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Kirby's Epic Yarn

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Kirby's Epic Yarn
File:Key boxart.jpg
Official box art.
Details
Developer(s) Good-Feel, HAL Laboratory
Publisher(s) Nintendo
Designer(s) Kentaro Sei
Release date(s) Wii:
Japan October 14, 2010
NA October 17, 2010
Australia February 24, 2011
Europe February 25, 2011
South Korea September 1, 2011

Wii U (digital):
Europe May 21, 2015
Australia May 21, 2015
NA July 28, 2016
Japan August 9, 2016
Platform(s) Wii, Wii U (digital-only)
Game chronology
Kirby Super Star Ultra Kirby Mass Attack
On affiliated sites
StrategyWiki Walkthrough
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Kirby's Epic Yarn is a 2D side scrolling platformer and a spinoff Kirby series title released for the Wii in 2010. It was first announced and shown at E3 2010. The game's main gimmick is how Kirby, every enemy, and even the background are made of yarn. Kirby can pull the yarn from the scenery to find hidden gems or continue to go forward. Here, Kirby has a helper named Prince Fluff who he can fire at places normally inaccessible to get gems. Two players can play the game together at once as both Kirby and Prince Fluff.

Six years later, Kirby's Epic Yarn was ported to the Wii U as a downloadable eShop title. In 2019, the game received a remake for the Nintendo 3DS, titled Kirby's Extra Epic Yarn.

Story

Kirby is sent to Patch Land by Yin-Yarn.

A mysterious wizard named Yin-Yarn arrives in Dream Land and sprouts havoc among the citizens. The sorcerer uses his power to turn all of Dream Land into yarn. The puffball hero, Kirby, while foraging for food and inhaling Yin-Yarn's Metamato by mistake, is sucked into Patch Land, a world made entirely of yarn and textiles. In Patch Land Kirby discovers another yarn character named Prince Fluff is under attack by a foe. Kirby attempts to inhale him, but failed. Utilizing his newly acquired yarn powers, Kirby escapes danger with Prince Fluff in a car of yarn. Kirby and Price Fluff must restore the Patch Land world by finding the pieces of Magic Yarn in each of the seven worlds and defeat Yin-Yarn. [1]
In the midst of Kirby and Prince Fluff recovering Patch Land, Yin-Yarn continues to wreak havoc among Dream Land, and manages to sneak into Castle Dedede, and using a Yarn Waddle Dee as a disguise, Yin-Yarn sends Dedede into Patch Land. He continues to take down the forces of Dream Land, Yin-Yarn successfully sends Meta-Knight into Patch Land, and takes over the Halberd.
When Patch Land is fully repaired using the wayward strands of Magic Yarn, Kirby, Prince Fluff, Meta-Knight, and King Dedede are enter Dream Land using the restored Magic Sock, to find the place yarn-ified and under the control of Yin-Yarn. Kirby and Fluff make their way up to Yin-Yarn and fight him. After his initial defeat, Yin-Yarn's knitting needles use a strand of Magic Yarn to change him into Mega Yin-Yarn. Just then, Meta Knight flies in, dropping a Tankbot Metamortex. After a Tankbot war, Yin Yarn is defeated, and his knitting needles are flung from Dream Land all the way back to Patch Land. Afterward, both Patch Land and Dream Land are restored to their original form, and Kirby says a farewell to his new friend Prince Fluff, keeping one of the Magic Socks as a memento and a means to visit him again.

Patch Land

File:Patch Land.jpg
The world of Patch Land, consisting of seven distinct areas.
Main article: Patch Land

After inhaling Yin-Yarn's Metamato, Kirby is abducted and thrown into a world known as Patch Land.[2] Patch Land is a world divided into seven distinct sections. When Kirby first arrives, these sections have been torn from each-other and float adrift. To bring them back together again, Kirby and Prince Fluff will need to obtain the pieces of Magic Yarn from various minions of Yin-Yarn, typically Bosses. Once Patch Land is fully stitched back up, Kirby and Prince Fluff travel to Dream Land where they face Yin-Yarn.

Areas of Patch Land & Dream Land

The seven areas of Patch Land are traversed before Kirby returns to Dream Land. These areas are as follows:

Areas of Patch Land & Dream Land  
Name Normal Stages Boss
Quilty Square None.
Grass Land Fangora
Hot Land Hot Wings
Treat Land Squashini
Water Land Capamari
Snow Land King Dedede
Space Land Meta Knight
Dream Land Yin-Yarn

Gameplay

File:Cool Cave 2.jpg
Kirby in the Cool Cave stage of Hot Land.

