Kirby is known for many things. The accessibility, the cute and charming characters, but most of all: the boss fights. Kirby has made an art out of boss fights, particularly the final bosses. Without question, Kirby’s final bosses are legendary, but what about the rest? How does Whispy Woods stack up to Metal General? Here are all of Kirby’s Return to Dreamland Deluxe’s boss fights, ranked.
For this list, we’ll be condensing the normal and EX variants of bosses into single entries. This includes the secret fights added by Deluxe’s new Magolor Epilogue, with a couple exceptions, so be warned that there will be spoilers. If you’ve already seen these titanic monsters and menacing bosses, then there’s no need to worry.
Spoilers for secret bosses in Kirby’s Return To Dreamland Deluxe
14 Whispy Woods
Poor Whispy. He never seems to catch a break, does he? Whispy Woods has been the first boss in many Kirby games, and he returns to fulfill his role. True to form, Whispy is immobile and attacks by dropping apples from above, spitting air bursts at you, and even attempting to swallow you whole.
Whispy Woods EX will even start dropping spiky Gordos and attacking with roots. Though Whispy may not bring much to the table, it’s always fun to run into him at the start of each Kirby game — it’s like running into an old friend.
13 Mr. Dooter
The boss of Raisin Ruins puts a magical twist on his boss fight, pulling flames, skulls, and flaming skulls out of his magic hat to use in battle. If there’s one thing Mr. Dooter has, it’s style; his attacks are all spins on classic magician’s tricks, as well as leaping about to crush Kirby. Mr. Dooter brings to mind Kirby and the Amazing Mirror’s Wiz, as both are agile magicians who bring a charismatic and flamboyant spin to their boss fights.
Mr. Dooter even gains a new form in the Magolor Epilogue in the form of Electricky Dooter, giving him an electric touch to his attacks. Be careful not to stay too close, as Electricky Dooter’s jumps will create traveling shockwaves that can whittle your HP down if you’re not cautious.
Being the boss of the sixth world might make you think Metal General would put up more of a fight, but you’d be surprised. While Metal General has an undeniable cool factor, in terms of battle, he’s somewhat underwhelming. Metal General’s attacks are telegraphed and slow, with plenty of room to dodge.
There is one neat tidbit about this guy that stands out: whenever you hit Metal General, some damage numbers will pop up above his head. Metal General is the only enemy in the game to have this feature. It says a lot that Planet Robobot turned this guy into a miniboss. Of course, on Extra Mode, he gains a new weapon fit for a king…
11 Fatty Puffer
For such a big fish, you wouldn’t think Fatty Puffer would move as fast as it does. By rolling around, Fatty Puffer can flatten Kirby under its weight, and even roll up walls and across the ceiling! Fatty Puffer can also attack with a huge blast of water and by sending Puffer Jrs. to attack you.
To add to this, Fatty Puffer receives a burning hot new form in the Magolor Epilogue, Fiery Puffer. Fiery Puffer will leave behind scorching flames as it barrels through the arena, so keep on your toes!
10 Grand Doomer
The big boss of all Doomers awaits you at the top of Nutty Noon, the fifth stage and resting place of the final part of the Lor Starcutter. The Grand Doomer behaves much like its lesser cousins, but ramped up to eleven. The Grand Doomer will fire barrages of energy balls, charge you while wreathed in flame, and emerge from the ground to swallow you whole.
Stay on your toes while fighting Grand Doomer. One of Grand Doomer’s defining aspects is its third phase, exclusive to Story Mode and Extra Mode. During this phase, Grand Doomer will retreat into a stone shell that can only be cracked open with a handily summoned Ultra Sword, much like Magolor’s boss fight at the end of the game.
9 HR-D3
Exclusive to Extra Mode, HR-D3 is the secret weapon of Metal General. HR-D3 primarily attacks from the background, becoming vulnerable when it punches the ground and Kirby can attack its hands. After enough damage, HR-D3 lands on the battlefield to battle Kirby personally, and its enormous size makes avoiding contact damage a challenge.
A neat detail with HR-D3 is that as its health is chipped away, various parts of HR-D3 fall off until it’s nothing but an endoskeleton.
8 Goriath
Goriath is perhaps one of the harder bosses of Pop Star, with its fast movements and tricky battle arena. Goriath will primarily climb the walls of the arena to toss snowballs at you, jump on you, or just leap from wall to wall.
Goriath is fast, so lining up your attacks can be tricky — especially when, in its second phase, Goriath starts firing off Hadoukens and Spirit Bombs! In Magolor Epilogue, Goriath becomes Hydriath, with a new aquatic theme. Hydriath is even faster than its counterpart and fires off massive balls of water that bounce around the arena.
