list shown, games that make characters playable for the first time (still holding out for Dark Samus to somehow be playable in Prime 4, maybe in a multiplayer or side-mode) as well as rereleases of games that are almost impossible to track down or I just simply want to see remade such as Kid Icarus Uprising. I want to finalize my wishlist here for tomorrow's Direct I suppose, some of this is based off of rumours and other stuff is based off of simply what I want to see. Firstly I want to see the next main series Mario game and the next Zelda. I think both are possible, whilst Zelda I doubt will be anywhere close to ready, I could see them do a teaser like they did for Breath of the Wild originally. I'm not someone who's against Breath of the Wild and the games related to it, but I do want to see something all new from Zelda now, so far every new main Zelda game has been a pretty drastic change from the previous one, Ocarina to Wind Waker, WW to Twilight Princess, TP to Skyward Sword and then SS to Breath of the Wild. I'm very interested to see what visual style we see this time. Next up are remasters/remakes, I've said on here before but I would love to see Kid Icarus Uprising in a form that finally makes the controls not so convoluted. Fire Emblem Echoes Holy War, I just want to see this finally happen, maybe all the rumours about it were completely wrong and it's not happening, but sort of like in the lead up to a Pokemon remake there are just so many things pointing to it happening, from how much the cast have been shown in Fire Emblem Heroes to Sigurd being somewhat prominent in Fire Emblem Engage, I think it's time to see it. I've said before my dream is to see it with a remake of Thracia also part of the game or possibly DLC later down the line. There's games I'd be happy to see just get ported such as Prime 2 and 3 as well as Twilight Princess HD and Wind Waker HD. My wildcard hope for ports would be Punch-out finally being brought over, it's one of my favourite games and the idea of being able to just throw it on whenever is really appealing to me, especially if they finally made Doc Louis's fight available worldwide. Finally one I don't expect here is some sort of Pokemon Classics pack, I think I went over this before so I won't go on too much about it, but yeah I really want to see them make the older games available on Switch, however I can't see it here since it'd likely be at a Pokemon Presents if it's possible at all. I could see it maybe next year as I believe it's a big anniversary date for the series.

I always find it hard to think of stuff completely new that I hope for, I've said in the past about something they could be really creative with like an Ice Climber game which expands a ton on the really limited concept of climbing a mountain to add all sorts of off the wall events and locations as well as bizarre characters. Star Fox I want to see something done by someone like Next Level Games, I feel like they'd be a good fit to do something new and interesting with the series, it's one I feel has so much untouched potential as a big fan of the old Star Wars Rogue Squadron games, I'd love to see a game that has all sorts of ships you can fly and all sorts of planets to visit. F-Zero I feel it's finally the right time to see something new from especially after how well received I believe 99 was. Personally I'd love to see something that leans into a lot of the more comic book style I remember with F-Zero X, where the character portraits looked right out of a comic book. Some smaller games I'd like to see are perhaps since Mages did in my opinion a great job with Famicom Detective Club, I'd love to see them tackle some of the other obscure 'Adventure titles' from the Famicom, something like Shin Onigashima or Yūyūki which are on my list but I have no idea how I'm going to approach when I get to them would be of a great help to me. I suppose I should also mention some things I personally don't want to see, one which is heavily rumoured is Breath of the Wild getting an enhanced port/remake. I feel it really is time to move on from Breath of the Wild now and the idea of playing through the game again really doesn't appeal to me, especially with Tears of the Kingdom taking place in the same world, it just is too much at this point to me. I'm not particularly fond of the idea of an Ocarina of Time remake either that I've seen rumoured. We do have the only seemingly confirmed game so far (maybe it's a tech demo but I really doubt it) Mario Kart (9?). Honestly the only hope I have for this game is that there'll be skins, mostly because, yes I admit I'm not too happy about Donkey Kong's redesign. As a huge fan of the Rareware games, it really does feel like a distancing from everything I loved about the Donkey Kong Country games, and admittedly it makes me concerned for an actual new Donkey Kong game. I do find it slightly bizarre as well they've chosen to do this despite opening the new Donkey Kong theme park using his original design. I'd be absolutely fine with it if it's a skin for DK and he also has his Rareware look, but yeah we'll have to wait and see. I admit it also makes me a bit concerned about the next Smash Bros, I've always loved how the series feels like you're seeing the original games translated into Smash, so if DK for example suddenly has this new design as the only option, it'll make him stick out when put into stages based on the Rareware games for example. With that said again I'd be fine with it being just an optional look for him, even if it was the main one having the option makes things fine for me. I won't go too much into the next Smash Bros beyond that, at this point I feel it best to just wait and see what happens.

Finally, this is going off of some rumour that didn't build much traction and sounded way too good to be true, so I definitely don't expect it, but I would love to see a game like Project X Zone focused on Nintendo characters. I think so many have dreamed since Smash of a story based Nintendo crossover game that it's probably one of the biggest 'dream come true' type things they could do. Of course how it plays and other stuff will be very important to it, but just the idea of it is such a dream to me it might honestly make me reconsider my whole list as to whether to incorporate it into the whole 'Smash series' I'm covering since it would be doing essentially the same idea. If it was worked on by some Monolith staff similar to the original Project X Zone games I'd also be really interested to see things like Xenoblade crossing over with Zelda for example. Anyway, that's it for now, I'm planning to put the stream on my PC early tomorrow, close everything else (Discord, other browsers) and hopefully get home from work (where I'll be when it's live) and be able to watch the Direct without seeing any spoilers for it. Might make a post tomorrow or over the next couple of days, but it's very exciting times ahead for Nintendo stuff. I'll also go more into what I have actually planned for this blog in the next post as I realise I've barely mentioned it. Anyway, see you all on the other side of the Direct.

