The official discord link if you wish to join the discord: https://discord.gg/j5RKwCvAFu
Support the wiki on our official Ko-Fi page or Patreon page!
King Dedede
From The Codex
Articles About King Dedede
| |
|---|---|
| Main Continuity | Main Universe - King D-Mind - Mirror Universe - Parallel Dedede - Clone |
| Alternate Continuity | Smash Bros. - Kirby of the Stars |
| “ | Surely King Dedede would never steal all the food in the kingdom and hoard it for himself... Why would he do such a vile deed?! Such questions will have to wait, as the king is coming for his eternal rival with all the fury of a wild beast! | „ |
| ~ VS King Dedede description in Kirby Star Allies |
Background
King Dedede, also written as King DeDeDe, or King De De De (in certain older games), is Kirby's arch-rival in Nintendo and HAL Laboratory's long-running Kirby video game series. He (or something in his likeness) has appeared in every game in the series except Kirby & The Amazing Mirror. As such, he is the most recurring major character of the series besides Kirby and Waddle Dee. Due to his many roles as Kirby's main adversary, many consider King Dedede to be the series antagonist. Despite this, he has helped more than harmed since Kirby's Return to Dream Land, and Nintendo has even described Dedede as Kirby's "arch-frenemy."
He is the greedy self-proclaimed king of Dream Land, which is located on the quaint Planet Popstar. Due to an ambiguous description of the geography of Popstar, it is never made entirely clear how much of the planet King Dedede assumes leadership of, though he seems to have castles and fortresses all across the planet. Even so, he seems to perform no administrative functions, and for the most part, the planet seems to ignore any edicts that are issued by him.
King Dedede's trademark weapon is a large star-studded hammer which he can swing around with the greatest of ease. He is also able to inhale objects and spit them out in a manner similar to Kirby. According to Super Smash Bros. Melee, he underwent a series of rigorous training programs to learn and master the use of inhaled air to fly like Kirby at some point after the events of Kirby's Dream Land.
| This dropdown contains the synopsis of King Dedede’s story. Read at your own risk as you may be spoiled otherwise! |
|---|
|
Kirby's Dream Land
In the Extra Game ending, he crashes through the top of the screen yet again and slams into the ground. He attempts to pick himself up, but is too disoriented. He stumbles backwards for a bit before falling face first into the ground, seemingly too battered to even stand. Kirby then walks over to the dazed King Dedede and nudges him a few times until he looks up. Kirby appears to scold him, and much to his surprise King Dedede begins to weep. He picks himself up before sulking away, Kirby chasing after him. King Dedede attacks in this game by trying to tackle Kirby, by walking up to him and swinging his hammer, and by attempting to flatten Kirby by crashing down on him after a huge jump. He can also try to inhale Kirby; if this succeeds King Dedede will spit him out. Dedede is defeated after taking ten hits. He moves much faster in Extra Mode and is harder to hit as well. Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land
Dedede's battle is fought like in Kirby's Dream Land, but he has a new attack where he can inhale some air in order to puff up and fly around the stage, just as Kirby does. As Kirby recovered the Star Rod and replaced it (with Dedede trying to stop him) Nightmare appeared. In a key plot revelation, defeating King Dedede reveals that he was actually trying to protect Dream Land from the Nightmare that invaded the Fountain of Dreams. Needing the Star Rod to complete his plan to harm the Dream Landers through their dreams (or rather, nightmares), Nightmare flees into the night sky, prompting Dedede to launch Kirby after him in a last ditch attempt to foil his evil plot. Kirby then realized Dedede never meant any harm. This is one of the few instances in the early games where he is seen as helping Kirby, as opposed to hindering him. Nonetheless, this started a popular trend in the series where King Dedede would serve as the apparent final boss, but collecting all the pieces of the game's key item would reveal the true instigator of Dream Land's problems. Kirby's Pinball Land
During the battle, King Dedede makes his entrance under a spotlight in a darkened room, first appearing as a silhouette. After a short time, the lights go on and the room is revealed to be a wrestling ring similar to the one he used in Kirby's Dream Land. His fight consists of three phases. In the first phase, Dedede stands in the spotlight, dances a bit, then pulls out a bomb that he can throw at the flippers to disable them; he always throws at the left flipper, then the right flipper, and repeats the process until he is hit five times, after which the second phase occurs. In the second phase, Dedede inflates himself and pursues Kirby, presumably in an attempt to push him into the hole, until he is hit eight more times, after which the third phase occurs. In the third phase, Dedede jumps to the side, holds up his hand, and shoots a bolt of lightning at one of the flippers, disabling it; afterward, he will then jump to the middle, hold up both hands, and will alternate between disabling the left and right flippers with his lightning attack; after this, the process repeats with him jumping to the other side; after being hit ten more times, he is defeated. Kirby's Dream Course
When he was finally confronted in his floating castle by Kirby, King Dedede fought back with a large mechanical contraption known as Robo Dedede. As usual, he was defeated, and Kirby returned the stolen stars back into the night sky. Kirby's Avalanche
As the final boss of the game, he is the hardest opponent Kirby will face. His stage will have blobs drop at their fastest rate as if the player has held down the fast drop in earlier stages. Additionally, Dedede's AI is extremely strong, being fully aggressive and aiming to pull off many combos. However, he often struggles to recover from even small combos, so he can be quickly defeated by multiple smaller combos if a larger one can't be accomplished. Kirby's Dream Land 2
Although Kirby could face his rival at Dark Castle to his heart's content, only after collecting the seven Rainbow Drops could he truly save the day. After defeating Dedede with the seven drops in hand, Kirby was rewarded the Rainbow Sword as Dark Matter emerged from the king's limp body, and the two dueled high in space. As shown in the game's ending, Dedede finally awoke and recovered after the battle, glad that Kirby expelled the Dark Matter from the land. Kirby's Block Ball
In Stage 11's intro, King Dedede is seen surrounded by indestructible blocks, protecting him from Kirby's bouncing. However, Kirby defeats a Kookler also present in the area and uses the Crash item to destroy the blocks, leaving Dedede defenseless; Dedede tries to run away, but he ultimately gets hit by Kirby. After traversing six rounds in Stage 11, King Dedede appears in the Boss Area in round 7; any of the 29 Star Blocks collected throughout the stage, found in rounds 3-6, will appear here to block the spike gutters. King Dedede has 24 health, compared to all previous bosses only having 12. King Dedede starts the fight by standing in the center of the arena, pulling out a bomb, then spinning around before throwing it to either the left or right a short distance before it falls straight down; if a bomb makes contact with a Star Block or paddle, the Star Block will be destroyed or the paddle will shrink respectively. Kirby can also destroy bombs by making contact with them. Once King Dedede is at 16 health or less, he inhales himself and hovers, moving to the right and left; if Kirby tries to attack him from the front, King Dedede will inhale and spit him back out directly downward. When King Dedede is at 8 health or less, he returns to the middle of the arena and pulls out a rocket launcher. He then fires four rockets, each aimed at one of the four paddles; he does this while spinning counter-clockwise, firing at the bottom paddle first. King Dedede then jumps to the right side of the arena and fires three rockets, rotating clockwise and not firing at the right paddle. King Dedede then jumps back to the middle of the arena and fires four rockets, spinning clockwise this time. King Dedede then jumps to the left side of the arena and fires three rockets, rotating counter-clockwise and not firing at the left paddle. King Dedede then repeats the pattern upon jumping back to the middle of the arena. Like with the bombs, Kirby can intercept the rockets to prevent them from shrinking his paddles or destroying any Star Blocks. Once King Dedede is defeated, the player is awarded 100,000 points, as well as 1,000 points for each remaining ball. Upon his defeat, King Dedede is sent flying out the top of the castle, where the five Sparkling Stars escape and destroy the castle, leaving behind a fountain that Kirby splashes in the water of before being sent high into the sky to the ending screen; by waiting on the ending screen, King Dedede can be seen flying through the sky. In the Up Down sub-game, King Dedede's face is one of three images that can appear on the panels, with the other images being that of a star or Kirby; matching four panels with the King Dedede face grants a 1UP, the lowest reward in the sub-game. If the player is playing the game using the Super Game Boy, a border will appear around the game screen; King Dedede can be seen at the top of the border. Kirby's Toy Box
