YMMV / Kirby: Planet Robobot

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • This theory brings up some interesting points regarding Susie. Is she the same Susanna as the one that was in the accident or a clone created by Star Dream who lacks a soul? After all, three of the bosses are cloned and two of those (King Dedede and Dark Matter) are mentioned to be imperfect copies, with Dedede Clone 2.0's description outright saying that souls cannot be copied. This also affects Haltmann to an extent: does he not recognize his daughter? Or is he aware that the duplicate created by Star Dream does not have a soul and is essentially not his daughter? Relatedly, if Susie was a clone, was her betraying Haltmann simply greed? Was her lack of conscience due to laking a soul? And/or did Haltmann treating her as a failed replica make it a Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal? However, this theory was jossed with the confirmation that the Susie in the main story is the same as the one in the backstory, and Haltmann doesn't recognize her due to Star Dream's memory deterioration effect.
  • President Haltmann, was his memory of Susie erased because of a side effect of using Star Dream, or did Star Dream erase his memory purposely? Star Dream was made to maximize profits for the company and looking for Susie does not benefit the company's bottom line.
• Awesome Music: To be expected. Not only does most of the soundtrack incorporate the "mechanization" theme of the game into its music (sometimes making formerly peppier tracks, such as "Float Islands", more intense/somber), but Planet Robobot features quite a few remixes from the Dark Matter Trilogy, with many songs getting remixed for the first time, in a series that is known for remixing its old tunes several times over.
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • President Haltmann. There are those who pity him for his Trauma Conga Line which begins with him losing his daughter and ends with him getting erased from existence by his own supercomputer, and there are those who believe he heavily overreacted to his daughter's (apparent) death, that his backstory doesn't excuse the fact that he tried to wipe out the people of Planet Popstar, and that he deserved what he got.
  • While his previous appearances are still loved and this incarnation of the fight is considered the best, the fandom is split on this appearance of Galacta Knight. While some argue that his appearance is fitting and point to the amazing fight, detractors point to how expected his reappearance was and that his appearance in Return to Dream Land was too recent and too soon after his debut to bring him back again twice. This is in addition to him coming soon after the grand reappearance of Dark Matter, which was met with universal praise.
• Best Boss Ever:
  • In a game within a series filled with them, this one is no exception, but the standout is easily the Final Boss, Star Dream. It's worth mentioning that it's a Marathon Boss with three forms, hard-hitting attacks, an awesome setting, and epic music. But the real kicker is that it's an Unexpected Shmup Level in the vein of Zero-Two, and the fact that you are basically fighting NOVA of all things… with the entire freakin' Halberd! And that's not even talking about the Soul OS version… There's a very good reason why Star Dream is considered one of the greatest final bosses in the series, if not the best.
  • The first secret boss is none other than Dark Matter Blade from Dream Land 2, accompanied with a combined remix of both of his themes and a variant of all of his attacks from his origin game. Soon after, Galacta Knight comes back with yet another remix of his theme and a dynamic update to his fight in Return to Dream Land.
• Breather Boss:
  • The D3 Cannon, fought right after defeating the Dedede Clones for the first time. Compared to the previous battle, where the enemies constantly charge at you erratically (even the normal version is frustrating), this battle has awesome music, very predictable attack patterns (the lines in the arena will outright let you know where the boss is going to go to, allowing you to plan ahead), and easy-to-avoid attacks. Even the 2.0 version is easy.
  • Gigavolt II, the boss at the end of the final normal stage of the game. Once you get its attack patterns down, it's a fun battle that looks awesome, and it's much easier than the sequence of bosses that follows.
  • Sectonia Clone is pretty easy compared to the preceding boss. Even though Dark Matter Clone's attacks are mostly reused from the game it appeared in, this is the first time it's fought in 3D, offering more of a challenge for new players or players that haven't fought it in a long time. But Sectonia Clone's attack patterns are reused from a more recent Kirby game she appeared in that was already 3D, making her moves a tad predictable for those who played it. And Star Dream thinks Dark Matter Clone was too easy for you?
