Post by George Darling on Dec 1, 2008 10:25:01 GMT -8
• Warning: This review contains spoilers – If you’ve never played the original Kirby Super Star, first off, shame on you! If you have, please note that information relating to the new games created exclusively for this DS remake have Anti-Spoiler Technology™ (patent pending) for your spoiler-less convenience •
Ahh, Kirby Super Star. To those who don’t know, this game was released in 1996 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (Super Famicon). The gimmick for the game was it was “8 Games in One” – and though each game is so short as to hardly be considered stand-alone games in and of themselves, as a whole they form one of Kirby’s greatest landmarks in gaming.
In my honest opinion, this is the best Kirby game ever made. Most of the other side-scrolling Kirby games are worth their weight in gold, but none of them have been able to touch the sheer awesomeness of this title – not even the numerous Kirby games released in the twelve years since this game first launched.
Splitting the game into multiple bite-sized was sheer genius. It not only allowed for the programmers to play around with various concepts of gameplay, but it also means that playing through the game is very non-linear, since the rules and gameplay mechanics differ moderately to drastically from one game to the next.
Another milestone gameplay mechanic which was pure win (and which, for whatever reason, hasn’t been replicated since) is that each individual ability Kirby has at his disposal has a series of attacks contained within that one ability. With simple button combinations a series of unique moves could be utilized with each ability, rather than the one-or-two(if you’re lucky)attacks-per-ability which was used in every game before it… and since, sadly.
Kirby Super Star also featured the “Helper” system for the side-scrolling platformer games – the ability to create an NPC controlled sidekick to journey with you. The AI of said sidekicks was horrendous, as they would frequently just ram into obstacles continuously until they died and forced you to create a new one. The beauty of said helpers, however, was only realized when you got a friend to join in with you. With a second player controlling a Helper, it made for one heck of a 2-player experience, which was a breath of fresh air since this was the first Kirby game to go multiplayer. Again, this system was discarded after this game. In Kirby’s Dream Land 3 you could create “Gooey” (whom, by his name and appearance, none of my friends were too hot on playing), but by Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards multiplayer was relegated to only brief mini-games, with your buddy unable to experience the main game with you. It wasn’t until the GBA games that the multiplayer during the main story continued – What’s with the Kirby franchise and taking steps backward after creating a good thing? As much as I love the series, I have to admit that a lot of times they seem to do just that.
When I first learned that Kirby Super Star was being re-made for the Nintendo DS, my excitement was immeasurable. But now, having played it, was it worth it? Twelve years is a long time; has Kirby Super Star withstood the test of time?
You bet your pink puffballs it has!
The game has been overhauled. It’s not a port, like a lot of GBA and, to a lesser extent, DS games are. It’s a true-blue remake. All of the sprites have been re-drawn, with newly added frames of animation leading to an even greater visual experience which would, sadly, likely go unnoticed by the common observer. All of the game’s backgrounds have been re-done, and look stunning. Not one, not two, not even three or four, but seven new games have been added (though two are more or less just a variation on one of the games – more on that to come). Many of the sounds have been tweaked and improved upon, and new music tracks have been thrown into the mix to compliment the new games.
My one major complaint is that a few of the scores have been downgraded, and some instruments seem to be missing. I can only assume that this is due to the SNES having better sound quality than the DS. My second, and lesser, complaint is that all of the cut-scenes are now in 3-D CGI graphics. There’s a time and a place for such things, but Kirby Super Star wasn’t one of them. The cut scenes either should have been carried out through sprites, like in the original, or by animated cut scenes. But 3-D cut scenes for a 2-D, cartoonish side scroller like Kirby just doesn’t mesh at all, and the transition is far from smooth.
Considering these are my only real complaints about the game, that’s not bad at all.
Spring Breeze
To those who never had the luxury of playing it, Spring Breeze is a watered-down remake of the original Kirby’s Dream Land for the Game Boy (So… a remake of a remake within a remake? That’s sort of confusing!). An entire level has been 86’d from the game, along with the boss of said stage. Certain enemies which existed in that game, yet not in KSS (such as Mumbies), are also absent. Still, though it’s very brief it’s a fun and entertaining game which retains its charm.
Dyna Blade
Dyna Blade uses an overworld map similar to the sort you’d find in games like Super Mario World or Joe & Mac but is otherwise very similar to Spring Breeze, with all of the same gameplay mechanics and principals intact.
The Great Cave Offensive
This game is obviously inspired by Metroid, as it features the same wrap-around level designs and item-hunting aspects. The object of the game is to collect as many of the 60 treasures within the game as you can before escaping from the underground caverns of Dream Land. Many of the treasures are Easter Eggs to other Nintendo games, and reference Mario, Donkey Kong, F-Zero, Earthbound (Mother), The Legend of Zelda and other Nintendo titles. Easter eggs are always fun, and collecting all of the treasure makes this game a bit longer than most of the others in terms of play time if you strive to collect them all. It should be noted that several of the treasures themselves have been changed in the re-make. I suppose the programmers really liked the idea of this game, as years later they made an entire game revolving around these themes in the form of Kirby and the Amazing Mirror.
