Kirby for the SWITCH!!

Started by LeviR.star, June 13, 2017, 09:32:23 AM

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BlackDragonSlayer

Haven't played Squeak Squad, but ability mixing definitely seems like a fun thing; kind of reminds me of Gunstar Heroes in that regard (except I assume it's a lot more limited than being able to mix any two abilities?).
And the moral of the story: Quit while you're a head.

Fakemon Dex
NSM Sprite Thread
Compositions
Story Thread
The Dread Somber

Dekkadeci

We finally got the name of this game: it's Kirby: Star Allies!


And whatever dark force is the main antagonist of this game, it's got King Dedede (yet again) and the king seems to like it.

(I'm predicting a Dark Matter-like main antagonist. Hoping for something of 0/02-like scale...)

Nebbles

just take my money already, nintendo
Quote from: Dudeman on April 13, 2016, 04:54:04 PM
- Nebbles, the beauty with the heart of frozen steel

K-NiGhT

Quote from: NocturneOfShadow on April 28, 2015, 06:48:06 PM
what are you doing stop making nsm a better place by spreading happiness

LeviR.star

I forgot this existed.

I'll post a general analysis here later.
Check out my Youtube channel for remixes and original music! LeviR.star's Remixes

Also check out my piano arrangements here on my PA thread! LeviR.star's Arrangements

Dekkadeci

Dang it, I forgot this existed, too.

Alright, we got news earlier this January about Kirby Star Allies. More ability mixing, more abilities period, and finally, some dang tidbits about the storyline for a change:
  • The release date is Mar. 16, 2018. It's gonna be one heck of a Friday...
  • The new copy abilities include Artist and Spider. Artist's corresponding helper/enemy resembles both Elline and Paintra. Taranza 100% approves of the new Spider copy ability. (OK, I'm likely joking about the last point.)
  • A teaser shows the beginning of the storyline--a giant dark heart resembling the Heart of Star Dream Soul OS sheds its protective layers and explodes, sending dark, heart-shaped missiles of magic to Popstar. (I'm sorta surprised they hit only Popstar, especially since they pass several other tempting planets along the way.) One of them falls straight into King Dedede's castle. King Dedede investigates and is promptly screwed.
  • Meta Knight also gets hit by a dark heart missile at some point and is a boss in this game. Trailer shots reveal that the developers got lazy again and assigned him Dark Meta Knight-from-Kirby: Triple Deluxe's ability to "duplicate" himself into 4 bodies.
  • There's a new boss/probably recurring character, Francisca. She's all head, hands, and hollow torso. She's an ice mage with the power to shoot streams of water from her snowflake wand (yeah, she's probably not just an ice mage). She wears a hat with a demon-winged, one-eyed heart logo on it. She looks like she's a member of the "Order of the Dire Heart" (for lack of a better name for the villains--note that I made that name up), and I don't think she got hit by a dark heart missile. She appears many times in promotional art, rather like Susie from Kirby: Planet Robobot.
  • The seeming leader of the "Order of the Dire Heart" is a white-robed, white-hooded, white-sleeved floating figure with small yellow eyes and a darkened face. His hood has the same demon-winged, one-eyed heart logo on it as Francisca's hat. A trailer shot shows him coaxing magic out of a giant dark heart, quite possibly the giant dark heart stabbed with several heart-swords shown in another trailer shot. Yes, all those giant dark hearts resemble the one in the beginning of the storyline, and they therefore all look uncannily like the Heart of Nova.
  • Want speculation? The Kirby Wiki is already speculating that Francisca will defect from the "Order of the Dire Heart". I'm personally speculating that she'll only defect as hard from the villains as Susie did (i.e. she remains antagonistic for the entire game--Susie did stop being openly hostile to the protagonists and reluctantly help them out for a bit, though). I predict that the seeming leader is the 2nd last boss in the game and some version of the stabbed heart (possibly rogue, possibly with the swords removed) is the final boss.

I'm too lazy to get YouTube trailer links right now.

Dekkadeci

Roughly a day ago, Kirby Star Allies was leaked from its demo...

...or so a few people claim. They have text spoilers in English, and they match up with the promotional material that's already been released, but that promotional material's been released so long ago that anyone with a precise enough imagination can come up with plausible stuff that matches the promotional material. Until I see pictures and/or video, I cannot confirm the "data mine leaks" and I therefore will not reveal them for fear of being incorrect...sheesh, Ultra Necrozma was easier to confirm from data mine leaks...

