Decoding Kirby's Dream Land 3 Flora Friends

These characters all appear in Kirby's Dream Land 3 for the Super Nintendo. In each of the five worlds the game takes place in, one of the flowers/fungus appears in the first level of each map. It has always puzzled me why their official names are so long. Granted, they were never given localized English names, but still, their names are peculiar, even in Japanese. Therefore, on this day, I made it my duty to delve into my Japanese-English dictionary (and Google searches) to uncover the mysteries that lay within the names of some of Kirby's most forgettable friends!

First up, and most easily translated, is "Churippu"(チュリップ) of Grass Land. Just saying the name gives it away- obviously "Tulip"- not to mention, the flower's design is unmistakably a childish depiction of one. However, I believe that the name goes deeper. Each stage in KDL3 has an objective you must accomplish in order to get the Heart Stars (collectibles which allow you to fight the final boss when you get 100%) and, likewise, each of the first level flowers have a similar theme: touch them and they die and you loose the minigame! Tulip is the most simple, being that's all you have to do, avoid touching the flowers. That's why I deduce that "Chu-Rippu" can aditionally translate to "Admirable Loyalty"; because, unlike the other creatures Kirby meets in his travels and kills for the fun of it, Tulip is a harmless friend in need, and Kirby's loyalty and friendship is admirable indeed if he stays loyal and doesn't trample the flowers.

The game's second world, Ripple Field, brings us the pale purple flower, "Kamuribana"(カムリバナ). It's the third flower in my sketches- sorry I forgot to draw them in order... Anyhow, its name is a little more tricky, made all the more tricky being that Japanese is not my native tongue, I've had no formal training in it, and it's complicated as heck to keep all the rules straight! Nevertheless, let's start simple- Hana is the word for flower- and in Japanese, when you combine another word with a word beginning with "h", the word is pronounced with a "b", in this case yeilding --Bana. A kanmuri is a traditional black lacquered Japanese crown (much like the hat KoiKoi wears) but also used for the generic king's crown in the west, of which Ka(n)muribana's bumps somewhat resemble. Given the gameplay has Kirby team up with Pitch and use him as a bucket to hurl water blobs with Clean Ability (seriously one of the oddest powers in the game) to grow Kamuribana from sprouts to full flowers, I think this nomenclature has to do with "crowning" the flower, i.e. rising up and becoming great/ blooming.

Number three is the oddball and my favorite of the lot, "Geromazudake"(ゲロマズダケ) of Sand Canyon. He's a mushroom with attitude~ Both it and Tulip appear in the same room, with the objective this time to crush all the Tulips while leaving the mushrooms unharmed. So much for loyalty~! Anyhow, Geromazudake I had the hardest time trying to translate/ make sense of. I immediately connected the "dake" part of its name with "shiitake" mushrooms (d and t pronounced the same in Japanese) of which, Geromazudake is absolutely one of- the tan cross on its head confirms it. Some sources I read gave "gerumazu" a definition as the color brown, which makes descriptive sense. Apart, "gero" and "mazu(i)" can mean warding off because of really bad taste, so I guess Geromazudake ain't like those delicious shiitakes at all, ay? My guess is it also has something to do with the gameplay- don't touch the nasty mushrooms but stomp the heck outta the sweet tulips, hehe.

Next to last, hailing from Cloudy Park is "Hibanamodoki"(ヒバナモドキ), the flower that looks very familiar. If you look at it and think that it looks just almost exactly like a Fire Flower from the Super Mario series, you wouldn't be half wrong! Its name literally translates to "Fire Flower ALMOST" (hi-bana-modoki). I guess the designers were running out of ideas for names at this point, not to mention reusing other Nintendo game's graphics. I kid- I'm sure it was just another playful reference-- Kirby's Dream Land 3 is chock full of them! Anywho, the level has the Hibanamodokis all dirtied up from who knows what (I'm going to say soot from all that air pollution- they don't call it cloudy park for nothing!) and it's up to Kirby and his Animal Friends Rick/Coo to use Clean Ability, yet again, and feather dust them clean. Just don't hold the duster out too long, or the flower will die and you'll lose the challenge!

Finally, the last of the verbose flower friends is "Kogoesou"(コゴエソウ) of Iceburg. What is a flower doing in Iceburg, of all places? Not much it seems, as the poor things are frozen solid in standalone blocks of ice! Kogoesou has the most unique and descriptive name of the bunch, in my opinion, as it is called exactly what the player must do in order to win the Heart Star. Get to the level with any Fire Ability combination and defrost those daisies! "Kogoe(ru)" is a neat word meaning feeling numb from the cold, combined with "Sou", to satisfy a cause, the name just makes sense in the context of the game. Now it's time to move to a warmer climate, mate!

I hope this lesson on the hidden meanings behind some random-ass Kirby characters nobody even knows exist has been enlightening to all who care to read and learn through my manic, insomnia-driven research. Please forgive me if I have mistranslated anything. I'm not Japanese- I just play the part on the internet~ whaha~!
Also, there's some bonus KoiKoi and Kinko designs I'm working on off to the side. I've been coming up with names for new characters recently, and that's what spurred this obsession with name research. Take care- next week, new sculptures!