  • C.O.G.S. and Core Kabula in the True Arena. While they're fought back-to-back and fought in an Unexpected Shmup Level, compared to what comes before and after them, their attacks are predictable and not very intense, and the former has very low health.
• Broken Base:
  • There are a few who are disappointed that the long-time absent UFO ability requires the new Kirby series amiibo in order to be used. However, there are many excited to get the new amiibo anyway and some feel that UFO being locked behind the amiibo is fitting, given that it's always been a rare ability and when obtained, it proves to be a total Game-Breaker. While it can also be earned as a reward without the amiibo by gaining 100% completion — but of course, that means completing the notoriously difficult True Arena at least once, and without amiibo, it can't be taken into the Arenas, making it just as unaccessible as it was before.
  • The True Final Boss. While the original fight with Star Dream and the unique parts of this fight were well-received, this fight has a fair amount of detractors for being the longest boss in the franchise, taking up half of the True Arena, and its last-ditch attack, with it either being a nice twist on the formula or downright cheap.
  • While the Planet Robobot Q&A session has been received mostly warmly, one particular point bothers the fans a lot: the reveal that the series' "extra modes" (including the Arenas and New Game Plus-style modes) aren't completely canon. Some find that it only makes sense (as the extra modes can often completely contradict the main story), some are annoyed because it causes a lot of plot holes and potentially eliminates some well-liked events of those modes from the canon, and others are simply confused about what it entails. It doesn't help that Shinya Kumazaki didn't elaborate much on his response.
• Can't Un-Hear It: Many people feel they're unable to hear "Soul 0 System" (the boss fight against Star Dream Soul OS' core) the same way after hearing SiIvaGunner's meme-infused version.
• Catharsis Factor: The Robobot Armor is built for this. Half the fun of getting it is being able to destroy everything that Kirby can't overcome normally, as well as performing some crazy finishers. Stages 6-6 and 6-8 demonstrate the former excellently, and the latter is best shown with dealing the final blow to Star Dream by drilling straight through it.
• Death of the Author: Kumazaki's statement potentially regarding The Arenas and New Game Plus modes in the franchise as Alternate Continuity has been rather polarizing for fans. Given how this statement can raise quite a few Voodoo Sharks depending on how you interpret it, some fans prefer to just keep treating everything as fully canon just so they can close the fridge.
• Even Better Sequel: To Kirby: Triple Deluxe, which was already considered to be one to Kirby's Return to Dream Land. Consensus is that Planet Robobot is even better than Triple Deluxe in terms of the subgames and originality.
• Fanon: The regular Mooks that give the ESP ability (named NESPs) being "Dark Matter Cultists" is well-ingrained in the fandom, which isn't exactly unfounded, though there's no indication that they are aware that Star Dream is able to replicate Dark Matter.
• Foe Yay Shipping: Meta Knight/Susie is very common in parts of the fandom, and has quite the lion's share of fanart and fanfiction. The basis for the ship is Susie having a thing for Meta Knight (reciprocated or not) based on how she finds him admirable for his strength, enough to turn him into a cyborg bodyguard for the Haltmann Corporation. This got fueled by Star Allies later on, which has a title screen interaction where Susie friendly waves at Meta Knight only for him to get startled and run off.
• Game-Breaker:
  • 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 the 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.
  • Thanks to the mechanics of boss invincibility being 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 for a lot of attacks, 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. This includes Ice, 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, and finally, a Stone form which is not only also another powerful attack, but also renders you invulnerable to 99%^note Will not protect against Star Dream Soul OS' One-Hit KO rings of all 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. There is a good reason for this. It features a far-reaching Heat Cannon shot that deals as much damage as a Hammer Flip, and also a flight mechanic that allows Kirby to fly in any direction in a straight line without having to constantly hover in place manually, greatly facilitating evasion of certain enemy attacks. In addition, the UFO has gained a dash attack that also gives it invincibility frames. The game pretty much turns into a Shoot 'Em Up, with Kirby as the overpowered player ship. What's more, like in Kirby: Squeak Squad, you don't lose the UFO ability after clearing a stage with it.
