Health

This article is about the amount of damage Kirby and others can sustain in the games. For the heart-shaped item that increases Kirby's maximum health bar in certain games, see Vitality. For the skill that Magolor can level up to gain more hit points in Magolor Epilogue: The Interdimensional Traveler, see Magolor's Magical Skills#Health.

Artwork of a Vitality, an item which increases maximum Health from Kirby: Squeak Squad.

Health (also referred to as HP, Stamina, Life or Vitality) refers to the amount of damage Kirby or another entity can sustain before being defeated or otherwise losing. The concept of health has been in the series since its first iteration and has recurred in nearly every game since then. It usually appears on the top or the bottom of the screen on the Heads-up display.

Health by entity

Kirby and other playable characters

Kirby at low health in Kirby and the Forgotten Land. When at low health, Kirby typically adopts a tired pose and expression and may also flash red.

Kirby is defeated if he runs out of health, in this case by touching a magma block when he was already at low health.

In early games in the series, Kirby had distinct bars of health, and anything that dealt him damage (and was not immediately fatal) took exactly one point away. The only exception were Gordos, which dealt a much more painful three bars of damage in Kirby's Dream Land, and Dark Mind's (second form) laser attack, which can deal 2 units of damage. As such, some restorative items tended to also heal in these discrete fashions, with Energy Drinks restoring a small number of bars, and Maxim Tomatoes restoring all of them.

In later games, starting with Kirby Super Star, and most games since then, Kirby and his allies' health is represented not as discrete bars, but as one continuous bar. In addition, damage sources could vary in severity, with some hits dealing minor damage, taking only a small portion away, and others dealing a comparatively large amount of damage. In addition, smaller Food items such as cherries would appear in these titles, to heal minor amounts of health.

In most games in the series, a high-pitched beeping noise plays when Kirby reaches a significantly low threshold to his health, warning the player of the situation. In later games, such as Kirby's Return to Dream Land, having sufficiently low health would also cause Kirby or his friends to adopt an exhausted look when standing still, and cause their portraits to sweat and exhibit sad or tired expressions.

Some titles, including Kirby & The Amazing Mirror, allow Kirby to extend his maximum health by collecting special items in the levels. Other titles have Extra Modes which reduce Kirby's maximum health to increase the challenge.

In Kirby and the Forgotten Land, if Kirby is at full health and has not taken any damage for a certain amount of time, his health bar will temporarily disappear from the HUD until he takes damage.

The following table lists the health values of playable characters in some titles:

