Kirby Super Star/YMMV
- Anticlimax Boss:
- Marx isn't pathetically easy, but he puts up less of a fight than you'd expect from the Final Boss of Milky Way Wishes and Super Star as a whole, especially when compared to Wham Bam Rock or Meta Knight. His attacks have a considerable amount of windup to them and thus are easily dodged, and thanks to the mechanics of Milky Way Wishes allowing you to have all of Kirby's powers right there at your command, you can easily pop a Hammer or Plasma ability and waste him with their overpowered attacks. The inability to do this in the Arena makes him tougher, but only by a little bit.
- King Dedede in Spring Breeze. Yes, it is supposed to be the easiest part of Super Star, but considering that he's its final boss you'd expect him to put up a better fight. Most copy abilities can stunlock him to death if you simply mash the B button, a problem that isn't shared by Kracko, Lololo and Lalala, or even Whispy Woods.
- Big Lipped Alligator Moment: While a lot of boss fights don't have a lot of context behind them, the Computer Virus is especially weird: it's a living series of computer windows that pops up both in the vast cavernous network of The Great Cave Offensive and the final planet of Milky Way Wishes, and forces you to fight several pieces of sprite work that resemble JRPG enemies in a turn-based battle. It's ridiculously out of place in both areas you fight it in, and its general weirdness is never acknowledged.
- Breather Boss: Whispy Woods, Lololo and Lalala, King Dedede, Fatty Whale, and Computer Virus in the arenas. The first two are incredibly simple bosses, while Dedede can be stunlocked into oblivion if you have the right ability. As for Fatty Whale and Computer Virus, they are more complex bosses, but they don't really have an answer to your Guard ability and can be beaten without breaking a sweat, albeit slowly.
- Crowning Music of Awesome: The whole. Damn. Soundtrack. Check it out here.
- Draco in Leather Pants:
- We have a downplayed example in Galacta Knight, a being who was so powerful and dangerous that he had to be sealed away. Sounds like some horrible villainous character, right? Exactly! That is why every other fangirl draws him as an overly-cutesy, baby-faced sweetie that loves to tickle Meta Knight. What makes him a downplayed example is that later games would reveal he was a legendary hero who was sealed away because he was dangerously powerful, as opposed to simply being evil. So it's up in the air if he's a nasty piece of work, or a good guy (albeit, one hell of a Blood Knight) who got screwed over out of fear of what he could do as opposed to anything he did do. It helps that he appears to be of the same species as Kirby and Meta Knight, making the "cutesy, baby-faced" part probably accurate.
- And, of course, there's Marx. Okay, so he did incite conflict between the sun and moon just to trick Kirby into summoning NOVA, granting him the power to rule Pop Star and do whatever he pleases, but... but he's so cute! There have been a number of fanfics either attempting to redeem him or altogether ignoring that he was evil in the first place. Even when he's on Kirby's side in Star Allies, he's explicitly only helping him because he wants to rule the world, which he can't do if Void Termina and Hyness destroy it.
- Ensemble Darkhorse:
- Galacta Knight immediately gained a huge fanbase after Ultra was released. His theme song is awesome, his lore is interesting, and he's basically Meta Knight, but even more of a Badass.
- Marx is generally agreed to be the most popular villain in the series after Zero/02, and would go on to make many cameo appearances before properly returning in Star Allies, much to the delight of the fanbase.
- Heavy Lobster's chase during Revenge of Meta Knight and unique theme song in Super Star Ultra have made it a memorable boss among Kirby fans. There's a surprising amount of clamor for it to return in a future installment, and news that it was considered for Planet Robobot before being left on the cutting-room floor led to a surprising amount of disappointment from fans.
- Among the Helpers, Bonkers has proven to be ridiculously popular thanks to his ridiculous strength, which allows him to utterly trivialize Helper to Hero mode. Bugzy also enjoys a lot of popularity thanks to his Badass design and Difficult but Awesome playstyle.