  • 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).
  • 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.
  • Mirror, if you're good at timing. Its main gimmick is reflecting projectiles, so it can hit bosses who are off the screen (Clanky Woods and Coily Rattler), and can attack from farther away, and essentially has a counterattack with easy timing. Unfortunately, it doesn't move at all during its invincibility frames, so if you want to do damage during rush attacks, you're gonna have to time it well.
  • Ninja can attack very fast, deals high amounts of damage, and has plenty of interesting moves. The dash makes Kirby invincible, and he can backdrop enemy projectiles, making him invulnerable and dealing a lot of damage, sometimes even twice in a row.
  • Unexpectedly, Wheel is severely overpowered in this game. By mashing left and right on the + Control Pad, the wheel will jump back and forth, dealing rapid damage and making Kirby completely invincible. Its one weakness, bottomless pits, has been eliminated due to Planet Robobot not having pits during its boss battles.
• Genius Bonus: The band on Poison Kirby's crown has the same stripe pattern as a coral snake.
• Goddamned Boss:
  • While the circular arenas used for some bosses allow for some very dynamic fights, they tend to make bosses very annoying. With more than double the space to move around in, even Kirby's longest-range attacks can fade away before they hit, and the bosses do not like to stand still. By far the worst of them is President Haltmann; he loves to retreat to the background and bounce across the field, dragging the fight out since you can't land a good hit on him.
  • Going for True Arena speedruns? The following five bosses are extremely punishing on time if you mess up with it:
    • Clanky Woods 2.0, the very first boss. It's possible to kill him off quickly after he enters the third phase, but if you take too long, you'll waste your time as he jumps to the background. Strong attacks such as Hammer Flip are suited for this.
    • Following Clanky is Holo Defense API 2.0. Kracko and the Doomers aren't too bad, but the Ice Dragon must be defeated almost immediately, and if Coily Rattler isn't beaten before it twirls off the left side of the screen, much like Clanky, you're out of luck.
    • Both of the Dedede Clones' forms after the orginal splits. The Clones must be defeated quickly when they split (which requires intentionally taking damage in the process), while the D3 Cannon 2.0 cannot under any circumstances be allowed to reach the fire spitting part of the first phase, which is very early on.
    • C.O.G.S. and Core Kabula, mainly for the Guide Dang It! strategy of actually entering the bosses and taking damage yourself to maximize damage output.
    • The last and most punishing is President Haltmann 2.0, who plays like a mix between Susie and a slightly more forgiving Clanky Woods, in that he shares most of the former's moves, and the fact you need to kill the final phase quickly like with the latter. While it doesn't have to die in one hit like Clanky, once he enters the cube, he's out of reach for a long time. It doesn't help that certain parts in the third phase, where you need a good Hammer Flip, and a good portion of his entry into the cube gives him added defense. What makes Haltmann extremely infuriating is how late in the True Arena he is — after him, all that's left is the dual Dark Matter/Sectonia Clone fight, Galacta Knight Returns, and Star Dream Soul OS. Mess up, and it's back to Clanky Woods.
    • Lastly, one miniboss deserves mention: Bonkers 2.0, who needs to be timed that you don't deplete half of his health before his first attack, as his first second phase attack hits quickly, is very dodgy, and takes roughly fifteen seconds. His standard first attack, in contrast, has him just stand there throwing Coconuts.
• Good Bad Bugs: Defeating Stock Mecha Knight in The True Arena in a certain way allows you to juggle him for as long as you please as long as you keep attacking him.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • This isn't the only Nintendo 3DS game in 2016 which involves the main villain being the president of a rich, successful foundation, having an antagonistic relationship with their daughters, the reason for their villainy being their loved one disappearing into an alternate dimension and them intensively researching what took their loved one away but falling under its control (all while their loved one survived and managed to return to their home dimension, unbeknownst to them), and fusing with the thing that took their loved away for the final battle. One of the boss themes even sounds similar to this game's boss theme, Vs. the Wicked Company.
