Game Breaker / Kirby

Game Breakers in the Kirby series.

Star Allies has its own page.

---

General

• Flight. It renders almost every platforming challenge a joke. It doesn't run out in most games, taking damage still allows you to keep flying, and the only cost is slowness and a larger hitbox, none of which matter very much when most games don't have Timed Mission stages or a health bar.
• The Hammer. It's powerful enough on its own and can also be used underwater, and in some of the games, it comes with the Hammer Flip move; though it comes with a slight delay, it's one of the most damaging moves in the series. And then there's the Hammer's invincibility frames when using Hammer Swing, Twirl, and Ultra Giant Swing allowing Kirby and the player to ignore attacks while simultaneously doing damage. The only real caveat is that it's a fairly rare ability in every game it's in with the exception of Kirby and the Forgotten Land, only readily available by inhaling Bonkers.
• Stone. It's limited in techniques, but it can be used to easily blow through bosses thanks to doing good damage, being easy to hit with, and granting invincibility that can be switched on and off at any moment. Great for those who prefer a safe, defensive playstyle.
• Wheel is a consistently broken movement ability in many Kirby games. Kirby is completely invincible while Wheel is active (except while turning), runs over normal enemies and star blocks with ease, and deals consistent damage to bosses all the while. It's also very easy to control and near-ubiquitous throughout most games it can be found in. In any game where Wheel Kirby can jump, you can expect both casual players and speedrunners to abuse the ability whenever possible.

Kirby's Adventure

• The original Kirby Game-Breaker is the Hi-Jump ability in this game. While in the main stages it was just a funny ability only useful in certain contexts, against bosses it became a destruction machine: the combination of invincibility frames and the fact that it has you leap far outside most boss' range of attacks meant that if you were good at timing you could beat pretty much any boss silly without ever taking a hit — the ability could be used both offensively and to dodge things, and the only bosses that weren't made a complete breeze by this were Heavy Mole, with whom it's tricky to both attack with Hi-Jump and leap out of attack range, and Meta Knight, who says "screw you" to your game breaker and forces you to fight on his level.
• HAL Laboratory designed the U.F.O. ability to smash the game's balance to pieces; it grants free movement in the air and a versatile attack with four levels of charge, the last level of which tears bosses to shreds with only a couple hits. That's why they wisely decided to make the U.F.O. ability wear off after one stage, make it unable to go through drop-through floors (while other abilities can), and on top of that made the Little U.F.O.s that grant the ability the only enemies in the game that never respawn. Unfortunately, though, they neglected to catch a glitch that allows Kirby to be a U.F.O. for the entire game. In the remake Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land, you can get UFO by sucking up two Rockys and whiz through the rest of the stage.
• Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land has the Needle ability. You have invincibility from attacks while giving you the ability to keep hurting enemies. You can beat Bonkers to grab the Hammer ability just by tossing yourself at him and pressing the attack button. King Dedede can be damaged before his fight starts by using this ability. The drawback is that it's difficult to use against flying bosses and enemies, but not impossible.
• Also from Adventure is the surprisingly niche Ball power. While passed up for the longest time, speedrunners eventually figured out a way to finagle its strange physics to get it up to full momentum within a few bounces, showing its potential to turn Kirby into an invincible ball of destruction that does more damage than any other attack in the game, turning it into a boss-shredder especially.

Kirby's Dream Land 2

• Coo + Parasol. The resulting tornado attack provides invincibility frames and an easily maneuvered hitbox. It's so bad that angry Propeller Bombs (which normally One-Hit Kill the animal friend) can be destroyed by it. Needless to say, Coo and the combo itself deserved to be nerfed in Kirby's Dream Land 3; Coo is harder to control there, and the combo can actually be pierced by certain attacks, at least including the nose poke counterattack by Whispy Woods.
• Coo + Cutter makes him shoot a Spread Shot 3 spinning cutters that cover a wide area and can also destroy the Propeller Bombs. Like the above, Dream Land 3 nerfs it; now he can only shoot 1 cutter at a time to one of the 3 directions.
• Kine + Ice is similarly broken (to the point of it being worth using Kine on land). The idea is you can move freely with an impenetrable shield of ice, but if you hold it too long you're frozen in a cube of ice and left immobile and defenseless for a couple seconds. In theory this is a balance, in practice all you need to do is tap the B button to keep the shield indefinitely. It also renders the Propeller Bombs a complete non-threat since they are frozen in one hit by Ice. Dream Land 3 changes it so that Kine is immediately frozen and immobile, although enemies that touch him will still get frozen.