[deafeninggardenerpanda]

It was morning. Factory Dedede was closed once a week. When it was, President Dedede would not come out of bed until after noon, but today was different. President Dedede got up early and got ready in preparation for another day of gear searching.

"I wonder if I should go to the eastern district today. I wish I could find even one clue." He put on his hat and a rucksack with a magnifying glass and map in it. Just as he was about to head out, someone knocked on the back door. A loud voice was heard.

"Morning! Good morning, President Dedede!"

"Who is it? Noisy. The factory is closed." President Dedede frowned and opened the door. There stood a small person wearing a large hood and holding a trunk.

"Hm? I’ve seen you before ... " he tilted his head and tried to recall.

"Good morning! I’m Magolor, I sell medicine."

"Oh, that's right." Once, in the past, Dedede ate too much ramen and gave himself a stomachache. Magolor’s medicine helped him cope with the severe pain. "I don’t need medicine. It doesn't hurt anywhere," said President Dedede, however, Magolor clung to the door when he tried to close it.

"I didn't come to sell medicine. I came to tell you a big story." 

"A big story ...? "

"It's about the gears." 

President Dedede’s eyes widened. "Eh? You’re also looking for the gears?" 

"Uh-huh! I know where they are." 

"What!?"

"However, I can’t get them by myself. I’m looking for a partner."

"A partner ... " 

"President Dedede, be my partner!"

President Dedede looked down at Magolor. He didn’t understand why Magolor would rush in so early in the morning, on a holiday, no less, to suddenly ask him to partner up. The usual President Dedede would yell, "Don't be silly!" and turn him away, but the story was different when it came to the gears. He was a little lost, but nonetheless ... 

" ... Come inside. Let's hear more details," he said in a small voice.

"Uh-huh!" Magolor set his trunk down in the middle of the room and sat down on it. President Dedede pulled up a chair and sat down facing him.

"You’re talking about the gears of the ancient machine found in the diamond mine, right?"

"Yup, but my motivation is the prize those gears grant." 

"You said you know where the gears are? Why do you know that?" 

"I just happen to know by chance." Magolor deflected the question and continued. "I want to give you a hint. I want you to find the gears, President Dedede. The prize money, let’s split it in half."

"Hmm ..." He didn't know what Magolor was thinking, but the story didn’t sound bad. President Dedede nodded. "Alright. If you really know where the gears are, I'll be your partner." 

"Wow, thank you! With this, the prize money will be ours!" Magolor was in high spirits.

"So, where are the gears?" Dedede asked.

"One of them is at the clock tower."

"The clock tower? The tall tower in the west district?" 

"Uh-huh. The gear is sealed at the clock tower's precipice."

"Why is that ...? "

"In the old days, it was one of the magic guild’s towers, according to the research I did."

"The magic guild? But there are no wizards in this town." 

"A long time ago, there were lots, and the guild tower was the perfect place to seal the magical gear, however, the magic tower fell into shambles as time passed. After that, the clock tower was built, and the gear was forgotten by everyone."

"But, the guard. The guard should know every corner of the clock tower. Why haven't they found the gear, after all this time?"  

"The sealed gear cannot see it with the naked eye." 

"Naked eye ...? What do you mean?" 

"Magical eye drops are necessary to see it." Magolor opened his trunk and took out a small bottle.

"So, if you use these, the gear will be visible? Then, it’ll be easy to find ... No, wait." President Dedede folded his arms and thought for a moment. "Before that, we need to think about how to enter the clock tower. The guard watching the entrance—those that have no business there will not be allowed to enter."

"Even if you can’t get in through the entrance, there are other ways," Magolor whispered mischievously. "You just have to be able to fly."

"Fly? You, you’re a bad guy, Magolor. But where should we break in?" 

"From above."

"Above?" 

"You have an airplane, right, President Dedede? Use that to fly above the tower."

"Hmph ... I see." He laughed. "You intended to do that from the beginning." 

" ... Eh?"

"I guess you needed an airplane, so you came up with the idea of making me your partner?" President Dedede saw right through Magolor’s plan. Magolor was in dismay. 

"Such ... Such cleverness ... " 

"Heh, anger isn’t good, but there are others who have airplanes." President Dedede cleared his throat and said, "For example, you must’ve heard of Kirby ... " 

"Kirby? No no no, Kirby, not at all! This is news to me!" Magolor shook his head exaggeratedly.

"Huh, that's right," Dedede smirked. "His maneuvering skill is also quite good." 

"Kirby pales in comparison to your skills, President Dedede! I wouldn’t have preferred to have anyone else but you as my partner!"

President Dedede smiled wide. For the president, it was the greatest compliment to be told he was better than Kirby.

"You have eyes! That's why you’re my partner." 

"Wow! Thank you, President Dedede!"

"Then, let's go."

He led Magolor to the backyard where the Great King Dedede XIX was stowed. The plane carrying the two headed for the clock tower.

President Dedede sat in the cockpit, while in the back seat, which was usually used as storage, was Magolor with a parachute. The plan was for Magolor to jump from the plane and invade the tower from above when the plane approached, however, President Dedede looked uneasy.

"You really want to split the prize money? You won’t cheat me and take the gear?" 

"No way! I'm not a coward."

"Hm ... Alright, I believe you," he said, but President Dedede’s anxiety persisted. "Hey, give me the magic eye drops." 

"Eh? But I’m the one retrieving the gear ... " 

"The gear—you said it’s on the outside of the tower, right? If it's sealed outside, I need to be able to see it."

"Ooh ... You’re right," Magolor nodded. He used the eye drops first before handing the vial over to President Dedede, who then used the remaining amount. Dedede fluttered his eyes.

"Nothing has changed, but ... "

"The eye drops only react to magical objects ... Ah!" Magolor suddenly shouted. President Dedede jolted. 