In Pinball, King Dedede is situated to the right of the machine, nearby a number counter. Hitting him rewards 300 points, and the nearby counter increases by one each time he is hit. When King Dedede is hit five times, it displays "HIT" instead, and successfully doing so rewards 1,000 points instead of 300, and also gives the player an opportunity to launch from the shooter lane again. When King Dedede is not being interacted with, he sits in place, occasionally shifting his eyes around to look at the player; he laughs if left alone for even longer. In Star Break, King Dedede appears in Stage 6 as a boss; there are no stars to break here. King Dedede floats around in a lemniscate pattern and drops hammers periodically, or soon after being hit; he alternates between throwing the hammers to the right and left, and they follow ballistic trajectories, bounce off walls, and can temporarily disable the trampoline Ricks if they are hit by one. Hitting King Dedede rewards 1,000 points; hitting him ten times defeats him, rewards an additional 10,000 points, and takes the player back to Stage 1 to continue playing the game theoretically indefinitely. In Ball Rally, King Dededes appear as some of the 50 balls that go through the course, although King Dedede himself is not ball-like. Only a few King Dededes appear, in a random amount and order, as well as only after at least 25 balls have been dispensed; their only functional difference from Kirby balls is that they're bigger. Kirby Superstar Ultra
In Kirby Super Star Ultra, King Dedede has all the same roles that he had in Kirby Super Star, but his role was greatly expanded in the remake, when he was given a new villain role in another sub-game: Revenge of the King. As a sequel to Spring Breeze, this mode is a reimagining of Kirby's Dream Land’s Extra Game. Here, he plots to fight Kirby in a duel-to-end-all-duels. He lures his rival by once again stealing four of the Sparkling Stars, gauging his strength against old enemies that have gotten stronger. After Kirby fights his way through to the end of Dedede's castle, Dedede offers Kirby a hammer for their final battle (though Kirby can opt not to use it by not picking it up and waiting). Dedede then reveals himself, wearing a mask and wielding a new, mechanized hammer, intending on settling his grudge with Kirby once and for all. The fight style here is similar to Meta Knight's battles, where a similar weapon is offered, and their masks break after they are defeated. He does not offer the hammer in The True Arena. Under this guise, he goes by Masked Dedede. After losing Dedede walks into the sunset sulking with his Waddle Dees comforting him. Kirby Star Stacker
After completing a difficulty in Round Clear, the player will receive a picture of Kirby with his Animal Friends; upon completing SUPER HARD, Kirby and his Animal Friends are inside Kirby's house, looking out the window at King Dedede, who has been turned into a snowman. King Dedede reprises his Round Clear role and also appears as the main antagonist of the story mode in Kirby's Star Stacker for the Super Famicom. He sees Mr. Star flying across Planet Popstar, and maliciously pranks Mr. Star by firing his cannon against him, knocking him out and scattering his pieces across Dream Land. Dedede is eventually defeated, being launched out of his castle. He is the final opponent of the game if Kirby fails to get all Perfect Stars, fought after Meta Knight. King Dedede's initial board layout consists primarily of Hard Blocks in a staircase format previously seen with Chef Kawasaki. Similar to his battle in Kirby's Avalanche, King Dedede's AI is extremely aggressive, and he will fully aim for combos and clearing as many blocks he possibly can. This is also complete with his stage having the fastest rate of blocks dropping up to this point, giving Kirby much less time to recover from mistakes. Unlike in Kirby's Avalanche, he will easily recover from non-lethal combos, so Kirby should aim to eliminate as much blocks from his side and create large combos against King Dedede that will end the game. If all Perfect Stars are obtained after defeating King Dedede, Gryll will arrive to challenge Kirby. Kirby's Dream Land 3
Soon after meeting up with Dedede at the top of his castle, it quickly became apparent that he was taken over by Dark Matter once more. When the puppet king confronted Kirby (and Gooey) this time, he displayed not only his typical fighting skills, but some new and disturbing ones as well. In Phase 1 of the boss battle, he uses his normal abilities, including a new twist to his super jump, where he twirls in the air for its duration. In Phase 2, he suddenly becomes surrounded by an eerie mass of dark energy and begins floating in the air, gaining an entirely new health bar. In this form, Dark Matter finally shows itself, peeking its eye out of Dedede's body to shoot blobs of dark energy that home in on Kirby. Perhaps the most disturbing attack is when the king's stomach splits open at the obi and forms a large snarling mouth with sharp teeth. This abomination then chases Kirby, attempting to gobble him up. Defeating King Dedede and getting all of Iceberg's Heart Stars expells the fiendish entity from his body. Collecting all thirty of them reveals the way to Dark Matter and Zero, the leader of the invasion, in the Hyper Zone. King Dedede, alongside Kirby's animal friends, then see Kirby off with the Love Love Stick to destroy Dark Matter once and for all. Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
In some levels where Kirby wouldn't normally do much and probably wouldn't travel far, King Dedede comes and offers Kirby a lift. When controlling Dedede, the player will find that he can't do multiple jumps, but he can swing a hammer, which can break objects that Kirby couldn't, such as large walls or boulders. He can also charge his hammer, but it won't do any extra damage. If the player loses all six units of life while controlling King Dedede, he falls unconscious with Kirby unharmed—he tries to shake Dedede awake and pulls off the white crown on Dedede's cap in the process. Despite the fact that Kirby is unharmed, the player still loses a life and has to start the room over again. Upon the completion of a Dedede portion, Kirby will direct Dedede as to where to go, to which Dedede will then grab Kirby and hurl him to his destination, waving goodbye as he does so. When infiltrating Ripple Star's castle, Dedede will arrive to clear away a roadblock caused by a cave-in. In the false ending, Dedede is seen crying when departing from Ripple Star. In the true ending, Dedede will accompany the party to Dark Star to destroy the Dark Matter threat once and for all. Dedede will then launch Kirby into the air by slamming a pedestal so he could fight the core of Dark Star, 0². Afterward, he along with the rest of the party are awarded medals made from the Crystal for their heroism by the Fairy Queen. Dedede, along with the other three main characters, is playable in the sub-games. On an additional note, this game marks the first time that King Dedede is voiced with his voice provided by Masahiro Sakurai, the creator of the Kirby franchise. Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble
Kirby: Canvas Curse
Once the player defeats Drawcia using Waddle Dee, the player can unlock the real King Dedede in the Medal Swap section of the game. He is the biggest and heaviest unlockable character in the game. If the player taps him with the stylus, he will use his hammer, which is useful for breaking certain blocks, wooden pieces and taking down enemies. King Dedede has seven vitality points and costs 20 Medals to unlock. Kirby: Squeak Squad
Kirby's Extra Epic Yarn
