Kirby

[Jermungandr]

Okay so, a long long time ago the first sprite sheets I submitted to TSR were for Kirby's Adventure (aka The Greatest NES Game Ever Made). That was late in 2002 or early 2003, making it nearly a decade ago! And boy does it ever show ... I mean, have you looked at those sheets lately? Talk about amateurish.

Anyways I've wanted to do this project for a while now and with Nintendo hyping up Kirby's 20th Anniversary and all (which seems rather silly to me; I would have waited for his 25th) along with apparently my own submission anniversary coming up, I figured now is a pretty good time to do it.

Oh, and I also made new icons for each of these because I discovered that the old ones (which were not made by me, btw) had some issues with either being the wrong size (a pixel too short on each side) or used the wrong font. Shrug.

Anyways let's start with the star of the show:



(Original Sheet: http://www.spriters-resource.com/nes/kir...sheet/2581 )

One of the things I absolutely wanted to make sure I got right this time around was the color scheme. I didn't realize it at the time, but the emulator I was using way back when apparently had a lot of issues with displaying the colors wrong. So basically what I did was pull my physical game cart out of the closet (which amazingly still works, considering how many times I've played this game over the years) and compared what I saw on the TV screen to various emulators until I found the one that appeared to be the most correct.

Anyways I think the most interesting thing about this sheet is that if you go about halfway down you will see some unused "mini" sprites. I came across these crammed in the tileset with either the Mike or Crash ability (I don't remember which). Is it possible that the Mini Ability that we see in Amazing Mirror was supposed to debut way back in the NES days? Incredible. I wonder how they were planning for it to work ...



(Original Sheet: http://www.spriters-resource.com/nes/kir...sheet/2623 )

Looking at this sheet one of the first things you will probably wonder is where the icons for the Japanese version got to. Well ... they don't have any unique icons, sorry. For the most part everything in the game for Hoshi no Kirby: Yume no Izumi no Monogatari is in English, with the exception of story elements and the pause screens. Don't ask me why, I don't understand why they make these decisions.

For the record, I don't think the Spanish version is an official translation of the game but rather a fan project, as it is riddled with errors in most places that text shows up. However I included elements from it anyways because why the hell not.

This sheet is further proof that anything translated to German sounds 90% more badass.



(Original Sheet: http://www.spriters-resource.com/nes/kir...sheet/2582 )

Poor Squishy. Somehow when I was ripping this the first time I managed to miss him altogether. Anyways, he's here now, and so are a few other minor things that got left out the first time. Also included are every enemy palette in the game, which there are a lot of.

One thing I really liked about Adventure and even Super Star was the large variety of palettes for the enemies, rather than each enemy having a single color scheme dedicated to them. They didn't continue this in later games, which always kind of disappointed me.



(Original Sheets: http://www.spriters-resource.com/nes/kir...sheet/2589 , http://www.spriters-resource.com/nes/kir...sheet/2590 , http://www.spriters-resource.com/nes/kir...sheet/2591 , http://www.spriters-resource.com/nes/kir...sheet/2633 , http://www.spriters-resource.com/nes/kir...sheet/2616 , http://www.spriters-resource.com/nes/kir...sheet/2622 , http://www.spriters-resource.com/nes/kir...sheet/2632 , http://www.spriters-resource.com/nes/kir...sheet/2634 )

Yeah I merged them all into one sheet. There didn't seem to be enough to each individual character to really justify them each having their own, and including the backdrops seems pointless when there are separate sheets for the maps available.

Some of the sprites look really weird when you take them apart. Note Rolling Turtle's grab attack for example. When he is holding Kirby towards the camera, if you remove Kirby from the picture you find that his head is actually missing. This game sure uses a lot of clever tricks with layering.



(Original Sheet: http://www.spriters-resource.com/nes/kir...sheet/2643 )

I included the outlines of the trunks with the sprites so as to make it obvious how they align with the background, but I hope it's obvious that they are not truly part of the sprites. There isn't really much to say about this one ...



(Original Sheet: http://www.spriters-resource.com/nes/kir...sheet/2631 )

You know, I always kind of assumed that Paint Roller worked through layering sprites. That is the body, hands, and feet would all be separate sprites combined together to create the character. But it turns out not to be the case; each frame is just one big sprite. I found that kind of odd considering how they use layering tricks throughout the rest of the game.

The old sheet for this one is a good example of "why the hell did those guys accept this?". Good Lord is that ever terrible.



(Original Sheet: http://www.spriters-resource.com/nes/kir...sheet/2615 )

Aww yeah, ya gotta love these guys, simple though they may be. You know it's funny, but despite all my internet searches I can't find any common consensus on which one is Mr. Shine and which is Mr. Bright. And as far as I can tell it's never been confirmed by Hal or Nintendo, making me wonder if they prefer us to wonder about it. Both Wikipedia and the Kirby Wiki list Mr. Shine as the moon, but I can't find any evidence that suggests they are right. Personally I've always considered Mr. Shine to be the sun, as the term "shine" is more commonly used with "sunshine" than anything related to the moon (although it does invite some jokes about moonshine).



