Kirby's Epic Yarn: Difference between revisions

{{DISPLAYTITLE:''{{PAGENAME}}''}}{{Infobox-Game

}}

'''''Kirby's Epic Yarn''''' is a sidescrolling 2-D platformer and a spin-off game in the [[Kirby (series)|''Kirby'' series]], developed primarily by [[nwiki:Good-Feel|Good-Feel]]. Despite being in the same genre, the game departs from the main ''Kirby'' series in several key ways, chief of which being the setting, art style, and [[Kirby]]'s move-set: instead of inhaling enemies to gain their powers, Kirby uses a [[Yarn Whip]] to unravel his foes or wrap them up into projectiles. As implied by the title, the game is centered around a yarn and fabric aesthetic, and the setting, story, and stage gimmicks play heavily off this theme, from Kirby interacting with buttons, patches, and threads to reshaping himself and other characters by various means.

Originally beginning as a non-''Kirby'' game, ''Kirby's Epic Yarn'' would eventually gain the pink puffball as its main character and be shown at E3 2010, to much critical acclaim. The game was subsequently released for the [[Wii]] later that same year in Japan and North America and in 2011 in other regions. ''Kirby's Epic Yarn'' would later be ported to the [[Wii U]] as a downloadable eShop title in 2015 and 2016. In 2019, the game received an enhanced port for the [[Nintendo 3DS]], titled ''[[Kirby's Extra Epic Yarn]]''.

One day in Dream Land, a mysterious wizard named [[Yin-Yarn]] arrives and sows havoc among the citizens. The sorcerer uses his power to gradually turn all of Dream Land into yarn and twist its inhabitants to his dominion (for reasons even he fails to understand). Meanwhile, [[Kirby]] is foraging for food, unaware of the changes occurring in Dream Land, and ends up [[inhale|inhaling]] Yin-Yarn's [[Metamato]] when the sorcerer tries to jump him. Yin-Yarn then with anger uses a [[Magic Sock]] to banish Kirby into [[Patch Land]]: a world made entirely of yarn and textiles, but which has recently been broken into several pieces by Yin-Yarn when he stole the [[Magic Yarn]] holding it together. When Kirby arrives in Patch Land, after taking a moment to see that he has been transformed into yarn, he notices a blue yarn boy being chased by a monster. Kirby tries his usual method of [[inhale|inhaling]], but the wind just passes right through his yarn body and he fails. Instead, Kirby discovers that since he ate the Metamato, he can now [[Yarn Transformation|transform]] into a new shape by turning into a [[car]]. In this form, Kirby rides towards the boy and ferries him away to safety.

After venturing through the yarn-ified Dream Land, Kirby and Prince Fluff encounter Yin-Yarn and do battle with him. After a lengthy struggle, Yin-Yarn is seemingly defeated, but before Kirby and Fluff can finish their [[Kirby Dance|victory dance]], Yin-Yarn's sowing needles grab the last piece of Magic Yarn and use it to reconjure Yin-Yarn as Mega Yin Yarn. In response, Meta Knight flies by and drops a [[Metamortex]] for Kirby and Fluff to use to assume the mighty [[Tankbot]] transformation and battle the reconstituted foe. After a lengthy exchange of missile fire, Mega Yin-Yarn is reduced to a pile of string and Kirby and Fluff grab the fleeing sowing needles and hurl them back towards Patch Land. From here, Dream Land finally returns to normal, and Kirby along with it. Before parting with Prince Fluff, the blue yarn boy gives Kirby one of the Magic Socks so that the two can visit each-other any time. Kirby ends his long adventure by taking a nap in the woods with the sock at his side, despite it smelling a bit.

''Kirby's Epic Yarn'' is - like the main ''Kirby'' series games - a side-scrolling 2-D platformer where the main objective is to reach the end of stages by dealing with enemies, obstacles, and occasional boss fights. However, ''Kirby's Epic Yarn'' takes a fundamentally different approach to the gameplay. Despite Kirby still being the protagonist, he plays very differently from his main-series counterpart due to being a yarn outline: he can no longer hover, inhale, or gain Copy Abilities. Instead, Kirby's move-set revolves around using his [[Yarn Whip]] to lasso enemies and other objects and using his various [[Yarn Transformation]]s to better navigate his surroundings and deal with obstacles. When Kirby uses his Yarn Whip on an enemy or other such object, he can either unravel them to remove them from play or wrap them up into a [[yarn ball]], which can then be used as a projectile to deal with other enemies and roadblocks. Kirby's Yarn Transformations give him the power to speed up by turning into a [[car]], slow his descent by turning into a [[parachute]], swim more effectively as a [[submarine]], or pound down obstacles and switches as a [[weight]], among other things. Using all these abilities together along with the more potent but more situational [[Metamortex]] transformations allows Kirby to tackle everything in his way as he moves through each land and stage.