When starting the fight against Dedede, he spots Kirby, but just before he can act, a marionette crashes into him and attaches him to four strings that control him from above, just like a puppet. His attacks range from jumping up and then slamming into the ground with his hammer, a super jump that makes shock waves and Gordos appear, and belly sliding across the slick icy floor. After the four strings have been detached, the marionette is destroyed and Dedede is freed from Yin-Yarn's control as Kirby and Prince Fluff then obtain the sixth strand piece of magic yarn allowing them to go to Space Land. Also, If enough beads were collected during his fight, they can also get the Penguin Patch to unlock Frigid Fjords. King Dedede appears once more in the game, following Kirby, Prince Fluff and Meta Knight back home to the yarn version of Dream Land, where his castle has been converted into a floating stronghold. There are also some King Dedede collectibles to be found such as a mini version of Castle Dedede and one of his robes. A doll of him can be bought from Chaise Woole in Quilty Square. In the Nintendo 3DS remake of Kirby's Epic Yarn, Kirby's Extra Epic Yarn, King Dedede now stars in a brand new sub-game as a playable character called Dedede Gogogo. He is shown to always be quickly running forward, making the sub-game an automatic side-scroller. He can also dive under obstacles and use his hammer to attack foes. In the Japanese version of his dialogue, he tends to end his sentences with "-zoi", like he does in the original version of the anime. Kirby's Mass Attack
Sub-Games
Unused sprites of King Dedede exist in the coding of the game. These sprites show him as a playable character in Strato Patrol EOS. Rather than spitting a constant stream of stars like Kirby, he would have thrown a constant stream of hammers. Kirby's Return to Dream Land
One sunny day, King Dedede and Bandana Waddle Dee are chasing after Kirby (presumably for the Strawberry Shortcake he's holding). Soon after passing Meta Knight, they all notice a dimensional rift open in the sky. A ship called the Lor Starcutter emerges from it and breaks apart. King Dedede and the others investigate it and meet Magolor inside. King Dedede pitches in to help him repair the ship by scouring Popstar's five corners for Energy Spheres and the mandatory parts. After reassembling the Lor, a grateful Magolor takes the four to his home planet as a reward. There, they are ambushed by the ferocious Landia, so King Dedede and the others head out into the hostile environment to defeat the beast. After their victory, Magolor interrupts the celebration and seizes Master Crown, the source of Landia's power, to gain great power. Magolor then reveals how he had actually deceived the four as a means to an end before abandoning them to start his plans for universal domination with Planet Popstar, with King Dedede in particular being shocked at Magolor's new, dark form. The four then team up with Landia to make things right and head to Another Dimension. After clearing the realm's perils, and defeating the Lor, they attempt to take down Magolor. However, he shoots them down and ambushes them after they've sorted themselves out. After two phases of the final battle, Magolor is vanquished. With Landia and the Lor's help, they escape the crumbling dimension back to Planet Popstar, waking up in the fields (with King Dedede getting his head stuck in the ground). They then watch as Landia departs with the Lor. King Dedede has almost the same exact move set as Hammer Kirby, but with three notable changes. The first and most notable change is that almost all of his attacks are weaker than Hammer's, most notably the Hammer Flip, which does not have a flame effect. The second change is that he is unable to perform Giant Swing; instead, King Dedede just swings the hammer in front of him when in midair, not much differently than from his normal hammer attack. The last difference is that Dedede is able to perform the Hammer Throw attack as often as he wishes. Normally Kirby would sacrifice his ability when he uses this last-ditch attack, but Dedede does not, basically giving him infinite projectile attacks. Another interesting detail is that since King Dedede inflates himself to fly like Kirby does, he can also use the Air Gun as an attack. Also notable is that the Hammer Twirl attack, a downward hammer spinning attack that both Hammer Kirby and Dedede can use, was originally introduced as one of Dedede's attacks in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. King Dedede retains his role in Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe, although he now uses his design based from Kirby and the Forgotten Land instead of his Super Smash Bros. Brawl-based design used in the original. He also appears to utilize the same moveset featured in Kirby Star Allies. Kirby's Dream Collection Special Edition
In the game's opening, Dedede, Meta Knight, and Kirby, meet each other appearing as their Kirby's Adventure sprites. After Kirby sucks in a Warp Star that he discovers, the three transform into their 3D appearances. They all strike poses and Dedede's stomach jiggles, distracting the king and causing him to irritably poke at his own belly. Two Waddle Dees run past carrying golden Star Blocks, and the group notices that they're building a "20th" monument out of them. Kirby, despite Dedede's warnings, sucks in the blocks (as well as Bandana Waddle Dee) and spits out a circular coin (as well as Bandana Waddle Dee). Dedede then, at Kirby's beckoning, swats Kirby into the coin with his hammer, forming the logo. Kirby: Triple Deluxe
After Masked Dedede is defeated twice, Taranza realizes Kirby was the true hero and summons Queen Sectonia, who disposes of him for his failure before confronting Kirby. King Dedede is unconscious the whole fight (after the ruby platform is destroyed, Kirby's fall is cushioned by Dedede). He wakes up with his free will returned after Kirby defeats Queen Sectonia. However, the malevolent monarch recovers and, after monologuing to Kirby and a terrified Dedede about her beauty and power, fuses with the Dreamstalk. The vines cover Planet Popstar as King Dedede and Kirby panic before several of the People of the Sky (whom Kirby previously rescued) arrive with a cannon. Dedede helps Kirby by firing him into the Dreamstalk's overgrowth. Weakening it by destroying the hostile flower buds, Dedede blasts Kirby through the opening so he can confront Sectonia for the second time before it closes. After defeating her, Kirby is grabbed by a vine while his guard is down. Before Kirby can be finished off, Taranza and King Dedede answer his cry for help. King Dedede beckons his former kidnapper to throw him to Kirby, smacking him free with his hammer and momentarily stunning Queen Sectonia. Seeing Taranza holding a Miracle Fruit, King Dedede tosses him Kirby, who is then revitalized and becomes Hypernova Kirby. Kirby then defeats Queen Sectonia for the final time, causing her vines to disintegrate. The king and the pink puff fall from the sky, but Taranza catches King Dedede while the People of the Sky catch Kirby, and they all admire the bloomed flowers on the cleansed Dreamstalk as petals rain down. One of the sub-games, Dedede's Drum Dash, allows the player to control Dedede as he bounces on drums while classic Kirby tunes play in the background. Collecting Musical Coins and hitting backbeats awards points. Dededetour
Dedede's Drum Dash Deluxe
Kirby Fighters Deluxe
Kirby and the Rainbow Curse
Kirby: Planet Robobot
Dedede can be seen flying in the background of Level 1 of the Kirby 3D Rumble sub-game. This can only be found using the C-Stick on the New Nintendo 3DS. Kirby's Blowout Blast
The first battle with King Dedede works much the same as usual, he attempts to hit Kirby with his mallet, body slam him, and land on him after leaping into the air. His landing attack creates shock waves. He also retains his usual attack in which he attempts to inhale Kirby. After seemingly defeating him, he uses the power of one of the Sparkling Stars to turn him into Giant Dedede. Giant King Dedede mainly attacks with his huge mallet; he guides it to follow Kirby before slamming it down, or he uses it to create massive shock waves. The boss also Inhales violently, and chews on Kirby if he catches him. King Dedede's Revenge is much the same as King Dedede, aside from his purple color scheme (matching other Revenge bosses). He moves more quickly and attacks more aggressively, and instead of round shockwaves he sends out smaller waves that can home in on Kirby. When inhaling, he can spin around in a complete circle attempting to follow Kirby. Giant King Dedede's Revenge is slightly different as well. He tries to flatten Kirby several times in a row before switching techniques. Rather than creating huge shock waves, he can hit the ground to create bolts of electricity that follow Kirby along the ground. Kirby Battle Royale
The two heroes rise the ranks, making the pompous king grow more enraged with each victory. He eventually challenges them to a battle against himself. When he loses, he tells Kirby to follow him down an elevator into his stadium's basement. Kirby gives chase and is confronted by a colossal robot called Dededestroyer Z, piloted by Dedede. Kirby destroys it, causing the Kirby Printer to explode and Dedede to be launched into the distance. The ending card shows Dedede looking injured and disappointed as he watches Kirby eat the prize dessert, though he does not appear completely distraught, as Kirby gifted him the crown from the top of the cake. King Dedede is a playable character unlocked after the completion of Story Mode. His moveset is largely the same as the Hammer ability's. Kirby Star Allies
