cute! there are definitely issues I have with this game, enemy respawn rates, certain bosses, some copy abilities, etc. but man looking back on it I had lots of fun. This also looks and sounds amazing for a nes game! it's crazy how this feels like the first game in the series by how MUCH it introduced to the entire series.
wait, there is a NES game with balanced difficulty?
The Citizen Kane of NES games
Cute and fun but Meta Knight definitely deserved better.
This has to be one of the biggest sequel glowups of all time. For one thing Kirby's Adventure came out years after the SNES, so it's one of the most technically impressive NES games and looks fantastic. Absolutely stunning. For another: this is the completion of basically the entire Kirby formula that currently exists. Powers, secrets, Meta Knight, a big cool ending showdown: it's all here. What interests me, then, is what ISN'T here. What feels different between this and, say, Forgotten World, which I played really recently and said on this very website feels like a Kirby-ass Kirby game?
Copy powers: they're Kirby's whole thing. Imagine looking at Kirby's Dreamland and coming up with the idea to add the powers. I will never be that cool or smart in my whole life. I think if you asked most of us to describe Kirby's whole THING we might say something like "Kirby eats guys and gains their powers." Thing is, I find in most of these games I tend to think of the powers as being a property of the enemies, rather than the other way around. Kirby's Adventure is pretty dedicated to "enemy has a move, and you get that specific move from devouring them." Every ability has at most two sources, one normal enemy and one miniboss, and the single function of the ability will be the thing that the regular enemy uses to attack you. Throw and Backdrop are kind of exceptions because they only come from minibosses, and UFO is like a whole thing but it's also meant to be super rare and special. The funniest thing about this is the realization that Smash Brothers is kind of the only thing carrying on this philosophy of Kirby in the modern era.
You can tell that the powers were invisioned less as a thing you can just hang onto forever and fight enemies with here, because your suction power is still very strong, and a good number of abilities are pretty bad for fighting, or at least for fighting bosses. Ball is a very fun power to use that's purely about blasting through areas. High Jump is similar but more niche so you won't keep it long. Burn will eventually be incorporated into the Fire moveset but has the same property. You also lose your ability with just a single hit, and they can be tricky to get back at times, but I found myself actively dropping powers to use as a projectile more than once.
The other thing that keeps the game moving fast despite being the first Kirby with a bunch of secrets in it is that so many of them are just hidden doors, and the ones that require powers usually give you the one you need right beforehand. When the game gives you a power, it wants you to use it! I watched Twitch streamer Strawbrose get 100% in Adventure without ever having to redo a level, and it only required a few strategic uses of the roulette function that occurs when you eat two different-power enemies at once. Also, the secrets don't actually give you much other than a little bonus room most of the time. The game is meant to really MOVE in a way that later games in the series will not be.
Anyway I gotta say, this is still one of my top Kirbs. I could see it feeling a little loose for people coming back to it now, but it looks great, sounds great, plays great. Absolute banger.
Copy powers: they're Kirby's whole thing. Imagine looking at Kirby's Dreamland and coming up with the idea to add the powers. I will never be that cool or smart in my whole life. I think if you asked most of us to describe Kirby's whole THING we might say something like "Kirby eats guys and gains their powers." Thing is, I find in most of these games I tend to think of the powers as being a property of the enemies, rather than the other way around. Kirby's Adventure is pretty dedicated to "enemy has a move, and you get that specific move from devouring them." Every ability has at most two sources, one normal enemy and one miniboss, and the single function of the ability will be the thing that the regular enemy uses to attack you. Throw and Backdrop are kind of exceptions because they only come from minibosses, and UFO is like a whole thing but it's also meant to be super rare and special. The funniest thing about this is the realization that Smash Brothers is kind of the only thing carrying on this philosophy of Kirby in the modern era.
You can tell that the powers were invisioned less as a thing you can just hang onto forever and fight enemies with here, because your suction power is still very strong, and a good number of abilities are pretty bad for fighting, or at least for fighting bosses. Ball is a very fun power to use that's purely about blasting through areas. High Jump is similar but more niche so you won't keep it long. Burn will eventually be incorporated into the Fire moveset but has the same property. You also lose your ability with just a single hit, and they can be tricky to get back at times, but I found myself actively dropping powers to use as a projectile more than once.
The other thing that keeps the game moving fast despite being the first Kirby with a bunch of secrets in it is that so many of them are just hidden doors, and the ones that require powers usually give you the one you need right beforehand. When the game gives you a power, it wants you to use it! I watched Twitch streamer Strawbrose get 100% in Adventure without ever having to redo a level, and it only required a few strategic uses of the roulette function that occurs when you eat two different-power enemies at once. Also, the secrets don't actually give you much other than a little bonus room most of the time. The game is meant to really MOVE in a way that later games in the series will not be.
Anyway I gotta say, this is still one of my top Kirbs. I could see it feeling a little loose for people coming back to it now, but it looks great, sounds great, plays great. Absolute banger.
NES'deki en iyi oyun.
