The True Arena

“	Deluxe bosses wait in the wings as the curtain rises on the final battle! It's a knock-down, drag-out fight all the way to the nightmare four. The True Arena awaits!”
	— Pause screen description • Kirby: Triple Deluxe

The True Arena is a heavily revamped version of The Arena and is the final sub-game in Kirby Super Star Ultra, Kirby's Return to Dream Land, and Kirby: Triple Deluxe. It is the last sub-game in every game it appears in, and is intended to be the most difficult.

The True Arena differs to The Arena in several ways, aside from the change in bosses. Though the player is still offered every Copy Ability before the battle royale begins, he/she is not provided Maxim Tomatoes as in The Arena; the player only receives regular tomatoes, which heal as much vitality as one Maxim Tomato does when all are used. In addition, although two Copy Essences are still found in the rest area, one is always a Sleep Copy Essence, effectively limiting the player's choice of ability to whatever the other pedestal offers.

In Games

Kirby Super Star Ultra

In the room where Kirby can take any Copy Essence he wishes, the player should take note that there are two elevators on both sides for quick travel. Unlike The Arena, the rest area in The True Arena has a stormy sky and many rotting, decayed trees in place of lush ones in The Arena; the Colosseum is also redesigned to have spikes on the top of it. When Kirby approaches the final four, the rest area changes dramatically. The entire area becomes horribly fogged over, the dark clouds strike thunder, the sign post changes and shows a hazy image of the next boss's face and the music is changed into a suspenseful, orchestral mumble.

The first six bosses are fought in random order:

Kracko Jr.'s Revenge
Kracko's Revenge
Kabula
Lololo & Lalala's Revenge
Whispy's Revenge
True Mid-boss All-Stars (Mr. Tick Tock, Grand Wheelie, Phan Phan, Fire Lion)

The Last Four are fought in a fixed order:

Kirby's Return to Dream Land

This variant is almost identical to Kirby Super Star Ultra's The True Arena. The player should notice that there still are Maxim Tomatoes in the rest area, but there are only two instead of five. In addition to those two tomatoes, there is a Maxim Tomato inside of a box. Up to four players can play this sub-game. After Kirby beats The True Arena by himself, the player unlocks Meta Knight, Bandana Waddle Dee, and King Dedede to play as -- this means the player can play the sub-game without Kirby being present at all.

When the first ten bosses are defeated, the rest area takes on a gloomier look. The door is replaced with a star-shaped portal (which Kirby cannot reach when carrying the Maxim Tomato box). The music also changes to a remix of Iceberg's map theme from Kirby's Dream Land 3.

The first ten bosses are fought in random order:

Whispy Woods EX
Mr. Dooter EX
Fatty Puffer EX
Goriath EX
Grand Doomer EX
Metal General EX
Landia EX
Sphere Doomers EX (Spark, Regular & Fire, Ice)
True Mid-Boss All-Stars #1 (Gigant Edge EX, King Doo EX & Bonkers EX)
True Mid-Boss All-Stars #2 (Kibble Blade EX, Moundo EX, Water Galboros EX & Dubior EX)

The last five are fought in a fixed order:

Kirby: Triple Deluxe

This variant is nearly identical to Kirby's Return to Dream Land's The True Arena, with a few changes: The room with every Copy Essence stretches horizontally rather than vertically, with two Tilt Gondolas for quick travel instead of two ladders. The rest area is now on two planes; the foreground contains two Copy Essences (one of which is Sleep), and the background contains tomatoes and the door. Kirby can travel between the two planes with a 3D Warpstar. Along with four tomatoes, one Maxim Tomato is contained inside an Assist Star. Once in a while, treasure chests that contain keychains will appear at the foreground.

When the first seven bosses are defeated, the rest area takes on Another Dimension's look. The door is replaced with a Warp Hole and the peaceful music changes to Dangerous Dinner's map music from Kirby's Return to Dream Land.

The first seven bosses are fought in random order:

Flowery Woods DX
Paintra DX
Kracko DX
Coily Rattler DX
Pyribbit DX
True Mid-Boss All-Stars #1 (Grand Wheelie DX, Bonkers DX, & Hornhead DX)
True Mid-Boss All-Stars #2 (Mr. Frosty DX, Flame Galboros DX, Gigant Edge DX, & Blocky DX)

The Nightmare Four are fought in a fixed order:

Related Quotes

“	The last battle, without a doubt! Beat 10 tough foes, including the final four!”
	— Description • Kirby Super Star Ultra

“	This is the ultimate test of skill! This is the gauntlet of courage! This is the final proving ground! Emerge victorious and you'll become...a Kirby Master!”
	— Pause screen description • Kirby's Return to Dream Land

Trivia

Although music from The True Arena doesn't appear in the Sound Test before this mode is beaten, Marx Soul's cackles and death cry (sounds 343-347) can be found before the mode is unlocked.
Kirby's Return to Dream Land's The True Arena is the only version of the sub-game that does not exclude any bosses from The Arena (if one counts Extra Mode variations of bosses as the same characters and Magolor Soul as Magolor's third form).
The logos for The True Arena swapped fonts between Kirby Super Star Ultra and Kirby's Return to Dream Land; the 'True' in Kirby Super Star Ultra is in a red, jagged, font, while 'The' and 'Arena' are in a more formal font. In Kirby's Return to Dream Land, it is the exact opposite, with 'The' and 'Arena' being in the red jagged font.
Like The Arena, Kirby: Triple Deluxe's The True Arena is the only version of the sub-game that does not support multi-player.
Many of the themes from Kirby: Triple Deluxe's The True Arena are rearrangements of themes from Kirby Super Star Ultra's The True Arena.
The music in the rest area in Kirby: Triple Deluxe is a peaceful remix of Ripple Star's theme in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards.