Dark Mind
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| “ | High above the skies of Dream Land, the mirror world needs help! A shadowy figure is unleashing chaos on the peaceful world! | ” | — Flavor text from the opening narration of Kirby & The Amazing Mirror |
Dark Mind is the final boss of Kirby & The Amazing Mirror. He is a fearsome deity and wishes to bring the Mirror World under his control. He has three forms and six phases in total. Dark Mind initially takes a humanoid form which resembles Nightmare, but later transforms into a more monstrous form which resembles Zero, similar to Dark Matter. During these fights, Kirby must fight Dark Mind with the Master sword. If Kirby loses this sword, the weapon respawns in a later phase, and Dark Mind, as any boss, supplies him with projectiles for Kirby to attack.
Physical appearance
| “ | And so, Dark Mind was defeated, and his dream of conquering the Mirror World was shattered. | ” | — Flavor text from the ending narration of Kirby & The Amazing Mirror |
Dark Mind has three forms. In the first, he wears a mask resembling an animal skull with large golden spikes coming out from it that conceals most of his face. The main body is usually covered by his large, fiery cloak, but when shown, it's almost identical to the second form, though with seven metallic spikes coming out from it, the biggest two of them curved and on top. He also has two grey floating hands with long silvery claws.
The second form is an orange and red sphere with a fiery texture, one black eye, and a constantly moving red aura.
The final form looks nigh identical to the second, but smaller, and the red aura has changed to white.
Forms
First Form
As Kirby enters the Mirror and faces Dark Meta Knight, once defeated - Kirby goes into a portal. After entering the portal, the Master sword in the middle must be obtained in order to face Dark Mind. After grabbing the sword, Dark Mind will start to attack. His primary attacks in his humanoid form include throwing stars (Kirby, if he does not have a Master Sword, can receive copy-abilities by inhaling the stars, depending on the color of the star), using mirrors, dropping bombs (inhaling them gives Kirby the Crash ability), and finally, teleporting randomly around the screen to attack. More moves can be found every phase, such as breaking into pieces and teleporting if attacked without taking damage. Dark Mind can be damaged only when his weak point, the orange eye part located on his body, is exposed, generally after Dark Mind attacks. Dark Mind will usually give a short pause every few moves in order for Kirby to attack.
Second Form
After defeating all four phases of the first form, the screen will slowly go white until entering the next area, a small bridge being the platform to fight. In the middle, a small object much like a sun or star starts growing until it fills half the screen. This is actually what Dark Mind became. The fight begins, and if Kirby does not have the Master sword, Shadow Kirby will eventually throw it into battle (although Shadow Kirby briefly appears even if Kirby has the sword). During the start of battle, Dark Mind will spawn enemies, use mirrors to shoot small, thin lasers, swing the mirrors, or move around the screen. When only 25% of his health points are left, Dark Mind starts using more moves that are more difficult to dodge. Dark Mind may flip the screen upside down, shoot a huge laser, and moving the mirrors in a complex pattern. Dark Mind can shoot a huge laser in increments or slowly shoot a continuous laser across the screen, which may take two health points instead of one.
Final Form
In the final phase, Kirby quickly sees Dark Mind shrink, then fly off. From there, depending on how many Kirbys there are, one to four Warp Stars appear for them to chase Dark Mind down. Once the battle starts, Dark Mind will shoot star-shaped projectiles back or collide into Kirby, similar to the battle with Nightmare's Power Orb in Kirby's Adventure, but vertically-oriented; all Kirby can do is shoot stars back and move around. When Dark Mind's health is depleted, instead of the battle ending right away, the credits start rolling through the screen, and the battle is no longer possible to lose. Instead, a score counter appears which increments each time Kirby lands an additional hit on Dark Mind. Once the credits are done, Dark Mind finally explodes, and another 30 points are added to the counter.
Battle with Dark Mind via Warp Star
The final fight with Dark Mind continues during the credits
Legacy
Though only properly appearing in one game, Dark Mind has gone on to cameo in and/or influence future Kirby games as follows:
- Kirby: Squeak Squad - Dark Mind appears in one of the Graphics, along with other final bosses.
- Kirby Super Star Ultra - Shinya Kumazaki stated on Miiverse that the design of Masked Dedede's mask is based on Dark Mind's.[1]
- Kirby: Triple Deluxe - Dark Mind appears as a keychain. Dark Mind's keychain is unique, and can be found in Royal Road - Stage 2.
- Team Kirby Clash Deluxe & Super Kirby Clash - A set of equipment for Hammer Lord can be acquired which is based on Dark Mind. In addition, the boss King D-Mind serves as a direct homage to Dark Mind.
- Kirby Star Allies - One of Void's attacks is called "Dark Mind Laser", and mimics the way Dark Mind manipulates his mirrors and rebounds lasers off of them in his second phase.
- Kirby's Dream Buffet - Dark Mind appears on a Character Treat, using his sprite from Kirby & The Amazing Mirror.
Gallery
Sprites
Dark Mind's first form
Dark Mind's second form
Dark Mind's third form
Other
Dark Mind appears in this graphic in Kirby: Squeak Squad (upper-left)
Dark Mind cameos in the "Bad Boss Brothers" Celebration Picture
"Dark Mind Hammer" from Magolor's Shoppe in Super Kirby Clash
"Dark Mind Helmet" from Magolor's Shoppe in Super Kirby Clash
Dark Mind Gear equipment set in Super Kirby Clash
Character Treat from Kirby's Dream Buffet
Names in other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Japanese | ダークマインド Dāku Maindo |
Dark Mind |
| Chinese | 暗意向[2] Àn Yìxiàng |
Dark Intention |
| French | Psychédiablik | Psychediabolic From psyché (psyche) and diabolique (diabolic). Also a pun on psychédélique (psychedelic). |
| German | Dark Mind | - |
| Italian | Dark Mind | - |
| Korean | 다크 마인드 Dakeu Maindeu |
Dark Mind |
| Portuguese | Mente sombria | Shadow Mind |
| Spanish | Dark Mind | - |
References
- ↑ "Incidentally, the mask's design is a heavily altered version of Dark Mind's mask from Kirby & The Amazing Mirror. If you look reeeeeally closely, you might be able to see the similarities. Some very eagle-eyed players may have noticed already!" –Shinya Kumazaki (Miiverse)
- ↑ Super Kirby Clash
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