Kirby: Minion Madness

Kirby: Minion Madness is a 2017 2D platformer developed by Inora for the Nintendo 3DS. A crossover between the Kirby series and the billion dollar Minions franchise, the game follows Kirby as he attempts to stop King Dedede, who is leading a brigade of Minions to steal all the food on Pop Star. Along the way, he gains a new ability that allows him to control the strange creatures.
The game reuses it's style and several graphics from Kirby: Planet Robobot and Kirby: Triple Deluxe, and draws from Kirby Mass Attack. Reception for the game has been (TBA).
==Story==
In the Despicable Me world, Gru invents a machine that is intended to allow anyone to travel across dimensions. However, when he discovers that only Minions can survive the radiation dose it gives people when used, he discards the machine. The curious creatures find it in his trash can, and accidentally turn it on, teleporting them to planet Pop Star.
The Minions find the machine broken after the trip, and they quickly look for a new master to serve. They decide on King Dedede, who reminds them most of their last leader. The greedy king, interested in the opportunity, sends them to steal all the food in Pop Star for himself. When the Minions raid Dreamy Plains, they steal a strawberry shortcake Kirby is about to eat.
The angry Kirby pursues them and comes upon a Minion who misses Gru and desperately wants to go home. Kirby comforts the depressed creature, and he introduces himself as Cake. Cake gives the pink puffball a candy in gratitude, and Kirby eats the candy. Kirby discovers that, after exhaling, he can mind control nearby Minions hit by the breath. He promises his new friend that he'll round up the other Minions and find a way to get them home, all the while retrieving the stolen food.
Kirby makes his way through Orange Oak, Grand Dunes, Spiny Subterannea, Hazy Heights, Igneous Lake, and Tyrant's Tower. After rounding up Minions and defeating Dedede's minions, he confronts the king himself. The king, alongside his new Minions, has built a massive Minion Mecha, which he plans to use to suck the food out of other planets across the galaxy.
Cake gives Kirby the remains of the teleportation device, and he inhales it, becoming Dimension Kirby. Dimension Kirby pursues the Minion Mecha, and destroys it in a climactic battle, sending the gluttonous penguin flying out into space. The Minions, now with no master to guide them, decide on working together to fix the machine. Kirby sends them off and sits down to relax and enjoy his retrieved cake.
==Gameplay==
The core gameplay of Kirby: Minion Madness is recycled from it's predecessor. Players control Kirby as he makes his way through mostly linear levels, solving light puzzles, platforming, completing minigames, and battling enemies. The primary change is the addition of the exhale ability, which can push regular enemies back and stun them, and when used on Minions, will mind control them.
Minions are split into two categories: regular Minions and evil Minions. Both types follow behind Kirby and can be controlled with the stylus, allowing players to fling them around, sic them on enemies, lift heavy objects, solve puzzles, and even fix machines. Regular Minions attacked by enemies will instantly run off, while evil Minions are harder to find and catch, they have more attack power, an extra health point, and can even access secret shadowy areas. Kirby can control up to 10 Minions at a time.
Food replaces all items from the previous game, and ranges from restoring health to affecting Kirby and how he plays. Food can be found all across the world in treasure chests, dropped by enemies, or hidden in secret areas. It can also be bought using points earned from the level at Cake's Shop on the level map. Besides Food, three Gru gadgets can be found in each level, and when all 105 are found, they can be used to make a rocket ship that will take Kirby to the secret world: Strange Space.
All copy abilities return from Kirby: Planet Robobot, and three are added. Minion Kirby resembles Kirby, with yellow skin, one eye in a goggle, and the classic Minion outfit. He can use his goggle to uncover invisible chests, attack by body slamming enemies, and recruit all Minions he walks past. Evil Minion Kirby resembles Minion Kirby, with purple skin and frizzled hair. Evil Minion Kirby can scare off enemies by growling at them, shoot them with a ray gun, and eat them to restore health. Lastly, Dimension Kirby is a powerful ability that allows Kirby infinite flight, the power to shoot wide blasts of energy, and redirect attacks with a well-timed button press. This Kirby resembles the regular Kirby, but dark blue with stars and planets on him.
==Characters==
===Playable Characters===
Character	Description
KIRBY 	
The usually cheerful, always adorable hero of Pop Star. Kirby is roped into yet another adventure here involving the meddlesome Minions, and he'll need to use new abilities to reclaim the planet's food.
Kirby is the sole playable character of the main game, keeping all his previous abilities and learning the new exhale ability, detailed in the gameplay section.
META KNIGHT	
A mysterious yet honorable anti-hero who has clashed with Kirby before, but also proudly worked alongside him. He doesn't appear in the main game, but does have his own Sub-Game.
Meta Knight can't control Minions or use copy abilities, but his wings grant him unlimited flight, his sword is strong, and he can access special abilities by earning energy from defeating enemies.
===Supporting Characters===
Character	Description
MINIONS	