  • The Fanon theory of the NESPs, the enemies that provide the ESP ability, being Dark Matter cultists is even more hilarious now that the villains of the next platformer in the series are a cult that is heavily implied to have connections with Dark Matter. What's more, the NESPs return in Star Allies, and even appear in stages associated with said villains.
• I Knew It!: Upon the reveal of Meta Knightmare Returns, pretty much everyone called Galacta Knight returning, to an extent that it felt like a let-down after Dark Matter.
• It Was His Sled: Haltmann and Susie are father and daughter and Star Dream is actually a Galactic NOVA. Both were massive spoilers when the game came out, but now, just about anyone who has heard about the game knows both, to the point where it might surprise one that both were spoilers in the first place.
• Jerkass Woobie: President Haltmann goes through a Trauma Conga Line that makes Queen Sectonia look like she had it easy. He became the ruthless Corrupt Corporate Executive he is today because he lost his only daughter in an accident involving Star Dream, and his 2.0 fight bio reveals that in spite of running one of the most successful businesses in the galaxy and making loads of money, his single greatest wish is to see her again. Years later, he winds up betrayed by his assistant (who is actually his daughter), possessed by Star Dream, and is killed when Star Dream is destroyed by Kirby. Even worse, Star Dream Soul OS' bios reveal his final thoughts, where he expresses regret that his desire to see Sue again led to him reactivating the supercomputer and how he "should have known that no machine could make such a dream come true", before the final bio chillingly states that Haltmann's soul and memories have been completely deleted. And just to twist the knife even further, this (specifically pages 7 & 8) reveals why Haltmann did not recognize Susie; prolonged usage of Star Dream caused him to lose his memories, to the point that, by the time Susie rejoined, he didn't even remember that he had a daughter. Haltmann is probably the most tragic Kirby character, period.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • The fact that not that many streamers or Let's Players recognize the older bosses has become a joke among fans that do recognize them. Star Dream being a clockwork star like Nova is by far the biggest way to make the joke pop up, with a clone of Dark Matter showing up as a close second.
  • At the end of the Extra Mode, Star Dream builds up the Final Boss by saying, "He may end up destroying a nearby planet or two, but such is life." This casual dismissal of Galacta Knight's power is generally considered to be the funniest and most quotable line in the game, as well as one of the best lines in the franchise.
  • Fans of SiIvaGunner tend to associate the track "Rhythm Code" (the song used in puzzle rooms) with a Felix the Cat bootleg game as well as the sight of a baby with harlequin ichthyosis (we don't recommend looking it up) due to a now-removed unauthorized video on SiIva's channel of a "Puzzle Room" track that ended with a distorted image of said baby, parodying the Felix bootleg and its horrifying Game Over screen.
  • Thanks to several fan remixes that mashed the Haltmann Anthem with one of the songs from Donald Trump's election campaign, one of which was featured prominently on SiIvaGunner's channel, jokes about how Trump managed to Defictionalize this game's plot ran rampant for a bit.
  • Haltmann himself has become sort of a meme in the SiIva community due to him taking over the channel in 2017.
• Narm:
  • The battle with Star Dream is undeniably cool in every aspect, but there's one thing that can look very goofy. When Kirby has control of the Halberd, the current equipped stickers show up on it. Due to the massive collection available, there are limitless possibilities on what those stickers could be... and nearly all of them are hilariously unfitting. You can decorate the Halberd in doodle stickers, guises of major Kirby villains (including the Haltmann Works Company's symbol and staff; you know, the group that kept Meta Knight as a mindless robot not even ten minutes before this), and whatever else you desire.
  • The reveal of Star Dream's face can be this if you don't know what Galactic Nova looks like, as otherwise you won't know why it's so significant that a wish-granting supercomputer has a face that looks like a cat who just woke up from a nap.
  • Star Dream's unsettling screeching can be harder to take seriously if you know that it's a meow from Shinya Kumazaki's pet cat, heavily modified.
• Nintendo Hard: The True Arena, as usual, but this time it's taken to absurd levels. The fact that the order you fight the bosses is fixed instead of random does little to alleviate the fact that…
  • Like most cases, the bosses are much harder.
