Kirby Super Star Ultra/New features

Excluding the new game modes and their content, these are the known notable changes from Kirby Super Star to Kirby Super Star Ultra.

Aesthetic changes

• Sprites have been re-designed to fit the style of more recent Kirby games.
• Most cinematics and cutscenes are captured three-dimensional models in Ultra, but the original 2D scenes can still be unlocked and viewed in the Theater.
• All the main games have their individual theme music. For example, Spring Breeze's title screen music is a remix of the title screen music from Kirby's Dream Land.
• Several of the treasure chest items in The Great Cave Offensive have changed (the four season items, for example, are now a single item called the Four Seasons Heart).
• Heavy Lobster now has his own music theme that plays when you battle him.
• Dyna Blade and Wham Bam Rock have the traditional Super Star boss music replaced with a remix of the Castle LoLoLo level music from Kirby's Dream Land.
• Kirby now performs a generic pose upon obtaining a Copy Ability, instead of showing off one of its attacks.
• There are more songs and sounds in Sound Test.

Ability and helper changes

• Most grab attacks are easier to activate.
• In the original, the Ninja Ability's Knife Throw would unleash a knife every time the button was pressed. In Ultra, the intervals between Knife Throws has been limited, and requires more precise timing.
• Ninja's Hide Guard now deals damage both when disappearing and re-appearing (instead of just when disappearing). Ninja's Dash Attack is also more effective.
• Sword's Sword Stab now travels farther, pierces enemies, and makes Kirby temporarily invincible.
• Running into Cutter's Cutter Boomerang no longer interrupts Cutter Dash Attack.
• Ice Breath now has a slight delay before starting.
• The Bomb ability's "Straight Throw" can now be performed in the air.
• Although the effect of the Stone ability remains the same, there are many more stone transformations in Ultra.
• Jet can charge up faster.
• The Jet helper, Capsule J, has been completely redesigned graphically, and is now dubbed Capsule J2.
• The Copy helper, T.A.C. has been renamed TAC. His "Steal" attack is less rapid than before, and his "Cat Magnum" attack is a new addition.
• Mirror can reflect more projectiles than before.
• Wheel's Dash now speeds up after a turn. Wheel can no longer "Brake Dash" against walls, but can do so against Whispy Woods.
• Plasma Kirby now has a green skin color for his body.
• Mirror Kirby now has a white skin color for his head and arms (his legs remain red).
• The Hammer's Hammer Flip ability has a more pronounced flame effect than before.
• Parasol's Parasol Drill and Parasol Dive no longer make Kirby (or Parasol Waddle Dee) temporarily invincible. Parasol now automatically acts as a parachute, where as previously it had to be activated by pressing .
• Yo-yo's Break Spin doesn't last as long. Neither Break Spin nor Gazer Spiral can hit more than twice now.
• There's now a glitch with Whispy Woods that can interrupt Cutter's close-range combo.
• Beam's Beam Blast now halts Kirby's (or Waddle Doo's) descent a little bit every time it's used.
• The damage of many ability attacks has been tweaked slightly. For instance, Beam's Beam Whip has been increased from 5 damage to 8 damage.

Functional changes

• The player is now able to remove Kirby's ability by pressing . This will cause the ability to come out in the form of a bouncing star that will go away after a while if Kirby doesn't recollect the ability star.
• The Maxim Tomatoes in The Arena are now replaced with small tomatoes when used. These restore about 1/5 of Kirby's health and do not reappear after use.
• Bosses are generally slower, but have longer periods of invincibility upon taking damage. Minibosses will now leave stars after landing from a jump, and stars in general will stay on screen for much longer, unable to damage the player.
• Kirby's control has been tweaked in a few places: swimming upwards now forces him to face upwards, landing from a dive now causes him to bounce, and his Inhale can grab multiple projectiles more easily.

UI changes

• When choosing or playing a level in Milky Way Wishes, there's now several little circles at the bottom of the screen that indicate how many abilities you have collected from that level. Big gray circles indicate a missing ability, while orange ones represent one you've collected. This makes it much easier to find out what abilities you're missing.
• The treasure list in The Great Cave Offensive is now divided into sections corresponding to each major area, making it easier to determine which treasures have been collected in an area.
• The original two minigames, Megaton Punch and Samurai Kirby must be unlocked in Ultra.
• The player can now select which stage to continue from in Revenge of Meta Knight, as was possible in Spring Breeze.