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Eight games in one? That sounds like fun! This title introduced Copy Ability hats, which changed Kirby's appearance based on which power he was wielding. This game also gave Kirby the ability to transform an equipped Copy Ability into a Helper, which added a new kind of cooperative play to the mix. A Helper could be either controlled by the game's AI or controlled by a second player, and each type of Helper had its own moves.
— Summary • Kirby's Dream Collection Special Edition

Kirby Super Star (released in PAL regions as Kirby's Fun Pak) is a platformer Kirby game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It was originally released in Japan on March 21, 1996, in North America on September 20, 1996 and in Europe on January 23, 1997. The game is the fourth main installment in the series, as well as the second to be released on a home console after Kirby's Adventure.

Kirby Super Star was remade for the Nintendo DS in 2008, titled Kirby Super Star Ultra. The game also saw multiple re-releases, on the Wii and Wii U Virtual Consoles, as part of Kirby's Dream Collection Special Edition, as one of the 21 games packaged with the Super Nintendo Entertainment System Classic Edition system, and as part of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System - Nintendo Switch Online service on December 12, 2019, with a special version with all of the modes cleared was added June 9, 2022.

Gameplay[]

Kirby Super Star is a "games omnibus"[4] of nine small games, and one of the most popular games in the series.

It is the Kirby title that first introduced Helpers, which are enemies turned to allies, and can be controlled by a computer or a second player. If Kirby has a Copy Ability, simply pressing the A button triggers a second player "Helper" character to appear in exchange of current ability. Furthermore, Helpers were used to facilitate the game's two-player simultaneous cooperative play, another first in the Kirby series. Nearly the entire game is playable in co-op multiplayer. If a second player is not present, the Helper character is controlled by AI until a second controller is activated by pressing any button.

Kirby retains all of his signature abilities: inhaling, swallowing, floating, sliding and gains the new ability to block attacks with his guard. Kirby's Copy Abilities now have greater moveset complexity, with multiple moves for a single ability rather than one. This game was also the debut of Kirby's "hats," different headgear and appearances that come with Copy Abilities. In previous games, Kirby would only change color or wield a weapon, but now abilities (such as the Fire ability granting Kirby a crown of flames or the Yo-Yo ability granting him a backwards baseball cap) have specific hats. The ability hats return in almost every Kirby game that was released after Kirby Super Star to help differentiate between his abilities and to better symbolize them.

Kirby Super Star was the first Kirby game to feature a continuous "analog" health gauge, instead of having a discrete number of "vitality bars" as seen in earlier games, and used in newer titles such as Kirby: Squeak Squad, but this is the only time the HP system was used on such an in-depth scale. The meters don't give the exact amount of health Kirby and the second player have. However, it seems Helpers have less default health than Kirby. Another effect is that most enemies usually require more than one hit to defeat, depending on what ability is used.

The only time attack power can be directly measured is when fighting the Computer Virus boss, as the message system displays how much damage was dealt to a Computer Virus minion. For example, based on measurements against (unshielded) Computer Virus minions, powerful abilities include Stone and Wheelie Rider (when controlled by a second player). Kirby's Hammer Flip deals 80 points of damage, while Crash does a one-time 160 points. Performing a Suplex throw and then the Fury Stomp from its moveset right after can do up to 174 points.

Main Games[]

Superstar2

Completed corkboard.

Spring Breeze[]

Spring Breeze is a smaller, updated version of Kirby's Dream Land. King Dedede has stolen the people's food, and four Sparkling Stars from the people of Dream Land. Kirby must follow the wind of the Spring Breeze to locate the four stars and make his way to Mt. Dedede.

Dyna Blade[]

Dyna Blade is ruining Dream Land's crops. Kirby must travel to the mountain where she lives and investigate.

Gourmet Race[]

Race against King Dedede to the finish line in three different levels, while trying to eat more food than him.

The Great Cave Offensive[]

Kirby journeys through a long, winding system of levels and gathers valuable treasure while seeking the way out.

Revenge of Meta Knight[]

Meta Knight is attempting to take over Dream Land with his battleship, the Halberd. It's up to Kirby to destroy the Halberd and stop Meta Knight's plan.