...Speaking of promotional material, quite a few things have been officially released about Kirby Star Allies since the last time I posted. I mainly concentrate on the plot and the bosses, so I'm sure I've missed stuff:
  • The new copy abilities also include Staff and Festival. Hilariously, Staff is literally called "Stick" in Japan (to be fair, the romaji is something like "sutikku"). Festival is a one-time use ability reminiscent of Crash, but with 1000% more partying.
  • Twin Kracko is a boss in this game.
  • The bad guys hail from the "Fortress of Shadows - Jambastion" and bring that building down on Popstar mid-game. It's a dark fortress that resembles the demon-winged, one-eyed heart logo seen in earlier promotional material--it's got a heart-shaped central chamber, an eye on the front, and demonic wings on the sides.
  • Pon and Con return from Kirby's Dream Land 3 and are a boss in this game. Yes, they're fought as a pair. They seem to be fought just outside Jambastion, at least according to the screenshots. Unlike all the other bosses from previous games, they have demon-winged, one-eyed heart logos strapped on their chests. Yes, that demon-winged, one-eyed heart logo is a recurring motif.
  • Francisca is a member of the Jambastion mages, a group of 3 antagonist mages who include and resemble her. They look like they're the same species, they wear similar clothes, they're roughly the same height, and they all have demon-winged, one-eyed heart logos on their hats.
  • Another member of the Jambastion mages is Flamberge, who's a redhead who tends to look angry. Despite the very boyish looks, she's actually female. She wields...well...a flamberge (a type of sword), just like Francisca wields a francisca (a type of throwing axe from Western Europe). Flamberge is a fire mage who's quick to avenge any slight towards Francisca. She also wields a fire cannon sometime during her boss fight, just like Francisca pulls out a water gun partway through hers (I missed that detail earlier).
  • The third member of the Jambastion mages is an androgynous blond who wears yellow.

Dekkadeci

#22
Seems like Kirby Star Allies was already released in Japan, and Youtube is now covered with footage from that game and some of the OST. You might not want to check out Kirby Star Allies videos, as they're as spoiler-ific as this:

Spoiler
  • Let's get predictions out of the way first:
    Quote from: Dekkadeci on January 27, 2018, 09:48:09 PMWant speculation? The Kirby Wiki is already speculating that Francisca will defect from the "Order of the Dire Heart". I'm personally speculating that she'll only defect as hard from the villains as Susie did (i.e. she remains antagonistic for the entire game--Susie did stop being openly hostile to the protagonists and reluctantly help them out for a bit, though). I predict that the seeming leader is the 2nd last boss in the game and some version of the stabbed heart (possibly rogue, possibly with the swords removed) is the final boss.
    I got all my predictions above correct. These Kirby games are getting too predictable, I swear. Get someone else besides Kumazaki for director for the next Kirby platformer. It's been a fun ride, but we should hop on a different one.
  • On the other hand, at least my record for my earlier predictions isn't so good:
    Quote from: Dekkadeci on June 13, 2017, 07:05:46 PMSaw the trailer already, so that means I--and hopefully we--can now start speculating on a bunch of things!

    Playable Characters
    Looks like it's helper spam for the main story's playable character base. I strongly suspect at least one of King Dedede and Meta Knight (and quite possibly both!) will get his own extra "story" mode--I don't think they'll both be playable in the same mode, though, and I don't think they'll be playable in the main story mode. Here's my speculation on which characters they can recruit trailer-Kirby-style:

    King Dedede
    • Random Waddle Dee looks like the most likely bet, as there's many of them in King Dedede's castle. Maybe he'll get lucky with a Parasol Waddle Dee. ...Or a Waddle Doo.
    • Biiiiig maybe for Bandana Waddle Dee. That chap's been portrayed as one of King Dedede's steadfast servants, although I've been getting a hunch that he just wants everyone to get along. He's been relegated to a support role lately, though, which reduces the chance that he'll be playable in this game in any capacity. If you're lucky, maybe you can get support-capacity Bandana Waddle Dee to hand you goodies all the time...
    • Despite King Dedede being able to throw them in Smash Bros. games, I don't think King Dedede will be able to recruit Gordos--they're too immobile! What's the point?

    Meta Knight
    • Blade Knight, as one of Meta Knight's helpers in Kirby Super Star Ultra and a reference to the anime, looks like one of the surest bets.
    • So does Sword Knight for the same reasons.
    • I'm currently betting that Meta Knight cannot recruit anyone else, though--not even Javelin Knight. Maybe the Meta-Knights will be back in one of Meta Knight's special moves, just like in Kirby: Planet Robobot.

