Beam

Beam is a copy ability debuting all the way back to Kirby's Adventure in 1993. It bears a similar appearance to the Mirror Copy Ability. The main attack granted by Beam is Beam Whip, in which Kirby swings out an electrical beam in front of him.

Kirby's Adventure / Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land
Beam makes its first appearance in Kirby's Adventure and later returns in its Game Boy Advance remake Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land. Beam Whip is the only attack that Kirby can use, and he does so using his hand, rather than a staff that was added in Kirby Super Star. Waddle Doo is the main provider of the Beam ability.

Kirby Super Star / Kirby Super Star Ultra
In Kirby Super Star, Beam was redesigned to give Kirby a distinct appearance of a yellow and red jester hat as well as a yellow body, and Kirby now has a staff to use instead of his hand. Aside from Waddle Doo, Laser Ball is another enemy that can grant Kirby the Beam ability, a change from Kirby's Adventure in which Laser Ball instead granted the Laser Copy Ability to Kirby.

The button scheme of a Super Nintendo Entertainment System controller (retained for the Nintendo DS, on which Kirby Super Star Ultra was released) allows for Kirby to use four additional moves aside from Beam Whip, including Cycle Beam, Beam Machine Gun, Capture Beam, and Wave Beam.

Kirby & The Amazing Mirror
In Kirby & The Amazing Mirror, Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land, which preceded it, Beam is limited to just the Beam Whip; however, it now hits multiple times. Beam's Thunder element is also more prevalent in these games. Beam is able to directly damage Mega Titan, who can only otherwise be damaged by being knocked into the arena's electric walls. Like in previous appearances, Beam is obtained from Waddle Doo.

Beam no longer makes Kirby yellow, something that would be retained in Kirby: Squeak Squad, likely due to potential confusion in multiplayer and the Spray Paint function that gives the player the option to change Kirby's color.

Kirby: Squeak Squad
In Kirby: Squeak Squad, Beam can electrify the surfaces of water and metal. If the player mixes two Ability bubbles and shakes them until there are green bubbles, there is a chance that Beam becomes the resulting Ability bubble.

Beam now has a more powerful Beam Whip named Hyper Beam, which can be obtained from the Beam Ability Scroll, located in the second Treasure Chest in Stage 5 of Nature Notch. Hyper Beam does more damage than a regular Beam Whip, but the sparks it sends on conductive surfaces remain unchanged.