This is THE quintessential Kirby game. If someone wants to try just a single Kirby game, you point to this one. Everything that pretty much becomes a mainstay in the franchise most likely stems from this one.
It just plays so well. The difficulty is JUST right and there is the added bonus of drop in Coop. Almost every copy ability is satisfying to use and the artstyle is gorgeous. Level design is some of the best in all of Kirby.
I love how levels are presented as "episodes" each with their own gimmick. Like the the tutorial episode is called Spring Breeze, which is a modern homage to Kirby's Dream Land. Then you have a more traditional Kirby episode like Dynablade. Then the Great Cave Offensive episode which is exploration based, encouraging you to find all treasures before completing the level. My personal favorite is Milky Way Wishes which kind of plays like a Kirby metroidvania that has you exploring planets to find copy abilities as permanent upgrades. All of these episodes hit and absolutely do not miss. It also has the benefit of keeping the game feel fresh all the way through.
The original Super Star is a 9/10 (4.5 stars) as it was almost perfect, but just fell short of having enough content to completely satisfy me. With Kirby Super Star Ultra, it not only comes with better QoL features and visuals, but you have FOUR extra hard hard mode episodes - which easily elevates this game to a perfect score. Having a nice extra CHALLENGING post game with cool unlockables after beating the main game gives Super Star so much more life and is the definitive way to experience this game.
It just plays so well. The difficulty is JUST right and there is the added bonus of drop in Coop. Almost every copy ability is satisfying to use and the artstyle is gorgeous. Level design is some of the best in all of Kirby.
I love how levels are presented as "episodes" each with their own gimmick. Like the the tutorial episode is called Spring Breeze, which is a modern homage to Kirby's Dream Land. Then you have a more traditional Kirby episode like Dynablade. Then the Great Cave Offensive episode which is exploration based, encouraging you to find all treasures before completing the level. My personal favorite is Milky Way Wishes which kind of plays like a Kirby metroidvania that has you exploring planets to find copy abilities as permanent upgrades. All of these episodes hit and absolutely do not miss. It also has the benefit of keeping the game feel fresh all the way through.
The original Super Star is a 9/10 (4.5 stars) as it was almost perfect, but just fell short of having enough content to completely satisfy me. With Kirby Super Star Ultra, it not only comes with better QoL features and visuals, but you have FOUR extra hard hard mode episodes - which easily elevates this game to a perfect score. Having a nice extra CHALLENGING post game with cool unlockables after beating the main game gives Super Star so much more life and is the definitive way to experience this game.
Honestly? A smidge overrated.
Super Star Ultra is a solid remake of a good game. My favourite thing about Ultra is that it feels very "DS-core", despite not even originating as a DS game. The anthology approach just works so much more naturally on a handheld than on a home console, and the bottom screen adds some quality of life enhancements that improve the experience. The game also looks a bit better too, and I enjoyed the CG cutscenes. The sound is worse, but that's minor. I'd still stick with the original if I wanted to play multiplayer, but if I ever want to play Super Star in single-player in the future I'll definitely play this version. It's just a straight upgrade.
However, Ultra still keeps the flaws of the original game and in some ways worsens them. My biggest issue is the helpers. Helpers are a cool idea, but they absolutely trivialize the entire game's difficulty, in addition to just being annoying due to spawning in every time you try to discard an ability. Since Kirby games usually give you many different ways to play the game, I find it baffling that they didn't add an option to turn off the helpers. I think that single feature would've made the game SIGNIFICANTLY better.
I am also annoyed by this game's reliance on recycled content. I already disliked this in Super Star, as Milky Way Wishes and the Arena were already mostly recycled content from the game's other modes, but every single one of Ultra's new modes just exacerbates this. Revenge of the King is the only new mode that has any new level design, but is essentially just a harder Spring Breeze with most of the same bosses. Helper to Hero and the True Arena are just more Arenas. And... Meta Knightmare Ultra... what a horrible mode. I think the concept of Meta Knightmare Ultra's gameplay loop is interesting, but playing through every previous mode in the game as Meta Knight is not it. It's just lazy padding using nothing more than recycled content. It's even more annoying since that means we're playing through Great Cave Offensive, Revenge of Meta Knight, and Milky Way Wishes all over again but this time without the gimmicks that made them unique. Just a thoroughly boring mode through and through. I really don't think Ultra is as much of an improvement over Super Star as most people seem to think, because the new modes just aren't that good or interesting.
Gotta say though, Masked Dedede and Galacta Knight are fantastic. Gotta give Ultra credit for that.
Edit: Turns out, you actually CAN discard your ability without spawning a helper by using the select button, which you couldn't do in the original! Thank you @GalacticSpear for letting me know. This is a huge quality of life feature and I'm so happy it was included. I can now agree with everyone that Ultra is a bigger improvement over Super Star than I originally thought. My rating and overall sentiment stays the same though; just ignore the second paragraph.