7 Landia
The four-headed guardian angel of Haldera Volcano is set up to be the ultimate foe you face, being the cause of Magolor’s troubles and why the Lor Starcutter crashed into Pop Star in the first place. However, Landia’s somber battle theme indicates otherwise.
In battle, Landia fights with fire, wind, and its teeth and claws. As the battle progresses, Landia splits into four and starts firing off team attacks, such as its Fireball Soccer attack. It may be challenging, but you’ve made it this far!
6 Lor Starcutter
A fitting way to cap off the side-scrolling shooter section in Another Dimension, the newly crowned evil overlord Magolor has turned the very ship you helped repair against you. Another Dimension could be thought of as a warmup to this fight, as the Lor will quickly fill up the screen with bullets as the fight goes on.
The Lor will use every weapon in its arsenal, including attacks composed of the Ship Parts you helped collect. Remember, Landia has a dash move with invincibility; this can help greatly in your fight, and it does a lot of damage to boot.
5 Crowned Doomer
This twisted incarnation of the Grand Doomer appears in the Magolor Epilogue and takes every difficult aspect of the Rampaging Doomers and Grand Doomer fights and mixes them together. While it behaves much like the original Grand Doomer, the Crowned Doomer loves filling up the screen with danger on all sides.
From explosive after-images to laser beams, the Crowned Doomer makes you put in work to see Magolor’s happy ending. But even then, something looms on the horizon…
4 Rampaging Doomers
Do you like bullet hells? No? Well, that’s too bad, because the Rampaging Doomers fight from the Magolor Epilogue will test your dodging skills. The Doomer leaves behind energy that explodes after a delay, and they love covering the screen with as many explosions as they can. As a souped-up Doomer, some of its attacks may seem familiar. And hey, Doomers aren’t that hard, right? Even with the explosions.
Well, in this fight, you battle not just one, but four of these things all at once, and they’re not exactly coordinated. You’ll be dodging left, right, up, and down to keep away from these ravenous beasts.
3 Galacta Knight
After nearly seven years since his last full appearance as a boss, Galacta Knight returns as a secret boss fight in the True Arena. And true to form, the otherworldly warrior puts your skills to the test in a fast and frenetic battle that’ll have your hands sweating and mind racing. Galacta Knight attacks with lances, lightning, lasers, fire… You name it, Galacta Knight’s going to throw it at you.
One neat tidbit about this particular incarnation of everyone’s favorite white knight is that depending on who you play as, Galacta Knight’s battle theme will change. Specifically, if you play as Meta Knight or King Dedede, phase 1’s theme will be replaced by the final boss theme of Kirby Fighters 2, and phase 2 will play Galacta Knight’s Planet Robobot theme.
2 Master Crown
The final fight of the Magolor Epilogue trumps many of Kirby’s final boss fights in terms of sheer spectacle alone. After the tough fight with Crowned Doomer, you may think, “This is it, right? Roll credits?” Then, you’re treated to a hellish scene of what appears to be Egg Engines being destroyed, with fire raining from the sky.
Accompanied by an amazing boss theme, the Master Crown descends from the heavens in the form of a colossal, gnarled tree. The fight itself is challenging, but if you’ve made it this far, you’re sure to win. Just make sure to keep an eye on your health — Magolor isn’t healed between fights!
1 Magolor / Magolor Soul
How could any other fight beat this? The fight against Magolor (and Magolor Soul on Extra mode) is an expertly crafted battle from start to finish. Magolor’s initial form has the wizard attack with a myriad of spells ranging from hordes of energy balls to blasts of fire to a kamehameha beam attack. Magolor rarely stays still and loves teleporting around the battlefield and hanging back in the background to attack you. This makes hitting him difficult, as he may just teleport away right before you hit him. The battle’s climax comes when Magolor’s health drops to critical levels; he raises a magical barrier that renders him invincible to all attacks and starts summoning enemies for aid. However, Magolor makes the mistake of summoning Super Enemies that allow Kirby to use his Super Abilities to break through the barrier. After a brief struggle with Ultra Sword, Magolor is finally put down… Or is he?
No, in fact, Magolor is not down yet. Or rather, the Master Crown isn’t; claiming Magolor completely as a vessel, the Master Crown transforms Magolor into a nightmarish, winged monstrosity that puts up a tough battle. Many of the attacks used in the previous phase reappear here with a twist; Magolor will summon spikes in varying patterns and draw a hurtbox that fills up the screen — on Extra Mode, he even flips the screen upside down to disorient you! As Magolor’s health falls, he even starts pulling out his own versions of Super Abilities, ranging from using Ultra Sword to attack half the arena at once to an icy version of Grand Hammer that turns the floor slippery.
