1-2: Quiet Forest

Level 2 of Pop Star takes us to a nice autumnal forest.

Sometimes if you head backwards at the start, you can find a little secret, like this star here. The stars raise the little bar below the health display, and when it's full you get a 1up. Since 1ups reset every time you restart the game, this probably won't be that important.

Here's the Cairn enemy that we found the card for last time. It's a pile of rocks that just hops around. Some hop in place while others move back and forth a bit.

The Stone ability turns Kirby's body to stone. Unlike some other games, he can still move in this form, but he moves slowly and can't jump.

He's immune to most forms of damage, though some will force him out of this state. The Bouncies up ahead are no threat at all, as they just fall instantly against Kirby's rocky body.

Some parachuting guys are protecting a Maxim Tomato here. We don't need it now, but this is good to know about as this is a good level to return to if you need to get a specific ability combo and/or health recharge.

Speaking of combos, this Poppy Bro here gives us an opportunity for another new one.

Stone + Bomb gives us dynamite that we can use to blow stuff up. The fuse takes a while to burn out, but it detonates instantly if it touches an enemy.

The explosion is huge! However, it can also hurt Kirby, so care is needed when using this.

If you hold down on the D-pad while the dynamite is lit, Kirby dons a hard hat that can protect from the blast. Unfortunately it doesn't protect from anything else. We can also see a Gordo in this shot. This spiky ball is invulnerable to all attacks and is quite the annoyance. Destroying the block in its path allows it to float out of the way harmlessly, allowing us to grab the goodies below. Food items such as the sandwich restore 1 HP each.

This sparky thing stands before the entrance to the next section, the interior of a great tree.

Inside the tree, I decided I needed a weapon less hazardous to Kirby's health. Needle allows Kirby to sprout spikes to attack all nearby enemies. He can't move while it's up.

I wanted to combine it with electricity, but I missed the shot. The Spark ability generates an electric field around Kirby, similarly to Needle. He can move while maintaining it, but moves much more slowly.

Thankfully, a little further up there's a snowman who can grant a very cool combo. Ice + Electric turns Kirby into a refrigerator that dispenses 3 random food items.

The food can both hurt enemies and heal Kirby. It's a little difficult to use for offense, but the ability to heal on demand makes this one of the most overpowered combos.

Outside the big tree, we find Waddle Dee offering his help.

He walks along the top, powering the trolley for us. It looks like there's something down below too...

Ooh, a crystal shard. After picking it up, we need to fly back to the platform.

Kirby's flight isn't unlimited like in some other games, but there's enough stamina for him to get back to safety.

In the next room, it looks like the only way to go is down.

But there are a few treasures to grab if you don't just zip straight to the bottom.

Here's another midboss fight against a big Bouncy. It just bounces in place while its minions bounce all over.

It couldn't stand having chilled food launched into its face.

And defeating it reveals this level's second shard.

Outside we find a young artist practicing her technique.

Her name is Adeleine. She previously appeared in Dream Land 3 as Ado, though it's unclear if they're the same character.

Ooh, what a neat thing.

Kirby and friends arrive to find...

Adeleine stands in the background, painting things on her easel.

The paintings then come to life and attack Kirby.

They're basically the same as standard enemies, but a few have kind of weird designs.

One hit is enough to bring them down.

This ice dragon is a bit meaner. It's another reference to a previous Kirby boss, this one from Dream Land 2.

After defeating it, she paints a picture of Dark Matter.

Wow, who knew that darkness was weak against food?

She finishes off by leaping from her stand and rushing at Kirby, but falls in one hit, even from just colliding with her.

And she drops the last shard as she falls.

Looks like we've got a new party member.

And it seems we're finishing this update with another enemy info card.

Shotzos are cannons that fire at anything in their path. They're fully invincible, but sometimes you can block their shots.

1-4: Whispy Woods

Before heading to the next level, let's duck back into the forest for a bit.

This next stage is the world boss, and it's a good idea to bring along a suitable weapon.

We can now see that everyone's gathered at the map screen as Kirby heads off.

Here we go, good old shuriken bomb. Just what we needed.