Revenge of Meta Knight
Who’s he getting revenge on? Kirby? Dream Land? Well, Kirby games aren’t exactly known for their story plots, so I guess it doesn’t matter. This game throws time into the mix, giving the player a limited amount of time to complete each stage. The game also features a particularly weird feature for a Kirby game – dialogue. Throughout the stages, Meta Knight and his crew will provide commentary on what’s going on. Meta Knight is now one of the hardest of the final bosses, and he has new moves added to his repertoire which he didn’t have in the original.
Milky Way Wishes
This was always my favorite game within the game back in the day, and it still is. Like Dyna Blade this game features an overworld map (set in space), but this time you can play the stages in the order you choose, like a Mega Man game. Another feature of this game is that Kirby cannot copy abilities from his foes (with the exception of single-use abilities such as Cook, Crash, etc.). Instead, you have to find hidden ability trophies scattered across the various worlds. Once obtained, that ability is yours forever – all you need do is go to the pause screen and you can infinitely select your acquired abilities from a list. This is one of the few retro games that has touch-screen compatibility, as you can also access a revolving “reel” of your abilities to choose instead of the start menu, if that works better for you. Within this game (a game within a game within a game?) there’s one stage which is a side-scrolling, free roaming space shooter much like old arcade space/airplane shooters. Very awesome.
The Arena
My second favorite game, second only to Milky Way Wishes. To those who don’t know, All-Star Mode in Super Smash Bros. Melee and Brawl was based off of this game. The Arena pits you against all of the classic bosses within the game, and the object is to defeat as many of them as possible using only a single life using a limited amount of recovery items between fights. While this is challenging, it’s far from impossible. In fact, it’s been made even easier in the remake. Now, when you take a Maxim Tomato, it will be replaced between fights by a regular tomato… so you get even more unnecessary health recovery opportunities between fights.
• Spoilers - Highlight to Read •
Revenge of the King[/color][/blockquote]
To those who are unaware, the original Kirby’s Dream Land had a special “Hard” mode if you pressed a series of button commands at the title screen, said code being given to you once you completed the game. In the new mode enemies all had new (and sometimes weird) sprites and moved faster and/or had more difficult attacking patterns. Well, they decided to include this as a special version of Spring Breeze for the DS remake, and it turned out beautifully. Even more enemies have unique (and sometimes weird) sprites, and this time even bosses have been re-vamped. Whispy Woods now drops poisonous apples ands Gordos, Lololo & Lalala move faster and are sometimes accompanied by a Gordo when they pop-out, Kracko looks insanely sinister and has more difficult attack patterns, and a new attack. And, much to my surprise, the absent boss who was stripped from Spring Breeze way back when makes a comeback after twelve long years. Not only that, but all of the sub-bosses (Poppy Bros. Sr., etc.) have been replaced by the sub-bosses from Kirby’s Adventure for the NES (which was re-made into Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land for the GBA a few years ago). The stages are longer than usual, have new names and have palette changes, giving the whole game a truly “special game” feeling to it.
Meta Knightmare Ultra
In this game you play as Meta Knight, who plays through Spring Breeze, Dyna Blade, The Great Cave Offensive, Revenge of Meta Knight and Milky Way Wishes, with each aforementioned game counting as a single level in this game and ending in a brand new final boss. While the novelty of playing as Meta Knight has worn off, since he was playable in Nightmare in Dream Land, this is the first time players have had the chance to play as Meta Knight without having to only have a half-health max and an inability to save your progress. Ugh.
Meta Knight plays like he has an improved, permanent version of Kirby’s Sword ability. I say improved because, for one, it contains every weapon property – just as it did in NiDL. It can light fuses, cut through ropes and smash in wooden stakes as well as break any sort of breakable block. Meta Knight can also slash upward with his sword – something Kirby can’t do. New to KSSU is that his wings cause damage and break above blocks as he flies, much like Kirby when he has the Wing ability.
He also has special techniques he can use by storing energy he gains from slaying enemies. These include Meta Quick (it doubles his movement speed, and is pretty worthless unless you’re going for a good time, or something), Heal (recovers all health to Meta Knight and his Helper), Knight Call (which randomly creates a Helper of either a Blade Knight or a Sword Knight. Apparently Sir Kibble isn’t knightly enough for Meta Knight's tastes) and Mach Tornado (damages all foes on screen). Probably the biggest drawback of this game is that Meta Knight is so ridiculously powerful. Heal is very inexpensive and recovers ALL of his health, and his helper’s, which means that you dying will be rather rare, if it ever happens at all. Mach Tornado is just ridiculously overpowered, and makes Kirby’s Crash ability look weak by comparison. How powerful is it? It can instantly kill several of the game’s bosses, and brings most any other boss within 1-2 hits of being killed.
