Checkerboard Chase

Checkerboard Chase
Preview image for Checkerboard Chase in Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe
Details
Type(s)	Battle - Elimination
Levels	4
Players	4
Appears in	Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe
Theme music
Kirby 64: The Crystal ShardsKirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe "Checkerboard Chase" Clips of the theme songs for Checkerboard Chase.

“Chase down your opponents! Get the drop on them to win!”

— Mini-Game Menu caption

Checkerboard Chase is one of the Mini-Games available in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. One to four players choose from characters Kirby, Waddle Dee, Adeleine, or King Dedede and battle it out on a large checkerboard suspended in the air by making pieces of the board fall in an attempt to be the last one standing. Four players will always play, but those not controlled by humans will instead be controlled by the CPU.

Checkerboard Chase also appears in Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe, where Bandana Waddle Dee and Meta Knight take the place of Waddle Dee and Adeleine as possible contestants. Here, it can be accessed in Merry Magoland or the Lor Starcutter, though in the latter, 60 Energy Spheres are needed to unlock it.

How to play

Each contestant is placed randomly on an 8x8 board made of blocks in a checkerboard pattern. Using the directional controls moves the player character freely around the board, and pressing the appropriate button (A, 2, or B depending on game/control style) causes them to release a shock wave ahead that causes any blocks in its path to fall. The goal of the game is for one contestant to catch the others in their shock waves and cause them to fall off the stage. Once a contestant has fallen five times, they are out of the game, and with each elimination, the stage will shrink in size by one block in each direction. The last contestant who has any lives remaining is the winner.

Details

• When a shock wave is released, the blocks fall in order from closest to furthest, with the furthest taking some time to fall.
• Blocks that fall (apart from the ones that fall in an elimination case) will return after a few seconds.
• Although the checkerboard is a grid, contestants are not locked to it, and can stand in-between blocks. However, this will not prevent a fall if the one block they are standing most prominently on falls.
• After being knocked off, a respawning contestant comes back on a safety platform in a random position that disappears after a few seconds, or when that contestant steps off it. Before disappearing, this safety platform will persist even if there is no block beneath it.
• It is possible to move around before the game starts, but no shock waves can be created until the timer begins.
• It is not possible for a contestant to walk off an edge. They only fall if the block they are on falls.
• The high-score kept for this game is based off the shortest time taken to eliminate all other contestants.
• If two remaining contestants fall at the end of the game and lose all lives, whoever fell second is the winner.
• Contestants cannot walk through each other, and instead act as solid obstacles.

Levels

There are four different levels in this game, representing each difficulty. In Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, each difficulty must be completed sequentially to unlock the next, but in Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe, clearing Easy difficulty unlocks all of the others right away. Each is listed below, with notes of what can be expected in each one:

Levels of Checkerboard Chase
Level	High-Speed look	Description	Notes
Easy		The background is an island with a tall volcano in the middle, and the board is a brown and tan color scheme. On High-Speed, the board has higher-contrast colors and the background is changed to an evening-look with a darker volcano.	CPUs in this level are very sluggish and shoot randomly with no real direction.
Normal		Same as before, but the board has a purple and indigo color scheme. Same as before, but with a dark blue night-time look.	CPUs in this level are slow, but they generally aim for other contestants.
Hard		Same as before, but the board has a red and pink color scheme. Same as before, but with a dark red look.	CPUs in this level move at a respectable pace and shoot at opponents often.
Intense!		The backdrop changes to a space theme, situated over Popstar. The blocks are a vaguely green metallic scheme that somewhat resembles a computer chip in design. On High-Speed, the board and background have a more monochrome look with yellow accents.	CPUs in this level are fast, and often try to get close to opponents before throwing waves at them.

In Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe only, there is an unlockable High-Speed mode, where everything is faster, including walking speed, the shockwaves, and the tiles' falling speed. The CPU difficulty is the same for each variant, but the board and background looks are further changed depending on difficulty. High-Speed mode is unlocked by clearing Intense! difficulty with at least one CPU rival present at least once.

Missions

In Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe, there are nine Missions for this Sub-Game. They are as follows:

• Neo Checkerboard Chaser - Play Checkerboard Chase for the first time.
• Drop 'Em Easily - Cause 5 or more rivals to fall in a single game in Easy difficulty while a CPU rival is present.
• Adding Adeleine - Play while wearing the Adeleine dress-up mask.
• One Fall, That's All - Win a game on Normal while only falling once or not at all while a CPU rival is present.
• A Hard but Speedy Victory - Win within 1:00 on Hard difficulty while a CPU rival is present.
• 50 Total Rivals Dropped - Cause a grand total of 50 or more rivals to fall.
• 30 Seconds without an Intense Fall - After the game starts, last at least 30 seconds without falling on Intense! difficulty while a CPU rival is present.
• Clear All Difficulties - Win on all difficulty settings while a CPU rival is present. (Easy / Normal / Hard / Intense!)
• Crystal-Clear Checkerboard Chaser - Complete all other missions for Checkerboard Chase.

Once all 100 regular missions are completed, two final missions related to this Sub-Game are unlocked, as part of the "True Extra Missions" category:

• Perfect Checkerboard Master - Win without falling even once while a CPU rival is present on the Intense! difficulty of Checkerboard Chase.
• Fast & Perfect Checkerboard Master - Win without falling even once while a CPU rival is present on High-Speed Mode - Intense! in Checkerboard Chase.

Tutorial transcript (Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe)

• Aim at your rivals and press A to attack. That will drop the line of floor blocks beneath them and cause them to fall!
• As your rivals are eliminated, the stage will get smaller and smaller. Try to be the last one standing!

Trivia

• Checkerboard Chase notably uses the same Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards results screen and music in Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe, being only one of two games with a unique results theme (the other being Ninja Dojo).
• Waddle Dee in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards and Bandana Waddle Dee in Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe are the only characters who hold their ranking on the results screen in their left hand, with all other characters holding the number in their right hand. Whether this is simply a reference or a direct confirmation that the two are the same is unknown.

Gallery

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards

• 
  Checkerboard Chase on the minigame select menu in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
• 
  Gameplay on "Easy" difficulty
• 
  Gameplay on "Normal" difficulty
• 
  Gameplay on "Hard" difficulty
• 
  Gameplay on "Intense!" difficulty
• 
  When a player is eliminated, the outermost layers of the battlefield turn gray, then fall away permanently.

Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe

• 
  A round of Checkerboard Chase in Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe
• 
  Kirby winning a round on Intense! difficulty in Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe
• 
  The results screen for the game in Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	おちおちファイト Ochi Ochi Faito	Fall Fall Fight
Traditional Chinese	掉落掉落競爭 diào luò diào luò jìng zhēng	Fall-Fall Competition
Simplified Chinese	掉落掉落竞争 diào luò diào luò jìng zhēng
Dutch	Afvalslag	Fall off battle
French	Chasse sur l'échiquier	Hunt on the chessboard
German	Schachbrett-Scharmützel	Chessboard-Skirmish
Italian	Sfida sulla scacchiera	Challenge on the chessboard
Korean	체커보드 체스 chekeobodeu cheseu	Checkerboard Chess
Portuguese	Caibuleiro	From "cair" (to fall) and "tabuleiro" (gameboard).
Spanish	Cacería en el tablero	Hunt in the board