Dropped Star

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A recoil star from Kirby Star Allies

A Recoil Star (often just referred to as a Star) is an object that appears in several games in the Kirby series. It resembles a small Warp Star, or a stationary Star Bullet, and serves as the primary means for Kirby to attack a Boss or Mid-Boss without the help of a Copy Ability.

Appearances and Function

Recoil stars were first seen in Kirby's Dream Land, and have since reappeared in every main series Kirby title. They appear whenever a Boss or Mid-Boss performs an attack that makes hard contact with a surface - usually a floor - or may appear after a strong energy-based attack is executed. The most famous example of this is when King Dedede uses his Super Dedede Jump attack, which causes a recoil star to appear on each side of him when he lands.

Once they've appeared, recoil stars only last a few seconds at most before disappearing. Kirby has that time to Inhale them, and spit them back out as Star Bullets to do damage to his opponent (swallowing them often does nothing). Recoil stars can come in several sizes, with the larger ones dealing more damage. They are especially potent if Kirby inhales multiple stars at once before spitting them back out.

Recoil stars may also appear in mid-air, where they will either stay afloat, or immediately fall to the ground, depending on the Boss being fought. In most titles, recoil stars do not do damage to Kirby if he touches them, nor do they hinder him in any way.

In Kirby Star Allies, there are special variants of Recoil Stars which are formed when The Three Mage-Sisters, Hyness, and Void Termina perform certain attacks. With the exception of Void Termina, the elements of these Recoil Stars match the element of the attack being used. These stars grant various copy abilities when swallowed.

The following colors grant the following abilities:

• Indigo - Water
• Blue - Ice
• Orange - Beam
• Green - Plasma
• Red - Fire
• Purple - ESP
• Brown - Stone
• Black - Bomb
• Cyan - Wing

In Kirby Fighters 2, Recoil Stars are again produced by bosses when they attack. Due to always being equipped with a Copy Ability for any given run of Story Mode, Kirby must rely on his Gobble move to spit them at bosses, meaning he has to be closer to them than he needed to be in other games to use them. Similarly, fighters who use the equally-purposed Grab move can interact with Recoil Stars for the first time in the series, such as Bandana Waddle Dee, Magolor, and Meta Knight. The Wrestler ability is also capable of grabbing Recoil Stars with its moveset, treating them like other fighters. With that, they can be used to deal massive damage to bosses, more than just spitting them out.

Super Smash Bros. series

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl onwards, King Dedede can make two recoil stars appear whenever he lands his Super Dedede Jump recovery move. Unlike in the Kirby series, these stars cannot be used against Dedede (unless somehow they are reflected), and will deal minor damage and knockback to any enemy fighter who touches them.

Yoshi can also cause these stars to appear when he does his Yoshi Bomb attack, with much the same effect, despite not being a Kirby series character.

Gallery

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  King Dedede creating Recoil Stars after using Super Dedede Jump in Kirby's Adventure

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  A Recoil Star in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards

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  Two Recoil Stars can be seen dropping out of the severely damaged Holo Defense API from Kirby: Planet Robobot.

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  Blue Recoil Stars that emerge from one of Francisca's attacks in Kirby Star Allies, which grant the Water ability when swallowed.

Trivia

• In Kirby & The Amazing Mirror, Recoil Stars generated by Dark Mind's (second form) downward beam attack grants Kirby the Fire ability. Meanwhile, the stars dropped by Dark Meta Knight give Kirby the Sword ability.
• In Kirby: Triple Deluxe and Kirby: Planet Robobot, some bosses create smaller Recoil Stars which vanish almost instantly. However, Kirby can use them identically to their normal counterparts.