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From WiKirby, your independent source of Kirby knowledge.

This article is about the amount of damage Kirby and others can sustain in the games. For the heart-shaped item that increases Kirby's maximum health bar in certain games, see Vitality. For the skill that Magolor can level up to gain more hit points in Magolor Epilogue: The Interdimensional Traveler, see Magolor's Magical Skills#Health.
Artwork of a Vitality, an item which increases maximum Health from Kirby: Squeak Squad.

Health (also referred to as HP, Stamina, Life or Vitality) refers to the amount of damage Kirby or another entity can sustain before being defeated or otherwise losing. The concept of health has been in the series since its first iteration and has recurred in nearly every game since then. It usually appears on the top or the bottom of the screen on the Heads-up display.

Health by entity[edit]

Kirby and other playable characters[edit]

Kirby at low health in Kirby and the Forgotten Land. When at low health, Kirby typically adopts a tired pose and expression and may also flash red.
Kirby is defeated if he runs out of health, in this case by touching a magma block when he was already at low health.

In early games in the series, Kirby had distinct bars of health, and anything that dealt him damage (and was not immediately fatal) took exactly one point away. The only exception were Gordos, which dealt a much more painful three bars of damage in Kirby's Dream Land, and Dark Mind's (second form) laser attack, which can deal 2 units of damage. As such, some restorative items tended to also heal in these discrete fashions, with Energy Drinks restoring a small number of bars, and Maxim Tomatoes restoring all of them.

In later games, starting with Kirby Super Star, and most games since then, Kirby and his allies' health is represented not as discrete bars, but as one continuous bar. In addition, damage sources could vary in severity, with some hits dealing minor damage, taking only a small portion away, and others dealing a comparatively large amount of damage. In addition, smaller Food items such as cherries appear in these titles, healing a small amount of health.

In most games in the series, a high-pitched beeping noise plays when Kirby reaches a significantly low threshold to his health, warning the player of the situation. In later games, such as Kirby's Return to Dream Land, having sufficiently low health also causes Kirby or his friends to adopt an exhausted look when standing still, and their portraits are shown to sweat and exhibit sad or tired expressions. In Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, Kirby gets a bandage on his head if he has one health point remaining.

Some titles, including Kirby & The Amazing Mirror, allow Kirby to extend his maximum health by collecting special items in the levels. Other titles have Extra Modes which reduce Kirby's maximum health to increase the challenge.

In Super Kirby Clash, a member of Team Kirby that's at full health will deal slightly more damage to enemies when attacking them. Attacks performed under this circumstance are called Full-Strength Attacks and are indicated by the health bar at the bottom of the screen repeatedly flashing.

In Kirby and the Forgotten Land, if Kirby is at full health and has not taken any damage for a certain amount of time, his health bar will temporarily disappear from the HUD until he takes damage.

The following table lists the health values of playable characters in some titles:

Health of playable character  
Game HP Notes
Kirby's Dream Land 6 Takes more damage in Extra Mode.
Kirby's Adventure 6 Becomes 3 in Extra Mode.
Kirby's Dream Course 4 (1P Game)
6 (2P Game)
Kirby's Dream Land 2 6
Kirby Super Star 70 (Kirby) Helpers' HP varies.
Kirby's Dream Land 3 10 Shown as 5 bars, each containing 2 HP.
Summoning Gooey takes 1 bar from Kirby, giving both players 4 bars (8 HP).
Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards 6
Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble 6 (10 during boss fights) Shown as 3 bars, each containing 2 HP.
Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land 6 Becomes 3 in Extra Mode and Meta Knightmare.
Kirby & The Amazing Mirror 6 Each Vitality adds 1 (+4 in total).
Kirby: Canvas Curse 4 (Kirby and Waddle Dee)
7 (King Dedede)
3 (Meta Knight)
5 (Waddle Doo) 		Kirby can obtain up to 3 extra HP through Life Boost items in Medal Swap (for a total of 7), but the other characters cannot benefit from this.
Kirby: Squeak Squad 36 Each Vitality adds 4 (+16 in total).
If the current HP is more than 1, Kirby will always survive at 1 HP when taking damage that is more than his current HP.
Kirby Super Star Ultra 76 (Kirby)
50 (Meta Knight)

