Kirby Mass Attack

Kirby Mass Attack
Also known as: Atsumete! Kirby (JP) Developer: HAL Laboratory Publisher: Nintendo Platform: Nintendo DS Released in JP: August 4, 2011 Released in US: September 19, 2011 Released in EU: October 28, 2011 Released in AU: October 27, 2011 Released in KR: December 1, 2011 This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused enemies. This game has unused objects. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused items. This game has unused music. This game has regional differences. This game has anti-piracy features. This game has a prerelease article

This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes.

To do: A bunch of stuff. For example: Document the demo version. More unused graphics such as unseen enemies, tilesets, level backgrounds, the list goes on.

Kirby Mass Attack can best be described as Kirby meets Lemmings. Kirby gets split up into 10 smaller (and somehow more adorable) Kirbys that have to work together to destroy enemies, open paths, and get food. It is also the successor of Kirby: Canvas Curse in some ways, and contains unlockable subgames in a variety of genres (including a vertical shoot-'em-up and what's pretty much a remake of Kirby's Pinball Land).

The game had a bumpy development cycle, which is reflected with the colossal amount of unused assets hidden in the files.

Sub-Pages

Prerelease Info

Regional Differences Changes made between regions.

Unused Tilesets And Backgrounds It's alive!

Unused Graphics

Unused Objects

To do: Various stage elements, such as a bumper (not to be confused with the ones in the Brawlball subgame), and an odd plant-shaped platform.

10-Kirby Painting

A painting depicting King Dedede that would have required 10 Kirbys to remove. It would have been used in Dedede Resort Stage 10 alongside all the other paintings, but a 10-Kirby elevator in said stage renders it pointless.

Avalanche

Presumably an unused obstacle meant for the unused Frozen Field level (or just any snow level in general).

Minecart/Sled

A minecart level and a simillar sled level appear to have been planned, but these were scrapped decently far into development. There exists particles for both of these vehicles should one have taken damage, and sprites for the Kirbys fitting inside.

Unused Items

To do: *A larger chest that resembles the big chests from Kirby Squeak Squad.

Grape

Grapes can be found alongside the other fruit in the game, but they go unused. They seem to have been scrapped very late into development, as they have official artwork.

Unused Enemies

To do: Provide animations, if any are present. Priority goes to Tortletummy, their description is getting lonely. This section is missing several enemies and a couple enemy behaviors. Remove the purple guidelines on the base Pytago sprites; they were provided by The Spriter's Resource, and are not part of the sprites themselves. Are these enemies coded in?

Blipper

Curiously, while electrical Blippers are used in-game (albeit only twice), regular Blippers are not. It would have pursued and attempted to eat Kirbys. Purple guidelines are present in its animations, and it is fully shaded.

Block Dragon

Block Dragon is a very early version of King Eelongo, a miniboss fought in Dedede Resort Stage 5 and Volcano Valley Stage 9 in the final game. This version has one large, destructible segment type with arms instead of two on each side of the body, and there is also an animation with alternate arm placement. The shading is incomplete, particularly on the spine and the scales.

Bubble Fish

True to its name, Bubble Fish would have swum around blowing bubbles (which would presumably harm the Kirbys to a degree). It is unclear which bubble graphics are used in association with this enemy.

Carryon

Carryon would have been surrounded in two onion layers, which would've been peeled off by the Kirbys. No graphics for being pummelled, attacking, or even being defeated exist, but every other related sprite seems finished.

Cidory

A large bee that would have rammed itself into the ground, leaving it vulnerable to attack. It seems to be complete, even having a sprite for being defeated and animations for shaking Kirbys off of it.

Early Blamboom

An early itteration of Blamboom with a larger mouth and weakpoint.

Early Giga Clanksprout

Giga Clanksprout's eye segment was originaly covered in spikes and lacked the giant toothed jaws above the claw. Two versions of the claw segments are present, but one is unshaded and the other is entirely black.

Additionally, this version also had an alternate orange palette, perhaps hinting that it was meant to be fought in a rematch like several other minibosses with second palettes are.

Early Ill Gate

An early version of Ill Gate, an enemy found in Volcano Valley Stage 7. Notably, this sprite is used in the Japanese-exclusive enemy rollcall at the end of the game, but it is absent from every other version.

Early Tortletummy

Tortletummy has animations for shrinking down multiple times when hit.

Early Skully

An early Skully (notably having pupils) spotting the Kirbys and promptly calling for backup. In addition, a large Skully-related object exists that would have fired a large beam as an attack.

Gordo Bobber

An aquatic variant of Gordos, heavily resembling a Blipper. In the final game, normal Gordos are used underwater instead.

Hammer Knight

Hammer Knight appears to be an earlier, much more basic version of Hamsturr, a miniboss present in Dedede Resort Stage 10. Oddly enough, it doesn't actually wield a hammer but a shield instead. It has animations for standing still, walking and falling down. The shading is incomplete.

Hoppin

A mole-like enemy that would have behaved like the Shoe Goombas from Super Mario Bros. 3.

Large Bloston/Mossy/Stickle

Large variants of Bloston, Mossy, and Stickle.