Due to the fabric filled world of Patch Land, Kirby has lost his ability to inhale enemies, for air passes right through him. In addition, Kirby has lost the ability to puff-up and use that to float. However, he can use special yarn based transformations. Transformations are involved as Kirby can become a tank, car, submarine, parachute, UFO, and more.[3] Kirby can transform into some forms at will, but some transformations will cost his ability to fight back, and some transformations, known as Super Transformations, can only be used at certain points on stages (usually the end of the stage).[4] Kirby progresses through each world in a similar style to Kirby's Adventure or Kirby's Dream Land 2, where each world is separated through a large map, containing each level. Kirby is also able to interact with these hub worlds through patches he obtains after levels, which make in-game cutscenes effect the layout of the world.[5] In the game, Kirby owns an apartment, which can be furnished with items hidden in each level. The said apartment is managed by Dom Woole, and more items can be purchased in shops ran by his brothers, with the use of beads found in each level. [6] Other residences live in the apartment complex as Kirby collects more items in-game. Prince Fluff is also able transform into everything Kirby can.

All non-boss stages will have three special items to be collected, two of them are furniture, and the third is always a CD for music. In addition, Kirby may also collect three plates that will enable the corresponding star amounts to be available at the end of the stage wheel. The end of game wheel will involve Kirby attaching to the wheel at the most advantageous moment, giving Kirby the possibility of a bonus of 200, 300, or 500 beads at the end of the stage. If the corresponding plates are obtaining, the 200 bead bonus will cover half of the wheel, the 300 bead bonus most of the other side of the wheel, and the 500 bead bonus will cover a small segment of it. If the plate was not obtained, the corresponding part of the wheel will be empty, and landing there will yield no bonus beads.

A multiplayer function for two players is also available, the second player will play Prince Fluff. Prince Fluff has identical abilities and capabilities as Kirby, except when using special yarn transformation, where Kirby controls one part of the transformation, and Prince Fluff will control another part of it. If either player falls too far behind, they can summon an angel to transport them to the other player, however, if both of them end up being carried by an angel, many beads are lost as if they have fallen into a pit.

As a departure from all games in the series, Kirby cannot get defeated or die, even when he has no beads, and fighting bosses. When Kirby gets hit, or falls down a pit, he loses a large abundance of beads, depending on how many he has. Throughout all the levels, Kirby and Prince Fluff can collect hundreds of beads, a currency in game that is used to purchase items from Dom Woole's shops, or used to collect medals in all levels in-game, in every level. The more beads they collect, the closer they get to obtaining a bronze, silver, and gold medal at the end of each stage. At boss battles, they can collect more beads to unlock a secret patch that can unlock two extra levels in each world.

Transformations

Normal transformations are forms Kirby can shape shift into at will (With the exception of the Pendulum and Submarine, where Kirby must latch onto something or dive into water respectively).

Super Transformations

These can be accessed by jumping into a Metamortex.

String of enemies

File:Unnamed Blob.jpg
A three-eyed blob monster that goes unnamed and appears only in a cut-scene.
Regular Enemies Mid-Bosses

Bosses

Neighbors

Neighbors live beside Kirby's Pad in Quilty Square. All can be contacted for playing mini-games.

Neighbor Game Apartment
Zeke Zeke's Hide-and-Seek Apartment 102
Beadrix Beadrix's Run Apartment 201
Carrie Carrie's Transport Apartment 202
Buster Buster's Training Apartment 301
Mara Mara's Race Apartment 302

Voice actors

Kirby's Epic Yarn is the first title in the series to feature voice actors narrating the game. The North American and European versions have minor differences between their English transcripts.[7][8]

  • Makiko Ohmoto - voice of Kirby
  • Tomoko Nakamura - voice of Prince Fluff
  • Yuko Tsuga - narrator (Japanese)
  • Pablo Magaz - narrator (Latin American Spanish)
  • France Marien - narrator (Quebec French)
  • Dave White - narrator (North American English)
  • Paul Vaughan - narrator (British English)
  • Olivier Deslandes - narrator (European French)
  • Wolf Kahler - narrator (German)
  • Massimo Marinoni - narrator (Italian)
  • Carlos Riera - narrator (European Spanish)

Reception

Kirby's Epic Yarn was called the best of E3 by many sites, including Kotaku, 1-Up, and Gamespot.