    Plot
    Whispy Woods looks like it's the first boss of the game, and things look green enough, which can mean only one thing: Haltmann Works isn't back for another mechanizing round. I don't think it'll be Kirby's Return to Dream Land/"Milky Way Wishes" Redux, though, with our protagonists helping a betrayer. I hope they won't use Kirby and the Rainbow Curse's plot of "possessed chap terrorizes our heroes". Maybe it'll be another Kirby's Return to Dream Land-style fetch quest?

    Music
    The trailer, with its "Green Greens"-like tune, gives away nothing in this category. Will there be an overarching leitmotif song like the Arena theme of Kirby's Return to Dream Land (notably also the trailer theme of one of its Kirby GCN predecessors) or "The Noble Haltmann" in Kirby: Planet Robobot? And, if so, how many motives from that song will the rest of the soundtrack use? (I like Kirby's Return to Dream Land's use of darn near every part of its Arena theme significantly more than Kirby: Planet Robobot's use of basically only two motives from "The Noble Haltmann".)
    I haven't confirmed King Dedede or Meta Knight's actual recruit abilities, but they are playable in the main story mode, so I got that incorrect. Both of them behave like helpers, which means no Meta-Knight summoning ult for Meta Knight. Bandana Waddle Dee is also playable instead of recruit-able.
  • Next, how much the demo data mine got correct: As far as I've confirmed, all of the data mine is correct. This includes even the bosses I thought were preposterous. I'm getting Pokemon Sun and Moon demo flashbacks (and its entire Gen 7 Pokemon shiny roster) for how bad this leak got. Can't software developers at least put false leads or woefully incomplete data in the demos?
  • Now game modes: There's regular story mode, there's a story mode-like mode where you don't need Kirby in your roster, there's "The Ultimate Choice" (the Arena with lots of difficulty levels), and there's a bunch of mini-games. Turns out that you can put Bandana Waddle Dee, King Dedede, and Meta Knight in your roster in both regular story mode and the other story-like mode. You've gotta beat the last two before they'll join you, though.
  • We finally hit the storyline and bosses: Kirby and "friends" fight Whispy Woods, King Dedede, Kracko, Meta Knight, Pon and Con... Seems like there are a lot of dark "Jamba Hearts" all over, making the aforementioned bosses follow their dark impulses, and Kirby and the "Friend Heart" he absorbed from the same cosmic accident that released the "Jamba Hearts" are the best cure for those.
  • Kirby and "friends" storm Jambastion and fight the 3 "Jamba Heart"-collecting Jambastion Mages: Francisca (already revealed), Flamberge (already revealed), and Zan Partizanne (the blond I mentioned earlier). Zan Partizanne wields a partizan (a type of spear), is a lightning mage who pulls out thunder drums midway through her boss battle, and has terrible aim. She's strongly loyal to the second final boss...
  • On the way to the runaway Jambastion Mages, our heroes fight Grand Mam, which resembles the more common enemy Iron Mam. Our heroes eventually do catch up to those mages and beat them again.
  • The second final boss is Hyness. He's the seeming leader I mentioned earlier, and he prefers to keep his hood on. He's addressed as "Lord" and is a member of the clergy (he's titled an "Officiant", which is a real word and a type of religious official). He's busy worshiping and reviving a "Dark Lord", and he needs every "Jamba Heart" to revive him successfully. Before his boss fight, he rants on about how his folks/predecessors got sealed by the power of science (I already suspect Nova-like clockwork stars based on his phrasing), broke through the seals with magic, and are determined to be forgotten by the universe no more. There's also that part where Hyness mentions that they once averted an unknown "galactic crisis". He's a dark mage who spends the first half of his boss fight sending out magical blasts. Kirby and "friends" knock his hood off midway through the battle, and he's revealed to have a goofy-looking blue demon head with googly eyes. He gets mad after that, summons the Jambastion Mages' unconscious bodies, and magically pushes them around to fight. After our heroes defeat him, he finds that he's still several "Jamba Hearts" shy of reviving his "Dark Lord", throws the Jambastion Mages' bodies into the revival vessel, sees that the vessel still isn't satisfied, then throws himself into it.
  • Apparently, the Japanese version of Hyness's rant has Hyness mention that his folks/predecessors worship Dark Matter instead of merely being masters of a "matter most dark", that they got into contact with the people of science and that they prospered together instead of mentioning that Hyness's folks prospered after they got sealed, and that they therefore got betrayed, sealed, and banished later.
