User:Waddlez3121/Kirby Structure: Difference between revisions

==Game Modes==

Game modes are pretty much the bread and butter of Kirby games. Once you've gone far enough, you have a lot of options - especially in ''[[Kirby Super Star Ultra]]'' and ''[[Kirby Star Allies]]'', which have far more game modes than usual.

*[[Story Mode]]: surprisingly, in spite of making the bulk of a game's content - reflected very clearly in the game's completion tracker - the story mode of a game is just there to introduce you to everything. [[Kirby]] can fly over anything he pleases in most games, or he can pay attention in class and learn how things work.

*[[Sub-Game]]s: at least two per title starting in ''[[Kirby's Adventure]]'', these are here for five-minute fun and usually don't go very far. You have three difficulties, depending on <s>your coordination</s> how spicy Kirby's feeling today. Rising difficulty means one, two, or all of the following: lower health, more complex stage design, and/or more interesting enemies. If you're a [[3DS]] title, your sub-games might get blown up and tossed onto the eShop for a few pennies.

**[[Theater]]: just in case you want to experience the opening cutscene again... because sometimes that's the only story you're given for the next three fourths of the game.

**[[Sound Test]] / [[Jukebox]]: For when you want to listen to [[Reproduction of Darkness]] over and over again. <small>...What do you mean, "that's not normal?"</small>

*[[The Arena]] / [[Boss Endurance]]: Even if the [[Colosseum]] isn't called an Arena, it seems [[Shinya Kumazaki]] is directing ''Kirby'' titles towards having those rather than a single [[Boss Endurance]]. This mode is a great refresher if you want to enjoy some of the stellar boss fights again. Good warm-up, too.

*[[Extra Mode]]: The extra mode is where the real game begins. Highlights of the story mode are made more interesting, and there's often a partially new plot involved. Not that you'll know what's going on if you forget to [[pause]] and read the [[Special Page]]s. In order to keep things fresh, there's usually ramped-up bosses coupled with lower health.

*[[The True Arena]]: The real - shall I say true? final challenge. This is where the game's toughest parts come together and challenge you one after another, barely relenting for but a moment. To top it all off, you get a secret final boss, buried deep behind all of the other enemies you've faced before. After this, there is no more to say.

==The True Road to Becoming a Modern ''Kirby'' Game==

Unsurprisingly, there are a specific few games that are undeniably important to the ''[[Kirby (series)]]'' series as it stands in the modern day. Without further ado, here goes the list:

*''[[Kirby's Dream Land]]'': Characters, mechanics, incredibly basic formatting, and cheat codes. What's not to love?

**Introduced around two thirds of Kirby's basic moveset, found today under [[Normal]] (or still [[Kirby]] depending on how much progress has been made with migrating movesets from this page)

**Introduced a normal and hard mode, creatively reusing and swapping out assets to produce more content. Very rudimentary, but it was a start for sure

**You might not think it, but [[Mt. Dedede]] is actually the first boss rush in the history of the ''Kirby'' series.

*''[[Kirby's Adventure]]'': Copy Abilities, game/level structure, world maps, and more.

**Greatly expanded on the length of the game

**Introduced the first draft of the structure of how games are organized (see [[#Story Mode]] below)

*''[[Kirby's Dream Land 2]]'': Bet you weren't expecting this one.

**Introduced the per-game gimmick in the form of the Animal Friends

**First game to require [[Rainbow Drop|certain hidden collectibles]] in order to make progress. Also the first to feature two varieties of collectibles.

*''[[Kirby Super Star]] ([[KSSU|Ultra]])'': Both versions of the game make important leaps forward, particularly in overall structure rather than gameplay.

**The general organization of ''Super Star'' is very different. Sub-games are open to try from the minute you open a save file, and completing [[Spring Breeze]] opens up your options quite widely.

**Move lists and some flavor text on pause screens. The latter would not be fully developed until ''Ultra'', but progress is progress.