"What’s wrong!?" 

"The gear! I’ve spotted the gear!" 

"What!? You’ve found it already!?" 

"Look, look! Over there!" Magolor pointed to the highest point of the tower. It was the face of the huge clock. President Dedede could also see the glittering gear as he leaned out of the plane.

"Ohhhhhh!? Is that it right next to the three!?"

"There’s no mistake! Hooray! It’s the magical gear!" 

"I didn’t expect we’d find it so easily! Go, Magolor!"

"Uh-huh!" Magolor spread both hands and bravely jumped out of the plane. The parachute opened and he landed gently on the lower part of the clock face, around the six. 

"Alright, good! Take the gear, Magolor!" President Dedede shouted.

Magolor stretched his back and reached out, but he couldn't reach it. President Dedede raised his voice as he flew overhead.

"What are you doing!? Jump! Jump! You can do it, Magolor!" Magolor jumped. When it proved to be no good, he grabbed the hands of the clock, stepped on the numbers, and began to climb.

"Way to go, Magolor! You’re almost there! Keep at it! Keep at it!" President Dedede cheered aloud. Magolor desperately reached out towards the gear. He climbed up and jumped. The tip of his hand finally grazed it and the seal melted off.

"Alright! Now, just grab it ...! " President Dedede shouted. At that moment, the gear slipped through Magolor's hand and fell.

"Wahhh! You fool—!" What are you doing—!?" he screamed.

Dedede’s bloodshot eyes tracked the gear as it flipped and spun on its way to the bottom. The Fugo Railway that connected various parts of the Town of Wind ran right next to the tower. A steam train approached on it, spewing black smoke. The gear slammed onto its roof.  

"T-the— The gear—!" The train, unaware of President Dedede’s feelings, whistled carefreely.

"WHOOOO——!"

"Noisy train! Shut up!" If this went on, the gear would be carried far, far away. President Dedede couldn't stand still. Without thinking about the rest, too absorbed in the moment, he jumped off the plane.

......

Without a parachute.

Magolor screamed from atop the clock tower. "Uwaaaaaaa! President Dedede——!" 

President Dedede flew through the air with both hands and legs spread out, and landed on the train stomach-first.

"VROOOO——!"

His round stomach acted like a cushion. President Dedede bounced and landed, uninjured. The glittering gear rolled right in front of him. He breathed in roughly.

"Ohhhhhhhhhh—! Finally, I got it! The prize is, ah—!" The locomotive whistled loudly and applied its brakes just as President Dedede grabbed the gear.

"EEEEEE——!!"

The Great King DDD XIX dove sharply into the square next to the clock tower after losing its pilot. The train came to a sudden stop. President Dedede, who clung to the roof, was blown away into the muddy river flowing beside the track. 

"EEEERK——!"

"President Dedede—! President, are you alright!?" Magolor ran. He called out to President Dedede floating in the river.

"Oh, no way! Look, Magolor! I have it!" President Dedede spat out water and shouted. He pushed one hand out of the water with a radiant expression. In that hand, he firmly grasped the magical gear. It shone brightly. Magolor clapped.

"Ah! As expected of President Dedede, the greatest hero in Diamond Town!" 

"Hmph, no wonder! It’s a piece of cake if you call me!"

He swam swiftly to Magolor onshore. "Here we go, I’ve got the gear. Let's deliver it to Mr. Fugo immediately and get the prize money!" President Dedede yelled while dripping wet.

"Uh, President Dedede," Magolor said apologetically. "I forgot to tell you something crazy ... "

" ... What?"

"There are two more gears to be located."

" ... What?"

"We can’t get the prize money with only one. Two more, let’s keep going. Let’s find them!"

"W ... wh ... at ……..? " President Dedede’s vision went black.  

"WHOOOO——!"

Again, with a big splash, President Dedede fell into the river.

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[eternityservedcold]

My Three Page Pseudo-Essay on How the Kirby Anime Would/Should Be Made Today

This was written due to @hedeservesbetter tagging my post with “i woukd [sic] love to read this[, Akira]”.

Let me start off by saying there is a little more to this essay than what the original post says. We’re going to touch a number of topics not listed in it, but those are my biggest ideas. Let’s all also note the I don’t hate the Kirby anime. People accused me of hating the anime or trying to make it edgy the last time I made a post like this, and I still don’t understand why. It’s my favorite anime, probably. If it isn’t, it’s up there with Paranoia Agent and Perfect Blue as one of my favorites. Also note that the two “main” versions of the anime (Japanese and English) blend together in my head, and I’ll talk about both of them as though they are the same (because, honestly, you’re kidding yourself if you think they aren’t), but if I need to specify the version, I’ll use their full titles (Kirby of the Stars and Kirby: Right Back at Ya, respectively).

To say that nearly any animation that was made before the late 2000’s wouldn’t be better if it were made today is lying to yourself. There is so much technology we have today that we didn’t have before then. There’s a very big chance that if the Kirby anime was made today, it could be 100% 2D animation instead of half-3D like it was. That’s only possible because of programs like Flash or Toon Boom, which allow 2D animations to be made easier and faster. Most of the reason that characters like Kirby or King Dedede were animated in 3D half the time was to cut costs and development time. It’s hard to draw so many perfect circles and curved lines almost the exact same on every consecutive frame, but this downside is entirely negated by the use of digital animation tools, which allow you to copy shapes from one frame to the next. My sentiments seem to be echoed exactly by the development staff on the anime. Here’s a quote from Yoshikawa Souji (director and a writer on the anime), translated by Ivyna J. Spyder:

“3D is a way to increase the number of frames. If you make a 3D model once, then you are able to make efficient use of that. [...] [I]f it’s 3D, because you make a model, you can make movement from just clicking it.

