Tower of Mid-Bosses
The Tower of Mid-Bosses is an area, level or stage commonly seen in various games in the Kirby series. Essentially, the tower takes the form of an area where various Mid-Bosses are fought in succession, usually in a building or other structure in which Kirby ascends after each fight. In-between each fight is usually a respite area, where Kirby can recover some health and/or use the ability he obtained from the last fight to obtain a treasure in that room. After the last fight, Kirby reaches the highest point of the tower, then proceeds to the exit.
Game appearances
Kirby's Adventure / Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land
The Tower of Mid-Bosses first appeared in Kirby's Adventure and later its remake; it is featured in Rainbow Resort - Stage 2. Here, Kirby enters the tower and fights up to seven Mid-Bosses, one after the other, with short hallway interludes between each fight as Kirby ascends the tower. Alternatively, there is a hidden route through the tower that can be accessed at the beginning. It features fewer Mid-Bosses, but in return, they are at their hardest difficulty. Completing this harder, hidden route leads to rewards not found in the normal route.
Kirby Super Star / Kirby Super Star Ultra
In Milky Way Wishes, the seven base mid-bosses all appear in both the Cavius and Mekkai stages, though defeating all of them is not required to proceed to the next area.
In Revenge of the King's last stage, The Revenge, the four extra mid-bosses and Bandana Waddle Dee are fought in succession.
Kirby's Dream Land 3
Iceberg - Stage 6 acts mostly as a tower, as Kirby has to battle all of the six mid-bosses of the game, and then use their abilities to break an ability block after their battles. However, since there are no mid-bosses that give Cutter and Spark, two rooms instead feature regular enemies to give these abilities rather than a mid-boss.
Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
Due to the lack of proper mid-bosses in this game, it features no true tower of mid-bosses. However, a similar layout is present in Ripple Star - Stage 3, instead made up of five enemy ambushes.
Kirby: Squeak Squad
In Vocal Volcano - Stage 3, Kirby is pitted against four Mid-Bosses in succession, using their powers at the end of each fight to obtain a Treasure Chest, similar to how it's done in Kirby's Dream Land 3. Who he fights as the last opponent depends on whether or not he obtains the large chest.
Kirby Mass Attack
Volcano Valley - Stage 9 is a tower of sorts, pitting the Kirbys against three tougher versions of previous Mid-Bosses in the game before unlocking the way to a new Mid-Boss fought at the end. The 10 Kirbys will gain greater rewards if they manage to get through these fights without any losses.
Kirby's Return to Dream Land / Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe
Nutty Noon - Stage 5 is largely a nod to the original tower from Kirby's Adventure, and features four Mid-Boss encounters. However, much like in Kirby's Dream Land 3 and Kirby: Squeak Squad, Kirby utilizes their powers to obtain Energy Spheres in each interlude room. Taking the secret path pits Kirby against tougher encounters facing off against every Mid-Boss in the game, and some in pairs, but yields greater rewards at the end.
Notably, this is the only stage which features two sets of Energy Sphere pickups, and picking them up on one path also gets the ones on the other.
In Kirby's Return to Dream Land, this stage only has one song: "Crash! Mid-Boss Tower". However, in Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe, it has four songs. In Story Mode, the main path still plays "Crash! Mid-Boss Tower", while the secret path plays "VS Waddle Tank" (due to the removal of Scope Shot). In Extra Mode, the main path plays "Macho of Dedede", and the secret path plays "History of Kirby Fighters" from Kirby Fighters 2.
In the Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe-exclusive Magolor Epilogue: The Interdimensional Traveler, Locandra Dimension - 4-3 is an equivalent to the Tower of Mid-Bosses. Like most of the others, it too has a Secret Path — though unlike the others, it may not be immediately accessible, as Magolor needs to upgrade his Levitation skill in order to reach it.
Kirby: Triple Deluxe
Endless Explosions - Stage 5 serves as a more unorthodox example of the Tower, this time being one with alternate branching paths, essentially allowing Kirby to choose who he fights. The stage also features more involved interlude sections than previous towers.
Additionally, Royal Road - Stage 8 EX is essentially a Tower as well, but instead features the Mid-Bosses that are fought with the Hypernova ability.
Kirby: Planet Robobot
While there is no dedicated tower stage in this game, there are several points where Kirby can battle tougher enemies and Mid-Bosses in succession. One example is Access Ark - Stage 5, where he uses the Robobot Armor to plow through several foes, including holograms from the Holo Defense API and Gigavolt II at the end. This is not meant to be particularly challenging, instead ramping up Kirby's sense of urgency, power, and determination before the final boss fights.
Kirby Star Allies
Planet Caverna is a sort of tower, but it features a single hub area which Kirby and his team return to again and again. From this hub, Kirby can choose any order he wishes to battle all of the game's Mid-Bosses to unlock the way to the exit.
In version 4.0.0., a secret path is available in this stage which functions much the same, but pits Kirby against twin encounters of each Mid-Boss and yields greater rewards, much like previous towers.
Kirby and the Forgotten Land
Kirby and the Forgotten Land's version of the "tower" takes the form of the stage The Battle of Blizzard Bridge, in Winter Horns. Rather than being partitioned into several different rooms, however, the main part of the stage takes place on one long continuous bridge.
Like with some other towers, there is a secret path to take on this stage, which can be found right at the start from the area where the hidden Maxim Tomato can be found. This leads to a harder version of the area with greater rewards.
Trivia
- In most cases, the first part of any given Tower stage features no music, replacing it with an ominous wind. This helps build up a serious mood to the challenge.
- In many ways, this type of stage can be seen as similar to The Arena and other Boss Endurance modes.
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