As the Kirby series has progressed, Kirby’s copy abilities have become pretty extravagant. In his previous Switch outing, Kirby Star Allies, players could pore over the pause menu to find pages upon pages of unique attacks—mastering a copy ability could sometimes feel like learning how to play a fighting game character!
Kirby and the Forgotten Land bucks that trend, making each of the copy abilities fairly straightforward and easy to grasp. At least, that’s how it seems at first. In truth, Forgotten Land’s copy abilities have a surprising amount of depth to them, with plenty of hidden techniques for players to master. If you’ve been trying to wrap your head around Forgotten Land’s copy abilities, read on.
Cutter
Cutter is primarily a ranged ability, and it excels at that. However, if enemies get up close and personal, there is a close-ranged option for fending them off. If you mash the attack button while right next to an enemy, Kirby will begin swiping at them with his blade, eventually finishing them off with his Final Cutter technique.
Drill
The next time you use the Drill ability, try digging in a circular pattern. If you form a complete circle, all enemies within that circle are damaged by a powerful quake.
Fire
If you’ve spent a decent amount of time with the Fire ability, you probably know that Kirby can turn into a fireball if you attack while in midair. However, did you know that you can also use the fireball attack while on the ground? All you have to do is press the jump button and attack button simultaneously while Kirby is running.
Additionally, if you’d like to strafe while using Kirby’s standard fire breath attack, just hold one of the shoulder buttons while attacking. This will allow you to move Kirby around without changing the direction of his breath.
Hammer
The Hammer ability’s Giant Swing attack needs no introduction—it’s been a part of Kirby’s moveset ever since Kirby’s Adventure back on the NES. However, Forgotten Land introduces a new technique that allows you to string multiple Giant Swings together.
As always, to initiate the Giant Swing, all you have to do is attack while in midair. If you keep the attack button held down as Kirby falls back to the ground, he will use the hammer to spring himself back up. From there, you can start up another Giant Swing, bouncing along like a (particularly destructive) pogo stick! If you have the final Hammer blueprint, this attack becomes even more devastating. With each bounce, Kirby sends out fiery twisters in all directions!
Ice
Forgotten Land introduced a Bayonetta-style dodge roll mechanic, allowing Kirby to deftly roll away from incoming attacks and temporarily slow down time. Most of the time, all you have to do to execute this dodge roll is move the left stick while holding one of the shoulder buttons.
However, the Ice ability works a little bit differently. Holding a shoulder button causes Kirby to protect himself with an ice shield, which sends icy shards in all directions when the shoulder button is released. At first glance, it seems like the Ice ability doesn’t have a dodge roll, but that isn’t entirely true.
If you hold the left stick in any direction while the shoulder button is held, then release the shoulder button while keeping the left stick held, Kirby will perform a very small dodge roll. While it lacks the range of his standard dodge roll, it can still slow down time if you use it to avoid an attack.
It’s also worth pointing out that, much like the Fire ability, you can hold a shoulder button during Kirby’s ice breath attack to keep Kirby pointed in one direction.
Sword
Ever since Kirby’s Adventure, Kirby has been able to perform a slide attack by crouching and pressing the jump button. This allows him to deal damage, even without a copy ability.
Kirby and the Forgotten Land retains this bit of Kirby’s moveset, but if you happen to have the Sword ability, you can chain the slide attack into multiple swipes.
To initiate the slide, just hold one of the shoulder buttons, then press the jump button. If you press the jump button again, Kirby will perform an upward slash. Once Kirby is airborne, press the attack button to perform a sword dive.
One more thing: if you press the jump button while performing a charged spin attack, Kirby will initiate a Twister Slash. Depending on the Sword blueprint you’re currently using, this attack will take on different properties, so be sure to try them all out!
Tornado
The default Tornado ability is pretty straightforward—just press the attack button, and off Kirby goes. However, the first Tornado blueprint has an additional technique that you may not know about.
While using the Fleur Tornado ability, rotate the left stick and Kirby will begin pirouetting. If you stop spinning the left stick, Kirby will strike a pose, which lightly damages enemies that are close to him. It may not be the most effective attack, but it is adorable.
The final Tornado blueprint cannot perform the pirouette attack.
There is one more copy ability to discuss, though be warned: there are postgame spoilers ahead. If you haven’t beaten Kirby and the Forgotten Land yet, you may want to return to this guide after finishing the game.
~ Spoilers Ahead ~
Morpho Sword
After completing the postgame and wiping the floor with Morpho Knight, you’re rewarded with the final copy ability blueprint, and it’s a real doozy. If you’ve spent a decent amount of time with Morpho Sword, you probably know all about the wild attacks you can pull off with it. You can transform the sword into a giant blade thrice the size of Kirby’s body. You can send out massive, fiery projectiles. You can drain enemies’ health. You can even teleport around at will. But did you know about the Sukhavati attacks?
By holding one of the shoulder buttons and the attack button, Kirby will begin charging up his Sukhavati Psychic Beast attack. Once you let go of the button, Kirby will summon two fiery minions that attack nearby enemies. But that’s not all!
If you hold the shoulder button and the attack button in midair, Kirby will instead perform the Sukhavati Scale Wave attack. Kirby will unleash a wave of energy around him, damaging any enemies in your nearby vicinity.
Now that you’re armed with this knowledge, you’re all ready to take on the Colosseum’s toughest challenges! Forgotten Land has some pretty brutal bosses, but you’ll get through them just fine. Best of luck!