***[[The Great Cave Offensive]] doesn't have nearly as much of a substantial impact, but it was a likely inspiration for ''[[Kirby and the Amazing Mirror]]''{{'}}s format and also greatly increased the abundancy of extra collectibles, likely influencing [[Keychain]]s, [[Sticker]]s, and [[Celebration Picture]] pieces.

***''Ultra'' introduced The True Arena, mentioned above in [[#Game Modes]]

*''[[Kirby's Return to Dream Land]] (not [[KRtDLD|Deluxe]])''<ref>It's difficult to ascertain what impact RtDLD is going to have when the next game hasn't even been announced yet.</ref>: Oh boy, oh boy. Lots to cover here; this might not even be a comprehensive list.

**I recommend reading any resource you can find (except FANDOM) on the three lost Kirby games to get even more info about this game's impact and what it drew from.

**Revived the series at a time of mostly spin-offs

**Solidified the importance of games mentioned above and pulled many influences together to bring forward a polished experience. Gimmicks, [[K64|3D graphics]], a proper world map that ''Super Star'' went back and forth on having (featuring the ability to run around and test Kirby's moves out like in ''Adventure'' and ''Dream Land 2''), among several other things.

**[[Another Dimension]] and its dimensional rifts are the first truly optional stage content, rather than just being an alternate path to the goal. These rift sections add some extra challenge for experienced players.

Though I described it [[#Game Modes|above]] as really just the beginning, story mode is where most of the drama and the fun happens. You get a title screen, an opening cutscene, a random blurb in the manual, and... go! The point of story mode is that it's a really entertaining stepping stone. The story is separated into levels (often chapters in ''Super Star'') which are sub-divided into stages. Each stage has rooms; each room has an entry, an obstacle, and an exit; you get the idea. There are several recurring stage design elements, some of which can be found on [[User:ShadowKirby/Sandbox#Recurring level design elements|ShadowKirby/ShadowMagolor's user sandbox]].

| [[Poppy Bros. Sr.]] || Mid-Boss || ''[[Kirby's Adventure]]'' || [[Gigavolt]] || Boss || ''[[Kirby: Planet Robobot]]''

Extra modes feature all or most of the story mode's content again, but usually with certain restrictions in place. For example, in ''[[Kirby's Adventure]]'' and ''[[Kirby's Return to Dream Land]]'', Kirby's health is cut significantly, reducing the amount of damage he can sustain without losing a life. Alternatively, the player may be forced to choose a different character to control, such as in ''[[Kirby: Triple Deluxe]]'', ''[[Kirby: Planet Robobot]]'' and ''[[Kirby Star Allies]]''. In this case, truncations are more frequent as the game must tailor to the character's abilities - for example, [[Meta Knight]] has no issue cutting ropes, but he will be unable to complete puzzles based on moving objects with the [[Robobot Armor]] to destroy gold blocks. Notably, the original version of [[Meta Knightmare]] combined these two ideas.

The differences between The Arena and general Boss Endurances are nominal, with most of them being simple standardization (or lack thereof.) Boss Endurances usually cause Kirby to fight exclusively level and final bosses in the order encountered in the story mode, and only two of these ([[The Ultimate Choice]] and the [[Colosseum]]) feature any kind of difficulty selection. The Arena consistently features a timer and choice of almost any [[Copy Ability]], mechanics with spotty representation in other Boss Endurances. Some Boss Endurances, like in ''Kirby 64'', may outright prevent Kirby from obtaining Copy Abilities at all. ''Kirby: Planet Robobot'' is the only game with an Arena to deviate from certain traditions of the mode, causing it to receive a different name in the East Asian releases.

| Mid-Bosses ignored || Mid-Bosses included || Example

*The True Arena or its equivalent is often the final step in the player's journey, barring any recorded collectibles and Sub-Game rankings. When [[100% completion]] is achieved, a special reward is granted to the player. One of these is often the [[Kirby Master]] video in the Theater, or they might gain access to [[UFO#Kirby: Planet Robobot|an exclusive Copy Ability]].