Please remember that WiKirby contains spoilers, which you read at your own risk! See our general disclaimer for details.

Kirby Dance (theme): Difference between revisions

From WiKirby, your independent source of Kirby knowledge.
Jump to navigationJump to search
m (the KatAM Goal! version is not meaningfully distinct from the KNiDL Goal! version. the KCC version of the KNiDL Goal! version is, though)
(some KPL and KDC info)
Line 10: Line 10:
{{center|Long:}}
{{center|Long:}}
[[File:KA Kirby Dance Long.mp3]]
[[File:KA Kirby Dance Long.mp3]]
</tab>
<tab name="Kirby's Dream Course">
[[File:KDC Kirby Dance.mp3]]
</tab>
</tab>
<tab name="Kirby Super Star">
<tab name="Kirby Super Star">
Line 101: Line 104:
[[File:KDL dance.mp4|thumb|right|160px|The inaugural [[Kirby Dance]], featuring plenty of spinning and twirling to accompany the Kirby Dance theme.]]
[[File:KDL dance.mp4|thumb|right|160px|The inaugural [[Kirby Dance]], featuring plenty of spinning and twirling to accompany the Kirby Dance theme.]]
=== ''Kirby's Dream Land'' ===
=== ''Kirby's Dream Land'' ===
In its first appearance, the Kirby Dance music accompanies Kirby's dance after obtaining each [[Sparkling Star]] (except for the final one).
In its first appearance in ''[[Kirby's Dream Land]]'', the Kirby Dance music accompanies Kirby's dance after obtaining each [[Sparkling Star]] (except for the final one).


=== ''Kirby's Adventure'' / ''Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land'' ===
=== ''Kirby's Adventure'' / ''Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land'' ===
Line 107: Line 110:


The remake ''[[Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land]]'' rearranges both short and long versions of the theme with a new soundfont. Additionally, when crossing the finish line in the [[Kirby's Air Grind]] sub-game, an even further abridged version of the theme plays, effectively remixing the first half of the first measure and the second half of the last measure. This shortest version is followed by applause, which plays even in the Sound Test.
The remake ''[[Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land]]'' rearranges both short and long versions of the theme with a new soundfont. Additionally, when crossing the finish line in the [[Kirby's Air Grind]] sub-game, an even further abridged version of the theme plays, effectively remixing the first half of the first measure and the second half of the last measure. This shortest version is followed by applause, which plays even in the Sound Test.
=== ''Kirby's Pinball Land'' ===
A functionally identical arrangement to the ''[[Kirby's Dream Land]]'' version of the theme accompanies the Kirby Dance in ''[[Kirby's Pinball Land]]''.
=== ''Kirby's Dream Course'' ===
A synth-orchestral arrangement of the full Kirby Dance theme accompanies Kirby's dance upon the completion of each course of ''[[Kirby's Dream Course]]''.


=== ''Kirby Super Star'' / ''Kirby Super Star Ultra'' ===
=== ''Kirby Super Star'' / ''Kirby Super Star Ultra'' ===

Revision as of 23:37, 2 February 2023

Kirby Dance
Various arrangements of the Kirby Dance theme.
Details
Debut appearance Kirby's Dream Land (1992)
Last appearance Kirby and the Forgotten Land (2022)
Composer(s) Jun Ishikawa
 This box: view  talk  edit 

The "Kirby Dance"[1][2], also known as the Stage Clear music[3], is a brief musical piece used throughout the Kirby series to accompany Kirby's signature dance, often playing when Kirby clears a stage or defeats a level's final boss. Jun Ishikawa composed the original version for Kirby's Dream Land.

Description

A transcription of the Kirby's Dream Land version of the Kirby Dance theme.

The dance jingle in its original form is in C major, and loops through an implied chord progression of ii-V-I (Dm-G-C) each measure. The upbeat, bouncy, energetic piece complements Kirby's dance animations, which are often full of jumping and sliding with exaggerated squash and stretch. Games commonly use a short version of the tune, which is simply the second half of the full (long) version.