Milky Way Wishes[]

The sun and moon are fighting, and it's up to Kirby to awake Nova to stop the fight.

The Arena[]

Kirby battles all of the game's bosses in a continuous streak.

Sub-games[]

Megaton Punch[]

Kirby will face an enemy in a contest to deal the biggest cracks into Planet Popstar. If playing with the computer it will be Bandana Waddle Dee, Knuckle Joe, then Iron Mam.

Samurai Kirby[]

The player takes on five opponents in a samurai showdown in this reaction timing sub-game.

Characters[]

Playable Characters[]

Helpers[]

Megaton Punch[]

Samurai Kirby[]

Db The following section contains transcluded content from the Database. Source: (viewedit • help)

Enemies[]

Axe Knight | Bio Spark | Birdon | Blade Knight | Blipper | Bomber | Bounder | Bronto Burt | Broom Hatter | Bugzzy Jr. | Burning Leo | Capiller | Cappy | Capsule J | Chilly | Dacooga | Explosive Coconut | Gator | Gim | Glunk | Gordo | Grizzo | Javelin Knight | Jungle Bomb | Kabu | Knuckle Joe | Laser Ball | Lovely | Mace Knight | Magical Sweeper | Mini Lobster | Moto Shotzo | Noddy | Paint Slime | Parasol | Parasol Waddle Dee | Pata | Plasma Wisp | Poppy Bros. Jr. | Rocky | Scarfy | Shotzo | Simirror | Sir Kibble | Slippy | Squishy | Tac | Tookey | Twizzy | Volm | Waddle Dee | Waddle Doo | Walky | Wheelie

Mid-bosses[]

Bonkers | Bugzzy | Chef Kawasaki | Iron Mom | Jukid | Meta-Knights | Mr. Frosty | Poppy Bros. Sr.

Bosses[]

Chameleo Arm | Combo Cannon | Computer Virus | Dyna Blade | Fatty Whale | Galactic Nova Nucleus | Heavy Lobster | King Dedede | Kracko | Lololo and Lalala | Marx | Meta Knight | Reactor | Twin Woods | Wham Bam Rock | Whispy Woods

Copy Abilities[]

Kirby Super Star features 25 Copy Abilities in total. Of them, 12 of which are returning abilities from Kirby's Adventure, while the remaining 13 are new abilities introduced in this game. As well as introducing 'hats' to differentiate each ability visually, this game introduced the concept of giving Copy Abilities many moves, instead of just usually one action command like in Kirby's Adventure and Kirby's Dream Land 2.

BeamiconKSS
Beam
BombiconKSS
Bomb
CookiconKSS
Cook
CopyiconKSS
Copy
CrashiconKSS
Crash
CuttericonKSS
Cutter
FightericonKSS
Fighter
FireiconKSS
Fire
HammericonKSS
Hammer
IceiconKSS
Ice
JeticonKSS
Jet
Micicon1KSSMicicon2KSSMicicon3KSS
Mike
MirroriconKSS
Mirror
NinjaiconKSS
Ninja
PainticonKSS
Paint
ParasoliconKSS
Parasol
PlasmaiconKSS
Plasma
SleepiconKSS
Sleep
StarshipiconKSS
Starship
StoneiconKSS
Stone
SuplexiconKSS
Suplex
SwordiconKSS
Sword
WheeliconKSS
Wheel
WingiconKSS
Wing
Yo-yoiconKSS
Yo-Yo

Items and Objects[]

Db The following section contains transcluded content from the Database. Source: (viewedit • help)

Copy Essence DeluxeSparkling StarTreasure ChestWarp Star

Development[]

HelperDesignDoc1

Masahiro Sakurai's design document illustration explaining the Helper system.

