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Version 1 - Kirby's Adventure (1993) / Kirby's Dream Course (1994) / Kirby's Dream Land 2 (1995) / Kirby's Block Ball (1995) / Kirby's Dream Land 3 (1997) / Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (2000) / Kirby: Canvas Curse (2005)

As alluded to earlier, Fire isn't Kirby's only superhot Copy Ability - by copying the Flamer enemy, a little eye that spouts fire and dashing forward in a deadly fireball, Kirby can gain the Burning ability! Or Fireball, or Burn. This is one of the rare instances of a Copy Ability changing its name, as least in the US: in Kirby's Adventure, its debut, it was known as Fireball, a name that carried on to Dream Course. However, when it appeared two years later in Dream Land 2, where it also could be combined with Animal Friends to do different attacks, its name was made a little less specific and it became Burning. The very same year, Block Ball called it Burn instead, which could go on to be its name in Kirby 64 as well. Burning would eventually come to be its consistent modern name, though, starting in 2002 with Nightmare in Dream Land.

Regardless of its name, Burning has Kirby activate a potent power indeed - he lights himself aflame and dashes forward while on fire! It's a powerful and iconic attack, but would lose its own ability and become part of Fire's moveset in Kirby Super Star.

Version 2 - Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land (2002) / Kirby & The Amazing Mirror (2004)

Burning wasn't done after merging into Fire, though! It would finally get an ability hat of its own in Nightmare in Dream Land as a remake of Kirby's Adventure. It looked approximately like what I have depicted here: a golden tiara with a flame-shaped crest on the front, a red flame-shaped jewel embedded in it, and a pair of wing-shaped accents on either side. It also has an additional flame-shaped crest on the back, though it isn't visible in most angles due to being quite small. The ability also lights Kirby's hands on fire.

Now I say approximately because due to Burning Kirby's tiara only appearing in two whole games, our references for what it looks like are very limited. There is one piece of fully-colored art released for Nightmare in Dream Land, the sprites for NiDL and Amazing Mirror which are very small, and that's it. And there are some inconsistencies between the two, as well: the sprites make it look like the crest on the front and back of the tiara are entirely red, rather than red gems in a golden crest, and while the sprites very clearly make the tiara's hoop golden, the hoop in the art appears to instead be a dark red. I've opted for a mixture of the two and my best guess as to the intended design of the ability here - golden hoop, matching the sprites and not the art where the actual color is obscured by the Burning fireball attack, and the crest that the art depicts as the sprite could be approximating it just at a small scale.

Burning Kirby would not make it even to the end of the "single moveset" Kirby games of the early-to-mid 2000s, as Kirby: Squeak Squad would, in making slightly more complicated movesets for its abilities, reunite Burning and Fire into the singular Fire ability. After that it was all Fire all the time, excepting Canvas Curse which gave Burning its swan song - though not with a hat.

Version Food - Kirby's Dream Buffet (2022)

...That is, until 17 years later, when Kirby's Dream Buffet once again popped Burning out of its retirement! Here it appears as a "Copy Food Ability", given by a special food item and also giving Kirby an appearance similar to said food item. In this case, the Burning Pepper gives Kirby a pepper stem in the same color as his shoes (since Dream Buffet has many differently-colored Kirby options), though it's only visible when you first grab the ability for a few seconds and when actually using the ability, during which it is difficult to see due to Kirby being on fire.

I went back and forth on including the Copy Food Ability appearances, and obviously I ultimately decided to do so. It's not quite within the scope of this series, which is more about the evolution of ability appearances and not about one-off themed extra hats, but the official Japanese website which I am using for reference as to what does and doesn't count as an "official" copy ability (thus excluding things like Wheelie Rider and "final boss" abilities like Star Rod), the order of Copy Abilities (which I will probably talk more about later), and what games count as ability appearances and what games don't. The Japanese official site lists Kirby's Dream Buffet as an appearance for the abilities in it, unlike, say, the Team Kirby Clash games, so in it goes! And besides, it just meant I had to draw a pepper stem in an awkward perspective multiple times until I was at least somewhat happy with it. It's fine.

