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Kirby Mass Attack

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Kirby Mass Attack

Kirby Mass Attack cover.png

KMA European box art.jpg

Kirby Mass Attack Japan box art.jpg

Kirby Mass Attack Korean box art.jpg

Box art of Kirby Mass Attack in various regions.
Details
Developer(s) HAL Laboratory
Publisher(s) Nintendo
Release date(s) Nintendo DS
Japan August 4, 2011
NA September 19, 2011
Australia October 27, 2011[1]
Europe October 28, 2011
South Korea December 1, 2011

Virtual Console (Wii U)
Europe December 3, 2015
Australia December 4, 2015
Japan February 29, 2016
NA July 28, 2016
Platform(s) Nintendo DS
Supported languages Japanese, American English, British English, European French, Canadian French, Italian, German, Latin American Spanish, Castilian Spanish, Korean
Rating(s) ESRB: Everyone
PEGI: 3+
CERO: All Ages
Game chronology
Kirby's Epic Yarn Kirby's Return to Dream Land
On affiliated sites
StrategyWiki Walkthrough
 This box: view  talk  edit 
"KMA" redirects here. For information about the Nintendo DS game known as Kirby: Mouse Attack in some languages, see Kirby: Squeak Squad.

Kirby Mass Attack is a spin-off Kirby game released for the Nintendo DS in 2011. The central premise revolves around using the Nintendo DS stylus to direct and guide up to ten otherwise small and helpless mini-Kirbys, who were split from the original by the game's villain Necrodeus in order to make the pink puffball easier to defeat. Instead of controlling the Kirbys directly, the player has to use the stylus to flick them around, tell them where to run, and drag them over obstacles when needed. A lot of micromanagement is needed to keep the Kirbys from perishing as they make their way through the stages, and if any are lost, the Kirbys will need to collect fruit in order to create new ones, with the player losing if all the Kirbys are defeated. The objective is to lead them through the stages until encountering and defeating Necrodeus at the very end, so that Kirby may become his whole self again.

In addition to the main story and its expansive stages, collections of enemies, and variety of devices, hazards, and other gimmicks, Kirby Mass Attack also features a very large collection of unlockable Sub-Games, which offer novel ways to play and tons of references to other Kirby games and even other games outside of the Kirby series. Kirby Mass Attack also features a very detailed hint system, which comes in the form of Daroach and his airship. Daroach's main motive for helping the Kirbys is so they can collect the various medals hidden throughout the game for him.

Kirby Mass Attack's name was first revealed in the 267th issue of Nintendo Power (May 2011). The game was one of the Nintendo DS titles shown at E3 2011. Kirby Mass Attack was first released in Japan on August 4, 2011, and was released in North America a month later, then in Europe and Australia roughly a month after that and finally in South Korea at the end of the year. It would be the last Kirby game to release for the Nintendo DS, and the last one to feature primarily sprite-based graphics. Kirby Mass Attack would go on to sell roughly 1.06 million copies, making it the lowest in the list of Kirby games that have sold at least a million units.[2]

Plot[edit]

Necrodeus split Kirby into 10 copies of himself, each having only a fraction of Kirby's greatness!
— Opening narration in Kirby Mass Attack

The premise of Kirby Mass Attack involves Kirby flying down to explore a novel area in the south of Popstar called the Popopo Islands, only to be attacked by a dark wizard named Necrodeus: the leader of a marauding band of skeletal creatures called the Skull Gang. While Kirby is taking a nap, Necrodeus appears out of nowhere and zaps Kirby with his magical staff, splitting the pink puffball into ten weaker copies of himself. Necrodeus then proceeds to pick off the Kirbys one-by-one in hopes of snuffing out the planet's greatest hero so he can blot the light of Popstar out forever. However, one of these smaller Kirbys manages to escape, and from there, rendezvouses with his heroic heart which popped out of him when he was split. The heart - which serves as the player's cursor in gameplay - leads this Kirby into the wilderness so that he can regain his numbers and eventually restore himself to normal.

Kirby using Rainbow Medals to shine a beam of light through Necro Nebula.