  • You only get one cherry per rest area (well, sometimes), until the final rest area, where you get the Energy Drink.
  • Most of the bosses require you to fight in a circular area, and they are sometimes able to leap across them. This makes it hard to catch up to them, let alone hit them.
  • You have to fight Dark Matter Clone and Sectonia Clone consecutively, without a rest in between.
  • The final boss alone probably makes up two-thirds of the Nintendo Hard. You have to fight all four forms of Star Dream Soul OS one after another with no rest.^note The previous game gave you a break between Queen Sectonia DX and Soul of Sectonia (granted, there was also two other bosses between them, but unlike the aforementioned Dark Matter Clone and Sectonia Clone, you got a break between them as well). That means you have to shoot through the heavily projectile-based first form, the slower but harder-to-dodge second form, and the Time-Limit Boss third form all with nothing but whatever health you have left and the aforementioned Energy Drink. Think you're done yet? Oh no, we said there's four forms…
  • The fourth and definitely final form, thankfully or not, takes place on the ground. Like Soul of Sectonia's second phase from Triple Deluxe, this stage of Star Dream Soul OS is a brand new fight you get no chance to practice. Its first phase isn't too difficult and is mostly just a throwback to the Galactic Nova Nucleus from Kirby Super Star, but it serves to whittle down your health before the actual fight. All of Soul OS' attacks span the whole arena in some way, and all of them are difficult to dodge. Even when you deplete its HP, it isn't over: it fires off a One-Hit Kill attack^*Technically you can survive it with very low HP if you're at full, but good luck with that after everything that came before it. that it uses as it dies.
• Scrappy Mechanic:
  • Getting 100% in this game include getting every sticker, just like with Kirby: Triple Deluxe's keychains. The golden rare stickers are found in specific areas in every stage, which actually makes finding them easier than finding every other sticker, which is entirely random and most stages never have more than three or four stickers at a time. So if you want that UFO ability without an amiibo, you'll have to grind through stages or get a lot of Play Coins. Thankfully, you're generally guaranteed to get at least 1 new sticker every time you beat a stage and there's several stages that have multiple easily accessible stickers that can be beaten quickly, 1-4 potentially being the best stage for this purpose.
  • Trying to speedrun the True Arena? For the most part, you do not want to get hit. Many attacks can knock out your ability and possibly have lengthy knockback animations, and are quite easy to fall victim to if you're reckless, wasting precious time and ruining runs. While there are a few points where getting hit is necessary (most notably Core Kabula, where you have to tank it to get a good time and you can't lose your ability during the fight), for the most part, avoid getting hit.
  • The way healing is handled in the Arena and True Arena in this game has ruined those modes for some players. In past games, players are given a limited supply of items at once that has to last them the whole run. In this game, one healing item is provided after most rounds. Therefore, if a player plays well enough to avoid taking damage, the healing items provided will go to waste, effectively punishing players for playing the first several rounds very well.
• Sequel Difficulty Spike: Back in Kirby: Triple Deluxe, the bosses were rather easy to beat down quickly, which made them somewhat easy since this meant skipping some of their attack patterns. Not only are Planet Robobot's bosses given more health so this doesn't happen even with the Game-Breaker copy abilities, but they're less predictable and more aggressive, so unlike the mini-bosses you actually have to put in a significant effort to bring them down.^note One not-so-hidden secret of them is that they lack Mercy Invincibility, but good luck trying to exploit it. Star Dream in particular is a multi-phased beast that's easily the hardest Final Boss in the series and puts all previous Shoot 'Em Up stages to shame. This is without counting the Meta Knightmare Returns and True Arena modes, which revamp all the bosses and turns the aforementioned Star Dream fight into a Bullet Hell that makes Andross look like a chump.
