Ado
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- This article is about the character from Kirby's Dream Land 3. For a similar character who appears in other games and might possibly be Ado herself, see Adeleine.
Ado is the boss of Cloudy Park in Kirby's Dream Land 3. She is a human girl who came to Pop Star in order to practice painting,[1] and is able to paint creatures that subsequently come to life and jump off the canvas. However, Ado became possessed by Dark Matter when it invaded Pop Star, thus forcing her to fight Kirby and his Animal Friends. Once defeated, she is freed from Dark Matter's influence.
Ado bears a strong resemblance to Adeleine, both in appearance and mannerisms, but whether or not they are the same character is left ambiguous.
Game appearances[edit]
Kirby's Dream Land 3[edit]
- Main article: Cloudy Park - Stage 7 (Kirby's Dream Land 3)
Ado is the boss of Cloudy Park in Kirby's Dream Land 3. Her battle consists of two distinct phases, though the second phase is little more than a short addendum to the main fight in the first one.
Phase 1[edit]
Using her giant canvas, she paints enemies that battle Kirby for her. She summons Ice Dragon, Sweet Stuff, Mr. Shine & Mr. Bright, and Kracko, all of which are bosses in Kirby's Dream Land 2, but with significantly less health and weaker attacks. Kirby can use his inhale to swallow their projectiles and spit them back at the paintings, or attack them with copy abilities. The Ice Dragon painting can be destroyed in three Star Bullets' worth of damage. The Sweet Stuff painting can withstand 4 star bullets' worth of damage. The Mr. Shine & Mr. Bright paintings can withstand damage equal to 6 star bullets' worth in total (3 per painting). The Kracko painting can withstand damage equal to 8 star bullets' worth.
Ice Dragon painting.
Sweet Stuff painting.
Mr. Shine painting.
Mr. Bright painting.
Kracko painting.
Phase 2[edit]
After Ado runs out of paintings to send toward Kirby, she gets fed up and charges at him with her paintbrush. She can only take a single hit, and even a Slide or Air Bullet will do her in. Ado will also be taken out even if she manages to hit Kirby. When defeated, she tumbles off to the right.
Aftermath[edit]
After Kirby uses the Heart Stars to purge the area of Dark Matter's influence, he can come back to see Ado, who will be much friendlier. She will paint a number of different things at random, then erase them. These paintings include:
- A diamond ring
- A slice of a cake
- A pink Game Boy
Ado also appears in the staff credits, where she is seen drawing in a sketchpad — it is implied she is the artist of the drawings seen within the credits. At the very end, she pops up to paint "END" in the corner of the screen. She can be refought as the fourth opponent of Boss Butch.
Kirby: Triple Deluxe[edit]
While not mentioned by name in Kirby: Triple Deluxe, Ado is depicted in two keychains: "Sweet Stuff Drawing" and "Boss Butch" (which depicts her along with the rest of the regular Kirby's Dream Land 3 bosses).
Relation to Adeleine[edit]
After the release of Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, there was confusion about Ado's relationship to Adeleine, a similar character who appears in said game, with pre-release material suggesting they were likely meant to be the same character during a point in development. In Japanese, Adeleine is spelled "Adorēnu" (アドレーヌ), so "Ado" can be interpreted as simply a shortened version of her full name. The book 20th Anniversary Kirby Pupupu Encyclopedia, published by Shogakukan in 2012, addresses the many similarities of the characters and suggests that Ado could be a nickname for Adeleine, but ultimately states that it is unknown if they are the same person or not.[2]
A similar artbook published by Kadokawa in 2017, Kirby Art & Style Collection, also includes a piece of concept art that appears to have been sent to manga artists after Kirby's Dream Land 3's release. In the artwork, two designs for Ado are shown, with one resembling her in-game sprite and the other resembling Adeleine, along with guidelines that indicate artists should draw her in the latter design rather than the former.[2] Because of this, many manga appearances of Ado resemble Adeleine, and some treat the two as a single character. Early concept art for Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards also shows Adeleine resembling this design, with a cross-shaped button on her smock rather than a circular one. However, a caption below the artwork states that it only concerns Ado, and notes that "there's a strong resemblance between Ado and Adeleine", similar to the earlier statement in the Pupupu Encyclopedia.[3] A different book published by Kadokawa in 2019, the Kirby Illustrated Character Encyclopedia, contains a similar statement about Ado and Adeleine as the Pupupu Encyclopedia, while the Kirby Character Encyclopedia released by Kadokawa in 2022 lists Ado and Adeleine separately.