“Therefore, the animator doesn’t have [a] hard time with drawing and can instead devote their time to movement, and it’s easy to get information of production and camera. [...] Already, it has 3-5 times the movement of normal TV anime.”

There’s also the option of it being a 100% 3D anime, like its 3DS-exclusive short, Kirby 3D. Being made only in 2012, the 3D already looks so much more competent. Of course, I can also point to the many fully-3D cutscenes that have been in Kirby games since then, the best-looking being the ones in Kirby: Star Allies. It’s very obvious that Nintendo has been becoming more competent with its 3D animations and models very quickly, considering their almost company-wide switch to 3D games, as opposed to 2D. Even with a television budget, ignoring the fact that Nintendo and HAL have infinite money to throw at anything they wish, this could still happen. A lot more fully-3D cartoons and anime have been popping up lately, including the visually gorgeous Land of the Lustrous and Miraculous Ladybug.

God, that’s a lot of words to just be talking about animation. And I haven’t even gotten to the part I started this essay to write! Let’s get on with that, shall we?

Escargoon is my favorite character in the Kirby anime, and right now, is my favorite character of all time. While that’s always subject to change, I suspect he’ll always be in the top ten. Anyone who knows anything about me knows I love this guy. I’ve even gotten others who don’t even know of the Kirby anime to love him.

Which makes me infuriated that he’s treated so badly.

You may have noticed I didn’t mention a certain penguin king in that sentence, even though he’s the one most associated with torturing Escargoon. But the truth is everyone, even the anime itself, seems to love to torture him. I don’t get it! I like the gay snail! I think he’s neat! And I’m sure at least a few of the writers and animators do too! So why does he get deprived of sleep and basic self care because “Haha, it’s funny to see him obsess over a robot”? Why does he get possessed by Erasem, causing him to go nearly insane from being forgotten by everybody? Why does he get abused by his boss so much it actually unsettles him when he treats him nicely? I don’t get it! I want good things to happen to him. I don’t want to watch him go insane from something out of his control every thirty episodes. Dedede isn’t treated like this, and he’s worse than Escargoon, objectively.

The anime starting with Dedede being nicer to Escargoon is a really, really good way for this issue to be remedied. Not only is the trope of a villain power couple way more interesting than “man in power beats his assistant who is clearly in love with him in Kirby of the Stars and has a choice to leave at any time in both versions, but doesn’t for some reason”, the latter is just unnecessarily cruel. Even if they don’t date or whatever, Dedede and Escargoon working together to formulate plans would actually be a force to be reckoned with, instead of making everyone that watches the show think “If Dedede is such an idiot, and Escargoon hates him, why haven’t the Cappies just killed him or something?”

Of course, you can have this and have the Escargoon torture porn episodes. Or! Just… don’t. Or make Dedede have an equal amount. Or is Dedede is still “more evil” in this scenario, make him have more. Listen, if Escargoon is still half-good like he is in the anime we got, he doesn’t deserve torture. I never understood this trope. Why do awful things happen to characters that aren’t actually terrible people? Especially for entire episodes?

I digress.

Let’s talk about Sirica. The fan favorite who was in... two episodes (or three in Kirby of the Stars)?

HELLO?

Are you insane, Kirby anime? Why is this character shelved for most of the series? She’s so goddamned cool! Are you OUT OF YOUR MIND? You packed this much character into one episode and not only is she shelved afterward, she doesn’t even get a satisfying ending so GODDAMNED KIRBY CAN BE COOL? This is not even addressing the fact that her mother died to make Meta Knight look cooler! You can read an excellent post about everything I’ve said here, said in a more compact way, but...

I feel like I’m going to scream at the top of my lungs!

I’m so sorry, Sirica. Let’s talk about how we can fix this.

First. Just put her in more episodes! It’s absolutely not fair that I can glean more character from her one episode than I can for Knuckle Joe, and he’s got THREE, but she still isn’t used! I can even think of an episode description right now, in like, two minutes. Here I go: The monster of the week needs to face an opponent who can change tactics quickly. We think Kirby can do it, but it’s still too strong. But wait! There’s a character with a SHAPESHIFTING GUN who can help Kirby defeat the monster! And the day is saved because Sirica is a relevant character in this scenario. It even draws a parallel to the Masher episode. This could also be fun to explore because Sirica is really stubborn and she might just straight-up refuse.

Also what’s up with Galaxia refusing her, by the way? What the hell, Galaxia? I just never understood that. I have no idea how to fix it, so I ended up having to write around it in my own writing, which was really annoying. I don’t see why she and Kirby can’t just fight together after that, even. She sits out for the rest of the fight after getting rejected by the sword. Like you still have a gun, Sirica, you don’t need to move around to use it. OH WAIT, NO YOU DON’T, META KNIGHT TOOK IT. THE ABSOLUTE MADMAN. IT’S BAD, MISOGYNISTIC WRITING!

Oh, I made myself upset. This was supposed to be a positive essay.

Some other miscellaneous ideas I have, that don’t need to be their own paragraphs: What’s with all the one-off characters that seem like they’re going to be important? If the anime was made today, the GSA would probably have a way larger role. If the anime was made today, it probably wouldn’t be episodic (See this video).

I don’t know how to write a conclusion, so here’s a little MS Paint drawing of Sirica instead:

Thanks for reading, and sorry mobile users, if that glitch still exists.

[aion-rsa]

15 Best Nintendo Franchises Ranked

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Sony and Microsoft super fans will have a hard time admitting it, but Nintendo has created the most incredible catalog of properties in the history of gaming. They may get made fun of for their slow development time and occasionally repetitive entries within their biggest franchises, but people just can’t get enough of that feeling they get when they re-discover Mario jumping on Goombas or Kirby transforming into his nemeses.