As Kirby ventures through each of the Popopo Islands and regains his numbers, he is repeatedly attacked by lesser members of the Skull Gang who try to carry Kirbys away and destroy them. As they progress, the Kirbys receive advice from Daroach - the leader of the Squeaks - who travels with his band in an airship they built. Daroach tells the Kirbys that they need to collect medals in each island they visit, and pay particular mind for special Rainbow Medals, which - if gathered - can be used to pierce the gloom surrounding the Skull Gang's homeworld of Necro Nebula. After visiting each island and defeating the Skull Gang's influence there, the Kirbys manage to collect all of these medals, and then are able to infiltrate the craggy lifeless homeworld of Necrodeus and his minions.

When the Kirbys arrive at Necrodeus' palace, they find his staff - the one he used to split them apart - and try to claim it so the spell can be undone, but Necrodeus shows up and swallows the staff, forcing the Kirbys to defeat him if they want it. After a long and grueling struggle - part of which takes place in a zero-gravity environment - Necrodeus is soundly beaten and relinquishes the staff as he is banished to oblivion. Using the staff's magic, the Kirbys are finally able to recombine into one being. This done, Kirby takes to his Warp Star and returns home to Popstar, but not before pondering for a moment about how the darkness surrounding his home makes it shine all the brighter.

Gameplay[edit]

The player can flick the Kirbys to make them jump.

Kirby Mass Attack is - like the main Kirby series games - a side-scrolling 2D platformer that tasks Kirby to reach the end of stages filled with various enemies, obstacles, and occasionally boss fights. However, much like Kirby's Epic Yarn before it, the core gameplay is very different from that of the main series. Due to having been split into ten weaker copies, the Kirbys are no longer able to hover, inhale, or use Copy Abilities. Instead, their main means of attack is by latching onto enemies and pummeling them, or by being tossed at enemies and hazards to impact them, in a very similar manner to how Pikmin fight. In another similarity to the Pikmin games, the player does not control the Kirbys directly, but instead plays the role of a leader in the form of Kirby's heroic heart, which is a star-shaped object that acts as a cursor. This heart is controlled by means of the Nintendo DS stylus, and tapping places on the screen tells the Kirbys where to go. Other key actions include tapping and holding down to drag the Kirbys along a magical line to get them around hazards, or tapping and quickly flicking a Kirby to throw him in the direction indicated.

In another departure from the main Kirby series, Kirby Mass Attack does not have a traditional health meter for the Kirbys, but instead gives each one two hit points, and shows their state of health by their body color: Healthy Kirbys are pink, wounded Kirbys are blue, and KO'd Kirbys are gray. Wounded Kirbys can be restored to full health by tossing them through a Recovery Ring, which can be found at various points in stages. KO'd Kirbys will slowly flutter away on angel's wings and can be saved and returned to blue status if they are captured by a living Kirby before they are gone. However, some hazards such as Skullys and Grueglooms may destroy Kirbys they manage to catch without any chance of rescue, while other hazards such as crushers will KO Kirbys regardless of their health status. In the case that any Kirbys are lost, the player can replenish their numbers by having the remaining one(s) collect Fruit. Collecting 100 points worth of fruit will automatically add a new Kirby to the team, or give a score bonus if there are already ten. If all 10 Kirbys are lost during a stage, a Game Over occurs, and the stage has to be replayed from the beginning (there is no extra life system in Kirby Mass Attack).

The main story mode of Kirby Mass Attack takes the Kirbys through over 40 extensive stages, each of which has a wide array of unique enemies, devices, hazards, and other gimmicks (many of which are unique to this game). As the Kirbys progress through each stage, their main objective is to collect the medals hidden throughout. One medal in each stage is designated as a Rainbow Medal, and collecting all of these is required to access the final level of Necro Nebula and complete the game. Collecting medals is also how the player unlocks extra game features, including the Sub-Games, boss rush mode, and other menu options like the Theater.

Rankings[edit]

At the end of each stage, the player is graded based on how well the Kirbys were handled, which is separate from the medals. The rankings are as follows:

  • Gold Star - No damage was taken
  • Silver Star - No Kirbys were KO'd (put into angel state)
  • Bronze Star - No Kirbys were lost
  • No star - Kirbys were lost or a shortcut was used

While these rankings have no direct effect on gameplay, getting a Gold Star on every stage is required for 100% completion. This means that to earn this distinction, the player has to clear each individual stage and boss fight without any Kirbys being harmed once, which is among the most difficult tasks any Kirby game directly imposes on the player.