For whatever reason the 'return to map' option is labeled 'Try Again'. I'm guessing this is a mistranslation?

It doesn't matter. Let's go show this guy who's boss.

Whispy Woods has appeared in many Kirby games, and in all of them his purpose is basically the same: A simple, easy first boss fight. It's hard to be properly threatening when you're just a tree.

Unlike most Whispy boss fights, the arena is a circle around him rather than a straight line. The first thing to do is take out the three Whispy Woods Jr. hopping around. If you don't have an ability you have to inhale and spit the apples that the big Whispy pops out.

It takes about two hits to bring down each one.

Now he gets mad. His first attack has him scattering apples all over. Like the prior phase, if you don't have an ability you have to use these apples to attack him.

His weak points are the four spiked roots he sends out. I'm glad I brought a projectile for this, as they retract quickly and can be difficult to hit with shorter range weapons.

Poor, poor Whispy. This happens to you every game.

As he falls, he drops this world's last crystal shard.

Kirby grabs it and celebrates victory by saying "Hiiii!" to the camera.

The path to the next world is opened.

Onward!

2-2: Ancient Ruins

Level 2 of Rock Star gives us a break from the desert sand as we visit some old ruins.

Though there are still a few cacti.

This hammer-looking thing will rush at Kirby and then smash its head into the ground. It counts as a Stone enemy, allowing for a new combo to be shown.

Here's the combo we needed last time. Stone + Electric gives you a boulder connected by a tether of electricity as a sort of makeshift flail. Contact with either the rock or the tether is harmful to enemies, but you can't control what direction it goes in.

These grand-looking pillars in the background will fall as Kirby passes by, and if they land on him, it's instant death. We have to be careful to make sure that doesn't happen.

Thankfully there are only a few of them.

After clearing that, we come to this little plaza. There's not much to say about it, apart from a few enemies being here.

Atop these archways hide stone enemies waiting to fall from above.

Taking the high road is a safer plan.

In the next room we have to find our way across a large multi-tiered structure.

There's a shard here, but how do we reach it?

The mummy-looking enemy here can't be inhaled and moves when your back is turned, similarly to a Scarfy. Thankfully copy abilities can kill them.

And there are some treasures to plunder here too.

By going around and then back through the structure, we can uncover a weak floor panel allowing us to reach the shard from above.

I was knocked into it by the ghost knight's spear. Rude.

Now we can get out of here.

This room is small, but it's pretty dangerous. There's a bottomless pit below, and many wispy things in the background that throw ghostly flames.

The second shard is here, and we have to fly to grab it.

There's some more goodies too, but it's probably best to spend as little time in here as possible.

Here's our first underwater section. Kirby's a pretty good swimmer, and doesn't have to worry about running out of air. He does move slightly slower underwater, though.

Any copy ability can be used underwater, even fire or electricity based ones. However, many will move or activate more slowly.

This white platform will rise upward when Kirby steps on it.

It seems helpful at first, but it's actually a trap that will smash him against the ceiling for an instant kill unless he gets off quick. There are a lot of these here, and thankfully they're pretty easy to avoid once you know the trick.

We ride one to get to the exit of this room, or we can just fly.

This narrow path features Shotzos firing at us from the background. That's pretty annoying. The propeller-looking thing grants the Ice ability when swallowed. I have no idea why this is, and when they returned in Kirby Star Allies they dropped it.

The basic Ice ability has Kirby spew icy breath all around him.

Enemies frozen by this become ice cubes that can be sent sliding into other enemies.

A nearby ghost knight allows us a helpful combo. Ice + Needle turns Kirby into a snowflake that freezes everything he touches.

It takes a second or two for him to grow to full size, and he can't move in this state. Still, this is a great defensive ability, and can even block the cannon shots from the background.

After crossing the bridge, King Dedede comes in to help.

You get to control him while Kirby rides on his back.

He can't fly, inhale, or use copy abilities, but you do get access to his hammer, and can even charge it up for a stronger strike.

This room is another maze-like area, this one being mostly vertical. There are ladders on the walls and poles for Dedede to climb up scattered all around.

We can find the last shard tucked away in a corner.

