Springboard
- This article is about the springboard in Kirby's Pinball Land. For springs in a more general context, see Spring.
The Springboard is an object present at the bottom of each board set in Kirby's Pinball Land. If Kirby falls through the lowermost gutter in any given stage aside from the warp room, he will interact with this springboard. The purpose of this object is to give the player a chance to spring Kirby back into the board, or else lose an extra life and potentially get a Game Over.
Appearance and function
The springboard functions in more-or-less the same manner as the Goal Game in Kirby's Adventure. To use it, the player must press the A button at the appropriate time to launch Kirby back up into the board. With the right timing and granted a large enough springboard, this can be used to launch Kirby up to higher floors, even all the way up to the top one. In order to maximize the height received from the springboard, the player must press A just as the board begins to move upward. Pressing A sooner or later will result in less height, or may cause the bounce to fail entirely, resulting in a lost life.
Each time the springboard is used on the same life, it will shrink in size, becoming less able to bounce Kirby back up to the upper boards. After three consecutive falls, the springboard will reach its minimum size. At this size, it becomes very difficult (but still possible) to time the A press necessary to return Kirby to the field of play. Once a springboard bounce fails, a life is lost, and the current score plus any bonuses obtained are tallied.
If any lives are remaining at this point, the springboard will grow back to an extra large size, and from there can be used to return to the board. Unlike the other times it is used, the board will bounce again and again until the player presses A at the preferred moment.
Gallery
the largest and most detailed variety of springboard, which only appears after losing a life
a smaller version of the springboard, appearing after falling a second time on the same life
the smallest springboard, which appears after falling three or more times on the same life
