Kirby Star Allies Assignment: Game Mechanics
Kirby Star Allies follows the same formula established in Super Star and refined in the previous three Kirby games. In every game, Kirby starts out with only an inhale and slide move, but inhaling an enemy with an ability will give Kirby that Copy Ability. The Super Star formula has this defining trait: each Copy Ability has multiple attacks which can be activated with different combinations of the attack button, the jump button, and the d-pad/left joystick.
Kirby can make friends with his enemies by throwing friend hearts at them. The friends have the same moveset as the Copy Ability they would grant Kirby if swallowed. This feature originates from Super Star.
New to Star Allies are the Friend Abilities. Weapon Abilities like Sword and Cutter can be given elemental powers from friends with abilities like Ice or Fire. This is used to make abilities more powerful and to solve puzzles, like needing a fire sword to cut and light a bomb's rope.
there are a wide variety of Friend Abilities. Characters with the Stone ability can be turned into an elemental curling stone. Parasols can create a giant umbrella that protects allies. Artists can create healing items. ESPs can levitate characters with the Stone ability.
There are also Friend Actions such as the Friend Circle, Friend Train, and Friend Star which are powerful forms that can be used to mow down enemies. They are similar to the Super Abilities, Hypernova, and Robobot Armor of the previous three games.
The variety of attacks in Kirby Star Allies is impressive and definitely fun to play around with, and yet Star Allies is an overall more boring and less polished platformer than the previous three games. I think the level designers struggled to incorporate all of these moves into interesting puzzles. The Robobot Armor of Kirby Planet Robobot was the best "super" gimmick because it had a good balance of agency (the player can obtain Copy Abilities from nearby enemies and use them with the Robobot Armor) and limitation.