Tiny yellow creatures from an alternate dimension who live to serve. After ending up in Pop Star, they decide to follow Dedede and help him steal all the world's food. However, Kirby too can control them to solve puzzles and battle enemies.
Minions appear as common enemies who can either be copied to become Minion Kirby, defeated, or be controlled with the exhale ability.
EVIL MINIONS	
A purple subspecies of Minions, these savage creatures originally appeared in Despicable Me 2. While they were primarily cured in that film, the radiation dose of traveling through dimensions seems to have brought them back in small doses.
Evil Minions are semi-rare enemies who can be copied to become Evil Minion Kirby, defeated, or be controlled with the exhale ability.
CAKE 	
A Minion who, due to budgetary reasons, is indistinguishable from other Minions appearance wise. However, he wishes not to follow a new master but instead to get home to his old one.
Cake runs the game's shop and provided Kirby with the candy that granted him the ability to mind control Minions. In the end, he returns home with his fellow Minions, grateful to his new friend.
===Bosses===
Character 	Description
KING DEDEDE 	
The game's primary antagonist and the first boss battle, fought in Dreamy Plains. Although not always Kirby's enemy, King Dedede is rather greedy and can be quite competent when he puts his mind to it. King Dedede's arena is a small, grassy area blocked off by two trees.
King Dedede is slow and strong, packing quite the punch for a first boss, but also having a predictable attack pattern. Dedede attacks by slamming onto the ground and swinging his hammer. The best time to attack him is when he charges into the wall, leaving him open for attack and creating stars that can be spit back at him.
WEIGHTY WOODS 	
Hey! It's Whispy Woods! However, he's not looking so good...in fact, he's become rather sluggish and rotund. Apparently the Minions fed him too much candy. Weighty Woods is fought on top of Orange Oak, on a small platform where he takes up most of the screen.
Weighty Woods attacks by spitting candy at Kirby, which act as bouncing projectiles. He can also summon Minions with a whistle to attack Kirby. To damage Weighty Woods, Kirby will have to mind control the Minions and use them to fling him around.
MINION EXPRESS 	
A giant, yellow and blue train with a robotic Minion's face on the front. The stuff of nightmares, ladies and gentlemen. The Minion Express is fought on an infinite track inside a dark tunnel, the screen autoscrolling behind Kirby.
The Minion Express attacks by leaving mines on the tracks behind it and shooting Minions out of the cannon on it's face to damage Kirby. The weak point of the train is the face, so try and get up-close for optimal damage.
DARKGLOW 	
A massive bat with round, glowing yellow eyes that light up the caves of Spiny Subterannea. Darkglow is fought inside a small cave with spikes on the ceiling and walls, so be careful to time your floating.
Darkglow hides on the ceiling, only coming down to use a swooping attack on Kirby or bite Kirby to restore her health and drain his. Kirby will need to dodge these attacks and hit Darkglow when she's attempting to flee back into the darkness.
MINION WHEEL 	
Another invention of the Minions, a giant Ferris Wheel with a single eye in the center. Unfortunately, no one told them to tie it down, so it's just rolling all over the place. The Minion Wheel is fought on a large cloudy platform with pits on either side.
The Minion Wheel can instantly kill Kirby by rolling over him, and it can also summon enemies that will hop out of it's gondolas. Kirby needs to use these gondolas as platforms in order to reach the machine's eye and attack it.
MAGMASCALE 	
A massive sea serpent that inhabits the flowing lava of Igneous Lake. Magmascale, like the Minion Express, is fought on an infinite stage that autoscrolls behind Kirby. However, here, Kirby must float or use cloudy platforms to avoid the ground, which consists purely of flowing magma that will heavily damage him.
Magmascale has three attacks: leaping forward to attack Kirby, spitting fireballs into the sky that will crash down, and breathing a continuous stream of flame. Kirby must attack the serpent after she leaps forward to get in the highest amount of hits.
MINION MECHA 	
A gigantic mechanical Minion piloted by King Dedede. The final boss, the Minion Mecha is fought in the depths of space, with players controlling the powerful Dimension Kirby.
The Minion Mecha can rapid-fire Minions at Kirby with it's sole eye, do a spinning arm attack, charge forward, and hurl flaming meteors at him. The sole weak part of this robot is it's eye, which is covered by a goggle. Dimension Kirby will need to redirect a meteor at the goggle to break it, and then blast lasers at the eye to damage the boss. Repeat this several times to win.
DIMENSIONAL MINION	
The secret extra boss, fought at the end of Strange Space and the True Arena. This Minion has been heavily mutated by the radiation from teleporting to Pop Star, and become a massive, highly intelligent god, who wishes to wreak destruction on the multiverse. Kirby must once more become Dimension Kirby to fight this nihilistic beast.
The Dimensional Minion can fling entire galaxies at Kirby, breathe giant blue flame, create black holes to spaghettify Kirby, and even eat him to instantly kill the pink puffball. The Dimensional Minion's massive health bar can be depleted by attacking any part of his body, but he'll take double damage when his eye is harmed. This is considered to be the only good strategy for defeating this ultra hard boss.
==Worlds==
The game features 8 worlds, 7 of which are part of the main game and a bonus world unlocked by collecting all of Gru's inventions.
World	Description
 	