Helpers (Normal/Helper to Hero):

Helpers all have +18 HP in Helper to Hero.
Kirby Mass Attack 2 (each Kirby) Kirby turns blue when 1 HP remains.
Kirby's Return to Dream Land 40/24 (Kirby and Bandana Waddle Dee)
36/22 (Meta Knight)
50/30 (King Dedede) 		Story/Extra Mode.
If the current HP is 50% or below, damage taken will be reduced by 20%.
If the current HP is 25% or below, damage taken will be reduced by 40%.
If the current HP is 12.5% or more when taking an otherwise fatal blow, the character will always survive at 1 HP.
Kirby: Triple Deluxe 40 Applies to both Kirby and King Dedede.
If the current HP is 50% or below, damage taken will be reduced by 20%.
If the current HP is 25% or below, damage taken will be reduced by 40%.
If the current HP is 12.5% or more when taking an otherwise fatal blow, the character will always survive at 1 HP.
Adds 2 for each time the character is defeated by a boss (up to +8; reset after leaving a stage).
Kirby and the Rainbow Curse 4 (Kirby)
2 (each Waddle Dee) 		Scanning a King Dedede amiibo increases Kirby's maximum HP to 6 for the current stage.
Kirby: Planet Robobot 45 Applies to both Kirby and Meta Knight.
If the current HP is 50% or below, damage taken will be reduced by 20%.
If the current HP is 25% or below, damage taken will be reduced by 40%.
If the current HP is 12.5% or more when taking an otherwise fatal blow, the character will always survive at 1 HP.
Adds 2 for each time the character is defeated by a boss (up to +8; reset after leaving a stage).
Kirby Star Allies 45 (Kirby)
42 (King Dedede and The Three Mage-Sisters)
40 (Bandana Waddle Dee, Dark Meta Knight, Daroach, Magolor, Marx, Meta Knight, Rick & Kine & Coo, Rocky, and Susie)
35 (Beetley, Bonkers, Bugzzy, Burning Leo, Taranza, and Vividria)
30 (Birdon, Blade Knight, Broom Hatter, Chef Kawasaki, Chilly, Como, Driblee, Gim, Gooey, Jammerjab, Knuckle Joe, Parasol Waddle Dee, Plugg, Poppy Bros. Jr., Sir Kibble, Waddle Doo, and Wester)
25 (Bio Spark and NESP)
20 (Adeleine & Ribbon)

The Ultimate Choice health (Normal/Lv. 5-7/Soul Melter):

The Ultimate Choice health varies by difficulty; on difficulty levels five to seven, the Ultimate Choice health is multiplied by 0.8 rounded down, and on Soul Melter, the Ultimate Choice health is multiplied by 0.7, also rounding down.
Kirby's Extra Epic Yarn 5 Health indicated by Life Pieces; only in Devilish Mode
Kirby Fighters 2 240 (two players; King Dedede is 270)
220 (three players; King Dedede is 250)
200 (four players; King Dedede is 230) 		If the current HP is 25% or below, damage taken will be reduced by 25%.
In multiplayer battle modes, the player can select a handicap per character, which does as follows for the character's health:
  • Very Easy: x1.5 health
  • Easy: x1.2 health
  • Normal: no change
  • Hard: x0.75 health
  • Very Hard: x0.5 health
Kirby and the Forgotten Land 400 (Spring-Breeze Mode)
250 (Wild Mode)[1] 		Applies to both Kirby and Bandana Waddle Dee.
By using Life Up or getting a random effect from Deep Sleep, the character's HP is doubled via getting an extra life bar, but cannot exceed double the normal amount.
If the current HP is 50% or below, damage taken will be reduced by 20%.
If the current HP is 30% or below, damage taken will be reduced by 30%.
If the current HP is 20 or more when taking an otherwise fatal blow, the character will always survive at 1 HP. Morpho Knight Sword can increase the threshold with the amount of lifesteal, the maximum threshold being 50. The threshold resets if Kirby uses Sleep or enters a different room.
Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe 40/24 (Kirby and Bandana Waddle Dee)
36/22 (Meta Knight)
50/30 (King Dedede)
22/29/37/45/54/63/72/81/90 (Magolor, Level 1-9) 		Story/Extra Mode (Magolor Epilogue does not have separate Story and Extra Modes, with Magolor's HP instead depending on his Health skill).
By using the Stamina Potion from Helper Magolor in Story Mode, the character's HP is doubled via getting an extra life bar, but cannot exceed double the normal amount.
If the current HP is 50% or below, damage taken will be reduced by 20%.
If the current HP is 25% or below, damage taken will be reduced by 40%.
If the current HP is 12.5% or more when taking an otherwise fatal blow, the character will always survive at 1 HP.