There are also plenty of these off-colored walls, which you can bust through with the hammer.

It's not too hard to navigate, and we can easily reach the end.

This green star is worth 3 yellow stars. That's not all that helpful, but hey, it's a thing.

2-4: Alien Geometries

Level 4 of Rock Star brings us to a mysterious black pyramid.

It rises from the ground as Kirby approaches, revealing a diamond shape. Is this some kind of starship?

An elevator at the base offers an entrance.

Here we need to dodge cannon fire while the elevator rises. The cannons are aimed directly at Kirby, but their shots are pretty slow, so this isn't that bad.

Then we come to some odd panels that slide in and out of the walls. There's a shard here. It can be reached from above, using the gaps in the panels to get to it safely.

These diamonds are turrets that open up and fire at Kirby when he approaches. They also count as electric enemies.

Adeleine's checking something out in this small room, but it's too dark to see.

Thankfully, there's a combo for that. Bomb + Electric turns Kirby into a light bulb. He can move freely in this form and electrocutes anything he touches. It also illuminates the room, allowing us to see the symbols in the background.

If you hold it for long enough, it explodes, turning Kirby back to normal.

The next room has a bunch of buttons with symbols on them. You can press one down by holding down on the D-pad atop it.

Pressing the three that match the symbols Adeleine was looking at reveals the second shard.

After that we come to a big open area. The windows in the background fade in and out, offering a view of the sky outside.

There are a lot of moving blocks in this area. It's pretty simple, but you do need to take care not to get squished.

This turret midboss is one of the first midbosses that genuinely attacks you, rather than just standing and waiting to be defeated. It also summons smaller turrets.

Lightbulb isn't much help against a flying enemy, so I grabbed another combo from its minions. Electric + Electric generates a large field around Kirby. He can move while maintaining it, but it drastically reduces in size while doing so.

Anything that comes in range gets blasted by a lightning bolt.

Destroying the turret reveals the last shard.

The last room is another upward climb. Kirby can climb on the two poles here, but we don't want to linger as deadly sparks will appear. They don't count as electric enemies, probably because they can't be inhaled.

Another one for the collection.

This appears to be a background element rather than a proper enemy. I'm not even sure if we've seen any of these.

3-1: Aqua Star

Now that we're through with the desert planet, it's time to stop by an ocean planet for some refreshment.

Let's head for the coast.

This is a relaxing little cove area. It's got palm trees, and we can see the ocean in the background. The volcano-looking enemy up ahead might seem like a Fire enemy, but it's actually a Stone one.

There are a few holes in the ground that fish like to jump out of to startle you. It's best to wait for them to jump rather than just rushing in.

These spiky ring guys grant Cutter and throw bladed rings at you. They're similar to Sir Kibbles, but can also jump.

Stone + Cutter turns Kirby into a block of stone which he then carves into a statue. There are six different statues you can get, selected randomly, and each has different movement options.

Pitch the bird can fly and also roll on the ground.

Nago the cat can walk and jump, and perform a double jump. It doesn't go very high, though.

Chuchu the uh, blob thing? can jump high, but can't walk and can only move by jumping.

Coo the owl can fly similarly to Pitch, but not quite as far.

Rick the hamster can walk and jump much like Nago, but doesn't get a double jump.

And Kine the fish can't move at all, even if you're underwater. All of these are cameos of Kirby's animal friends, who originally appeared in Dream Land 2 and 3. Overall it's a pretty powerful and versatile ability, effectively combining the resilience of Stone with much better mobility. However, it does really depend on which statue you get.

There's a short bridge over some shallow water next.

I tried looking underneath for secrets, but all I found was a few stars and some food.

After crossing that, we head into a cave.

This green bowling ball-looking thing seems like it might be an enemy, but it's actually helpful. The crab, on the other hand, is an enemy.

When touching one, it'll absorb Kirby and then launch him upward.

You can even destroy enemies by launching into them.

There's a shard in this room we can grab by flying or falling from above. It's easy to miss if you're not paying attention.

In the next room we meet this penguin who flees from Kirby on sight. It counts as an Ice enemy. This is good, since we'll need that for a specific combo later in the level.

