Mumbies

Mumbies Artwork of Mumbies from Kirby's Dream Land 3. Details First game Kirby's Dream Land Latest game Kirby's Blowout Blast Other game(s) Kirby's Pinball Land Kirby's Dream Land 2 Kirby's Block Ball Kirby's Dream Land 3 Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards Kirby's Return to Dream Land Kirby: Triple Deluxe Kirby: Planet Robobot Enemy Info Card Similar entities Skuller, Degout, Scarfy

Mumbies is a recurring floating bandage-wrapped spherical enemy in the Kirby series, which made its first appearance in Kirby's Dream Land. It is a somewhat uncommon enemy, and is notable for its relatively high durability, along with its immunity to Kirby's inhale (In some games, their bandages will ruffle a bit when Kirby uses his inhale technique.). Mumbies are characterized by their nearly perfectly round physique and is almost completely wrapped in white or off-yellow bandages, leaving a slit in the front for their single eye, which is either red or yellow depending on the game.

Mumbies typically hold completely still when Kirby is facing in their direction, but will pursue him slowly when he looks away. This makes Mumbies similar to Boo from the Super Mario games in behavior. Although Mumbies is tough, it can still be defeated using any Copy Ability or item attack, Star Bullet, or even by a few Air Bullets if no better options are available.

Game appearances

Kirby's Dream Land

Mumbies first appears and is mainly seen in the Castle Lololo region, often appearing alongside other ghost-like foes like Booler. It does not exhibit much of its later characteristic behavior in this game, instead appearing suddenly and moving more quickly along with the other flying enemies, and also being just as weak as them.

In Extra Game, Mumbies is replaced by the somewhat more aggressive Skuller.

Kirby's Pinball Land

Mumbies (known here as Mummy Ball) appears in this game in the lower-most board of Wispy-Woods Land. Bumping into it confers 360 points. Once bumped into eight times, it is defeated, granting a multiplier to the bonus score and revealing the Warp Star which can take Kirby back to the level hub.

Kirby's Dream Land 2

Mumbies are a late-game enemy, not seen until Cloudy Park. In this title, they are capable of moving through walls and blocks in pursuit of Kirby.

Locations

Mumbies can be found in the following levels and stages:

Mumbies locations in Kirby's Dream Land 2
Stage	Grass Land	Big Forest	Ripple Field	Iceberg	Red Canyon	Cloudy Park	Dark Castle
Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3
Stage 4	N/A	N/A	N/A
Stage 5	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Stage 6	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Stage 7	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Kirby's Block Ball

Mumbies appears as a common enemy in this game, and must be hit three times to defeat, with each hit worth 600 points. Mumbies drops a Block Flip when defeated.

Kirby's Dream Land 3

Once more, Mumbies are not encountered until Cloudy Park. They behave largely the same as they did in Kirby's Dream Land 2.

Locations

In Kirby's Dream Land 3, Mumbies can be found in the following levels and stages:

Mumbies locations in Kirby's Dream Land 3
Stage	Grass Land	Ripple Field	Sand Canyon	Cloudy Park	Iceberg
Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3
Stage 4
Stage 5
Stage 6

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards

In this title, Mumbies are seen primarily in Rock Star, with their bandaged appearance suiting the scenery. Here is where they began to exhibit their characteristic shyness, and where they lost the ability to move through walls. Mumbies appears on the 78th Enemy Info Card.

Locations

Mumbies can be found in the following levels and stages:

Mumbies locations in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
Stage	Pop Star	Rock Star	Aqua Star	Neo Star	Shiver Star	Ripple Star	Dark Star
Stage 1
Stage 2							N/A
Stage 3							N/A
Stage 4	N/A					N/A	N/A

Kirby's Return to Dream Land

An 11 year gap lies between Mumbies last appearance and their return in Kirby's Return to Dream Land. Here is where they gained their modern look and characteristics, which can be seen as a joining of their previous depictions. Mumbies in these titles can exhibit varied behavior, either stopping when Kirby looks at them, pursuing him regardless of his facing, or holding still at all times.

The Degout enemy debuting in Kirby's Return to Dream Land can be seen as a tougher robotic version of Mumbies, as both behave in the same generalized way and have a similar physique.