Kirby's first adventure with copy abilities is so much fun! First off the graphics are stellar on the NES. Obviously this deep into the NES lifespan they knew how to get the most out of the console. Bright colors and cheery songs makes for one of the best sounding and looking games on the console. Plays incredibly well and controls how you would expect a Kirby game to play, framerate is major issue on this one though. Consistently dropping in major areas, but on the NES I find it a little more forgivable. Still is a great game for Kirby really setting up the Kirby that we expect later down the line. Only taking around 4 hours to beat I think it's one you have to try and stands the test of time.
The nicest thing I can say about this is that it has a lot of stuff: lots of variety in level layouts and appearances, lots of different abilities, lots of cutesy animations, etc.
It's all technically impressive, to be sure -- the problem is, all this stuff never coheres. It never amounts to anything meaningfully challenging or strategic, or at all aesthetically engaging beyond being, generally, "cute." There is no sum of its many, many parts.
It's limp, squishy-feeling, and unsatisfying.
It's all technically impressive, to be sure -- the problem is, all this stuff never coheres. It never amounts to anything meaningfully challenging or strategic, or at all aesthetically engaging beyond being, generally, "cute." There is no sum of its many, many parts.
It's limp, squishy-feeling, and unsatisfying.
kirbo
Kirby's Adventure surprised me with how it was able to run this massive colorful and vibrant game onto an NES. It is one hell of a showcase when it comes to the system itself, and what it delivered was a fun and engaging experience at the cost of a smooth frame rate. This is the obvious downside of Kirby's Adventure as the frame rate chugs on certain occasions due to how huge the game is. It's manageable as it doesn't interfere with my enjoyment of the game, but it’s heavily noticeable.
Copy abilities made their debut here as they laid the foundation for future installments. Not all of these abilities are winners, I mean the Light ability exists with its only purpose being to light up dark rooms (exciting I know), but the rest are fun to utilize. Kirby's Adventure remains consequential in the franchise's history and is easily a Top 5 for me when it comes to the NES' library. Check this one out if you haven't.
Copy abilities made their debut here as they laid the foundation for future installments. Not all of these abilities are winners, I mean the Light ability exists with its only purpose being to light up dark rooms (exciting I know), but the rest are fun to utilize. Kirby's Adventure remains consequential in the franchise's history and is easily a Top 5 for me when it comes to the NES' library. Check this one out if you haven't.
kirby is my lil pink heart
Wish I could bottle the experience of me and my wife going absolutely insane when the "Presto! It's kirby!" introduction occurred.
Funny Pink Ball With Super Powers.
Previously I said that I think Super Mario Bros. 3 is the best NES game, but I think Kirby's Adventure comes extremely close. Really late release in the NES' life, but also one of the best designed and best looking. Love the music, the graphics, the Copy Abilities, the little story, everything. I think the only thing that's a little annoying these days is that you drop your Copy Ability every single time you take damage.
This review contains spoilers
I’ve never been a huge fan of Kirby. Nintendo’s spherical, sentient wad of Bubble Yum has always fulfilled the role of the 2D platformer series that one could regress to if Super Mario was giving them a hard time. Admittedly, the Super Mario games on the NES had some instances that caused players to throw frustrated tantrums and shout expletives at the TV. Still, these were few and far between compared to the stinging roulette of torment that most NES games provided. Beyond the days of the NES, Mario softened its difficulty, but there were still some occasional hefty challenges. On the other hand, Kirby has remained consistently easy throughout the years. The series is facile to a fault. As much as I might groan and grit my teeth when I’m faced with arduous obstacles, the challenge is one of the most appealing facets of the gaming medium. Without at least a reasonably substantial challenge, a fraction of one’s prerogative to play video games is compromised. Kirby’s titles often feel pointless due to most players breezing through the levels with the ease of a Sunday morning drive, or at least that’s how I see it as someone who plays video games consistently. Kirby’s Adventure is a special title in the franchise, and it’s not because it’s his console debut. Kirby’s more lenient approach to difficulty compared to its contemporaries bestows a unique placement in the NES library.
I sometimes forget that Kirby’s Adventure is a sequel to the pink puffball’s inception on the Gameboy only a year prior. That is, I know from years of hindsight and countless examples that Kirby is pink because the original Gameboy only offered black-and-white visuals. Kirby’s Adventure affirms Kirby’s canon color by being developed for the NES, and the 8-bit system always featured a broad color palette akin to a pixelated rainbow for its games. In color, Kirby’s world looks delightful. A rejuvenated Dreamland looks so delectable that one could sink their teeth into it, and I mean that literally. Kirby’s world shares a startling resemblance to The Land of Chocolate from The Simpsons, a joyous, edible wonderworld reflecting the gluttonous, childish fantasies of Homer Simpson. In all fairness to Homer, any average adult would probably revel in The Land of Chocolate’s sweet ecstasy, which is why Kirby’s Adventure’s aesthetic is widely appealing. Land masses have more of a likeness to assorted colors and textures of birthday cake than earthly ground, water sparkles like soda, and the platforms run the gamut of hundreds of flavors of taffy. Visually, Dreamland is the video game equivalent of a candy store. The marvel of it is a splendor for the senses, associating pleasant tastes and smells with the spectacle of it. Considering the seven worlds have direct food references, the connection was an overt effort on the part of the developers. We can at least be thankful that Kirby’s adventure provides something similar to the yummy aesthetic of Mr. Gimmick, for the latter did not emerge on American soil.
