Kirby's Adventure was actually the first game I ever let's played when I still had my old YouTube channel back in the day. I chose it because around that time, I got an NES and figured it was a good game to play first because it's so easy. Turns out, I really sucked at the game lol. Since I was using a camcorder and didn't know how to edit videos, I had to keep every single death in too. I may have sucked ass but I truly wish I still had those videos, as sadly they're lost to time now. Anyways, playing this again brought me right back to those memories of making the videos 10+ years ago, good AND bad memories.
Let's start with the biggest addition, the copy abilities. This was the first game to have then. And it kinda shows. You have a ton of classic abilities here; sword, hammer, cutter, needle etc. The NES was very limited with its buttons, so the move sets are super simplistic, but it works well. The reason I said "it kinda shows" was they have abilities that would later just be combined into one. Ice/freeze and fire/fireball. Freeze and fireball are both so much better than ice and fire, there was just no need to have both. But of course, they had to be split due to the NES controller only having two face buttons. Overall, a decent selection of copy abilities but not great imo.
For an NES game, and compared to dreamland 1's graphics, this game looks great. While I'm personally just not a fan of how NES games look in general, this game does have a very consistent color palette which I can commend. It's no Dreamland 3, but again it looks nice for the console it's on.
The OST is ofc good again, all Kirby games are. This game introduced a buncha songs that have become staples now. Butter Bridge is a big one, such a banger. Honestly might be my favorite version of that song too, it's that clean.
The level design is solid though I feel like no level really sticks out and they all just blend together. The levels have these switches that you can find in the stages that unlock little parts of the map outside of the levels, and let me tell you some of them are mean. I only found a couple this playthrough, but I feel like with some of them, you'd absolutely need a guide. Like I said, there's a map. Besides the main levels, there's other stuff you can do. There's little arena sections where you can fight a boss for a maxim tomato. There's a copy ability room where you can get a specific ability anytime you want. And then there's the little minigames that can net you some lives. All of them are fun but my personal favorite was always the crane game.
Something I did not like back then, and this still applies to the NSO version, is the lag that happens in game. Every single room you're gonna get some sort of lag, and sometimes it chugs hard when there's like 4 enemies on screen or a fire/ice/electric effect is happening. I get they wanted to make the game look super good but it was at the cost of the game not running well which stinks. Apparently the 3DS version fixes this funnily enough? But the E-Shop is now closed so ahhh that blows. Also I never really liked how you barely have any invincibility frames in this game. The game is easy but it can be super easy for enemies to stun lock you in certain circumstances, especially since enemies respawn. Not a huge issue but it did annoy me somewhat even on this replay.
This game brings back a lot of good memories but sadly this was never one of my favorite Kirby games. It's definitely a solid time but I like most of the other mainline games more. Honestly, I think I like Dreamland 1 more just because it's so short and comfy. Ah well, still recommended for anyone looking to get into Kirby or NES games in general!
Let's start with the biggest addition, the copy abilities. This was the first game to have then. And it kinda shows. You have a ton of classic abilities here; sword, hammer, cutter, needle etc. The NES was very limited with its buttons, so the move sets are super simplistic, but it works well. The reason I said "it kinda shows" was they have abilities that would later just be combined into one. Ice/freeze and fire/fireball. Freeze and fireball are both so much better than ice and fire, there was just no need to have both. But of course, they had to be split due to the NES controller only having two face buttons. Overall, a decent selection of copy abilities but not great imo.
For an NES game, and compared to dreamland 1's graphics, this game looks great. While I'm personally just not a fan of how NES games look in general, this game does have a very consistent color palette which I can commend. It's no Dreamland 3, but again it looks nice for the console it's on.
The OST is ofc good again, all Kirby games are. This game introduced a buncha songs that have become staples now. Butter Bridge is a big one, such a banger. Honestly might be my favorite version of that song too, it's that clean.
The level design is solid though I feel like no level really sticks out and they all just blend together. The levels have these switches that you can find in the stages that unlock little parts of the map outside of the levels, and let me tell you some of them are mean. I only found a couple this playthrough, but I feel like with some of them, you'd absolutely need a guide. Like I said, there's a map. Besides the main levels, there's other stuff you can do. There's little arena sections where you can fight a boss for a maxim tomato. There's a copy ability room where you can get a specific ability anytime you want. And then there's the little minigames that can net you some lives. All of them are fun but my personal favorite was always the crane game.