Kirby Super Star

• Grab the "Copy" ability, make it into a helper, and have a second player take control of him. Realize he is almost literally unkillable short of huge play mistakes — T.A.C. (the name of the Copy helper) can vanish at will, every time he copies a power (and he can ditch and re-copy at will) his health refills completely — and, if the enemy is un-copy-able, has a decently damaging attack that turns lightning-fast as long as he's near the enemy. Picking up Stone and letting T.A.C. deal with everything without any risk of dying got many players through the Arena in record times.
  • While Copy is ordinarily pointless for Kirby to have himself, it becomes a Game-Breaker in Milky Way Wishes as it can bypass that game's gimmick and give Kirby his ability to copy back. Consequently, the Copy ability is very well-hidden.
    • Speaking of MWW, Hammer's greatest strength is unlocked there; when using the Hammer Throw technique, Kirby sacrifices his Hammer ability for a huge amount of damage, but because of how abilities work in MWW, you can just re-equip Hammer and do it again almost immediately.
• Plasma is another ability that can turn you into an engine of destruction. A full charge fires a shot that not only deals impressive amounts of damage, but also reaches all the way across the screen and pierces through enemies and obstacles. Maintaining a full charge creates a shield that protects you from minor projectiles, you can generate a full charge in about a second with a little practice, and you can charge while defending. You can just guard while rapidly spinning the + Control Pad to quickly build up a full charge; even better, the Virtual Console re-releases provide a much shallower learning curve thanks to the fact that the controllers required to play the game include a usable analog stick, which is much easier to spin at a much more rapid pace! The DS remake nerfed Plasma in that it requires more presses of the + Control Pad to reach full charge, but the 3DS inadvertently buffed it by introducing the Circle Pad, which you can just spin to build up a full charge in a second like the original.
  • In addition to Plasma, there's the helper, Plasma Wisp. For the most part, it's functionally the same as Plasma in that you have a strike shield and need to move to build charge, but there's one massive difference: it has free eight direction movement, meaning it can go up and down without needing to do silly things like press A. Once you get used to it keeping its momentum a little, any fight that requires you to leave the ground at any point becomes far easier if you want to attack while doing so.
• Jet is by far the best ability in the game for speedrunning. Kirby moves extremely fast with the ability and can even bypass some minibosses due to how high Jet can fly, causing him to completely fly over the usual area that would trigger the miniboss battle. Its only weakness is that it isn't very effective against bosses compared to, say, Plasma or Hammer. That being said, the ability is the absolute king of hit-and-run tactics, and with good timing and consistency, Jet Cracker can shred bosses very quickly. Also, it has one of the best grapple moves in the game in Rocket Dive, which, to put things into perspective, can take out Dyna Blade the moment she lands. It takes a massive chunk out of other bosses' health as well.
• Mirror's Reflect Guard, which reflects all projectiles, can make many bosses such as Computer Virus and Marx much easier to deal with by neutralizing some of their trickier patterns. Combined with a serviceable damage output, it's a unique defensive ability that can be pretty overpowered in the right matchups.
• Any ability that offers a flexible throw attack, such as Fighter, Suplex, Yo-yo, etc. This is mainly since if you can get your hands on any object/enemy the boss or enemy throws out, you can toss it right into them to deal huge damage.
  • Suplex in particular is monstrous in the right hands, because its moveset consists predominantly of throw attacks. These wrestling moves hit hard while granting Kirby generous invincibility frames during their animations, ones that allow Kirby to cover a lot of distance and quickly outmaneuver bosses. Knowing how and when to use those wrestling moves turns the pink demon into a Lightning Bruiser with enough practice.
• The Wheelie Rider ability (which is only done with a Wheelie helper) is rife for abuse from clever players. Even when playing normally with a single player, it can be used to ensure Kirby preserves a rare ability (since he can retain it while riding Wheelie) as well as direct all damage the duo takes to the helper, allowing for essentially doubled health so long as Wheelie stays alive. However, with either two players or one player with the right controls (a modified controller or remapped controller) is nigh unstoppable. Getting around the fact that you're using two controllers (two players that are well coordinated fills this out amazingly), and you've got great mobility and a very powerful projectile attack that can be aimed in eight directions and a very high rate of fire.
• Stone is this for an entirely different reason, thanks to helpers. Instead of needing to leave the stone form, you can stay in it indefinitely while your helper kills whatever it is you're fighting. With a friend controlling the helper, the game goes from very hard to die in to nearly impossible to die in.
• Knuckle Joe, due to one simple reason: if you use his charged B attack, he fires a Kamehame Hadoken that can go across the screen, and deals a respectable 20 damage per hit. Most characters able to fire off attacks from a distance either have a drawback (Plasma needs charging, Ninja’s kunai are weak and have significant recovery time), but not Joe. The attack has only a paltry few frames of recovery, and can be used on both the ground and in the air. So long as you stay away from whatever you’re against, Joe is practically untouchable as he knocks off chunks of the opponent’s HP with each attack.

