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Version 1 - Kirby's Adventure (1993) / Kirby's Dream Land 2 (1995) / Kirby's Dream Land 3 (1997) / Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (2000)*

Much like Beam, Cutter was a given as a Copy Ability when Kirby gained that power in Adventure, as in Kirby's Dream Land the enemy Sir Kibble's unique attack was to toss a boomerang-like cutter blade attached to the top of his helmet. It was only natural that Kirby would be able to steal that attack in the sequel! The Kirby Wiki theorizes that Sir Kibble's unique head-mounted boomerang blade may have been inspired by a visually-similar weapon used by an Ultraman character back in 1967.

Cutter would go on to become a mainstay ability in the hatless "Dark Matter Trilogy" of games, appearing roughly the same in each - well, except for one. The asterisk above on Kirby 64 is because 64's Cutter is notably different, at least aesthetically - rather than tossing a yellow beam-like blade forward, Kirby launches his own face as a Cutter blade!

Version 2 - Kirby Super Star (1996) / Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land (2002) / Kirby & the Amazing Mirror (2004) / Kirby: Squeak Squad (2006)

When Cutter was included in Super Star and gained its hat, rather than following in the steps of Sir Kibble's design and gaining some sort of helmet, Kirby was given a... ducky hat? I'm not sure where that came from, but the Kirby Wiki suggests it may have roots in the design of a Dragon Ball character or two. This link seems less probable to me than the Ultraman origin to the attack itself, though.

In Super Star, the cutter blade was made explicitly part of Kirby's hat in much the same way as Sir Kibble stored it on the top of his head between throws. For the purposes of this art, I have drawn the cutter both as a thrown projectile and on top of Kirby's hat, though in-game (and in official art) the cutter is removed from the hat briefly upon throwing it. Super Star also gave Cutter a handful of physical attacks where Kirby could use the Cutter blade like a dagger - most notably, this originated the Final Cutter, made famous as one of Kirby's special attacks in Super Smash Bros.!

A tiny variant on this design can be seen in official art for Kirby Squeak Squad, where a subtle white line has been added to the edge of the cutter blade. We'll see that again soon!

Version 3 - Kirby: Right Back At Ya! (2001)

Cutter got a few appearances in Right Back At Ya!, where it had a slight design change to color its blade silver rather than yellow and to make the entire helmet a bright yellow instead of light orange with a white rim. It functioned much the same as in the games - Kirby could even finish off enemies with the Final Cutter!

Version 4 - Kirby Super Star Ultra (2008)

For many abilities in the remake of Super Star Ultra, their return in the remake gave them identical designs to the original game. Not quite so with Cutter! In Super Star Ultra, Cutter Kirby's wings got a slight redesign to add little puffy "thumbs" at their base, which are visible both in official art and in the sprites in this game. The white line at the edge of the Cutter in Squeak Squad's art also made its way into the Super Star Ultra art, though much more pronounced. This edge is only visible in-game on the sprites when the thrown cutter is reflected.

Version 5 - Kirby's Return to Dream Land (2011) / Kirby: Triple Deluxe (2014) / Kirby Fighters Deluxe (2014) / Kirby: Planet Robobot (2016) / Kirby Battle Royale (2017)

In Return to Dream Land, Cutter got one more slight recoloring - the bill of the helmet was changed from the white in Super Star to a light yellow, making the hat as a whole take on a more yellow palette. In addition, the white edge to the cutter is now visible in-game, including when the cutter is mounted, making it a clear part of the design instead of an on-and-off piece included in some official art. Finally, though it's not visible in my art here, the back of the hat is curled into a slight lip, making the hat more clearly something akin to a safety helmet rather than a brimmed cap.

One piece of official art for Kirby Battle Royale gives Cutter Kirby a white Cutter blade instead of the usual yellow, but in-game it appears the same as it does in the other 3DS Kirby games.

Version 6 - Kirby Star Allies (2018) / Kirby Fighters 2 (2020)

Did you know that Cutter Kirby got a slight redesign in Star Allies? I sure didn't until researching for this art piece! In Star Allies, Cutter adds a small silver "holster" where the cutter sits when it is attached to the hat. Presumably this holster was added since, in Star Allies, Cutter can be imbued with various elemental properties and these elemental Cutters feature Kirby (or the helper Sir Kibble) holding the Cutter out rather than placing it back in the hat, so the holster remains to make the Cutter-less hat look a bit nicer. Additionally, Star Allies' version of Cutter adjusts the palette of the hat slightly - the hat itself is more yellow, and the rim is a tad lighter with the light yellow also being used for the wings. The cutter blade is a shiny gold with a silver trim, making it darker than the hat in most lighting.

Funnily, this design returns in Kirby Fighters 2 for the in-game model, but the character select screen for that game reuses art from Kirby: Triple Deluxe, and so is technically inaccurate.

Finally, this design is set to return in Kirby and the Forgotten Land, as well, there coloring the blade a darker orange and gaining the ability to retrieve items from afar!