Kirby is not a complicated character in terms of gameplay. The guy is but a pudgy circle with eyes, a mouth, flappy little arms, and two bulbous feet fitting snugly in some clown shoes (are they shoes?). The game’s intro further illustrates (no pun intended) how simple Kirby is in a brief step-by-step drawing that details each previously mentioned body part. As a video game character, Kirby couldn’t do much of anything past platforming. He certainly can’t hold a gun with those thumbless nubs he calls arms. For as unrefined as Kirby’s character design is, he possesses a few special gimmicks that separate him from his fellow 2D platforming contemporaries. Firstly, he can inflate himself like a pufferfish by inhaling oxygen, which allows him to ascend upwards. Kirby’s flight is essentially limitless as the only vertical parameter is the wall the developers draw, and the horizontal trajectory is boundless until the natural point of reaching the level’s end goal. Only careening into enemies or their aimed projectiles can interrupt Kirby’s ascent, sometimes causing Kirby to crash like a falling rock. Platforms in a Kirby game almost seem like safety nets for the few moments when this occurs because Kirby certainly doesn’t need them to climb the terrain or circumvent death like other platformer characters. Kirby’s ability allows him to bypass almost everything, and he’ll get away with it, too, because the enemy fire is more lethargic than a children’s little league team. The firefight to effectively bring Kirby down would have to be equal to the blitzkrieg of D-Day, but that would compromise on the intentionally brisk difficulty level. In times when Kirby must land because the level progression leads to a grounded doorway, the interior space with tighter parameters still doesn’t confine him to the physical regulations of the typical platformer. What is stopping Kirby from hugging the wall here as tightly as he does out in the open? Not much, even though Kirby doesn’t have as much legroom to stray away from enemies in these more cramped boundaries. Kirby’s innate set of skills is something that players in the NES era would implement as cheat codes for more grueling and demanding games, and nothing presented in Kirby’s Adventure would warrant using a cheat code to surpass.
The fun aspect of Kirby’s gameplay, whether or not you are a seasoned gaming veteran or not is the ability to copy an enemy's ability, a distinctive talent of Kirby’s that debuted in Kirby’s Adventure. Kirby’s ability to use his gullet as a vacuum to suck up the denizens of Dreamland and spit them back out as star-shaped projectiles were present in the previous Kirby game on the Gameboy, but digesting them by pressing down on the D-Pad allows Kirby to emulate their primary offensive attributes. Dreamland’s ecosystem consists of a diverse array of cartoonish creatures who have seemingly adapted to the ethereal land differently. Elemental powers of ice, fire, and electricity (spark) are granted to Kirby from their respective hosts, changing the properties of Kirby’s breath or creating a field of energy. More melee-intensive enemies will have their weapons stolen by Kirby, which mostly includes some variant of a blade that Kirby either swings with the elegance of a matador or crudely chucks like a boomerang. Kirby can turn into a wheel that speeds through levels, puff up a mound of spikes to compliment his puffiness, and the laser is the closest a Kirby game will come to having him use a gun. Kirby shouting into a microphone (Corpsegrinder death growls rendered in 8-bit audio, most likely) is powerful enough to briefly stop time and clear the screen of enemies. Swallowing “normal” enemies like Waddle Dees and Poppy Bros. will not net Kirby any extra abilities, but they are equally integrated with the eclectic range of “special” enemies to the point where there will be plenty of opportunities to use these abilities. Some may gripe at the fact that Kirby will lose the ability upon being hit. Still, I think it’s a fair trade off considering the ability will materialize into a star that Kirby can easily retrieve. I just wish there was a trigger to manually remove a power instead of tanking damage to experiment with another one.
While I enjoy the gameplay diversity the copy ability adds, I still have to question whether or not it’s merely a gimmick. Without swallowing enemies, Kirby can still damage enemies just as effectively by exhaling onto enemies while flying, which also doesn’t halt his airborne momentum. All common enemies perish in one hit regardless of what attribute Kirby is currently gallivanting around with, including his base ability. Often, I’d forsake altering Kirby’s genetic makeup with the creatures in his environment. Flying while blowing onto the occasional airborne enemy kept up a certain rhythm to Kirby’s gameplay that felt smooth and natural. Humoring the suck mechanic only occurred as a lark rather than implementing a strategy to succeed through the course of a level. Bosses are the only enemy types where the copy abilities are helpful, and they shred the tissue paper through their health bars no matter the ability Kirby holds. Is their shaky defense against the abilities a reward for maintaining them up to a certain point? Either or, fighting these bosses without the abilities still accommodates the player with stars they generate to use as offensive measures against them, almost like visual cues of vulnerability. It’s the only consistent example of Kirby’s Adventure providing a substantial challenge. The sole boss that forces the player to use a specific power is Meta Knight, Kirby’s rogue rival who dons a cape and silver mask. After so many fruitless attempts to stop Kirby by sicing his impotent gang of medieval minions on him to no avail, Meta Knight implores Kirby to pick up a sword and duel with him honorably like the mysterious gentleman he is.