As a follow-up to Kirby's Adventure, director Masahiro Sakurai conceived Kirby Super Star as a game built around two foundational concepts: 2-player simultaneous play, and an "omnibus" format. His original design document for the game was submitted sometime in 1993, not long after Adventure's release. The addition of multiplayer was requested by Shigeru Miyamoto, who had wanted to experiment with simultaneous cooperative play in his own Mario games, but had felt at the time that their speed was too fast to accommodate it. (A four-player cooperative 2D Mario platformer, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, would eventually be completed in 2009.) Thus, he told Sakurai, "Kirby moves slower than Mario, though, so you should be able to figure it out, right?" [5]

This was no longer quite true, since fast Copy Abilities like Wheel and Tornado had already been introduced in Kirby's Adventure. Nevertheless, Sakurai was committed to fulfilling the request in his new game. It was accomplished by dividing the player characters into leading and supporting roles, with the supporting character being forced to automatically Space Jump to the location of the leader (Kirby) if they ended up off-screen, preventing them from getting lost or stuck. This effective system for platformer co-op proved to have a lasting influence on other games, including the Mario series.

Sakurai made Kirby Super Star an omnibus anthology of shorter sub-games as a reaction against the large amount of very long games that were being released at the time, such as massive RPGs. In his own words, he wished for his game to instead "provide a lot of content without causing players to grow tired of any one style."

HelperDesignDoc2

Development outline of Copy Abilities and ability hats.

According to Sakurai, the use of pre-rendered 3D polygonal graphics in Kirby Super Star was directly influenced by the massive success of Rare's Super Nintendo game Donkey Kong Country. Creating and implementing HAL Laboratory's own 3D graphics significantly extended the development time of Kirby Super Star, which ended up being three years.[6] In a 2022 personal video, Sakurai expressed regret over this choice, feeling that the development staff was not well prepared for it and that it was a poor fit for a Kirby game. However, he also thought that it helped the staff to grow their skills with new technology, paving the way for later advancements.

An additional sub-game with puzzle/RPG elements and a horror theme, Kagero Mansion, was originally planned to appear in Kirby Super Star. Due to time constraints and limited resources, it never entered development beyond a write-up in the design document. It was entirely unknown to the public for over 20 years, until Sakurai described it in an interview held to commemorate the release of the Super Nintendo Classic micro console (which included Kirby Super Star). In 2022, some details about the proposed storyline of Kagero Mansion were shared. It would have involved a sentient wall clock inside of a haunted mansion, which had placed a curse on Kirby to seal his mouth shut.

Kirby Super Star was at least partly developed on Apple's Macintosh line of computers. This was the first time that Sakurai's staff had used a windowed graphical user interface in game development. The window designs of the boss enemy Computer Virus resemble those of the Classic Mac OS operating system, which may have been an in-joke reference to what the developers of Kirby Super Star saw while making the game.

Music[]

KPR Maxim Tomato Main article: Kirby Super Star/Music

Glitches[]

KPR Maxim Tomato Main article: Glitch#Kirby Super Star

Reception[]

KPR Waddle Dee 2 This section is currently under construction

Staff[]

KPR Maxim Tomato Main article: List of Kirby Super Star Staff

Related Quotes[]

Kirby in a jester cap...and a super-cute Kirby at that. Beam Kirby features a Beam ability, acquired by inhaling Waddle Doo, that allows him to shoot a whip-like beam at his enemies. With a wide attack range, this ability is extremely easy to use, especially for taking out enemies in bunches. In Kirby Super Star, this beam can also be charged and fired.
— Beam Kirby trophy description • Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Kirby when he inhales an enemy who uses fire. Shooting fire from his mouth, Fire Kirby can cook enemies from afar. This ability also allows Kirby to light explosive blocks, fuses, and so on. In Kirby Super Star and Kirby & The Amazing Mirror, Fire Kirby can roll his burning body into enemies as an attack move.
— Fire Kirby trophy description • Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Kirby when he inhales Plasma Wisps, which glow with a neon green flame. Plasma Kirby can charge the plasma strength up to a maximum level of 5. In Kirby Super Star, your attack--be it a Plasma Laser or a Plasma Wave Cannon--varies with the length of time you charge it.
— Plasma Kirby trophy description • Super Smash Bros. Brawl
A monstrous bird with white- and rainbow-colored bladed wings and huge talons. Challengers who face Dyna Blade are forced to contend with her speed and armor plating that can reflect any attack. The only weak point is her head. In Kirby Super Star, she's destroying Dream Land's crops, but there's apparently a perfectly good reason for this.
— Dyna Blade trophy description • Super Smash Bros. Brawl
A well-known boss from the Kirby series. Kracko is a cloud with a big eye and numerous spikes. He threatens Kirby with a number of weapons, including beam and rain attacks. In Kirby Super Star, Kracko first appears as Kracko Jr., continuing his onslaught on Kirby as he grows in size.
— Kracko trophy description • Super Smash Bros. Brawl
One of Kirby's foes. Those unlucky enough to get too close will get body-slammed with Bugzzy's vicious pincers. He also releases smaller bugs. Kirby can copy the ability to body-slam by inhaling him. In Kirby Super Star, this ability is called Suplex. It's just one of many pro-wrestling moves he can use.
— Bugzzy trophy description • Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Kirby Super Star on the SNES was the first Kirby game where two players could team up.
— Multiplayer Kirby Tip • Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