The first world. An open, grassy expanse where Kirby begins his journey, Dreamy Plains is a short, fairly easy world with a boss battle against King Dedede himself at the end.
Dreamy Plains begins in the plains themselves, goes to an underground tunnel, and ends in an old stone fortress. The main gimmick here is the giant fruits which block Kirby's way and must be eaten or manipulated with the Minions to solve puzzles.
 	
A massive, auburn tree. Kirby must scale this gigantic oak and reach the very top, where he'll confront the gluttonous Weighty Woods. This world is slightly more difficult but still rather easy.
Orange Oak's main gimmick is that it all takes place in one location, both inside and out of the tree. It takes influence from Kirby and the Amazing Mirror, with branching paths, hidden challenges, and treasure scattered all around.
 	
The next world, Grand Dunes, takes place in a massive canyon, which trains run through. Kirby will need to defeat the out of control Minion Express to advance to the next world. The Grand Dunes has a medium difficulty level.
Grand Dunes begins in a seemingly endless desert, goes into a shadowy tunnel which trains travel through, and ends in the clouds above the deep canyon. This world features mine carts which can be ridden to get around faster and clear out rocks in Kirby's way. However, he'll need Minions to fix them up.
 	
An eerie, dimly lit cave system underneath Pop Star's surface. After braving the dark challenges in store for him, Kirby will confront Darkglow here. This world has a medium difficulty level.
Kirby will slowly descend the caves, which get harder and darker as he goes on. Since the world is so dark, Kirby will need to light lanterns to reveal new pathways and solve puzzles using both his abilities and the help of the Minions.
 	