In the first half of the battle, he is fought like normal. He attacks with sliding, jumping, hitting the ground with a hammer, trying to inhale Kirby and his friends, and inflating himself and floating. In the latter half of the battle, he obtains a muscular body that tears his robes to shreds when transforming. This muscled form also gives him more abilities; it allows King Dedede to be more agile, as he can use his arms to swing around the pillars in the area. He can pummel the ground using his fists with enough force to get his arms stuck, and when he does so, it brings up part of the ground, and when inhaled, gives the Stone Ability. He can throw down rotten food from a pile in the background, which can be turned into food capable of healing if cleansed with Water or weapons imbued with Splash. When defeated, he can immediately be befriended and turned into a Dream Friend by throwing a Friend Heart at him; he will also become available to summon using the Dream Rod in the Dream Palace along with the Wave 2 Dream Friends. He retains a moveset similar to what he had in Kirby's Return to Dream Land, however, he now can trip, similar to one of his attacks as a boss. In the third update which released on November 30, King Dedede received a new attack for his moveset, which involves King Dedede jumping into the air to land on enemies, identically to the attack in his boss fights. His Kirby's Adventure design appears as one of the attacks of the Artist ability. King Dedede appears in the game's boss rush mode, The Ultimate Choice, in all levels of difficulty except Soul Melter EX, where he is replaced by Parallel Dedede. Kirby Fighters 2
After many defeats at the hands of Kirby, King Dedede partners up with Meta Knight to finally win in a battle against him. King Dedede and Meta Knight then send Kirby a letter, challenging him as they await at the Summit of the Buddy Fighters Tower. Kirby accepts the challenge, partners up with a buddy, and enters the Buddy Fighters Tower to battle his two greatest rivals. After defeating Twin Woods on the 5th floor, Kirby and his buddy reach the 10th floor, where they finally encounter King Dedede and Meta Knight, or so they thought. The two teams engage in battle, with Kirby and his buddy emerging victorious. However, it turns out that the King Dedede and Meta Knight they had fought were two Waddle Dees in disguise. The two Waddle Dees flee, dropping a key that unlocks more to the tower. Kirby and his buddy continue climbing the Buddy Fighters Tower to battle the real Meta Knight and King Dedede. Arriving at the 15th floor, Kirby and his buddy at last encounter the real King Dedede and Meta Knight. The two teams duke it out, but despite King Dedede's and Meta Knight's efforts, they are defeated. Not accepting defeat just yet, the two retreat and ascend higher into the tower. Kirby and his buddy use the key they dropped to ascend higher as well. Finally reaching the Summit of the Buddy Fighters Tower, Kirby and his buddy find King Dedede and Meta Knight awaiting them. With their bond having grown deeper, they challenge Kirby and his buddy in a final battle. However, they are defeated, but refusing to give up, King Dedede pulls out a Maxim Tomato. He takes a bite out of half of it and gives the other half to Meta Knight, who eats it. The two of them, now fully reenergized, continue the battle with Kirby and his buddy. But, yet again, they are bested. Weakly getting up, King Dedede and Meta Knight reach for each other as they then collapse. Afterwards, King Dedede, dejected by another loss to his arch-rival, takes a walk through Dream Land during the evening, with Meta Knight flying overhead. Still, determined to defeat his arch-rival, King Dedede is then carried away by Meta Knight as they head back to the Buddy Fighters Tower. The tower then raises up even higher, to the point of piercing the heavens, with King Dedede and Meta Knight waiting at the Summit. Kirby and his buddy, sensing their presence, enter the tower yet again to finish this once and for all. At the 50th floor, Kirby and his buddy reach the Summit. There, King Dedede and Meta Knight appear. With their deepened bond blazing in their eyes, the two engage with Kirby and his buddy in the true final battle. In a mighty struggle, Kirby and his buddy claim victory. However, Meta Knight's mask breaks in half. In his own eagerness to win against Kirby for once, King Dedede seizes the opportunity to pull out the Mask of Dark Bonds. He tosses one of the masks to Meta Knight, and puts the other one on himself, becoming Waning Crescent Masked Dedede & Waxing Crescent Masked Meta Knight. The power of the masks cause the king and knight to lose themselves, and they attack Kirby and his buddy to settle the challenge. In a grueling battle, however, they are conquered. Subsequently afterwards, two Buddy Star Blaster pieces float down from the sky. Using the pieces, Kirby and his buddy assemble the Buddy Star Blaster, and use it to blast King Dedede and Meta Knight with a powerful laser. The laser sends them flying into the distance, releasing them from the Masks of Dark Bonds as well, which lose the dark aura emanating from them. Devastated by another defeat at the hands of his arch-rival, King Dedede takes a nighttime walk through Dream Land, with Meta Knight flying overhead once more. After a while, King Dedede trips and falls. Meta Knight then flies over to him and offers his hand to help him up, with King Dedede depressingly accepting it. Kirby and the Forgotten Land
After being pulled into the New World by the same vortex that brought Kirby there, the king made a futile effort to find Kirby and became discouraged that he could not find his rival; before long, however, he fell victim to Fecto Forgo's psychic influence and joined the Beast Pack. Kirby and Elfilin first encounter King Dedede in a ruined chapel at Winter Horns, where his presence visibly horrifies Kirby. There, Kirby does battle with the king, who retains the boss title of His Royal Nemesis, as well as serve as the fourth boss of the game. King Dedede initially uses his standard methods of combat, such as jumping (producing shock waves), using his hammer (swung vertically or horizontally befitting the game's 3D nature), and attempting to tackle Kirby. However, upon losing his hammer (which Kirby can steal with his vacuum breath for the Hammer ability), the king will take hold of a nearby pillar and begin using it to perform a variety of long-range, hard-hitting attacks. Upon 'defeat', Dedede pretends to faint, but then gets back up after Kirby frees the three Waddle Dees that he was guarding in a golden cage, preparing a sneak attack. When the player attempts to move onward, Dedede suddenly locks Elfilin in a cage and - before Kirby can rescue Elfilin - flies off to the forbidden island with a flock of crows, forcing Kirby to follow him in hot pursuit. In the penultimate level, Redgar Forbidden Lands, King Dedede returns, this time outfitted with a mask based on a warthog; the mask drives Dedede insane and turns him into Forgo Dedede, given the boss title of His Primal Nemesis, and serves as the sixth/third-to-last boss of the game. When Kirby and Forgo Dedede begin to clash, the primal king wields two hammers and has much stronger and faster iterations of his past moves; he can rapidly walk towards Kirby while slamming both hammers, slam down his hammers to send out fire tornadoes that chase Kirby, use a hammer spinning attack similar to that used by Masked Dedede, and can throw the hammers to create explosions that leave puddles of lava behind (the King quickly reacquires additional hammers). Upon losing his first health bar and his hammers (which, as with the first fight, will yield the Hammer ability if Kirby inhales them), the mask's influence takes full control, causing Forgo Dedede to descend on all fours and become completely feral and almost boar-like. In this state, Forgo Dedede will rapidly run around Kirby in between his attacks, which include charging Kirby repeatedly (ending in his trademark tackle), jumping with enough force to leave puddles of lava where he lands, creating numerous fire tornadoes with his bare hands, and attempting to inhale Kirby from the other side of the platform (the only phase in the game where he attempts to do so); he can also roar to summon Primal Awoofys to attack Kirby. After being defeated for the second time, the mask breaks and King Dedede is restored to his original self, visually evident by the change in his irises. He attempts to join Kirby and the other Waddle Dees on the elevator leading to Lab Discovera until the other members of the Beast Pack, realizing King Dedede failed to beat Kirby, started to pursue them. During the pursuit, one of the Waddle Dees ended up tripping, and King Dedede elected to sacrifice himself to hold off the rest of the Pack, saving the Waddle Dee and throwing them into the elevator with Kirby before it closes. What happened to King Dedede is unknown until the credits, where he is shown to be alive and well, welcoming Kirby and Bandana Waddle Dee back to the New World. After the ending, King Dedede can be found resting and recovering alongside a few Waddle Dees serving him near the Colosseum in Waddle Dee Town. One of the Waddle Dees, known as Minion Waddle Dee, can be interacted with and will offer you the blueprint for the Masked Hammer evolution, courtesy of the king himself. |
