I found the ending to be a little lackluster... I was expecting the last fight to be an epic fight with either Porky or the Dragon (who I expected to become evil and I'd have to fight him...). I'm not saying the last fight wasn't hard, but it was just trying to stay alive for a while... that's no fight. The fight before that was okay... I kinda wanted to defeat him though... but talking to the doc after the fight made it all worth it. If they were just a little more descriptive about what happened... I guess Lucas undid everything done by Porky and they all lived in a black nothingness? Ehhh... weak ending.
Was anyone able to fight the Porky statue in New Pork? I remember reading that you COULD fight it from a trophy in Brawl... but maybe they got rid of it in the translation? I got my New Year's Bomb and everything...
Also, is there a way to get past the Ultimate Chimera to get that present? I assume not, and that the present is there only to make you die over and over again. Yay for emulators...
First comment: While the ending was kind of anticlimactic from a battle point of view, it was ever so beautifully done from a story point of view. I thought it was a beautiful ending to the character and his last desperate struggle to reclaim and redeem himself.
Also, I cried.
It doesn't end in the black nothingness. The world is born anew, but everyone is alive. This, however, is the ending of the story, while the characters spend the rest of their lives in the newly formed world, which is not actually shown. Which I'm completely fine with. Leaves everything up to the players interpretation and their imagination as to how the story will continue.
For the second comments (the questions): Yes and Yes. Look at the guide on the Starmen.net.