Kirby's Dream Land 3

• Pitch is easily the best Animal Friend with powerful versions of the abilities, such as Cutter and Burning making him a big projectile that comes back and picks items along the way, Spark making him a controllable "RC" that can hurt enemies by touch, and Needle making him and Kirby fly invincibly forward while damaging enemies. He also is easy to control, with air movements almost similar to Kirby's.

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards

For the few useless powers and joke abilities, this game has a plethora of absolutely devastating powers that will allow you to mow through enemies and bosses with ease:

• Cutter + Bomb gives Kirby explosive ninja star throwing power. It's extremely rapid fire and hits almost instantly. Most bosses go down very fast.
• Burning + Burning basically turns Kirby into a comet that allows Kirby to soar for long distances, destroying nearly everything in his path. He can also fly for much longer after Kirby has used his breath, allowing him to soar for great distances past whole stages. You can't control your flight as the comet, but that's rarely a concern.
• Ice + Ice turns Kirby into an almost indestructible snowball. All enemies become absorbed in his path. The player doesn't even have to do anything most of the time. Just grab some popcorn and enjoy the mayhem.
• Stone + Cutter turns Kirby into a stone form of one of his past companions. In stone form, Kirby is invincible, plowing through most enemies while at worst losing his stone skin if he hits a Gordo or other similar spiked item (without losing health or the power). Now, just mash B until you get Pitch (the small bird), who can fly indefinitely, and you'll pass through most stages easily. As a bonus, Kirby won't be affected by water currents in this stone form, which helps immensely in a certain water stage.
  • It's not exactly helpful against Acro though...
• Burning + Cutter. In addition to looking really cool, this BFS can also be held up and thrown. Helps a lot when fighting Acro and HR-H/E.
• Spark + Cutter gives you a double-ended laser sword. What it lacks in the versatility of the fire sword, it makes up for in speed. Kirby: cutest Sith ever.
• Not only does Spark + Stone look cool, but you can hit enemies from every angle if you let the rock bounce around on its electric cord. You can casually walk through some stages with this combo.
• Stone + Needle. It allows you to fire a drill that destroys every enemy in its path (except invincible ones). Also, you can plow through enemies while holding on to it, making you an unstoppable projectile of doom. Also, if button mashed while in the air, and if a direction (horizontal) is held down, you can float insane distances, because activating the drill stops you from falling. Platforming and fighting help all in one.
• Ice + Spark. It turns Kirby into a refrigerator and pops out three food items. And it can be used in boss fights. That's right; this power lets you heal during boss fights! Even though it's hard to actually attack with it, you can still outlast everything until you get enough lucky hits in.
• Spark + Spark surrounds Kirby with a forcefield that instantly zaps any enemy that touches it.
• Burning + Bomb. Kirby jumps, spins, and shoots fireworks all around him. Usable three times before you have to land, and gets bigger with each use. You keep all of your momentum and mobility when attacking, making it great for moving through stagees quickly.
• Bomb + Bomb equals homing missiles.
• The Bomb ability in of itself is damn effective. Covering a good distance if held, it's also easy to use close up, and thanks to the animation, is very easy to mash quickly with the B button. While not the most powerful, the practical use in almost any situation more than makes up for that.
• In short, with experimentation, even newbie players will stumble upon at least one combo that makes the game a breeze. As a result, the biggest challenges are found in 100% Completion, where you are often required to use a particular ability — not necessarily an effective one — to find a Shard. Just a warning, though: Do not expect to use these for the Final Boss, Miracle Matter, who holds the distinction of being the only boss post-Dream Land where copy abilities are next to useless.

