Kirby Super Star Ultra/Helper to Hero

Helper to Hero is a remix of the classic Arena mode. Instead of fighting a plethora of bosses with Kirby and a helper, you're faced with the task of taking down 13 bosses with just one of 20 helpers; Kirby's nowhere to be found. This mode can be unlocked by clearing Meta Knightmare Ultra.

There's a 2-player option, where there are two helpers of the same type taking down foes. If the second helper isn't controlled by another player, the A.I. will take control, as if it was following Kirby. If the second helper dies, they'll be revived on the next rest-area visit with half health.

The Basics
Unlike in Arena, there's only 13 bosses, and they're always in the same order:
 * 1) Whispy Woods
 * 2) Mid-Boss All Stars 1 (Chef Kawasaki, Bonkers, then Bugzy)
 * 3) Kracko
 * 4) King Dedede
 * 5) Dyna Blade
 * 6) Fatty Whale
 * 7) Chameleo Arm
 * 8) Mid-Boss All Stars 2 (Poppy Bros. Sr, Mr. Frosty, Iron Man, then Jukid)
 * 9) Twin Woods (Two Whispy Woods simultaneously)
 * 10) Heavy Lobster
 * 11) Computer Virus
 * 12) Meta Knight
 * 13) Wham Bam Rock / Wham Bam Jewel

Between each fight, you'll be transported to a rest area of sorts. You'll have a preview of who you're fighting next, the doorway to the next match, and a tree adorned with three Maxim Tomatoes. If you eat a Maxim Tomato, it'll be replaced with a regular tomato, and if you eat that, you're out of Tomatoes. Once all the tomatoes are gone, you won't be able to heal yourself until the game ends, so conserve them whenever possible.

You'll eventually need to clear this with all 20 Helpers if you want 100% completion, but you only need to beat it once to unlock The true Arena. Bonker's Hammer ability can deal immense damage, killing most bosses in a handful of hits, which makes him the one of easiest to clear this mode with. Rocky's Stone is perhaps the better choice if you're more defensive and patient, as opposed to a berserker like Bonkers is.

Knuckle Joe (Fighter)
Although he's featured in the cinematic opening, he isn't too special. He doesn't excel anywhere particularly, but doesn't have many drawbacks either. Rather, he is the basic fighter from which all other helpers are measured against. Rising Break   is powerful, but risky against anyone except Whispy Woods and Twin Woods. You'll mostly be using hold-button moves, and his throw when you get the chance.

Parasol Waddle Dee (Parasol)
Parasol is kind of odd; he excels where you can use Circus Throw, and fails everywhere else.

As far as you're concerned, he can now only use Parasol Swing and Circus Throw. His other moves tend to make him charge straight into the boss, taking more damage than he deals. The little "sprinkles" that fly off Parasol Swing are incredibly weak, so you'll want to get close enough for the enemy to be hit by the umbrella--unfortunately this is still not too much damage for its proximity. You can use Circus Throw to toss a target up or forward, but more important than that, you automatically toss them up and down a few times on your umbrella. While you're dancing them on the umbrella, they can hit nearby bosses... hard. Kracko or Dyna Blade can go down in one move if you circus Kracko's Waddle Doos under him, or Dyna Blade's stars directly next to her. Unfortunately, most bosses you can't circus throw (Chameleo Arm, Fatty Whale, and Heavy Lobster most notably) are rather difficult, especially considering you can basically only fight them with Parasol Swing.

Chilly (Ice)
He's... pretty weak, most often. His dash is rather slow, and doesn't stop easily, which can end up crashing you straight into the boss. His snow attacks are weak and lack much range too. You're basically coasting on his throw, Ice Suction (which you should use whenever possible), and kicking blocks of ice at your foes. When those options aren't available, his Ice Storm (dash attack) is your best option--Chilly bounces away after he strikes with this, which helps you keep range, and it's apparently more damaging than the more snow-like attacks.

Chameleo Arm, Kracko, and Wham Bam Jewel are arguably his most difficult adversaries. On Chameleo, try to avoid attacking him while he's in the air--his legs always seem to reach out to strike when you least expect it. With Kracko, hide in a corner and wait for him to spit out a Waddle Doo--then Ice Suction it or freeze it, then wait for Kracko to spiral down. When he does, unleash the suction or kick the ice cube. If that doesn't seem to be working, Super Ice Sprinkle can defeat Kracko... just not as efficiently.

There's no foolproof way to take care of Wham Bam, but whenever he drops rocks on you, freeze as many of them as you can, then wait nearby them, holding down or. When the big guy slams his fist down, he'll hit the ice blocks, which can do a decent amount of damage. Chilly's guard knocks down the fist-slam to only a couple points of damage anyway. Just be careful he isn't winding up for a grab, a cross-screen punch, or bomb-dropping, as any of those can penetrate your guard.