There are a few big frogs hiding in holes in the background, which will try to eat Kirby as he passes by. It's not very pleasant.

A Poppy Bro near the end gives us the needed combo. Ice + Bomb has Kirby put a bomb on his head, then cover it with snow to make a snowman. He can move around freely while in this state.

After a few seconds, or if he hits something, he explodes, freezing nearby enemies.

The next room has some waterfalls. They push Kirby down slightly if you try to jump or fly through them, which can be a nuisance if you're trying to grab the items hidden within.

This midboss just stands still, making a cute face. The real threat is its minions, which will extend spikes through the floor to attack. Naturally, they count as Needle enemies.

Defeating it uncovers another shard, which we can grab by ducking below the platform.

We're back outside again, and Adeleine is here to offer assistance.

Ah, just what we needed.

Then we cross some more fish pits. Some of these have the jumping cutter guys from before, making them extra dangerous.

After that there's a big group of platforms over a waterfall. There are more of the needle things here too.

There's the last shard, but how do we reach it?

Going below reveals the solution. We can bust this block using the snowman bomb, then have the bowling ball thing launch Kirby skyward.

Gotcha.

From there it's just a short walk to the end.

I was aiming for the card, but okay, I'll take that. It's worth 5 yellow stars.

3-3: Beach Episode

The third stage brings us back to the ocean as we head to a tropical beach area.

It's got sand and stuff.

There are a lot of enemies in the first part, but none of them give any abilities.

Thankfully Kirby's inhale is still good against them.

Oh, and the antlions are back too.

This little sandcastle marks the transition to the next area.

There, we get a short section with Shotzos in the background.

Then, a swimming part. I managed to grab Cutter from one of the ring throwers around here.

An explosive fish just before the next area added Bomb. We'll need this soon.

Some of the planks on this bridge have water jets below them, which will lift Kirby up as he steps on them.

Like so. We can use this to get into this mountain from the top.

The mint chocolate looking rock to the left needs to be destroyed by a Bomb + Cutter combo, which is why I picked up the shuriken bombs again.

Blowing it up reveals this level's first crystal shard.

Then we can stand on the rock in the center to get lifted back out.

There's another bridge to cross, but this time the planks will be lifted right into the Gordos hovering above. If you run fast enough you can fall off just in time to escape being spiked.

King Dedede gives Kirby a lift out of here.

And to the next area.

There's a current here that pushes Kirby backward when in the water. In addition, the wooden pillars will sink when stood upon. There's not much stable footing, but a fall doesn't impair you that much.

I tried to grab Stone + Cutter before the next room, but missed the shot. I guess we have to do with just Cutter for now.

This ring thrower miboss will throw rings at you while some other enemies parachute in from above.

It ended up being a Cutter vs. Cutter match. Once it dies, the second shard appears.

And there's the third shard right there. We can't reach it from here, unfortunately.

If I'd managed to get the Stone + Cutter combo earlier I could have grabbed it. For now, we have to leave it for later.

These platforms tilt when Kirby lands on them, allowing the spiked logs to roll downward.

It's best not to get squished.

Once we're past that, we can reach the exit.

A Maxim Tomato, yummy. This would be quite helpful if I weren't ending the session here, but oh well.

3-5: Acro

Like before, we're going to stop by the ruins to pick up an ability first. This boss battle, much like the preceding stage, takes place entirely underwater, so it's important to find one that works well in that environment.

This should do nicely.

This killer whale is named Acro, which astute readers may note is 'Orca' backwards.

It'll attack by spitting various enemies at Kirby, including Gordos and Fishbones. These can give you something to attack with if you came here without an ability.

When it reaches the far wall, it'll do a flip. This is pretty hard to dodge since you move more slowly in water. The stones left behind afterward can be used against it much like the enemies it spits out.

Then it moves to the other wall and repeats the process.

Pretty simple.

But we're not done yet...

There's a slight current here pushing Kirby upward. However, if you fall too far below, it's instant death.

Time for phase 2. The boss won't come close to the walls, so that's a good place to hide. We do have to watch out for the minions floating down, though.

