Reactor
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The Reactor is the core reactor of the Halberd. It appears as a boss in the Revenge of Meta Knight stage of Kirby Super Star and its remake, Kirby Super Star Ultra, and as a mid-boss at the end of the Battleship Halberd level of Kirby's Epic Yarn. In each ittiration, it's a large, stationairy machine with one or more cannons attached, holding a gem (which is pressumed to be its power source). It's unique in the fact the reactor itself cannot be damaged by Kirby, but only by the lasers it shoots to attack.
Game Appearances
Kirby Super Star
Physical appearance
The reactor is a large, round, brown-ish core reactor with a shining, colour-changing gem as its powersource. The machine stretches to the top of the screen and has a large, horizontal hole holding the gem with four spikes jutting upwards from the lower part of the machine and a decently large cannon pointing forwards. In the background, numerous Wheelies can be seen driving back and forth, seemingly used as batteries, with blue wires connecting the compartments together. The reactor is located on a grate-like floor and is positioned on the right side of the screen. It will not move appart from smaller compartments that it uses to attack; a small, nozle-like compartment it uses to fire lasers, the cannon on the front of the machine and up to three boxes it uses to spout fire through the grate floor. After the boss is defeated, the wheelies escape, and the scene transitions to the stage where Kirby rides one of the Wheelies across the Halberd in order to escape the ensuing explosion. This boss also shows up in The Arena
Attacks
- Laser: A small blue turret will appear from the top of the screen and angle itself to aim at Kirby. It shoots of a single laser that must be redirected towards the gem to damage the reactor.
- Cannon: The cannon at the front is almost always exposed. It attacks by charging up, then shooting two spiraling fireballs horizontally. If Kirby gets hit by these, he will get burned.
- Flame pillairs: The reactor send forth up to 3 box-like machines underneath the floor. They will pause for a second before blasting pillars of fire upwards through the floor.
Strategy
- The only part of the reactor that lowers the boss's health is the multicolour gem. It is unaffected by regular attacks and can only be damaged if it's hit by its own laser.
- The laser bounces off of all but the right edge of the screen, and the reactor itself. The best way to damage the core is to either float in front of the gem as it shoots the laser, or at the same height as the gem to the left: it will bounce off the wall and hit the gem.
- The cannon can be easily avoided by floating as it's charging up, signified by an audiovisual clue. The cannon can be destroyed if need may be.
- Watch for the small compartments if they are deployed and try to possition Kirby anywhere but on top of them.
- Make sure to get out of the way in time when the laser fires to avoid unnecessary damage.
- There is a small area above the cannon where Kirby can stand. Here's he's save from most attacks.
Kirby Super Star Ultra
Little was changed between the two versions, though this reactor has had a slight redesign. There are now 5 spikes on both the top and bottom compartment of the machine, all of which are adorned with small, blue balls. The gem now radiates in multiple colours as well. The box under the floor are more visible and the background shows more mechanisms between the Wheelie-batteries. Nothing about the boss itself has changed, however.
In KSSU's Meta Knightmare Ultra mode, the core can also be damaged by Meta Knight's Mach Tornado.
Kirby's Epic Yarn
Physical appearance
At the end of the Halberd stage Kirby uses his Starship transformation to traverse a long hallway. At the end the reactor core appears. It consists of two yellow main compartments: one at the top and one at the bottom of the hallway, each with three spikes with yellow balls on top, with a large green-coloured gem in between them. Both compartments have one large cannon on it which shoots fire. Every once in a while, a UFO enemy will appear to impede Kirby's progress. The background shows grates, gears and pannels. The goal is to destroy the two cannons, and then the gem. After this, the stage soon ends.
Attacks
- Fire: The main attack comes from the two cannons, each spouting a straight line of fire reaching all the way across the screen.
- UFO: Every once in a while, a UFO enemy will appear from the top of the screen. It rapidly shoots three lasers, but can be destroyed.
Strategy
- Unlike previous battles, the gem in the middle is unaffected by any and all attacks while at least one of the cannons is still functioning.
- The cannons must be destroyed first. Try focussing on one of the two and take it out as quickly as possible.
- Try avoiding corners, as it's easy to get traped by the two far-reaching streams of fire.
- After both cannons are destroyed, shoot the crystal untill it breaks. You won't be attacked with fire, but the UFO enemies still spawn.
- Try to take out the UFO enemies if possibly, as it's easy to get blindsighted when focussing on the main target.
Trivia
- In all games it appears in, the reactor is the final hurdle before engaging Meta Knight.
- This is the only boss (to date) that can in no way be harmed by Kirby, but only by its own attacks.