Each measure of the tune always starts with a pair of triplets, initially in the melody but migrating to the bass line for the final measure. The heavy use of triplets is appropriate for the Kirby Dance as musical commentary strongly associates triplets with a sense of spinning and twirling[4], which feature in Kirby's dancing dating all the way back to Kirby's Dream Land.

Game appearances

The inaugural Kirby Dance, featuring plenty of spinning and twirling to accompany the Kirby Dance theme.

Kirby's Dream Land

In its first appearance in Kirby's Dream Land, the Kirby Dance music accompanies Kirby's dance after obtaining each Sparkling Star (except for the final one).

Kirby's Adventure / Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land

The abridged Kirby Dance theme makes its appearance for the first time in Kirby's Adventure in the Goal Game, except if Kirby lands on the highest platform. In that case and when Kirby recovers a piece of the Star Rod, the full-length piece accompanies a longer dance. The full theme also features a prominent percussion line, consisting of a drum sound marking the start and end of each measure except the end of the final measure, not heard in the short version.

The remake Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land rearranges both short and long versions of the theme with a new soundfont. Additionally, when crossing the finish line in the Kirby's Air Grind sub-game, an even further abridged version of the theme plays, effectively remixing the first half of the first measure and the second half of the last measure. This shortest version is followed by applause, which plays even in the Sound Test.

Kirby's Pinball Land

A functionally identical arrangement to the Kirby's Dream Land version of the theme accompanies the Kirby Dance in Kirby's Pinball Land.

Kirby's Dream Course

A synth-orchestral arrangement of the full Kirby Dance theme accompanies Kirby's dance upon the completion of each course of Kirby's Dream Course.

Kirby Super Star / Kirby Super Star Ultra

In both Kirby Super Star and its remake, the Kirby Dance music plays for long and short dances following Sparkling Stars and Goal Game landings. The instrumentation is clearly distinct between the long and short versions, with the melody having a woodwind sound to it in the short version but being handled by synth strings in the long version.

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards

Despite not featuring any dancing from Kirby, the Sound Check makes a new arrangement of the Kirby Dance theme available as Tracks 61 (long version) and 62 (short version).

Kirby & The Amazing Mirror

The Kirby Dance theme arrangements for Kirby & The Amazing Mirror heavily resemble those used in Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land. The finish line fanfare arrangement originally created for Kirby's Air Grind now plays when Kirby crosses the finish line in the Kirby Wave Ride sub-game, again featuring applause.

Kirby: Canvas Curse

Kirby: Canvas Curse features aggressively electronic arrangements of the short and long versions of the Kirby Dance themes. In addition, clearing each stage triggers a heavily abridged version along the lines of the Kirby's Air Grind/Kirby Wave Ride finish line music, but with an extremely different chord progression (IV-V-iv) ending in dissonance rather than resolving to the tonic (as all previous arrangements do).

Additionally, as part of the final Medal Swap perk, the player can choose to replace all three arrangements with their "Old School" Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land counterparts. These are largely faithful renditions except for the shortest version used to mark clearing each stage, which no longer features applause as it did in the context of Kirby's Air Grind.

Kirby: Squeak Squad

Kirby: Squeak Squad features short and long versions of the Kirby Dance theme. The arrangements are not significantly changed from those used in Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land and Kirby & the Amazing Mirror, although with somewhat distinct instrumentation.

Kirby: Planet Robobot

Kirby: Planet Robobot reuses the Kirby Dance music from three different games:

  • The long version from Kirby's Return to Dream Land accompanies Kirby's dance after clearing a boss stage. The short version accompanies the score tally after each Quest in Team Kirby Clash.
  • The versions from Kirby: Triple Deluxe accompany Kirby's dance after the Goal Game for the vast majority of landings.
  • If Kirby lands on clouds 7 through 1 in sequence in consecutive Goal Games, the original Kirby Dance music from Kirby's Dream Land plays.

Kirby Star Allies

Kirby Star Allies features a new arrangement of the theme when accompanying Kirby's dancing. The short version plays after landing on clouds 7 through 2 in the Goal Game, while the long version plays after landing on cloud 1 in the Goal Game or after defeating a boss.