(Original Sheet: http://www.spriters-resource.com/nes/kir...sheet/2612 )

Take note of the information I include about the lightning bolts. I took something like a hundred screenshots of the lightning bolts alone and never saw the same combination come up twice. Did they actually program the game to never repeat any until every possible combination has been exhausted? That's as fascinating as it is pointless.

Anyways I was surprised to find out that unlike other games this Kracko actually does not have many actions. Once he becomes the adult Kracko, his attacks only consist of swooping at you and his lightning bolt attack. That's it. He doesn't even used his signature "Double Beam" attack that he has in most games, which is interesting because the sprite that makes up the beam whip is included in the tile set at all times. Weird.



(Original Sheet: http://www.spriters-resource.com/nes/kir...sheet/2605 )

As interesting of a boss concept as Heavy Mole is, there honestly isn't much I can say about him. In fact, I'm already done.



(Original Sheet: http://www.spriters-resource.com/nes/kir...sheet/2595 )

"Hey, what about Meta Knight?" Yeah, I'm actually not doing him. Even though my old sheet sucketh the ass, someone has already given you guys this wonderful sheet which, as far as I can tell, is not missing anything. So I send my congratulations out to that guy, where ever he may be.

If you're looking for a fun tidbit on Meta Knight though, here's something interesting I've discovered: if you use a cheat code to give yourself any ability other than Sword for the Meta Knight fight, you will not be able to harm him at all. It's not that the attacks go right through him or anything; it's that they've apparently programed him to be able to defend against and deflect any type of attack. Talk about some kickass skill!

Getting back to the Dedede sheet ... uh, hm ... there's not actually much to say is there? Except for a couple small things it looks like I got just about everything the first time around. The only really big noticeable difference is the palette. I didn't include the cutscene sprites this time around, but don't worry as those will be coming up in another sheet very shortly!



(Original Sheet: http://www.spriters-resource.com/nes/kir...sheet/2617 )

I only missed a single frame of animation for this guy. Aside from that and the color correction, there isn't much new about this guy. Oh except that I included the full backdrop this time around; I suppose there is that.



(Original Sheet: http://www.spriters-resource.com/nes/kir...sheet/2618 )

Lots and lots of missing frames originally missed on this one! The color problems with my original emulator are also accentuated here; note how in the original sheet his cape sometimes turns completely black? Yeah, well that was actually supposed to be a dark blue. I also missed an awful lot of the different color combinations for his torso the first time around. I hope you don't mind that I didn't include every possible color combination for every possible sprite this time, as with 27 different possibilities, it would have been a lot of work, not to mention would have made the sheet unnecessarily huge.



(Original Sheet: http://www.spriters-resource.com/nes/kir...sheet/2597 )

Man, Dedede is awesome. Don't even begin to pretend you don't like him.

What's that? Oh yeah, something about eggs. Whatever.

Egg Catcher's always been one of my favorite Kirby minigames of all time, despite its simplicity. Sometimes fun is just fun, y'know?



(Original Sheet: http://www.spriters-resource.com/nes/kir...sheet/2624 )

I always thought the olde west Quick Draw was more amusing than the Samurai version of the game. I'm not the only one ... am I?

The thing I found the most surprising about this when I was looking through the tileset is how the timer sign works. Rather than numbers placed over a sign backdrop, the number sprites are actually the wood with transparent number-shaped holes, placed over a solid 16x16 square, which changes color as needed. This seems unnecessarily complicated to me.


Anyways that's all for now. I'm not quite finished with this project yet, just gotten to the point I wanted to be at before I began submitting them. Next up I need to do Meta Knight's army, Crane Fever, and the cutscene sprites, amongst other things. Then a whole lotta backgrounds need a-fix'n.

[Ton]

DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIBS!

Edit: Ok, now that I've done that and saved everything... amazing job, man. It's awesome to see how you've improved over the years. Gonna have a look at your Superstar rips next?

PS- I always loved Star Man's Sherlock hat in the quick draw game.

[Garamonde]

DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIBS!

Totally amazing!

[Davy Jones]

Man, these are some great rips =)

This sheet is further proof that anything translated to German sounds 90% more badass.

Fun fact: None of the common enemies' names was ever translated (some only in recent Kirby games and a few in the old games), but instead they came up with some own stuff for the bosses and mid-bosses:

Poppy Bros Senior = Poppy Brüder Senior (literal meaning)
Mr. Frosty = Altes Walross (this is the name from old Kirby games and simply means Old Walrus, recent name is Dr. Eisbart [literal: Dr. Icebeard])
Mr. Tick Tock = Mr. Tick Tack (literal meaning)
Bugzzy = Scherenjohnny (literal: Claw Johnny)
Bonkers = not sure, was it Götterhammer? (literal: God Hammer)
Rolling Turtle = Drehwurm-Kröte (Drehwurm haben = to get/feel giddy, literal: Giddy turtle [I know, turtle is Schildkröte, but a normal Kröte is a toad in German])
Fire Lion = Leo Glutbrut (literal: Leo Blazebreed or Leo Emberspawn)

