| “ | Long ago, the soulless battle robot Metal General would be dispatched by its master to visit other planets and exterminate their foes. Now it serves as security, guarding this spot for eternity. | „ |
| ~ Metal General's battle description. |
| “ | Forced to work security long after its master's death, this robot uses AI to maintain itself and control the machines of Egg Engines. It has a wide variety of advanced features...but still no heart. | „ |
| ~ Metal General EX's battle description. |
Metal General is a minor antagonist in Kirby's Return to Dream Land. It is a soulless security robot originally created to travel and attack multiple civilizations across multiple planets before it ends up becoming security for Egg Engines on Halcandra.
Physical Appearance[]
Metal General is a short, robotic entity with a dark and light blue paint job all over its body. It has a shoulder pad over its small left arm with multiple joints, and has boot-like legs similar to Kirby. Its right arm is also a multi-purpose weapon launcher used for a laser sword. It has yellow eyes and has multiple thrusters on its back. This makes Metal General somewhat resemble a shark.
As Metal General EX, it remains the exact same, but it instead has a red, pink and black color scheme.
Personality[]
Its pause description in Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe calls it a soulless battle robot whose sole purpose is to guard what remains of Egg Engines after it was heavily destroyed long ago. It is also suggested to be very obedient, obeying its deceased master’s orders to travel to other planets and attack those on them. Its EX description says that in spite of all of the advanced features it has from presumably rebuilding itself using Egg Engines’ technology, he still lacks a soul.
It is also implied to be quite hostile and dangerous when provoked, as Metal General EX immediately flies away to summon HR-D3 in Extra Mode instead of exploding like in the main game.
Biography[]
Past[]
According to its pause description in Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe, it was created a long time ago by its master and was programmed to travel to multiple planets across the galaxy to exterminate the enemies that stand in their way. During this time, it found its way to Halcandra and long after the death of its master, it now dedicates the rest of its life to guarding Egg Engines, using the technology there to rebuild itself and control all the machines there.
Kirby's Return to Dream Land[]
The Metal General appears as the boss of Egg Engines and is the first Halcandra boss fight. When Kirby and friends first approach it, it appears deactivated and stationary. It then sparks with electricity and its eyes turn on, commencing the fight to begin.
Metal General's main forms of attacking involve attacking with a laser blade and slashing forwards with it multiple times, performing a Shuttle Loop-esque move where it surrounds itself in electricity and tries to ram into Kirby, launching missiles out of its right arm, and firing spark bolts that fly outward in zig-zag motions.
When it enters its second phase, it will begin sparking with electricity, likely as a sign that it is now starting to malfunction. It can now summon a giant rocket which it tries to ram into Kirby with before exploding, summon mines that litter the stage, and also deploy three tiny flying drones that follow Kirby. Once Metal General goes down, it explodes, clearing Egg Engines.
In Extra Mode, Kirby and his friends fight Metal General EX, who fights very similarly, but he attacks faster and slightly longer, as well as being able to summon multiple rockets that all try to ram into Kirby. Upon defeat, however, Metal General EX flies off-screen and pilots HR-D3, a giant King Dedede-based mech originally planned to appear in the cancelled Kirby 2005 GameCube game, in order to continue the battle.
Trivia[]
- Similar to Computer Virus, Metal General shows how much damage it took by green numbers flashing near it.
- In Kirby: Planet Robobot, a very similar, mass-produced entity known as Security Force appears as a recurring mid-boss, fighting using an abridged version of Metal General's moveset. According to Shinya Kumazaki in a Miiverse post, President Haltmann traveled to other planets and discovered their blueprints, which he used to create Security Force; it is heavily implied that one of these planets was Halcandra.
- In fact, Metal General's pause description in Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe says that it was also a security robot who still functions long after its master's passing.
- Metal General EX's pause description heavily implies that all of the machinery attacking Kirby and his friends at Egg Engines could have been the cause of Metal General.
- Metal General can be seen as a stand-in for a Meta Knight battle in this game, given how he himself is playable.
- Most of Metal General's attacks could have served as inspiration for the new Mecha ability in Return to Dream Land Deluxe.