It'll swim upward...

Then come back down through the background.

It can also spit torpedoes. You can inhale them, but as there's no floor, you can't swallow, so there's no opportunity to gain an ability from these.

Not that we needed that anyway.

There's the prize.

Kirby's "Hiiii!" is a little muffled due to the water.

Adeleine skips some stones across the water.

This prompts everyone else to try it out.

Now it's Kirby's turn.

Here's the windup...

Sploosh.

Better hurry up or you'll miss it.

And the adventure continues.

4-2: Deep Caverns

After getting through the jungle, Kirby's next destination is an underground cave.

We open with Kirby falling in from above. You can adjust the direction he falls in, or activate flight. There are a few stars you can pick up this way.

Plus a crystal shard too. This one's easy to miss if you're not expecting it.

He lands in a minecart which Waddle Dee has prepared. Let's go for a ride.

This is similar to the raft segment on Aqua Star. Like there, the cart destroys any enemies it touches, but crashing into an obstacle makes you take damage.

You don't control the speed it moves at, so all there is to do is jump when something approaches. A little exclamation mark appears over Waddle Dee's head when one is near.

The path splits in two at one point, and taking the higher road leads us to this level's second shard.

After a little more rolling around, a bump in the track brings the ride to its end.

Finally, some stable ground.

This room features both the frogs and the falling weights from before.

It's best to move slowly and keep an eye out for traps.

The next cavern has a combination of Shotzos on the ceiling, waterfalls that move you back, bottomless pits, and these odd water drop enemies that fall from above. When they reappear in later Kirby games they grant the Water ability, but there is no Water ability in this game so they give nothing.

This area is a little nicer.

This guy will hide on his cloud and drop rain and thunder. It counts as an Electric enemy, naturally.

This area has a lot of small holes in the ground. Some have items inside, others have enemies, and there's no easy way to tell which is which. Thankfully, the beam sword could deal with a lot of threats.

This wall requires Stone + Bomb dynamite to blow up, but neither of these abilities can be grabbed in this level. This is one of the more annoying ones to deal with. We'll have to come back for it later.

This is technically a midboss room, but instead of a midboss there's just a whole bunch of drops that spawn above and fall on you. Any copy ability can cleave through them easily.

This cave has kind of a different aesthetic than the previous one, with lots of square columns. The blue ones are crushers that move up and down and are more than happy to squish Kirby flat should he be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It's another area where taking it slow is a good idea. It's not too far to the exit, thankfully.

Hey, a new enemy card.

Galbos are the fire dragons I pointed out in the last update. Later Kirby games gave them a midboss variant, the Galboros, as well as a water version.

4-4: Volatile Volcano

My apologies for the two week hiatus I took from this. Now I'm back, and we can continue with updates once a day as before.

And we return to Kirby approaching a hazardous lava world.

The first area has burning rocks that fall from above. These can be inhaled, but don't give an ability, much like the ones on Aqua Star's seafloor. We just have to avoid those and the lava flows on the ground to reach the volcano's entrance.

Fire enemies are a dime a dozen around here, particularly these firebirds that will fly past and drop burning rocks. They can be quite the annoyance.

Some platforms float through the lava as Kirby touches them. If you fall in, you just take 1 damage, thankfully. However it is possible to be crushed between moving platforms, so being careful is still a good idea.

This one has a gap in the middle for extra danger. We also have another stone enemy up ahead, which gives a very fitting combo for this area.

Fire + Stone turns Kirby into a volcano that continually spouts burning rocks.

You can't move while doing this, but you can turn to launch them in any direction.

In the next room, King Dedede zooms in to offer Kirby a ride.

This is much like the sequence from the ruins on Rock Star.

We need to use the hammer to break through these pillars in the way. They take two hits to destroy, one if you charge up first.

Destroying the top part of one leads to a crystal shard. In my opinion, this is the best hidden shard in the game, since it isn't even clear the tops can be destroyed, and there's no other reason to.

Once we're done with that, King Dedede tosses Kirby into the next room.

