Kirby (universe)

The Kirby universe refers to the Super Smash Flash series' collection of characters, stages, items, and properties that hail from Nintendo's Kirby series of multi-genre video games. It was developed by HAL Laboratory, Inc., the same company that started the Super Smash Bros. series, and it revolves around the titular spherical, pink entity Kirby and his adventures around his home planet, Pop Star, among other planets. The series has had many games of several different genres, with side-scrolling platformers being the most prominent.

Franchise description
Masahiro Sakurai, the designer for the original Super Smash Bros. series, was designing a Game Boy platformer originally titled Twinkle Popopo, and it originally had a different main character design. Sakurai created a blob placeholder sprite for the character during development, and after a while he liked the placeholder sprite better as a main character design, so the character was named "Kirby" (either after the Kirby Corporation, a vacuum cleaner company, or Nintendo's legal counsel John Kirby, who saved Nintendo from an infringement lawsuit involving the name Donkey Kong and its similarity to the name King Kong) and the game's title was made to be Kirby's Dream Land. After the game's release in 1992, Kirby and his fictional world and related properties became a mainstream video game franchise for Nintendo in the years to come.

Kirby's next appearance was in the critically lauded Kirby's Adventure for NES, which introduced his ability to inhale enemies, swallow or spit them out, and gain abilities from the enemies he swallowed; this became a Kirby trademark present in most subsequent games. It also introduced a rival figure to Kirby named Meta Knight. Alongside two more entries in the Kirby's Dream Land series, as well as various golf, puzzle, and pinball spinoffs, was 1996's Kirby Super Star for SNES. Then, aside from Kirby's appearance in 1999's Super Smash Bros. (developed by the same company as the Kirby games, HAL Laboratory), the franchise underwent a bit of a hiatus on the international side of things until 2000's Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. After Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble for Game Boy Color afterward, Kirby properties reprised their roles in 2001's Super Smash Bros. Melee.

The Kirby franchise continued its stream of releases at a seemingly annual rate with 2002's Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land for GBA, which was an enhanced remake of Kirby's Adventure, then the 2003 racing game Kirby Air Ride for GameCube, which featured a menu interface and musical score remarkably similar to those of Melee (again, both were developed by HAL Laboratory). Then there was 2004's Kirby & The Amazing Mirror for GBA, 2005's Kirby: Canvas Curse for Nintendo DS, 2006's Kirby: Squeak Squad for the DS, and as of late, 2008's Kirby Super Star Ultra for the DS. (As a side note, Master Hand and Crazy Hand make cameo appearances in Kirby & the Amazing Mirror.) A new Kirby game is being developed for Wii; in addition, Kirby, Meta Knight, and King Dedede are playable characters in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

In 2001 an anime series based on the Kirby franchise was produced and aired in Japan until 2003 and finished airing stateside in 2006. This series, simply titled Hoshi no Kābī (星のカービィ, Kirby of the Stars), is considered an alternate universe because it does not take place in the same canonical continuity of the video games. Through 100 episodes, the show depicts a Kirby series antagonist, the sorcerer-like Nightmare, attempting to take over the Kirby universe with his demon-like army and company titled Nightmare Enterprises, and the "main" series antagonist King Dedede and his flunky Escargon are tricked by Nightmare to defeat Kirby, a Star Warrior. Kirby is the only remaining member of the group except for Meta Knight. Featuring characters seen throughout the game series, the show ends with Kirby's final battle with Nightmare. While it appears to be a kid's show, it also features darker themes, satire, parody, and self-referential humor that older viewers can pick up on. The series was highly popular and successful in Japan, but not so much in the United States (this is commonly attributed to the poor quality of the English localization by 4Kids Entertainment).

Kirby games in general feature characters, storylines, and gameplay that are said to appeal mainly to young gamers. Sakurai has stated that this series of games is meant to accommodate those who are just starting to play video games, which includes but is not limited to children. As such, Kirby games can be beaten by a player of nearly any age; however, as is certainly the case with the Super Smash Bros. series, they are also designed to provide deeper challenges for more experienced gamers. Most Kirby games have garnered solid reviews from critics as a result of this.

In Super Smash Flash
A fair amount of content from the Kirby franchise was included in Super Smash Flash, with a two-in-one character, one stage, and one item.

