Acro
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Acro is a Boss that has appeared in Ripple Field from Kirby's Dream Land 3 and Aqua Star from Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. He is a killer whale, and his name is "orca" spelled backwards.
Game appearances
Kirby's Dream Land 3
The fight with Acro takes place in two phases, in a deep underwater cavern. The first phase takes place in a dry area over a bridge. Here, Acro tries to ram Kirby, causing rocks to fall when he hits the wall. These rocks can be inhaled and spat back at him to do damage.
Once Acro has been reduced to half his stamina, the bridge crumbles, and the fight transitions to an entirely underwater affair. Here, Acro will retreat from Kirby, while spitting out various debris toward him. These can be deflected back using the Water Gun. Acro may also try to perform more slam attacks, causing rocks to tumble in from above, which can also be deflected.
Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
Acro is the only boss fought while swimming in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, and rightly so, considering its respective realm. The boss is highly skilled in the ways of the water, zooming from edge to edge, and even glides behind the battlefield in an attempt to skewer Kirby head on. Early in the battle, Acro's attack strategy focuses primarily on hitting Kirby with familiar projectiles, most of which happen to be simple enemies such as the Fishbone that Kirby has encountered previously in his travels across the realm. After using the same suck and propel technique that rendered previous bosses out of commission, Acro changes technique and the entire stage begins to crumble - the only way out is up. Kirby then faces Acro and his many torpedos within a vertically waterlogged column, of which the same attack technique applies, yet Acro is a bit faster and harder to catch/strike, especially with many enemies swimming about the column at the same time.
Like with all enemies and bosses, if Kirby is in possession of a certain Copy Ability (i.e. Fire, Cutter, etc.) or a combination of two, he will be able to use such powers to injure the boss, instead of sucking in and propelling the rockets provided, as in this battle.
Other appearances
Acro makes a cameo appearance as a Keychain in Kirby: Triple Deluxe.
In Kirby: Planet Robobot, a mechanized version called Mech Acro appears as an invincible enemy and stage hazard in the sea.
Gallery
- Acro DL3.jpg
Artwork from Kirby's Dream Land 3.
- DL2 Orca Sign.png
The ORCA image in Red Canyon - Stage 5 from Kirby's Dream Land 2
- Kirby's Dream Land 2 tank concept art.png
Concept art of Acro (Kirby's Dream Land 2)
Concept art of Acro (Kirby's Dream Land 3)
- K64 Acro Phase 1.png
Kirby facing against Acro in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
- Kirby JP 20180222.jpg
Official Twitter art of the Channel PPP Crew fishing with Kirby (hooking a Barbar), Sweet Stuff and Acro
Trivia
- In Latin, acro means either height or limbs. The latter of which makes more sense in respect to its name: Acro is a root of "acrobat", who is one that demonstrates prowess of the body. As such, Acro is highly motile.
- In Kirby's Dream Land 2, the left door at the end of Room 1 in Red Canyon Stage 5 leads to a dark room that requires Spark Kine to illuminate. When this room becomes bright, an image of a killer whale with the caption ORCA will show up.
- In addition, Acro's early design in Dream Land 2 can be found in the booklet from Kirby's Dream Collection.
- While originally a boss introduced in Kirby's Dream Land 3, Acro is not exclusive on Planet Popstar but also found on Aqua Star in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. This is similar to Whispy Woods and Kracko who have also been found on other worlds/planets.