After leaving the caves, Kirby takes to the skies to visit Hazy Heights, a bright neon theme park that's literally up in the clouds. Kirby will have to battle the haywire Minion Wheel in this medium difficulty world.
After climbing the clouds to reach the park, Kirby makes his way through it's various rides, eventually scaling the ferris wheel to reach the end. The main gimmick here is the rides that give Kirby enchanced mobility and abilities, such as the speeding roller coaster and the rocket jets.
 	
The penultimate world of the main game, Igneous Lake has Kirby braving his way through a rocky path with a flowing river of lava in the middle. This world is somewhat difficult and has Kirby battling the river's inhabitant, Magmascale.
Kirby must go through the dead grassland where fireballs rain down, to the lava river, and inside the volcano that's supplying the magma. Almost all of the levels are auto-scrolling, either horizontally or vertically, so it'll be a test of your speed.
 	
The horrible home of King Dedede himself. This world is rather difficult and Kirby must climb the tower to battle the final boss, the Minion Mecha, in the depths of space. However, he'll also become Dimension Kirby, setting the stage for an epic confrontation.
This world draws from every other world before it, having the open design of Orange Oak, auto-scrolling segments, various items and vehicles, and dark sections of the tower, testing all of Kirby's skills and abilities.
 	
The bonus world, this cosmic area is unlocked after Kirby retrieves every one of Gru's inventions to build a rocket. Strange Space has Kirby going through various black holes to reach new and exciting levels, before a final fight with the Dimensional Minion. This world is very difficult.
Strange Space's areas all draw from the previous worlds, featuring much harder versions of existing levels and brand new challenges using the same settings. This is the most difficult world in the game, so only skilled players will be able to complete it.
==Sub-Games==
There are 5 sub-games, each of which are unlocked in a different way and accessed from the title screen.
Sub-Game	Description
 	
This Sub-Game allows players to take control of the legendary swordsman Meta-Knight. Like Meta Knightmare and it's sequel, this has Meta Knight going through all of the main game. This mode is unlocked by buying it from Cake.
However, it is not a time trial, instead giving Meta Knight the task of tracking down all 10 Minions in every level and destroying them. These Minions are well-hidden, adding a new layer of challenge to the game.
Meta Knight's core abilites are unchanged, although his four new special attacks, unlocked by collecting energy from enemies, change things up.
The first up is Lightning Blast, which creates a blast of electricity from his sword that shoots straight forward, damaging and electrocuting all enemies in it's path.
The second is Fruity Rain, which causes fruit to rain down from the sky, allowing Meta Knight to heal up by eating the tasty morsels up.
The third is Shadow Cloak, which allows Meta Knight to become invisible and intangible, allowing him to bypass enemies and walk through walls for a period of time.
The final and most expensive is Halberd Help, where Meta Knight hops off-screen and can use the Halberd to target and annihlate all enemies in it's path with cannon fire.
 	
As always, Kirby must fight through all but one of the game's bosses to reach the Minion Meach and put him to rest once more. Kirby is allowed to choose any ability he likes at the beginning, and limited fruit is present to heal up.
After clearing The Arena, a harder version is unlocked, The True Arena. This has Kirby face off against all the bosses, but now they're harder, he doesn't get a starting ability, and there are no fruits. In addition, he'll also fight against the ultra-hard Dimensional Minion.
New to this game, Meta Knight can also be selected, playing as he does in Meta-Knight Massacre. This Sub-Game is unlocked by completing the main game.
 	
Kirby has taken a ball form once more, and can be flung by slingshot up a plinko-esque board. As he falls down, he'll collect points and food, but if he hits a hazard or enemy, he'll be thrown off course or defeated instantly.
After falling down, Kirby will fall into one of five buckets, four of which award different point values and one of which awards Kirby with nothing. These points will be given to Kirby to spend in Cake's Shop.
This Sub-Game is unlocked by buying it from Cake.
 	