  • Hyness's "Dark Lord" is finally revived, and yes, it's the final boss. Apparently a destroyer of multiple worlds back in the day, the "Dark Lord"'s true name is Void Termina. This boss has 5 stages--our heroes fight a humanoid giant first, then invade his body and fight Void Termina's heart, then are ejected out of his body (along with the possibly conscious bodies of Hyness and the Jambastion Mages--I swear I saw one of them twitch) and have to fight a semi-humanoid winged entity that looks roughly like the humanoid giant, then invade his body again and fight Void Termina's nascent and possibly confused soul (called "Void Soul" in "The Ultimate Choice"), and finally Void Termina's body disintegrates into his soul and lashes out at our heroes one more time. Luckily, Kirby fires his latest final weapon power-up at Void Termina (this power-up looks like the Dragoon crossed with a Warp Star) and downs it. I'm going to need an explanation for how the winged entity has Marx's wings and pulls out something that looks a lot like the Master Crown, though--maybe the ancients mentioned in Kirby's Return to Dream Land were fascinated by Dark Matter? At least I'm having an easier time handling that Void Termina's soul heavily resembles Dark Matter and puts on Kirby's face and that Gooey-like face 02 has.
  • There's a bunch of later bosses that resemble their regular story mode counterparts--Yggy Woods is a Whispy Woods-like king of the forest, Twin Kracko...I mentioned earlier, and Goldon and Silvox resemble Pon and Con. I've yet to confirm whether King Dedede and/or Meta Knight are plain absent from the extra story-like mode (it would make sense since they're playable the whole way through).
  • The final boss of the extra story-like mode is a throwback to old Kirby series concept art. The game fakes you out by streaming out false credits, then our heroes find out that Hyness left behind a portal that Galacta Knight flies through...his theme plays suspiciously early without a fight, and a spirit butterfly flies to him. Galacta Knight seems to come to an agreement with the spirit butterfly, who either possesses him or shoves him back through another portal (tough to figure out which--I bet the fans want an explanation for this entire clip), and the spirit butterfly manifests a truer body as the final boss Morpho Knight. This boss looks a lot like the butterfly-like old Meta Knight concept art that's floating around Kirby wikis, and Morpho Knight is a fire mage who dual wields swords. Oddly, the game never does mention this character's gender, but does confirm that this boss and Galacta Knight are separate entities...and that Morpho Knight is a doom-bringer.
  • Partial spoilers for the OST if you know my musical tastes--my preliminary reviews for all the boss themes (at least the ones I've found in videos) are below.
  • The regular boss theme isn't bad and at least isn't hammering one particular song down your throat (*cough Kirby: Planet Robobot cough*), but it wasn't immediately catchy and I'll need to listen to it a bunch more times.
  • King Dedede gets a new remix of his theme. The piano transcription I heard of it pre-demo was rather mellow, so I'm surprised at the edgier instrumentation. The remix plays with his familiar theme for some time before you hear the theme in unmodified form, so I suspect some longtime fans might not like it.
  • Meta Knight gets a new remix of...the Revenge of Meta Knight ending theme. At least it sounds better on him than on liquid clones of King Dedede (*cough Kirby: Planet Robobot cough*), but I wasn't expecting Meta Knight to get a jig for all of his boss fight. When you fight him in "The Ultimate Choice", you get to hear the Mecha Knight theme from Kirby: Planet Robobot instead.
  • Francisca's and Flamberge's Jambastion Mage theme is kinda slow, and I don't think it suits Flamberge the hothead. I suppose it also isn't that bad, though.
  • Zan Partizanne's Jambastion Mage theme is my current pick for favourite boss theme of the game. Take the musical motives in her fellow Jambastion Mages' themes, speed them up, and get them dancing around? I'm already a fan. It's in E minor instead of the stereotypical C minor (OK, it also jumps to the equally stereotypical A minor by the end)? That's the icing on the cake!
  • This is one of the only predictions I got wrong: Hyness gets two boss themes, not one. I really dislike his first one--it's mellow like I predicted, and at least the instrumentation is appropriate, but sheesh does the melody sound dissonant and ugly. Part of me suspects that this theme intentionally sucks, though.
  • Hyness's second boss theme is quite possibly my second favourite boss theme of the game, though. That opening violin riff is killer, the mixed instrumentation is a ball of fun, and the jumps to different keys are interesting. I got a Bravely Default vibe from it in a good way. The later parts of the theme get mellow and more boring, though, although there is a Diddy Kong Racing-like percussion break near the end.
  • Void Termina/Void Soul gets 4 boss themes, and they're all in C minor. Switch up the keys, dang it! Expect to listen to the Jambastion Mage motif again and again in those 4 themes. They tend to blend into each other too well, IMO--the most distinguishing parts are near the end of the "Heart"'s theme where the melody consists of several C's in a row and Void Soul's/the "Soul"'s theme, where scratchy electric guitar kicks in. ...And the Green Greens theme plays.
  • They've fully extracted Morpho Knight's theme, and yeah, it reminds me of Meta Knight's theme from Kirby's Epic Yarn in too many ways. Unfortunately, it sounds like music that I could finish homework to instead of get distracted by. Somehow, I correctly predicted that the starting melody that Meta Knight's and Galacta Knight's themes both kinda share would only kick in near the end. I guess there's electric bass, though.
  • Bad news--I swear I've heard the Kirby: Planet Robobot boss theme in at least one boss or mini-boss fight. Dang it, that sounds totally inappropriate! Why should any of these guys get "The Noble Haltmann"?!?
[close]

