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Kirby's 23rd Anniversary

So this day marks the 23rd anniversary of everyone’s favorite super tuff pink puff, Kirby. In Japan at least. Or was accoriding to the time here. As we all know, Kirby games are easy for kids, but with enough challenge for the player that wants something a bit more, challenging. It depends on the game though. I think we can all agree that no matter what game or genre Kirby is in, it just works as I’ve yet to play a bad Kirby game. But rather than a post about looking back at Kirby, I will write about my favorite Kirby games since my brother thought it was a good idea for a post. Keep in mind that I haven’t played all of them, but I have played enough of the games to make a list, as mediocre as it might seem to you. Well, enough of that, let’s ride that Warp Star then…

                          
Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards: I have to give mention to the very first Kirby game I ever played. Like I said before, we knew nothing of Kirby till my brother and I played SSB64. We then learned about a new Kirby game in the works thanks to Nintendo Power Magazine and we saw commercials on it. We knew we had to try it. Kirby 64 was a pretty cool  game. The levels weren’t too long and had plenty of secrets to find the Crystal Shards. Some shards were in open areas, but other requires for you to really look.

One of the things I loved about the game was the copy abilities. Kirby has no ability hats which kinda sucks (hah, get it?) but I can see why. In this game, Kirby can not only get one copy ability, but he can get 2 to combine into a whole new ability. Like if Kirby can get a stone ability, he turns into a walking rock statue, but if he combines it with another stone ability, he turns into a giant version of himself made of stone. That’s not all, you can also mix and match abilities too. Like you can combine a cutter ability with an electric ability and you get this neat electric staff thing that I have dubbed Darth Maul Kirby.  He can even combine an electric and ice ability to turn into a fridge, with the ability to throw food to recover himself. I wish this concept was expanded or used more in recent Kirby games, it was used in a limited way in Squeak Squad though.

             
Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land: I remember seeing the commercials for this back then and the commercial seemed to used the character styles of the Kirby anime which was airing at the time of its release. I remember when my brother said he wanted a GBA to play Kirby. He saved his entire allowance to get himself a purple GBA with Kirby. All by himself.

The game is a remake of Kirby’s Adventure on NES. It’s a good remake which improved everything about the NES original. It’s the same game with some new things thrown in like new mini-games, a 4-player Link Cable mode (remember that?) and not sure if it was new, but it had a boss rush mode called the boss tower or something. There’s even a mode that has you play as Meta Knight and you have to complete the entire game as fast as possible without saving. For a while this was my favorite remake, it still is one of my favorite remakes though. If you don’t feel digging out an NES, then I’d say this is the definitive version of the game.

                
Kirby Super Star Ultra: A remake of what people consider the best Kirby game ever made. Not sure about that but it’s a very good remake. I never played the original so it felt like a new game for me and everyone else who never played it in its original format.

The game is divided into sub games. When you pick one, you are treated to a cgi cut-scene about the adventure you’re about to embark on. Like in one game, Kirby races King Dedede to see who can eat the most food and the Great Cave Offensive which has Kirby escape from an underground cave , while filling his pockets with various treasure from different games. There’s even a sub game that is a remake of the Kirby’s Dream Land.  There’s even a mode that has you play as Meta Knight. You can even get helper characters to aid Kirby on his adventures and you can even team up with a friend too.

Kirby’s Air Ride: I remember my brother got this game on launch, which was a short time before my little brother was born. I like the game despite the hate it gets sometime. The game is really simple to pick up and play as it only uses the analog stick and the A button.

The game has a lot of stuff to do, there’s really only 3 modes but vastly different. There’s your traditional racing mode that has you race around tracks, there’s even a top down mode that has you race on small, simple, courses in a top-down perspective. And then there’s City Trial which is my favorite and a blast. You compete against the cpu or human players and you have a time limit to get an Air Ride machine and you have to upgrade it in a big open city. You collect stat boosts to enhance the abilities of your machine. Like there could be a machine that is good for flight but pretty slow on the ground, but you can get stat boosts to manipulate and enhance its abilities.