On top of every other factor in Kirby’s Adventure that makes the game a walk in the park, the game is loaded with accommodating features and extras. For one, the game includes a save battery that lets the player continue at any given point after taking a break, a rare perk seldom seen across games on the NES. The median length of Kirby’s Adventure arguably warrants a save feature, but the difficulty does not. Continues are limitless in Kirby’s Adventure, and Kirby’s maximum six hit points will guarantee that his lives will not be quickly expunged. Extra lives are given out like pamphlets at an airport in Kirby’s Adventure. Ample opportunities will be found on the field, the ending mini-game with the trampoline, and the minigames located in the hub of each level. Even though I find all of this to be unnecessary, the minigames in the hub are fun little breaks in the gameplay regardless of the rewards they grant. The western dueling minigame is actually tense, and the minigame where Kirby mustn't eat a bomb among the flood of eggs requires sufficient reaction time.
Surprisingly, Kirby’s Adventure possesses a veneer of depth that comes to fruition near the end of the game. I haven’t touched on the story of Kirby’s Adventure, for it’s merely the jejune plot of Kirby recovering the sacred Star Rod Macguffin from King Dedede and his droogs so the capacity to dream can be restored to the land of Dreamland. In order to unlock the true culprit, Nightmare, as the final boss, the player must find a series of large buttons strewn across the levels. I fought Nightmare at the end after King Dedede without seeking these buttons knowingly, so I guess the search needn’t be too thorough. Still, it’s impressive that an undemanding game like Kirby’s Adventure offers something like a true ending, and the shadowy Nightmare is defeated across three phases in which the player will need a standard of dodging accuracy and aim with the Star Rod to conquer. Fighting Nightmare should be required not only for the slight story but as a final test to see that the player wasn’t skating along through the course of the game too smoothly.
Concerning the candy store analogy, I guess my main issue with Kirby is that the series is too sweet for my liking. The visuals are spectacular, but the aspect of Kirby’s sugariness that becomes sickening is how it mollifies the NES-era 2D sidescroller to a juvenile degree. A cherubic tone is one thing, but constantly carrying the player through the game with too many perks in a game with a protagonist whose abilities fracture the foundation of the 2D platformer is borderline patronizing. I realize this is the point of Kirby, and perhaps I’m not the target demographic. Kirby’s elementary direction has persisted throughout his time as one of Nintendo’s prime IPs, solidifying that alienating an experienced gamer like myself has always been the intention. I give Kirby’s Adventure more clemency and respect because the NES library needed something carefree and effortless among a library of notorious ballbusters. After spending too much time at the Salty Spitoon (Castlevania, Ninja Gaiden, fucking goddamn Battletoads), sometimes it’s a relief to visit Super Weeny Hut Jrs. for a while. Kirby's Adventure is still a joyful experience.
Super Mario is regular Weenie Hut Jrs. in the metaphor if you were wondering.
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Attribution: https://erockreviews.blogspot.com
I sometimes forget that Kirby’s Adventure is a sequel to the pink puffball’s inception on the Gameboy only a year prior. That is, I know from years of hindsight and countless examples that Kirby is pink because the original Gameboy only offered black-and-white visuals. Kirby’s Adventure affirms Kirby’s canon color by being developed for the NES, and the 8-bit system always featured a broad color palette akin to a pixelated rainbow for its games. In color, Kirby’s world looks delightful. A rejuvenated Dreamland looks so delectable that one could sink their teeth into it, and I mean that literally. Kirby’s world shares a startling resemblance to The Land of Chocolate from The Simpsons, a joyous, edible wonderworld reflecting the gluttonous, childish fantasies of Homer Simpson. In all fairness to Homer, any average adult would probably revel in The Land of Chocolate’s sweet ecstasy, which is why Kirby’s Adventure’s aesthetic is widely appealing. Land masses have more of a likeness to assorted colors and textures of birthday cake than earthly ground, water sparkles like soda, and the platforms run the gamut of hundreds of flavors of taffy. Visually, Dreamland is the video game equivalent of a candy store. The marvel of it is a splendor for the senses, associating pleasant tastes and smells with the spectacle of it. Considering the seven worlds have direct food references, the connection was an overt effort on the part of the developers. We can at least be thankful that Kirby’s adventure provides something similar to the yummy aesthetic of Mr. Gimmick, for the latter did not emerge on American soil.