General Information
Name: King Dedede
Origin: Kirby
Sex: Male
Age: At least 1000 (King Dedede's age has never been confirmed by Japanese sources. In Japanese, Kirby is introduced as 「若者」 (wakamono), which means a young person. Data of Queen Sectonia notes that she contains data spanning elements of creatures of at least 1000 years. She began to discard her true form and possessing others after having her mind twisted by the Dimensional Mirror Taranza gifted her, which could only have it's corruption ability after the events of the Amazing Mirror, which would imply Amazing Mirror has a 1000 year timeskip)
Classification: Royal Nemesis, Star Ally
Species: Penguin
State of Being: Regular
Occupation: King
Affiliations: Kirby (After Kirby's Adventure), Meta Knight, Dream Kingdom, Pop Star, Ripple Star, Waddle Dees
Enemies: Kirby (Formerly), Dark Matter, Zero, 0²
Status: Alive
Alignment: Initially Lawful Evil (Originally started out as an evil king that stole the food from all the residents of Dream Land), turned Chaotic Good (As soon as the second game, Dedede went from stealing the food of the residents to removing the Star Rod, though it's revealed at the end of the game, that Dedede did this to protect the people from Nightmare. As late as Kirby and the Forgotten Land, he risks his life to save a single Wadle Dee)
Codex Statistics
Tier: At least Low 5-B, possibly Far Higher. Even Higher with Empowerment
Cardinality: Finite
Dimensionality: 3-D
Attack Potency: At least Small Planet level (Can harm Kirby who can crack Pop Star in half with splitting the earth in half being calculated at this level. In Planet Robobot, King Dedede is noted as one of the strongest lifeforms on Pop Star, his clone from Planet Robobot can harm Kirby ), possibly Far Higher (Comparable to Kirby who at the end of Dream Course Kirby puts all the stars back into the sky. Dedede himself stole all the stars in the sky, on separate occasions, Kirby is implied to have put all the stars back in the sky at the end of tilt and tumble but due to this being a lifting strength feat it's unknown how this applies to attack potency). Even Higher with Empowerment (Aided Kirby in the defeat Void Termina. With the Star Allies Sparkler and combined power of Kirby's friends, they are able to harm and defeat Void Termina. Additionally, they're considered the most dangerous foe that Kirby ever faced to date, easily putting him above the likes of Magolor and Queen Sectonia)
Durability: At least Small Planet level, possibly Far Higher | Multi Supercluster level (Can take hits from Magolor's Soul, surviving various of his universe warping attacks. Comparable in durability to characters like Bandana Dee who can tank Magolor's universe warp. Survived the collapse of Drawcia's realm, who created a realm based off her wish for wanting a world all of paint, due to her jealously of the real world with it being further established she transformed the world itself into a work of art. Survived the collapse and destruction of Marx Soul's dimension), Far Higher with Forcefields from The Player (Gets assistance from The Player who can make forcefields) | Multiverse Cell level, Far Higher with Empowerment (Can take hits from Void Termina), possibly Far Higher, Even Higher with Empowerment (Can take hits from Void Termina), Higher with Forcefields from The Player (Gets assistance from The Player who can make forcefields), his Resilience makes him difficult to kill (Can survive inside of Magolor's black hole])
Striking Strength: At least Small Planet Class, possibly Far Higher. Even Higher with Empowerment
Lifting Strength: At least Stellar (Stole all the stars in the sky over the course of a night, stole all the stars in the sky in another occasion while Kirby napped. Comparable to Kirby who at the end of Dream Course Kirby puts all the stars back into the sky, Kirby is implied to have put all the stars back in the sky at the end of tilt and tumble, along with ) '
Travel Speed: Unknown on foot, Faster Than Light flight speed (Stole all the stars in the sky before nighttime, which reaches these speeds. Can keep up with Meta Knight who traveled from the Galaxy's End to Pop Star, which is at the edge of the universe, in 8 seconds)
Combat Speed: Faster Than Light (Can tag Kirby, who can simultaneously move and react on the warp star which can fly past 53 galaxies in a few seconds, and flies to another galaxy in under a second. Kirby can react to Dark Matter, who can cross several galaxies in a short time frame. Can react to Dark Nebula, who with a possessed Daroach, traveled to another galaxy in less then a second. Can simultaneously move and react on the Starship, which traveled from the galaxy's end to Pop Star, which is at the edge of the universe which was calculated at this)
Reaction Speed: Faster Than Light
Stamina: Superhuman (Fought Queen Sectonia through the night), Limitless as Ghost Dedede (Can still do actions even at 0 health)
Range: Standard Melee, Extended Melee with Hammer, Higher with Inhale, Several Meters with Super Inhale (Reaches this far), Interstellar with Summoning (Can summon allies from deep in space where it is considered so far that Pop Star is a mere shimmering glow in the distance), Multiversal Cell with Transportations (Can transport objects to The Player)
Intelligence: Gifted (Despite how incompetent Dedede may look, he is incredibly intelligent. Created a machine that could make clones of Kirby with his copy abilities, laid traps along the way to halt Kirby in Kirby’s Adventure. Was aware of Nightmare’s existence in Kirby’s Adventure and sealed the Star Rod to stop him)
Powers and Techniques
All previous powers and abilities from before Star Allies, is possessed by Dark Matter giving him: Weapon Mastery (Dark Matter can wield and use a sword to combat Kirby), Self-Sustenance (Respiratory Self-Sustenance; Can breathe in space), Flight (Can freely fly around), Intangibility (Elemental; Phasing. Its body is a mere cloud-like object that is made of Dark Matter. Dark Matter can phase through objects), Immortality (Ageless & Regenerative Immortality), Regeneration (Mid-High. Regenerated from a small piece of his body which his body is a cloud-like object. Should like Dark Nebula be able to regenerate back it’s full body from a cloud of smoke), Afterimage Creation (Can leave behind afterimages from movement), Body Control & Telekinesis (Can remove parts of its body to throw at Kirby), Homing Attack (The parts of its body home in on Kirby), Dark Matter Manipulation (It’s composition is Dark Matter), Possession, Mind Manipulation, Madness Manipulation, & Corruption (Non-Physical Corruption; Dark Matter has clouds that can spread out and affect all life on Popstar. Stated that it was luring the citizens of Popstar to evil. in Kirby 64 Dark Matter's influence spread to 6 different planets in different galaxies. It’s influence can corrupt entire planets/stars. Their influence even being able to affect the likes of Pix whose made up of 3 diamonds, and its influence possibly affected HR-H. Scaling from Dark Mind, who corrupted the Mirror World), Resistance Negation (Dark Matter’s direct possession can affect the likes of Adeleine who is unaffected by Dark Star which is Dark Matter’s corruption cloud), Weather Manipulation & Darkness Manipulation (Dark Matter could spread dark clouds across an entire planet to possess all the inhabitants. Can shoot energy of darkness), Danmaku (Can fire off multiple energy beams of darkness at once), Energy Manipulation (Can shoot out sword beams and sword energy waves. Can shoot a massive energy beam out of it’s eye), Electricity Manipulation (Can shoot out electricity out of its eye), Immersion (Can emerge from paintings), Duplication (Can split itself into smaller Dark Matters to attack opponents), Life Manipulation (A cloud of dark matter were creating N-Zs), Reactive Adaptation & Evolution Manipulation (Dark Matter can possess beings and upgrade the species, such as turning a Waddle Dee into a Waddle Doo. Can seemingly give non-sentient objects such as lava sentience).