Levels[edit]

There are five levels in the main story mode of Kirby Mass Attack. The first four take place in an area in the southern regions of Popstar called the Popopo Islands. The fifth level - Necro Nebula - does not appear until every Rainbow Medal is collected in the prior four levels. For more information about each level in the game, click the corresponding island in the navmap below.

The Popopo Islands
Green GroundsSandy CanyonDedede ResortVolcano ValleyNecro NebulaKMA Level map screenshot upscaled.png

Click on an island

Enemies[edit]

A compilation of various enemies from Mass Attack with their Japanese names (some were never localized).

Kirby Mass Attack features a stunningly large cast of enemies, more than any other single Kirby game. Additionally, many of these enemies are new to the series, and of these, most have not reappeared in any game since. The following lists each enemy in alphabetical order:

Enemies and Mid-Bosses in Kirby Mass Attack  
Regular Enemies Mid-Bosses

Sub-Game exclusive enemies[edit]

The following enemies and bosses appear only in the Sub-Games:

Enemies and Bosses in Kirby Mass Attack Sub-Games  
Regular Enemies Bosses

Bosses[edit]

There are five bosses in Kirby Mass Attack, each serving as the final obstacle of each level. The first four are fought for a second time in Necro Nebula.

Bosses in Kirby Mass Attack  
Boss Home level Description Notes
Green Grounds A totem pole-like sentient tree whose segments can be destroyed by slamming into them repeatedly. Unlike in other iterations, Whispy Woods fights by dropping spiky nuts instead of apples.
Sandy Canyon A spiky Snoozroot-like creature that attacks by knocking the platform the Kirbys are standing on around like a see-saw.
Dedede Resort King Dedede fights the Kirbys by tossing bombs encased in bubbles from a hot air balloon. This is the only fight that can be entered with less than 10 Kirbys.
Volcano Valley A giant skull-wearing pig enemy that attacks from afar using meteors shot from its snout.
Necro Nebula An undead wizard who hates bright light and who was responsible for splitting Kirby into 10. He attacks using his hands to swipe and using a laser inside his mouth. Defeating Necrodeus completes the game.

Extras[edit]

Screenshot of Kirby Brawlball; one of the unlockable Sub-Games in Kirby Mass Attack.

Using medals, several Sub-Games and menus can be unlocked. They are presented in the order they are unlocked in:

Staff[edit]

The following is a list of staff who have worked on Kirby Mass Attack:

Staff of Kirby Mass Attack  
Position Developer(s)
Director Mari Shirakawa
Assistant Director Tadashi Kawai
Concept Planning Takashi Hamamura
ENGINES
Planning Leader Lee Suchol
Planning Toyohisa Tanabe
Kousuke Koyanagi
Yoshimasa Arita
Takashi Hamada
Programming Leader Hiroyuki Hayashi
Programming Kazuhiro Mizusawa
Keita Yamada
Hideto Fukushima
Kojiro Ooki
Kazunori Takahashi
Fumihiro Sugiura
Hiroyuki Fujiwara
Design Leader Yoshihisa Maeda
Design Abeno Matsuzaki
Shiho Tsutsuji
Takayuki Nakayama
UKIYOTEI
Yohei Sano
Minoru Yoshikoshi
Tsuyoshi Wakayama
Tetsuya Mochiduki
Kouchi Ogawa
Music Shogo Sakai
Sound Effects Masaaki Iwasaki
Voice Makiko Ohmoto (as Kirby)
Testing Kazuhiko Fukuda
Masaru Kobayashi
Kenichi Masuda
Hiromatsu Kotaro