Kirby is not a complicated character in terms of gameplay. The guy is but a pudgy circle with eyes, a mouth, flappy little arms, and two bulbous feet fitting snugly in some clown shoes (are they shoes?). The game’s intro further illustrates (no pun intended) how simple Kirby is in a brief step-by-step drawing that details each previously mentioned body part. As a video game character, Kirby couldn’t do much of anything past platforming. He certainly can’t hold a gun with those thumbless nubs he calls arms. For as unrefined as Kirby’s character design is, he possesses a few special gimmicks that separate him from his fellow 2D platforming contemporaries. Firstly, he can inflate himself like a pufferfish by inhaling oxygen, which allows him to ascend upwards. Kirby’s flight is essentially limitless as the only vertical parameter is the wall the developers draw, and the horizontal trajectory is boundless until the natural point of reaching the level’s end goal. Only careening into enemies or their aimed projectiles can interrupt Kirby’s ascent, sometimes causing Kirby to crash like a falling rock. Platforms in a Kirby game almost seem like safety nets for the few moments when this occurs because Kirby certainly doesn’t need them to climb the terrain or circumvent death like other platformer characters. Kirby’s ability allows him to bypass almost everything, and he’ll get away with it, too, because the enemy fire is more lethargic than a children’s little league team. The firefight to effectively bring Kirby down would have to be equal to the blitzkrieg of D-Day, but that would compromise on the intentionally brisk difficulty level. In times when Kirby must land because the level progression leads to a grounded doorway, the interior space with tighter parameters still doesn’t confine him to the physical regulations of the typical platformer. What is stopping Kirby from hugging the wall here as tightly as he does out in the open? Not much, even though Kirby doesn’t have as much legroom to stray away from enemies in these more cramped boundaries. Kirby’s innate set of skills is something that players in the NES era would implement as cheat codes for more grueling and demanding games, and nothing presented in Kirby’s Adventure would warrant using a cheat code to surpass.
The fun aspect of Kirby’s gameplay, whether or not you are a seasoned gaming veteran or not is the ability to copy an enemy's ability, a distinctive talent of Kirby’s that debuted in Kirby’s Adventure. Kirby’s ability to use his gullet as a vacuum to suck up the denizens of Dreamland and spit them back out as star-shaped projectiles were present in the previous Kirby game on the Gameboy, but digesting them by pressing down on the D-Pad allows Kirby to emulate their primary offensive attributes. Dreamland’s ecosystem consists of a diverse array of cartoonish creatures who have seemingly adapted to the ethereal land differently. Elemental powers of ice, fire, and electricity (spark) are granted to Kirby from their respective hosts, changing the properties of Kirby’s breath or creating a field of energy. More melee-intensive enemies will have their weapons stolen by Kirby, which mostly includes some variant of a blade that Kirby either swings with the elegance of a matador or crudely chucks like a boomerang. Kirby can turn into a wheel that speeds through levels, puff up a mound of spikes to compliment his puffiness, and the laser is the closest a Kirby game will come to having him use a gun. Kirby shouting into a microphone (Corpsegrinder death growls rendered in 8-bit audio, most likely) is powerful enough to briefly stop time and clear the screen of enemies. Swallowing “normal” enemies like Waddle Dees and Poppy Bros. will not net Kirby any extra abilities, but they are equally integrated with the eclectic range of “special” enemies to the point where there will be plenty of opportunities to use these abilities. Some may gripe at the fact that Kirby will lose the ability upon being hit. Still, I think it’s a fair trade off considering the ability will materialize into a star that Kirby can easily retrieve. I just wish there was a trigger to manually remove a power instead of tanking damage to experiment with another one.
While I enjoy the gameplay diversity the copy ability adds, I still have to question whether or not it’s merely a gimmick. Without swallowing enemies, Kirby can still damage enemies just as effectively by exhaling onto enemies while flying, which also doesn’t halt his airborne momentum. All common enemies perish in one hit regardless of what attribute Kirby is currently gallivanting around with, including his base ability. Often, I’d forsake altering Kirby’s genetic makeup with the creatures in his environment. Flying while blowing onto the occasional airborne enemy kept up a certain rhythm to Kirby’s gameplay that felt smooth and natural. Humoring the suck mechanic only occurred as a lark rather than implementing a strategy to succeed through the course of a level. Bosses are the only enemy types where the copy abilities are helpful, and they shred the tissue paper through their health bars no matter the ability Kirby holds. Is their shaky defense against the abilities a reward for maintaining them up to a certain point? Either or, fighting these bosses without the abilities still accommodates the player with stars they generate to use as offensive measures against them, almost like visual cues of vulnerability. It’s the only consistent example of Kirby’s Adventure providing a substantial challenge. The sole boss that forces the player to use a specific power is Meta Knight, Kirby’s rogue rival who dons a cape and silver mask. After so many fruitless attempts to stop Kirby by sicing his impotent gang of medieval minions on him to no avail, Meta Knight implores Kirby to pick up a sword and duel with him honorably like the mysterious gentleman he is.