The story of this game is that Meta Knight wishes to locate Nova and make a wish. Other than that, this game makes absolutely no sense from a logical, story-telling standpoint. Why Meta Knight wastes his time defeating King Dedede, exploring a treasure-less underground cavern, hunting a giant bird and, strangest of all, attacking his own airship and crew before actually journeying into space is something we’re not supposed to ask. Just enjoy the ride.
Helper to Hero
This is more or less a variation of The Arena, and is another example of a game where you don’t play as Kirby. In this version of The Arena you play as one of the game’s helpers as your primary character. While this is cool, my big complaint is that this isn’t even the full version of The Arena, as several bosses were removed. Also, the bosses appear in a set-order, rather than in a random order but with the final boss always being a constant. Why were they removed? Sure, there’s a new final boss, but still. I’d have liked it more if it were a faithful re-creation of The Arena, only playing as a Helper rather than Kirby.
How difficult and/or enjoyable this game is depends entirely on which Helper you decide to play as. The game also keeps track of whom you’ve beaten the game with, and who you haven’t, so if you wish to make a personal goal out of beating it as everyone, you’ll have a lot of replay value on this one. If you really want to challenge yourself, try clearing it with Bugzy (whose only Suplex attack which can affect bosses is his Down+B attack) or Capsule J2 (because the Jet ability just… sucks).
The True Arena
The absolute last game you can unlock and, boy, is it a doosey. Once unlocked, this becomes an option within the regular The Arena game. This game is a harder version of The Arena – and not by a little, by a lot. It contains all of the new bosses from Revenge of the King, Meta Knightmare Ultra and Helper to Hero. It all ends with a new, special final boss which is only found here. What’s worse, there are no full-recovery Maxim Tomatoes between fights – you are only given regular tomatoes, which heal for very insignificant recovery. Not since Kirby’s Dream Land 3 and Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards’ Boss Battle modes have I actually derived a challenge from a Kirby game – but this is definitely a challenge, even to seasoned gamers.
• End Spoilers •
Megaton Punch
At first I thought they had removed this from the game – and they did, but not really. It has to be unlocked now, but that should be no problem for any gamer worth his salt. Unlike the other games this (and Samurai Kirby) has been completely untouched, and is a direct port. No sprite or background upgrades were used.
The object is to line up three cursors better than your opponent. There’s a gage, a pair of crosshairs and a pendulum which all require different timing. Whomever gets all three the closest to their mark wins. It’s a very simple (but fun) game, but even on multiplayer you probably won’t have the drive to want to play it for more than a few minutes.
Samurai Kirby
Like the above, this game was included as an unlockable. Also like Megaton Punch, it is unchanged from its glory days. The object is to be the first to tap the button as soon as an on-screen prompt alerts you to do so. This one is all about reflexes. Like Megaton Punch you’ll bore of it after just a couple of rounds, but it is a simple and fun little game.
Kirby Card Swipe
This game plays similar to Samurai Kirby, but it is touch-screen driven rather than button mashing. The lower screen will show a varying number of cards with enemy illustrations on them. After a few moments, the top screen will show one of the enemies on the cards. The first one to pick the correct card wins that round.
Kirby on the Draw
This one is a blast. It’s a shooting range game, and another of the new touch-screen games. Cardboard cut-outs of enemies appear on the bottom screen, and you have to tap them to “shoot” them before the other players. They give points depending on the enemy, and shooting a Kaboomba deducts -50 points. The AI seems to be really good at this game, even on Level 1 difficulty. Or, perhaps I just suck at it, because I lose practically every time. Nevertheless, this mini game is probably my favorite of the new touch-screen games.
Snack Tracks
This one is pretty strange, and decidedly fast-paced. This marks the third, and final, of the touch-screen mini games geared toward multiplayer. In this game each Kirby has a conveyor belt leading into their gaping mouths. It’s your duty to tap non-edibles off of the belt while allowing the tasty food to go through. This sounds simple enough, but the belts move so fast that it can be overwhelming at times. And then there’s the bombs…
Even if they’re relatively short, 15 original games in one game cartridge is a commendable achievement, especially for a handheld game. Sure, there are tons of compilation games out there ranging all platforms that can meet or exceed that – but bear in mind that they’re all ports simply coded onto one game, like a mix tape. 15 original titles? That’s something to behold.
You can really feel the love for this game. The detail and precision that went into it suggests that the developers love this game as much as the fans do, as evidenced by all of the little details which accent the more obvious changes. If you’re a die-hard Kirby fan, you’d be crazy to pass this up – even if you still own your original copy of Kirby Super Star there’s enough new content to merit buying this version, too. For aspiring Kirby fans, this is a great game to cut your teeth on. When it comes to Kirby, you can do no better than Kirby Super Star. Now available in Ultra!
Story - 3
Gameplay - 10
Characters - 10
G&P - 9
Music - 9
Total Rating: 41/50
