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The True Arena: the final challenge of every Kirby game since its debut in Kirby Super Star Ultra. The True Arena is a reprisal of The Arena, a boss-rush mode that contains all the bosses and mid-bosses you fight in the game’s story mode. Of course, completing the story unlocks new modes, which often have their own host of bosses to take down — usually tougher than the story mode’s bosses. These big and bad bosses reappear in the True Arena to test your skills in a brutal gauntlet, and only by surviving the onslaught and coming out on top can you truly call yourself a Kirby master.
Kirby’s Return to Dreamland had its own True Arena, which was composed of all the new EX bosses introduced in the game’s Extra Mode. While Return to Dreamland Deluxe’s True Arena is largely similar. Six new bosses were added by the new Magolor Epilogue, bringing the True Arena to a deadly twenty-one battles. Surviving one of these fights may be easy, but twenty-one brutal boss fights is enough to wear down even the best players. However, there are some tips you may want to take into account if you want to beat this brutal gauntlet.
Ration Your Maxim Tomatoes
In between boss fights, you can access a Rest Area that has three Maxim Tomatoes and two Copy Ability essences (though one is always guaranteed to be Sleep, so there’s only really one). The Maxim Tomatoes will fully heal Kirby and will be replaced by an Orange after use that only heals a small amount.
In total, you have six opportunities to heal the damage you take during the True Arena; over the course of twenty-one battles, you’re bound to take some hits. You should aim to take as few hits as possible — while not getting hit at all can be somewhat unrealistic, you’ll need to spread your six heals across the entire True Arena, because once you use them all up, you’re out of luck for the rest of your run. Only use a Maxim Tomato if you’re absolutely confident you won’t survive the next fight.
Know Thy Enemy
The True Arena is divided up into three sections; in the first section, you’ll be fighting Whispy Woods EX, Sphere Doomers EX, Mr. Dooter EX, Fatty Puffer EX, Goriath EX, Metal General EX, and the Mid-Bosses EX 1 (Gigant Edge EX, King Doo EX and Bonkers EX) and 2 (Kibble Blade EX, Moundo EX, Water Galboros EX and Dubior EX) in a random order. At the end of this section, you fight Grand Doomer EX, and then Landia EX.
The second section introduces the Magolor Epilogue’s bosses and are fought in a set order: Electricky Dooter, Fiery Puffer, Hydriath, Rampaging Doomers, and then Crowned Doomer. If you’ve made it this far, congrats: the final six await you.
The Final Six consist of HR-D3, Lor EX & Magolor, Magolor EX, Galacta Knight, Master Crown, and finally Magolor Soul, in that order. While the initial randomness for the first eight fights may be daunting, these battles are ultimately against the bosses you’ve become accustomed to over the course of the Main and Extra modes — they are the easiest part of the True Arena, and once you beat them, you can proceed through without worrying about curveballs thrown your way.
Don’t Worry About Time
You may notice the clock running in the bottom of the screen during your run. Honestly, just ignore the timer; while the True Arena has leader-boards ranking your best times, you’ll want to focus on clearing the True Arena first and foremost. If you really want to get a good time, go for it — but it’s recommended you clear the True Arena first before trying to speedrun it.
If you want to use Stone and abuse its invincibility, go for it. If you want to use Leaf or Sand’s special guard to maintain invulnerability, go for it! You’ll need to pull out all the stops, even if it takes a while.
The Otherworldly Warrior
Exclusive to the True Arena is Galacta Knight, who makes a guest appearance for the first time since Planet Robobot. Galacta Knight behaves much like a souped-up version of Meta Knight, attacking with moves reminiscent of the Sword ability. Galacta Knight will attack with lance thrusts, block attacks with his shield, and will modify his strategy to suit yours.
Galacta Knight can be quite vexing, but a strong copy ability can put him down. When he reaches around two-thirds health, Galacta Knight powers up and enters his second phase. Galacta Knight will start attacking with lightning, laser beams, and barrages of sword beams that bounce off the ground. Galacta Knight is a fast and aggressive boss, so make sure to avoid his attacks and get in hits when you can.
The Finale
One thing they don’t tell you is that the final battle of the True Arena, Magolor Soul, has received a major buff. Magolor Soul has two health bars to empty and a host of new and improved attacks to put an end to your run. Many of Magolor Soul’s attacks are revamped versions of existing ones; for example, Magolor Soul’s needle attack will now linger to provide an obstacle when dodging his other attacks.
Magolor Soul now fires two laser beams, has new Super Ability attacks for the Sand and Mecha abilities, and can summon two black holes at once. Magolor Soul puts up a darn good fight, so try to save your healing items for this battle, because you are going to need them. However, as Magolor Soul transitions to his second phase, he does drop a healing Apple — make sure to grab that if you’re low on health.
