Nightmare (Kirby series)
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Nightmare, also known as the Cloaked Nightmare according to the Star Rod trophy in Super Smash Bros. Melee, is a fictional character featured in the Kirby series of video games. He was the ultimate villain of Kirby's Adventure, the franchise's sole Nintendo Entertainment System game, and was the final boss Kirby had to fight.
The game's story revolves around Nightmare invading the Fountain of Dreams. As a result of this, King Dedede splits up the Star Rod into seven pieces and gives them to his sub-bosses, preventing Nightmare from using it to spread bad dreams. Unfortunately, without the Star Rod, the people of Dream Land have dreamless sleep, so Kirby goes on an adventure to reclaim the pieces of the Star Rod and put it back together. Kirby does not know of what's really going on until after he defeats Dedede in battle and places the Star Rod back in the Dream Fountain. As a result, Nightmare tries to get the Star Rod, but Kirby uses it to fight Nightmare.
Nightmare's first form, the Nightmare Power Orb, is fought in midair as a ball shooting star-shaped missiles at Kirby, similar in style to Kaboola the Blimp from Kirby's Dream Land. After Kirby defeats this first form, the battle moves to the moon, where the second half of the battle commences. There, Nightmare takes on his second and regular form, Nightmare Wizard, which resembles a vampire (or possibly a wraith or genie.) Curiously, Nightmare seems to have less defense in his regular form, as it takes less hits to defeat him this time than in the previous phase. However, Nightmare makes up for this by only being vulnerable while he is attacking, and even then only in the lower half of his body. He attacks by shooting stars, coming upside down and trying to crash down on Kirby, or using his tornado attack, and can even teleport around (interestingly, some other final boss monsters in the Kirby series that can teleport include Dark Mind and Marx). Upon taking enough hits from the Star Rod, Nightmare explodes into nothing, thus ensuring that "tonight, Dream Land will sleep well".
With the exception of a non-fightable cameo appearance of his ball form in Kirby's Avalanche, Nightmare did not appear in another new Kirby game afterward. In fact, many elements from Kirby's Adventure found their way into Kirby Super Star on the Super NES, but Nightmare himself did not. One particular boss battle, that with Marx in the "Milky Way Wishes" portion of the game, even used the same setting as the final battle from Kirby's Adventure. Nightmare's only other appearance was in Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland, the Game Boy Advance remake of Kirby's Adventure. A character named Dark Mind, who appears in Kirby and the Amazing Mirror resembles Nightmare and another Kirby villain named Dark Matter fused together. Nightmare was also later seen in a picture found in one of the treasure chests in Kirby: Squeak Squad. That picture is of a group of the major bosses in various Kirby platform games, which includes King Dedede, Dark Matter, Dark Mind, Marx, and Nightmare himself.
[edit] In the Anime
Likely due to the fact the anime coincided with the release of the Kirby's Adventure remake, Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land, it was decided that Nightmare be the main villain for the series, Kirby: Right Back at Ya!.
In the series, he runs the evil Holy Nightmare Corporation, or NightMare Enterprises (NME) in the English dub. (In addition, Nightmare's name is changed to 'eNeMeE', pronounced 'enemy', in the English Dub.)
Far from his relatively unthreatening persona in the game, the anime version of Nightmare already dominates much of the universe from the series' beginning. He uses his ability to create an endless number of creatures known as demon beasts, which he sends to conquer civilations, or sells them to unsuspecting customers for a profit via the Internet.
His only opposition is the Star Warriors and Galaxy Soldier Army, but he defeated all but a few of them before the show begins.
Early in the series, it is revealed that Nightmare isn't always successful in creating new demon beasts. On rare occasions, they disobey him. The stone sage Kabu tells the siblings Fumu and Bun about a time when one of Nightmare's creations turned against him. It is very strongly implied that this rebel was Kirby. (Although some fans believe it may be Meta Knight, there is little evidence beyond speculation.)
Nightmare appears only as a shadowy figure in the background for much of the series, masterminding various plots against Kirby. However, much of the time he doesn't seem serious about defeating the young Star Warrior. (The obvious explanation is that it would be an awfully short series if he killed Kirby when he was weak. But for a more in-character explanation- perhaps ancient, immortal beings simply get bored and need something to keep themselves occupied.) His full form is revealed in the final episodes when he battles against Kirby.
As told in one of Nightmare's lines later in the series, he is a dream just as his name implies. He seems to be an embodiment of life's fear and suffering, and so he strives to bring more pain in order to increase his power- and will always exist as long as people hold fear in their hearts.
One of Nightmare's only employees we see is Customer Service (known in the English dub as the Nightmare Enterprises Salesman). He is likely also a demon beast Nightmare created, and is solely responsible for handling the company's sales (and sometimes advertising.) Customer Service speaks very politely in the original version, but doesn't pass up a chance to subtly insult customers like King Dedede. In the dub, his persona is more that of the stereotypical used car salesman.
Both characters are voiced by Banjō Ginga in the original version. In the dub, Nightmare is voiced by Andrew Rannells, and is often criticized for not being an accurate portrayal of the character (In the last three episodes of the dub in their separate form, Nightmare sounds like Len Tao from the dub of Shaman King and Dren from the dub of Mew Mew Power, but confusingly, in the very first episode of the dub, his voice sounded like his Japanese voice). Dan Green voices Nightmare Enterprise Salesman, and is often considered one of the better voices in the dub.
Categories: Kirby characters | Nintendo villains | Manga and anime villains | Computer and video game bosses | Fictional ghosts | Fictional immortals | Fictional deities | Fictional extraterrestrials | Extraterrestrial supervillains | Fictional mass murderers | Fictional businesspeople | Fictional terrorists | Unseen characters