Blade Knight (Sword)
He's... kind of not that great, but is decent. Although his standard chop can be effective, it can also be risky. The hop he takes on the second swing advances him closer to the enemy, so you'll want to avoid using it repeatedly. Most bosses only take damage once every few frames--and this usually means they won't take any damage from the second chop (the most powerful of the entire combo) if you mash in the button. Instead, pause a split second after the first chop before pressing a second time for the second chop. If you're doing it right, you'll be able to hear the slashing "twing!" for both strikes. The third part of the combo isn't that powerful, and can leave you vulnerable since it lasts so long, so you might want to stick with the one-two and forget the three. If you are at full health, take advantage of the Sword Beam!

His aerial chop and down-stab are pretty effective and safe, considering he bounces away from the target after the attack lands. The dash-Stab and dash-jump Sword Spin don't seem very effective, and often having you running straight into the boss for damage anyway.

Simirror (Mirror)
Man. This guy isn't too hot, at least not damage or speed-wise. His standard Mirror Cut is the most powerful, but it has practically no range, making it tricky to use sometimes. His dashing Mirror Body by contrast is the safest, but also not too strong. Reflect Force hold or  isn't too strong, and can have dangerous duration as well--not normally your first priority.

However... Simirror can reflect projectiles with his guard and Reflect Force, so he excels in that regard. In fact, that's the reason he's the only Helper (aside from Rocky or Tac) who can easily escape Computer Virus completely unscathed.

Sir Kibble (Cutter)
Kibble is weak, but he can get the job done. There's two basic ways for him to fight: offensive, which nets you better times, or defensive, which is generally easier.

Offensive involves using his close range, powerful attacks like Final Cutter and Cutter Drop. The close range makes you more likely to run into the boss (especially with Final Cutter). Offensive is always a good choice against Whispy Woods and Twin Woods, but becomes more risky with more mobile bosses like Meta Knight.

Defensive play revolves around using his Cutter Boomerang. The extra range of this attack makes it harder for bosses to hit you, but also takes much longer to deal the same amount of damage his close-range attacks offer.

Plasma Wisp (Plasma)
This guy is fun to play, especially since he can charge his attacks. Although weak against certain bosses, he can fly, which is very helpful when fighting a boss like Dyna Blade. To counteract that benefit, he can't move around very fast, which makes it harder to evade some attacks.

Its generally best to hold down guard or, then rapidly rotate  to charge up. Without guard, you move around randomly, which may unintentionally make you run into the boss or some other hazard. Against most bosses, with the possible exceptions of the mid-bosses, it tends to be more efficient to always fully-charge up before releasing an attack.

When Plasma Wisp has maximum charge, a Plasma Barrier surrounds him. This deals a little damage to anything he comes in contact with, but more importantly, can destroy most projectiles that come close to him. Against Computer Virus, holding down guard with a full charge makes you invulnerable to every enemy attack -- this is helpful against some other bosses as well, but not to such a great extent.

Waddle Doo (Beam)
Capture Beam and Wave Beam. All his other attacks are weak wastes of time.

Wave Beam packs a surprising punch, and has unlimited range. The only downside is it takes a while to charge up, and if you release it prematurely you'll end up doing Beam Whip (which takes up even more time) -- so if a boss takes you by surprise, you're pretty much boned. In truth, most bosses can be taken down easily by standing at a far corner of the stage and spamming this. Against the Wham Bams, if you dash back and forth to dodge fist-slams, you'll generally have enough time to hit with Wave Beam before their hand is raised up again.

Capture Beam is a grab-attack, so you'll need a projectile or some small object to grab. After you've grabbed something, you can shoot it towards the boss for immense damage. This is especially useful against Kracko, who can be hard to hit with Wave Beam. (Coincidentally, Waddle Doo remains invincible as long as he holds onto a captured object -- once the object is thrown, he returns back to his vulnerable state.)

With the right timing, Waddle Doo can probably have the third-to-fifth best time. He's also one of the easiest to use.

Poppy Bros. Jr (Bomb)
Bomb is a pretty straightforward ability. Take out a bomb, aim it, repeat. Poppy Jr has no real frills. It can be used effectively on any boss, but unfortunately, these Bombs aren't too damaging for explosives, so you'll probably spend more time fighting--which also means you'll spend more time taking attacks.

Gim (Yo-yo)
Like bomb, Yo-yo is mostly straightforward. Just toss it in the direction of your enemy. Break Spin is worthless against these bosses, but Gazer Spiral is a fantastic move. It deals the most damage, and simply slaughters the airborne bosses (Kracko, Chameleo, and Wham Bam) that other abilities tend to have problems with. It also makes Gim invincible, and can be used straight through Wham Bam's pounds. His throw, Hammer Drop, is incredibly damaging and can make up for the weakness of Gim's other moves. Although Gim's easy to use and can get good times, he won't be breaking records anytime soon.