You can also ditch whatever machine you’re riding and get any of the other machines you might find around the city. You can even attack other players and destroy their machines too. Events also happen  throught the city. At the end, you compete in an event, like defeating a boss or racing against your opponents in your tricked-out machine. Me and my bro spent countless hours on this mode. The game also has plenty to do as it has a challenges wall/panel as see in Smash. I think this is the first game from HAL that introduced it. It’s a simple but solid racing game and would easily be my favorite GCN racing game if Double Dash and F-Zero GX wasn’t on it.

            
Kirby and the Amazing Mirror: I remember getting this for xmas one time because no one would buy it at the Gamestop I frequented. I kinda felt sorry that it was the only copy and no one would take it, so I decided to add it to my xmas list. I was not disappointed in it.

I actually had played the game before since my brother had a copy but I wanted my own. It’s basically another Kirby platformer but instead of linear levels or individual stages, you have a huge world to explore and discover secrets. There are a good number of worlds and each of them have paths that lead to other areas. They can lead to other paths in the level, to other worlds, or the boss. It’s like those Metroidvania style games people talk about. The game is also like Four Swords, but with Kirby instead. You can call other Kirbys via Kirby’s cell phone to help you in a world or you can use the cell phone to escape the world at any time. You can also link up with other players and play through the whole game together. At the time this was my most favorite handheld Kirby game because it does what it does so well. But I’m kinda divided between this and another handheld Kirby title.

                    
Kirby’s Canvas Curse: I remember when my brother got this before I even had a DS. Yeah he’s just that big of a Kirby fan.He even tapped the commercial for this game on a vhs tape once. I remember he hogged my DS for a while when I got one, but I will agree with him that the game was far better than the 1st DS game I got.

At the time, people weren’t sold on the DS’ touch screen, however this game came along and the rest was history. It makes really good use of the touch screen as the whole game is controlled using only the touch screen. You guide Kirby through various stages, yeah Kirby moves on his own so you have to use the stylus to draw a path for Kirby to travel on, shield him from attacks, and prevent him from falling and more. You can also play as other characters too like Meta Knight and King Dedede. It also has a lot of replay value and just might be one of the more challenging Kirby games out there. If nothing sold you on the DS, this game probably did.

Kirby Return to Dream Land: I remember when my brother got it for xmas. He enjoyed it, but really didn’t pay much attention to it since he also got a 3DS the same year. He decided to give it another go but this time my little brother and I joined him and we all had a blast. It is probably the best 2d platformer on the Wii.

The game has Kirby and his friends travel through levels in different worlds to recover parts of a broken spaceship. These parts are either in the open or really well hidden in the levels. The game also has a ton of abilities for Kirby to use that are really fun to use, and are also more versatile. Kirby also has access to the new super abilities which can destroy parts of a level like obstacles to reveal new areas to solving puzzles. The levels are really fun and you can play with up to 3 more people. You can play as King Dedede, Meta Knight, and Waddle Dee and they all have their own abilities and moves. Or you can play as a different colored Kirby. Other players can drop in and out of the game at any time and it is probably the best 2d platfomer with co-op as it doesn’t feel like you’re getting in the way as in the New Super Mario Bros. games. There’s also these rooms that have you use Kirby’s abilities which are pretty fun and challenging. This might be the best of the 2D Kirby platformers as it is fun, abilities feel really fun to use and makes a good use of co-op.

                                        
So there you have it. I haven’t played them all, but I have played plenty of them and these are my most favorites. I left the Dream Collection out since it’s a compilation disc, but still a good one and has new content too like new ability room challenges as seen in Returns to Dream Land. What are your favorite Kirby games? Thanks for reading , later and happy 23rd anniversary Kirby.