- Game Breaker:
- Stone Kirby in Ultra completely annihilates the otherwise Nintendo Hard True Arena if you're willing to fight cheap and spend a lot of time in rock form to keep from being hurt. The Plasma and Hammer Ability count as well - Plasma is the only power with a full-screen projectile, provided you've done at least a little charging, and Hammer is... it's just so damn powerful.
- Also, the Mirror ability, which has a guard that reflects most projectiles without having Kirby take damage. It's also quite powerful against bosses.
- Copy is the most powerful ability for any Helper, and the Copy Helper TAC may also be one of the better characters for Helper To Hero. His attack is lightning fast, does surprisingly high damage, and his guard makes him completely invincible - his ability allows TAC to copy enemies for abilities and a full heal in standard gameplay without having to lose his health first
- In Milky Way Wishes, where Kirby has to use Copy Essences instead of the standard inhaling, the Copy ability becomes this for him by allowing Kirby to get his ability to copy back. Consequently, the Copy ability is very well hidden, but you can get it within a minute of starting the game if you know where to look.
- Artificial Stupidity aside, Helpers in general are busted as hell, no matter if they're player or AI-controlled. The main game modes feel designed with solely one player in mind, so having a friend help out results in a ton of enemies dying in record time, and bosses being shredded into confetti. And even if an AI-controlled Helper dies by throwing themselves into lava or spikes over and over again, you can easily create a new one mere seconds after losing them.
- Likely invoked for Meta Knight in the Meta Knightmare Ultra mode of Super Star Ultra, where he plays like a total force of destruction due to his arsenal of extra abilities: By defeating enemies and gaining points, you can summon a Blade Knight or Sword Knight helper that's powerful and very easy to replace should he die; double Meta Knight's speed; instantly recover all of Meta Knight and his helper's health; or hit the entire screen with the powerful Mach Tornado, which can oneshot most minibosses and wipe out most of a boss's health. Meta Knight's mode is a speedrunning challenge first and foremost, so you'll want plenty of ways to make it easier to clear a stage as fast as possible.
- Goddamned Bats: TAC. These thieving cat enemies often ambush you out of nowhere, steal your copy ability before you can even react, and run for the hills. It can be hard to track them down and get the ability back, and it's very annoying when they take a rare and powerful ability like Hammer or Suplex.
- Goddamned Boss:
- The Computer Virus, which forces you into a turn-based RPG battle (or as close as the gameplay can emulate) where the boss is only vulnerable for a short amount of time before attacking you right back. This is especially the case for the versions fought in Milky Way Wishes and the Arenas, because the Evil Knight and Great Dragon have way more health than the Slime, Puppet, and Magician. And if they decide to petrify themselves on their turn, your attacks do way less damage, dragging the fight on even longer. And of course, it becomes a thousand times worse if you're playing as a low-damage Helper like Sir Kibble or Poppy Bro Jr. in Helper to Hero.
- Fatty Whale. He's a very predictable boss and not hard in the slightest, but killing him takes forever because his speed and size give you very few opportunities to safely attack him, resulting in you either running past him or guarding to hit him with tiny amounts of chip damage.
- Hell Is That Noise: Combining this with Most Annoying Sound gives you the final phase of "Revenge Of Meta Knight". OH GOD THOSE SIRENS - this may be a good source for Nightmare Fuel.
- It Was His Sled: Marx as a villain was doomed to be spread to many.
- Magnificent Bastard: Marx. He gets Kirby to do all the work in summoning Nova, and comes this close to conquering Pop Star before Kirby kills him.
- Memetic Mutation: Back in the early days of Youtube, Gourmet Race's theme song was prime fodder for many a Stupid Statement Dance Mix. Simpleflips fans also associate it with the many remixes of this So Bad It's Good vocal cover that play on his streams.
- Most Wonderful Sound: The death scream of Marx Soul when you FINALLY defeat it. It's as satisfying as it is scary. Granted, it can also be uncomfortably grating to the ear.
- Nightmare Fuel: Marx Soul's death cry. Dear god.
- Even scarier when you consider this; that scream emulates his rage at losing again to Kirby after who knows HOW long of burning in the pit, his fear of death, his pain as he dies. Definitely Nightmare Fuel.