During gameplay, two Copy Abilities can cause a version of the Kirby Dance theme to play:

  • A special arrangement accompanies the Festival Dance Friend Ability.
  • If the Souper Supper move is charged for long enough, Cook Kirby will hum the short Kirby Dance tune, albeit off key.

As with the prior few mainline games, landing on clouds 7 through 1 in sequence in consecutive Goal Games triggers the original Kirby Dance music from Kirby's Dream Land. This music also accompanies the Dream Button unlock notification after clearing The Ultimate Choice on Soul Melter EX.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land

Kirby and the Forgotten Land has its own arrangement of the theme to accompany Kirby's dance. A short version plays on completing a non-boss stage, while a long version plays after defeating a boss or at specific story beats.

Other appearances

The Kirby Dance theme was arranged in the style of an eki-melo or train melody jingle for the Kirby Pupupu Train merchandise event. This arrangement can be found on the Kirby Pupupu Train Eki-melo Collection as track 13, クリアダンス/駅メロ Ver. (Clear Dance - Eki-melo Ver.).

The opening segment of the Kirby 30th Anniversary Music Festival, Green Greens ~ Running Through the New World, closes with a slow-tempo orchestral/big band arrangement of the Kirby Dance theme. Accompanying this is a compilation of Kirby dancing across thirty years' worth of video games, representing every game that features the Kirby Dance except Kirby's Pinball Land, Kirby's Dream Course, Kirby's Star Stacker (Game Boy), Kirby: Canvas Curse, Kirby's Extra Epic Yarn, and Kirby Fighters Deluxe (while also including a non-dance from Kirby's Blowout Blast).

Trivia

  • An anecdote from Masahiro Sakurai about the development of Kirby's Dream Land suggests that the music precedes the dance, or at least the rhythm of the dance. Sakurai asked the sound composer (Jun Ishikawa) how long the music was in frames, the response being "I don't know". Sakurai had to play and rewind a cassette tape recording many times to make the dance animation match up with the music.[5]

Names in other languages

Language Name Meaning
Japanese カービィダンス[1][2][6][7]
ステージクリア[3]
クリアダンス[8][9][10]
面クリア時の踊り[11]
kaabyi dansu
sutēji kuria
kuria dansu
men kuria ji no odori
Kirby Dance
Stage Clear
Clear Dance
Stage Clear Dance
Chinese 卡比跳舞[2]
Kǎbǐ tiàowǔ
Kirby Dance
Dutch Kirby's dansje[2] Kirby's dance
French Danse de Kirby[2] Kirby's dance
German Kirbys Tanz[2] Kirby's Dance
Italian Il ballo di Kirby[2] Kirby's dance
Korean 커비 댄스[2]
keobi daenseu
Kirby Dance
Spanish El baile de Kirby[2] Kirby's dance

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Kirby: Planet Robobot Original Soundtrack
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Kirby and the Forgotten Land Corner Stage
  3. 3.0 3.1 Kirby and the Rainbow Curse Music Room
  4. See, for example, Hansen, N. Chr., & Huron, D. (2019). Twirling Triplets: The Qualia of Rotation and Musical Rhythm. Music & Science, 2. [1]
  5. "開発当時、サウンド担当にクリア音楽のフレーム数を聞いたところ「わからない」とのことで… カセットテープに録音したクリア音楽を何度も巻き戻しつつ、音に合わせて作りました。"Masahiro Sakurai (on Twitter)
  6. Kirby: Triple Deluxe Soundtrack
  7. Kirby Star Allies: The Original Soundtrack
  8. Kirby & The Amazing Mirror Sound Plus
  9. Kirby Wii Music Selection
  10. Kirby Pupupu Train Eki-melo Collection
  11. Hoshi no Kirby Yume no Izumi no Monogatari (soundtrack)

[[Category:Music in Kirby's Dream Land]] [[Category:Music in Kirby Super Star]] [[Category:Music in Kirby Pupupu Train]] [[Category:Music in Kirby: Planet Robobot]] [[Category:Music in Kirby Star Allies]] [[Category:Music in Kirby and the Forgotten Land]] [[Category:Music in Kirby 30th Anniversary Music Festival]]