Pytago

Pytago would have attacked by crushing Kirbys that wandered above or below it. It would have come in three different geometric shapes with two different orientations each, but only the igloo-shaped sprites are fully shaded. Placeholder sprites exist for each shape.

Rivahely

A tomato that stays in place and spins around as a form of attack. This enemy would have fit nicely into a Green Grounds stage.

Rocketon

Rocketon would have launched off of the ground and left a laser beam in its wake.

Spiky

Spiky would have pushed a spiky shield towards the Kirbys if they were detected. It has two distinct death sprites, oddly enough.

Shuffler

A demon-like enemy that could bunch itself up and cover itself in spikes. The sprites lack any shading.

Torroppon

Torroppon would have pursued the Kirbys during the unused minecart stage, threatening them with a large drill. Only the cart is fully detailed.

Oohroo UFO

A spacecraft that would charge up before firing a beam of energy. The UFO has unfinished shading, and the empty cockpit would have been occupied by a Space Oohroo.

Upsy

Upsy would have sucked up wind/snow and blew it back out as a projectile. While it has a sprite for being defeated, it does not have an animation for being pummeled.

(Source: http://www.spriters-resource.com/ds_dsi/kirbymassattack/)

Unused Enemy Variations

Blamboom

A purple palette swap of Blamboom's base.

Dice

An orange palette swap of Dice, which may have shot fireballs or Star Blocks at the player instead of ice blocks. A giant variant also exists.

Lady Ivy

Lady Ivy has an animation for growling angrily, as well an an attack where she would stick spikes out from the bulb on her tail.

Mole

A mole that would have thrown a bomb from the background.

Stickle

A pink palette swap of Stickle capacle of leaping above the waterline. A giant version is present in Dedede Resort Stage 6, and the jumping sprites are used in the Japanese-exclusive casting call.

(Source: http://www.spriters-resource.com/ds_dsi/kirbymassattack/)

Unused Palette Swap Feature

To do: Why does the bottom screen have a different resolution than the top screen? Several animations for these elements exist, such as applying colors to Kirby, Kirby blinking, and the paint blobs being selected.

It seems you could originally unlock color palettes for Kirby, like in Kirby Squeak Squad. The graphics for the menu can still be found in the game, though they were never translated from Japanese and no background is present. Available colors would be indigo, cyan, grey, light pink, pink, red, orange, yellow, blue-green, green, purple, dark grey, and beige. This feature appears to have been scrapped fairly early, possibly due to confusion with the color-based health system of the Kirbys.

Unused Subgame Elements

Strato Patrol EOS

Stratos Patrol was once planned to have a character select screen, with King Dedede being a second playable character.

Dedede would have played identically to Kirby, only differing in appearance. Like Kirby's star projectiles, Dedede's hammers would change pallettes depending on how many powerups were collected. The sprites for Dedede being stolen and for being defeated are actually used while fighting him in the Kirby Quest subgame, but here they are scaled down. Dedede's panic button projectile has rather choppy animation.

In addition, Plasma Wisp was intended to appear as an enemy in the subgame. It would have shot plasma arrows as an attack.

Scrapped Kirby's Adventure Minigames

Two minigames present in Kirby's Adventure were planned to be included as subgames, but only their backgrounds remain. The player would have been able to collect plushies and eggs to add to a collection.

Unused Screens

To do: There's more. Also, there's several stage select screens using never-used backgrounds.

Unused Hint

An unused screen, in Japanese, with a hint about grabbing. The text translates to:

Can't grab on...

While hanging on to a star,
you cannot grab on to other things.

In-game, Kirbys can grab things even if they are hanging on to the star, but this hint indicates that might not have always been the case.

World Splash Screens

There are four unused splash screens for every world in the game. Several differences can be seen here:

• Green Grounds is called "Green Ground".
• Dedede Resort is called "Dedede Land"; likely changed because it didn't sound very fitting. The letters are also yellow instead of light blue.
• An unused world called "Frozen Field". There is no splash screen for Volcano Valley, suggesting that Frozen Field was replaced by it.

Placeholder Stage Select Image

A placeholder stage select screen featuring a 3D render of Galatic NOVA, which is rather odd since this game is in 2D. The text translates to "Image does not exist".

Unused Music

BGM_TORIDE

A track that sounds like it might have fit into Strato Patrol EOS. "Toride" (砦) is Japanese for "fortress".

BGM_AFTER_BOSS

A seemingly celebratory theme, using part of the main theme motif.

Development Text

The following pieces of development text can be found in the ARM9 binary.

wadogo-00-1f

c:/home/wadogo/data/map.d/map

The "map" folder in the game's filesystem contains the levels.

Internal Project Name

The project's internal name is "wadogo", according to the above development text and the filename of the SDAT file, "WADO_SND_new.sdat". The name also appears in the filenames of some press materials released by Nintendo.

Anti-Piracy

Please elaborate. Having more detail is always a good thing. Specifically: How does the game detect that it's a copy?

After loading the game, it will freeze with a blank screen if it detects that it is a copy.