On top of every other factor in Kirby’s Adventure that makes the game a walk in the park, the game is loaded with accommodating features and extras. For one, the game includes a save battery that lets the player continue at any given point after taking a break, a rare perk seldom seen across games on the NES. The median length of Kirby’s Adventure arguably warrants a save feature, but the difficulty does not. Continues are limitless in Kirby’s Adventure, and Kirby’s maximum six hit points will guarantee that his lives will not be quickly expunged. Extra lives are given out like pamphlets at an airport in Kirby’s Adventure. Ample opportunities will be found on the field, the ending mini-game with the trampoline, and the minigames located in the hub of each level. Even though I find all of this to be unnecessary, the minigames in the hub are fun little breaks in the gameplay regardless of the rewards they grant. The western dueling minigame is actually tense, and the minigame where Kirby mustn't eat a bomb among the flood of eggs requires sufficient reaction time.
Surprisingly, Kirby’s Adventure possesses a veneer of depth that comes to fruition near the end of the game. I haven’t touched on the story of Kirby’s Adventure, for it’s merely the jejune plot of Kirby recovering the sacred Star Rod Macguffin from King Dedede and his droogs so the capacity to dream can be restored to the land of Dreamland. In order to unlock the true culprit, Nightmare, as the final boss, the player must find a series of large buttons strewn across the levels. I fought Nightmare at the end after King Dedede without seeking these buttons knowingly, so I guess the search needn’t be too thorough. Still, it’s impressive that an undemanding game like Kirby’s Adventure offers something like a true ending, and the shadowy Nightmare is defeated across three phases in which the player will need a standard of dodging accuracy and aim with the Star Rod to conquer. Fighting Nightmare should be required not only for the slight story but as a final test to see that the player wasn’t skating along through the course of the game too smoothly.
Concerning the candy store analogy, I guess my main issue with Kirby is that the series is too sweet for my liking. The visuals are spectacular, but the aspect of Kirby’s sugariness that becomes sickening is how it mollifies the NES-era 2D sidescroller to a juvenile degree. A cherubic tone is one thing, but constantly carrying the player through the game with too many perks in a game with a protagonist whose abilities fracture the foundation of the 2D platformer is borderline patronizing. I realize this is the point of Kirby, and perhaps I’m not the target demographic. Kirby’s elementary direction has persisted throughout his time as one of Nintendo’s prime IPs, solidifying that alienating an experienced gamer like myself has always been the intention. I give Kirby’s Adventure more clemency and respect because the NES library needed something carefree and effortless among a library of notorious ballbusters. After spending too much time at the Salty Spitoon (Castlevania, Ninja Gaiden, fucking goddamn Battletoads), sometimes it’s a relief to visit Super Weeny Hut Jrs. for a while. Kirby's Adventure is still a joyful experience.
Super Mario is regular Weenie Hut Jrs. in the metaphor if you were wondering.
------
Attribution: https://erockreviews.blogspot.com
This game is so boring that I don't even want to really write anything about it. I seriously don't get the appeal. The copy abilities are fun and creative but the level design is so flat and the movement so slow that I found myself so tired of this game by the end. The only challenge came from me just holding right to try and get through the levels as fast as possible. Incredibly mid experience
Uh, so my only Kirby experience to this point was the excellent Super Star Ultra. I'd kind of assumed that its breadth of transformations, iconic antagonists, and nutty otherworldly endings had taken time to develop. But... nah, Kirby was slapping hard out of the gate, with all these elements present and accounted for. I'm sure Kirby's Dream Land was a relatively limited mechanical base to build on, so Kirby wasn't quite fully developed out of the gate, but for the first console entry in the series it's fair to say that Kirby's Adventure is extremely impressive.
The lack of polish and balance that DEFINES the NES era is rarely seen here, with an excellent degree of control and a healthy difficulty curve. Everything is presented with such a degree of visual clarity, and the sprite-work is incredibly charming.
I don't know man, I didn't expect this to be so good. Definitely check it out if you can. It's easily available in the Switch's NES library, just be sure to grab that warp star after the final boss' first phase quickly, or the game crashes!
The lack of polish and balance that DEFINES the NES era is rarely seen here, with an excellent degree of control and a healthy difficulty curve. Everything is presented with such a degree of visual clarity, and the sprite-work is incredibly charming.
I don't know man, I didn't expect this to be so good. Definitely check it out if you can. It's easily available in the Switch's NES library, just be sure to grab that warp star after the final boss' first phase quickly, or the game crashes!
let’s go! Kirby’s Adventure!!!
