6-5: The Missing Shards
So as you may have guessed, we are not actually done with this game. To get the true ending we need to collect all the crystal shards.
Unfortunately, due to a minor technical issue the screenshot button wasn't working for a bit, and I didn't realize until I had picked up half of them already. I can't exactly collect the shards again, but I can go back and show where they were.
When returning to a stage, collected shards are replaced by these blue stars that are worth 10 yellow stars. Just... pretend I didn't collect this one yet.
I also took the time to pick up a few more enemy cards, which I'll show at the end of this update as usual.
This shard in Rock Star's sand caves requires any Stone ability to reach. The electric boulder needed for the previous one works just fine.
I nearly forgot about this one. The giant crab in Aqua Star's river guards a shard that requires the Fire + Stone volcano to reach.
Then there's this one over on the beach. We need Stone + Cutter to break the wall at the bottom.
But Kirby's flight doesn't go high enough to reach it. What do we do?
The solution is in Stone + Cutter itself. Rick has the ability to continuously jump up walls, slowly climbing them. This is difficult to pull off, isn't useful anywhere else, and isn't hinted at anywhere in the game. Yeah, this is one of the more obnoxious shards.
To get the third shard in the Neo Star caves, we need to use dynamite. This is one of the most difficult to reach, as it requires doing the majority of this already difficult level with an ability seriously hazardous to Kirby's health.
It also has to be done in one life, since you lose your ability when you die.
This part isn't necessary. I just like blowing up all these things at once.
Okay, now we're actually caught up.
Next stop: the Neo Star canyons. I suspect this one is lurking in the pits somewhere.
I grabbed curling stone on the way, since we'll need an Ice ability soon.
Adeleine's painting is now a hat instead of a pizza. Since we already have this shard, we don't need to do that puzzle again.
Aha, just as I suspected.
Once the shard is collected, we can just leave immediately and it'll stay collected.
Time to hot-foot-it into the volcano. We're missing two shards here, and one requires an Ice ability as previously stated.
Uncovering it is easy, but actually picking it up is a bit harder due to the hot lava below.
The other shard is out in the open in the rising lava section. We just need to grab it before the lava gets too high.
That takes care of Neo Star. Next, off to the clouds.
This one requires the Needle + Electric lightning rod. It's another case where it's way at the end, so we have to take it through the entire level.
Wait... there are electric enemies in this level! How did I miss that last time?
After zapping the midboss, the shard is free to be claimed.
Since it's at the end of the level anyway, I tried for another card. Well, tried for one at least.
Thankfully, the one in the factory we missed is early on.
We need to fire drills through the wall to blow up the crates...
Then climb the ladder to reach it.
The last one is somewhere in Ripple Star's catacombs. I tried searching this area, but couldn't find anything.
Might it be in here? This yellow block could be vulnerable to electricity.
There it is. The final crystal shard sparkles as Ribbon grabs it.
And there we go. Next time, we go for the true ending.
Can't forget about the cards we picked up, though. Chilly the snowman is a pretty chill guy. He's the series' traditional Ice enemy, and can create a freezing field around himself.
These things will unburrow from the ground and crawl at Kirby. They're pretty harmless, honestly.
And here are the turret diamonds from the alien ship on Rock Star. There's not much else to say about them.