Something I did not like back then, and this still applies to the NSO version, is the lag that happens in game. Every single room you're gonna get some sort of lag, and sometimes it chugs hard when there's like 4 enemies on screen or a fire/ice/electric effect is happening. I get they wanted to make the game look super good but it was at the cost of the game not running well which stinks. Apparently the 3DS version fixes this funnily enough? But the E-Shop is now closed so ahhh that blows. Also I never really liked how you barely have any invincibility frames in this game. The game is easy but it can be super easy for enemies to stun lock you in certain circumstances, especially since enemies respawn. Not a huge issue but it did annoy me somewhat even on this replay.
This game brings back a lot of good memories but sadly this was never one of my favorite Kirby games. It's definitely a solid time but I like most of the other mainline games more. Honestly, I think I like Dreamland 1 more just because it's so short and comfy. Ah well, still recommended for anyone looking to get into Kirby or NES games in general!
as someone who grew up with the gba remake, this is better in pretty much every single regard. so much more animated and aesthetically consistent - and all the more memorable for it. the dreamy sanrio vibes have never been done better
one of the most visually polished nes games for sure. extremely easy but doesn't overstay its welcome
one of the most visually polished nes games for sure. extremely easy but doesn't overstay its welcome
The original Kirby’s Dream Land, while still being a good game on its own, is what I would consider a mere appetizer at the end of the day: it is pretty good while it lasts, but it only serves to keep you satisfied until the main course. Because trust me, it only goes up from here in terms of quality, folks. Shortly after that game’s original release, the next Kirby project would be to port Kirby’s Dream Land to the NES, but as you could probably guess, that project ultimately didn’t go anywhere. However, just like with Link’s Awakening, the project wasn’t ultimately abandoned, but instead, reworked to become a brand new, completely original title for the Kirby series, which would not only expand the base game, but also expand Kirby’s abilities even further. Not only that, but they would, you know, actually make Kirby pink, instead of being gray. Can’t believe it took them 2 games in order to get that right, but hey, that’s what a lack of communication can do to a product initially. Anyway, after some time, this game’s development would be completed, and it would go on to be released as Kirby’s Adventure.
This may just be one of, if not the most, important Kirby games ever made, in terms of establishing what Kirby is all about. Sure, Kirby’s Dream Land did set up the foundation for the series’ main gameplay structure that it would rely on for many years to come, but in terms of many of the series staple elements that are still some of its strongest to this day, we have Kirby’s Adventure to thank for that. That alone deserves some level of praise and recognition, but even if we don’t take that into consideration, Kirby’s Adventure is still a pretty great game, even after 30 years. Sure, it may be pretty basic for a Kirby game, and there are some things holding it back from being perfect, but when it comes to progressing the series further, as well as just how fun the game is in general, it manages to retain that sense of fun and quality to this day.
The story is pretty similar to that of the first Kirby game, but instead of getting back all of Dream Land’s food, you are instead getting back all of its dreams, which may or may not be more important depending on where your priorities lie when you think about it, the graphics are pretty great, not only capturing the essence of Kirby through and through, but also having a very distinct style and look, taking full advantage of the NES’s hardware, the music is solid all around, having plenty of cheery and catchy tunes, which would go on to receive plenty of remixes later down the road for future installments, the control is basic and easy to pick up and understand, with no real issues that I could find with them, and the gameplay is, in many ways, the same as Kirby’s Dream Land, but in plenty of other ways, it is expanded upon and made even better.
The game is your typical 2D platformer, where you take control of the pink puff himself, go through a set of seven worlds, each with plenty of levels for you to run through and have a blast in, suck and swallow or spit back out many different innocent creatures that you will brutally murder, because what else is Kirby known for other than senseless destruction and genocide, gather plenty of health items and extra lives to help you out throughout your journey, and take on plenty of charming and enjoyable boss fights, both old ones returning from Kirby’s Dream Land, and new ones that would also become recurring threats in the franchise, or just one-offs only dealt with in this game. At its core, Kirby’s Adventure’s gameplay is more or less just the same as Kirby’s Dream Land, except bigger, better, and more colorful, which is already pretty good on its own, but there are several new additions that would define what makes Kirby who he is today.
