Abad ending^{[conjectural title]} (orfalse ending^{[conjectural title]}) is any conclusion to a game's story that is sub-optimal, and takes place in a differentcontinuity to the good ending. These endings (if they exist) are typically shown to the player if thegame is either lost, or completed without the necessary prerequisite objectives to obtain the true ending. Technically speaking, every "Game Over" screen is a form of bad ending - because it implies thatKirby or whoever else is serving the role of main protagonist failed somewhere in their adventure - but this article will mainly focus on the other type of bad ending, where the game is seemingly completed.

Standard vs. full completion[edit]

Before specific examples of bad endings are cited, it is important to distinguish between a proper bad ending with a staff credits sequence and/or a cutscene, and an otherwise "good" ending where not all in-game objectives are met. The latter is characterized by getting the same ending regardless of how many of the important collectables were picked up along the way. An example of this would be theEnergy Spheres fromKirby's Return to Dream Land. While100% completion entails collecting all 120 of them, this is not necessary to reach the proper ending of the story mode, and doing so will not alter the story in any way.

Examples by title[edit]

Kirby's Dream Land 2[edit]

At the end of the bad ending cutscene, Kirby and his Animal Friends travel off toward the left amid rainy weather. Kine stops for a moment as a? is added to the end text below.

This ending is triggered if Kirby defeatsKing Dedede inDark Castle without collecting all theRainbow Drops first inKirby's Dream Land 2.

Once Dedede goes down, Kirby poses in triumph. From here, a cutscene plays where Kirby walks back home in the rain with aParasol in hand, as his threeAnimal Friends follow him closely behind. Below this scene, an enemy line-up is shown to the player, containing every enemy andboss in the game. At the end of this line-up, a silhouette ofDark Matter is shown, with the name!?, implying that something was missed. From here,The End is displayed, as the party walks off-screen.Kine the sunfish trails behind them, and pauses in the middle of the screen for a brief moment. He looks up, and a? is added to the end text. From here, Kine waddles off-stage, and the game resets.

Kirby's Block Ball[edit]

InKirby's Block Ball, if any of the first ten levels are completed without having met the border line score, then a bad ending will play out after defeatingBrobo in level 10. Kirby will hop down from a cloud and reach the ground, but find nothing there. After looking around (presumably for thefountain), he will hoist a traveler's sack over his shoulder and walk off to the right, as 'THE END' appears overhead. Just after Kirby walks off-screen, however, a shadow ofKing Dedede's image appears in the background sky. Kirby returns and makes one more glance back and a question mark appears over his head, which is then transferred onto the text to spell 'THE END?'. From there, another text crawl appears which reads 'LET'S TRY AGAIN!'.

Kirby's Dream Land 3[edit]

As Kirby and Gooey walk back home, a "cast" list of the enemies in the game are shown below (left). Later on, an ominoussilhouette hangs in the sky, suggesting unfinished business (right).

This ending is triggered if Kirby defeatsKing Dedede inIceberg without collecting all of theHeart Stars first inKirby's Dream Land 3.

Once King Dedede goes down, Kirby hops off his Animal Friend (if he was riding one), jumps a few times in the air, and poses in triumph, performing the same animations fromKirby's Dream Land 2. Afterwards, the game transitions to a new scene where Kirby andGooey are walking back home in a grassy field in the daytime. Additionally, like inKirby's Dream Land 2, a list of all the enemies andmid-bosses are shown to the player along the way. At the end, the camera pans upward to show a large black circle looming in the sky, with the caption of?. This is the yet-undefeatedZero. From here, the game resets.

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards[edit]

This ending is triggered if Kirby defeatsMiracle Matter inRipple Star without collecting all the priorCrystal Shards first inKirby 64: The Crystal Shards.

Kirby and his team watch as the crystal banishes the plague of Dark Matter from Ripple Star's skies, where it then flies off into space, disappearing with a twinkle. Kirby and his friends celebrate this as fireworks fill the sky.Ribbon and theQueen of Ripple Star see the party off, giving them a transport ship to take them home. Before Kirby leaves, he shakes hands with Ribbon. Once the ship carries them away, the Queenturns to face the camera and smirks, her changing eye color implying that she remains possessed byDark Matter.

The credits sequence afterward shows concept art sketches from the game's development. Many of the sketches are simply rough drafts of those seen in the true ending, but a few have other differences, such as how0²'s artwork is a sketch of its form before its battle starts. From there, the game resets.

Kirby Star Allies[edit]

InKirby Star Allies, exclusive to theHeroes in Another Dimension mode, a bad ending plays out if fewer than 100Friend Hearts were collected prior to defeatingThe Three Mage-Sisters. In this ending, Kirby and his allies simply walk off after they defeat the Mage-Sisters, leaving them and Hyness in a pile on the floor. While the Mage-Sisters lay there unconscious, a dark, ominous aura begins to emanate from them, as an excerpt of "Fare...well?" fromKirby 64: The Crystal Shards plays to a quick fade-out.

Having this ending play out will still unlock the Soul Melter EX difficulty forThe Ultimate Choice (provided Soul Melter is completed as well), but will not unlock the Three Mage-Sisters as aDream Friend, nor will it unlock the final threeCelebration Pictures. Additionally,King Dedede appears in the credits game instead ofMarx, the ending caption reads "The End...?", and in theTheater, the credits movie is titled "The Happiest Curtain Call?".

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  If fewer than 100 Friend Hearts are obtained by the time The Three Mage-Sisters are defeated, the battle will end anticlimactically with Kirby and his friends just walking away.
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  After Kirby and co. leave the scene, the camera zooms in on the fallen mages as the bad ending jingle fromKirby 64: The Crystal Shards plays over the fadeout.

Trivia[edit]

• ForKirby's Return to Dream Land, the scene whereMagolor is freed from theMaster Crown's influence at the end of the game was originally supposed to be only shown if the player collected all "special items" (presumably Energy Spheres). But the developers determined that the scene was too important to leave out of the main story, so they made it play regardless of how many items were collected.^[1]

References

• Gameplay mechanics

• Articles with conjectural titles