Kirby & the Amazing Mirror

• The Smash ability. It grants Kirby his moveset from the Super Smash Bros. series including moves Kirby can normally use with Cutter, Hammer and Stone, giving Kirby plenty of moves to play with and the ability to cut ropes, take out silver blocks and wooden stakes that would require other abilities, though another ability would be needed to light fuses. The hammer swings in particular are heavily scaled up in power, dealing twice as much damage compared to the actual Hammer ability and actually making it better than Hammer against many bosses in the game^* For instance, you can take out King Golem in just over a single second. It's a rare ability, but if you can acquire it, hold on to it as much as you can.
• The Master ability is fittingly named because it cannot be lost accidentally (when Kirby loses it, it doesn't disappear) and can get past any obstacle in the game, including any obstacle that requires specific abilities (ropes, silver blocks, wooden stakes, and fuses). It's also quite powerful and flexible, having far more attacks available than the plain Sword ability. However, the only time it can be used before the credits are seen at least once is during the final boss battle, so its main use is either for easy access to missed treasures or for just screwing around post-game if the file has been 100% completed.
• With a little bit of luck, Throw can break the main stage bosses in seconds. Wait for any boss to spawn stars or projectiles, inhale them with Throw, then hold the grabbed object against the boss. Kirby becomes invincible and if the boss lingers around him, they take massive amounts of damage over time, with the amount of damage dealt by each hit being more than that of abilities like Stone and Missile. Definitely not as feasible against Dark Mind, but that's what Master is for.

Kirby: Squeak Squad

• Tornado is overpowered to the point of literal insanity. You are effectively invincible while using it, you fly with easy controls while using it, it lasts a very long time, does absurd contact damage, and the kicker? The frame it ends, you can start another tornado. It's actually easier to beat the Final Boss with it than the 11th-Hour Superpower! It wasn't such a game breaker in previous games where Tornado exists, due to certain bosses that are either immune to such method or are quite tricky to hit at close range, but Squeak Squad has no such boss.
• UFO returns in this game, and now you can keep it after exiting stages (you still cannot drop down floors, however)! In addition, getting the Copy Scroll for UFO gives it an Orbiting Particle Shield of 2 sparks that act as an effective barrier and (like any other electric attacks) can send sparks through water and metallic surface.