Super Star Ultra is a solid remake of a good game. My favourite thing about Ultra is that it feels very "DS-core", despite not even originating as a DS game. The anthology approach just works so much more naturally on a handheld than on a home console, and the bottom screen adds some quality of life enhancements that improve the experience. The game also looks a bit better too, and I enjoyed the CG cutscenes. The sound is worse, but that's minor. I'd still stick with the original if I wanted to play multiplayer, but if I ever want to play Super Star in single-player in the future I'll definitely play this version. It's just a straight upgrade.
However, Ultra still keeps the flaws of the original game and in some ways worsens them. My biggest issue is the helpers. Helpers are a cool idea, but they absolutely trivialize the entire game's difficulty, in addition to just being annoying due to spawning in every time you try to discard an ability. Since Kirby games usually give you many different ways to play the game, I find it baffling that they didn't add an option to turn off the helpers. I think that single feature would've made the game SIGNIFICANTLY better.
I am also annoyed by this game's reliance on recycled content. I already disliked this in Super Star, as Milky Way Wishes and the Arena were already mostly recycled content from the game's other modes, but every single one of Ultra's new modes just exacerbates this. Revenge of the King is the only new mode that has any new level design, but is essentially just a harder Spring Breeze with most of the same bosses. Helper to Hero and the True Arena are just more Arenas. And... Meta Knightmare Ultra... what a horrible mode. I think the concept of Meta Knightmare Ultra's gameplay loop is interesting, but playing through every previous mode in the game as Meta Knight is not it. It's just lazy padding using nothing more than recycled content. It's even more annoying since that means we're playing through Great Cave Offensive, Revenge of Meta Knight, and Milky Way Wishes all over again but this time without the gimmicks that made them unique. Just a thoroughly boring mode through and through. I really don't think Ultra is as much of an improvement over Super Star as most people seem to think, because the new modes just aren't that good or interesting.
Gotta say though, Masked Dedede and Galacta Knight are fantastic. Gotta give Ultra credit for that.
Edit: Turns out, you actually CAN discard your ability without spawning a helper by using the select button, which you couldn't do in the original! Thank you @GalacticSpear for letting me know. This is a huge quality of life feature and I'm so happy it was included. I can now agree with everyone that Ultra is a bigger improvement over Super Star than I originally thought. My rating and overall sentiment stays the same though; just ignore the second paragraph.
Every time I play a Kirby game I'm always blown away by the polish and Super Star Ultra has polish in excess. each ability has a particularly fleshed out moveset compared to prior games with unique but intuitive controls for each, and they're all pretty satisfying to use because of how unreal the visual and sound design is in this game, not to mention how tight and deliberate Kirby's controls are on their own (and Meta Knight is a whole lot of fun in his own right being the Vergil to Kirby's Dante). the attention to detail is unmatched. the music is so cracked it's unfair—i don't think I've heard a better game soundtrack in my life. it's a great example of that infinite Nintendo money put to good use. I only wish it weren't so easy, and that I played it as a kid. play co-op if you can.
A game stuffed with content, probably one of Kirby's best games out there. The DS version alone has a lot of my playtime due to Helper To Hero.
I remember the moment I unwrapped my birthday gift my aunt gave me and seeing the shiny cover for the first time. I was so happy to have a Kirby game again since my neighbor friends stole nightmare in Dreamland from me. I played this game so much trying to 100% it but I could never beat the true area. I finally 100% a few years ago and it was so fun. The remake was definitely worth it. Graphics are better, the gameplay feels better and it's portable! Definitely play this game if you liked the original.
It's Kirby Super Star with some more stuff added. The additions are all pretty good from what I remember, mainly some additional hard mode versions of the original game's campaigns with some twists added in. The only downsides of this version of the game is that the music sounds worse and the background graphics are no longer pre-rendered sprites. The redrawn backgrounds just don't have the same evocative look when they are no longer mid-90s CG renders.
Peak Kirby gameplay. A classic for the ages and one of my favorite childhood games.
A fun way to get into Kirby . The music , the different stories was so fun to play I replayed it many times
None of the campaigns individually are amazing but as a complete package SSU is pretty bonkers
Kirby Super Star Ultra is pretty good. A unique approach with it's anthology-based structure and this allowed it to come up with some pretty creative modes in the form of Great Cave Offensive and Milky Way Wishes and both modes kinda make me wonder how a Kirby Metroidvania would work. There's some foundations here for that.
Then there's Meta Knight's Revenge, which was an enjoyable high-speed mode. I actually came quite close to running out of time in some parts. Speaking of high-speed, Gourmet Race is a classic. I did play that one in the original and i feel it controls better here?
