Kirby’s Adventure [Game Review]

Platform: NES (original), 3DS (internet download)
Beat: 06.23.2014
Rating: 9/10

Club Nintendo is an amazing thing (a blog will be coming out about that one later)…but in all honesty, it has really opened up my world when it comes to retro gaming. But…lets talk about Kirby.

I was late into the Kirby craze as the first time I ever saw him was in Super smash Bros. on the N64.
This was back in the day where every other weekend I would beg my Father to take me to Blockbuster so that I could rent a game or two to play for the next 2-3 days while he played nightly gigs in his band and I was stuck with a random babysitter. Naturally, the next game that I saw Kirby in was Crystal Shards…and when talking about Kirby, you will see me reference this game A LOT!

It was an amazing game! It really showcased Kirby, his world, and what he could do…and after playing crystal shards, I was addicted to Kirby. Granted, this was back in the day before I was allowed to use the internet…and as far as I knew, Kirby was new to the N64 era. I did not know that he has come out back in 1991 (the year I was born), let alone that he already had titles on other platforms I knew (and owned) such as the Gameboy/GBC/GBA.

Aaaaaanyways…moving on several years, I would see Kirby on the TV screen. He had his own cartoon on Fox Kids which would play every Saturday morning. Then, the next time I would actually play a Kirby game would be “Kirby’s Epic Yarn”. Needless to say, after that moment of playing Epic Yarn with my g/f, I decided I was on the hunt for Kirby games, and I hit the jackpot when I stopped into my local disc replay. I got Kirby’s Dreamland 1 & 2, I bought Crystal Shards. It was a good time.
Now, before you start screaming at me, I know there are a million other games. But, these are the only ones I have been able to buy thus far because I am broke -_-

You know, playing the older Kirby games reminded me why I like retro games so much…they look so simple, and yet, they were so advanced in their day and age, back when they were in their prime. Another reason I like to play them is the challenge. Now you might scoff at me, but, whether you want to admit it or not…you also have felt defeat at the hands of 2 buttons.

So, I thought Kirby’s Dreamworld was the first in the series…but I was wrong. A few months back I was on Club Nintendo, surfing their rewards when all of a sudden I noticed that Kirby’s Adventure (originally an NES game) was downloadable for the 3DS for 250 reward points. Kirby had been on the classic Nintendo? I was shocked…honestly. But, it was right then that I knew I had to have this game.

The 3DS version is not a remake, but supposedly has a new little *detail* which makes it playable in 3D in some parts. Do not ask me how this works…because I still have not figured out what parts are 3D. Moving on, lets talk about the pros and cons of this game!!!!

*******WARNING: GAME SPOLIERS AHEAD!!!!********

The PROs:

1. The game had really good length to it. I was actually surprised at how long the game was with over 6 different worlds and 5-6 levels per world. This is not including mini-games.
2. Mini-games!!! There were other things that you could do within the game that would earn you bonus lives and etc. Kirby’s Adventure even featured the classic end-level game where you shoot into the clouds to earn points and other bonuses.
3. Powers: Kirby could absorb enemies to gain different abilities. He could get a sword, use an umbrella, turn into a tire, a ufo, and so much more! This made things really interesting and gameplay all the more challenging as you tried to find that perfect power in which to beat the bosses and the level.
4. The game had a charming atmosphere, funny little clips introducing each world, wonderful music, and unique levels…nothing really looked recycled, and considering that you play over 30 levels just to get to the end, this means something.
5. The game is actually really challenging, and you really cannot breeze through it. This actually makes the game enjoyable as it makes you feel accomplished once you beat it.
6. The enemies in this game are also pretty unique. Rather than have the same 5 enemies, Kirby switches it up. Sure you have a bunch of common enemies that are continuously popping up in the levels, but the other ones are unique.
7. There are a lot of bosses in Kirby. Some  you can do nothing with, but others are used to get special, limited powers which destroy everything on the screen which makes beating them all the more worth it.
8. There is no storyline when you start the game, but it does develop over time. The final Boss battle makes you so nervous, your hands will sweat and shake. Then, when all is revealed at the end you feel accomplished and it makes you really happy. That is my definition of what makes a great game is that final confrontation.
9. Even with all the different powers, controls are easy and really smooth…especially for a classic NES game. Not sure whether they messed around with the controls when it was transferred to the 3DS, but I would say for a 3DS it was not as fluid as it would have normally been which is why I believe that they left it alone.
10. Auto-save system is seriously the best. The game saves itself after every level you beat.

The CONs:

1. When you would start the game up after saving and turning the system off, any power you had saved with was gone and all collected lives (extra lives) were almost gone. While this is normal for any Kirby game it is still very frustrating, especially if you need a specific power and need to get it all over again from a previous level.
2. The mini-games come with no instructions. While most are really easy to play and win rewards, others (like the crane game) are not explained and I end up avoiding them because they are not worth the time and effort.
3. Sometimes the game can be too challenging. The final boss and confrontations with Meta Knight often kicked my ass and left me frustrated and I would rage quit for no other reason than the fact I had attempted the same battle 5 different times and lost every time.
4. I am a person who likes storyline, and the fact that you jumped in not knowing what was going on was more of a peeve than anything…and I played it, but even when the story was revealed, you were still left confused. I guess the gist of it was that you (Kirby) are chasing King DeeDeeDee because he stole a star wand from the fountain of wishes (or so you think). The whole time you are chasing the King, you are being challenged by Meta Knight whom you basically think is a bad guy. Even after you finally best him one last time, it is never revealed who he is or what side he was on, he was basically just…there. Finally you beat the King, return the wand to the fountain, but doing that releases the Darkness…a dark man with stars for capes which is trying to take over DreamWorld. You basically have to fight him in his ball-form in a high-speed chase, then you have to beat him in his final form, your only power being with the Star Rod. Then you find out that the King was the hero all along because he kept the wand away from the Darkness, and so, you returning it basically made you a dick. lol.
5. It’s frustrating because the whole game you are using all these cool powers that you like, then, at the final boss you are not allowed to use any of them because you have the Star Rod.
6. Ball form is useless…so is sleep form. WTF?!

 

CONCLUSION:

I had a longer review written about older games and why they are so crazy difficult even though they only have 2-4 buttons that you can use, but, I decided to save that for another time. Either way, there is not much that I can say about this game. For what it was…it was a decently long game (by NES standards) with really good graphics for the time, a nice atmosphere with cute little creatures, but, at the same time it offered a very challenging and thrilling adventure.
It’s not Crystal Shards, but I really enjoyed it nonetheless. Overall, the game might have taken me nearly 3 hours to beat.
Perhaps I just suck at old Kirby games, but I still thought that was pretty good timing because that last boss was killer.

It still really bugs me that the Meta-Knight character was not defined, and it also bugs me that you don’t even get a storyline until the very end. I mean, I can see where they could have taken out some useless features and added in so much more to the game, but still, I would recommend this for anyone.

For those of you out there who are reading this, Kirby’s Adventure is on the original NES console, it is dowloadable for your 3DS, and it can also be found on the Kirby 20th Anniversary collection for the Wii (which makes me think that you could also probably download it for your WiiU, but don’t quote me on that).
Either way, here are the questions I pose now to you:

 

• Have you ever played this game?
• Is this your first Kirby game? If not, what was?
• What platform did you play it on?
• What was your personal opinion on this particular game?
• What is your favorite power and why?

That’s all I got for this short game review. I would want to say more, but the game was so short there is not much I can go into detail about. Well, until the next one then 😉