The biggest and best new inclusion in this game would without a doubt be the Copy Ability, where whenever Kirby inhales and swallows a certain type of enemy, he can steal their power to use for himself. Not only was this a pretty cool idea that ended up working really well, but a lot of the Copy Abilities in this game are pretty fun to use, even if they are a bit basic, such as with Sword, Fire, Cutter, and Spark. Of course, this would become a staple of the Kirby franchise, with many different games after this utilizing this formula and introducing plenty of new abilities that would get even more weird and creative. In terms of the original set of copy abilities, again, they are pretty basic, but they are still really fun to use, and definitely make this game much more fun than the previous game. I mean, really, there was only so much sucking and spitting that you could do before it got boring after a while (if you didn’t find this phrasing inappropriate before, you probably do now).
Aside from that though, there were also several other elements introduced in this game that would become staples of the franchise, such as the side content. Most Kirby games after this would implement some selection of side-games of minigames to help increase replay value of the game, and while they could just be seen as a waste of time and too simple for their own good, they are still fun to play through whenever they are included. For this game though, the minigames you do get only serve to give you extra lives throughout your journey, which you don’t really need, considering it is a Kirby game, but even then, it is all worth it just to play these minigames. Seriously, if you somehow don’t find Egg Catcher or Quick Draw at least somewhat fun, then I don’t think you have a soul, frankly. Alongside those are also museums that store copy abilities for you to get whenever you want, as well as arenas where you can fight minibosses for extra lives, so it is safe to say there is plenty to do across this whole game.
And finally, the last new element that this game introduces would be with a brand new character, one that would go on to become one of the most recognizable faces in the franchise: Meta Knight. Meta Knight is my favorite character in the series, without a doubt, as not only does he have a fantastic design and a personality that I adore, but usually when it comes to Kirby games, his fights are always one of the highlights of them, whether they are simply just sword fights, or fights that are turned up to the extreme, which typically happens in this series. As for Kirby’s Adventure though, his fight is pretty standard, but it can still be tough if you aren’t too careful while trying to slash at him, and it ends up being fun enough. He mainly just serves as the instigator for these arena fights you have with his henchmen, which I will admit, aren’t really all that great, as they are pretty tedious, but they don’t bring the game down that much.
As much as I do love Kirby’s Adventure though, I can still admit that the game isn’t perfect by any means. First of all, while I do appreciate that Copy Abilities are introduced here, and a good number of them are fun to use, some of them just seem completely unnecessary. For example, there is the basic Fire ability, which just lets you breathe fire, but then there is also the Fireball ability, where you can fire yourself forward while engulfed in flames. That’s cool and all, but did we really need two fire abilities in the same game? The same can be said for both Ice and Freeze as well. Secondly, there are some abilities that I just don’t like at all, such as the Ball ability, where you… are a ball, and you roll around, and… that is about it. There may be more to it that I am not seeing, but I just can’t get a hang of this power, and I never like using it. And then there is the Sleep ability, which… do I need to go into any more detail with that one?
Finally, this may just be my own personal gripe, but I think this game just may be a biiiiiiiiiit too long. Yeah, I know, it is ironic, saying that after I said the previous game was way too short, but I have always thought that about this game, even when I first played it. Sure, I do have a lot of fun when it comes to a wide majority of the levels, but whenever I get to, like, the second half of World 6, I am usually thinking to myself at that point “Man, how much more is there”, which I don’t typically think too much when playing other Kirby games. This is probably down to there being not too much variety when it comes to a lot of the levels in the game. I don’t know, I can’t be the only one that thinks this, right? There’s gotta be someone else that shares that sentiment.
Overall, despite some pointless and flatout terrible copy abilities, as well as the game being a little longer than it needs to be, this is still a fantastic game all the way to this day, and what I would consider to be the TRUE start of the Kirby franchise. I would definitely recommend it for those who are fans of the Kirby series, for those who have played through Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land, or for those who wanna see what the Kirby series is all about, because this is certainly a great place to start. I mean, come on, there aren’t many other games out there where you literally have to beat up the Sun and the Moon. That alone should be enough to convince you to give it a shot.