Locations

In Kirby's Return to Dream Land Mumbies can be found in the following levels and stages:

Mumbies locations in Kirby's Return to Dream Land
Stage	Stage 1	Stage 2	Stage 3	Stage 4	Stage 5
Cookie Country
Raisin Ruins
Onion Ocean					N/A
White Wafers
Nutty Noon
Egg Engines
Dangerous Dinner				N/A	N/A

Kirby: Triple Deluxe & Kirby: Planet Robobot

Mumbies and Degouts return in Kirby: Triple Deluxe and Kirby: Planet Robobot. Mumbies' only appearance in Planet Robobot is in Gigabyte Grounds stage 2.

Locations

In Kirby: Triple Deluxe Mumbies can be found in the following levels and stages:

Mumbies locations in Kirby: Triple Deluxe
Stage	Stage 1	Stage 2	Stage 3	Stage 4	Stage 5	Stage 6 EX	Stage 7 EX	Stage 8 EX
Fine Fields					N/A		N/A	N/A
Lollipop Land					N/A		N/A	N/A
Old Odyssey						N/A		N/A
Wild World						N/A		N/A
Endless Explosions						N/A		N/A
Royal Road						N/A

In Kirby: Right Back at Ya!

Mumbies Screenshot of Mumbies from Kirby: Right Back at Ya! Details Debut episode Mumbies Madness

Main article: Mumbies Madness

The Mumbies are vicious monsters sent throughout the universe to hunt down and exterminate Star Warriors! When the containers that hold them are discovered, they are automatically unsealed, and they begin looking for Star Warriors to destroy!

— Meta Knight, in Mumbies Madness

Mumbies appears as a monster in the Kirby: Right Back at Ya! episode Mumbies Madness. It is discovered in an archaic-looking urn by Professor Curio, who appears to be influenced by the monster into an uncharacteristic hostility. After freeing Mumbies, however, Curio returns to his normal self, and attempts to seal the creature away when he realizes he was tricked by King Dedede using a forged book about the creature. Due to a misunderstanding and his own apprehension, however, Curio is interrupted in his effort to contain the monster by Tiff and Tuff, and Mumbies is free to antagonize Kirby on two separate nights.

Meta Knight explains that Mumbies are creatures which are specifically made to hunt down and destroy Star Warriors. Since it locked on Kirby, Mumbies will not cease its attacks on him until he is destroyed, halted only by sunlight, which its its biggest weakness and what stopped it from killing Kirby on the first night. During its second attack, Kirby tries and fails to inhale the monster, being forced to spit it back out, and is only given a means to fight back when King Dedede foolishly tosses a bomb at Kirby which he inhales for the Bomb Copy Ability. Despite this new ability, Kirby is once again overpowered by Mumbies, but Kirby manages to turn things around when he uses the Warp Star to carry him and Mumbies high into space, where the monster is unable to evade the rays from the Sun and is reduced to dust.

Mumbies is depicted very differently to its appearance in the games, only sharing its basic appearance. In the anime, Mumbies has many different powers, and is defined primarily by its huge mouth with sharp teeth; a trait it lacks in the games. It attacks by biting and dragging its target around with its mouth, and when this fails, it uses black laser blasts from its eye to blow up its target, making it similar to Dark Matter. Mumbies also possesses a hypnotic gaze, which it uses to both influence Professor Curio and lull Kirby into fatigue during its fight with him. Unlike in the games, Mumbies can be inhaled, but its abilities cannot be absorbed, and Kirby is forced to spit it back out again. Its only weakness is to sunlight - giving it vampiric qualities - and this is how it is ultimately defeated.

Gallery

Video games

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  Kirby's Dream Land artwork

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  Kirby's Dream Land sprite

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  Kirby's Dream Land 3 sprite

Anime

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  Mumbies being summoned by Professor Curio

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  Mumbies being forced to halt its near-victory over Kirby by the morning light

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  Mumbies using its hypnotic gaze on Kirby

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  Mumbies attempting to blast Kirby with its black laser beam

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  Mumbies being exposed to the light and held there by Kirby

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	マンビーズ Manbisu	Mumbies