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Gruegloom
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| “ | The haunted mansion that's shrouded in darkness is the perfect home for the Gruegloom. Grueglooms cluster together and try to consume you. So when they surround you, stay in the light! | ” | — Daroach, in Kirby Mass Attack |
Gruegloom is an enemy appearing in Kirby Mass Attack. It is a floating skull-shaped creature which revels in the dark, taking on the appearance of a dark purple puff of smoke unless exposed to the light. The Gruegloom cannot be harmed while it is in darkness, and will eat any Kirbys it gets its mouth on. In the light, however, it is very vulnerable, and can be easily pummeled. Defeating it yields 500 points to the player.
A second variety of Gruegloom exists in Kirby Mass Attack which has a blue hue. These appear in swarms in various dark places, and will fade away when exposed to the light. They effectively serve as an intangible and motionless but deadly stage hazard which forces the Kirbys to stay in lit areas.
Locations[edit]
Gruegloom appears exclusively in Volcano Valley - Stage 6.
Trivia[edit]
- A plausible inspiration for the Gruegloom (either in localization into English or in conception by the original Japanese developers)[1] is the grue, a monster popularized by Zork and other text adventure games created by Infocom in the 1970s and 1980s. When it is pitch black, the player character of these games is likely to be eaten by a grue, unless the player equips a light source like a lamp.
- As the grue primarily thrives in the dark as the Gruegloom does, few visual descriptions of the grue exist. However, the Field Guide to the Creatures of Frobozz included with later releases of Sorcerer suggests a scholarly consensus within the world of Zork "that grues are black and black and red and black and purple",[2] similar to the hues of the purple Gruegloom. The illustration provided, of a pair of glowing eyes in a dark cloud, also matches the portrayal of the blue Gruegloom.
- The purple and blue Gruegloom variants have different names in the enemy credits sequence exclusive to the Japanese version. Notably, despite the third medal of Volcano Valley - Stage 6 requiring navigating a hallway largely full of blue Grueglooms (グルーモ, gurūmo), Daroach's hint to this medal refers only to グルーネ (gurūne), the Japanese name for the purple Gruegloom variant.[3]
- The Gruegloom's nature as a floating skull surrounded by smoke, which dissipates when it is vulnerable, is similar to the way that Bubbles function in certain installments of the Legend of Zelda series.
Names in other languages[edit]
Purple Gruegloom[edit]
| Language | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Japanese | グルーネ Gurūne |
Grue-ne |
| German | Schauderfunzel | "Schauder" (shiver) + "Funzel" (dim light) |
| Korean | 그루넬 geurunel |
Grue-nel |
| Spanish | Brumbroso | From "bruma" (haze) and "tenebroso" (dark) |
Blue Gruegloom[edit]
| Language | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Japanese | グルーモ Gurūmo |
Grue-mo |
| Spanish | Brumbroso | From "bruma" (haze) and "tenebroso" (dark) |
References
- ↑ While Zork and thus the grue is primarily remembered in the Anglosphere, the game saw various iterations throughout the decades between the initial mainframe version and the development of Kirby Mass Attack. Three iterations of Zork I were in Japanese: a loosely adapted choose-your-own-adventure gamebook in 1987 was followed by Japanese-language ports to the PC-98 in 1991 and then in 1996 to the PlayStation and Sega Saturn. See, for example: an online bookstore entry for the gamebook and weblog entry describing the gamebook; scans of the 1991 PC-98 release; gamer.ne.jp entry showing the PS and Saturn versions of Zork I published by Shōeisha in 1996 (Wayback Machine snapshot).
- ↑ Pages selected from the Field Guide, actually a copy protection mechanism (Wayback Machine archive)
- ↑ "きりにおおわれたばしょに ゆうれいやしきがあるそうだ ・ そこには、やみにいきる グルーネというテキが ひそんでいる ヤツは、やみのなかでは むてきだが、ひかりにはよわい・・・ ・ やしきのなかには グルーネが むすうにいるへやがあり なにかをまもっているという ウワサだ おそらくそれが さがしているメダルだ" –Daroach (Kirby Mass Attack, Japanese version)
