Kirby's Failure

Kirby has always been one of my favorite gaming franchises, and one of my favorite gaming characters. Ever since I was six years old I've loved the adorable pink puffball and his games. Kirby also had an anime that ran from 2003 to 2005. Although I personally found it to be hot garbage, I did find enjoyment in the memes it spawned. Perhaps the Kirby franchise's greatest feat is how it has managed to maintain it's quality. There has never been an objectively bad Kirby game, and that's something that many gaming franchise have had a hard time doing.

My first Kirby game, and by that extension the game that made me fall in love with Kirby was Kirby Super Star Ultra on the Nintendo DS. I had a lot of fun using Kirby's many copy abilities to defeat enemies and bosses alike. I played the game so extensively to the point where I knew every single thing the game had to offer. I had lured myself into thinking that there could be no surprises, but as I would later find out there can always be surprises.

I was browsing on the Kirby Subreddit, when I found a post titled "I found a code that unlocks a secret sub-game in Kirby Super Star Ultra" Keep in mind that any grammer mistakes you see in the post aren't mine, it read as follows: "I have found a secret that has been hidden in the game for a decade a sub-game that was supposed to be in the game but was removed at the last second hal laboratory thought they got rid it but it was never actually disabled and can be unlocked by entering this code at the sub-game select screen and dying in the nova starship section before you fight the galactic nova nucleus in milky way wishes." The post only had 3 points and 4 comments, 3 of which were expressing horror at what they had played with comments such as "Do not use this code, it's not what you think it is." "What in god's name was that?" and "What the actual Hell was that?! why would Kumazaki allow this to be put in this game?!" At this point I was confused at what they were talking about, I didn't think it would actually be that bad. The last comment was from the OP who said what the code actually was. I won't say what the code was because I don't want more people playing this sub-game.

I was rather burned out on the game at the time so I thought that it was exactly what I needed to freshen up my experience. I booted up the game and witnessed the iconic intro of Kirby flying through Dreamland on his Warp Star. When the title screen appeared I wasted no time in entering the code. When I entered the final button I faintly heard the first few notes of Marx's theme play in the background, I thought that was a very unusual jingle for a cheat code validation theme, But I really wanted to see where this goes so I disregarded it. I went to Milky Way Wishes into the Galactic Nova Starship section and purposefully died in it just like the OP said I should do. The game then froze upon my death and I had to restart my 3DS.

When I got back to the intro my jaw dropped at what I was seeing. The intro was playing but Kirby wasn't there however it continued along like he was there. in the file select screen there was only one file to choose from. It had 100% marked on it. Without thinking I selected it and there was only one sub-game available. It was titled Kirby's Failure. The icon for it was a close up of Marx's face with a red hue over it. The title screen for it was Unnerving to say the least it was a picture of planet Popstar with Marx looking down upon it with a menacing grin on his face; no music was playing.

I started the sub-game but unlike every other sub-game it did not start with a pre-rendered cutscene, and instead jumped straight to gameplay. It started with Kirby lying unconscious on Green Greens except Green Greens was at night and had a withering look to it. Kirby then woke up and I could start playing. apart from the asthetic change It was the exact same Green Greens from Spring Breeze, but when I got to the miniboss who would normally be Poppy Bros Sr. Was instead Bandana Waddle Dee. Before I fought him, dialogue appeared much like Revenge of Meta knight.

"Kirby? Is that really you? It can't be. you're dead......"

What kind of sub-game is this? I thought to myself. This was like nothing I've ever seen from a Kirby game before, and I do know that kirby games can be rather dark at times, but nothing ever to this extent! I'm starting to see why this was never supposed to be in the game. Anyway the "battle" was exactly the same as it was in the original game. After that I continued on with the rest of the level which was normal until I got to the boss Whispy Woods. Upon reaching Whispy, another dialogue box appeared.

"You have a lot of nerve showing your face around here you pink abomination."

Not gonna lie this line kind of made me chuckle, it was just the flat out name calling that triggered the imaturity in me, Regarding Whispy his fight was exactly the same as it always is. After I kicked Whispy Woods's ass, A pre-rendered cutscene played. It showed Kirby flying on the Warp Star to the Halberd launch station that appears in Revenge of Meta Knight's intro. Meta Knight was just  standing there.

"So you survived after all, as I knew you would. However that hardly matters now."

The video then cuts to a flashback.

"While you were persumed dead, Marx got the upper hand and used the Galactic Nova to make himself ruler of Planet Popstar. Marx then used his powers to annihilate all who oppose him, including King Dedede."

I was angered at what I had read King Dedede was my favorite Kirby character and he was just killed like that. I didn't care about what Meta Knight had to say, at that point I made one clear descision, I would play this sub-game to it's finish.

"I have been planning an attack on Marx for a long time, but I needed your help to get rid of the Nova. If we can get rid of the Nova then we can reverse all of this. I will distract Marx, Don't try to talk me out of it because I have already accepted my fate. Popstar's fate however rests in your hands."

After that, I was ejected straight into the Galactic Nova starship section without any warning. It was exactly the same as normal of course. After I destroyed the nucleus. It jumped to the battle with Marx, but not without some dialogue.

"I knew I should have killed you myself when I had the chance."

Marx then descends on to the screen.

"Was that seriously Meta Knight's best plan?"

He then vomits out Meta Knight's sword and mask making clear what his fate was.

"Well I'm glad I get a worthy foe now, Meta knight barely offered a challenge. One laser was all it took to kill him. I'll glady make sure you suffer a much more painful death."

After that banter I went into the battle with Marx. It was of course the exact same as it was in Milky Way Wishes. when the battle was over Marx let out a deafening scream similar to Marx Soul. The ending cutscene played it showed Kirby walking down a road at sunset. a bit similar to Revenge of Meta Knight's ending. no credits were shown.

When it was all over, it went back to the intro with Kirby there this time, and everything was back to normal. There was no sign of Kirby's Failure ever being in the game. I don't know if the code can be used more than once, but I don't want to find out. Just goes to show you that you can't trust every random cheat code you find on Reddit.

Written by: Vatae