King Dedede transports the Rainbow Brush to The Player, giving them: Paralysis Inducement (Can touch an enemy to make them stunned and immobilized), Statistics Amplification (Can touch Dedede to give him a powerful dash ability), Glyph Creation (Can draw a rainbow line to help Dedede in his path. They also act as a forcefield, protecting Dedede), Attack Reflection (Can reflect attacks back with the rainbow lines. Can touch attacks and send them back at the sender), Power Nullification (Can toss abilities out from Dedede), Can remove obstructions and obstacles in Dedede's path
Equipment
- King Dedede's Hammer: King Dedede's notable hammer functions similarly to Kirby's hammer ability, but with a few notable differences. King Dedede has more range than Hammer, and can perform infinite Dedede Hammer Throws; however, he cannot Giant Swing, Ultra-Giant Swing, or Underwater Wheel, as he instead has Midair Hammer Swing and Underwater Hammer Swing, which behave identically to the normal Hammer attack, but without stars; his Dedede Hammer Flip lacks the fire element; and his attacks are weaker on average compared to Hammer.
- King Dedede's Mask: A grey, metal mask with three golden horns and two smaller gray horns that Dedede uses to act as his alter ego, Masked Dedede.
Optional Equipment
- Maxim Tomatoes: Heals all of Kirby's health when eaten. He can keep several of them without being used in his stomach.
- Bombs: He uses these to throw out explosives at Kirby.
- Bubble Bombs: He throws a bubble that contains a bomb with in, the bomb will explode in a certain time frame.
- Axe: During the battle in Triple Deluxe he throws away his trusty hammer in return for an axe. He can charge the axe to put it on fire, cause small explosive waves, and shoot out energy projectiles.
- Various Food Items: Heals varying amount of health.
- Action Star: When this item is attacked, one of the following effects occurs at random:
- Everyone's speed increases.
- Causes everyone to explode, dropping Health to one point.
- Decreases the speed and jump of all the other opponents, that will also have a maroon aura around them.
- Puts all opponents to sleep.
- Drops a bomb on all the opponents.
- Drops a random Food item. One may occasionally be a Maxim Tomato.
- Drops three Timed Dynamites
-
Dropping Health to one point
- Dream Rod: When picked up and used Kirby summons one of the following Dream Friends to assist him:
Notable Techniques
Moveset
| Move | Controls | Description | Notes | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hammer | B/1 | King Dedede swings his hammer downwards in front of himself. Can pound in stakes. | In Kirby's Return to Dream Land, King Dedede cannot perform Giant Swing, Ultra-Giant Swing, or Underwater Wheel, and instead uses this move in midair or underwater. | 31 |
| Hammer Wave | B while at full health | King Dedede performs Hammer as usual, also sending forwards a wave of energy with a long range. While it appears to be grounded, it can actually travel in midair as well. | N/A | |
| Triple Dedede Hammer | Hold 1, then release | King Dedede pulls back his hammer, then slams his hammer to the ground three times in succession, the final hit more powerful than the other two. This move will fail if the hammer does not hit the ground. | N/A | |
| Hammer Cannon | Press and hold B, then release | King Dedede winds back his hammer, swinging it horizontally forwards when released and firing a red blade of energy forward that can cut ropes. | N/A | |
| Aim Hammer Cannon | Either of ↑/↓ while holding B | King Dedede aims up or down while his hammer is wound back, changing the direction the Hammer Cannon will fire in when released. | N/A | |
| Giant Dedede Swing | Dash + B | King Dedede spins rapidly with his hammer outstretched, hitting opponents several times. | In Kirby: Triple Deluxe, this move has an ice effect and can cool Fire Blocks. | 29 |
| Giant Swing | B in midair | King Dedede performs a midair somersault with his hammer, swinging it around himself once. | 29 | |
| Ultra Giant Swing | Dash + B in midair | King Dedede rapidly somersaults with his hammer in midair, swinging it around himself twice in the same timespan as Giant Swing. | 18 per hit | |
| Hammer Twirl | ↓ + B/1 | King Dedede holds his hammer underneath himself and twirls it, rapidly hitting enemies. He is completely invulnerable during the move's duration. | In Kirby: Triple Deluxe, this move has a fire effect and can light fuses or melt Ice Blocks. | 18 per hit |
| Dedede Hammer Flip | ↑ + B/1 | King Dedede pulls back his hammer as its head charges with energy or bursts into flame, then pulverizes enemies with a powerful uppercut. This is the strongest move he can perform, and indeed one of the most powerful moves in the series that's not from a limited-use ability. | In Kirby Star Allies, the move resembles Kirby's version of it from Super Smash Bros., where he can move and jump while charging it and it becomes more powerful over time. If he charges it for too long, the head explodes, leaving only the handle which deals minimal damage when swung. | 44 (1 lvl.) 66 (2 lvl.) 88 (3 lvl.) 9 (Stick) |
| Dedede Hammer Throw | Dash + X/Y/- or X/Y/- during Giant Dedede Swing | King Dedede performs a Giant Dedede Swing before releasing his hammer, sending it flying in the direction held. It floats slightly upwards as it flies, exploding on impact for huge damage. | Unlike Hammer Kirby, King Dedede gets his hammer back after using the move, allowing him to use it as much as he likes. | 66 |
| Head Slide | Dash + ↓ + B | King Dedede leaps forwards invulnerably and slides across the ground a short distance, mimicking the similar move from his boss fights. | ||
| Underwater Hammer Swing | B/1 while swimming | King Dedede somersaults once in the water with his hammer, similarly to Giant Swing. | 29 | |
| Hover | A/2 in midair | King Dedede flies by inflating himself with air and flapping his arms, similarly to Kirby. | 0 | |
| Air Bullet | B/1 during Hover | Dedede spits his inhaled air as a bullet that can damage weak enemies, and stops flying. | 10 (near), 8 (far) | |
| Super Dedede Jump | ↓, and then ↑ + B | Dedede jumps in the air and lands in the ground a few seconds later. | This attack was added in the 4.0.0 Update. |
Elemental Attributes in Kirby Star Allies
| Move | Blizzard | Bluster | Sizzle | Splash | Zap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hammer Twirl | Wherever standing or in midair, King Dedede creates four icicles, two to either side of him. | King Dedede floats into the air, creating a whirlwind beneath him. | King Dedede creates a brief fiery explosion around himself. | King Dedede shoots out two droplets, one to either side of him. | King Dedede summons down a bolt of lightning onto himself as he twirls his hammer. |
| Dedede Hammer Swing | King Dedede creates a trail of crystalline ice along the ground. | King Dedede floats into the air as he spins, creating a small whirlwind. | King Dedede creates a trail of fire as he travels along the ground. | King Dedede creates a trail of water as he travels along the ground. | King Dedede leaves a trail of sparks as he travels along the ground. |
| Dedede Hammer Throw | |||||
| Giant Swing | N/A | King Dedede's aerial descent slows as he performs this move. | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Ultra-Giant Swing | |||||