With nearly four decades of game creation to explore, it’s hard to rank the absolute best franchises from Nintendo’s considerable history, but that’s exactly what we’ve set out to do. To clear up any confusion, this isn’t a list of the best characters in Nintendo’s history, so you may see Mario starring in multiple entries in this hierarchy (he’s dipped his gloves into just about everything). This also isn’t a ranking of individual Nintendo games, though the overall quality of the individual games within these franchises obviously influenced their ranking.

From sci-fi foxes and pink puffs to mascot brawlers and pocket monsters, these are the 15 best Nintendo franchises ever:

15. Mario Party

Board games have sometimes struggled to battle the popular perception that they’re an outdated form of entertainment. People (sometimes falsely) believe kids don’t have the attention span required to sit still and enjoy them for more than a few minutes, and adults sometimes get tired of trying to get enough people together to play one. Of course, before Mario Party, few people realized how strong the relationship between video games and board games could be.

For over two decades, Mario Party has been delighting families (and driving them crazy) with its wild hijinks, creative minigames, and whimsical board designs associated with the Mushroom Kingdom and its colorful inhabitants. Some entries are obviously more memorable than others (Mario Party 2 is the arguable high point of the franchise), but all of them have the same objective: to encourage in-person multiplayer gaming with people you care about.

14. F-Zero

Before he was known as a Super Smash Bros. staple, Captain Falcon and his iconic Blue Falcon racer led a franchise that many racing fans still call one of the most intense ever. The franchise combines strong gameplay with revolutionary characterization and world-building in a genre that typically isn’t known for either of those qualities. 

Sadly, it’s hard to talk about F-Zero without eventually addressing the fact that it is a mostly defunct relic from Nintendo’s past. There still hasn’t been a mainstream series release since the critically acclaimed F-Zero GX for the Gamecube in 2003, but the fire that fans have for this series’ unique futuristic environments, blazing speed, and racer backstories still burns bright in 2021. 

13. WarioWare

Humor is sometimes severely lacking in gaming, especially at a time when so many violent and cinematic franchises command the attention of the masses. Thankfully, Wario has always had enough fart jokes, snarky comments, and crude companions to make up for the dearth of humor on the gaming market. Of course, WarioWare is so much more than a few laughs and the five-second microgames that compose the core gameplay of the series. 

The franchise has been a pioneer in creative character building, multiplayer functionality, and innovative game design since 2003. Up until the Wii U, audiences could expect Wario, Jimmy T, Mona, and Dr. Crygor to showcase the technological potential of a new Nintendo console. We’ll all be treated to that zaniness again when WarioWare: Get It Together! launches on September 10 for the Switch.

12. Star Fox

It’s hard to emulate the sci-fi/fantasy mix of Star Wars with anthropomorphic animals and not have the whole thing feel corny, but Shigeru Miyamoto pulled it off when he created the Star Fox franchise in the early 1990s. Fox McCloud and his ragtag cohort of pilots introduced sharp-as-nails on-rails shooting to the Nintendo universe, and the gameplay of the first two (officially released) titles in this series has been hard to beat in the decades since. 

This franchise briefly attempted to explore third-person action gameplay with Star Fox Adventure and Star Fox Assault, but the series sadly fell into the abyss in the 2010s. Despite those recent shortcomings, the furry friends that fly through space will always hold a special place in Nintendo gamers’ hearts for as long as people can access a SNES and Nintendo 64. Do a barrel roll! 

11. Pikmin

The Pikmin series is one of Nintendo’s most daring ventures. It’s essentially a mish-mash of genres that ultimately feels like a strategy/adventure/platform/puzzle/collect-a-thon game. Against all odds, the series combines all of those unique elements rather well and even adds a surprising amount of emotional baggage to the equation. There’s nothing quite like the horror of watching the nickel-sized Captain Olimar and his resilient Pikmin soldiers get snuffed out in a second by a Red Bulborb (shudders). 

The franchise has only had four true entries (three on consoles, one on handheld), but that just keeps everyone hungry for more. The third title was also re-released for the Switch in 2020, and there have been rumors of a fourth console entry in the works since 2015. Hopefully, that sequel becomes a reality soon, because few games in the Big N canon offer so much variety. 

10. Donkey Kong

This franchise essentially gave birth to the entire Nintendo empire as we know it today. After all, the original Donkey Kong arcade game gave Nintendo the financial resources it needed to go on to do even bigger and better things. Better yet, DK became a charismatic fan-favorite character in his own right who has been severely disrespected and forgotten about in recent years.

Always in the shadow of the Mario platformers, and even occasionally demoted to sports and party game fodder, the Donkey Kong franchise still features some of the best games in Nintendo history. Donkey Kong Country and its sequels on the SNES revolutionized 2.5-dimensional graphics, Donkey Kong 64 was a peak 3D experience on the Nintendo 64, and Donkey Konga forced millions of parents to buy plastic bongo drums for their living rooms. It’s too bad we didn’t get anything good for this series’ 40th anniversary this past summer. 

9. Kirby

The “Super Tuff Pink Puff” and his large library of games have an enormous following largely because they can lay claim to being the ultimate representation of what gaming should be: flat-out fun. Kirby’s joyful exterior pairs with a fierce interior to create the perfect balance of a cuddly badass. His trademark mechanic (acquiring the abilities of his enemies on the fly) was revolutionary in the 1990s though it admittedly grew a little stale in the three decades since. 

Nintendo seemed to eventually realize that the franchise was growing repetitive and has since tried to spice things up with entries like 2010’s Kirby’s Epic Yarn (an artsy alternative to the typical platforming in the series) and several brawling-style games (i.e. Kirby Fighters Deluxe and Kirby Fighters 2). No matter the genre, this franchise remains one of the most accessible properties in Nintendo’s portfolio.