Kirby's Return to Dream Land

• Wing. There's a reason why you can't find this ability regularly until World 5; it's the best mobility ability in the game overall, and essential to speedrunning. Wing has the second fastest vertical mobility in the game (behind the niche Hi-Jump) and excellent horizontal aerial mobility with its aerial dash attack, and when combined, allow you to basically pick and choose your height at any given time without losing any speed. Most of its aerial attacks have invincibility and are powerful, allowing you to plow through any enemies in your way while being able to go through some obstacles. Additionally, it has one of the best, if not the best, damage outputs against aerial bosses in the game. Because so many of Wing Kirby's moves can now cancel into each other and, as mentioned above, have tons of invincibility, Wing Kirby is completely safe against most of these bosses and can shred them in seconds. The only reason why Wing isn't used more in the Arena is that it doesn't have a single attack that deals a lot of damage at once, which Hammer can use to get a head start on bosses.
  • Thanks to Super Smash Bros., Meta Knight has inherited Shuttle Loop from the Wing ability, and it's just as broken for him as it is for Wing Kirby.
• The Spark ability in this game is brutal. It combines the classic Spark (hold down attack to erect an electric force-field) with the Plasma ability's^note from Kirby Super Star charged-shot mechanic. Unlike KSS, however, where you had to charge by mashing the + Control Pad in various directions, you can charge KRTD's Spark by shaking the Wii Remote, which can quickly and easily fully charge the shot (although you can also mash the controller in this game as well) — combined with the fact that the fully charged blast deals ludicrous damage to just about anything, it can take down even the Final Boss in less than a minute. That is, of course, assuming your wrists don't get sore from waggling while dodging attacks. On top of all that, hitting the attack button while holding up or down will fire a lightning bolt to the edge of the screen in that direction, instantly hitting everything either above or below you regardless of your charge level. It also includes the plasma barrier that appears when it's fully charged, and will damage close enemies and disperse most projectiles; the barrier is large enough that if another character is piggybacking on Spark Kirby, the barrier would be able to protect both of them.
• The Tornado ability returns and is more powerful than ever. As always, it makes Kirby completely invincible until he stops spinning, making it easy to avoid damage and punish enemy assaults. Not only that, but it now has a charging attack that is used by shaking the Wii Remote while Kirby is spinning. When he stops, the tornado spreads out as it dissipates, causing a ton of constant damage and covering Kirby as he recovers. Needless to say, mastering Tornado is just about the same as mastering Spark, and having at least two Kirbys with both of these abilities will absolutely wreck any boss that stands in their way.
• Water deserves mention as well, notably its dash attack. Although it doesn't seem like much at first (Kirby rides a wave forward, with no way to control/stop it until it ends a short distance away), Kirby is literally invincible during the entire attack, meaning you can just coast through anything, from giant boulders to the final bosses' huge lasers. The other attacks aren't bad either; you can shoot a geyser straight up to hit flying bosses, or send blobs of water across the ground with unlimited range. Still, the dash attack is just ridiculous.
  • Water's Rainbow Rain attack does a good amount of damage and can be chained infinitely, if you're quick enough. Oh, and Kirby is invincible the whole time, and said chaining makes him permanently invincible, and you can also suspend him in midair with this, if you need to hit a floating boss.
• Leaf. Its guard renders you completely intangible to almost all attacks, much like TAC's guard (it won't save you from being sucked into a vortex of pain, for example), its Leaf Uppercut and Leaf Rain are fast, spammable and do good damage, and it's one of the first powers you can obtain, and is thus available in the first Copy Room. Leaf Uppercut and Leaf Rain are so fast, in fact, that Leaf is actually one of the premier boss-slaying abilities in the game, despite looking like just another defensive ability on the surface. Its overall damage exceeds Spark's and is comparable to Fighter's, and due to its ability to attack from so many different angles, there isn't a single boss in the game that Leaf actually struggles with, even without using its guard.
• Fighter easily breaks the final boss due to the invincibility frames in Rising Break. All you have to do is use the uppercut, get on top and repeatedly use the dropkick. It's also very powerful as a general ability- its Instant Mega Force Blast, inputted with down + forward + 1, deals 36 damage and comes out very fast. To put it into perspective, this is only slightly less than a fully charged Spark wave and does not require a charge. The only downside to this is that it doesn't hit bosses in the air, but the aforementioned Rising Break + dropkick trick, possibly coupled with other respectable aerial options that have good range, makes short work of them.
• Stone is broken even by Stone Ability standards. Not only does it make you almost totally invincible to most attacks, but it has two attacks (Dash+1 and Down+1 in midair) that allow you to hit enemies multiple times for massive damage. If that weren't enough, this Stone also has a purely-offensive Uppercut attack that's like a non-fiery version of Hammer's Hammer Flip.
• King Dedede makes Hammer's infamy worse in this game, as he naturally keeps his Hammer even after using Hammer Throw, meaning he can just spam it as much as he wants. The Hammer Flip starting from this game can also hit when the hammer is being held up as it's flaming, dealing extra hits before the swing itself if positioned right.
• Starting from this game, there's a trick with Ice, Sword and Hammer that lets them cut through bosses' HP very quickly: the "jump attack animation cancel". The trick is to do Ice's Super Ice Sprinkle, Sword's Sword Spin and Hammer's Ultra Giant Swing (all done by pressing the attack button in the air after a dash jump) after dash jumping low enough to the ground so that the first/second spin attack you do will have Kirby/Meta Knight/Dedede touch the ground; by the time they touch the ground, you can immediately do a small dash jump again and then attack again in the air in the same way, which can be repeated ad nauseam, which lets them deal high damage per second. Some Dexterity Required, however, and you also risk getting hit by the enemy at close range.
• Starting from Return to Dream Land, Ice got an amazing move that wrecks bosses, grants invincibility, does as much damage as Spark's biggest shot, and can be easily spammed. Ice Ball alone solidifies Ice's place among the broken abilities in the game, as the amount of time you have invincibility frames following the attack is laughably overpowered. It also has surprising range; the Ice Ball can hit midair foes just fine if they're a little above the attack. Ice Ball covers up all the weaknesses of Super Ice Sprinkle (used with the Lag Cancel trick explained above); it lets you reposition or get that extra little hit in when the boss moves out of the way, all while staying completely safe in the process. When considering this alongside the fact that Ice's guard is one of the guards that is immune to almost anything, that it has the fastest grab in the game in Ice Ejection, and that it can freeze certain projectiles that bosses use to deal even more damage to them, Ice has the potential to destroy any boss in the game.
  • Notably, Ice wasn't as good in Triple Deluxe because the Ice Ball attack wasn't present, but it was back to being broken again in Planet Robobot. It returned for Star Allies as well, though notably nerfed; it doesn't travel as far, you'll be punished for thinking the invincibility frames still persist after the attack ends, and a lot of bosses now have attacks that will overpower the invincibility frames, most notably the Three Mage-Sisters. That being said, with proper usage, the damage it deals is still worth it, and you're still invincible during the attack, so even with the nerf, it still barely hangs on as a game breaker, especially considering there are other great moves in Ice's arsenal.
• Parasol, after being mediocre throughout the GBA and DS era and only really usable at the TAS level in Super Star, gained a single move that makes it the bane of all grounded bosses in the game: Parasol Twirl. It grants Kirby invincibility and nearly full control of horizontal drift during its active frames, and deals up to 72 damage in quick succession. In comparison, a Hammer Flip does 80 damage and is much slower than this move. Parasol's grounded damage is thus the best in the game by far, beating out even Hammer and Fighter, and it makes otherwise headache-inducing bosses like HR-D3 into complete jokes. Its weakness is that it can't do the same to airborne bosses, but many of those bosses have patterns where they swoop near the ground anyway, giving you plenty of openings to unleash this move on them. Parasol overall has been buffed as well; it gains true invincibility on its dash attack now, letting you plow through open stages with its great horizontal movement without having to worry about taking any damage.

