Kirby: Planet Robobot

Kirby: Planet Robobot is a platform game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo. The game was released initially on April 28, 2016, and is the second Kirby game to hit the 3DS market, the first being Kirby: Triple Deluxe.

Plot
The Haltmann Works Company invades Dream Land and much of the rest of Popstar, intent on mechanizing the planet for its resources. With King Dedede subdued by the rubble of his demolished castle, and with Meta Knight captured by Haltmann secretary Susie, it falls upon Kirby and his new Robobot Armor to save Popstar.

Why Everyday We Wish it Glory, Gazing on its Noble Boxart!

 * 1) This game features a different take on the exact same charm as Triple Deluxe, while retaining much of the same improvements made on said game, including but not limited to:
 * 2) * Gorgeous and colorful graphics for 3DS standards, with the game's mechanical atmosphere giving it its own identity.
 * 3) * Great level design. There are many unique takes on various different themes, including the cars in Resolution Road and almost the entirety of Rhythm Route.
 * 4) * The use of the 3D Warp Star.
 * 5) * An abundance of puzzle-solving throughout each level, with some of them actually using the 3D capability.
 * 6) * Solid and tight controls.
 * 7) * Great soundtrack, now with an electronic feel to match the game's atmosphere.
 * 8) The game introduces the Robobot Armor, which is one of the most creative concepts the series has seen up to this point. Essentially, it makes Kirby stronger in nearly every way, while at the same time is incredibly versatile in that it has much of the same abilities that Kirby can use, even Copy Abilities!
 * 9) This game goes for a much darker tone compared to the other Kirby games. While the previous games had plenty of dark moments (including terrifying and disturbing final bosses), this one instead shows its edgier tone right from the very opening of the game, with a more complex story, new characters that have a not so pleasant backstory, and the final boss being a nihilistic bird-like supercomputer hell-bent on killing all life in the universe.
 * 10) The gameplay is superb as always, with more new abilities and mechanics introduced to the franchise such as Doctor, ESP, and Poison. Some Copy Abilities also return after being absent for years, such as Jet and Mirror. With a Smash Bros. Kirby amiibo, you can even unlock Kirby's Super Smash Bros. moveset!, which only appeared in Amazing Mirror prior. With a Kirby series Kirby amiibo, you can unlock UFO, one of the most fun yet rare abilities from the older games.
 * 11) * Better yet, the two latter "secret" abilities are not actually amiibo exclusive. The Smash Bros. ability can be found in several well-hidden rooms throughout the game, while UFO can be acquired via WIR#14.
 * 12) The collectible stickers, like the keychains from Triple Deluxe, show a bunch of fanservice from previous games, all while having a plethora of new artwork for them.
 * 13) Like the characters that came from the previous games, the new characters here (Susie and President Haltmann) have neat designs and are well-written in general with both of them sharing the same depressing and dark past.
 * 14) Compared to the previous games, Kirby: Planet Robobot has a much more balanced difficulty.
 * 15) The rare stickers here actually have a hint on where to find them, now showing the exact world and level on where they're located.
 * 16) The boss fights are as fantastic as always, and especially since unlike some of the other Kirby bosses, these actually take a significant amount of effort to defeat due to them having more unpredictable movements and phases.
 * 17) On the subject of the bosses, there are also bosses fought within the level of the stage, and you get to fight them with the Ride Armor.
 * 18) The "post-hit invincibility" mechanic used by bosses is subtly reworked. In previous Kirby games using the Super Star combat system, bosses are briefly invulnerable after getting hit, which causes abilities focused on multi-hit attacks to be inefficient against them and bosses largely encouraging usage of abilities focused on singular, strong hits. In this game, the "post-hit invincibility" is much shorter, allowing multi-hit attacks to truly shine as much as single, strong hits against bosses.
 * 19) Like the previous two games, this game has two different sub-games in the package with both of them being "Team Kirby Clash" and "Kirby 3D Rumble", both of them, compared to the other sub-games in the series, is a lot more refined since the former is a fighting-RPG, while the latter being an actual fully-fledged 3D game predating Kirby and the Forgotten Land.
 * 20) One-trick pony concept aside, the final boss is even more epic than in the last game, being a showdown between you and Star Dream, given that you play as the Robobot Armor fused with the Halberd! It also has double the number of phases from the Dreamstalk-powered Sectonia fight from the previous game; at one point, Star Dream even fuses itself with the Access Ark and reveals itself to be a clockwork star, much like the Galactic Nova!
 * 21) You get to play as Meta Knight in the "Meta Knightmare Returns" sub-game, the previous games that did this was Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land and Kirby Super Star Ultra, both of which are remakes of Kirby's Adventure and Kirby Super Star respectively.
 * 22) Like with Kirby's Triple Deluxe, you are required to collect a certain number of Code Cubes to enter the boss fight of each world, which means that players cannot abuse Kirby's flying ability and hover above every stage for the whole time, and they will have to put effort and find the cubes first. This adds more challenge to the game as well.
 * 23) After you get everything in the game, not only do you get a 100% video, but you also get an all new ability that is only available in the Copy Room: UFO, which is otherwise only available via Kirby series Kirby amiibo.

The Only Bad Quality

 * 1) Unlike previous incarnations of the Arena and True Arena, healing items only appear after certain matches rather than a limited amount appearing in the rest area to last a whole run. This means that a player with low health and no access to healing items is likely to die in the next round while a player with high to full health will likely have the healing item currently in their inventory go to waste.

Reception
Like its predecessors, the game received positive reviews, holding an average of 81/100 on Metacritic. This game is widely considered the best 2D game of the series.

Trivia

 * The game is a parallel of Kirby Super Star, as it was the first game Meta Knight had a major role in, who is at the center of the action once again in this game.
 * The plot of the game is essentially a darker version of the Revenge of Meta Knight, where an invasive force takes over Dream Land (and Popstar as a whole) to force their ideology upon them.
 * Meta Knight himself is a parallel to Susie. Meta Knight used to be an invader, like Susie is, and operated with machinery to achieve their goals. They thought their ideology is superior and will only make the world better while essentially just being extremists and not realizing what they're doing is wrong, with Meta Knight realizing the error of his ways later.
 * Abilities that weren't used since Super Star has been brought back for this game, such as Mirror and Jet.
 * The climax of Planet Robobot is an inverse of the climax of Milky Way Wishes, the final game of the original Super Star. The person who made a wish from a clockwork star (Haltmann) is fought before the star itself (Star Dream). You use the Halberd to fend Popstar from invaders, when the objective in Revenge of Meta Knight was to take down the Halberd from invading.
 * The game is a sister game to the "Dark Matter Trilogy" (Kirby's Dream Land 2, Kirby's Dream Land 3, Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards).
 * The Robobot armor is essentially a souped up and more overpowered version of animal buddies, with the overall idea of combining Copy Abilities with something you are using for transportation.
 * Meta Knight has been "possessed" for the first time in a mainline game. Trope introduced in the Dark Matter Trilogy. Notably, Mecha Knight includes singular "eye", which is a notable distinction of Dark Matter. Likely design choice was inspired by it.
 * The idea of the world select is identical to the one in Kirby's Dream Land 3, and the climax takes place in the sphere that invaded the planet.
 * Halo Defense API is a combination of two Dark Matter Trilogy bosses, Ado/Adeleine and Pix.
 * Dedede, who was a major character in all Dark Matter Trilogy games, plays a very minor role in Planet Robobot. Meta Knight, who wasn't even referenced in any of the DMT games plays a major role in this story.
 * Dark Matter Blade makes a reappearance as a clone.

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