Kirby’s Dream Land was already a pretty good game, but Kirby’s Adventure took everything that made Dream Land good and expanded it, in almost a year nonetheless!
story’s pretty simple again: for some reason Kirby and the residents of Dream Land are having nightmares. when Kirby goes to investigate the Fountain of Dreams, he finds out King Dedede took the Star Rod (the thing that gives everyone in Dream Land their good dreams), smashed it into pieces, and gave them to his buddies. Kirby’s obviously pissed, so he decides to go on a journey to beat the absolute crap out of Dedede’s cronies, as well as Dedede himself, and return the Star Rod back to its original form and place.
likewise with the first game, your job is to go from point A to point B, inhaling any unfortunate souls that end up in your way, and using them as weaponry. speaking of that, Copy Abilities are now a thing. certain enemies give you the ability to replace your inhaling with an attack that your enemy uses as long as you remember to swallow them. swallowing enemies isn’t pointless now!!! Copy Abilities really helped shape the Kirby franchise’s identity; you'll be seeing it in every mainline game from this point. ok I lied with the first sentence in this paragraph, if you want to be considered an epic and hardcore gamer, you can search for big switches that you can be found in some of the levels starting with the third world. some are easy to find, but a lot will require you to master your Copy Ability skills to the fullest to find and reach. these switches unlock more stuff to do in the game lobby (I guess that’s what it's called.) you can gain extra lives by playing fun minigames, go to arena and museums to get Copy Abilities, and unlock a fast travel room to traverse and backtrack through worlds more quickly. oh yeah you can run and slide now. levels are even more fun to go through now with these, especially the running part.
this is the best looking game on the NES, there’s no contest. this ain’t 8 bit, this is definitely at least 12 bit!!! the music here is just as good as it was in the first game. Vegetable Valley, Butter Building, Grape Garden, and Rainbow Resort are some highlights. there’s just something charming about Kirby’s Adventure soundfont, but I can’t quite figure it out.
the only major negative that I can really think about is that the lag can get pretty bad when there's a lot of enemies on screen, as well as using certain Copy Abilities (Spark especially). but the 3D Classics version of the game on the 3DS eShop got rid of all the lag (as well as spice up a few of the backgrounds), so you got the definitive version right there, go get it before the 3DS eShop shuts down (R.I.P.).
anyway, epic game, excellent sequel, and this isn’t even Kirby’s full potential ;^)
Kirby’s Dream Land was already a pretty good game, but Kirby’s Adventure took everything that made Dream Land good and expanded it, in almost a year nonetheless!
story’s pretty simple again: for some reason Kirby and the residents of Dream Land are having nightmares. when Kirby goes to investigate the Fountain of Dreams, he finds out King Dedede took the Star Rod (the thing that gives everyone in Dream Land their good dreams), smashed it into pieces, and gave them to his buddies. Kirby’s obviously pissed, so he decides to go on a journey to beat the absolute crap out of Dedede’s cronies, as well as Dedede himself, and return the Star Rod back to its original form and place.
likewise with the first game, your job is to go from point A to point B, inhaling any unfortunate souls that end up in your way, and using them as weaponry. speaking of that, Copy Abilities are now a thing. certain enemies give you the ability to replace your inhaling with an attack that your enemy uses as long as you remember to swallow them. swallowing enemies isn’t pointless now!!! Copy Abilities really helped shape the Kirby franchise’s identity; you'll be seeing it in every mainline game from this point. ok I lied with the first sentence in this paragraph, if you want to be considered an epic and hardcore gamer, you can search for big switches that you can be found in some of the levels starting with the third world. some are easy to find, but a lot will require you to master your Copy Ability skills to the fullest to find and reach. these switches unlock more stuff to do in the game lobby (I guess that’s what it's called.) you can gain extra lives by playing fun minigames, go to arena and museums to get Copy Abilities, and unlock a fast travel room to traverse and backtrack through worlds more quickly. oh yeah you can run and slide now. levels are even more fun to go through now with these, especially the running part.
this is the best looking game on the NES, there’s no contest. this ain’t 8 bit, this is definitely at least 12 bit!!! the music here is just as good as it was in the first game. Vegetable Valley, Butter Building, Grape Garden, and Rainbow Resort are some highlights. there’s just something charming about Kirby’s Adventure soundfont, but I can’t quite figure it out.
the only major negative that I can really think about is that the lag can get pretty bad when there's a lot of enemies on screen, as well as using certain Copy Abilities (Spark especially). but the 3D Classics version of the game on the 3DS eShop got rid of all the lag (as well as spice up a few of the backgrounds), so you got the definitive version right there, go get it before the 3DS eShop shuts down (R.I.P.).
anyway, epic game, excellent sequel, and this isn’t even Kirby’s full potential ;^)
Simple, but efficient.
The graphics and style of this game is mesmerizing for an NES game. Sakurai and his team really went all out to make this game as appealing as possible to a crowd already turning their heads towards the newer SNES.
Kirby's controls are incredibly simple, but the diverse amount of Copy Abilities at your hands means that every playthrough of this game is a different experience. Yes, the game is easily, but you can't tell me you didn't have a lot of fun mixing up your gameplay throughout your journey through Dream Land.
Overall, Kirby's Adventure is quite literally one of the cutest yet subtly dark games to exist. But every time I boot it up the opening makes me smile.
The graphics and style of this game is mesmerizing for an NES game. Sakurai and his team really went all out to make this game as appealing as possible to a crowd already turning their heads towards the newer SNES.