A top-down bullet hell game that has players take control of the Halberd and navigate through three courses, easy, medium, and difficult.
The Halberd can collect power-ups to increase or change up it's fire power, and each stage ends with a battle. The first is against Marx, the second is against Galacta Knight, and the last is against Star Dream.
This Sub-Game is unlocked after completing Meta-Knight Massacre.
 	
It looks like King Dedede has eaten too much food...oh, dear. Looks like he'll have to roll to get around! Good thing you're there to help.
Players will need to guide the plump King Dedede through five different obstacle courses inside his castle, using the 3DS's stylus. Although he can jump to a limited extent, he'll mostly have to roll to get around.
This Sub-Game is unlocked after defeating King Dedede in Dreamy Plains.
==Food==
Food acts as the game's items, being found across the world or bought from Cake's Shop.
*Fruit: Fruit heals Kirby, and ranges from mere apples that heal a small amount of health to the world famous Maxim Tomatoes that heal Kirby fully. Depending on how much the fruit heals Kirby, it can range from common to rare.
*Cake: Significantly less healthy than fruit, but twice as delicious. When Kirby consumes this rare delicacy, he'll gain an extra life.
*Bubble Berry: Clear, round fruit that will surround Kirby with a plushy bubble when eaten. This bubble causes Kirby to bounce around when hitting the walls, ceilng, and floor, increasing his jump height and length and allowing him to attack enemies with a jump temporarily. A common piece of food.
*Banana: When eaten, this potassium filled fruit will allow Kirby to control 20 Minions temporarily. A semi-rare piece of food.
*Chocolate Bar: Nothing better than a good old chocolate bar. Once consumed, Kirby will earn 10 points instantly. It's pretty common, and easy money!
*Energy Apple: Only found in Meta-Knight Massacre and The Arena, this fruit will fill up Meta Knight's energy bar partially. A common piece of food.
*Prickly Pineapple: Yow! Enemies that touch Kirby after he's eaten this spiky fruit will take damage, but ranged attacks will still damage him. This lasts temporarily, and is semi-rare.
*Blazing Pepper: Can you handle the heat? When Kirby eats this red pepper, he'll be temporarily invincible and faster. For every enemy Kirby defeats in this form, he'll add an extra second of invincible time to the clock. This is a rare piece of food, so use it wisely.
*Steak: Who knew Kirby liked red meat? This juicy piece of steak will boost Kirby's attack power temporarily when eaten.
*Rock: A...rock? Is this safe to eat? If Kirby takes the plunge and eats this iron-rich "food", his defense will be increased temporarily.
*Turkey Leg: Oh dear, it looks like this was too filling. If Kirby eats this turkey leg, he'll become fat and will be somewhat slower, but can send out instakill shockwaves just by jumping. After three jumps, he'll digest the meat.
*Lolipop: You'll always get bang for your buck when you eat a lolipop! Kirby can pick this sweet treat up to heal slowly over time.
*Candy: A nice, sugary piece of candy. Kirby will temporarily be twice as fast after eating this, but will soon crash after and fall asleep.
*Watermelon: Kirby loves him some watermelon, but he hates the seeds that get stuck in his mouth after. Oh well, he'll just have to spit them out. The seeds act as a projectile, and can be shot one at a time or fired rapidly. After spitting ten seeds, Kirby'll be done.
==Reception==
TBA
==Trivia==
*After the release of the game, plushies of Minion Kirby, Evil Minion Kirby, and Dimension Kirby were released to capitalize on the game's success.
*When asked about the game, the CEO of Inora reportedly said "well...you have to put food on the table somehow".
*As in other games in the series, the first letter of each world combines to form an acronym.
*The Dimensional Minion is widely considered to be the strongest boss in the series, and one of the hardest bosses of all time.
*Bubble Berries are a reference to the item of the same name from Paper Mario. The Watermelon is a reference to Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island and it's sequels.
Category:Kirby (series)