Mother's Intuition

"Mother's Intuition" is a theme from Kirby: Planet Robobot that plays on the pause screen during most normal gameplay. It was composed by Hirokazu Ando.^[1]

Composition[edit]

The Mother Computer's intuition on Kirby is of infinite potential.

"Mother's Intuition" is based on "Haltmann Works Co. HQ", played in E-flat major and 4/4 and presented in a calm, quiet manner unlike all other versions of this arrangement. The instrumentation is sparse; the only percussion is a metronomic beeping sound, and the melody seems to play slowly, as if preoccupied, adhering to a gentle and slightly reverberated pizzicato. It plays three instances of the melody of "The Noble Haltmann" with the sustained fourth notes of "Haltmann Works Co. HQ", here in slightly different registers, before going off into an ephemeral solo hinting at a modulation to G-flat major and returning to the start of the theme after that.

Game appearances[edit]

Kirby: Planet Robobot[edit]

In Kirby: Planet Robobot, "Mother's Intuition" can be heard when pausing the game at any time except during boss fights or The Arena and The True Arena. It can be found as track 057 in the Jukebox.

A more unsettling arrangement of the theme, "Are You Sure?", plays on the save file deletion screen in the Settings menu, appearing as track 105 in the Jukebox. Interestingly, within the internal files, "Are You Sure?" is named Pause, while "Mother's Intuition" is named Pause_Ver2_2015_0513. This would suggest that "Are You Sure?" was an earlier draft for "Mother's Intuition", the latter of which is dated to May 13th, 2015 (a little under a year before Kirby: Planet Robobot's initial release in Japan and South Korea, April 28th, 2016).

Other appearances of the motif of "Mother's Intuition" include:

• "First Contact" — the opening cutscene theme and track 002. "Mother's Intuition" grows out of and stifles "Boarding the Halberd" in the second section.
• "Patched Plains" — level hub theme for the eponymous level and track 005. "Mother's Intuition" plays as a counterpoint to another variation of "The Noble Haltmann" in the second section.
• "Loveless Command" — theme for the cutscene "My Name Is Haltmann" and the rest area before President Haltmann in The Arena, track 085. An A minor arrangement of "Mother's Intuition" with the rhythm of the third section of "Bright Spinning Planet".
• "VS. Star Dream" — final boss theme for the first phase of Star Dream and track 091. Dramatic iterations of "Mother's Intuition" alternate with Star Dream's motif in the first half of the track.
• "Planet Heart" — the ending cutscene theme and track 098. "Mother's Intuition" opens the second section before giving way to "Venturing into the Mechanized World".
• "Memories (I'll Never Forget You)" — staff credits theme and track 099. Elements of "Flight of Azure" are integrated into the sole phrase of "Mother's Intuition", which resolves through "Green Greens".

The following table includes audio samples of all appearances of "Mother's Intuition". For the similar "Haltmann Works Co. HQ" and "The Noble Haltmann", see the respective pages.

Kirby's Blowout Blast[edit]

The music track reappears in Kirby's Blowout Blast after selecting the Miiverse button on the Touch Screen but before opening Miiverse itself.

Etymology[edit]

"Mother's Intuition" likely receives its name from the unique way the text of Special Pages is written in Kirby: Planet Robobot compared to other games with Special Pages, in particular in the Japanese and Korean versions of the game. Many aspects of the pause screen are written with objective or scientific perspectives, and a robotic tone very unusual for the series. Star Dream, also referred to as the "Mother Computer", is believed to have been the in-universe author of most of these screens, hence the "mother's intuition".

Names in other languages[edit]

Mother's Intuition[edit]

Are You Sure?[edit]

References