Birdon (Wing)
At first, Birdon might not seem that great. But once you start spamming Condor Dive Air    and it's produced waves, this bird actually becomes an impressive fighter. This one move is moderately-to-incredibly effective against everyone except, unfortunately, Wham Bam Rock and Wham Bam Jewel. Against them your only real option is Condor Head dash.

Feather Gun isn't a great move, but it can be used between Condor Dives and Condor Heads. Although Shuttle Loop is a powerful throw that covers a wide area, Birdon unfortunately has a tendency to run into the boss unguarded after she uses it, which makes it more risky than its worth. Notably, Kracko seems to be vulnerable to the throw if you can time it right.

Biospark (Ninja)
Biospark has a rapid-fire long-range projectile, a bounce-off kick, a powerful throw with huge range, Quad Shock, and he has the fastest dash of all. His offensive power usually only falling second to Bonkers. His only real "weakness" is Chameleo Arm, but if you can grab one of Chamelo's paintballs and Air Drop it back onto him, you'll take away a chunky portion of his health.

Air Drop is amazingly powerful, and can take out nearly any boss in three hits; it's also a perfect move for when Kracko or Wham Bam Jewel drop things on you. Quad Shock is amazingly strong, especially against bosses with little invincibility buffer -- like the mid-bosses. Knife might be weak, but its range covers the entire screen, and can be repeateded rapidly with the right timing. His kick isn't too powerful, but its bounce-off property works wonders when you use it repeatedly.

An easy way to defeat Kracko is to jump up to the upper left hand corner right when the battle starts so Kracko follows you. When he's in range, start spamming Biospark's down kick and Kracko will start to use his Beam ability. If you time right, you'll either bounce off Kracko to dodge it, or, surprisingly, you'll somewhat kick the beam and be able to continue kicking Kracko. By the time he finishes his Beam attack, he shouldbe defeated.

Bonkers (Hammer)
Forget strategy. Bonkers can hammer anything to death in a matter of seconds. Use his Hammer Flip   properly, and make that milliseconds.

Burning Leo (Fire)
There are two basic ways to play Leo: speedy or safe.

Leo has two amazing moves that deal a ton of damage, at the cost of being the shortest-range moves in the game. These would be Fireball Inferno and Fireball Spin, the two attacks that make up "speedy" play. When used properly, they can kill as fast (if not faster) than Bonkers, especially on static bosses like Whispy Woods, Twin Woods, and Computer Virus.

The safer way to play borrows the invincibility of his Burn dash, and Fireball Roll. When those can't be used, Fire Breath is a pretty handy move as well, especially considering it can be aimed with. It can even block most of Computer Virus's projectile attacks.

Although Leo's still pretty easy to use against anyone, he has slight problems with Fatty Whale and Meta Knight. The Whale is a problem because he moves around a lot, and he's too large to Burn-dash through. He can still be defeated just as well, but it takes more patience and Fire Breath than other bosses. Meta Knight involves a lot of luck. Ideally he'll dash to the edge of the stage before charging up his screen-covering Tornado move, at which point you'll be able to jump behind him and unleash a few hits of Fireball Inferno. But when that opportunity doesn't present itself, Burn-dashes and Fire Rolls seem to be your best bets.

Capsule J2 (Jet)
Capsule J2 may not be a fan favorite, but he's a pretty decent boss-killer. His fully-charged jet dash provides invincibility, does a good amount of damage, and is effective on just about everything. His fully-charged throw is... bluntly... epic. It covers a massive area and tosses the grabbed enemy a decent distance. Even if it hit once, it would be powerful, but you can usually hit once on the loop and a a second time after you land.

Wham Bam Jewel is his only problematic opponent, and unfortunately you have to fight him twice (more or less), which is probably the only real reason he can't match the likes of Bonkers. Still, his dash is effective enough to kill. When Wham Bam gets low on health and starts attacking faster, jetting is a pretty fast way to escape being squashed, while also doing damage.

The real trick to Capsule J is charging his jet wherever you can, then saving it by guarding. Jumping out of a charge works too, but it takes much more time.

Bugzzy (Suplex)
Bugzzy's strength relies on being able to grab the bosses' projectiles, then throw said projectiles back towards said boss. The only move to actually hurt a boss without a projectile is his Pinpoint Kick air    (which itself can be a powerful move, if used repeatedly). With enough grabs and throws, this guy can be nearly as fast as Bonkers!