Kirby's controls are incredibly simple, but the diverse amount of Copy Abilities at your hands means that every playthrough of this game is a different experience. Yes, the game is easily, but you can't tell me you didn't have a lot of fun mixing up your gameplay throughout your journey through Dream Land.
Overall, Kirby's Adventure is quite literally one of the cutest yet subtly dark games to exist. But every time I boot it up the opening makes me smile.
I wish I could copy the abilities of the people I vore.
One of the better nes games. It is a fun and good Kirby game that established the basics of what is yet to come. Would recommend.
No offence to 2021 Shem but what planet was I on when I rated this 6/10 initially? Easily the strongest game on the NES that I've played. Amazing spritework and backgrounds, great music, fun levels and abilities, everything about Kirby's Adventure feels like its telling the rest of the console's library to go fuck itself.
Kirby rules.
Kirby rules.
Such a charming Kirby game!!! :3
Kirby nunca falha em impressionar, inclusive na hora de ter um dos melhores e maiores jogos do NES que faz o console fazer coisas que nenhum programador antes sabia que era possível!
GOD DAMN this game was FUN
in 1993 my parents weren't even married when this came out but this pink sack of magic still did a nr on me
great platforming
pretty decent boss battles
best mc ever
i have 1 question tho
WHY was the the final boss so hard
NIGHTMARE was beating my ass like prime John Cena
if u dont f with the music then smt is wrong with u
it was a bit 2 short
8.5/10
in 1993 my parents weren't even married when this came out but this pink sack of magic still did a nr on me
great platforming
pretty decent boss battles
best mc ever
i have 1 question tho
WHY was the the final boss so hard
NIGHTMARE was beating my ass like prime John Cena
if u dont f with the music then smt is wrong with u
it was a bit 2 short
8.5/10
How did they fit this on NES hardware? Like that’s an actual question answer me now.
[ Story: N/A | Gameplay: 6/10 | OST: 7/10 ]
It's got a lot of clunk and a lot of those dated NES performance issues, but the addition of copy abilities brings a lot of variation to getting through these stages. I'm excited to see what abilities come in the future ^^
It's got a lot of clunk and a lot of those dated NES performance issues, but the addition of copy abilities brings a lot of variation to getting through these stages. I'm excited to see what abilities come in the future ^^
If Kirby's Dream Land was the game that introduced Kirby, then Kirby's Adventure is the game that defined Kirby. So many series staples debuted here. The Copy Abilities (which is my favorite power-up system in any video game series ever), Meta Knight's introduction, the first letter of each world having an acronym, and of course how could we forget the Lovecraftian horror final boss?? All of this topped off with the single BEST looking game on the NES. I've never wanted to EAT an 8-bit game quite like this one before. It looks delicious.
The only things that are holding this one back for me are the obnoxiously stiff controls and the UNGODLY slowdown. These aspects combined resulted in me taking more damage than I'd like to admit. Being the technical powerhouse of your time has its drawbacks I suppose. Even still, Kirby's Adventure is a certified hood classic and one of the best games on the NES
The only things that are holding this one back for me are the obnoxiously stiff controls and the UNGODLY slowdown. These aspects combined resulted in me taking more damage than I'd like to admit. Being the technical powerhouse of your time has its drawbacks I suppose. Even still, Kirby's Adventure is a certified hood classic and one of the best games on the NES
Kirby’s Adventure is a 2 hour showcase of what the NES was truly capable of.
Obviously, this game could’ve just been on the SNES, since it was released in ‘93. But, the consumer wasn’t feeling the SNES just yet, so Nintendo decided it’d be best to put Kirby on the OG.
The reason I say this shows off NES capabilities is because of how detailed and colorful the entire game is. The lengthy health meter, the multitude of copy abilities, the bangin’ soundtrack, it’s practically an 8-bit SNES game.
You aren’t without your shitty NES level design, of course. The worst NES stereotype is the occasional awful enemy placement, but bearable enough to not have to worry about too often. Also, if there’s too many enemies on screen, or an exploding attack, the game dips to, like, 10 FPS, it’s very annoying.
If more NES games were like this, I think the newer generations wouldn’t have has hard of a time going back and enjoying some of the pioneers. 7/10.
Obviously, this game could’ve just been on the SNES, since it was released in ‘93. But, the consumer wasn’t feeling the SNES just yet, so Nintendo decided it’d be best to put Kirby on the OG.
The reason I say this shows off NES capabilities is because of how detailed and colorful the entire game is. The lengthy health meter, the multitude of copy abilities, the bangin’ soundtrack, it’s practically an 8-bit SNES game.
You aren’t without your shitty NES level design, of course. The worst NES stereotype is the occasional awful enemy placement, but bearable enough to not have to worry about too often. Also, if there’s too many enemies on screen, or an exploding attack, the game dips to, like, 10 FPS, it’s very annoying.
If more NES games were like this, I think the newer generations wouldn’t have has hard of a time going back and enjoying some of the pioneers. 7/10.
Can't have shit in DreamLand