Dekkadeci

Accidentally quoted instead of edited again.

Dekkadeci

#24
Accidentally quoted instead of edited yet again. Where's "delete post" when I need it?

Dekkadeci

#25
Fourth time in a row now. I did get full boss theme reviews in, though.

Dudeman

boi you're about to get banned for all the multiposting
Quote from: braixen1264 on December 03, 2015, 03:52:29 PMDudeman's facial hair is number 1 in my book

BlackDragonSlayer

Quote from: Dekkadeci on March 15, 2018, 10:41:52 PMAccidentally quoted instead of edited yet again. Where's "delete post" when I need it?
Drowned in a river of salt.
And the moral of the story: Quit while you're a head.

Fakemon Dex
NSM Sprite Thread
Compositions
Story Thread
The Dread Somber

Dekkadeci

I think LeviR.star's alluded to this before, but the first wave of DLC is out for Kirby Star Allies, and here's my attempts to make its major contents as spoiler-free as possible (spoilers for previous games ahoy, spoilers for Kirby Star Allies have been close to scrubbed):
  • Bandana Waddle Dee, King Dedede, and Meta Knight are termed as "Dream Friends" when they're playable characters, and this wave lets you play as 3 more such "Dream Friends": Gooey, Marx, and Rick & Kine & Coo. Yes, Rick & Kine & Coo, those Animal Friends, are treated as one character.
  • When playing as Rick & Kine & Coo, you can switch between them any time you want, but you only get one of them at a time. Rick the hamster is best on the ground, Kine the fish is best underwater, and Coo the owl is best in the air. Yes, you can switch to Kine when you're on the ground, and Kine will predictably flop and be ineffective like a fish out of water. Rick is confirmed to have elemental earth and fire powers, and I suspect the other two also have elemental powers of some sort.
  • Gooey can't copy abilities outright in this game, but he can whip out a parasol, adopt other helpers' elemental powers (OK, fine, just like every other "Dream Friend"), and change his form to resemble Dark Matter more (this is apparently called "Mock Matter" in-game). When in the Dark Matter-like form he could assume in Kirby's Dream Land 3, Gooey can shoot out dark magic bolts. Apparently, Gooey is pretty clueless about what's going on and why he's venturing out to fight.
  • Marx apparently somehow managed to survive getting effectively blown up in the Kirby Super Star games (it really seems that villains unexpectedly surviving is a trend in Kirby games--I'm glad Queen Sectonia got so thoroughly killed off that the next game had to acknowledge she is dead), and he's surprisingly willing to take out the bad guys in this game. He's normally in his cute jester form on a ball (although his fangs show all the time), but he can easily sprout his trademark wings and pull off strong attacks from his time as a boss, such as firing a laser spell and conjuring a black hole while splitting himself in half. It's said that he'll keep helping Kirby as long as he's "well-fed". From what I've read in YouTube comments, he's apparently the most broken character in the game to play as.
  • Each new "Dream Friend" has their effective boss theme play instead of another boss's theme at a certain point in the game. Yes, more music made it into the game. And, somehow, yet another boss's theme got modified in this wave of DLC. I don't know what this means for the future of video game music and its mutability.
  • For Bandana Waddle Dee/King Dedede/Meta Knight fans, after a run involving at least one of them, the credits come with an extra snapshot of them posing. (The nature of the poses is more relevant if you've actually played the game, but I guess it's safe for me to say that the first two are sleeping and Meta Knight is not.)

Dekkadeci

#29
Accidentally quoted instead of edited still again. If nobody posts after this, I'll probably replace this with a description of any second wave of DLC for Kirby Star Allies.