This game is so cute and charming, it really puts such an emphasis on the "robobot" aspect of the game. It has a good variety of abilities that are amplified in the sense that all of Kirby's past abilities are now applicable to the mechs who use said abilities in different ways, such as the rock ability being a punching add on. It is cute, stylish, unique in its worlds near the end, and sticks the landing with a great final boss that is super grandiose in classic Kirby fashion. Great entry in the title, and a good Kirby game that took advantage of the 3ds hardware.
It only took me until the end of the first world for me to deem this one of the very best Kirby games I’ve ever played.
Right off the bat, the game’s visuals are outstanding. All of the game’s environments and enemies have mechanical tweaks to their designs. NPCs drive cars, enemies have metallic armor and weapons, and technology is embedded in every facet of the world. It’s a visual identity unique to the series and is a huge step up from the previous entries—Return to Dreamland and Triple Deluxe—which, while good games, featured fairly standard Kirby aesthetics. In addition, the best elements of the 3D effect from Triple Deluxe are improved upon with new visual tricks and dynamic camera angles. Planet Robobot takes a series with already good visual design and amplifies it even more, all with a unique twist to boot. The music is also great.
Most modern Kirby games have some sort of “gimmick” to spice up the regular gameplay of action-platforming. Return to Dreamland has the Super Copy Abilities, Triple Deluxe has the Hypernova Ability, and Star Allies has the Friend Abilities. Planet Robobot’s mech suit gimmick is far and away the best gameplay hook of these games. Like Kirby, the mech suit can copy the abilities of enemies, except now they are enhanced to an extreme degree. Instead of throwing boomerangs, for example, Kirby’s mech suit can shoot ginormous saw blades. All of the copy abilities available for the mech suit are interesting and a ton of fun to use. The best part is that you get to use the mech suit fairly often throughout the game, as opposed to every few levels like with other modern Kirby gimmicks. There’s also a decent amount of variety in the way the robobot suit is used, leading to some insanely cool moments. I swear… It seemed like I was saying “THIS IS SO COOL” every five minutes. I dare not spoil the finale; it’s a treat.
Some other positives are worth mentioning. The game’s narrative is solid. The threat of the villains is established early on, and you feel their corruptive and immense presence throughout the journey. Susie is also a standout character, and her presence introduces some welcome mystery elements into the plot. Upon completion of the main campaign, you can unlock a boss rush mode and an alternate time attack campaign where you play as Meta Knight, both solid rewards. Like Triple Deluxe, you can also unlock extra levels by finding certain collectibles hidden throughout each stage. The more you invest in the game, the more you get out of it. It’s an excellent design decision.
So why did I not give Planet Robobot a score higher than an 8/10? To be honest, I toyed around with giving it a higher score, but a few things prevented me from doing that. I’ll go through them quickly. Like Triple Deluxe, the game allows you to travel between the foreground and background of levels, and the concept isn’t executed as well as it could have been. To be fair, Planet Robobot does much more interesting things with the idea than Triple Deluxe, but there is still some missed potential that isn’t met. Additionally, the mech suit gameplay now makes the general experience even easier than Triple Deluxe. The tradeoff, oddly enough, is that the game is more fun to play (Like I mentioned in a previous review, difficulty is a really hard thing to critique in a game). Still, I do think there could have been more opportunities to challenge more experienced players in the main campaign. The quality of the game’s puzzles is generally better than Triple Deluxe, but closer to the end of the game, you run into a few puzzles that require a death or level reset to complete if you mess up, an unnecessary addition that adds some tedium to an otherwise expertly paced experience. Lastly, the subgames this time around are just okay. They’re not bad, but they’re unimpressive and forgettable. None of these issues are super huge, and if it makes you feel better, you can see my score as an 8.5/10.
Despite some hiccups, though, Planet Robobot is easily one of my all-time favorite 2D Kirby games, right alongside Super Star Ultra, Return to Dream Land, and Kirby 64. Some of the best visual and gameplay elements in the series come together to create a fun and engaging little game that delighted and surprised me. If you happen to still have a 3DS, do not hesitate to play this, preferably with the 3D effect on full blast. Give the pink puffball some love.