Standard enemies[edit]

Apart from a select few games in the series, enemies' health is not shown to the player. However, each enemy has a specific amount of health, just like Kirby or a boss, and the enemy is defeated when its health reaches zero. Most enemies have little constitution, but large or hardy foes like Rocky and Degout may take several hits to defeat.

Bosses and mid-bosses[edit]

In most every game in the series when a boss or mid-boss is encountered, its health is displayed to the player on the HUD, often overlapping a previous display to avoid taking up extra space on the screen. Despite earlier bosses showing their health as discrete units, it may in fact take several hits to deplete one unit of their health, as is the case with the boss Kabula. It is also sometimes the case that the same attack may appear to deal differing amounts of damage at different times; this is because the boss's health is internally stored as a higher number than the game can display, so the visual units represent a fraction of their health rounded to the nearest whole. In Kirby Star Allies and Kirby and the Forgotten Land, mid-bosses have smaller health bar graphics compared to other bosses.

Bosses in particular typically have very high health, and will take numerous hits to defeat. Some of them may not necessarily be defeated when their health bar is emptied, instead taking on a new form or phase and displaying a new bar to drain. Starting in Kirby's Return to Dream Land, the majority of bosses have at least two phases split across a single health bar. Such cases will often have bosses transition to the next phase via an animation that shows them getting furious. During this time, bosses are invincible to all damage (in Kirby's Return to Dream Land, Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe, the Team Kirby Clash series, and Kirby Fighters 2) or take significantly reduced damage (in Kirby: Triple Deluxe, Kirby: Planet Robobot, Kirby Star Allies, and Kirby and the Forgotten Land). Mid-bosses also have this trait in Kirby and the Forgotten Land.

Most games (with a few exceptions) that feature multiplayer cause bosses and mid-bosses to have more health compared to fighting them in single-player (Kirby Super Star, Kirby & The Amazing Mirror and Kirby Super Star Ultra) or reduce each player characters' attack power (Kirby's Dream Land 3 and all games since Kirby's Return to Dream Land), likely to encourage players to work together in order to defeat them quickly. More specific info on a per-game basis is listed in the "Multiplayer modifier" section below.

From Kirby's Return to Dream Land onward, bosses almost always have less health when fought in The Arena, The True Arena, The Ultimate Choice and the Colosseum, usually multiplied by 0.75.

Multiplayer modifier[edit]

Kirby Super Star / Kirby Super Star Ultra[edit]

In Kirby Super Star and Kirby Super Star Ultra, bosses will have their health multiplied by 1.3 if a helper is present before the boss health bar loads.

Kirby's Dream Land 3[edit]

In Kirby's Dream Land 3, damage taken by bosses will be multiplied by 0.8 if Gooey is present.