8. Animal Crossing

There’s no way Nintendo could have known that was initially seen as their spin on The Sims would turn into such a phenomenon. That title effectively introduced many of the hallmark traits of this series that both casual and hardcore fans have come to adore, such as a real-time internal clock and the ability to interact with animals of all kinds as a curious villager in a town that you get to mold and watch grow.

Most recently, Animal Crossing: New Horizons demonstrated gaming’s ability to bring the world together even when they’re separated by thousands of miles and incredible circumstances. The coronavirus pandemic destroyed lives, careers, and economies, but 32 million copies of that title circulated the planet and even provided a little bit of carefree immersion amongst some very dark days. There’s really no greater feat that a video game can possibly accomplish. 

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7. Mario Kart

The racing genre is hard to get right, but sticking Mario and all of his friends into some wonky karts and letting the items fly has been simultaneously fun and infuriating for decades now. The franchise has brilliantly found ways to tweak and improve a tried and true formula with each new installment, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe may just be the perfect racing game. 

We all know that Nintendo has had a difficult time competing with the other major players in the industry when it comes to online play, but Mario Kart 8 is one of the only examples of the Big N creating a truly great experience in that department. Ruining someone’s morning with a blue shell halfway across the world right before you go to bed is something that can’t be replicated in any other game series. 

6. Fire Emblem

Long before Marth and Roy joined the Super Smash Bros roster, the Fire Emblem franchise became the pinnacle of tough-as-nails strategy gaming in Japan. As the strategy series started to trickle into the homes of more gamers, the entire Western world finally got to experience its brilliantly designed character development, storytelling, and tactical game boards set in visually creative fantasy lands. 

Fire Emblem Awakening essentially saved the entire property when it exploded in sales for the 3DS in 2013, and it’s only been up from there. Fire Emblem: Three Houses expanded the series’ secondary and tertiary elements to great success, but we all know that the foundational reason for the fun is always the chess match between the gamer’s army and the CPU’s enemy faction. This franchise has one of the brightest futures in the industry. 

5. Super Smash Bros.

When Masahiro Sakurai led development on the original Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64 he probably had no idea he was working on the ultimate fighting event in gaming history. Every sequel that has followed has expanded on the original’s revolutionary mechanics and style that quickly broke the boundaries of what many believed multiplayer fighting games could be. 

By the time we got to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, it became clear to everyone that this series is now a celebration of not only Nintendo as a company but characters previously outside of the conglomerate’s giant grasp. The franchise’s inclusion of Sonic the Hedgehog, Solid Snake, Cloud Strife, and many others demonstrate the power of Smash‘s orbit to bring the entire industry together for one very special gaming experience. 

4. Metroid

Nintendo’s incredible catalog lacks atmospheric, dark, science-fiction properties. Thankfully, Samus Aran’s three-decade-long struggle to take down Space Pirates and battle Ridley has always filled the void. There’s nothing else in gaming that quite challenges Metroid’s ability to combine adventuring, platforming, and puzzle-solving into one incredible entity. 

The series features multiple games that are in the running for the best of their generation, and the anticipation for Metroid Dread shows that fans desperately want to explore the moody depths of Brinstar, Zebes, and Tallon IV for as long as Nintendo will allow them to. 

3. Pokémon

We’ve finally hit the big three Nintendo properties. If you account for all the Pokémon apparel, TV series, movies, trading cards, and more that have spawned from the video games, it’s certainly easy to argue that this franchise is worthy of the top spot on the list. Honestly, though, this series is worthy of at least the third spot on this list based purely on the brilliance of its original adventure. 

Pokémon is special because it focuses on the relationship between humans and animals. Even though the pocket monsters you capture aren’t technically your pets, they sure feel like it after you’ve formed a connection with them after hours and hours of play. This franchise will continue to flourish for as long as Nintendo can think of new types of Pokémon for us to catch in each new generation of games.

2. Super Mario

Nintendo’s mascot has expanded into so many different waters that we sometimes forget just how brilliant his main franchise is. The Super Mario platformers have grown gaming’s potential with nearly every new release, and they have made millions fall in love with the medium for 35 years now. 

It would be easy for Nintendo to rest on Super Mario’s laurels and pump out the same thing year after year, but that almost feels sacrilegious. Instead, every new entry has its own signature style that is ultimately duplicated and admired for years to come. Super Mario continues to open up countless possibilities for platforming and the rest of the gaming industry.

1. The Legend of Zelda

Link’s adventures in Hyrule get the slight edge over Mario’s adventures in the Mushroom Kingdom because no other franchise in gaming has demonstrated that videogames are art on the same level as literature, film, or television as consistently or for as long as much of The Legend of Zelda has. This franchise is more than a game; it’s an experience.

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Boss battles, weapon upgrades, niche characters you meet along the way, and complex dungeons that double as playgrounds for the mind are all trademarks of this series that will never grow old. With this series’ recent evolution into an open-world experience that is changing the ways we think of that genre, there’s no telling how many more incredible gaming experiences we will ultimately owe this franchise in the coming years.

The post 15 Best Nintendo Franchises Ranked appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[kirbydevpostarchive]

HAL Laboratory イシダHAL_Laboratory 08/25/2016 5:10 AM

Hi, this is Satoshi Ishida from HAL Laboratory. Today we'll be hosting round 2 of the Kirby: Planet Robobot Ask-a-thon and, as before, director Shinya Kumazaki is here to answer your questions!

クマザキ 08/25/2016 5:14 AM Nice to see you again. Today I'm hoping to answer behind-the-scenes questions about Planet Robobot that you wouldn't normally be able to find out from simply playing the game.

