Oh Rolling Turtle... how dearly we miss you... Rolling Turtle is a mid-boss in Kirby's Adventure, and the only provider of the Throw ability in the entire game! With the Throw ability, Kirby can pick up enemies and, ya know, throw them. Rolling Turtle does the same during their fight, picking up Kirby and throwing him against the wall. They can also attack by rolling around, hence the name. They also also have an attack where they toss out little Rolling Turtle Jr.'s, which you'll see soon enough. Rolling Turtle is one of few enemies to be missing from Adventure's remake, Nightmare in Dream Land, where it's roll- sorry, role as the Throw mid-boss was taken by a brand new mid-boss, Phan Phan. It's unknown exactly why this happened, but a theory is that it's due to Rolling Turtle's resemblance to the TV character Gachapin (they have similar faces). Phan Phan would have a couple more appearances after Nightmare in Dream Land, but Rolling Turtle would be left behind, never to be referenced ever again... so far anyways! You can never tell with the Kirby series, deep cuts happen regularly. Hopefully this turtle comes rolling around some day...
If you are a Kirby Fan, you may already know what this is all about! Rolling Turtle is sort of a laughingstock. A poor shmuck. It is just not Rolling Turtle’s day. It has not been for nearly 30 years, and probably never will be again. Sorry!
I don’t think Rolling Turtle did anything wrong. It is just a funny creature. A goofy turtle, and even sillier in the sprite, where it is oh so round, its shell making up most of its shape! The buck teeth are silly, too, and make me think of a turtle’s egg tooth, which I like to think about. Rolling Turtle is capable of rolling, and it rolls indeed. It rolls to, and even fro! It can grab Kirby and roll back and forth, or it can even throw little projectiles!
The projectiles are, these! What are they? Well...
Babies! Little Rolling Turtles! These are so funny. I know that’s PROBABLY not just one eye, and is probably meant to be a shine effect, but it looks so much like just one eye. They easily COULD have put two little eyes there!
See? Easy. Now I kind of want to think that is one eye, actually. Anyway, Rolling Turtle throws its own babies as an attack which is certainly nothing new for video game enemies, and nothing shocking for the Kirby series, occurring with other mid-bosses in this very game, who are doing just fine today. This could not have been Rolling Turtle’s crime. Don’t worry. I will get to Rolling Turtle’s ambiguous crime.
While not criminal, this room in Kirby’s Adventure is certainly infamous! An optional Rolling Turtle confrontation in an extremely basic square room, but with some water covering the ground, making moving quite inconvenient. Keep in mind that this is optional, though. You’re the one who decides whether to barge in and challenge Rolling Turtle. Maybe this is even its house! Maybe it sleeps in this water. Maybe it sleeps with the fishes. Okay, now for the main thing!
There have been a few enemies in the Kirby series who have been replaced in remakes by new enemies that fulfill the same role. These all have reasonable enough reasons, I think. Bounder probably looked too much like a weird human infant, so it was replaced by Gip, the winged pig blob. Togezo was very similar to Spiny, and nearly IDENTICAL to an enemy from Gimmick!, and was replaced by Needlous, the spiky larva (who also happens to strongly resemble a Gimmick! enemy!). Capsule J looked a whole lot like the title character of Konami’s Twinbee series, so it was replaced by Capsule J2 (who was later replaced by Capsule J3, just to keep up tradition). These all make sense! But there’s someone else who was replaced.
That’s right! Rolling Turtle was replaced by Phan Phan, a spherical elephant who behaves identically, and throws apples instead of turtles! This change I don’t get. What was wrong with Rolling Turtle? I don’t think anything! I don’t have anything against Phan Phan, but I don’t have anything against Rolling Turtle, either. Poor creature. Erased from history. Sleeping with the fishes. And by that I mean, the fishes from Dream Land 1 who were also erased! But, like with that case, I have a theory.
This replacement occurred in Nightmare in Dream Land, the remake of Kirby’s Adventure. This game was released close to the time of Right Back At Ya, the Kirby anime, and that was a pretty big thing for the series! The American commercial is in the anime style, and is pretty stupid. Look at this. Kracko is so small. Chilly is so large. Bugzzy does not use weapons in any of the games. Chef Kawasaki is not even in this game at all! Not that I don’t love seeing him, but this is false advertising!
I bring this all up because Phan Phan appears in the anime, mainly just for one episode, where it befriends Kirby and eats apples. Maybe Phan Phan was originally made for the anime first, and added to the game as a bit of a reference/cross promotion? It would certainly explain the game version’s throwing of apples, which seem like a weird choice of projectile for an elephant.
Anyway, that is the story of Rolling Turtle, who was taken from us too soon. I don’t feel anything too strongly toward Rolling Turtle as a design or character, but did it really deserve this? It didn’t do anything bad. Babies as weapons is fine. But alas. I make this exact joke once more.
Ooggohh little thing....... Rolling Turtle Jr. are little enemies sent out by Rolling Turtle during it's fight. They basically just bounce around after getting tossed out, and don't do much else. As it is with all Kirby bosses, Rolling Turtle Jr. exists just so Kirby has something to spit back out at the boss if he doesn't already have a Copy Ability. But it's cute when they turn said something into a little guy! Due to the limitations of the original NES sprite, Rolling Turtle Jr. has a fairly basic design, with no official artwork or later appearances to give us anything else to go off of. Hence the uh... lack of eyes. I considered giving eyes to them in this drawing, but I think it's funnier not to. Just a weird little blind turtle creature. After Rolling Turtle got replaced by Phan Phan in Nightmare in Dream Land, Rolling Turtle Jr.'s role got replaced by simple apples, which honestly fit the role pretty well considering Rolling Turtle Jr. is just a round red thing that bounces around. I have to wonder if they'd give this thing facial features if they ever brought it back, but it'd be funny if they kept it eyeless even now. Maybe we'll find out some day!
Look! It’s Phan Phan! Who I totally remembered to upload! Anyways yes, Phan Phan is the actual last character who debuted in Nightmare in Dream Land (I hope). They’re a brand new mid-boss who replaces Rolling Turtle’s role from the original Kirby’s Adventure. Maybe a humanoid turtle looked weird in the new GBA artstyle? Who knows. Phan Phan still gives the Throw ability of course, and they reappear in Amazing Mirror to give that ability once again! They’re oddly absent from Squeak Squad, even though that game ALSO has the Throw ability, but they reappear once more in Super Star Ultra, giving the Suplex ability instead. Phan Phan is a fun little round elephant enemy though, really energetic. They throw apples and roll around and stuff. Cute!
In Kirby's Adventure for the NES, one of the midbosses you face comes in the form of Rolling Turtle, a fighting turtle who would give you the Throw ability after its defeat. In the game's GBA remake, Nightmare in Dream Land, the character is replaced with the elephant midboss Phan Phan, who would go on to appear three more times throughout the series, effectively replacing Rolling Turtle.
Rolling Turtle isn't the only enemy in the franchise to have been replaced in a remake, but he is the only one of the four (himself, Togezo, Capsule J, and Bounder) to have never been mentioned afterwards in some capacity. I don't really understand why, though. Phan Phan is cute and all, but in my opinion, his dopey expression makes him very appealing as a fighter.
Rolling Turtle is big and green and gives Kirby the throw ability. Like Bounder and Togezo, Rolling Turtle didn’t reappear in Kirby’s Adventure’s remake. He was replaced by Phan Phan, who would appear multiple times since Kirby’s Nightmare in Dreamland. He attacks by throwing smaller turtles and throwing Kirby. I miss Rolling Turtle.
