The True Arena: the final challenge of everyKirbygame since its debut in Kirby Super Star Ultra. The True Arena is a reprisal of The Arena, a boss-rush mode that contains all the bosses and mid-bosses you fight in the game’s story mode. Of course, completing the story unlocks new modes, which often have their own host of bosses to take down — usually tougher than the story mode’s bosses. These big and bad bosses reappear in the True Arena to test your skills in a brutal gauntlet, and only by surviving the onslaught and coming out on top can you truly call yourself a Kirby master.

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Kirby’s Return to Dreamland had its own True Arena, which was composed of all the new EX bosses introduced in the game’s Extra Mode. WhileReturn to Dreamland Deluxe’s True Arena is largely similar. Six new bosses were added by the new Magolor Epilogue, bringing the True Arena to a deadly twenty-one battles. Surviving one of these fights may be easy, but twenty-one brutal boss fights is enough to wear down even the best players. However, there are some tips you may want to take into account if you want to beat this brutal gauntlet.

Ration Your Maxim Tomatoes

In between boss fights, you’re able to access a Rest Area that has three Maxim Tomatoes and two Copy Ability essences (though one is always guaranteed to be Sleep, so there’s only really one). The Maxim Tomatoes will fully heal Kirby and will be replaced by an Orange after use that only heals a small amount.

In total,you have six opportunities to healthe damage you take during the True Arena; over the course of twenty-one battles, you’re bound to take some hits. You should aim to take as few hits as possible — while not getting hit at all can be somewhat unrealistic, you’ll need to spread your six heals across the entire True Arena, because once you use them all up, you’re out of luck for the rest of your run.Only use a Maxim Tomato if you’re absolutely confident you won’t survive the next fight.

Kirbys Return to Dreamland Deluxe Kirby King Dedede Meta Knight Bandana Waddle Dee

Know Thy Enemy

The True Arena is divided up into three sections; in thefirst section, you’ll be fighting Whispy Woods EX, Sphere Doomers EX, Mr. Dooter EX, Fatty Puffer EX, Goriath EX, Metal General EX, and the Mid-Bosses EX 1 (Gigant Edge EX, King Doo EX and Bonkers EX) and 2 (Kibble Blade EX, Moundo EX, Water Galboros EX and Dubior EX) in a random order. At the end of this section, you fight Grand Doomer EX, and then Landia EX.

Thesecond sectionintroduces the Magolor Epilogue’s bosses and are fought in a set order: Electricky Dooter, Fiery Puffer, Hydriath, Rampaging Doomers, and then Crowned Doomer. If you’ve made it this far, congrats: the final six await you.

Kirbys Return to Dreamland Deluxe Whispy Woods

TheFinal Sixconsist of HR-D3, Lor EX & Magolor, Magolor EX, Galacta Knight, Master Crown, and finally Magolor Soul, in that order. While the initial randomness for the first eight fights may be daunting, these battles are ultimately against the bosses you’ve become accustomed to over the course of the Main and Extra modes — they are the easiest part of the True Arena, and once you beat them, you may proceed through without worrying about curveballs thrown your way.

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Don’t Worry About Time

You may notice the clock running in the bottom of the screen during your run. Honestly, justignore the timer; while the True Arena has leader-boards ranking your best times, you’ll want to focus on clearing the True Arena first and foremost. If you really want to get a good time, go for it — butit’s recommended you clear the True Arena firstbeforetrying to speedrun it.

If you want to use Stone and abuse its invincibility, go for it. If you want to use Leaf or Sand’s special guard to maintain invulnerability, go for it! You’ll need to pull out all the stops, even if it takes a while.

Kirbys Return to Dreamland Deluxe Crowned Doomer

The Otherworldly Warrior

Exclusive to the True Arena isGalacta Knight, who makes a guest appearance for the first time since Planet Robobot. Galacta Knight behaves much like asouped-up version of Meta Knight, attacking with moves reminiscent of the Sword ability. Galacta Knight will attack with lance thrusts, block attacks with his shield, and will modify his strategy to suit yours.

Galacta Knight can be quite vexing, but astrong copy abilitycan put him down. When he reaches around two-thirds health, Galacta Knight powers up and enters hissecond phase.Galacta Knight will start attacking with lightning, laser beams, and barrages of sword beams that bounce off the ground. Galacta Knight is a fast and aggressive boss, so make sure to avoid his attacks and get in hits when you can.

Kirbys Return to Dreamland Deluxe Galacta Knight

The Finale

One thing they don’t tell you is that the final battle of the True Arena,Magolor Soul, hasreceived a major buff. Magolor Soul has two health bars to empty and a host of new and improved attacks to put an end to your run. Many of Magolor Soul’s attacks arerevamped versions of existing ones; for example, Magolor Soul’s needle attack will now linger to provide an obstacle when dodging his other attacks.

Magolor Soul now fires two laser beams, has new Super Ability attacks for the Sand and Mecha abilities, and can summon two black holes at once. Magolor Soul puts up a darn good fight, so attempt to save your healing items for this battle, because you are going to need them. However, as Magolor Soul transitions to his second phase,he does drop a healing Apple— make sure to grab that if you’re low on health.

Kirbys Return to Dreamland Deluxe Magolor Soul

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