• Shocking Moments:
  • The game's entire final sequence. The HWC's mother computer, Star Dream, gains sentience, so Kirby has his Robobot Armor scan the entire Battleship Halberd to combat it. Then, in an attempt to one-up Kirby, Star Dream merges with the whole Access Ark. When the Halberd Mode eventually destroys the Access Ark's metal casing, it's ultimately revealed to be a Galactic Nova.
  • "Meta Knightmare Returns" gives us a fight with the first Dark Matter. After what seemed like over a decade of his non-appearance in the series, he (through cloning) returns to kick some serious ass.
• Spiritual Successor:
  • Aliens/outsiders invade and modernize a primitive world? Character who looks very similar to the protagonist gets modified and works for the enemy? Main antagonist is the CEO of a huge corporation? The fact there is a ESP ability with PSI/PK powers?^note If playing the game in French, the ability's name says that it's PSI! Did Kirby just become Mother 3?
  • Many comparisons have been made between this game and Mega Man X (mainly, the latter game's Ride Armor sequences).
  • The resemblance to Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann has also been heavily noted. The final scene of Story Mode, where Kirby's Robobot Armor combines with Meta Knight's ship and later drills through the Big Bad, who wants to purge all sentient life forms not unlike the Anti-Spiral King, only furthers the similarities.
• Suspiciously Similar Song: "Intermezzo Without a Leader" sounds similar to certain parts of Unicron's theme from The Transformers: The Movie, what with the eerie, 80's-esque synths and all. Both tunes accompany enormous robots which threaten the universe.
• That One Attack: Star Dream Soul OS's very last attack, which it executes without any prior warning when its HP is completely drained. It fires three rings that are a One-Hit KO^note unless you're at full health, which they'll leave you with a very small portion of health remaining that is capable of completely bypassing the invulnerability states of Stone, Leaf, and Archer. The good news is that the first two hit high and middle, and are avoidable by just standing on the ground (if you're at the top of the screen well before the first one comes out, it will hit bottom and then middle instead). The third is the real killer — it fires one across the top and one across the ground, and if you don't position yourself very precisely in the middle, you're toast. Getting hit by it can make close to 30 minutes of struggle in the True Arena completely worthless and possibly lead to a broken 3DS.
• That One Sidequest: In the bonus stage for Gigabyte Grounds, you only get one chance per playthrough of the stage to attempt getting the second Cube. Reasons include: strong winds preventing the Robobot Armor from backtracking, needing to hit a tough chain with Sword or Cutter at the exact moment while being pushed by said wind, and the area after the winds not allowing enough room to leave and enter (which would respawn the only enemy in the area if there were), nor having a bottomless pit.^note There is a way to reach this door from above, but it involves using the sword form's downward aerial attack, which when used will ''very briefly'' allow you to move Kirby ''ever so slightly'' closer to the chain, then quickly input that attack again and again to slowly inch into range of the chain, until you can cut it with one last downward aerial attack. This only works with Sword, not Cutter, is difficult to perform, and nowhere else in the game is this technique ever useful.
• Tear Jerker:
  • Reading both Susie and President Haltmann's 2.0 bios reveal that Susie got involved in an accident with the Mother Computer, and President Haltmann's child was lost in an accident and he just wants his daughter back. They also reveal their full names, and both have the last name Haltmann...
  • The flavor text for the final phase of the True Final Boss are the last thoughts of the dying soul of Max Profitt Haltmann. He sadly laments why he reactivated something so dangerous as Star Dream, and remembers it was because he'd just wanted to see "her" one last time. Even in death, he never knew that Susie was Susanna all along.
  "Why did I reactivate such a terrible machine? Oh, I remember—I wanted to see her just one last time. How foolish! I should have known that no machine could make such a dream come true."
  • It is said that the Invader Armors are mysterious in that they alter their properties depending on their pilot, copying their affinities. However, it seems abilities aren't the only thing copied. After the defeat of Star Dream, Kirby and his Robobot Armor are lost adrift in space, when slowly, the mech raises its arm and gently removes Kirby from its cockpit, allowing Kirby to safely drift back home. The final shot of his trusty Robobot Armor are the streams of tears (well, coolant fluid) beginning to flow from its eyes.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • The third-party amiibo (including Shovel Knight) only give Kirby a random ability, so you might not get, say, Fighter from your Ryu amiibo.
