Kirby into Dreams

Warning- the paragraph about villains has a spoiler at the end for the Hoshi no Kaabii anime, though it is based purely on fan speculation and is not necessarily cannon. Thank you.

Isn't he cuuuuuuuuute!

Once upon a time, in a land far away, HAL Labs created a little video game called "Kirby's Dreamland." This focused on the titular character, Kirby, in a land of dreams ruled by a despotic penguin. The simple plot was further elaborated on in "Kirby's Adventure," in which Kirby has an adventure (Shocking!). This time, however, the avian dictator, King Dedede, has stolen the Star Rod from the Fountain of Dreams, which created good dreams for people everywhere. To add to the cruelty, he has (boo and hiss!) broken the rod, and forced his minions to watch over pieces of it. Of course, everyone's food obsessed little creampuff must get the rod back and save the day. But, once the magical wand has been recovered, (gasp!) it releases Nightmare, an evil creature with a cloak and horns who wants to further complicate the plot by being the real mastermind behind the destruction of dreams. Needless to say, Kirby beats him and all peace is restored.

Don't ask about the lowercase "i"

Later, the brilliant Sega programmers created the Saturn, a fun but doomed game system. Among the choices of games is NiGHTS into Dreams. NiGHTS is a dream creature, who lives in the magical paradise of Nightopia. In Nightopia, dreamers come each night with Ideya (pronounced like "idiot") to created good dreams. However, the darker part of this night Dimension is Nightmare, ruled over by the nefarious Wizeman the Wicked. Wizeman, an evil creature with a cloak and horns, wants to steal ideya and end all hope for happy dreams. Enter Claris and Elliot, two regular kids with problems (stage fright and an inferiority complex, respectively). These two have the ability to become one with NiGHTS and save the day by defeating Nightmaren, Wizeman's henchpeople

Despite being different games by different companies, there are immediately noticeable similarities between NiGHTS and Kirby. Most recognizable is that they both take place in a land of dreams. In fact, there's very little differentiating the worlds. NiGHTS goes into more detail (a running theme), but basically both are set in picturesque representations of pure goodness, inhabited by cute, cuddly creatures who don't really seem to do much. Both seem to have inexplicable doors, as seen in Kirby's Adventure and NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams, the 2007 followup to NiGHTS into Dreams. These doors are in hub areas, leading to continuations of Dreamland and Nightopia.


The Star Rod and the five Ideya

Although both games' worlds have the purpose of creating dreams, the mechanics of each are different. Dreamland does not seem to actually be the location where dreams play out, but rather the area surrounding the Fountain of Dreams, whose Technicolour mist gently falls upon sleeping people, creating dreams. Conversely, NiGHTS's premise is the dreams actually occur in Nightopia itself, which is, in turn, created by ideya. The ideya are balls of coloured light, representing facets of the dreamers personalities, purity, wisdom, growth, hope, and courage. If ideya are taken away, dreams cannot be made. Likewise, is the Star Rod, the power source of the Fountain of Dreams is taken away, dreams cannot be made. Both result in the villains plot.


Wizeman (Left) and Nightmare

While on the topic of villains, both NiGHTS's Nemesis, Wizeman, and Kirby's foe, the oh-so creatively named Nightmare, are similar in every sense of the word. Both have horns, both have a flowing cloak beneath an elaborate collar, and both are determined to prevent good dreams from happening by stealing the source of dreams. These monsters both have the power to create horrible creatures to fight our heroes, as evidenced by NiGHTS's end of level bosses and Nightmare's "Holy Nightmare" mail order monster company in the Kirby anime. The nightmaren and Holy Nightmare creations are often giant versions of animals that stay on the cute side of grotesque. These creatures include our heroes as well! NiGHTS is known to be a Nightmaren who rebelled against the constraints set by Wizeman, who trapped him in a tiny ideya palace (more like a fancy gazebo) in Nightopia. In the "Kirby of the Stars" anime, it is widely assumed the Kirby is Nightmare's creation, who rebelled. This is evidenced by a small, round shadow in a flashback, though the distinct shape could also belong to Meta Knight.

A cloaked Meta Knight and the world scariest mime, Reala

Meta Knight is a strange character in the Kirby universe; he looks like Kirby, but also fights him. This is a similar role to NiGHTS's Reala, a more sinister version of NiGHTS, who is eternally loyal to Wizeman. However, Meta Knight also acts as Kirby's benefactor on occasion, and is generally a strict mentor. Reala, however, is evil to the core; a sinister clone of the protagonist.

Fumu and Bun and Claris and Elliot

Both NiGHTS and Kirby have a pair of friends who help them accomplish their dreams, while helping themselves become better people in the process. NiGHTS has the dreamers, Claris and Elliot, and later Will and Helen, who come to him in their dreams for help. As they give niGHTS the power and courage to defeat Wizeman and his Nightmaren, they discover their own strength to overcome great odds in their waking life, and they achieve their goals. In Kirby of the Stars, Fumu and Bun, two kids living with their parents in Dreamland, help their new friend Kirby understand the world around him and work up the courage to fight Nightmare and his creatures.

Being dream-like characters, they have incredible powers to become that with which they come into contact, to an extent. Kirby inhales his enemies to gain their powers, and in the process he gains a similar appearance. For instance, Kirby's rocket power allows him to shoot like a rocket whilst wearing a jet pack. NiGHTS can dualize with dreamers to become free, but the ones gaining the powers are the dreamers. They can now fly and control NiGHTS like an ethereal puppet. Journey of Dreams adds an important plot point in the form of Persona Masks, elegant venetian-style masks that change NiGHTS appearance and powers when he wears them. He can shoot like a rocket, and look like one, while wearing the rocket persona, for example

In conclusion, the two series present a very similar basic plot (rebellious, cute monsters live in a world of dreams and must fight an evil, nightmarish mastermind/their creator to restore happiness), but the likenesses run deeper. Wizeman and Nightmare are strangely close in behaviour, appearance, and motivation, and Nightopia and Dreamland are virtually identical. The games, though, offer distinct variations on the main theme, with NiGHTS often going into more detail. The concept of rebellion is as old as time, and a world of dreams never ceases to inspire. Both games tend to draw in the same audiences, and will do so for a very long time.