A tidbit worth noting is that both characters are shown in supplementary material to call other characters by the same nicknames, such as "Kir-kun" for Kirby and "Dede no Dan'na" ("Mr. Dede") for King Dedede.[3]
Both Nintendo of Europe and Nintendo of Russia have stated that Adeleine appeared in Kirby's Dream Land 3 in the descriptions of their YouTube videos featuring the trailer for Adeleine & Ribbon's appearance in Kirby Star Allies as well as on the official European websites.[4] However, this detail is notably absent on the respective Nintendo of America and Nintendo of Japan equivalents. In Kirby Star Allies itself, Adeleine has a move known as Ado's Painter ("Ado Painter" in Japanese), allowing her to paint some of the same bosses as Ado could in Kirby's Dream Land 3, though whether this reference to Ado is meant to hint at her being the same character as Adeleine is unclear.
While they are not necessarily considered official statements, internal filenames may shed some light on how Adeleine and Ado are treated among HAL Laboratory staff. In the internal data of Kirby Fighters Deluxe, Dedede's Drum Dash Deluxe, Team Kirby Clash Deluxe, and Kirby's Blowout Blast, a recurring arrangement of Art Attack, Adeleine's introduction cutscene music from Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, contains the string N64_Ado; furthermore, Adeleine's texture files from Kirby Star Allies and Super Kirby Clash are denoted as Ado, despite the model folder itself being named Adeleine. Notably, Adeleine is the only Dream Friend whose files in Kirby Star Allies use shorthand, and the vast majority of modern filenames adhere to official transliterations over literal romanizations. Additionally, Kirby JP Twitter posts consistently do not mention Ado in text or depict her in artwork; for example, in Adeleine's Dedede Directory post in 2020, King Dedede's introductory statement translates to "It's 'Adeleine', with her trademark red beret!", but does not mention or allude to Ado or Kirby's Dream Land 3. Furthermore, Ado is the only Kirby's Dream Land 3 boss that did not get a Dedede Directory post.
An excerpt from the Kirby Illustrated Character Encyclopedia that contains a similar statement to the 20th Anniversary artbook
Adeleine's "Dedede Directory" image. Text in the post mentions the red beret being her trademark and does not acknowledge Ado.
Trivia[edit]
- Ado's name might come from Ado Mizumori, a famous Japanese illustrator. Mizumori was often credited as "Ado-chan", which is used as a CPU nickname in Kirby's Dream Buffet.
- The way Ado tumbles upon defeat is similar to the KeKe enemy from the same game.
- Ado's battle is similar to that of both Adeleine in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards and the Holo Defense API from Kirby: Planet Robobot.
- Ado's appearance in her official artwork noticeably differs from her design shown in larger artwork in-game, such as the credits illustrations. In her official artwork, she is squat with thin, cartoon-like limbs and eyes similar to Kirby's, while her in-game artwork shows her with more realistic proportions and anime-like eyes with white scleras. The artist appears to have used her simplified sprite for reference, and given the excerpt from "Art & Style Collection" seen above, it is likely that the in-game artwork is what she is intended to look like.
Names in other languages[edit]
| Language | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Japanese | アド Ado |
Ado |
Gallery[edit]
Sprite from Kirby's Dream Land 3
Artwork of the back of a manga from Kirby's Dream Land 3
References
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