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King Dedede

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You can't be mean to my Waddle Dees! Only I can be mean to my Waddle Dees!
— King Dedede in Kirby's Epic Yarn


King Dedede
King Dedede 7.png
Official art from Kirby: Triple Deluxe.
Details
First appearance Kirby's Dream Land
Latest appearance Kirby: Star Allies
Other appearance(s) All (except for Kirby and the Amazing Mirror, Kirby and the Rainbow Curse and Team Kirby Clash Deluxe)
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King Dedede, King DeDeDe in some older games, is the self-proclaimed king of Dream Land and a main antagonist and/or anti-hero of the Kirby series. He is a recurring villain, is usually confronted in a boss fight, and serves as Kirby's nemesis. Though he often engages in trouble-making, mostly involving stealing other people's food, he has also done some noble acts, such as trying to seal away Nightmare, helping Kirby in Kirby's Return to Dreamland and helping Kirby and Ribbon on their quest to defeat Dark Matter and Zero Two. King Dedede lives in a castle atop Mount Dedede.

Game Appearances

Kirby's Dream Land

King Dedede first appears in Kirby's Dream Land for the Game Boy, where he serves as the main antagonist and final boss. Prior to the game, King Dedede has stolen all of the food in Dream Land and left the population hungry. Kirby sets out to defeat him and give the people back their food. After traveling through the different regions of the land, Kirby finally confronts the king in his castle atop Mount Dedede. The two of them engage in battle in a boxing ring. Kirby manages to defeat him and the food supplies of Dream Land are saved.

Kirby's Adventure/Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land

In Kirby's Adventure and Nightmare in Dream Land, King Dedede reappears as the apparent final boss of the game. The game begins with him stealing the Star Rod from the Fountain of Dreams, divides it into seven pieces, and gives them to six of his trusted friends while keeping the last one. This causes Kirby to assume ill will from his enemy, and he sets out and tries to restore the broken artifact. However, unknown to Kirby, King Dedede stole the Star Rod in order to save Dream Land from the clutches of Nightmare. The misunderstanding results in Kirby defeating King Dedede at Rainbow Resort and retrieving all seven pieces of the Star Rod. As Kirby walks towards the Fountain of Dreams to return the Star Rod, King Dedede tries to hold him back and begs him to drop his ambitions. However, Kirby refuses to listen and releases Nightmare as a result. Kirby manages to defeat Nightmare with the Star Rod's help, and at the end, King Dedede's motivations of stealing it are finally revealed. He and Kirby can be seen flying next to each other during the credits. King Dedede also has minor appearances during some of the game's sub-games and appears on the top of every boss level door.

Kirby's Dream Land 2

File:KDL2ArtKingDedede.png
Kirby's Dream Land 2 artwork.

Dedede does not appear until boss stage of the game's final level, Dark Castle. He acts as the final boss if Kirby has not collected all of the Rainbow Drops yet. If all have been collected and Kirby emerges victorious, the piece of Dark Matter that had possessed Dedede will leave the defeated king's body, enabling Kirby to fight it.

Kirby Super Star

King Dedede, as seen in the opening for Gourmet Race.

King Dedede reappears as an antagonist in two main games of Kirby Super Star, namely Spring Breeze and Gourmet Race. Spring Breeze, being a remake of Kirby's Dream Land, features him in his old role as the food-stealing villain. He engages Kirby in a boxing ring inside his castle on Mt. Dedede, acting as the final boss of Spring Breeze. Much like in Kirby's Dream Land, King Dedede attack Kirby with his hammer, as well as by attempting to jump on or inhale the pink hero, requiring Kirby to inhale the stars created by some of his attacks and spit them back or make use of a Copy Ability. As Dedede gets stunned briefly and stops what he is doing whenever he takes damage, using an fast Copy Ability makes it is possible for Kirby to entirely keep him from attacking.

In Gourmet Race, Kirby confronts King Dedede in three different stages, Pumpkin Grand, Corn Hall, and Onion Garden, where the two of them then engage in a race for snacks. In order to emerge victorious, Kirby must collect more food than the king and beat him to the finish line.

Kirby's Dream Land 3

Ado's drawing of King Dedede seen in the ending.