Description

<- prev | next ->

Version 1 - Kirby's Adventure (1993) / Kirby's Dream Land 2 (1995) / Kirby's Dream Land 3 (1997) / Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (2000)*

Much like Beam, Cutter was a given as a Copy Ability when Kirby gained that power in Adventure, as in Kirby's Dream Land the enemy Sir Kibble's unique attack was to toss a boomerang-like cutter blade attached to the top of his helmet. It was only natural that Kirby would be able to steal that attack in the sequel! The Kirby Wiki theorizes that Sir Kibble's unique head-mounted boomerang blade may have been inspired by a visually-similar weapon used by an Ultraman character back in 1967.

Cutter would go on to become a mainstay ability in the hatless "Dark Matter Trilogy" of games, appearing roughly the same in each - well, except for one. The asterisk above on Kirby 64 is because 64's Cutter is notably different, at least aesthetically - rather than tossing a yellow beam-like blade forward, Kirby launches his own face as a Cutter blade!

Version 2 - Kirby Super Star (1996) / Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land (2002) / Kirby & the Amazing Mirror (2004) / Kirby: Squeak Squad (2006)

When Cutter was included in Super Star and gained its hat, rather than following in the steps of Sir Kibble's design and gaining some sort of helmet, Kirby was given a... ducky hat? I'm not sure where that came from, but the Kirby Wiki suggests it may have roots in the design of a Dragon Ball character or two. This link seems less probable to me than the Ultraman origin to the attack itself, though.

In Super Star, the cutter blade was made explicitly part of Kirby's hat in much the same way as Sir Kibble stored it on the top of his head between throws. For the purposes of this art, I have drawn the cutter both as a thrown projectile and on top of Kirby's hat, though in-game (and in official art) the cutter is removed from the hat briefly upon throwing it. Super Star also gave Cutter a handful of physical attacks where Kirby could use the Cutter blade like a dagger - most notably, this originated the Final Cutter, made famous as one of Kirby's special attacks in Super Smash Bros.!

A tiny variant on this design can be seen in official art for Kirby Squeak Squad, where a subtle white line has been added to the edge of the cutter blade. We'll see that again soon!

Version 3 - Kirby: Right Back At Ya! (2001)

Cutter got a few appearances in Right Back At Ya!, where it had a slight design change to color its blade silver rather than yellow and to make the entire helmet a bright yellow instead of light orange with a white rim. It functioned much the same as in the games - Kirby could even finish off enemies with the Final Cutter!

Version 4 - Kirby Super Star Ultra (2008)

For many abilities in the remake of Super Star Ultra, their return in the remake gave them identical designs to the original game. Not quite so with Cutter! In Super Star Ultra, Cutter Kirby's wings got a slight redesign to add little puffy "thumbs" at their base, which are visible both in official art and in the sprites in this game. The white line at the edge of the Cutter in Squeak Squad's art also made its way into the Super Star Ultra art, though much more pronounced. This edge is only visible in-game on the sprites when the thrown cutter is reflected.

Version 5 - Kirby's Return to Dream Land (2011) / Kirby: Triple Deluxe (2014) / Kirby Fighters Deluxe (2014) / Kirby: Planet Robobot (2016) / Kirby Battle Royale (2017)

In Return to Dream Land, Cutter got one more slight recoloring - the bill of the helmet was changed from the white in Super Star to a light yellow, making the hat as a whole take on a more yellow palette. In addition, the white edge to the cutter is now visible in-game, including when the cutter is mounted, making it a clear part of the design instead of an on-and-off piece included in some official art. Finally, though it's not visible in my art here, the back of the hat is curled into a slight lip, making the hat more clearly something akin to a safety helmet rather than a brimmed cap.

One piece of official art for Kirby Battle Royale gives Cutter Kirby a white Cutter blade instead of the usual yellow, but in-game it appears the same as it does in the other 3DS Kirby games.

Version 6 - Kirby Star Allies (2018) / Kirby Fighters 2 (2020)

Did you know that Cutter Kirby got a slight redesign in Star Allies? I sure didn't until researching for this art piece! In Star Allies, Cutter adds a small silver "holster" where the cutter sits when it is attached to the hat. Presumably this holster was added since, in Star Allies, Cutter can be imbued with various elemental properties and these elemental Cutters feature Kirby (or the helper Sir Kibble) holding the Cutter out rather than placing it back in the hat, so the holster remains to make the Cutter-less hat look a bit nicer. Additionally, Star Allies' version of Cutter adjusts the palette of the hat slightly - the hat itself is more yellow, and the rim is a tad lighter with the light yellow also being used for the wings. The cutter blade is a shiny gold with a silver trim, making it darker than the hat in most lighting.

Funnily, this design returns in Kirby Fighters 2 for the in-game model, but the character select screen for that game reuses art from Kirby: Triple Deluxe, and so is technically inaccurate.

Finally, this design is set to return in Kirby and the Forgotten Land, as well, there coloring the blade a darker orange and gaining the ability to retrieve items from afar!