イシダ 08/25/2016 5:18 AM It seems there are a lot of people out there who read very deeply into the game as they're playing. I'd like to start us off with a question about Meta Knight: At the start of the game, we see the Halberd get shot down, but by the time it shows up again, it's in full working order. Who repaired it?

クマザキ 08/25/2016 5:20 AM The Halberd made a crash landing between the cliffs in the space directly beneath Access Ark. Meta Knight was then captured by the Haltmann Works Co., but managed to entrust the Halberd to his crew. As a result, the repairs were finished in time and the Halberd could rush to Kirby's rescue, with Meta Knight back to his old self. But when Meta Knight shouted for Kirby to get on board, he didn't expect Kirby to ignore his offer and scan the Halberd's ability instead...

イシダ 08/25/2016 5:23 AM And here I thought Meta Knight was the one telling Kirby to scan it... Speaking of Meta Knight, here's a question about Meta Knightmare Returns. Is there any connection plotwise between this mode and the main game's Story Mode?

クマザキ 08/25/2016 5:25 AM It's basically an alternate storyline. Meta Knightmare Returns is a kind of bonus mode that you unlock after finishing the main game, but that alone doesn't hold much appeal for a player so we made it into a "what if" scenario. Kirby games tend to be quite deep and have lots of content, and this game is no exception. There are two sides to the story: one for players who just want to casually play it from start to finish, and another for those who want to delve deeper into the game world. This mode fully realises that two-sided method of development.

イシダ 08/25/2016 5:26 AM While we're on the topic of Meta Knightmare Returns, Galacta Knight was supposed to be sealed away in a crystal, but he broke that seal and showed up again in The True Arena. Are Meta Knightmare Returns and The True Arena connected at all in relation to the story?

クマザキ 08/25/2016 5:28 AM The True Arena is like another ""what if"" scenario, so you can't really consider everything to be connected. Furthermore, the extra-dimensional road that opens up when Galacta Knight appears transcends space-time, so it's difficult to give it a concrete place in the timeline. But if you consider the stages in which Galacta Knight appeared in the past three games, I think that will give you some food for thought. Also, once Galacta Knight has shown up, it should be clear why he cuts down Star Dream: it forced him to travel through time and space and so he considers Star Dream his enemy. That's why Galacta Knight appears as an antagonistic sort of character.

イシダ 08/25/2016 5:29 AM The name Star Dream came up just now. Could you tell us how Haltmann got his hands on the blueprints and technology for Star Dream? Others also noted that the Security Force blueprints bore similarities with Metal General from Kirby's Return to Dream Land, and the data for Holo Defense API resembled Pix from Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. Could you tell us a bit about those?

クマザキ 08/25/2016 5:31 AM Haltmann travelled to numerous planets around the galaxy to collect their blueprints and technology. He may have gone to Halcandra, or perhaps to a planet with strong connections to it. As for Holo Defence API, Haltmann gained access to numerous different worlds after Susie was accidentally sent into another dimension and this is how he acquired that data.

イシダ 08/25/2016 5:33 AM I see, so that's how you're making use of elements from previous games. Now for a question about Star Dream - during that fight, you can see the company logo on some of the planets in space. Did Haltmann Works Company conquer these planets? If that's the case, what happened to them after Star Dream was defeated?

クマザキ 08/25/2016 5:34 AM Those planets were under Haltmann's control, yes. The logos signify Star Dream's heartlessness and are proof of Haltmann's wickedness in invading those planets. The logo material was made using Star Dream's super-advanced technology, so when Star Dream was destroyed, the logos vanished along with it. That means that the planets should now be back to normal. I should also point out that the soulless evil weapons were wiped out, but some things that were out of Star Dream's reach escaped the destruction.

イシダ 08/25/2016 5:35 AM Like Susie's Business Suit? That reminds me, why did Haltmann lose his memories of the past along with his compassion? Did he discard them himself, or did Star Dream erase them? Also, Susie was appointed executive assistant, wasn't she? I suspect there was there some hidden meaning to this...

クマザキ 08/25/2016 5:37 AM In order to control Star Dream, you need a program controller on your head to have it directly interface with your brain. Haltmann may have suspected memory loss from the beginning, or it may have been an unknown side effect... But the fact is that he started losing his memories bit by bit. This tells you just how incomplete Star Dream really was. Later, after Susie grew up and came back, Haltmann sensed something about her and made her his assistant, but at that time he had completely forgotten that he'd even had a daughter to begin with.

イシダ 08/25/2016 5:38 AM That's really quite sad... Well, after that big revelation, here's a question about the background music. There seem to be a lot of tracks that are slightly redone versions of ones from previous games. Is this because you were trying to please old-school fans? On a related note, there are many tracks whose names people would like to know. Would you be able to disclose any of them?

クマザキ 08/25/2016 5:40 AM With regard to the re-arranged tracks, we have of course tried to cater to our long-time fans as well as newcomers. We wanted to reinvent classic tracks to create something fresh and new, something that fits the current generation's taste. I'm actually really surprised at how many questions we received about track titles. That really makes me happy because I love being able to add more depth to the world through text, be it with dialogue, ability names or music tracks. That said, there were a lot of inquiries about the tracks, so I think it would be best if we save those for later.

イシダ 08/25/2016 5:42 AM So we can look forward to a number of music-related questions next time. We're going to be having one last round of questions to conclude our Kirby: Planet Robobot Ask-a-thon. Please stay tuned!

[kirbydevpostarchive]

HAL Laboratory

イシダ HAL_Laboratory

08/25/2016 9:57 AM

Kirby: Planet Robobot Ask-a-thon - Round 2 

 Hi, this is Satoshi Ishida from HAL Laboratory. Today we'll be hosting round 2 of the Kirby: Planet Robobot Ask-a-thon and, as before, director Shinya Kumazaki is here to answer your questions!