| Dedede Hammer Flip | King Dedede creates a series of increasingly-large icicles in front of him, the more the longer the move is charged. | King Dedede's jumps are floatier while charging this move. When released, he leaps up into the air before slamming his hammer down to the ground, creating a whirlwind on impact. | King Dedede shoots out fireballs as he swings, the number of which depending on how long he charges up, and the fireballs explode on contact. | King Dedede shoots droplets forward as he swings, the more the longer he charges. | King Dedede summons down a bolt of lightning onto himself as he swings, and the lightning creates electrical explosions above him, the more the longer he charges. |
| Move | Controls | Description | Damage (Robo Bonkers) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hammer | B | King Dedede strikes the ground in front of him with his hammer. | 200 |
| Hammer Twirl | B during jump | King Dedede holds the hammer below his and twirls it around. | 55x2 (initial hits), 70 (final hit) |
| Dedede Hammer Throw | Hold/release B | King Dedede charges up his hammer, and then swings it around him before throwing it. | 30x4 (Giant Dedede Swing), 250 (thrown hammer), 200 (hammer explosion) |
| Giant Dedede Swing | Y | King Dedede swings his hammer around him. | 20x3 (swinging), 60 (last swing) |
*Masked Dedede: Masked Dedede is King Dedede's alter ego. He made his first appearance as the final boss of Revenge of the King in Kirby Super Star Ultra and has reappeared as a boss in Kirby: Triple Deluxe and Kirby's Blowout Blast, and as King Dedede's Final Smash in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Masked Dedede also has his own unique theme. Masked Dedede appears identical to King Dedede except he wears a grey, metal mask with three golden horns and two smaller gray horns, along with a bottom piece that covers his chin, separated from the other part of the mask by a jagged line. He also wields a different hammer than before, dubbed the "brand-new Dedede Hammer." Instead of wielding a wooden mallet, he wields a mechanical hammer. The hammer is mostly blue in color, but features alternating red and yellow triangles near the head, which is silver and feature's King Dedede's icon on it. The handle appears longer and features a spike on the bottom of it along with one of the top of the hammer. On the back of the hammer is a jet.
Other
Standard Tactics: Before confronting an opponent face to face, King Dedede will usually set up traps and his minions on them. He also will steal from a power source in order to gain new powers in preparation for the opponent. When up close King Dedede’s usually fighting style centers around closing the distance between him and the opponent and using hammer attacks, along with attempting to attack them through flight and slamming himself onto them. He will also fire attacks out of his hammer shut as a flamethrower or missiles.
Weaknesses: King Dedede is incredibly prideful to a fault to the point that he will believe his own strength is greater than those who surpass him. He also gets extremely depressed upon losing.
Trivia
- In illustrations or cutscenes, King Dedede has one of two symbols on the back of his robe.
- An illustration of himself giving a peace sign, used in earlier games, including Kirby's Dream Land, Kirby's Adventure, and Kirby Super Star.
- An emblem of a hand giving the same sign. This is more commonly used, but its design is slightly changed in Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land.
- On his sprites in Kirby's Dream Land, the back of Dedede's robes originally had a white "0" outline.
- In Kirby Super Star, it was changed to a yellow square outline, but the closeup during the Gourmet Race intro had an illustration of him giving the v-sign.
- In Kirby's Dream Land 3, that was simplified to a yellow circle with a red image of a hand giving the same symbol (though his robes had a yellow circle with a black swirl in the intro's illustration).
- In Kirby's Star Stacker (Super Famicom), the circle became white and the symbol itself became yellow.
- In subsequent games, he has consistently been given a yellow circle with the silhouetted v-sign in blue for 3D portrayals, and a bare version of the same symbol for 2D depictions (though his robes were once bare red in Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble).
- Although spin-offs imply he has a hatred of stars, his hammer is shown with an image of a star on it.
- In Quick Draw, Dedede is the fifth and final challenger, wielding a large gun that shoots a retractable boxing glove. If Kirby is faster, the king will be dispatched by a cannon. In Samurai Kirby, he is the fourth challenger, with Meta Knight taking his previous place. King Dedede uses a hammer here, though Kirby can defend against this with a party cone if he is fast enough.
- Even though he is a boss in almost every Kirby game, he is never the main antagonist in any mainline game, with the exception of Kirby's Dream Land. However, he has taken the role of the main antagonist in many spin-offs.
- Though he is the main antagonist of the franchise, Dedede has been the main antagonist of only two games in the primary game library: Kirby's Dream Land and Kirby Super Star (sharing his role with Marx) and their remakes.
- In Kirby's Pinball Land, one of Dedede's attacks involves shooting lightning from his hands to disable the flippers. It is unclear how he does this, although it may be due to magic. This attack is never used or acknowledged in any other future appearances.
- In Kirby's Avalanche, his AI is used by Satan in Puyo Puyo. However, he does shake the board similar to Zoh Daimaoh from the aforementioned game.
- Due to a glitch, the panic music never plays in his stage when Kirby is close to losing.
- When fighting King Dedede in Spring Breeze, Mario, Luigi, Birdo, and Toad appear in the crowd (Peach is also faintly visible, and Bowser is off-screen, but part of the game data). In the remake, Peach, Mario, Luigi, Wario, and Toad appear, while the former set still appears in Megaton Punch.
- When fighting King Dedede in Revenge of the King, the only one in the crowd is Bandana Waddle Dee, because Dedede has already sent everyone else after Kirby. King Dedede solemnly declares the ensuing fight to settle their grudge.
- Despite his girth, King Dedede runs fast in Gourmet Race, as he is able to catch up with Kirby.
- In the non-canon Kirby Super Star manga, there presumably is a Queen Dedede. This is not mentioned elsewhere.[2]
- Dedede's hat in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards is different to all other games; featuring crown-like spikes on his hat rather than a spherical bobble.
- In the second phase of King Dedede’s boss battle in Kirby Star Allies, the bobble on his hat becomes splayed, somewhat resembling the spikes on his hat in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards.
- Several pre-release screenshots of Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards show that King Dedede was playable without Kirby riding him at one point in development.
- According to Escargoon in the episode A Princess in Dis-Dress, King Dedede usually eats seven cheeseburgers to fill the emptiness left by a heartbreak.
- King Dedede shares Kirby's immense appetite for food. In the episode Fitness Fiend, Dedede ate enough bags of potato chips to have the bags scattered all over his throne room.