Health of playable character
Game	HP	Notes
Kirby's Dream Land	6	Takes more damage in Extra Mode.
Kirby's Adventure	6	Becomes 3 in Extra Mode.
Kirby's Dream Course	4 (1P Game) 6 (2P Game)
Kirby's Dream Land 2	6
Kirby Super Star	70 (Kirby)	Helpers' HP varies.
Kirby's Dream Land 3	10	Shown as 5 bars, each containing 2 HP. Summoning Gooey takes 1 bar from Kirby, giving both players 4 bars (8 HP).
Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards	6
Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble	6 (10 during boss fights)	Shown as 3 bars, each containing 2 HP.
Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land	6	Becomes 3 in Extra Mode and Meta Knightmare.
Kirby & The Amazing Mirror	6	Each Vitality adds 1 (+4 in total).
Kirby: Canvas Curse	4 (Kirby and Waddle Dee) 7 (King Dedede) 3 (Meta Knight) 5 (Waddle Doo)	Kirby can obtain up to 3 extra HP through Life Boost items in Medal Swap (for a total of 7), but the other characters cannot benefit from this.
Kirby: Squeak Squad	36	Each Vitality adds 4 (+16 in total). If the current HP is more than 1, Kirby will always survive at 1 HP when taking damage that is more than his current HP.
Kirby Super Star Ultra	76 (Kirby) 50 (Meta Knight) Helpers (Normal/Helper to Hero): 72/90 (Rocky) 64/82 (Sword Knight) 62/80 (Bio Spark, Capsule J2 and Poppy Bros. Jr.) 58/76 (Birdon, Blade Knight, Bonkers, Burning Leo, Bugzzy, Gim, Knuckle Joe, Parasol Waddle Dee, Plasma Wisp, Simirror, Sir Kibble and Tac) 54/72 (Chilly and Wheelie) 47/65 (Waddle Doo)	Helpers all have +18 HP in Helper to Hero.
Kirby Mass Attack	2 (each Kirby)	Kirby turns blue when 1 HP remains.
Kirby's Return to Dream Land	40/24 (Kirby and Bandana Waddle Dee) 36/22 (Meta Knight) 50/30 (King Dedede)	Story/Extra Mode. If the current HP is 50% or below, damage taken will be reduced by 20%. If the current HP is 25% or below, damage taken will be reduced by 40%. If the current HP is 12.5% or more when taking an otherwise fatal blow, the character will always survive at 1 HP.
Kirby: Triple Deluxe	40	Applies to both Kirby and King Dedede. If the current HP is 50% or below, damage taken will be reduced by 20%. If the current HP is 25% or below, damage taken will be reduced by 40%. If the current HP is 12.5% or more when taking an otherwise fatal blow, the character will always survive at 1 HP. Adds 2 for each time the character is defeated by a boss (up to +8; reset after leaving a stage).
Kirby and the Rainbow Curse	4 (Kirby) 2 (each Waddle Dee)	Scanning a King Dedede amiibo increases Kirby's maximum HP to 6 for the current stage.
Kirby: Planet Robobot	45	Applies to both Kirby and Meta Knight. If the current HP is 50% or below, damage taken will be reduced by 20%. If the current HP is 25% or below, damage taken will be reduced by 40%. If the current HP is 12.5% or more when taking an otherwise fatal blow, the character will always survive at 1 HP. Adds 2 for each time the character is defeated by a boss (up to +8; reset after leaving a stage).
Kirby Star Allies	Normal Mode Health: 45 (Kirby) 42 (King Dedede and The Three Mage-Sisters) 40 (Bandana Waddle Dee, Dark Meta Knight, Daroach, Magolor, Marx, Meta Knight, Rick & Kine & Coo, Rocky, and Susie) 35 (Beetley, Bonkers, Bugzzy, Burning Leo, Taranza, and Vividria) 30 (Birdon, Blade Knight, Broom Hatter, Chef Kawasaki, Chilly, Como, Driblee, Gim, Gooey, Jammerjab, Knuckle Joe, Parasol Waddle Dee, Plugg, Poppy Bros. Jr., Sir Kibble, Waddle Doo, and Wester) 25 (Bio Spark and NESP) 20 (Adeleine & Ribbon) Default Ultimate Choice Health: 48 (King Dedede, The Three Mage-Sisters, Rocky) 45 (Kirby, Bandana Waddle Dee, Dark Meta Knight, Daroach, Magolor, Marx, Meta Knight, Rick & Kine & Coo, Rocky, Susie, Beetley, Bonkers, Bugzzy, Burning Leo, Taranza, and Vividria) 42 (Birdon, Blade Knight, Broom Hatter, Chef Kawasaki, Chilly, Como, Driblee, Gim, Gooey, Jammerjab, Knuckle Joe, Parasol Waddle Dee, Plugg, Poppy Bros. Jr., Sir Kibble, Waddle Doo, and Wester) 40 (Bio Spark and NESP) 30 (Adeleine & Ribbon)	The Ultimate Choice Health varies by difficulty; on difficulty five, six, and seven, the Ultimate Choice health is multiplied by 0.8 rounded down, and on difficulty eight, the Ultimate Choice health is multiplied by 0.7, also rounding down.
Kirby's Extra Epic Yarn	5	Health indicated by Life Pieces; only in Devilish Mode
Kirby Fighters 2	240 (two players; King Dedede is 270) 220 (three players; King Dedede is 250) 200 (four players; King Dedede is 230)	If the current HP is 25% or below, damage taken will be reduced by 25%. In multiplayer battle modes, the player can select a handicap per character, which does as follows for the character's health: Very Easy: x1.5 health Easy: x1.2 health Normal: no change Hard: x0.75 health Very Hard: x0.5 health
Kirby and the Forgotten Land	400 (Spring-Breeze Mode) 250 (Wild Mode)	Applies to both Kirby and Bandana Waddle Dee. By using Life Up or getting a random effect from Deep Sleep, the character's HP is doubled via getting an extra life bar, but cannot exceed double the normal amount. If the current HP is 50% or below, damage taken will be reduced by 20%. If the current HP is 30% or below, damage taken will be reduced by 30%. If the current HP is 20 or more when taking an otherwise fatal blow, the character will always survive at 1 HP. Morpho Knight Sword can increase the threshold with the amount of lifesteal, the maximum threshold being 50. The threshold resets if Kirby uses Sleep or enters a different room.
Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe	40/24 (Kirby and Bandana Waddle Dee) 36/22 (Meta Knight) 50/30 (King Dedede) 22/29/37/45/54/63/72/81/90 (Magolor, Level 1-9)	Story/Extra Mode (Magolor Epilogue does not have separate Story and Extra Modes, with Magolor's HP instead depending on his Health skill). By using the life potion from Helper Magolor in Story Mode, the character's HP is doubled via getting an extra life bar, but cannot exceed double the normal amount. If the current HP is 50% or below, damage taken will be reduced by 20%. If the current HP is 25% or below, damage taken will be reduced by 40%. If the current HP is 12.5% or more when taking an otherwise fatal blow, the character will always survive at 1 HP.