{{main|Yarn Transformation}}

!colspan=4|Normal yarn transformations  

Other more situational or purely cosmetic transformations also exist, which can be seen on the [[Yarn Transformation]] page.

|Kirby and/or Fluff transform into a bulky figure riding a surf board. Movement is automatic in this form, with the only other actions being the ability to jump and spin to attack enemies, bouncing off them if done in midair.  

|The second player gains control of a boxing glove that can be used in various ways to attack enemies.

[[File:KEY Lickeur screenshot.png|thumb|right|250px|[[Lickeur]], which only appears in a cutscene.]]

|{{Center|[[File:KEY Yin Yarn artwork.jpg|150px]]<br>'''[[Yin-Yarn]]'''}}

|Yin-Yarn takes a form similar to a [[Tankbot]] in a last-ditch effort to defeat Kirby and Prince Fluff. <br>The heroes in turn become a Tankbot to retaliate against him, and a battle of flying missiles ensues for the fate of Dream Land and Patch land both.

!colspan=2|Developed by [[nwiki:Good-Feel|Good-Feel]]<br>[[HAL Laboratory]]<br>[[Nintendo]]<br><br>Nintendo, Good-Feel and HAL Laboratory, Inc. are the authors of this software for the purpose of copyright. All rights reserved.<br>©2010-2011 Nintendo / Good-Feel<br>©2010-2011 HAL Laboratory, Inc. / Nintendo

*The titular use of the word "yarn" may refer to both definitions of the word; the actual material of the game world, and that the game is narrated. The same can be said for "epic", as it can be used as an adjective or as a type of story.

*The art design of ''Kirby's Epic Yarn'' bears similarities to Japanese TV commercial for ''[[Kirby's Adventure]]'', which aired in 1992. The commercial showed Kirby made out of fabric eating up other enemies, similarly to ''Kirby's Epic Yarn''.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-0nHaksVcc ''Kirby's Adventure'' Japanese commercial]</ref> It is unknown if this commercial was an inspiration for the game or not.

*''Kirby's Epic Yarn'' originally started as a non-Kirby game starring a character named Fluff named ''Fluff's Epic Yarn''<ref>{{Cite|I see. By the way, Kirby’s Epic Yarn wasn’t originally intended to be a Kirby game. You really did start from scratch and for a while were making a completely new title called Fluff’s Epic Yarn. Fluff, the main character at that time, shows up in Kirby’s Epic Yarn, too. A "world of yarn" has been the setting for this game from the very start. How did you come up with the idea of a world of yarn?|Satoru Iwata|[https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Iwata-Asks/Iwata-Asks-Kirby-s-Epic-Yarn/Iwata-Asks-Kirby-s-Epic-Yarn/1-Using-Real-Yarn-and-Cloth/1-Using-Real-Yarn-and-Cloth-206925.html Iwata Asks: Kirby's Epic Yarn - Part 1: Using Real Yarn and Cloth]}}</ref>, which is where [[Prince Fluff]] comes from. However, in the summer of 2009, it was decided to turn the game into a ''Kirby'' game, as the original prototype didn't meet Good-Feel's expectations, and they thought that attaching Kirby would make the game more enjoyable.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20101010120727/http://wii.ign.com/articles/112/1126374p1.html IGN article about the story of ''Kirby's Epic Yarn'' (archive)]</ref> The internal codename of ''Kirby's Epic Yarn'' and ''[[Kirby's Extra Epic Yarn]]'' is "fluff".

**According to [[Tomoya Tomita]], the original story of ''Fluff's Epic Yarn'' involved Prince Fluff searching for his lost mother. The [[Staff Credits (theme from Kirby's Epic Yarn)|staff credits]] theme was initially planned to be the stage theme for [[Fountain Gardens]], which would reflect the bittersweet emotions that Fluff had been feeling in the story. As development progressed, Tomita decided to create a more conventional theme by taking the theme he wrote for [[Flower Fields (theme)|Flower Fields]] and giving it a fuller arrangement.<ref>[https://www.heypoorplayer.com/2017/03/17/tomoya-tomita-interview/ An Interview with Game Composer Tomoya Tomita - Hey Poor Player]</ref>

*The developers of ''Kirby's Epic Yarn'', [[nwiki:Good-Feel|Good-Feel]], have also released ''Yoshi'' games with similar concepts: ''[[mariowiki:Yoshi's Woolly World|Yoshi's Woolly World]]'', ''[[mariowiki:Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World|Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World]]'' and ''[[mariowiki:Yoshi's Crafted World|Yoshi's Crafted World]]''.

|ja=毛糸のカービィ

|jaR=Keito no Kābii

|zh=毛線卡比<ref>[https://www.nintendo.tw/wii/wii_software.htm Nintendo Taiwan Wii game list]</ref>

|zhR=Máoxiàn Kǎbǐ

|zhM=Yarn Kirby

*[https://www.nintendo.com/consumer/gameslist/manuals/Wii_Kirby_Epic_Yarn.pdf English, French and Spanish manual (NA print)]