Right off the bat, the game’s visuals are outstanding. All of the game’s environments and enemies have mechanical tweaks to their designs. NPCs drive cars, enemies have metallic armor and weapons, and technology is embedded in every facet of the world. It’s a visual identity unique to the series and is a huge step up from the previous entries—Return to Dreamland and Triple Deluxe—which, while good games, featured fairly standard Kirby aesthetics. In addition, the best elements of the 3D effect from Triple Deluxe are improved upon with new visual tricks and dynamic camera angles. Planet Robobot takes a series with already good visual design and amplifies it even more, all with a unique twist to boot. The music is also great.
Most modern Kirby games have some sort of “gimmick” to spice up the regular gameplay of action-platforming. Return to Dreamland has the Super Copy Abilities, Triple Deluxe has the Hypernova Ability, and Star Allies has the Friend Abilities. Planet Robobot’s mech suit gimmick is far and away the best gameplay hook of these games. Like Kirby, the mech suit can copy the abilities of enemies, except now they are enhanced to an extreme degree. Instead of throwing boomerangs, for example, Kirby’s mech suit can shoot ginormous saw blades. All of the copy abilities available for the mech suit are interesting and a ton of fun to use. The best part is that you get to use the mech suit fairly often throughout the game, as opposed to every few levels like with other modern Kirby gimmicks. There’s also a decent amount of variety in the way the robobot suit is used, leading to some insanely cool moments. I swear… It seemed like I was saying “THIS IS SO COOL” every five minutes. I dare not spoil the finale; it’s a treat.
Some other positives are worth mentioning. The game’s narrative is solid. The threat of the villains is established early on, and you feel their corruptive and immense presence throughout the journey. Susie is also a standout character, and her presence introduces some welcome mystery elements into the plot. Upon completion of the main campaign, you can unlock a boss rush mode and an alternate time attack campaign where you play as Meta Knight, both solid rewards. Like Triple Deluxe, you can also unlock extra levels by finding certain collectibles hidden throughout each stage. The more you invest in the game, the more you get out of it. It’s an excellent design decision.
So why did I not give Planet Robobot a score higher than an 8/10? To be honest, I toyed around with giving it a higher score, but a few things prevented me from doing that. I’ll go through them quickly. Like Triple Deluxe, the game allows you to travel between the foreground and background of levels, and the concept isn’t executed as well as it could have been. To be fair, Planet Robobot does much more interesting things with the idea than Triple Deluxe, but there is still some missed potential that isn’t met. Additionally, the mech suit gameplay now makes the general experience even easier than Triple Deluxe. The tradeoff, oddly enough, is that the game is more fun to play (Like I mentioned in a previous review, difficulty is a really hard thing to critique in a game). Still, I do think there could have been more opportunities to challenge more experienced players in the main campaign. The quality of the game’s puzzles is generally better than Triple Deluxe, but closer to the end of the game, you run into a few puzzles that require a death or level reset to complete if you mess up, an unnecessary addition that adds some tedium to an otherwise expertly paced experience. Lastly, the subgames this time around are just okay. They’re not bad, but they’re unimpressive and forgettable. None of these issues are super huge, and if it makes you feel better, you can see my score as an 8.5/10.
Despite some hiccups, though, Planet Robobot is easily one of my all-time favorite 2D Kirby games, right alongside Super Star Ultra, Return to Dream Land, and Kirby 64. Some of the best visual and gameplay elements in the series come together to create a fun and engaging little game that delighted and surprised me. If you happen to still have a 3DS, do not hesitate to play this, preferably with the 3D effect on full blast. Give the pink puffball some love.
Prolly the most interest thing kirby has served since superstar, though still nothing super crazy. not a huge fan of the robot mechanic but its very cool that they gave the robot itself unique equivalents to each of kirby's copy abilities that make it way more interesting than most other super-modes in videogames
Despite being a huge mecha and Kirby fan, I just did not vibe with this one much. Still a fun game, tho.