When Dark Matter takes control of Pop Star during Kirby's Dream Land 3 it possesses several of the planet's denizens, one of which is King Dedede. He serves as the boss fought in level 5, Iceberg, and is simultaneously the last boss of the game if the player didn't complete all of the errands in the numerous stages. The fight against King Dedede is separated in two different phases: A battle on the ground, and a battle in the air. While being on the ground, Dedede uses his usual strategy of lunging at Kirby, trying to crush him with his mallet, and using his powerful suction attack. After taking several hits, the King switches to the second phase and begins floating in the air. His move pattern strikingly departs from his usual Template:Behavior in that phase, and he is capable of performing some bizarre attacks like opening his stomach area like a maw with pointy teeth and chasing Kirby, or shooting black orbs of energy from a giant eyeball in his belly.The battle ends once Kirby manages to defeat King Dedede in this state. Usually, the game ends at that point, but if Kirby managed to complete all the errands from the previous levels, he will get access to the actual final fight of the game, located in Hyper Zone. King Dedede can then be seen in the Hyper Zone introduction scene, and once Kirby defeats the final boss, Dedede will appear in some of the drawings shown during the credits.

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards

In Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, King Dedede is first fought as a mini-boss, but then ends up becoming an ally of Kirby and Ribbon in their cause to collect the Crystal Shards and save Ripple Star. He is first seen in the game when he finds a Crystal Shard on top of his castle. He snatches it away right before Kirby can pick it up, much to the king's enjoyment. Before the group can convince him to return the shard, however, King Dedede gets possessed by Dark Matter, which forces him to fight Kirby. The battle itself is reminiscent of the two phases of the King Dedede battle in Kirby's Dream Land 3, albeit not as hard to complete. Kirby manages to defeat him, drive out Dark matter, and get back the Crystal Shard, but King Dedede snaps after the battle and refuses to look at the group any further. After they leave, he can be seen visibly struggling, until he makes the decision to follow them along.

After that he becomes playable in some level segments, allowing Kirby to ride him piggyback and to use his hammer to break through obstacles.

He is also playable in the Sub-Games that are accessible from the main menu.

Kirby Air Ride

Main article: King Dedede (Air Ride)

King Dedede makes a relatively minor appearance in Kirby Air Ride as an unlockable character. After unlocked, he can be selected as an Air Ride Machine in the game's Air Ride mode. Unlike Kirby, he cannot inhale enemies nor copy their abilities. However, he rides a powerful bike, and is capable of wielding his hammer as an effective weapon at all times.

Aside from his role as a playable character, a larger and more powerful version of the king appears as an antagonist in Vs. King Dedede, a Stadium of the game's City Trial mode.

Kirby: Canvas Curse

Eddy Dedede Ball Curse.png
King Dedede as a ball

In Kirby: Canvas Curse, King Dedede appears as a boss painted by Drawcia to engage Kirby in a Gourmet Race-esque fight. Kirby needed to fight Dedede twice on two different worlds in order to move on. Further, if purchased in the Medal Shop, Dedede can become a playable character, being inflicted with the same curse as Kirby has. As a ball, King Dedede moves slower than the other characters, and can use his hammer to attack enemies.

Kirby: Squeak Squad

In Kirby: Squeak Squad, when Kirby's strawberry shortcake was stolen, Kirby immediately blames Dedede for the theft of his cake. However, upon defeating Dedede, it turns out that he didn't had anything to do with Kirby's cake. Suddenly, the titular Squeak Squad comes in and steal the treasure chest believed to hold Kirby's cake. Suddenly, King Dedede grabs Kirby and throws him at the Squeaks, leading the bunch to a tunnel. Dedede doesn't appear for rest of the story from that point on.

King Dedede serves as the first boss in this title. His move-set is largely the same as it has always been, but he has been weakened, and suffers more recoil from damage, in order to make him a more manageable first encounter.

Kirby's Epic Yarn

King Dedede is appears in Kirby Epic Yarn as the boss of Snow Land. Originally, while he was bossing his Waddle Dees around in Castle Dedede, Yin-Yarn snuck in a few of his own yarn Waddle Dees until they captured both the real Waddle Dees and King Dedede as well. Yin-Yarn then transported King Dedede into his sock and King Dedede ended up being controlled like a marionette, until Kirby defeated him.

Kirby Mass Attack

Eddy Dedede MassAttack.png

King Dedede appears in Kirby Mass Attack as the boss of his own resort, Dedede Resort, riding a hot air balloon and armed with two types of time bombs. Waddle Dees help by throwing bombs from the sidelines. After being defeated by his own technology, he resorts to the old method of doing it alone. After being defeated, he gives up the key to Volcano Valley.

