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Havoc Aboard the Halberd
"VS. Star Dream":
Various arrangements of the "Havoc Aboard the Halberd" theme.
This article is about one of the musical themes related to the Halberd. For the game where this theme originated, see Revenge of Meta Knight. For the similar theme that plays alongside this one, see Boarding the Halberd.
"Havoc Aboard the Halberd"[2] is a musical track that debuted in Kirby Super Star, playing in Revenge of Meta Knight. It is a fast-paced and suspenseful theme that has come to be associated with the Halberd in general, and has reappeared in a few notable Kirby titles since its inception, often paired with its sister track, Boarding the Halberd. The theme includes the "Kirby's Triumphant Return" motif in its composition, and it shares some commonalities with "King Dedede's Theme".
In its original form, "Havoc Aboard the Halberd" teeters between A minor and A-sharp minor, running at a swift pace of 166 BPM in 4/4 time. With a bassline made up of almost entirely low sixteenth notes and a melody that rarely uses even a full quarter note, the theme is incredibly swift in its tense, yet jazzy tone. The theme opens with a few pairs of brief intervals, and where the loop starts they are joined shortly by the first melody which repeats an ascending four, descending six pattern. This repeats with a slightly different ending to transition into the next segment, which eventually moves up to A flat minor. After this, a longer rising segment takes over before everything but the second half of the last segment repeats again. The rising melody goes back down for a moment, and then produces a build-up to "Kirby's Triumphant Return", which is played twice. The second time, the final note of "Kirby's Triumphant Return" is held considerably longer before the guest motif finally yields to the loop point.
This pattern of playing the first part of a track twice, sometimes with slight variations before yielding to another section, appears to be an especially common trait between pieces of Jun Ishikawa's music from Kirby Super Star, such as "Gourmet Race", "Crystal Area", and "Vs. Marx".
Game appearances
Kirby Super Star / Kirby Super Star Ultra
As mentioned above, this track can be heard in several places in Revenge of Meta Knight, specifically in the stages following instances of the ship taking damage. It can also be heard in Milky Way Wishes, on planet Halfmoon, and in Kirby Super Star Ultra's Revenge of the King, in The Revenge. The track appears in the Sound Test as track 43 in the original and track 52 in the remake.
Kirby Air Ride
The original version from Kirby Super Star can be unlocked and then used as an alternate track in Magma Flows. It can be found as track 16 in the Sound Test, where it is titled "Kirby Super Star: Revenge of Meta Knight 1".
Super Smash Bros. series
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, a jazzy version of this track, titled "Meta Knight's Revenge", is used as a default theme for the Halberd stage, and can also be heard in sections of The Subspace Emissary. Here, it is directly combined with its sister theme, being the first time the two were fused into a single musical track.
The original Kirby Super Star version of the theme plays on Access Ark - Stage 7 EX. It's available as track 132 in the Jukebox.
Kirby Star Allies
The original track of "VS. Star Dream" accompanies the "Robobot Memories" Celebration Picture, once again featuring the same motif taken from "Havoc Aboard the Halberd". It can be found as track 149 in the Kirby Star AlliesJukebox as of Version 4.0.0.
In Super Kirby Clash, a remix of "Deus Ex Machina at a Young Age" plays during the Super Party Quest in the Decisive Battlefield against Pres. Parallel Susie.
A remix of this track titled "Revenge of Steel Wings" can be unlocked at Gourmet Rank 26 as a music theme for Races. In this version, it is once again paired with "Boarding the Halberd". It is arranged by Hirokazu Ando.
"Havoc Aboard the Halberd" is featured as the second track in the "Revenge of Meta Knight Medley" in Taiko no Tatsujin.
Trivia
A fan-made arrangement of "Havoc Aboard the Halberd" along with "Boarding the Halberd" (titled "Meta Knight's Revenge" like the Super Smash Bros. Brawl arrangement), arranged by Charlie Rosen & Button Masher and performed by The 8-Bit Big Band, won a 2022 Grammy Award in the category "Best Arrangement - Instrumental or A Capella".[5]
Video gallery
Video of the "Revenge of Meta Knight Medley" in Taiko no Tatsujin Yellow Ver.
↑Kirby's Extra Epic Yarn staff credits; these staff members are credited under "Music and Sound Effects" in the port's staff roll, while the original staff of Kirby's Epic Yarn credited former Good-Feel member Tomoya Tomita and sound designers Jun Ishikawa, Hirokazu Ando, and Tadashi Ikegami.