Kirby: Triple Deluxe

• The Beetle ability. It makes all other weapon-based abilities (like Sword and Spear) redundant, as all of its attacks (even its rapid-fire combo attack) do a massive amount of damage coupled with generous invincibility frames. It can even smash in pegs like Stone and Hammer, cut ropes like Sword and Cutter, its flight damages enemies, and it can use powerful grappling moves like Suplex from earlier games, making it overshadow other abilities even more. It has been added to Kirby Fighters Deluxe (though you have to have played Kirby Triple Deluxe to unlock it), but it's been toned down so many of its moves have a slight delay. It's still extremely powerful, though.
• The Archer ability is amazing for both bosses and normal gameplay, due to one single attack: Magic-Star Arrow. You can charge your arrow in about 2.5 seconds to get an arrow that reaches the same damage as the very powerful Hammer and Stone abilities. Thanks to its very fast charging speed, excellent range, and really good damage, you can take out most bosses with ease. And if that wasn't enough, the ability includes an evasive maneuver that makes Kirby immune to damage akin to Leaf's guard (by crouching). Its only disadvantage is that it makes for a poor close-range ability, but its potential to let you snipe enemies from a safe distance clearly outweighs its cons. Like with Beetle, Kirby Fighters noticeably tones it down, however, with the arrows taking far longer to charge and there being a slight delay on going into the invincibility camouflage.
• Anything with a guard that makes you No-Sell all damage, such as Leaf and Bell.
• Although tricky to time, the Circus ability can become one. Remember the "Hi-Jump" ability? Well the Circus ability incorporated that into its moveset with the Trampoline Jump. The "Down B" move is a ball roll that is a slightly longer lasting version of the Hammer Twirl. Lastly, the Fire Hoop Jump is one of the few moves that can accurately damage Sectonia (in both games) during her teleportation move, a move typically hard to pinpoint. These moves can be used in combination to slice through the True Arena, especially in the later game.

