Kirby Wiki
Register
Advertisement

OK > 3, 2, 1, GO!
— Nova • Kirby Super Star Ultra

Galactic Nova (also known as just Nova or NOVA) is a character in the Kirby series, debuting in Kirby Super Star.

Physical Appearance[]

Nova is a large, mechanical comet made in the shape of a pocket watch. Nova's center is designed to look like a sun with a red shooting star above his right eye. All around the edges of Nova are seemingly random items. Going clockwise the items are: a weather vane, several gears, a telescope, a wind-up key, a drafting compass, a globe, two atomic tubes, a grandfather clock pendulum, a pocket watch without numbers and crooked arms, a triangular ruler, several piano keys, a compass, and a light bulb next to the ring that lies on top of his head. Nova has two purple eyes, a cat-like mouth and a small hole on his upper left corner of his face. The back of Nova shows four nozzles that form his main engine cluster.

After the destruction of the his core, the small hole on Nova's face becomes bigger and his left eye closes.

Games[]

Kirby Super Star and Kirby Super Star Ultra[]

Milky Way Wishes[]

In "Milky Way Wishes", while Kirby and others watch the Sun and Moon fight, Marx shows up and asks Kirby to find Nova and make a wish to make peace between the Sun and Moon; when speaking about how to ask Nova, he is depicted floating in space with his eyes closed before awakening. Once Kirby collects power from the seven stars, Nova appears to the right of Halfmoon.

In "Marx's Mad Plan", Kirby uses the power of the stars to summon Nova, who abruptly floats in from above. Before he can make a wish to make peace between the Sun and Moon, Marx knocks him out of the way and makes a wish to control Popstar. Nova agrees to grant this wish and blasts off toward Popstar, ignoring that Kirby was the one to collect the power required to summon it. The power of the stars transform into the Starship, allowing Kirby to pursue Nova and stop him; the Sun and Moon push back against Nova as it flies toward Popstar, giving Kirby time to fly into the comet and damage its heart. Before reaching Nova's core, Kirby, in his Starship, traverses through a passageway populated by Dacoogas, Patas, and Volms that serve to defend Nova's interior.

In "To the Battlefield", the left side of Nova's head shatters due to the destruction of its core, paralyzing it. The Starship transforms into a Warp Star and Kirby flies to an unknown planet to face Marx.

In "Kirby's Triumphant Return", Marx gets launched into the destroyed part of Nova's head, causing a chain reaction that creates a massive explosion. Nova is obliterated, being blown to pieces.

In Kirby Super Star Ultra, when summoning Nova, the stars combine together, three streams of electricity converge at a point, and then Nova suddenly appears. When entering Nova and when fighting his nucleus, the interior is significantly darker than in Kirby Super Star. Upon defeating Galactic Nova Nucleus, the FMV cutscene "To the Battlefield" plays before returning to Kirby flying on his Warp Star in sprite form; this was done seamlessly in Kirby Super Star, which lacked FMV cutscenes.

Galactic Nova Nucleus[]
Dimensional rift C Bsn 8VwAIzPgw.jpg large transparent "Heart of NOVA" and "Galactic Nova Nucleus" redirect here.

Galactic Nova Nucleus (called Heart of NOVA in Kirby Super Star) serves as the boss of Galactic Nova. It involves shooting at cores that move up and down in the pillars surrounding Nova's heart. The pillars start by slowly rotating around the heart, moving to the left. When two pillars are destroyed, the pillars start spinning faster. When four pillars are destroyed, they spin even faster. Once a fifth pillar is destroyed, they stop spinning, then spin in reverse, moving to the right. When one pillar remains, the heart starts spinning faster. There are eight pillars total and the cores have four different colors, each color having a different durability. There are three red cores, two blue cores, two green cores, and one yellow core.

In Kirby Super Star, the red cores take nine shots to destroy, the blue cores take seven shots to destroy, the green cores take eleven shots to destroy, and the yellow core takes four shots to destroy.

In Kirby Super Star Ultra, the red cores take eight shots to destroy, the blue cores take six shots to destroy, the green cores take ten shots to destroy, and the yellow core takes four shots to destroy. Some of the gaps in the pillars are adjusted to make traversal easier; this is most noticeable with the seventh pillar, which barely leaves any room to slip past the second green core.

When all of the pillars are destroyed, everything stops moving as the place starts to explode. Kirby escapes just as an explosion damages Nova's head Right after he escapes, Kirby goes to fight Marx.

Galactic Nova Nucleus returns as a boss in The Arena.

Meta Knightmare Ultra[]

Cannon DAuJLJbVYAER17h This section contains information that does not coincide with the main series canon. (Similar)

In "Galactic Knight," Meta Knight collects the power from all the stars and summons Nova; the explosion during the events of Milky Way Wishes that caused Nova's demise reverses and the debris recombines and revives it; however, his head is still damaged from when his core was destroyed, with the left eye remaining mostly closed. Meta Knight wishes to fight the greatest warrior in the galaxy. Nova fulfills this wish and summons Galacta Knight, a warrior sealed away in fear of his power.

The True Arena[]

Cannon DAuJLJbVYAER17h This section contains information that does not coincide with the main series canon. (Similar)

In "Marx Soul Appears," a flashback from "Kirby's Triumphant Return" of Marx colliding with Nova is shown. The unconscious Marx floats in the debris of Nova's explosion before absorbing its power and being brought back as Marx Soul.

