Kirby's Adventure ~Dream 8~ Over the Rainbow

'Sup.

Let's do this.

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The last world, Rainbow Resort.

An icy region that's beauty is second to none. A paradise of nostalgia and fun. Home to the Fountain of Dreams.

This is my favorite world in the game, and for this post I'm going to go over three reasons why, then get down with the final boss fights.

So, where to start?

First off, the level design. This is the final stage in the game, and the designers let you know it, so the levels are designed in a way that build up to the finale. In most games that do this, this is usually represented by death-defying obstacles, hordes of enemies/minibosses, and memorable levels. For the most part, these are all present here.

For example, you start in a stage where the Laser ability can reflect off sloped surfaces, which is one of the most awesome novelties in the games. You can't help but just fire everywhere to see who the unlucky recipient will be. The game's just centered around this stuff!

In the second level, we come across this huge tower..hmm, no music.

Yikes, it's a miniboss!!

It's not just him, though. The entire tower is a collection of minibosses, all poised to fulfill their long-standing grudges to defeat Kirby once and for all! And with the likes of Poppy Bros. Senior, Buggzy, Bonkers, Rolling Turtle, Fire Lion, Mr. Frosty and Mr. Tick Tock banding together, you're not gonna get away without at least a pounding!!

...unless you're an expert like me. ;)

After you fight those goons for the last time, you come across a Warp Star and soar across the star-filled night sky of the resort.


Ahh....I could stare at that forever.

And then we-Hey! Why are you nodding off? You used the sleep ability, the most useless ability in the game? What were you thinking?!?

...well, considering how cute the icon is, I'll let it slide.

Rollercoasters! But we don't ride them. Instead, we have to dodge cannons. Life's just not fair.

Ah, walking through the res-OH MY GOD FALLING BOMBERS.

Agh, you know, I thought I was supposed to be in a resort, not some messed up military training camp! Dedede, you're going down!

At least this part provides a good challenge. See, this part is divided by two spaces: The star spaces, which will force you in a certain direction, and the pink ones, which are safe. The trick is look where the stars are heading towards. In the screenshot above, you're going way down, so you have to act fast.

There's another level I'd like to go over, but I'm saving that for last.
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Reason two: the music.



I'll be up front: This isn't my favorite version of the song (we'll get into that in the final Adventure post next time), but it comes close.

You know what's always my favorite level in nearly every Kirby? The ones that make me relax. Despite the Resort not quite living up to its name, the background and the music are enough to make me recline into my chair.

I'm not sure what it is about these kinds of levels that please me so much. Maybe it's just the starry background, reminding me of a sugar-coated past. Does it remind me of Disney World? Does it remind me of nostalgia? I'm not sure. Is it the music? I can think of three, maybe four, stages like this in Kirby games that won me over instantly, and the music is the first thing that comes to mind here.

I'm not in the best mood to discuss how mushy this kind of thing makes me feel, but..well, I'll give it a shot. I used to listen to this kind of thing all the time, but for some reason I grew a defense mechanism to it over the years. I discovered that if I listened to calming, lovely songs like this, I'd get absorbed into their clutches and just sit there for the rest of the day. I guess I just wanted to avoid it.

...maybe that's why I've fallen out of touch with nostalgia for the past few years. Heh, I've been trying to get rid of it. I mean, why deny joy?

This is my favorite song in the Kirby series. If there was one wish I could have granted, I'd be able to soar through the night sky, and I want this song and all of its remixes to play.

I guess we all want to fly, though.

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Final reason: The last level in the game.

...hey, what's going on?
It's all in black and white? What is goin- oh my.

It's based off of Kirby's Dream Land on Game Boy.

How...surreal. You're traveling through an abridged replica of the original title, and a remix of the beloved Green Greens theme plays throughout the entire stage.

Many have said that this level brought a tear to their eye.

As you might have guessed, it's a really cool tribute to the first Kirby game, and shows how far they've come in nearly a year's time. A game that can take thirty, maybe twenty minutes to beat is included in a game that will take several hours, and in it's appearance here it's even shorter. One could debate whether it's more fun or not with the addition of having abilties, but I personally would like to play Dream Land again.

Perhaps most interesting is how Kirby's pink color clashes with the monochrome background.

Take a look.

If there's one thing I've learned playing Nintendo over the years, it's that they love placing references to past games, or even cameos, in their new ones. It's all over the place in the vast library of Mario games, and Zelda fans love throwbacks to their old beloved titles. It's something I've always smiled at when I come across it, and to me it shows that Nintendo really does care about their games, right down to the smallest detail,

It's just another quirk I love about my favorite company.

Nostalgia is a powerful thing.

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The boss is...you guessed it...the guy who made this mess in the first place...

KING DEDEDE! That fat penguin is gonna get it!

Now, Dedede is one tough customer. Despite his overweight figure, he's actually quite agile and is hard to navigate around. Just like Kirby, he has the ability to swallow you, and will spit you back out in a humiliating fashion. Not to mention that he has a humongous jump that he likes to show off and crush you with.

And guess what? He has a hammer, and it's more deadly then Bonkers'. He'll charge right at you with it, so make sure you dodge carefully.

This battle was a pain in the neck when I was younger, but like most of the other bosses, he goes down rather easily now. Like whoever took the screenshot above, just use a long range ability (Laser, in his case).

Annnd down he goes.

Finally! Now to put this back where it belongs!

But..wait. Dedede pops out of nowhere. He really doesn't want you to put the Star Rod back. Like, really.

Psh, whatever!

Everything's back to normal...

OR NOT.

OHSHITOHSHITOHSHITOHSHITOHSHITOHSHIT

Go get 'em, cowboy!

The mysterious orb takes off into the night sky, and Kirby gives chase with the Star Rod. An aerial battle, it seems.

Well, whatever it is, it's strong. It moves in erratic patterns, and fires off strange stars. If you're good at space shooting games, you'll excel here. The Star Rod produces stars of its own, so the goal is to fire as many as possible onto the orb. After enough shots, it retreats all the way to the moon...


Now what could be going on here...

Oh my.

It's the evil Cloaked Nightmare, and he is the true villain behind this mess. The final boss is here.

Nightmare is a quick dude, and he'll teleport all over the arena to confuse you so he can swoop across and fire a quick shot at you. You see that weird, jiggly purple thing on his torso? That's his weak spot, so you gotta swing that rod with all your might!


Hiiyaahhh! Spinning slash!

As the battle rages, he'll start getting cocky and descend upside down, taunting you with his weak spot. This pisses me off because it's hard to get a good jump in time and strike from there. Anyways, I often collide into him and that's no good. It's best to attack when he's in his normal pose.

It's an arduous fight..but you become victorious! And part of the moon blows up!

Wow.

Ever since then, the moon's always been crescent shaped in Kirby.

As Kirby flies home on a Warp Star, we learn of Dedede's true intentions. Apparently, he discovered Nightmare had been hiding within the Fountain of Dreams, and was about to spread nightmares to the inhabitants of Dream Land. Thinking fast, he broke the Star Rod into several pieces so the spring would lose power and Nightmare would remain stagnant..at the cost of no one having any dreams.

You might be thinking, "So I just went on an adventure for nothing?" Well, not quite. Dedede never revealed his true actions until the end, and he DID give the pieces of the rod to the biggest assholes in Dream Land, so I wouldn't let him off the hook. Still, Kirby seems to have forgiven him by the end. Dedede's a jerk, but he's not quite on the level of Bowser or Ganondorf.

...and so the credits roll. You can watch the entire ending here.



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We'll wrap this up tomorrow.

See you.