Kirby's Return to Dream Land

King Dedede appears in [[Kirby's Return to Dream Land|Template:KRDL KAW]], but acts as a playable protagonist rather than an antagonist, controllable by the second, third or fourth player. Alongside Meta Knight and a Waddle Dee, King Dedede assists Kirby in finding parts to the Lor Starcutter and defeating several bosses, including the final boss. Although King Dedede never appears as a boss per se, a mechaniTemplate:Sed version can be fought in the Sub-Game Scope Shot.

King Dedede moveset for Template:KRDL KAW
Skill Button Execution Skill Button Execution
Hammer
1
Midair Hammer Swing
1 in midair
Hammer Twirl
↓ + 1
Dedede Hammer Flip
↑ + 1
Triple Dedede Hammer
Hold 1, release
Dedede Hammer Throw
Dash + -
Giant Dedede Swing
Dash + 1
Underwater Hammer Swing
1 underwater

Kirby's Dream Collection

King Dedede appears in the intro cartoon that carries into the title. When he is transformed from his 2-D sprite from into his 3-D model form, he briefly laments about the belly he was given. From there, he helps launch Kirby into the title screen so he can become part of the emblem.

Dedede does not appear in the New Challenge Stages Sub-Game, but naturally can be found in the main titles featured in the collection. The couple of episodes of the anime that are bundled with the collection also feature Dedede to some extent.

Kirby: Triple Deluxe

King Dedede 7.png
Kirby: Triple Deluxe artwork.

In Kirby: Triple Deluxe, King Dedede is first shown in the opening sequence, being captured by Taranza, who mistook Dedede as the hero of Dream Land. Throughout the first 5 worlds, he is seen in every boss level, being carried by Taranza. In the final world, Taranza turns Dedede into Masked Dedede. After both his and Queen Sectonia's defeat, Dedede comes back to his senses and helps Kirby defeat Queen Sectonia when she merges with the Dreamstalk as a last resort. Dedede has his own game types, Dedede's Drum Dash and Dededetour!.

His moveset is largely the same as it was in Kirby's Return to Dream Land, but he was made larger in size, comparable to Bonkers, and was given a few projectile moves to aid his journey through Dededetour!. Firstly, like Sword Kirby, Dedede can shoot a projectile from his hammer if he has full health just with his normal Hammer Swing. Secondly, he can charge up and release an aimed projectile similar to Archer Kirby that can cut ropes.

Kirby Fighters Deluxe

King Dedede and 63 tiny copies of himself are fought as the final encounter in this spin-off title. He also serves as a stage hazard on the Boxing Ring stage.

Dedede's Drum Dash Deluxe

The first spin-off title to feature Dedede exclusively has him bouncing across drums in seven distinct stages to earn as high a score as possible.

Super Smash Bros. series

Super Smash Bros.

King Dedede makes a cameo appearance in Super Smash Bros.. In the background of Dream Land, a King Dedede sprite can be seen flying around. In addition, King Dedede was planned to be a playable character but was scrapped later in development.

Super Smash Bros. Melee

King Dedede makes another cameo appearance in Super Smash Bros. Melee, appearing as a random trophy and reprising his previous role as a sprite in Dream Land.

Trophy Information
Name Image Appears In Description
King Dedede DededeTrophyMelee.png Kirby's Dream Land (08/92) Dedede's the self-proclaimed king of Dream Land. While he says he's king, Dedede performs no administrative functions and the citizens of Dream Land continue to live as they always have. He's able to suck in air and fly like Kirby does, but only as a result of the vigorous training he undertook after being bested by Kirby.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

King Dedede makes an appearance as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl alongside Meta Knight, who is also a new fighter, and Kirby, who has been a fighter since the first game. His attacks are especially strong, particularly his side Smash Attack, though the fact that he is slow can greatly lower the unknown reader's chance of winning. Like Kirby, he has the ability to jump multiple times.

In the current tier list, King Dedede is ranked 12th, in the C+ tier. King Dedede has very powerful moves, good recovery in his four jumps, which, when coupled with Super Dedede Jump, provides him one of the least punishable recoveries in the game. In addition to that, Dedede has many options of scoring KOs, with his good range on his attacks, particularly his side tilt, and he has an amazing grab game, which can effectively reduce two-thirds of the cast's stocks quickly due to his down throw's set knockback. However, he lacks speed compared to other fighters, as his aerial movement is low and his dashing speed is the third slowest in game, with only Ganondorf and Jigglypuff having slower dashes. He also is vulnerable to chain throws and combos himself due to his high weight and falling speed. However, his pros overshadow most of his cons, which is why he is ranked 12th on the tier list. Dedede has seen great tournament results, especially in tournaments that ban Meta Knight.

