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Kiwi
Kiwi
Kiwi before promotion in Shining Force II.
Vital statistics
Race Tortoise
Class Tortoise
Monster
Gender Male
Faction Shining Force
Birthplace Parmecia
Relatives Bowie (owner)
Appearances Shining Force II

Kiwi (Kiui in Japanese) is a character in Shining Force II: Ancient Sealing and a member of the Shining Force. The player can choose any name for him, as "Kiwi" is merely his standard or default name. A magically altered creature common to Parmecia, Kiwi is a small, green, bizarre little creature with a very tough shell used for defense. Kiwi also initially wears a spiked helmet which can be used for offensive purposes, although his attack stats are initially not very high.

Kiwi the only member of the Shining Force with the Tortoise (TORT) class, and the only character capable of being promoted to the Monster (MNST) class. Kiwi doesn't have much life stats (HP), but his protective shell and helmet give him the highest defense of any character in the game, making it very hard for enemies to kill him. Kiwi is, however, very susceptible to magical attacks. After promotion, Kiwi grows in size and transforms into a powerful monster, capable of propelling himself like a rocket and breathing fire. His attack stats also become considerably better after promotion.

Background[]

Kiwi was born somewhere in the continent of Parmecia. He was eventually caught by a man who wished to sell him as a pet in Granseal. He alongside two beastmen were being sold at very low prices, but no one ever bought them. When Galam invaded Granseal, they destroyed the bars and Kiwi and the beastmen ran away. With nowhere to go, Kiwi hid in a nearby storage and started weeping in the corner. When Bowie arrived there, he took the tortoise under his wing and named him Kiwi (or whatever name the player chooses) and Kiwi also participated in battles whenever Bowie lets him.

Personality[]

Kiwi2

Kiwi's fighting spirit.

A gentle creature who never wanted to leave his home, but then, started to love Bowie when he found and saved him.

Strategy[]

Kiwi promo

Kiwi after promotion

Kiwi is an optional fighter recruited early in the game. He is recruited from Granseal after Bowie returns to the town after the seal is broken holding back Zeon.

Kiwi has the highest defense of the early game characters; many early game monsters deal only 1 HP of damage. This means he can "tank" enemies early on and act as a useful shield. He works best when he has other members of the Shining Force to back him up. His defense and attack continue to grow at a steady pace and he is one of the more powerful early game physical fighters overall.

After promotion, he will be able to "float" unaffected by the terrain while receiving the Land Effect bonus. He also gains the random chance of using breath of fire when attacking. Stats are not a factor in the damage dealt by this attack, so once Kiwi attains level 10 or so post-promotion his Attack stat catches up to the point where his regular attack usually deals more damage than his breath of fire, but until then the breath of fire is one of the most devastating attacks available to the force. Even in later battles, the fact that the breath of fire ignores Defense keeps it from being inconsequential, though there are often instances where a regular attack would have finished off an enemy and breath of fire fails to. His best growth becomes his Attack and Defense while he experiences a low but decent speed growth. This gives him greater offensive capability than most flying units, making him strategically very powerful if his float ability is exploited intelligently.

Kiwi starts as probably the weakest character in the force, with low HP, low attack and low speed. It is difficult to level him, especially since spell casters can often instantly kill him even with weak spells. Even post promotion, his HP growth is the lowest of the Force.

Despite being able to take the most damage of any character, it is not a good idea to let enemies gang up on him early on because of his low HP so avoid situations where he is left alone.

He is the only member of the Shining Force which the player cannot go back and later recruit if the player does not recruit him as soon as he becomes recruit-able.

Powers & Magic[]

Kiwi fire high priest

A promoted, monstrous Kiwi breathing fire in a High Priest of Darkness

Kiwi uses no magic. But after his promotion, Kiwi gains the following.

  • Floating - Kiwi is able to propel himself like a rocket when hiding himself in his shell. He not only uses this to move, but also to attack. This enables him to cover any terrain, with the exception of mountains. Floating differs from flying mainly because floating units still receive Land Effect but are unable to cross mountains, while flying units can cover any terrain but get no Land Effect bonus.
  • Breath of Fire - Kiwi is able to belch fire at his enemies, a devastating power, although the ability occurs at random and doesn't occur in every attack. The fire attack ignores the defense stats of an enemy.

Quotes[]

  • "Fighting tires me... Speaking tires me... I'm tired."

Trivia[]

  • When he takes his helmet off, before promotion, his head is shaped like a Kappa's.
  • Kiwi's Monster form greatly resembles Gamera, as they are both turtle monsters who can fly by shooting fire out of their leg-holes.
  • In order to further increase Kiwi's HPs, the player must use an item called Cheerful Bread which will raise his HPs by 2-4.
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