Each of Kirby's copy abilities represents a different transformation on a text string. The output of each stage is always a "real word" (by my sometimes whimsical standards), and they should be set up so there's only ever one possible output, but I know I messed that up at least once.
Regardless of my many shortcomings, you can use Science to figure out what the transformations are: Make some guesses, and then test your guesses, and if they're wrong, make some new guesses. (Some of them are harder to test, due to not being used as many times, but those aren't as essential for deriving the final answer.) Here's what all the transformations do:
COOK adds the letters SALT to the input and outputs an anagram; e.g. PIC > PLASTIC.
COPY takes a word and doubles it; e.g. NINE > EIGHTEEN.
CRASH deletes the entire string; it always outputs nothing.
CUTTER "slices" off the last letter of the input; e.g. BUTTE > BUTT.
FIGHTER adds the agentive suffix "-ER" to the input; e.g. MAST > MASTER.
HAMMER obeys the rule that "U Can't Touch This" and deletes any U in the input; e.g. USUALLY > SALLY.
JET takes a word and zooms forward one position in its sequence; e.g. MERCURY > VENUS.
NINJA translates a word into Japanese romaji; e.g. CAT > NEKO. There's a very high potential for ambiguity here but you really don't need this one to solve the puzzle.
PAINT adds the letters RGB to the input and outputs an anagram; e.g. WINE > BREWING.
PARASOL replaces a specific word with a more general "umbrella term," e.g. GRIZZLY > BEAR.
SLEEP adds a Z to the beginning of the string; e.g. ETA > ZETA.
STONE changes S to NE; e.g. SIGH > NEIGH.
SUPLEX "flips" a word into its antonym; e.g. COARSE > FINE.
SWORD "chops" off the first letter of the input; e.g. SHARK > HARK.
WHEEL "revolves" the string by moving the last character to the front of the string; e.g. TILLS > STILL.
WING flips the "left wing" and "right wing," which of course means that all the Ls in the input become Rs in the output, and vice versa, e.g. REPEL > LEPER.
YOYO adds the repetitive prefix "RE-" to the input; e.g. LATE > RELATE.Some powers from Kirby Super Star are not used. I couldn't think of good transformations for Beam or Bomb or Plasma, even though those are some of my favorites. Conspicuously absent is Mirror, the ability that special guest Simirror bestows.
But it's pretty obvious what transformation Mirror would cause, isn't it? And it turns out we can perform that transformation on all the answers from feeder puzzles in this round. And when we do that, each transformed answer becomes a clue for a copy ability:
- KNOB: BONK (Hammer)
- ALULA: ALULA (Wing)
- SPINS: SNIPS (Cutter)
- WARD: DRAW (Paint)
- SUE FINK: KNIFE US (Sword)
- OK: KO (Suplex)
- RACECAR: RACECAR (Wheel)
- NAP: PAN (Cook)
(How do you decide how "SNIPS" and "KNIFE US" map to Cutter and Sword? I think the clues are unambiguous-ish, but if you disagree I guess you just have to try both ways and see what works. How do you know "KO" clues Suplex and not Fighter? I have no idea. You just have to try both ways and see what works. If you can think of better clues for any of these abilities that also work as heteropalindromes, please tell me. Also, what clues can you think of for the other abilities? I took FOREVER to come up with one for Parasol, and then I ended up not using it!)
The answer checker says that each of these answers is worth a certain number of "G," which is the currency used in the Great Cave Offensive segment of Kirby Super Star. The icons in the "final answer" transformations at the bottom are treasures from the Great Cave Offensive, each of which matches one of the G amounts from the answer checker. So, for each of those icons, take a deep breath, and
- Figure out what treasure it is in the Great Cave Offensive.
- Figure out how much that treasure is worth.
- Figure out which feeder answer is worth the same amount. (One feeder answer's value matches two treasures, but that works out just fine.)
- "Mirror" that feeder answer.
- Figure out what ability the mirrored answer represents.
- Replace the treasure with that ability.
Phew! So for the final answers, we get:
(FOUR) (OUR) (THEIR) > BRIGHTER (PENDS) (SPEND) (PEND) (PEN) > PLANETSAnd, if you squint, BRIGHTER PLANETS could be, like, a distant synonym of Super Star.