Standard enemies

Apart from a select few games in the series, enemies' health is not shown to the player. However, each enemy has a specific amount of health, just like Kirby or a boss, and the enemy is defeated when its health reaches zero. Most enemies have little constitution, but large or hardy foes like Rocky and Degout may take several hits to defeat.

Bosses and mid-bosses

In most every game in the series when a boss or mid-boss is encountered, its health is displayed to the player on the HUD, often overlapping a previous display to avoid taking up extra space on the screen. Despite earlier bosses showing their health as discrete units, it may in fact take several hits to deplete one unit of their health, as is the case with the boss Kabula. It is also sometimes the case that the same attack may appear to deal differing amounts of damage at different times; this is because the boss's health is internally stored as a higher number than the game can display, so the visual units represent a fraction of their health rounded to the nearest whole. Bosses in particular typically have a very high health, and will take numerous hits to defeat. Some of them may not necessarily be defeated when their health bar is emptied, instead taking on a new form or phase and displaying a new bar to drain. Others, particularly in later games, will enter different phases of attacks depending on how much health they have remaining.

From Kirby's Return to Dream Land onward, bosses almost always have less health when fought in The Arena, The True Arena, The Ultimate Choice and the Colosseum, usually multiplied by 0.75.

Multi-player modifier

Kirby Super Star / Kirby Super Star Ultra

In Kirby Super Star and Kirby Super Star Ultra, bosses will have their health multiplied by 1.3 if a helper is present before the boss health bar loads.

Kirby's Dream Land 3

In Kirby's Dream Land 3, damage taken by bosses will be multiplied by 0.8 if Gooey is present.

Kirby & The Amazing Mirror

In Kirby & The Amazing Mirror, mid-bosses and bosses have different HP values depending on the number of players in a game session, no matter if said players are present for the battle or not. Unlike other games in the series, there is no set value the HP or damage is multiplied by, and even some bosses with the same HP value for one player may have different values for more players. The following is a table for each mid-boss and boss:

Mid-Boss/Boss	1 player HP	2 player HP	3 player HP	4 player HP
Mr. Frosty, Phan Phan, Batafire	30	40	48	54
Bonkers, Box Boxer, Boxy, Master Hand (mid-boss), Bombar	40	60	80	90
King Golem, Kracko	60	80	100	110
Moley	80	110	130	150
Mega Titan, Crazy Hand	40	40	50	50
Titan Head	20	24	32	40
Gobbler	60	90	110	120
Wiz	80	130	160	170
???, Master Hand (boss)	60	81	96	108
Dark Meta Knight	48	64	78	96
Dark Mind (first phase, first battle)	32	40	48	56
Dark Mind (first phase, second and third battles)	40	48	56	64
Dark Mind (first phase, fourth battle)	56	64	72	88
Dark Mind (second phase)	96	128	160	176
Dark Mind (third phase)	250	300	330	350

Kirby's Return to Dream Land / Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe

In Kirby's Return to Dream Land and Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe, bosses will take less damage if more friends are fighting, multiplied by a certain amount depending on how many players are present during the battle.