Trivia[]

  • Despite claiming to be "8 Games in One!" Kirby Super Star actually contains nine games. The Arena is likely the unmentioned ninth game, which is also not mentioned in the instruction booklet, likely to avoid spoilers.
  • Despite the game's 1996 Japanese release, the earliest in-game copyright year is given as 1995. In the Japanese version, it is the only year. This indicates that the Japanese ROM data was completed in 1995 and originally planned for release by the end of that year, but was delayed.
  • Due to limitations, many of Kirby's Copy Ability hats are recolors (some of which were redesigned in later releases):
  • The music for the Trial Rooms and the rest area of The Arena is a remix of the music used in the main room of Mt. Dedede from Kirby's Dream Land.
  • When Kirby Super Star was released on the Wii U eShop in Europe, the version released was not European, but instead North American. This was the same with the European release of the SNES Classic Edition.
  • In the Music Room in Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, Kirby Super Star is represented by an image of Kirby in front of a striped background. This resembles the Kirby Super Star Ultra logo.
  • When playing amiibo tap: Nintendo's Greatest Bits, if the player taps an amiibo product to the Wii U GamePad, there is a chance to unlock a demo of Kirby Super Star.
  • Concept artwork seems to suggest that additional Copy Abilities were considered for Kirby Super Star. These included Tonosama (feudal lord), Satellite, Summon, Donate, Grenade, Card, Flower, Rush, and Mantle.[7][8]
  • Although Kirby creator Masahiro Sakurai's favorite Copy Ability is said to be Beam, he has stated in a Twitter post that his favorite abilities in Kirby Super Star are "hand-to-hand" abilities like Fighter and Suplex.[9]
  • The boss theme of this game was remixed for Level 1 of the Scope Shot sub-game in Kirby's Return to Dream Land and the music that plays during the battle against DX mid-bosses in Kirby: Triple Deluxe.
  • An in-game reset can be activated by holding L, R, Select and Start at the same time.
  • Kirby Super Star, despite being intended for an SNES release from the get-go, actually began development on the original NES. This unreleased prototype was used for internal purposes only, as a way of finalizing all the ideas that would go into the final product. This can be seen with the NES sprites for the Yo-Yo and Cutter abilities, which were released to the public over 20 years later in an issue of Famitsu: the sprites shown look nearly identical to their counterparts in the finished product. Director Masahiro Sakurai stated that this type of development style is beneficial to him, as the starting step of finalizing all of a game's ideas via an internal prototype makes the rest of development significantly easier.
  • Kirby Super Star appears as a Masterpiece in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. The trial begins in The Great Cave Offensive and players have three minutes to play before the trial ends.
  • In Japan, Kirby Super Star was packaged in a box resembling Paulownia wood. This wood is culturally significant in Japan, being used to store valuable objects. As such, Nintendo used this packaging to comment on the value of the game, perhaps alluding to the "Super Deluxe" subtitle.

Artwork[]

Box Art[]

Media[]

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Concept Artwork[]

Gallery[]

External links[]

References[]

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