Kirby Star Allies Patch - Part I: Rick & Kine & Coo!

Yo! Rob W. from Nintendo Treehouse here to give you a sneak peek at the upcoming Kirby Star Allies patch that launches on March 28th. As many of you may know, some legacy characters from past Kirby titles are being added as Dream Friends, fully playable characters, each with their own unique sets of moves that are taken from games they appeared in.

In this series of posts, I’ll be providing some insight into each of these characters, their history, and their moves in Kirby Star Allies. Let’s get right to it by going over the history of the first character!

…Errrrr, characters.



Animal friends Rick the hamster, Kine the fish, and Coo the owl were first introduced in Kirby’s Dream Land 2 for the Nintendo Game Boy as characters who were stuffed in bags and whom Kirby rescued throughout the game from the evil forces of Dark Matter. All three animal friends had their own unique abilities and augmented Kirby’s copy abilities to help him on his journey.

These were the first of Kirby’s animal friends, but not the last; you’ll find them playable in Kirby’s Dream Land 3, where they share the spotlight with three additional friends.

Fun Fact! The other friends from the threequel, Nago, ChuChu, and Pitch, already showed up as part of the Cleaning ability in Kirby Star Allies.

Now that we have some history behind the characters out of the way, let’s talk about some of their amazing moves and Friend Abilities, and about the unique characteristics they bring to Kirby Star Allies.

(Heads up that these animal friends are sort of a “three-in-one” deal—they take turns appearing depending on the environment, with Rick taking the lead on land, Coo ruling the skies, and Kine appearing in water. The best Kine can do on land is sort of…splash about.)

Rick

Rick the hamster can now perform attacks based on copy abilities as they appeared in Kirby’s Dream Land 2. The most basic move is his “Continuous Fire Attack,” now known as Fire Rick, which allows him to burn enemies or obstacles. He can share his fire with friends to create fiery Friend Abilities, and protect himself with a front-facing attack.



Next, Rick’s dash attack takes the form of his Stone attack, aka Stone Rick, which allows him to roll over enemies, become temporarily invulnerable, and utilize any Friend abilities that Stone can use.



Kirby not required in Kirby Star Allies. All jokes aside, what an amazing Easter egg!

Plus, the Rick Curling Stone is so adorable!

(>’-‘)>︵ ┻━┻



Outside of the copy abilities, Rick keeps his unique traits from Kirby’s Dream Land 2 & 3: he doesn’t slip on ice…

He can stomp on enemies, and he can jump up walls…



His guard is also a reference to when he’s rescued in Kirby’s Dream Land 2…



This classic ability is very useful when carrying keys or getting past enemies.

Coo

As the air portion of the animal trio, Coo the owl’s moves include two of the copy abilities from Kirby’s Dream Land 2. His main move is the Cutter copy ability, known here as Cutter Coo, which allows him to throw a three-feather spread at any enemies in front of him and to share wind with friends.



Coo’s dash attack takes the shape of the Parasol copy ability for Parasol Coo, which is similar to the tornado copy ability from other Kirby games. This attack gives Coo invulnerability while he’s spinning around, even when winding down. This is another move that can share wind with friends.

Unlike Rick, Coo never had a unique ability in Kirby’s Dream Land 2 or 3 aside from flight, so he now can damage enemies in the air by flapping his wings, like the Wing copy ability. This is extremely useful when trying to get past enemies quickly. Additionally, if Coo lands on an enemy, Rick will pop up to stomp on them.

Kine

This blue and yellow fish is the only animal friend who has full movement underwater and once had perhaps the oddest and most unique partnership with Kirby—back in the day, he started out by allowing Kirby to ride in his mouth! Kine’s underwater support makes him an excellent part of this animal trio.

Kine has two attacks, one that is unique to Kirby Star Allies and another taken from a copy ability that appeared in Kirby’s Dream Land 2. Flip Flop, Kine’s ground attack, can be used any time the animal trio is out of the water. This splish-splash attack can be shared with friends to create any water Friend Ability.

Kine’s second attack can only be used in water, but not for very long. Ice Kine allows him to surround himself with ice, but he eventually freezes himself and becomes stationary.

Since we just covered Kirby’s animal friends, next time we’ll talk about Gooey, the only character aside from Kirby who has teamed up with them.

Up Next…Gooey!

—Rob W.