クマザキ

08/25/2016 9:59 AM

Nice to see you again. Today I'm hoping to answer behind-the-scenes questions about Planet Robobot that you wouldn't normally be able to find out from simply playing the game.

イシダ

08/25/2016 10:00 AM

It seems there are a lot of people out there who read very deeply into the game as they're playing. I'd like to start us off with a question about Meta Knight: At the start of the game, we see the Halberd get shot down, but by the time it shows up again, it's in full working order. Who repaired it?

クマザキ

08/25/2016 10:03 AM

The Halberd made a crash landing between the cliffs in the space directly beneath Access Ark. Meta Knight was then captured by the Haltmann Works Co., but managed to entrust the Halberd to his crew. As a result, the repairs were finished in time and the Halberd could rush to Kirby's rescue, with Meta Knight back to his old self. But when Meta Knight shouted for Kirby to get on board, he didn't expect Kirby to ignore his offer and scan the Halberd's ability instead...

イシダ

08/25/2016 10:04 AM

And here I thought Meta Knight was the one telling Kirby to scan it... Speaking of Meta Knight, here's a question about Meta Knightmare Returns. Is there any connection plotwise between this mode and the main game's Story Mode?

クマザキ

08/25/2016 10:07 AM

It's basically an alternate storyline. Meta Knightmare Returns is a kind of bonus mode that you unlock after finishing the main game, but that alone doesn't hold much appeal for a player so we made it into a "what if" scenario.  Kirby games tend to be quite deep and have lots of content, and this game is no exception. There are two sides to the story: one for players who just want to casually play it from start to finish, and another for those who want to delve deeper into the game world. This mode fully realizes that two-sided method of development.

イシダ

08/25/2016 10:09 AM

While we're on the topic of Meta Knightmare Returns, Galacta Knight was supposed to be sealed away in a crystal, but he broke that seal and showed up again in The True Arena. Are Meta Knightmare Returns and The True Arena connected at all in relation to the story?

クマザキ

08/25/2016 10:11 AM

The True Arena is like another "what if" scenario, so you can't really consider everything to be connected. Furthermore, the extra-dimensional road that opens up when Galacta Knight appears transcends space-time, so it's difficult to give it a concrete place in the timeline. But if you consider the stages in which Galacta Knight appeared in the past three games, I think that will give you some food for thought. Also, once Galacta Knight has shown up, it should be clear why he cuts down Star Dream: it forced him to travel through time and space and so he considers Star Dream his enemy. That's why Galacta Knight appears as an antagonistic sort of character.

イシダ

08/25/2016 10:12 AM

The name Star Dream came up just now. Could you tell us how Haltmann got his hands on the blueprints and technology for Star Dream? Others also noted that the Security Force blueprints bore similarities with Metal General from Kirby's Return to Dream Land, and the data for Holo Defense API resembled Pix from Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. Could you tell us a bit about those?

クマザキ

08/25/2016 10:14 AM

Haltmann travelled to numerous planets around the galaxy to collect their blueprints and technology. He may have gone to Halcandra, or perhaps to a planet with strong connections to it. As for Holo Defense API, Haltmann gained access to numerous different worlds after Susie was accidentally sent into another dimension and this is how he acquired that data.

イシダ

08/25/2016 10:16 AM

I see, so that's how you're making use of elements from previous games. Now for a question about Star Dream - during that fight, you can see the company logo on some of the planets in space. Did Haltmann Works Company conquer these planets? If that's the case, what happened to them after Star Dream was defeated?

クマザキ

08/25/2016 10:18 AM

Those planets were under Haltmann's control, yes. The logos signify Star Dream's heartlessness and are proof of Haltmann's wickedness in invading those planets. The logo material was made using Star Dream's super-advanced technology, so when Star Dream was destroyed, the logos vanished along with it. That means that the planets should now be back to normal. I should also point out that the soulless evil weapons were wiped out, but some things that were out of Star Dream's reach escaped the destruction.

イシダ

08/25/2016 10:20 AM

Like Susie's Business Suit? That reminds me, why did Haltmann lose his memories of the past along with his compassion? Did he discard them himself, or did Star Dream erase them? Also, Susie was appointed executive assistant, wasn't she? I suspect there was there some hidden meaning to this...

クマザキ

08/25/2016 10:22 AM

In order to control Star Dream, you need a program controller on your head to have it directly interface with your brain. Haltmann may have suspected memory loss from the beginning, or it may have been an unknown side effect... But the fact is that he started losing his memories bit by bit. This tells you just how incomplete Star Dream really was. Later, after Susie grew up and came back, Haltmann sensed something about her and made her his assistant, but at that time he had completely forgotten that he'd even had a daughter to begin with.

イシダ

08/25/2016 10:24 AM

That's really quite sad... Well, after that big revelation, here's a question about the background music. There seem to be a lot of tracks that are slightly redone versions of ones from previous games. Is this because you were trying to please old-school fans? On a related note, there are many tracks whose names people would like to know. Would you be able to disclose any of them?

クマザキ

08/25/2016 10:25 AM

With regard to the re-arranged tracks, we have of course tried to cater to our long-time fans as well as newcomers. We wanted to reinvent classic tracks to create something fresh and new, something that fits the current generation's taste. I'm actually really surprised at how many questions we received about track titles. That really makes me happy because I love being able to add more depth to the world through text, be it with dialogue, ability names or music tracks. That said, there were a lot of inquiries about the tracks, so I think it would be best if we save those for later.

イシダ

08/25/2016 10:27 AM

So we can look forward to a number of music-related questions next time. We're going to be having one last round of questions to conclude our Kirby: Planet Robobot Ask-a-thon. Please stay tuned!