Whee, more lava. If this were a fully 3D platformer this narrow path would be quite dangerous, but since we're in 2.5D Kirby can't actually move off the path, so it's nothing to worry about.

Time to show off another Fire combo. Fire + Electric starts off with Kirby rubbing a towel on his head to make sparks...

And then that happens. He runs around in a panic and burns anything he crashes into. Thankfully he doesn't take damage from the fire.

Okay, I might not know that much about geology, but I'm pretty sure lava doesn't actually flow like that.

This small room looks like it might hold a secret, and indeed it does. However, we need an Ice ability to reach it, and we certainly won't be finding that in a place like this. We'll have to come back later.

The first thing we see as we enter the next room is an odd glowing wall.

Uh oh. Time to run for it. The advancing lava wave causes damage on contact, and can also crush Kirby against the wall.

Whoops.

Time to put that fireball dash to good use. With that we can--

Again? Really?

Okay, this time I actually managed to avoid the burning wall and make it to safety.

Well, not exactly. Here the lava rises from below, and we need to climb to the top to avoid getting scorched.

The third shard lies here, but the lava got to it before I could. Normally I'd just die and try again, but I can't really do that on my last life.

The walls narrow as we reach the upper part of the volcano.

Then, at the top, freedom.

Aww, almost got the card.

5-1: Shiver Star

That last area was way too hot. We need to cool down after that.

If you look closely at Shiver Star, you can see it's actually a frozen Earth. This raises a whole lot of questions. Is the Kirby universe actually a post-apocalypse of our own?

My personal headcanon is that this is Adeleine's home planet, since she is one of the very few humanoid characters in the franchise, and she's stated not to be from Pop Star.

But enough about that. It's time to go play in the snow. Ice enemies are extremely abundant here, including a new icy version of the firebirds from the volcano.

Ice + Ice turns Kirby into a snowball that automatically rolls forward and absorbs anything it touches into itself.

When it stops, all the enemies it picked up are launched outward. This one later reappeared as a Super Ability in Kirby's Return to Dream Land.

Snowball roll can pretty much clear the rest of this area by itself, but the presence of fire enemies here allows us to try out another new combo.

Fire + Ice has Kirby turn into an ice cube and melt. That's all it does. It technically deals damage, but the range is so short that it's really difficult to use. This one's a strong contender for the title of "Most Useless Ability Combo". Still, we're keeping it for now.

After the snow plains we climb ladders to scale this cliff. Some pterodactyl-looking things will fly into the wall to attack.

Incoming!

Time to go for a sled ride. This is similar to the raft and minecart riding sections we've previously done with Waddle Dee. The sled plows through enemies but we have to jump to avoid crashing.

Sliding on top of this snow dome nets us a crystal shard.

Then, the ride comes to an abrupt end.

Kirby lands right in the lair of this snowman midboss. It will create a shield around itself, while its icebird minions will fly around dropping ice shards on you. You have to stand dangerously close to hit it with the melting ice cube, but it can be done.

After it dies, a crystal shard appears, but it's frozen in an icicle on the ceiling and needs to be melted out with a fire ability.

This is why I kept the otherwise useless combo around. Once this shard is claimed, I'm happy to be rid of it.

Outside there's a frozen lake. The cracks in the ice allow Kirby to swim below the surface. Thankfully there's no penalties for swimming in ice cold water.

I feel like you just have to use the ice skates here. It's too appropriate. You can pick up Ice from the propellers above, and Cutter from the Fishbones below. There's also a shard tucked away in this little corner.

After picking that up, we can just skate on through.

The next area has some icy hills. These are a bit slippery, but not enough to be a major hindrance.

Here's the Putt enemy we picked up the card for way back on Aqua Star. The big boulder it pushes can't be inhaled or blocked with a copy ability, making it a major annoyance. Once that's gone though, they're pretty much defenseless.

Yeah, okay. Let's not let that happen again.

For the return, I grabbed snowball from a few Ice enemies nearby. It's quite helpful.

Though we still don't want to get squished.

These things will pop out of the chasms as Kirby approaches and try to eat him. It's another obstacle where taking it slow helps, because if you rush in they'll take a bite out of you.

