You know, there’s something about Kirby that’s just so darn lovable.
He might be an endless vacuum of chaos who continually battles eldritch horrors, but
look at him!
It’s difficult to imagine a more cute and innocent Nintendo character.
D’aww.
And over the years Kirby has made plenty of friends along the way.
King Dedede, Meta Knight, Bandana Waddle Dee...even enemies can’t help but join up with the
little guy.
But there’s one friend that doesn’t appear nearly as much as the others, the artist Adeleine.
And by that, I mean she hasn’t been seen in a game for almost 20 years now.
But has she truly been erased?
Or is there a chance that she could make her mark again in the near future?
Welcome to Missing in Action where we take a look back at game elements that have mysteriously
gone missing.
Adeleine debuted in Kirby’s Dream Land 3 in 1997, where she served as the boss of World
4’s Cloudy Park.
However, she wasn’t known as Adeleine then and instead went by Ado.
So when a similar-looking character popped up in Kirby 64 with a different name, Adeleine,
it led to a lot of confusion.
Were Adeleine and Ado supposed to be sisters?
Or were they, in fact, the same person?
Well, it turns out, the confusion is likely due to character limitations.
In Japan, Ado was called Adorēnu, which is their localization of Adeleine.
So when it was translated back to English, it was simply shortened to Ado, which was
confirmed as her nickname by the 20th Anniversary Encyclopedia for Kirby.
As a boss, Adeleine doesn’t fight directly.
Instead she uses a large cloud canvas to paint enemies into existence, specifically bosses
from Kirby’s Dream Land 2.
After the Ice Dragon, Sweet Stuff, Mr. Shine, Mr. Bright, and Kracko are all defeated, Adeleine
has no option but to attack Kirby herself.
You could say, she painted herself into a corner.
(head slap clip) Unfortunately for her, she’s really not that strong, as a single puff of
air will send her flying offscreen.
Heck, even if Adeleine lands her final attack against you, she’ll end up taking herself
out in the process.
You almost have to feel sorry for the poor girl.
Of course, Adeleine wasn’t actually evil, just possessed by Dark Matter.
If Kirby collects all the Heart Stars in Cloudy Park and returns to the arena where he fought
Adeleine, she’ll show her true friendly nature and paint a random picture.
This includes a diamond ring, a strawberry shortcake, and a pink Game Boy making for
a fun optional Easter Egg.
She’ll also appear during the credits in a picture, hanging out with Kirby, along with
the rest of the brainwashed bosses.
And Kirby’s not even the last character players see at the end of the game, it’s
Adeleine.
She pops in to paint ‘End’ after the credits.
But it wasn’t the end of her.
Though it might have been if she had been treated like the other girls who have appeared
throughout the Kirby series.
I mean, when’s the last time you saw Ribbon, Elline, or Susie?
But she did indeed come back 3 years later in 2000’s Kirby 64.
In this Adeleine is minding her own business and painting when she’s possessed yet again
by Dark Matter.
The fight is actually rather similar to her boss battle in Dream Land 3 although quite
a bit easier.
After all, she’s just a mini-boss this time around.
That being said, the battle itself is still quite similar.
This time, she creates a set of minor enemies, then an Ice Dragon, and finally Dark Matter.
Once they’re gone, she tries to fight by herself with the same results as before.
Hm, maybe she should’ve joined the military before becoming a painter like Bob Ross.
Once she’s been defeated, Adeleine will join Kirby on his adventure.
At certain points throughout the levels, she’ll appear and paint either a Maxim Tomato or
an extra life depending on Kirby’s health.
Otherwise, she paints pictures that would help Kirby solve puzzles in order to obtain
more collectible Crystal Shards.
She definitely acts more as support, but it was a bigger role than what she had in Dream
Land 3.
And hey, she was even a selectable character in the multiplayer minigames.
But would you believe she was originally meant to be playable in the main game as well?
Back in June of 1999, before the game was released, nine teaser photos were released
on Nintendo.com.
These revealed that all of Kirby’s friends were meant to be playable at some point during
development though the feature was cut with no real explanation given.
Unfortunately, that also means we never got to see how Adeleine would play, beyond swiping
her brush at an enemy as shown in this single picture.
Although, there’s a chance we may finally have a better idea of how she might have played,
but we’ll get to that soon.
And that’s because there’s really not much else to say about her.
After Kirby 64, Adeleine pretty much faded from existence, only returning for a super
small cameo as a sticker in Kirby: Planet Robobot, as well as in artwork tweeted out
by the official Kirby 25th anniversary Twitter account.
Otherwise though, that’s it.
And that’s still the case even now, almost 20 years later.
However, Kirby: Star Allies is on the way for the Nintendo Switch and a new Ability
was revealed, Artist.
And it quite obviously draws inspiration from Adeleine.
Using the Ability provides Kirby with a beret just like her and the ability to summon help
from his easel.
Not only that, but he can use the paintbrush to attack enemies, just as Adeleine did in
the early version of Kirby 64.
The big question is though, will Adeleine return herself?
Well, there’s a definite possibility.
For one, Dream Land 3 featured Kirby collecting Heart Stars and hearts are a major factor
in Star Allies as it’s the thing possessing Kirby’s friends.
Secondly, in both games that featured Adeleine, Zero served as the final boss, going by Zero
Two in his second appearance.
Perhaps a Zero Three could be introduced if Adeleine is in fact back.
But we'd probably know about her before we found out about a Zero 3.
And finally, there’s Kirby’s friends.
In Triple Deluxe, Dedede was playable in the Dedede Tour Mode where his moveset was based
off Hammer.
In Planet Robobot, it was Meta Knight’s turn with Meta Knightmare Returns and his
Sword moves.
And usually, in the more recent games, the one who finishes off the quartet is Bandana
Dee who uses the Spear moveset.
But Spear, unlike Hammer and Sword, hasn’t yet been seen at all.
What if our girl Adeleine got the spot as the extra mode this time around where she
ran through the levels with the new Artist Ability?
Wouldn’t that make for a grand return?
Of course, that’s all speculation on our part.
It could happen or it couldn’t, but the mere fact that Artist is an Ability means
Adeleine hasn’t been completely forgotten.
She’s a fan favorite and we’d love to see her return to Dream Land.
But what do you think?
Will Adeleine come back in a future Kirby game?
Could she even be in Kirby: Star Allies?
And is there anything else that’s gone missing that you want found?
Let us know by posting in the comments below and we may feature it in a future episode.
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Action episodes and even more from GameXplain!