Spring Breeze and Dyna Blade are fairly standard Kirby adventures. The former is just a remake of Kirby's Dream Land. So fun but nothing to write home about.
Ultra did add some new modes, mainly Revenge of the King and Meta Knight Ultra. While Revenge of the King is a good "hard mode" version of Spring Breeze (and even introduced Masked Dedede, this whole time i was being gaslit to think that was a Triple Deluxe thing), Meta Knight Ultra is fun at first but it's just redoing the original modes (minus Gourmet Race and Great Cave) as Meta Knight. The only difference is you fight Galacta Knight at the end but honestly i would've preferred it if it was more original.
As a whole, Super Star Ultra is very fun and i wouldn't mind if they did something like this again. Maybe now that the series has fully gone 3D, they could do a "3D Super Star" or something.
Then there's Meta Knight's Revenge, which was an enjoyable high-speed mode. I actually came quite close to running out of time in some parts. Speaking of high-speed, Gourmet Race is a classic. I did play that one in the original and i feel it controls better here?
Spring Breeze and Dyna Blade are fairly standard Kirby adventures. The former is just a remake of Kirby's Dream Land. So fun but nothing to write home about.
Ultra did add some new modes, mainly Revenge of the King and Meta Knight Ultra. While Revenge of the King is a good "hard mode" version of Spring Breeze (and even introduced Masked Dedede, this whole time i was being gaslit to think that was a Triple Deluxe thing), Meta Knight Ultra is fun at first but it's just redoing the original modes (minus Gourmet Race and Great Cave) as Meta Knight. The only difference is you fight Galacta Knight at the end but honestly i would've preferred it if it was more original.
As a whole, Super Star Ultra is very fun and i wouldn't mind if they did something like this again. Maybe now that the series has fully gone 3D, they could do a "3D Super Star" or something.
Peak 2D Kirby. Marx is literally me 😭😭
This was my first Kirby game and I think this was a great intro into the Kirby franchise. Plenty of smaller games to play with tons of different styles and feels. Shorter games, longer games, mini-games, arenas, small levels, big and interconnected worlds, music player, and even something similar to new game+. Plenty of variety and something for everyone. I was a bit sad to learn that other Kirby games did not feature the teammate mechanic, but that’s ok.
Quantity and quality
Replayed this again and it's so much fun and so cute!! There's so many modes and stuff to do in both singleplayer and multiplayer, it even includes minigames...I haven't 100% this game yet but I just might in the future just cause <3
Edit: Just 100% it today, it was worth it <3
Edit: Just 100% it today, it was worth it <3
The best Kirby game and it's not even close. Every mini-game here is elite.
Galacta Goddamn Knight
I fucjkin love kiby
Replaying this after playing the original made me realize that Ultra is a really good remake, but I'd put it around the same score due to most of it being the same and due to my opinions on the new main games:
Revenge of the King: I quite like this one. I'm a big Dedede fan and Masked Dedede comes from this but nothing super crazy either. I guess I'm a little biased here but ehhh, more in favour of this game.
Meta Knightmare Ultra: I don't know if this is a hot take or not, but I don't like this one. It's basically NG+ but with Meta Knight and that'd be fine and all but it doesn't feel like enough for me to want to play the game again as weird as it is to say. Galacta Knight is cool though.
Helper to Hero: A good concept but again, not something I particularly love. I mean, playing as the Helpers is pretty cool but I feel like there's more that could've been done rather than a smaller version of The Arena.
The True Arena: Definitely the best one, the harder versions of each boss along with the four new bosses saved for the end makes this a great way to finish off the game.
My opinions on the main games are sort of all over the place, but that doesn't change how well made this game is, I just feel like it's rated a little lower than I would've wanted to after revisiting it, but it's still a fine game nonetheless. Overall, this remake has great qualities to it but the new main games are sort of all over the place for whether I like them or not.
Revenge of the King: I quite like this one. I'm a big Dedede fan and Masked Dedede comes from this but nothing super crazy either. I guess I'm a little biased here but ehhh, more in favour of this game.
Meta Knightmare Ultra: I don't know if this is a hot take or not, but I don't like this one. It's basically NG+ but with Meta Knight and that'd be fine and all but it doesn't feel like enough for me to want to play the game again as weird as it is to say. Galacta Knight is cool though.
Helper to Hero: A good concept but again, not something I particularly love. I mean, playing as the Helpers is pretty cool but I feel like there's more that could've been done rather than a smaller version of The Arena.
The True Arena: Definitely the best one, the harder versions of each boss along with the four new bosses saved for the end makes this a great way to finish off the game.
My opinions on the main games are sort of all over the place, but that doesn't change how well made this game is, I just feel like it's rated a little lower than I would've wanted to after revisiting it, but it's still a fine game nonetheless. Overall, this remake has great qualities to it but the new main games are sort of all over the place for whether I like them or not.