Captain Stitch is amid-boss appearing inKirby's Dream Land 2 andKirby's Dream Land 3. Its appearance is that of a dark sphere with eyes surrounded by eight spikes, making it resemble a largeGordo. Unlike Gordos, however, it usually sports angry eyes and is not cross-eyed. It is also shown to possess a small mouth, which is only visible when it becomes injured. When it is defeated, it can be inhaled for theNeedleCopy Ability.
Captain Stitch debuts inKirby's Dream Land 2. Here, it is first encountered in thefourth stage ofRed Canyon, holdingRick captive.
Much like its smaller Gordo cousins, Stitch is able to float and — while surrounded by spikes — possesses invincibility. Its strategy consists of flying around the room in varying patterns and randomly performing one of two fundamentally similar attacks, which involve launching its spikes atKirby in a straight line or doing the same with its entire body; both attacks are indicated by the Mid-Boss briefly pulling back before striking, making it difficult to foresee which maneuver will follow. If it fires its spikes at Kirby, the Mid-Boss is temporarily left vulnerable to all attacks until it regrows them; the spikes, on the other hand, keep their invincibility and may harm Kirby while travelling through the air, but become compressed into a ball that can be inhaled upon collision with an obstacle. If the Captain launches itself forward, it retains its invulnerability until it slams into a wall, falling down, briefly becoming stunned and losing its spikes, which once more become inhalable and may be used as ammunition.
Captain Stitch, like other Mid-Bosses, cannot be hurt by Kirby'sAir Bullet, but can be harmed with any other projectile orCopy Ability while its spikes are detached from its body, requiring threeStar Bullets or a varying number of ability-based attacks to beat.
Captain Stitch appears as a common enemy in this title, though with a slight change in design. Instead of spikes, it has four round lumps sticking out of its sides. It is worth 600 points when hit, and takes 3 hits to defeat, netting 1800 points total. When defeated, Captain Stitch drops aCrash item, which can be used to blow up Indestructible Blocks in the area.
It should be noted that Captain Stitch is not explicitly named in this game, and due to its slightly different appearance and status as a common enemy, it may be confused for a separate entity. However, supplementary material such as theKirby Character Encyclopedia confirms that this is Captain Stitch.
Captain Stitch returns as a mid-boss inKirby's Dream Land 3. It is virtually unchanged from its previous main series appearance aside from a more bluish (purplish in its artwork) tint. Apart from the final stage ofIceberg, which features a rematch with all of the game's mid-bosses, it is only encountered in the fourth stage ofRipple Field. As is typical for mid-bosses in this game, Stitch can only be faced in the latter stage if Kirby takes a specific route through it and must be defeated and swallowed in order to reach a key item or character required to obtain the stage'sHeart Star - in this case,Kogamugaeru.
Although its behavior mostly remains unchanged, it now moves more slowly, takes considerably longer to regrow its spikes after tossing them away and is overall more predictable in its movements. Stitch also requires six Star Bullets to defeat now instead of three, each one subtracting 1.5 units from its health bar.
Although it does not appear in any of the regular episodes ofKirby: Right Back at Ya!, Captain Stitch can be seen in the anime'spilot, possessing the same appearance as it does in the games, but with pronounced eyelids and a puce tinge. Here, Stitch is among the monsters emerging from the dark clouds — presumably created byNightmare — near the end of the short and is the first one to be shown.
Unlike in the games, Captain Stitch cannot gain invincibility from its spikes, as Kirby is able to inhale it without giving the monster a chance to act, spitting Stitch at the evil incarnation ofMeta Knight that has likewise materialized from a cloud and instantly defeating both. This makes it the only monster in the pilot which Kirby inhales without acquiring a Copy Ability from it. However, this is because Kirby does not swallow Captain Stitch.