Kirby & The Amazing Mirror[edit]

In Kirby & The Amazing Mirror, mid-bosses and bosses have different HP values depending on the number of players in a game session, no matter if said players are present for the battle or not. Unlike other games in the series, there is no set value the HP or damage is multiplied by, and even some bosses with the same HP value for one player may have different values for more players.[2] The following is a table for each mid-boss and boss:

Mid-boss/Boss 1 player HP 2 player HP 3 player HP 4 player HP
Mr. Frosty, Phan Phan, Batafire 30 40 48 54
Bonkers, Box Boxer, Boxy, Master Hand (mid-boss), Bombar 40 60 80 90
King Golem, Kracko 60 80 100 110
Moley 80 110 130 150
Mega Titan, Crazy Hand 40 40 50 50
Titan Head 20 24 32 40
Gobbler 60 90 110 120
Wiz 80 130 160 170
???, Master Hand (boss) 60 81 96 108
Dark Meta Knight 48 64 78 96
Dark Mind (first phase, first battle) 32 40 48 56
Dark Mind (first phase, second and third battles) 40 48 56 64
Dark Mind (first phase, fourth battle) 56 64 72 88
Dark Mind (second phase) 96 128 160 176
Dark Mind (third phase) 250 300 330 350
Kirby's Return to Dream Land / Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe[edit]

In Kirby's Return to Dream Land and Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe, bosses will take less damage if more friends are fighting, multiplied by a certain amount depending on how many players are present during the battle.

Number of players Modifier
1 ×1.0
2 ×0.8
3 ×0.75
4 ×0.7
Kirby Star Allies[edit]

In Kirby Star Allies, bosses will take less damage if more friends are fighting, multiplied by a certain amount depending on how many players are present during the battle. The multipliers differ depending on the mode.

Number of players Main modes The Ultimate Choice
1 ×1.0 ×1.0
2 ×0.75 ×0.875
3 ×0.6 ×0.8
4 ×0.5 ×0.75
Kirby and the Forgotten Land[edit]

In Kirby and the Forgotten Land, damage taken by bosses will be multiplied by 0.6 if Bandana Waddle Dee is present.[1]

Handicap after losing to bosses[edit]

Starting in Kirby: Triple Deluxe and persisting in every main series game since then alongside spin-offs such as Kirby Fighters Deluxe and Kirby Fighters 2, every time Player 1 loses against a mid-boss or boss, the boss's maximum health decreases and their cool-down between attacks becomes longer to lower the difficulty. This handicap will be kept, even after continuing from a Game Over, until the boss is beaten or the player quits the game.

Kirby: Triple Deluxe to Kirby Fighters 2[edit]
Number of losses Boss maximum health
1 90%
2 75%
3 65%
4 55%
5+ 45%
Kirby and the Forgotten Land[edit]
Number of losses Boss maximum health[1]
Spring-Breeze
Mode 		Wild Mode
1 90% 100%
2 75% 90%
3 65% 75%
4 55% 65%
5 45% 55%
6+ 35% 45%
Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe[edit]

In Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe, if Helper Magolor is enabled, the boss HP is calculated starting from the 2 losses multiplier (91%).

Number of losses Boss maximum health
1 97%
2 91%
3 88%
4 82%
5 74%
6+ 62%

Other[edit]

Some other entities in the series have health, such as items and Air Ride machines. In Kirby Air Ride and Kirby Air Riders, each machine has a set amount of HP, which can be drained or augmented in modes such as City Trial. When a machine's HP reaches zero, it explodes, which has various consequences depending on the mode being played.

Trivia[edit]

Gallery[edit]

Names in other languages[edit]

Language Name Meaning
French Vitalité Vitality
German Vitalität Vitality
Spanish Vitalidad
Vida 		Vitality
Health

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Kirby and the Forgotten Land Research Data by firubii
  2. ↑ Twitter link (Wayback Machine snapshot)

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Game design and mechanics of the Kirby games
Game design
Recurring game mechanics and elements

1-Up • Block • Boss • Device • Enemy • HAL Room • Hazard • Item • Level • Mid-boss • Point Star • Rest Area • Stage • Water

Recurring game modes and menus
Meta