#11: Kirby: Triple Deluxe – Nintendo 3DS (2014)
Following the formula from Return to Dream Land that pushed Kirby back into the limelight three years prior, Triple Deluxe brought even more new concepts to the table, featuring even more refined levels and a Hypernova ability that felt far more integrated into Kirby’s arsenal than the Super Abilities, which are often accused of being a cutscene power that mostly just requires a single button press to solve puzzles. Naturally, a new story came with the new game that, while smaller in scope compared to Triple Deluxe’s immediate predecessor, was fresh and interesting all the same.
After a long, hard day of fishing, eating and napping, Kirby returns home to get a good night’s sleep. In the morning, Kirby ventures outside to find out that his home was torn away from Dream Land by a massive plant that shot up overnight! Known as the Dreamstalk, the growth had also ensnared and elevated Castle Dedede, and Kirby could now see a strange, bug-like intruder entering the castle.
Giving chase, Kirby arrives just in time to see the intruder, Taranza, cast aside King Dedede’s royal guard of Waddle Dees before kidnapping the King himself using some kind of binding magic, carrying him up into the skies with Kirby hot on his heels.
After chasing Taranza through the six lands of Floralia scattered across the Dreamstalk, freeing some sages along the way, Kirby finally confronts him at the end of Royal Road, prompting Taranza to elaborate on his plan. In reality, Taranza is but a servant to Queen Sectonia, ruler of the land of the sky, who now has her sights set on the world below (namely Dream Land). However, the People of the Sky (whose sages Kirby saved earlier) knew about the hero of Dream Land, and planted the Dreamstalk to bring him closer to them and help him overthrow Sectonia. In an attempt to stop them, Taranza decided to kidnap this hero, who he assumes to be King Dedede, to ensure there is no resistance when Sectonia descends upon Dream Land.
Fed up of Kirby’s persistence, Taranza possesses Dedede with his magic and has the two fight it out. After Dedede is defeat, Taranza now learns of his mistake in not recognising Kirby as Dream Land’s hero, and calls upon Sectonia to help him deal with the pink puff.
Disappointed that Taranza had failed her, Sectonia knocks Taranza away into the horizon and takes on Kirby herself. After a brief scuffle, she decides to merge with the Dreamstalk, starts absorbing the energy of Pop Star through her roots and ensnares Kirby in her vines for good measure. When it looks like it’s all over for our hero, King Dedede (who had woken up during Kirby’s battle with Sectonia, and helped him reached her once she had merged with the Dreamstalk) arrives on the scene with Taranza, with Sectonia’s aide seeing the error of his ways. Dedede frees Kirby by way of a mighty hammer swing before throwing him at Taranza, who has a Miracle Fruit ready for Kirby, allowing him to access his Hypernova power in order to deal with Sectonia once and for all.
When all is said and done, Kirby and Dedede return to Dream Land, and the Dreamstalk becomes a new landmark for Pop Star. However, we’re not done with Triple Deluxe just yet…
#11.5: DededeTour! (Kirby: Triple Deluxe Sub-Game) – Nintendo 3DS (2014)
Like Meta Knightmare Ultra from Kirby Super Star Ultra, DededeTour! is more of a “What if?” story that sheds light on the events of the main game. Specifically, this mode introduces a connection between Triple Deluxe and Amazing Mirror. Once Sectonia is defeated by Dedede in this mode, the Dimension Mirror (the doorway to the Mirror World) appears and summons Shadow Dedede, a dark counterpart to the true King who never appeared in Amazing Mirror. After defeating his doppelganger, Dedede enters the mirror and takes on Dark Meta Knight, who appears from the Dimension Mirror seeking revenge against Kirby and, by extension, all of Pop Star due to his defeat in Amazing Mirror. After facing off against this final foe, Dedede destroys the Dimension Mirror to prevent it from causing any more trouble.
Although the events of DededeTour! are strictly non-canon, it was confirmed by Kumazaki in a developer interview hosted on the game’s Miiverse page (a link to which will be posted at the end of the article) that the Dimension Mirror did play an offscreen role in Triple Deluxe’s main story, stating the Sectonia’s madness, tyranny and obsession with beauty came about as a result of staring into the Dimension Mirror (which Taranza acquired for her prior to the events of the game) for too long. In fact, it was thanks to these Miiverse developer interviews that we were able to get more lore information on the final game in our list…
Technically, Kirby’s Dream Course and Kirby’s Avalanche were both released before Kirby’s Dream Land 2 and both were directed by someone other than Masahiro Sakurai, though to be fair, they both started out as non-Kirby games.
Neat to see an official article over this. Lores over the Nintendo universe, especially that of Kirby, are always surprisingly interesting. There’s a lot more to these franchise, especially Kirby, than what the eyes see.