Post release, Kirby's Epic Yarn had seen high praise from critics, with an average 90% Score on Metacritic. [5]. IGN.com said the "incredibly creative art direction is well worth the experience." Gamespot had called it an "an absolute joy". [9]

One of the more common complaints of the game was regarding the difficulty, in which Kirby cannot be defeated, unlike all other games in the franchise. However, it has been noted the challenge of the game spawns from collecting gold medals on all stages, and finding all secret treasures.

Gallery

Main article: Kirby's Epic Yarn/gallery

Names in other languages

Language Name Meaning
Japanese 毛糸のカービィ
Keito no Kābii
Yarn Kirby
French Kirby - Au fil de l'aventure Kirby - On the thread of adventure
German Kirby und das magische Garn Kirby and the magic Yarn
Italian Kirby e la stoffa dell'eroe Kirby and the fabric of the hero
Korean 털실 커비 이야기
Yarn Kirby Story
Spanish Kirby's Epic Yarn Kirby's Epic Yarn


Trivia

  • 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 a story narration. The title is also interesting for abbreviating to spell the word "key".
  • The original and interesting art design of Kirby's Epic Yarn may have been inspired by a Japanese TV commercial for Kirby's Adventure on the NES, which aired in 1992. The commercial showed Kirby made out of fabric eating up other enemies, similarly to Epic Yarn.[10]
  • Kirby's Epic Yarn originally started as a non-Kirby game starring a character named Fluff, which may be where Prince Fluff comes from. However, in Summer of 2009, it was made into a Kirby game due to the previous game not being enjoyable, though made more fun as a Kirby game[11].
  • This game retains a few elements exclusive to Kirby: Right Back at Ya! the anime, such as the inclusion of "poyo" in Kirby's vocal exclamations[12] and the use of "-zoi" after some of Dedede's dialogue in the Japanese-narrated cut scenes.[13][14]
  • The developer of Kirby's Epic Yarn, Good-Feel, later have released Yoshi games in similar concepts, such as Yoshi's Woolly World and Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World.
  • This is the only Kirby game where it is not possible for Kirby to be defeated, instead only losing beads whenever he is hit with an attack or touches a hazard.
  • Yarn Kirby and Prince Fluff appear as two Stickers respectively in Kirby: Planet Robobot.
  • Oddly, the data for every stage in this game appears deep in the files of Yoshi's Wooly World. These were most likely used for testing in early stages of development.

External links

References

  1. Page 36 & 37 of Issue #259 of Nintendo Power; October 2010
  2. "When a sorcerer named Yin-Yarn runs amok in Dream Land and turns citizens into yarn, there's only one puffball who can try to eat the tomato-esque fruit on top of the sorcerer's head: Kirby. Doing so makes Yin-Yarn angry, however, and he sucks Kirby into the sock tied around his neck, transporting the pink one to Patch Land." –Page 36 of Issue #259 of Nintendo Power (October 2010)
  3. "Thanks to his versatile yarn composition, Kirby can take on a variety of forms both in his common actions and when he transforms into powerful vehicles. When Kirby dashes, he zips around as a car; when dashing on ice, Kirby becomes a sleigh. In water, he turns into a submarine. At times he can even transform into a massive robotic tank, a UFO and other vehicles." –Nintendo E3 Network (overview)
  4. "You can actually transform into a car at will in this side-scrolling adventure; while holding the Wii Remote controller sideways, simply double-tap left or right on the Control Pad, and Kirby will zoom off. Because he has more speed in this mode, he can jump higher and farther than when he's in the default Kirby form. Of course, this means he can't attack foes since he doesn't have arms as a car." –Page 36 of Issue #259 of Nintendo Power (October 2010)
  5. http://www.videogamesblogger.com/2010/09/16/kirbys-epic-yarn-new-details-tokyo-game-show-2010-trailer.htm
  6. Page 72 & 73 of Issue #260 of Nintendo Power; November 2010
  7. Kirby's Epic Yarn all cutscenes (American English)
  8. Kirby's Epic Yarn all cutscenes (British English)
  9. Enticing visuals and varied gameplay make Kirby's latest adventure an absolute joy.
  10. Japanese commercial for Kirby's Adventure, note the similarity to Epic Yarn.[1]
  11. IGN article about the yarn of Epic Yarn
  12. [2]
  13. [3]
  14. [4]

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