Kirby: Planet Robobot

• ESP. Although it's a simple fun ability at first glance, true mastery of this supernatural ability reveals that it has a teleport move that removes Kirby's hitbox (making it one of the few, if not only, move that can completely negate the rings that Star Dream Soul OS fires) and can cover ground easily, an energy ball move that, when spammed near an enemy without charging, has impressive DPS, and a counter "prediction" move that, when used right, is like an omnidirectional Hammer Flip without the long startup and cooldown. If you are able to combine this with extensive knowledge of how to fight Core Kabula and Star Dream in the quickest way possible, then you can potentially beat the True Arena in less than 14 minutes. Tops.
• Hammer remains as powerful as ever, perhaps the strongest it's ever been. Here's the proof.
• It seems that thanks to the mechanics of boss invincibility has been reworked^note in past games, bosses get a second of Mercy Invincibility each time they're hit. In this game, that has been removed altogether, barring the switch between boss stages, and even then it's only heightened defense, not complete invincibility, any ability with a move that's usable in the air, has respectable power, and is spammable^note such as Psychokinesis, Giant Swing, and Super Ice Sprinkle, in addition to a move with very high power^note such as PK Evade, Hammer Flip, and Ice Ejection has the potential to rip through the True Arena in record-breaking time. Exhibit A and B are shown above. Exhibit C? Ice.
  • Other exhibits include Ninja^note with Shock/Quad Shock and Air Drop, Doctor^note with Pharmacy and Science Lab, Whip^note with Ceiling Strike, 100-Whip Dash, and various Lash grabs and Cutter ^note with Sweep and Final Cutter combo.
• amiibo. If you have certain kinds of amiibo and the means to use them, then you can scan them in a stage anytime you like (provided you aren't using Robobot Armor) and get a free ability, including the rare and powerful Smash Bros. and UFO abilities, along with a healing item, and you can use amiibo as early as stage 1-3. There are limitations in that you can only use the same kind once and up to 10 different kinds per stage, though these limits are reset when you clear the stage, so you can use the amiibo again in another stage. You can even use them in the Arena, True Arena, and Meta Knightmare Returns, but your record will be marked with an icon if you do.
• Smash Bros., which features a fairly powerful and far-reaching lunge kick with invincibility frames during it, a Hammer Flip during which you can move and jump while indefinitely charging it (three levels of charge!), the Shoryukenesque Final Cutter, the spammable Ultra Giant Swing, and finally, a Stone form which is not only also another powerful attack, but also renders you invulnerable to most^note Will not protect against Star Dream Soul OS' One-Hit KO rings attacks for as long as you want on top of all the offensive moves you can do. Better yet, you actually can snag this ability as early as 1-4 in a secret room!
• UFO is an ability you cannot legitimately get early in the game without using amiibo. Like in Squeak Squad, you don't lose the ability after exiting the stage, and now it can pass through drop-through floors. In addition, its Charged Attack has a final level called Heat Cannon that can deal as much damage as the Hammer Flip, in addition of a Spread Shot of weaker blasts (including one behind him). It also retains its "Star Guard" ability from Squeak Squad (now done by repeatedly tapping the attack button) and has a dash attack where it flies invincibly forward while dealing damage and passing through enemies.
• Stone, Leaf, and Archer return and are just as game-breaking as they were in their previous appearances. All three of them have skills to evade almost all attacks altogether and have powerful and spammable moves to boot (Leaf's Leaf Uppercut and Archer's Magic-Star Arrow).
  • Leaf especially. Besides the default attack and "Leaf Rain" being nerfed, it remains mostly unchanged, so it retains its Game-Breaker nature from the previous titles.
• The Robobot Armor has ESP Mode, Spark Mode, and Mike Mode. ESP is absurdly versatile, being able to move very fast, produce an orb shield, and attack both upwards and all around it. Spark can rapid-fire weak projectiles, but also quickly charge up a huge piercing laser blast. Mike can attack while moving and has a powerful long-range sound wave, but unfortunately is only available in three stages.
• Poison. Take the Water ability from Return to Dream Land, invincible charge and all. Now add in the added bonus of leaving a toxic trail on the ground which harms anything that treads on it. Is the enemy airborne? No problem, Kirby can spit out 2-3 toxic clouds and achieve the same effect, all while still being able to attack as himself while the poison traps chip away the enemy's health. Even better, the multi-hitting "geyser" attack is now aimable, even at very close to 90 degrees angle.