Bugzzy can grab hold of nearly anything, even speeding fireballs. He's invincible while he holds an object or suplexes it. In the midst of one of his six different suplexes, any boss that makes contact with him (or the grabbed projectile) will receive whopping damage. Ideally you'll be able to hit the boss with the same suplex twice -- The suplex is usually best for this; the projectile stays around for a long time, so you can usually hit once with the suplex's start, then a second time with the projectile.

If anything, Wham Bam Rock and Wham Bam Jewel will be the reasons Bugzzy's time can't match that of Bonkers. Neither boss drops many rocks for Bugzzy to throw, and both can occasionally be hard to hit with suplexes. Surprisingly, you can grab and throw the bombs Wham Bam Jewel drops -- just make sure to grab one before it hits ground, or you'll be running face-first into an explosion.

Tac (Copy)
Tac may seem weak to the untrained eye, but he's arguably the most powerful of all.

His basic attack, dubbed "Steal", involves him throwing out his hand, then drawing it back. It seems weak, but the secret lies in using it repeatedly at close range. After his hand hits the target, it explodes. As soon as his hand explodes, Tac can throw his hand again. At close ranges his hand explodes earlier, which allows faster attacks. That in of itself would be impressive, but his attack seems to negate the "buffer" invincibility bosses have between your attacks -- which is especially useful on bosses with a long buffer, like Fatty Whale. These two effects combined allow him to dish out damage at a rate faster than any other character--second perhaps only to Bonker spamming Hammer Flip.

His second attack is Cat Magnum, a powerful version of Steal that requires a few moments to charge up. It's the better choice if you find yourself needed a long-ranged attack. While Tac charges this attack, he flashes. Before the third flash, he unleashes steal. On the third flash or after, he unleashes Cat Magnum.

What truly makes him shine above all others is his guard move, "Tac Hide", which Tac uses to blend into the background. Unlike every other character's guard, this is a perfect defensive move. Nothing can even touch him, not even throws or swords or explosions. The only other character who can achieve this invincibility is Rocky, but Tac's guard is instantaneous, whereas Rocky's Stone mode requires a few moments to transform.

As a side note, Tac's dash-jump reaches nearly twice the height of his regular jump. This doesn't come in handy often, but it's a good thing to keep aware of if jumping too high can be a problem.

(Note: In Kirby Super Star, Tac couldn't use Cat Magnum, but the rate of Steal was faster.)

Wheelie (Wheel)
Wheelie excels in some areas and fails in others. He only has one move, the dash. He charges forward at high speed, ramming through any bosses in his path. He's mostly invincible for the duration of the dash, but becomes vulnerable if he turns, runs into a wall, or stops. He also can't jump while he dashes. This works in his favor against most bosses, but there are definitely some who know how to fight him.

Kracko, for one, can be a little difficult. Kracko stays aerial for the entire match. Wheelie can't jump after he starts dashing, so instead has to start his dash in the air, then fall through Kracko mid-dash. The trick to doing this is facing away from the nearest wall when you start the dash. If you're facing the wall, Wheelie's likely to crash against it, then fall back onto Kracko for damage. Coincidentally, running over Kracko's Waddle Doos fires them up and forward a little bit before they're destroyed--use one of these Doos as a projectile against Kracko for some impressive damage.

Chameleo Arm (for part of the match) and Dyna Blade pose similar problems. Use the same away-from-the-wall dashing and you should be able to come out on top.

Certain bosses (Mid-bosses, King Dedede, Heavy Lobster, and occasionally Meta Knight) spend a lot of time in the corner of the screen. If Wheelie hits them like this, he'll stop against the wall and collide back into the boss for some painful damage. Unfortunately, in these situations all you can do is wait for the boss to come back into the stage's center.

Holding down the brakes with or  is usually useless. It slows Wheelie down and takes his invincibility away. Against Whispy Woods and Twin Woods however, it's quite useful. Normally charging at Woods will deal damage, but cause Wheelie to crash against the Tree. Holding down the brakes still allows him to deal damage, but prevents him from crashing and allows damage to be dealt at a faster rate.

Rocky (Stone)
Though Rocky only has a single move, he's arguably one of the easiest characters to use, possibly even exceeding Bonkers. Transforming into a stone makes him invincible to every attack, and stone-dropping onto a boss is one of the most powerful attacks in the game.

If you don't have the greatest aim, you might find yourself in a vulnerable position after a rock-drop. The boss will often "stand" over you, which prevents you from changing back to normal without taking contact damage, which in turn requires you to wait for the boss to move out of the way. For this reason, you probably won't be getting record times with Rocky.

Sword Knight (Sword/Meta Knight)
Sword Knight is exactly like Blade Knight, except he shares Meta Knight's up-stab move. This doesn't seem like much, but it's surprisingly useful against Kracko.