  • Much like Meta Knight in Kirby: Triple Deluxe, King Dedede is absent from the story, only being shown getting buried by castle rubble in the intro, and climbing free of it in the ending. No explanation how he got cloned, nor any attempts to help out Kirby (though given he's buried in rubble, this may be justified).
  • Compared to Doctor and Poison, ESP Kirby's concept of Psychic Powers isn't really pushed that far. He has the ability to teleport and create telekinetic force waves, but lacks a lot of other trademark psychic powers like Mind Control or Ness's trademark telekinetic throws.
  • There are mechanized orcas that look like Acro, but they only show up in two Overload Ocean stages and only as easily avoidable hazards.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • The main driving force of Haltmann's actions can be traced back to his desire to see his allegedly dead daughter again. Yet it never occurs to him that his subordinate Susie may actually be his daughter, and this connection is tragically lost on him all the way to the end of his life. Even worse, at no point in the story does Susie share this sentiment, showing no desire to see her father, nor does she even imply that she even knows she could be Haltmann's daughter, only focusing on her own selfish goals all the way to the very end of the game. However, the secret video unlocked at 100% Completion where Susie sings Haltmann's Villain Song to him in his office may tie up that loose end in its own way.
  • Of all the boss fights not counting the regular mini-bosses, only Gigavolt, C.O.G.S., Core Kabula, three of four Holo Defense API bosses (in stage 6-5), Gigavolt II, and Star Dream are fought with the Robobot Armor. And all but Gigavolt and the holo bosses are Unexpected Shmup Levels. There was plenty of opportunity for more on-foot Robobot battles, such as (a proper rematch against) Clanky Woods, the Dedede Clones' D3 Cannon, and especially Susie and/or President Haltmann. One of them could've easily been a mech vs mech Mirror Boss, since their battles are very similar.
  • The robotic theme of the game opened the floodgates for a whole bunch of mechanical Kirby bosses to return. However, while we did get Kabula, the Security Force (which resembles Metal General), and NOVA (via an expy), other famous ones, including Heavy Lobster (who was at least considered), HR-H, and Mega Titan are nowhere to be seen. Gim, the Yo-Yo robot, is also absent, despite being one of the first robots in the Kirby series.^note This exclusion is somewhat Hilarious in Hindsight because Gim appears in Kirby Star Allies, and his pause screen description references a robotic invasion.
• Tough Act to Follow: Planet Robobot was a major hit among fans and was widely seen as a huge step forward after the similarly acclaimed Revisiting the Roots approaches of Kirby's Return to Dream Land and Kirby: Triple Deluxe, thanks to its shakeups in gameplay mechanics, its more overt focus on story, and the way it utilized nods to previous entries. Consequently, the next mainline installment, Kirby Star Allies, had a lot to live up to, and when it released, it was a hugely Contested Sequel in which many people chose to Enjoy the Story, Skip the Game. The entry after that, Kirby and the Forgotten Land, avoided repeating the pattern by further reinventing itself as the first fully 3D main installment.
• Underused Game Mechanic: The U.F.O. ability returns in this game... but it's locked behind the Kirby-series Kirby amiibo, and the only way to access it outside of this is to beat the game 100%, which causes a UFO enemy to spawn in the Copy Ability Testing Room. Unlike every other ability besides Smash Bros., you can't get this from mixing abilities, and it doesn't even appear in The (True) Arena unless you scan the amiibo.
• Unexpected Character:
  • The second boss is based on Pix. Following the tradition of Ado and Adeleine, it also summons a hologram of the Ice Dragon.
  • Kabula returns as a boss fought in Jet Robobot mode.
  • Even if they're merely clones/copies and not the original characters themselves, it's hard to imagine that anyone could have seen the return of Dark Matter, Queen Sectonia, or Nova coming.
    • Sectonia is a special case in particular due to the brief shot of her original form upon defeat, something her starring game Triple Deluxe didn't even delve upon.

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