One of Kirby Star Allies’ notable flaws is its lack of difficulty. Though its story mode may be easy, its extra modes are not: The Ultimate Choice (previously known as The Arena) is a fast-paced boss rush with an adjustable intensity level. Its highest difficulty setting is “Soul Melter” – which is as challenging as the name implies. Your team of Star Allies will be faced with 13 powerful opponents – this guide aims to help you take down each and every one of them.

General Tips & Tricks

First, in order to unlock the Soul Melter difficulty setting, you must first clear The Ultimate Choice’s Fiery Showdown or Infernal Crisis difficulty setting.

If you have three other friends you can team up with, go for it. Human players deal more damage and are generally more effective than CPU allies. Regardless, the key to beating Soul Melter mode is assembling a strategic team. Here’s a bit of strategy: make sure to include Vividria (the Artist friend) on your team. By pressing up, she can use Still Life, which generates valuable healing items for you to use. You can even command CPU Vividria to use Still Life by tilting your control stick upward.

Now, as far as your ability goes: there are several that stand out from the rest as especially powerful. As Player 1, it’s important that you take the least amount of damage possible – because once you lose your one and only life, it’s all over.

• Hammer: Hammer is a perfect balance between offense and defense. Pressing down and A will cause Kirby to use a hammer spin attack that renders him invincible for a few seconds. Using this move with good timing allows him to avoid enemy attacks entirely. Hammer’s neutral aerial attack is fast and strong, allowing it to be used repeatedly to great effect. Hammer can also be imbued with the Fire, Ice, Water, Electricity, or Wind element for increased range and damage.
• Staff: Staff has a long range and inflicts respectable damage. Plus, its pogo-stick attack is absurdly fun to use. Staff can also be imbued with the Fire, Ice, Water, Electricity, or Wind element for increased range and damage.
• Stone: It can be tough to inflict damage with Stone due to how slow its attacks are. But Stone makes up for its lackluster offense with its stellar defense: Kirby is completely invincible during its effects. If you want, you can turn to stone to render yourself invulnerable and then let three CPU allies do the fighting for you. Admittedly, this isn’t the best plan due to the fact that you will need to revive your allies when they die.

Dream Friends

Alternatively, you can kick Kirby to the curb and play as a Dream Friend instead. Each one jumps and flies faster than Kirby himself, which proves to be a huge advantage in The Ultimate Choice.

• Rick & Kine & Coo: Rick’s dash attack turns him to stone as long as the button is held, rendering him completely invulnerable. Coo’s aerial moves are also quite fast, which allows the trio to rack up damage in a pinch. Using Rick & Kine & Coo is similar to the Stone ability, but with additional versatility.
• Marx: Marx doesn’t have much in terms of defense, with nothing but a simple guard to rely on. But his offensive capabilities are crazy, and they really ramp up when he starts flying. Marx can shoot lasers, absorb small enemies, and spit an absurd amount of projectiles. He can even be imbued with the Fire, Ice, Water, Electricity, or Wind element to inflict more damage.
• Gooey: Gooey is essentially the perfect balance between offense and defense. For some reason, he can turn to stone to become invincible. What’s more, is that he can fly and shoot lasers while retaining high mobility. These two traits in combination make him an incredibly effective pick.
• Magolor: He can teleport, summon stage hazards, and deal incredible damage. His Ultra Sword attack renders him invulnerable for its duration! Magolor has a wide variety of potential moves, making him a great choice.

Teammates

Once you’ve selected your ability or Dream Friend of choice, you’ll have to select three teammates. In addition to Vividria (who is mandatory for an effective run), there are several others whose support capabilities far outshine the others.

Element Support:

• Plugg: While the Plasma ability may be a bit difficult to use, Plugg is still a great ally. He can defend himself with an electrical shield and imbue your weapons with the electricity element for increased damage.
• Burning Leo: Burning Leo’s fiery attacks inflict major damage to Whispy Woods, Yggy Woods, and Francisca. He can also imbue your weapons with the fire element to increase their range and damage output.
• Chilly: Chilly’s icy attacks deal extra damage to Flamberge. Chilly can also add the ice element to your weapons to increase their damage and add a freezing effect.
• Broom Hatter: Broom Hatter has access to wind and water-type attacks, both of which can be used to imbue your weapons with powerful elements.

These are just a few examples of proficient teammates to use. Theoretically, it’s possible to clear Soul Melter with any combination of allies, but some make this task easier than others.

amiibo

Kirby Star Allies includes amiibo support. In the pause menu, tap in an amiibo and it will spawn a healing item for your team – this does work in The Ultimate Choice. You can use up to seven amiibo per run. Keep in mind that amiibo-assisted runs are marked with a special stamp. For more information on amiibo support in Kirby Star Allies, follow this link.

The Final Battle

The first twelve rounds of Soul Melter mode are very similar to the boss battles of the game’s story mode – that is to say, none of them receive any new attack patterns. That all changes with the final boss of The Ultimate Choice, Void Soul. Void Soul has drastically different attack patterns that can catch you off-guard. It can possess your friends and turn them against you – throw a Friend Heart to bring them back to your side. Void Soul also has a particularly tricky move where it fills the room with water and then electrifies it to inflict damage – jump to the top of the room to avoid this attack. Although Void Soul is noticeably different from the in-game final boss, dodging its attacks is relatively straightforward if you have good reflexes.

Overall, Soul Melter mode of The Ultimate Choice is a true challenge — if you go it alone. It’s easier with a full team of four human players, but the boss fights are interesting enough to warrant multiple runs.

If you would like to read more guides, please follow this link.

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