Kirby's Epic Return to Dreamland - True Arena with Ninja (No healing/blocking)
0Yep. Something I thought I'd do real quick. A friend was thinking Ninja in Return to Dream Land got nerfed compared to in Super Star. In truth, the only direct nerf was Quad Shock's energy hit dealing less damage, which is conditional anyway because that's the result of the Mercy Defense factor, which was around in RtDL but not as blatant as in Triple Deluxe. By contrast, Blossom Storm was added, Smoke Screen was added for what that's worth, and Quad Shock has become able to be done with an aerial slash. That last one proves REALLY nuts.
I will say, though, that Ninja is initially difficult to get a hang of in Return to Dream Land, but I think context has more to do with that than the ability itself. Super Star's bosses in general rarely punished hitting them with melee attacks mindlessly. While Return to Dream Land isn't so much more stringent about it, it is more consistent, and especially stands out due to Return to Dream Land's fondness for background attacks, so I end up realizing that compared to other abilities, Ninja does highly focus on close range if it wants to deal damage, because Kunais barely deal sneak-in damage. Nevertheless, once you're past that initial shock, aerial Quad Shock proves to be INSANE. I end up taking only TWO hits total in the entire run, both from clear execution errors and, believe it or not, neither involving Galacta Knight. That's how safe Ninja is in general. Just don't expect any chance of an easy time attack, though.
-Minibosses Finesse: Maybe Gigant Edge could throw you off once. Once you're past that, he has no durability at all. After that, Artillery is easily back-attacked for insane damage and that will isolate Heavy Tank.
-Minibosses Strategy: Kibble Blade and Moundo are just too slow. However, you want to avoid getting greedy against Battlestation, because his attacks can catch you off guard if you aren't wary. Getting rid of him first, however, allows for isolating Fighter and preventing claustrophobic situations. I got hit here because I Air Dropped later than I tried to.
-Troll Doomers: the fire/normal duo can cause suffocating situations, but thankfully, eliminating the fire one shouldn't be too hard. I'm actually surprised I took him out with the Blossom Storm I mistimed and probably would have otherwise been hit for. The lone Troll Doomers aren't much of a threat at all.
-Whispy Woods: the only attack worth even being concerned about is the Turns Red transition attack, which does at least involved halfway worrisome movement. Nothing else is even a remote threat, but what do you expect from Whispy Woods.
-Mr. Dooter: just space the aerial Quad Shocks right, as well as using Air Drops with the stars provided during the initial attack of the Turns Red phase, and this guy falls fast enough.
-Fatty Puffer: basically Mr. Dooter with effectively less durability outside the invincibility. NEXT!
-Goku Kong: be sure to pay attention to Goku Kong's altitude when placing aerial Quad Shocks, and be wary of the Genki Dama shorly into the Turns Red phase, especially since Wall Cling can very well work against you when trying to get away from it.
-Grand Doomer: just be aware of what this guy can do and he will fall like all the rest. Oh, and yep, Blossom Storms for his BG attacks.
-Metal General: the biggest concern is that when he goes into his Turns Red phase, you can actually destroy the missiles early enough and this will work against you due to the resulting explo-....wait, what? What just happened?
-Landia: the wind strikes can pull RNG shenanigans, so be careful of that. Nothing else to say, really.
-Spoiler boss: as lo-...wait! This has nothing to do with Ninja!
-HR-D3: during the first phase, when attacking, be sure to mind your positioning. I took my second hit here because I didn't think to do that as well as I should have. Nothing HR-D3 does is untelegraphed, so dodging by itself should never be a problem. The second phase is a complete JOKE.
-Galacta Knight: really, if Galacta Knight even tried to drill attack, I might feel threatened. Instead, he doesn't and so he falls VERY fast. NEXT! And wow, I'm saying that for the freaking Meta Knight Expy of the game.
-Final boss phase 1: let's just say class rock-paper-scissors isn't exactly friendly toward this guy here. I'm tempted to say he's an example of how powerful aerial Quad Shock is, but then again, flying innately provides evasion.
-Final boss phase 2: I think the hit on my last attack was just plain disjointed.
My conclusion is that while Quad Shock is VERY centralizing and Smoke Screen is leaving me wondering what it's supposed to do, I think abilities in general simply could stand buffs to moves that would reward better gameplay.
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