Trophy Information
Name Image Appears In Description
King Dedede DededeTrophyBrawl.png GB Kirby's Dream Land
N64 Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
The self-styled king of the amazingly peaceful Dream Land. He continually does things unbecoming a king, like stealing the kingdom's food supplies or all the stars from the sky. He's not all bad, though, and sometimes performs good deeds. While he and Kirby often battle, they've been known to compete good-naturedly at speed-eating contests and minigames.

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U

King Dedede was confirmed during the Super Smash Bros. Direct on April 8, 2014 as a veteran fighter. As his creator Masahiro Sakurai stated, the king is now more expressive. Another major difference is that he throws Gordos instead of Waddle Dees. However, the Waddle Dees and Parasol Waddle Dees appear as enemies in Smash Bros 3DS' Smash Run, and the Gordos the king throws can be deflected back by his enemies.

Additionally, his Final Smash was changed to Dedede Burst, which involves him trapping his opponents using his Inhale, then hitting them with a giant bomb that pops out of his hammer.

Once again, King Dedede reprises his role from Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Melee in Dream Land, which has been reintroduced as DLC content. However, if King Dedede is present in the battle, then the King Dedede sprite will not appear.

On the tier list, King Dedede is ranked 52nd out of 58 characters, in the H tier. Dedede received the second-largest drop on the tier list, only behind Falco. Dedede's notable strengths are that he is very hard to KO, he has a very large disjointed range because of his hammer, good edgeguarding moves in his back and down aerials, good punishing moves courtesy of his forward and down smashes, and the aforementioned back and down aerials.

Despite this, Dedede suffers from the removal of chain grabbing, his back aerial going through a complete overhaul, which weakened it, getting a slower air speed from Brawl, in addition to already being a slow walker and dasher. His new side special, Gordo Throw, is capable of being reflected by any attack that deals at least 2%, meaning that it can be countered by most jabs, in addition to Waddle Doos, which used to shoot a beam, being removed, makes his side special weak. He also has some of the slowest frame data of all the characters in the game, with only a few attacks coming out before frame 9, which, when coupled with his large stature great weight, and high falling speed, gives Dedede one of the worst defensive and offensive options in the game. Last, his disproportionately weak strength is laughable, as his fastest moves are unable to KO until very high percentages, and his strongest attacks come out very slowly, making them very easy to punish. Overall, his tournament results, which in contradiction to his Brawl tournament placings, are poor, although the European tournaments have Dedede mains placing somewhat better. King Dedede still maintains a decent amount of players dedicated to him, meaning that good advancements in his playing game have been introduced, although he is mainly considered unviable by most of the Smash community, and is claimed to be either one of the worst Super Smash Bros. characters by some, or, in a few cases, the worst of them all.

Trophy Information
Name 3DS Image Wii U Image Appears In NTSC-U Description PAL Description
King Dedede
DededeTrophy3DS.png
DededeTrophyWiiU.png GB Kirby's Dream Land (8/1992)
3DS Kirby: Triple Deluxe (5/2014)
He calls himself the King of Dream Land, but he doesn't have a lot of interest in ruling. He really loves to eat, so it's no surprise he's a heavyweight fighter. Despite his size and low speed, he can easily recover with his four jumps. His Jet Hammer will leave a mark on everyone he meets. Being a self-proclaimed king, Dedede clearly doesn't care too much about the whole "politics" things. He's just a bit greedy. In this game, his weight and hefty hammer make him slow, but he can still jump four times in mid-air anyway, making it easy for him to get back to the stage. Fully charge his Jet Hammer for ultimate destruction.
King Dedede (Alt.)
DededeAltTrophy3DS.png
DededeAltTrophyWiiU.png GB Kirby's Dream Land (8/1992)
3DS Kirby: Triple Deluxe (5/2014)
For the Gordo Throw side special, King Dedede sends a Gordo bouncing with a hammer strike. It bounces off walls—or sometimes gets stuck in them. After a while it'll disappear. If an enemy hits one, it'll bounce back toward you. Use the special again to whack it back at them! For the Gordo Throw side special, King Dedede hits a Gordo with his hammer, sending it bouncing along the stage. It'll bounce off walls, or sometimes get stuck in them. Then, after a while, it'll disappear. If an enemy hits the Gordo with an attack, it'll fly back towards you. Use the special again to whack it back at them!

Blue indicates exclusive to the Wii U version.

Kirby: Planet Robobot

File:Robobot Dedede Opening.jpg
Dedede's chess game is interrupted by a sudden alien invasion.

