Kirby: Squeak Squad/Controls

Kirby may be on the Nintendo DS, but many of his basic controls are the same as his first few adventures. While it's easy to control him, however, using all his basic moves to their absolute fullest will make our favorite little pink ball one lean (sorta), mean, treasure-saving machine.

Getting Around

If you can't handle the environments, you'll never make it past the first level. Here's how to keep Kirby from tripping over his own feet!

• Holding down or will make Kirby walk, while tapping either button twice will make Kirby dash in that direction for as long as the button is held down.
• Pressing causes Kirby to duck for as long as the button is held, or, if he's standing on a pass-through platform, to drop down through it. While holding , pressing , , or will make Kirby slide along the ground, breaking blocks and hurting bad guys.
• Press to fill Kirby with air. Holding down , , or will cause Kirby to fly up into the air, while pressing will make him fire a puff of air (which does some damage to enemies) and fall to the ground.
• Thank goodness Kirby can swim! Just jump into any pool of water and Kirby will automatically put on his scuba gear. Use to swim in any direction, and hold or to swim for the surface. Holding down will make Kirby shoot a stream of water in whichever direction he's currently facing. Useful for underwater enemies!
• To enter a doorway, just press . To climb up or down a ladder, just press or , respectively.

Beat 'Em Up!

So it's possible to reach the enemies; now what do you do? Well, if you're Kirby, the only problem is deciding how to take 'em out!

• Pressing will make Kirby suck in air and anything unlucky enough to be caught in the vortex. Holding down will let Kirby suck up larger enemies and blocks. Be careful, though. If there's something in his mouth, Kirby will be too heavy to fly, which can lead to some sticky situations if caution isn't used.
  • Once an enemy is inside Kirby, he can do two things with them. By pressing , Kirby will spit out whatever is inside his mouth as a projectile, unless it's a bubble. Bubbles will be spat out and then float there for about eight or nine seconds. After that, they'll fly away, never to be seen again.
  • The alternative to firing enemies as missiles of death is to press , which will make Kirby swallow whatever he has in his mouth. Enemies will be destroyed, and if they give an ability, Kirby will copy it. This is explained in full in the next section. Bubbles, on the other hand, will be added to the color palette, unless it's full. If it is, they'll just bounce back out of Kirby and float for a bit before flying off.
• If Kirby already has an ability, he can't suck anything up. Instead, he gets a whole new range of attacks, depending on what ability he copied. For more information on these, see the Abilities section.

Copy Palette

Use it wisely and you can create super-strong power-ups and extra-useful abilities. For complete lists of what you can make, check out the Secret Mixing Techniques section.

• Tap a bubble with to use it. If the object is a healing item, the bubble will disappear and Kirby's health will be refilled by the appropriate amount. If the bubble contains an ability, Kirby will automatically switch to that power. If the bubble contains a star missile, Kirby will have the missile in his mouth and fire it when is pressed. Remember that this counts as having an enemy in his mouth, so he can't fly until he shoots it or swallows it (which destroys the missile).
• Move the bubble to the top of the touch screen and it will go back into Kirby's mouth, which lets you get rid of the bubble without using it (which is very useful for when you need to make more room for a new bubble).
• Move one bubble on top of another to create a new bubble. Two healing items make another item (usually stronger), two abilities make a third, and two star missiles will make a stronger missile. Check the Mixing Techniques Section for all the details.