Kirby Battle Royale

• Three abilities in particular stand out for being broken. Number one is Beetle, which is available right from the get-go and can send everyone else running for the hills with Rocket Horn which can annihilate anything in its path and also zip around really fast and when the attack ends, opponents STILL aren't in the clear as it ends with a dive attack that creates a damaging area-of-effect shockwave. Number two is Hammer, which can deliver a One-Hit KO with Hammer Flip and Big Hammer Drop, and also become a whirlwind of pain with Hammer Swing. Number 3 is Tornado, which its new Charge Attack that lets him create a big, black tornado that acts like a black hole; its charge time is fairly short, too.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land

• Ranger allows Kirby to shoot at enemies from a ridiculous distance, even allowing the ability to target enemies in the background, and can be charged for a massive damage shot. Normal enemies including the Giant Mooks become jokes when you can snipe them from way beyond their range, and most bosses don't have much in terms of long-range attacks, letting a skilled Ranger player whittle them down with impunity. If the enemy does get near, it has one of the more effective counterattacks in the game with last-second dodges, allowing three three-shot volleys in if you mash the attack button. Unlike most other abilities, Ranger has the honor of having the only charged attack in the game you can actually dodge out of, and as the counter is a projectile it has a better chance of actually hitting the enemy back considering some bosses will already be out of reach of short-range abilities after dodging certain attacks. Ranger's evolutions improve on these qualities, with Noble Ranger trading in charged high-damage pellets for More Dakka and Space Ranger's charge attack which, in addition to being more powerful than base Ranger's, shoots out a huge ring that penetrates mooks and produces a massive lingering Sphere of Destruction upon hitting surfaces and bosses, racking up massive rapid damage after its already incredibly powerful initial hit while also causing noticeable hitstun and delaying their movements further.
• Just like in Star Allies, Bomb is a truly formidable Copy Ability for boss battles. The vanilla version of the ability isn't anything to write home about, but its two evolutions - Chain Bomb and Homing Bomb - are two of the best area-of-effect abilities in the entire game. Chain Bomb adds the ability to link up to 5 bombs together for AOE damage upon their explosion; their area of effect is normally quite small on their own, but when linked together it becomes surprisingly large, dealing respectable damage in wide areas. Homing Bomb includes all the strengths of the Chain Bomb, and also makes the bombs automatically home in on the closest enemy on the field: this new perk turns the ability into a stupidly effective boss killer and can make the usually dreaded No-Damage Run Waddle Dees much easier to obtain, as you can just spam the attack button while moving only to dodge incoming attacks; its only real flaw is that sometimes chained bombs could end up too far apart due to the homing system and end up unchained as a result, significantly whittling down the ability's damage output.
• The Purposely Overpowered Morpho Knight Sword is easily one of, if not, the most powerful abilities in the game, perhaps in the whole franchise. It has the highest base attack power and speed of any ability, along with a charge attack that shatters boss health bars and enlarges your sword, letting you swing it like a Gigant Sword for even more damage. On top of that, your dodge is improved with increased invincibility frames, and the final hit of your basic three-hit combo even restores some of your own health. Since the ability is given to you just before unlocking The Ultimate Cup Z, you'll most likely attempt it with this equipped, potentially turning what is supposed to be the final and hardest challenge of the game into a total cakewalk (unless you get cocky against Chaos Elfilis, because if you do you're likely doomed even with the ability). While its Sword Beam attack is intended to be balanced by only being available at full HP, it also works as long as the player has the extra life bar powerup active. And since every time you correctly perform the normal combo it will heal you a bit, it means almost nothing. And what better way to make this ability even more broken? You can upgrade it.
• After a poor showing in Star Allies, Ice is back to the height of its power, comparable to its Return to Dream Land incarnation. The move to 3D might have taken Ice Ball and the dash jump attack, but in their place is the ability to freeze bosses solid, dealing a significant chunk of their health when they break out. This being a Kirby game, every boss has some move that invites immediate and significant reprisal, meaning there's always a primary point to go to town. Of course, the same could be said of Hammer, Sword, and Bombs in this game...only Ice now retains its invincible shield and stands as the best shield ability in the game, largely because the attacks from Star Allies that pierce invicibility frames have effectively been dropped. Grabs and suction moves overpower the shield, but almost nothing else. In fact, the many melee enemies that you fight hurt themselves just touching Kirby. It is entirely possible in some fights to win by just holding R for twenty minutes. Add in a slide effect to maintain dodge speed for the few times you need it and fantastically scaling upgrades that give Ice almost uncontested range aside from Ranger, and you have one of the strongest abilities in the game - and by far the safest and easiest to abuse.