Game #394
This may just be one of, if not the most, important Kirby games ever made, in terms of establishing what Kirby is all about. Sure, Kirby’s Dream Land did set up the foundation for the series’ main gameplay structure that it would rely on for many years to come, but in terms of many of the series staple elements that are still some of its strongest to this day, we have Kirby’s Adventure to thank for that. That alone deserves some level of praise and recognition, but even if we don’t take that into consideration, Kirby’s Adventure is still a pretty great game, even after 30 years. Sure, it may be pretty basic for a Kirby game, and there are some things holding it back from being perfect, but when it comes to progressing the series further, as well as just how fun the game is in general, it manages to retain that sense of fun and quality to this day.
The story is pretty similar to that of the first Kirby game, but instead of getting back all of Dream Land’s food, you are instead getting back all of its dreams, which may or may not be more important depending on where your priorities lie when you think about it, the graphics are pretty great, not only capturing the essence of Kirby through and through, but also having a very distinct style and look, taking full advantage of the NES’s hardware, the music is solid all around, having plenty of cheery and catchy tunes, which would go on to receive plenty of remixes later down the road for future installments, the control is basic and easy to pick up and understand, with no real issues that I could find with them, and the gameplay is, in many ways, the same as Kirby’s Dream Land, but in plenty of other ways, it is expanded upon and made even better.
The game is your typical 2D platformer, where you take control of the pink puff himself, go through a set of seven worlds, each with plenty of levels for you to run through and have a blast in, suck and swallow or spit back out many different innocent creatures that you will brutally murder, because what else is Kirby known for other than senseless destruction and genocide, gather plenty of health items and extra lives to help you out throughout your journey, and take on plenty of charming and enjoyable boss fights, both old ones returning from Kirby’s Dream Land, and new ones that would also become recurring threats in the franchise, or just one-offs only dealt with in this game. At its core, Kirby’s Adventure’s gameplay is more or less just the same as Kirby’s Dream Land, except bigger, better, and more colorful, which is already pretty good on its own, but there are several new additions that would define what makes Kirby who he is today.
The biggest and best new inclusion in this game would without a doubt be the Copy Ability, where whenever Kirby inhales and swallows a certain type of enemy, he can steal their power to use for himself. Not only was this a pretty cool idea that ended up working really well, but a lot of the Copy Abilities in this game are pretty fun to use, even if they are a bit basic, such as with Sword, Fire, Cutter, and Spark. Of course, this would become a staple of the Kirby franchise, with many different games after this utilizing this formula and introducing plenty of new abilities that would get even more weird and creative. In terms of the original set of copy abilities, again, they are pretty basic, but they are still really fun to use, and definitely make this game much more fun than the previous game. I mean, really, there was only so much sucking and spitting that you could do before it got boring after a while (if you didn’t find this phrasing inappropriate before, you probably do now).
Aside from that though, there were also several other elements introduced in this game that would become staples of the franchise, such as the side content. Most Kirby games after this would implement some selection of side-games of minigames to help increase replay value of the game, and while they could just be seen as a waste of time and too simple for their own good, they are still fun to play through whenever they are included. For this game though, the minigames you do get only serve to give you extra lives throughout your journey, which you don’t really need, considering it is a Kirby game, but even then, it is all worth it just to play these minigames. Seriously, if you somehow don’t find Egg Catcher or Quick Draw at least somewhat fun, then I don’t think you have a soul, frankly. Alongside those are also museums that store copy abilities for you to get whenever you want, as well as arenas where you can fight minibosses for extra lives, so it is safe to say there is plenty to do across this whole game.
And finally, the last new element that this game introduces would be with a brand new character, one that would go on to become one of the most recognizable faces in the franchise: Meta Knight. Meta Knight is my favorite character in the series, without a doubt, as not only does he have a fantastic design and a personality that I adore, but usually when it comes to Kirby games, his fights are always one of the highlights of them, whether they are simply just sword fights, or fights that are turned up to the extreme, which typically happens in this series. As for Kirby’s Adventure though, his fight is pretty standard, but it can still be tough if you aren’t too careful while trying to slash at him, and it ends up being fun enough. He mainly just serves as the instigator for these arena fights you have with his henchmen, which I will admit, aren’t really all that great, as they are pretty tedious, but they don’t bring the game down that much.
