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Version 1 - Kirby's Adventure (1993) / Kirby Super Star (1996) / Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land (2002) / Kirby & The Amazing Mirror (2004) / Kirby: Canvas Curse (2005) / Kirby Super Star Ultra (2008)

Kaboom! Modern day Kirby players might be surprised if they go back to Kirby's Adventure (or Nightmare in Dream Land) and swallow a Poppy Bros. Sr., as instead of the now-iconic Bomb ability, Kirby's original explosive power is given: Crash. The first of the "limited use" abilities, Crash Kirby lets Kirby unleash an explosion that covers the entire game screen, defeating regular enemies trivially and taking big chunks out of boss health bars.

Though Kirby Super Star gave most abilities their own hats, Crash remained hatless alongside several other limited use abilities, so Kirby only showed he had the ability by flashing yellow. While other abilities like Mike and Cook would gain a hat when used for their special animations, Crash wouldn't - Kirby would just explode. This would remain the case for every 2D Kirby game which included Crash.

Version 2 - Kirby: Right Back At Ya! (2003)

Crash would make its anime debut late into the series, where it would function similarly to the games, letting Kirby trigger a massive explosion. Despite the lack of hat in the games, though, Crash Kirby in the anime got a hat to call its own! And boy is it a fancy one. It resembles a sort of samurai helmet with a topknot sticking out, with a golden starburst on the front and a deep green jewel, and a lightning bolt-esque rim around the hat's circumference. Kirby even gets a change in color, turning his pink skin darker and making his rosy red cheeks a golden orange hue instead. It's quite a look.

Version 3 - Kirby's Return to Dream Land (2011) / Kirby: Triple Deluxe (2014) / Kirby: Planet Robobot (2016) / Kirby Star Allies (2018) / Kirby and the Forgotten Land (2022)

When Kirby made the formal jump to 3D with Return to Dream Land, Crash returned as well... and this time, it came with a hat! But instead of using the samurai-ish helmet of the anime, RtDL opted for a completely different hat, and boy is it a doozy. It resembles a silver crown with a spiky adornment on the front, like a more exaggerated version of Fire Kirby's crown, but the "inside" of the crown, where one might expect to see velvet, is instead hollow, housing a pulsing, glowing energy core. The whole thing then also has a jeweled star on top just for kicks. It's a neat kingly look for a particularly powerful copy ability, though my first thought on seeing it was "light bulb" rather than "crown".

This design has been kept through to the modern day, but I do feel the need to point out that the commonly-used render of the ability seems to show the pink parts of the crown as protruding out from the silver "straps", but the model in Forgotten Land has them instead inward, lower than the silver. I'm unsure if this was a design change, as the model used in the previous games just has all of it on a flat plane without enough detail to say for sure which way it is supposed to be!

Description

<- prev | next ->

Version 1 - Kirby's Adventure (1993) / Kirby Super Star (1996) / Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land (2002) / Kirby & The Amazing Mirror (2004) / Kirby: Canvas Curse (2005) / Kirby Super Star Ultra (2008)

Kaboom! Modern day Kirby players might be surprised if they go back to Kirby's Adventure (or Nightmare in Dream Land) and swallow a Poppy Bros. Sr., as instead of the now-iconic Bomb ability, Kirby's original explosive power is given: Crash. The first of the "limited use" abilities, Crash Kirby lets Kirby unleash an explosion that covers the entire game screen, defeating regular enemies trivially and taking big chunks out of boss health bars.

Though Kirby Super Star gave most abilities their own hats, Crash remained hatless alongside several other limited use abilities, so Kirby only showed he had the ability by flashing yellow. While other abilities like Mike and Cook would gain a hat when used for their special animations, Crash wouldn't - Kirby would just explode. This would remain the case for every 2D Kirby game which included Crash.

Version 2 - Kirby: Right Back At Ya! (2003)

Crash would make its anime debut late into the series, where it would function similarly to the games, letting Kirby trigger a massive explosion. Despite the lack of hat in the games, though, Crash Kirby in the anime got a hat to call its own! And boy is it a fancy one. It resembles a sort of samurai helmet with a topknot sticking out, with a golden starburst on the front and a deep green jewel, and a lightning bolt-esque rim around the hat's circumference. Kirby even gets a change in color, turning his pink skin darker and making his rosy red cheeks a golden orange hue instead. It's quite a look.

Version 3 - Kirby's Return to Dream Land (2011) / Kirby: Triple Deluxe (2014) / Kirby: Planet Robobot (2016) / Kirby Star Allies (2018) / Kirby and the Forgotten Land (2022)

When Kirby made the formal jump to 3D with Return to Dream Land, Crash returned as well... and this time, it came with a hat! But instead of using the samurai-ish helmet of the anime, RtDL opted for a completely different hat, and boy is it a doozy. It resembles a silver crown with a spiky adornment on the front, like a more exaggerated version of Fire Kirby's crown, but the "inside" of the crown, where one might expect to see velvet, is instead hollow, housing a pulsing, glowing energy core. The whole thing then also has a jeweled star on top just for kicks. It's a neat kingly look for a particularly powerful copy ability, though my first thought on seeing it was "light bulb" rather than "crown".

This design has been kept through to the modern day, but I do feel the need to point out that the commonly-used render of the ability seems to show the pink parts of the crown as protruding out from the silver "straps", but the model in Forgotten Land has them instead inward, lower than the silver. I'm unsure if this was a design change, as the model used in the previous games just has all of it on a flat plane without enough detail to say for sure which way it is supposed to be!