Description

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Version 1 - Kirby's Adventure (1993) / Kirby's Dream Course (1994) / Kirby's Dream Land 2 (1995) / Kirby's Block Ball (1995) / Kirby's Dream Land 3 (1997) / Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (2000) / Kirby: Canvas Curse (2005)

As alluded to earlier, Fire isn't Kirby's only superhot Copy Ability - by copying the Flamer enemy, a little eye that spouts fire and dashing forward in a deadly fireball, Kirby can gain the Burning ability! Or Fireball, or Burn. This is one of the rare instances of a Copy Ability changing its name, as least in the US: in Kirby's Adventure, its debut, it was known as Fireball, a name that carried on to Dream Course. However, when it appeared two years later in Dream Land 2, where it also could be combined with Animal Friends to do different attacks, its name was made a little less specific and it became Burning. The very same year, Block Ball called it Burn instead, which could go on to be its name in Kirby 64 as well. Burning would eventually come to be its consistent modern name, though, starting in 2002 with Nightmare in Dream Land.

Regardless of its name, Burning has Kirby activate a potent power indeed - he lights himself aflame and dashes forward while on fire! It's a powerful and iconic attack, but would lose its own ability and become part of Fire's moveset in Kirby Super Star.

Version 2 - Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land (2002) / Kirby & The Amazing Mirror (2004)

Burning wasn't done after merging into Fire, though! It would finally get an ability hat of its own in Nightmare in Dream Land as a remake of Kirby's Adventure. It looked approximately like what I have depicted here: a golden tiara with a flame-shaped crest on the front, a red flame-shaped jewel embedded in it, and a pair of wing-shaped accents on either side. It also has an additional flame-shaped crest on the back, though it isn't visible in most angles due to being quite small. The ability also lights Kirby's hands on fire.

Now I say approximately because due to Burning Kirby's tiara only appearing in two whole games, our references for what it looks like are very limited. There is one piece of fully-colored art released for Nightmare in Dream Land, the sprites for NiDL and Amazing Mirror which are very small, and that's it. And there are some inconsistencies between the two, as well: the sprites make it look like the crest on the front and back of the tiara are entirely red, rather than red gems in a golden crest, and while the sprites very clearly make the tiara's hoop golden, the hoop in the art appears to instead be a dark red. I've opted for a mixture of the two and my best guess as to the intended design of the ability here - golden hoop, matching the sprites and not the art where the actual color is obscured by the Burning fireball attack, and the crest that the art depicts as the sprite could be approximating it just at a small scale.

Burning Kirby would not make it even to the end of the "single moveset" Kirby games of the early-to-mid 2000s, as Kirby: Squeak Squad would, in making slightly more complicated movesets for its abilities, reunite Burning and Fire into the singular Fire ability. After that it was all Fire all the time, excepting Canvas Curse which gave Burning its swan song - though not with a hat.

Version Food - Kirby's Dream Buffet (2022)

...That is, until 17 years later, when Kirby's Dream Buffet once again popped Burning out of its retirement! Here it appears as a "Copy Food Ability", given by a special food item and also giving Kirby an appearance similar to said food item. In this case, the Burning Pepper gives Kirby a pepper stem in the same color as his shoes (since Dream Buffet has many differently-colored Kirby options), though it's only visible when you first grab the ability for a few seconds and when actually using the ability, during which it is difficult to see due to Kirby being on fire.

I went back and forth on including the Copy Food Ability appearances, and obviously I ultimately decided to do so. It's not quite within the scope of this series, which is more about the evolution of ability appearances and not about one-off themed extra hats, but the official Japanese website which I am using for reference as to what does and doesn't count as an "official" copy ability (thus excluding things like Wheelie Rider and "final boss" abilities like Star Rod), the order of Copy Abilities (which I will probably talk more about later), and what games count as ability appearances and what games don't. The Japanese official site lists Kirby's Dream Buffet as an appearance for the abilities in it, unlike, say, the Team Kirby Clash games, so in it goes! And besides, it just meant I had to draw a pepper stem in an awkward perspective multiple times until I was at least somewhat happy with it. It's fine.