- The cutscene preceding the Marx Soul battle can be pretty chilling as well, seeing as it shows Marx's corpse drifting through space, eyes staring blankly and skin drained of color. Then he's engulfed in darkness and transformed into a monstrous revenant. Brr.
- Some found Wham Bam Rock (especially his original design) sort of creepy looking. His new design looks like a floating mask, his old design looked like a bunch of organic facial features floating in the dark.
- Tear Jerker: The ending of Revenge of the King, where King Dedede's walking off into the sunset looking absolutely dejected. Poor guy.
- It starts off that way, but becomes a heartwarming moment when his Waddle Dees come up to console him.
- Tier-Induced Scrappy: Chilly, Sword Knight, and Blade Knight are all considered to be subpar Helpers in Helper to Hero. Thanks to having terrible range on their attacks, and lacking powerful moves that give them invincibility frames, bosses like Chameleo Arm and Meta Knight that are already tough turn absolutely hellish.
- That One Boss:
- Meta Knight. He's quick on his feet, aggressive as hell, and will constantly cause you to whiff your attacks with his frequent fakeouts. His tornado attacks are also hard to avoid, to the point that his gigantic tornado is impossible to avoid if you don't get behind him in time when he's charging it up. Oh, and you're forced to fight him with the Sword ability unless you know that he'll eventually fight you with or without it if you take too long in picking it up. How fun.
- Depending on which Helper you pick, he can be even worse in Helper to Hero mode. He's not so bad if you've picked, say, the hard-hitting Bonkers or Plasma Wisp/Simirror with their long-range attacks. But against heroes with piss-poor range or unsafe attacks like Chilly or Parasol Waddle Dee, he's a nightmare.
- Galacta Knight from Super Star Ultra is even worse. Not so much during Meta Knightmare Ultra, but in the True Arena where Kirby's forced to fight him while likely at low health and without Meta Knight's surplus of hilariously overpowered abilities. He's just as nimble as Meta Knight, even more aggressive, packs a ton of long-ranged attacks, and thanks to his shield? He can block your attacks entirely if you hit him at the wrong time. And if you somehow survive against him, chances are Marx Soul will finish you off thanks to your pitifully low health.
- Chameleo Arm can be a real headache: not only do a lot of his attacks (including his especially irritating tongue lash) come out fast, but he can turn invisible. It's easy easy to lose track of him, and even if you know where he is, the invisibility makes it way harder to tell what he's about to do next.
- Depending on the Helper you're playing as, Mr. Frosty and Iron Mam can be this in Helper to Hero. They're minibosses, sure, but they're highly mobile and aggressive, and heroes like Chilly and Sword/Blade Knight really struggle with hurting them without getting hit in the process.
- Meta Knight. He's quick on his feet, aggressive as hell, and will constantly cause you to whiff your attacks with his frequent fakeouts. His tornado attacks are also hard to avoid, to the point that his gigantic tornado is impossible to avoid if you don't get behind him in time when he's charging it up. Oh, and you're forced to fight him with the Sword ability unless you know that he'll eventually fight you with or without it if you take too long in picking it up. How fun.
- That One Level: Hotbeat in Milky Way Wishes, thanks to the crowded corridors you have to navigate filled with lava blocks. If you hit them, which is easy to do, Kirby and/or his Helper take a huge amount of damage and are tossed aside, taking control away from the player for a bit before they can press on. You probably won't die here, but it doesn't make it any less tedious. It's even worse for Meta Knight in Super Star Ultra, because his speed-enhancing ability makes it easier to fly right into the lava, and getting hit can be murder on your clear time in this speedrun-dedicated mode.
- Unfortunate Implications: Wham Bam Rock's original design - his gigantic lips and tribal features, paired with the black background, make him look like a grotesque blackface caricature. In Kirby Super Star Ultra, he is made of stone instead, making him look more like an intimidating Mayan god. Wham Bam Jewel - a more powerful relative and the hidden Final Boss of Helper to Hero - hearkens back to the original design without being nearly as questionable.