Character

 * : Kirby is a small, pink, spherical creature with a positive disposition and several abilities and powers that are almost magical in nature. In the games and anime, he is the main protagonist and is characterized as a baby (as mentioned in the anime) and being roughly eight inches in height; his dimensions are obviously increased in size for his appearances in the Super Smash Flash series of games. He resides on a star-shaped planet named Pop Star in the galaxy of Dream Land, and whenever some form of evil or danger threatens Dream Land, Kirby does not hesitate to go out on a journey to defeat it. Kirby in his Flash appearance demonstrates his ability to float through the air, but because the limitations, he lacks his trademark power to inhale opponents and copy their abilities. Instead of that, he switches positions with Meta Knight.


 * : A sensational character appearing first before his confirmation in Brawl, Meta Knight is a masked-swordsman character ostensibly of the same species as Kirby, but with a dark blue body, thumbs, and facial features in white that can be seen whenever he takes his mask off. Meta Knight's roles in his various appearances in Kirby games and the anime have ranged from ally to anti-hero or villain. In his appearance in Super Smash Flash, his cape transforms into wings which he uses to float in midair much like Kirby and . People prefer to play with Meta Knight doubt his strong attack.

Stages

 * : Originally called Whispy Woods, this stage is a small area of colorful grassland where a common boss in Kirby games, an air-spouting tree called Whispy Woods, resides in the background but lacks his blows, unlike the original. A remix of Green Greens' music plays instead of the original.

Additionally, the 1-P mode has a special stage called the Kirby Hub Room where the Target Smash takes place. Judging by the name and the design of the tileset, it is right to categorize it as Kirby-themed stage.

Item

 * Maxim Tomato: One of the power-ups Kirby often collects to replenish depleted health in Kirby games is this tomato-like item which restores Kirby to full health. It appears as a tomato that has the letter m on it. It is normally harder to find than the other, less-effective health-replenishers. In Smash, the Maxim Tomato, perhaps contrary to its name, restores the health of the character who picks it up by 50% rather than restoring all accumulated damage, unlike the Heart Container from The Legend of Zelda series, which can restore health by 100%. It is still a powerful healing item, however.

In Super Smash Flash 2
The Super Smash Flash 2 added more Kirby content. Kirby and Meta Knight are now separate characters with their own movesets. The Kirby franchise is currently the third most represented series in SSF2.

Characters
The same two characters who appeared in the first game make a reappearance, with the two now separated. Bandana Dee joins them as part of the cast.


 * : Kirby debuts in demo v0.1a being one of the four playable characters in the first demo. The pink puff reappears to reprise his role and traits from Super Smash Flash as a small character who can float in the air with a long series of multiple jumps, now with his copy ability available. Like other returning characters, Kirby gained a Final Smash with his being an attack named Cook Kirby, which appears to consist of dunking his opponent into a boiling pot, and then spiting them out.


 * : Meta Knight debuts in demo v0.9a. Meta Knight returns as an independent character in SSF2. His move set is taken directly from Super Smash Bros. Brawl and his sprite design is also based on his appearance from said game.


 * : Bandana Dee was confirmed to appear as a playable character during the Day 3 livestream at Super Smash Con 2016. He is the second character to transition from a Assist Trophy to playable character after.

Stages

 * : A returning stage from SSF. All layout was changed to a more colorful scheme, but has the same structure as the original. Whispy Woods now is able to blow air as he does in the original version.


 * Rainbow Route: An stage a based on Kirby & The Amazing Mirror, which could be considered an improved version of the old Kirby's Hub Room. The notable trait of the stage are the mirror doors which open during certain intervals of time, being suck by one will take the player to the mirror on the top, helplessly falling and being vulnerable to attacks.

Items

 * Maxim Tomato: A returning item which still recovers 50% of damage.
 * Star Rod: A central plot element to Kirby's Adventure is this powerful artifact, which when inserted into the Fountain of Dreams ensures peace and good dreams for Dream Land and its denizens, and Kirby must use it to combat Nightmare in the final battle. The Star Rod can be used as a bludgeoning weapon, and can also launch a star as a projectile when swung with force.
 * Beam Rod: Similar to the Star Rod, it shoots small beams that do little knockback to opponents while also stunning them.