- In Kirby: Canvas Curse, Kirby's Return to Dream Land, and Kirby Star Allies, the playable King Dedede has more health than Kirby and other Friends.
- His theme plays while fighting Meta Knight in Kirby: Squeak Squad, despite King Dedede not being present.
- His theme is also used when fighting Whispy Woods and Lady Ivy in Kirby Mass Attack, in addition to his own fight.
- Kirby's Adventure, Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land, and Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards are the only Kirby games that do not play King Dedede's theme when fighting him.
- Dedede's portrayal and artwork in Kirby: Squeak Squad most resembles his appearance in the anime. His castle, as seen in the background and cutscenes, also resembles how it appears in the anime. When fighting Dedede, the machine in the background bears a resemblance to the Monster Transmitter.
- This also applies to his recent appearance in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, where many of his new facial expressions are also reminiscent of his incarnation in the anime.
- King Dedede is one of two Super Smash Bros. characters (the other being Meta Knight) to have been planned to be a playable character twice (in the first one and Super Smash Bros. Melee).
- King Dedede ranked first in Super Smash Bros. Brawl’s Japanese character inclusion poll.
- King Dedede has the fastest falling speed in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, yet paired with Zelda for having the third slowest dash speed and slowest air speed in the game.
- In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Solid Snake discusses with the colonel about the hammer King Dedede carries, and how it is far too heavy for Snake to even remotely lift, despite King Dedede waddling around with it with no issue, implying King Dedede has massive strength. Whether his hammer is heavy normally or if this is because his hammer is mechanical in Super Smash Bros. Brawl is not said.
- Because of his role in the Subspace Emissary, King Dedede, along with Wolf, is the only one of the Nintendo Rogues gallery to not be evil in the game. He did serve the Subspace Army at one time, but left as soon as he became skeptical about Tabuu's true plans. This reflects Dedede's role in most Kirby games, where he is initially a foe and turns into an ally near the end of the game.
- In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, unlike in the main Kirby series, Kirby is able to inhale King Dedede and gain his Copy Ability. This results in Kirby basically keeping his own inhale ability, but not being able to copy other foes as long as he is wearing Dedede's hat, only being able to spit them out as stars (as was the case in Kirby's Dream Land).
- There is a glitch in Spring Breeze: when the player defeats King Dedede in co-op wireless play, King Dedede may yell Mike Kirby's Stand Mike sound rather than the usual "NOOOOOO!" There is also a similar occurrence in Revenge of the King, in which Kirby's Stand Mike sound will play as opposed to the sound of its first use. It is unknown whether or not this was intended or a glitch. However, said sound was put in the soundtrack.
- The Brand New Dedede Hammer in Kirby Super Star Ultra could be based on the fact that his hammer in Super Smash Bros. Brawl is mechanical.
- In Kirby's Epic Yarn, Dedede cannot use his Inhale attack. This is because he was turned to yarn like Kirby.
- When making a custom emblem in Mario Kart DS, an available "template" for use is the v-sign sometimes found on the back of Dedede's robes.
- In the Japanese version of the anime, King Dedede usually ends his sentences with "zoi", which means nothing and is just a verbal tic common with some anime characters.
- In Kirby's Epic Yarn, it says that King Dedede's theme is new, but it was in many games before that.
- When fighting Masked Dedede on his second phase in Kirby: Triple Deluxe, a remix of his Masked Dedede Theme from Kirby Super Star Ultra plays.
- King Dedede makes a cameo appearance as a purchasable hat in the Nintendo 3DS built-in game StreetPass Mii Plaza.
- Dedede has been voiced by Shinya Kumazaki in every game that he has directed. This also includes variants of King Dedede, such as Shadow Dedede, Team DDD, Dedede Clone, King D-Mind, and Parallel Dedede.
- A slightly distorted version of Dedede's roar from Kirby: Triple Deluxe is produced by Dark Crafter at the beginning of his battle in Kirby and the Rainbow Curse.
- Masked Dedede's mask is apparently power-amplifying and its origins are unknown.[3]
- His mask's design is also a heavily-altered version of Dark Mind's mask.
- However, the Pause Screen description for Masked Dedede's Revenge in Kirby: Triple Deluxe seems to imply that the mask keeps his power suppressed as opposed to amplifying it.
- In Kirby's Blowout Blast, when Giant King Dedede's Revenge is defeated and the king lands on the platform, he sits with his mouth hanging open. When Giant Masked Dedede is defeated and the king shrinks down, he lies on the ground crying. These are both references to reactions he has at the end of Kirby's Dream Land.[4][5]
- The Pause Screen description for King Dedede's fight in Kirby Star Allies expresses disbelief that he has stolen all the food in Dream Land and hoarded it to himself, despite that being the plot of Kirby's Dream Land and its remake as Spring Breeze. It may show Dedede has gained a better moral code.
- In Kirby Star Allies, one of King Dedede's gloves appears as one of the symbols on Void Termina's body.
- King Dedede's circumstances in Kirby: Triple Deluxe serve as a parallel for Meta Knight's in Kirby: Planet Robobot, as both were kidnapped by the enemy before eventually being controlled to fight Kirby, but are defeated and have their masks shattered. They then assist Kirby to get his Final Weapon to fight the true antagonist, with a little help from a traitor of the antagonist's side.
- They go on their own adventures, battle with improved bosses, and also fight a knight as the final boss.
- Meta Knight has no involvement in Kirby: Triple Deluxe’s main story, in the same way King Dedede had no involvement in Kirby: Planet Robobot’s main story. Instead, doppelgängers of them fill their absence as bosses.
- Both also make physical appearances in cutscenes, King Dedede appearing in Kirby: Planet Robobot’s opening and ending story cutscenes, and Meta Knight in Kirby: Triple Deluxe’s 100% completion cutscene.
-
Dream Friend pose
-
Element pose
-
amiibo pose
-
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate pose
- In Kirby Fighters 2, King Dedede's four battle entrance poses as a playable character are taken from other media:
- He can make the same pose as when he is recruited as a Dream Friend in Kirby Star Allies.
- He can make the same pose as when after he is imbued with an element in Kirby Star Allies.
- He can make the pose assumed by his Kirby series amiibo figure.
- Lastly, he can make the same pose he assumes for his artwork in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
- Dedede's exact species is never outright stated or have received an official confirmation. However, it's certain that's he's some sort of bird, telling by his design and how Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards refers to him as a bird. His species is often regarded as a penguin and many references and hints to his species have been placed in certain games or sources, such as Snake's codec call in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, a Kirby Twitter post, and an official stop motion video by PARCO-ART using the Shakurel Kirby figures, in which King Dedede is followed by a bunch of penguins. However, he has also been referred to as a regal eagle in a Nintendo Power Magazine, though this may be referencing how he resembles a bird rather than full on stating he's an eagle. This latter reference also predates most of the above ones, so even if taken as literal, it had plenty of time to change.
- Kirby: Squeak Squad is the only time where he appears as the first boss.
- Ironically, King Dedede can be attacked by Waddle Dees in 'Kirby's Return to Dream Land, even though he is their king.
- King Dedede's theme in Kirby and the Forgotten Land boss theme, "Roar of Dedede", is a remix of his theme in Kirby Star Allies, while his second phase theme as Forgo Dedede, "Masked and Wild D.D.D.", is a remix of Masked Dedede's theme.
- King Dedede's mask in Kirby and the Forgotten Land may be based on a mask of shame, specifically for gluttony.
References
Battle Records
None.
None.
None.
