GAMER LOUNGE 20XX (NO CASUALS!!)

[Jermungandr]

I just found out something interesting about Kirby Super Star that I've never realized before. And I thought I knew everything there was to know about that game ...

In KSS and it's remake, there are these robotic enemies that show up in the game, primarily on Meta Knight's ship. They look like robotic cannons with wheels (or ... sphere feet?) and are referred to as "Moto Shotzo" ... Shotzo being the name of the immobile cannon-looking enemy that has shown up in every Kirby game to date. Since the name implies that it is just a mobile version of Shotzo, I never really gave the character any second thoughts.



But then today I just happened to come across this animated gif from a Game Boy game, one I had never heard of before:



I instantly recognized the design of the tank, but my first thought is it could be just a coincidence. After all, a spherical shaped tank can't be that hard of a concept to come up with individually. But then I noticed that when the game logo is shown it actually says "HAL LABORATORY". So this was actually an intentional cameo. Neat!

But this gets a little more interesting. If you have a keen eye you might have noticed that this character shows up in Kirby Mass Attack as well, in the beloved Kirby Quest minigame. One if Kirby's "perfect" attacks involves him riding on Moto Shotzo while fleeing from a giant dragon-like tank with boxing gloves.



I never knew what this dragon-thing was supposed to be, and assumed that it was a scrapped boss from the never-released Gamecube Kirby game, much like the Dedede tank that also appears in Kirby Quest. But it turns out this thing is actually another reference to Trax!



Neat!

But you know what else is interesting? Scroll back up and look at that animated gif of the game opening again. Notice anything? You probably would have to be a very keen Kirby fan to even notice, but all the explosion and smoke effects are actually identical to the ones used in the Kirby series. Interesting, considering this game came out one year before Kirby's debut. Kirby, you lazy lazy bastard.

I've also found from doing a search on TSR that nobody has actually ripped anything from this game yet. I think I just found my next project.

Sorry if I'm just repeating something that's common knowledge. I genuinely had never heard of this cameo before and considering how much of a Kirby freak I am I'm working under the assumption that most other people haven't either ...