Get past those, and it's just a quick roll to the end.

Here's another enemy card.

These things appeared in the sandy areas on Rock and Aqua Star. They don't move aside from perking up a bit when Kirby approaches, and they don't give any ability, so they're pretty unremarkable.

5-3: Shopping Spree

The third level of Shiver Star is... a shopping mall? Okay then.

We start out right at the entrance.

On top of the entryway there's a tasty slice of cake. I didn't even know this was here.

Going up...

These escalators make fighting the enemies here pretty difficult, especially with Cutter as it will just cut through the floor.

The fact that we have to deal with more Putts and their boulder rolling isn't helping.

Sometimes, treasures can be found if you look on the ledge opposite the escalator.

Such as this lovely crystal shard.

Okay, now things are getting really dangerous.

A handy elevator leads us out of the room.

Now we take more elevators up between many small rooms.

Each one has its own unique set of hazards, such as the wall frogs returning again.

Or this odd configuration of blocks.

Or a bunch of invincible enemies.

The Shotzos in the background here will turn to face Kirby, always aiming their shots toward him. It's not too difficult to avoid, but can be quite the nuisance.

We make a brief stop in this garden to fight a spidery midboss. Unlike the small version, you can't cut the line, so you instead have to attack it the normal way as it dangles down from above.

Defeating it reveals the second shard.

Adeleine is painting pictures of fruit on the window here. It's a clue we'll need soon.

The next room just has a bunch of colored buttons.

If we press the ones that match the fruits Adeleine painted, we get the third crystal shard.

This plant shop has some of the snapping cacti from Rock Star.

While the shelves in this furniture shop will fall to try and crush Kirby.

This aquarium gives us a brief swimming section featuring more of the wall frogs.

And this appears to be some kind of hardware shop? Electric enemies will hide in the nuts and bolts here and launch out at Kirby.

Needle + Electric has Kirby turn into a spike that is then struck by lightning. This is great for hitting enemies above you, but it doesn't have much horizontal range. In particular, it made clearing out the rest of the hiding enemies in this room a snap.

Don't worry, he's fine.

Then we go to a TV shop that has poles you can climb, plus ice and electric enemies.

Like before, these Shotzos will turn and aim their shots at Kirby.

The key to crossing safely is to take cover behind the colored panels littering the room.

With that in mind, it's easy to safely make it to the end.

Delicious.

5-5: HR-H

Since I used an ice ability for the boss of the lava world, it feels only fitting that I go and grab a fire ability for the boss of the ice world.

Here we go. Let's give it a taste of some fireworks.

Time to take this thing on.

Why is the boss of Shiver Star a robot? Probably to lend credence to that 'post-apocalyptic Earth' theory. It's also theorized that the "HR" in this boss's name stands for "Haltmann Robotics", referencing the Haltmann Works Company from Kirby: Planet Robobot. Considering that that game came out 16 years after this one, this isn't too likely.

It'll try to slap Kirby with its arms. The arms are its weak point, so this is a good time to let some fireworks loose.

This sweeping laser comes out quickly, but is easily avoided by jumping once you see it.

These missiles can be inhaled, but don't grant Bomb like you might think they would. They'll also explode if left alone long enough.

For its last attack it'll try to crush Kirby between both arms and slam him into the ground. This is quite dangerous if you get caught, but it also has the biggest window of vulnerability. You can inhale the disc-looking things that appear too.

It takes a while to land some good hits on it, but it can be brought down pretty easily.

For the second phase it shifts into HR-E form. Now it slowly moves towards Kirby, taking out pieces of the floor as it progresses.

Now the arms have turned into scissors that will snap at him. A well timed jump keeps Kirby out of harm's way.

The weak point is now the main body. You have to attack without touching it directly, as if you do you'll be sent flying back and take damage. There are also more missiles to deal with.

It will also fly into the air and try to land on Kirby. The camera angle makes this one really difficult to dodge, but it can be done.

Target neutralized.

Hiiii!

Oh dear.

We're not backing down now.

Oof. Kirby really gets abused in these cutscenes, doesn't he?

Okay, that's just mean.

On to the final challenge.