Whispy Woods = Stump Stumpf (Stump has no meaning, but Stumpf is a stub -> Baumstumpf = tree stub)
Paint Roller = not sure, was it Kunst-Akademie? (literal: Art Academy)
Mr. Shine & Mr. Bright = Herr Sonne und Mond (literal: Mr. Sun and Moon)
Kracko = Kracko
Heavy Mole = Schubbertorfbuddler (schubbern is slang for scheuern, literal: Mop turf digger [or "rub", "scour" or "scrub" instead of "mop"])
King Dedede = König Nickerchen (literal: King Nap/Snooze, he uses the English version in recent games)
Nightmare = Alptraum (literal meaning)

Notable mention (normal enemy):
Flamer = Feuerballschnurzel oder Feuerschnurzel = (literal: Fireballschnurzel or Fireschnurzel, in recent games: Glutmine (literal: Blazemine).

[Ton]

Those names are awesome. I love Dr. Icebeard and Claw Johnny.

[Garamonde]

I like Leo Blazebreed and Emberspawn.

[Davy Jones]

Added Nightmare = Alptraum (literal meaning). I just like how translators take different approaches to choose suitable names for monsters (Secret of Mana, Pokemon, etc.).

@DrShnaps:
Can't wait to see the revamped sheets =D

[Jermungandr]

Slight update. Turns out the Japanese version /does/ have some original HUD icons, just not for any of the main abilities; only for stuff like taking damage and the level end and such. Whoops!



The language tidbits are awesome btw. "Schubbertorfbuddler" has gotta be the craziest legit name I've ever heard.

[Garamonde]

Updated!

[Jermungandr]

Small update to the Kirby sheet:



The Star Rod ability has a unique "ability get" animation, like the other melee weapons do, that it didn't occur to me to even check for. Which is odd because it implies that the game designers must have at one point had the idea to let Kirby collect the Star Rod like any other ability.

[Garamonde]

Updated, again.

[Jermungandr]

I apologize for how long it's taking between updates. Amongst other things I am currently undergoing some rather annoying computer problems. Anyways ...

Before I get to the real update, there has been yet another extremely small update to the Kirby sheet:



Okay now for the actual new stuff.



(Original Sheet: http://www.spriters-resource.com/nes/kir...sheet/2613 )

Did you know that Javelin knight only appears in one battle in the entire game? I hadn't even noticed that before.



(Original Sheet: http://www.spriters-resource.com/nes/kir...sheet/2593 )

There honestly isn't really anything in this sheet that I hadn't included in the original. The only real difference is the color correction and the fact that the new sheet simply looks cleaner.



(No original sheet)

This one is pretty much just for the hell of it. Didn't really take that much effort aside from actually having to play each version of the game.



If you are already a familiar fan of the game, then this is probably the sheet you've been waiting for.

Going slightly off topic for a moment, this sheet brings up one of the things I was very disappointed about in Kirby's Return to Dream Land. For a game that is trying to imitate the style of the classic Kirby games, it's rather irritating that they would leave out one of the most fundamental aspects of the series: The little goofy animations that would accompany the entrance to a new world. They were present in Kirby's Dream Land, Kirby's Adventure, Kirby's Dream Land 2, Kirby's Dream Land 3, Kirby 64, and even the incredibly recent Kirby's Epic Yarn. To some extent they were even present in Kirby Super Star.

But in Return? All we get is a brief animation between each world of the ship's parts getting put back on. It's repetitive and dull and really feels like a gyp. It's even worse since we have four characters present for the story and we only ever get to see them interacting during the cutscenes surrounding the final boss. Seriously guys? You couldn't come up with some Kirby 64-esque things for these guys to do together? It's clear from a lot of the game that you guys got lazy but this is the clearest indicator of all.

*sight* Anyways, I'm just ranting. Ignore me.



This final sheet goes with the one before it. Before you comment, I'm aware that Level 8 scene is incomplete, the rest of it will be in Part 2. I only included this part of it here for the sake of including all the translations.

It's kind of an interesting note that even though the Japanese and English versions are identical for the most part, the Japanese version says "Fountain of Dream" rather than "Fountain of Dreams". See for yourself.

I made the icons the way they are because I felt it was a good way to indicate that these two sheets go with one another, but if you feel they are too ugly this way I can always change it.

[Davy Jones]

LoLoLo's Grove
Island of Gnomes
Butter Milk Tower
Goo Paradise
Jello Valley
Orange Juice Ocean
Rainbow Dreams
Dream Fountain

The German CN guys were a crazy cool bunch, they even hired professional artists from Japan to draw two total freaky Kirby comics (pretty sure there is nothing more bizarre about Kirby except his guest starrings in the other German CN comics).

[Jermungandr]

I like how they chose names that would sound equally as interesting in their home language rather than doing a direct translation.

Anyways, slight update to the Cutscene Sprites sheet. You probably won't even be able to notice the difference but trust me, it's there; refresh and redownload it if you've already saved it.

[Ton]

All saved!