In the opening cutscene, King Dedede is seen playing a game of chess with his Waddle Dees at his castle when the Haltmann Works Company invasion begins. He orders his Waddle Dees to fire cannonballs at the invading ship, but to no avail. His castle is later destroyed by a laser from the ship.

Dedede himself does not feature in the game after this point, but his genetic information is stolen by Haltmann Works to create the Dedede Clone. By the end of the game, he is shown to have been knocked unconscious the entire time, and wakes up in his castle's rubble after Pop Star is returned to normal.

Team Kirby Clash Deluxe

King Dedede himself does not feature in this title. However, an alternate universe doppelganger is encountered as the final boss.

Kirby's Blowout Blast

King Dedede is faced as the last Boss of the main series of levels. He battles Kirby using his hammer and other techniques as usual, though in a 3-D space. When defeated, he uses one of the Sparkling Stars to grow giant, and renew his attacks. When defeated again, he returns to normal size.

At the end of Secret Path, King Dedede also dons his mask when he grows giant, for the final encounter.

Physical Appearance

King Dedede resembles an obese blue penguin creature, wearing a kingly red coat and a red hat with a yellow brim and a pompom, though Nintendo Power has refered to him on at least one occasion as an eagle[1]. The red coat itself sports a white hem and a portrait of King Dedede himself on the back. King Dedede himself is rather portly, is blue-skinned and has a yellow mouth (which has always been depicted as more of a beak). In most appearances, he wears a yellow tunic under his robe, which is also spanned by a sash with a triangular pattern on it resembling sharp teeth. When he is possessed by Dark Matter, this sash will actually open up like a big mouth to fire projectiles. King Dedede, like Kirby, is able to inhale and float by distending his belly. He can swallow Kirby and other things, but cannot copy their abilities. To make up for this, King Dedede carries a large wooden mallet, which he uses for most of his attacks. When that is not enough, he can use his portly size to perform body slams and stomps.

Personality

KSS DededeKirbyRivalry.png

King Dedede is portrayed as egocentric, egoistic, and also gluttonous. This is evidenced by the fact that he crowned himself as Dream Land's supreme ruler and occasionally steals food without caring for the victims. He also has a tendency to act stubborn. He sees Kirby as his rival and often competes with him for food and other reasons. Despite his egoistic nature, King Dedede is not evil. On occasions he is shown to be a caring character who tries to save Dream Land from greater foes like Nightmare and Dark Matter. King Dedede seems to have a passion for wrestling matches, since his battlefield of choice is a boxing ring.

Trivia

  • In Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards and in both Super Smash Bros. Brawl and for Wii U/3DS, King Dedede is voiced by Masahiro Sakurai.
  • In the Japanese version of the anime, King Dedede ends most of his sentences with "zoi".
  • King Dedede's appearance in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards is the only one in which he does not wear gloves in-game, though his artwork for Kirby's Dream Land 2 also depicts him without gloves.
  • HR-D3 bears King Dedede's V-sign insignia in its debut in Kirby Mass Attack's Kirby Quest sub-game, which may imply that D3 is a reference to Dedede's name's pronunciation in Japanese and English. However, for unknown reasons, when it appeared as a proper Kirby platformer boss in [[Kirby's Return to Dream Land|Template:KRDL KAW]], it had a different insignia and was actually Dedede's enemy and showed no ties to him, despite having the D3 part of its name intact.
  • King Dedede is often subject to possessions and other forms of mind control. In every game in the Dark Matter trilogy, he is possessed by the subject matter. Additionally, Dedede has been puppeted and controlled by both Yin-Yarn and Taranza.
  • While often depicted as greedy and self-centered, King Dedede can be heroic. This is first demonstrated in Kirby's Adventure, wherein he shatters the Star Rod in order to prevent the main villain of the game, Nightmare from using it, Even trying to stop Kirby from placing the Star Rod onto the fountain.
  • In the Kirby: Right Back At Ya! anime, King Dedede is sometimes called "Triple D" or "Three D" by N.M.E, obviously because Dedede is pronounced like three D's in a row.

Names in Other Languages

Language Name Meaning
Japanese デデデ大王
Dedede Daiō
Great King Dedede
French Roi Dadidou King Dadidou
German König Nickerchen,
King Dedede (anime),
König Dedede
King Snooze
-
King Dedede
Russian Король Дидиди
Korol' Dididi
From English name
Spanish Rey Dedede King Dedede


Gallery


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  1. "Nintendo Power, Vol. 134"