Kirby Mass Attack[]

Hearbell This section contains unused content that was cut, altered or otherwise does not appear in-game.
Image Not Exist

Image does not exist

An unused splash screen depicts an image of Galactic Nova resembling his appearance in Kirby Super Star Ultra. This was presumably used as a placeholder or error handling message.

Kirby and the Rainbow Curse[]

While Nova himself does not appear there is a song in his name that can be obtained from the first Treasure Chest in Wonder Space. It can be listened to in the Music Room.


Kirby: Planet Robobot[]

Star dream soul nova blast

Star Dream Soul OS blasts the Halberd.

While Nova himself does not appear, Star Dream is implied to be the result of President Haltmann's mechanization process of a clockwork star. This is reflected in the fact that the Access Ark appears to have a gray Galactic Nova underneath its outer shell. It attacks by using some of the objects that surrounded Nova (weathervanes, compasses, pocket watches, light bulbs, and telescopes, and grand piano keys). Star Dream's defeat causes a white explosion, and its two eyes are seen during the explosion, resembling when Nova itself was annihilated back in Milky Way Wishes.

This connection is furthered by the appearance of Star Dream Soul OS, which is golden in color instead of gray. The beginning of Star Dream Soul OS's final phase plays like a version of the original Galactic Nova Nucleus battle, and later on during the same fight, it uses the enemies found within the short level before the nucleus as projectiles.

KPR Galactic Nova

At a specific time of day[1], Galactic Nova appears in the background of Level 3 of the Kirby 3D Rumble sub-game. This can only be seen by turning the camera using a New Nintendo 3DS's C-Stick.

Kirby Star Allies[]

KSA Nova Pocket Watch

Nova's pocket watch

Nova's pocket watch can appear in Far-Flung - Starlight Heroes.

Super Kirby Clash[]

SKC Sticker sprite 36

Galactic Nova appears as a Sticker that is available in the Shoppe for 20 Gem Apples after clearing the Tough: Blocky Party Quest. It displays the text "OK. ->" when used and the sound for Star Dream's third phase activation plays.

Kirby's Dream Buffet[]

KDB Character Treat Galactic Nova

Galactic Nova appears as a Character Treat.

Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe[]

NovaMask

The player can get a dress-up mask of Galactic Nova in Merry Magoland after completing 40 Stamp Rallies.

Music[]

Db The following section contains transcluded content from the Database. Source: (viewedit • help)
Milky Way Wishes: Shooting
Nova
Vagrant Counting Song of Retrospection
Kirby: Planet Robobot
Music
Soul 0 System/Vagrant Keepsake of Oblivion
Kirby: Planet Robobot
Music
Galactic Nova is a gigantic mechanical comet in Kirby Super Star and Kirby Super Star Ultra, summoned from the powers of the Dream Fountains of multiple planets and having the power to grant one wish. Nova's ability is central to Marx's plot to take control of Dream Land. This is the theme music that plays when Kirby flies into Nova with the Starship. A remixed version of this theme is used for part of the battle against Star Dream in Kirby: Planet Robobot.

Quotes[]

OK > 3, 2, 1, BLAST OFF!
— Nova • Kirby Super Star
You will now fight a warrior who has been sealed away for fear his power was too great. I will now summon this warrior once more!
— Nova to Meta Knight • Kirby Super Star Ultra

Trivia[]

  • In Kirby Super Star, for a split-second before Nova's explosion, its eyes open and the previous injury it sustained after Kirby destroyed his core suddenly vanishes. This may be an oversight or an error.
  • Nova's heart spins clockwise from the top in Kirby Super Star, but counterclockwise from the top in Kirby Super Star Ultra.
  • Nova is missing its globe in its official artwork for Kirby Super Star Ultra.
    • Nova's eye color is blue in official artwork, while it is lavender in-game.
      • Star Dream's eyes behind the Access Ark's plating is also blue.
  • The chain that emerges from the piano keys and ends at the pocket watch is gray and is on top of the triangular ruler in Kirby Super Star. However, in Kirby Super Star Ultra, the chain turns dark blue and it appears under the triangular ruler.
  • The fight with Galactic Nova Nucleus (as well as the entire level leading up to it) seems to reference a well-known and humorous tradition in the famous Shoot'em up series, Gradius. The final boss does not put up much of a fight and is dispatched rather easily, this being the reason why the level preceding it is deemed harder than the actual fight. In this case, all Nova can do to fight back is to try to hit Kirby with the pillars rotating around his heart, although this does prove to be fatal if not avoided.
  • In Kirby Super Star Ultra, it is implied in the Pause Screen description of Marx Soul that Nova is not the only being of its kind. It states that Marx "absorbed a Nova's power" instead of simply saying "he absorbed Nova's power." The implication of there being multiple Novas is not present in the Japanese and European version of the game.
    • In Kirby's Return to Dream Land, Magolor mentions that the ancients, people of the past who created legendary treasures and pieces of technology, crafted "clockwork stars that soar the cosmos." The Japanese version of this line did not use the plural form.
    • Star Dream from Kirby: Planet Robobot is possibly one of the other clockwork stars. The pause menu description of Star Dream Soul OS's second and third phases, as well as the first half of the fourth phase hints that Haltmann simply reactivated a dormant machine. This machine could have just been the Mother Computer, or an entire clockwork star.
    • Haltmann also claims that he reactivated Star Dream with the knowledge gained from analyzing "the most advanced civilizations in the known universe," one of which was likely the ancients.

Maps[]

Gallery[]

Sprites and Models[]

Advertisement