Mario Club
DIGITAL Hearts
HAL Debug Team
NOA Localization Management Nate Bihldorff
Reiko Ninomiya
Tim O'Leary
Leslie Swan
NOA Localization Hélène Bisson-Pelland
Steven Grimm
Kristin Kirby
Anne-Marie Laperrière
César Pérez
Scot Ritchey
Galia Rodríguez Hornedo
Derek Seklecki
Kevin Sullivan
Erika Webright
NOA Product Testing Management Masayasu Nakata
Kyle Hudson
Eric Bush
Sean Egan
NOA Product Testing Scott Callahan
Keith Banta
Teresa Lilygreen
Josh Newman
Kindra Timmerwilke
Nicko Gonzalez De Santiago
Sara Hoad
Stéphane Arlot
NOE Localisation Management Andy Fey
Jan Peitzmeier
Andrea Salvi
NOE Localisation Coordination Mihai Barbulescu
NOE Localisation John Mullen
Daniel Idoine-Shirai
Pierre-Guillaume Mabboux
Gurvan Le Guen
Daniel Pestka
Sascha Weinard
Andrea Leitenberger
Marco Morbin
Elizabeth Sánchez León
Pedro José Moreno Villar
NOE QA Coordination Wolfgang Weber
Christopher Caël
NOE Quality Assurance Natalie Lunt
Brendan Quinn
Damien Li
Julien Llopart
Antoine Boissier
Allane Lalmi
Oliver Müller
Markus Engemann
Monica Joseph
Francesco Fonte
Alessandro Boem
Julien Marchant
Julio Manzaneda
Ester Villalobos
Jessica Sánchez
Korean Localization Management Yu Fukaya
Hyokjin Jung
Kimiko Nakamichi
Korean Localization Joohee Kim
Jihyun Choi
Korean Product Support Ilho Kim
Jonghoon Park
Korean Product Testing Junbong Lee
Sungmin Park
Kyoungim Na

NOK Debug Team
Localization Coordination Kenichi Masuda
Special Thanks Yoshimi Takahashi
Masanori Kusumoto
Shin Hasegawa
Yoshihito Ikebata
Yuji Ichijo
NOE Special Thanks Kazunari Suzuki
Rika Yamamoto
Management Adviser Tomoaki Fukui
Coordination Atsuto Yagi
Producer Masanobu Yamamoto
Yoichi Yamamoto
Yasushi Adachi
Senior Producer Kensuke Tanabe
Masayoshi Tanimura
Executive Producer Satoru Iwata
HAL Laboratory, Inc. and Nintendo are the authors of this software for the purpose of copyright.
All rights reserved.
© 2011 HAL Laboratory, Inc. / Nintendo.

Nintendo eShop description[edit]

Gather a mob of Kirby characters, and then lead them on a crazy adventure where nothing can stand in your way! You can send Kirbys swarming over your enemies, fling them into the air to hit flying floes[sic], and even take on challenges of strength! Be sure to collect medals hidden throughout various stages to unlock minigames.

Trivia[edit]

  • Often when performing actions, or when entering doors while still eligible for a Gold Star, the mini-Kirbys shout "Poyo", which was a vocalization Kirby often repeated in place of actual speech in the anime, Kirby: Right Back at Ya!. This is among the few Kirby games where that is the case, as most other games where Kirby "talks" has him shouting variations of "Hi!"
  • This is the only game in the series where Kirby can drown underwater (but can still breathe in space).
  • This game has a very large amount of unused content left in the game's files. More details can be found here.
    • The game's internal codename is wadogo, although filenames also use WADO frequently. The Japanese name for Waddle Dee is ワドルディ or wadorudi, with "wado" being a shortening of this name.
    • Additionally, a number of sound effects of Kirby's voice have internal names of SE_WANYA_DO, SE_WANYA_RE, SE_WANYA_MI, and so on up to SE_WANYA_HI_DO, suggesting that they may have been "wanya" vocalizations earlier in development (similar to the "wanya" vocalizations used in Kirby Brawlball for the Waddle Dee elements on the board).

Gallery[edit]

Main article: Kirby Mass Attack/gallery

Names in other languages[edit]

Language Name Meaning
Japanese あつめて!カービィ
Atsumete! Kābyi
Gather! Kirby
Chinese Kirby Mass Attack
-
Dutch Kirby Mass Attack -
French Kirby Mass Attack -
German Kirby Mass Attack -
Italian Kirby Mass Attack -
Korean 모여라! 커비
Moyeora! Keobi
Gather! Kirby
Portuguese Kirby Mass Attack -
Spanish Kirby Mass Attack -


External links[edit]

References