Number of Players	Modifier
1	×1.0
2	×0.8
3	×0.75
4	×0.7

Kirby Star Allies

In Kirby Star Allies, bosses will take less damage if more friends are fighting, multiplied by a certain amount depending on how many players are present during the battle. The multipliers differ depending on the mode.

Number of Players	Main Modes	The Ultimate Choice
1	×1.0	×1.0
2	×0.75	×0.875
3	×0.6	×0.8
4	×0.5	×0.75

Kirby and the Forgotten Land

In Kirby and the Forgotten Land, damage taken by bosses will be multiplied by 0.6 if Bandana Waddle Dee is present.

Handicap after losing to bosses

Starting in Kirby's Return to Dream Land and persisting in every main series game since then alongside spin-offs such as Kirby Fighters Deluxe and Kirby Fighters 2, every time Player 1 loses against a mid-boss or boss, the boss's maximum health decreases and their cool-down between attacks becomes longer to lower the difficulty. This handicap will be kept, even after continuing from a Game Over, until the boss is beaten or the player quits the game.

Kirby's Return to Dream Land and Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe

In Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe, if Helper Magolor is enabled, the boss HP is calculated starting from the 2 losses multiplier (91%).

Number of Losses	Boss Maximum Health
1	97%
2	91%
3	88%
4	82%
5	74%
6+	62%

Kirby: Triple Deluxe to Kirby Fighters 2

Number of Losses	Boss Maximum Health
1	90%
2	75%
3	65%
4	55%
5+	45%

Kirby and the Forgotten Land

Number of Losses	Boss Maximum Health
	Spring-Breeze Mode	Wild Mode
1	90%	100%
2	75%	90%
3	65%	75%
4	55%	65%
5	45%	55%
6+	35%	45%

Other

Some other entities in the series have health, such as items and vehicles. In Kirby Air Ride, each vehicle has a set amount of HP, which can be drained or augmented in modes such as City Trial. When a vehicle's HP reaches zero, it explodes, which has various consequences depending on the mode being played.

Trivia

• So far, there are two games in the Kirby series which do not employ health for Kirby under any circumstance. The first is Kirby's Epic Yarn, as here, getting hit or falling in a pit simply results in losing beads. The second is Kirby's Dream Buffet, as Kirby merely gets bumped away by anything that hits him, and falling out of bounds (or getting Screen KO'd by Invincible Candy) will only result in lost time (or lost strawberries in Battle Royale modes).
• In Kirby: Triple Deluxe, when Hypernova Kirby inhales Flowery Woods and Flowered Sectonia, their Health meters also peel off, and fly into Kirby's mouth. This is breaking the fourth wall as intended to emphasize how strong the attack is and the 3D stereoscopic screen of the Nintendo 3DS.
• So far, the boss with the most health in Kirby series history is King D-Mind's Revenge from Super Kirby Clash, with 3,039,600 HP. Note that the Kirby Clash series uses a different health and damage system from the main series, with even the weakest boss, the Colossal Waddle Dee, having 13,000 HP.
  • The boss with the most health in any single non-shoot 'em up battle from the main series is the first form of Chaos Elfilis from Kirby and the Forgotten Land, with 3,400 HP (for scale, a Star Bullet does 80 damage in this title).
  • The boss with the most health in any single shoot 'em up battle from the main series is Zero from Kirby's Dream Land 3, with 4,080 HP (for scale, the Love-Love Stick does 32 damage).

Gallery

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  Kirby's health bar and a mid-boss's health bar at the bottom of the screen in Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land.

• 

  Kirby's health bar in Kirby: Triple Deluxe

• 

  Dedede's health bar in Dededetour!

• 

  Kirby's health bar with the Smash Bros. ability in Kirby: Planet Robobot

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
French	Vitalité	Vitality
German	Vitalität	Vitality
Spanish	Vitalidad Vida	Vitality Health