As much as I do love Kirby’s Adventure though, I can still admit that the game isn’t perfect by any means. First of all, while I do appreciate that Copy Abilities are introduced here, and a good number of them are fun to use, some of them just seem completely unnecessary. For example, there is the basic Fire ability, which just lets you breathe fire, but then there is also the Fireball ability, where you can fire yourself forward while engulfed in flames. That’s cool and all, but did we really need two fire abilities in the same game? The same can be said for both Ice and Freeze as well. Secondly, there are some abilities that I just don’t like at all, such as the Ball ability, where you… are a ball, and you roll around, and… that is about it. There may be more to it that I am not seeing, but I just can’t get a hang of this power, and I never like using it. And then there is the Sleep ability, which… do I need to go into any more detail with that one?
Finally, this may just be my own personal gripe, but I think this game just may be a biiiiiiiiiit too long. Yeah, I know, it is ironic, saying that after I said the previous game was way too short, but I have always thought that about this game, even when I first played it. Sure, I do have a lot of fun when it comes to a wide majority of the levels, but whenever I get to, like, the second half of World 6, I am usually thinking to myself at that point “Man, how much more is there”, which I don’t typically think too much when playing other Kirby games. This is probably down to there being not too much variety when it comes to a lot of the levels in the game. I don’t know, I can’t be the only one that thinks this, right? There’s gotta be someone else that shares that sentiment.
Overall, despite some pointless and flatout terrible copy abilities, as well as the game being a little longer than it needs to be, this is still a fantastic game all the way to this day, and what I would consider to be the TRUE start of the Kirby franchise. I would definitely recommend it for those who are fans of the Kirby series, for those who have played through Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land, or for those who wanna see what the Kirby series is all about, because this is certainly a great place to start. I mean, come on, there aren’t many other games out there where you literally have to beat up the Sun and the Moon. That alone should be enough to convince you to give it a shot.
Game #394
A entrada do ritmo frenético na franquia
Gostei muito do Adventure e após ter jogado o Dream land da pra perceber perfeitamente o salto que teve em gameplay depois do primeiro jogo. O nosso amiguinho rosa ficou muito mais frenético e adquiriu a sua habilidade mais conhecida de roubar poderes, mas claro.. não foi só ele que ficou frenético, seus inimigos também ficaram e com isso o jogo ficou um pouco mais desafiador nessa versão do NES.
O único contato que tive até então com o Adventure foi no remake dele la do GBA e eu gostei muito desse jogo, só que claro que nesse remake a dificuldade dele foi um pouco mais abaixada no meu ponto de vista e ÓBVIO que o desempenho do console contribuiu pra isso, já que a dificuldade do Adventure original do NES é bem maior por conta da lentidão do console que infelizmente causa imprecisão nos comandos.
Mas fora isso, jogão envelheceu bem nos gráficos e nas musiquinhas, gostei muito mais desse do que o primeirão principalmente por esse ser mais porrada atrás da outra, mas assim, se você quiser jogar o Adventure ultimamente eu recomendo que você vá pelo remake do GBA e não pelo original, já que la o jogo ta bem melhor pra jogar e a sua experiência vai ser bem mais redondinha, igual o Kirby.
Gostei muito do Adventure e após ter jogado o Dream land da pra perceber perfeitamente o salto que teve em gameplay depois do primeiro jogo. O nosso amiguinho rosa ficou muito mais frenético e adquiriu a sua habilidade mais conhecida de roubar poderes, mas claro.. não foi só ele que ficou frenético, seus inimigos também ficaram e com isso o jogo ficou um pouco mais desafiador nessa versão do NES.
O único contato que tive até então com o Adventure foi no remake dele la do GBA e eu gostei muito desse jogo, só que claro que nesse remake a dificuldade dele foi um pouco mais abaixada no meu ponto de vista e ÓBVIO que o desempenho do console contribuiu pra isso, já que a dificuldade do Adventure original do NES é bem maior por conta da lentidão do console que infelizmente causa imprecisão nos comandos.
Mas fora isso, jogão envelheceu bem nos gráficos e nas musiquinhas, gostei muito mais desse do que o primeirão principalmente por esse ser mais porrada atrás da outra, mas assim, se você quiser jogar o Adventure ultimamente eu recomendo que você vá pelo remake do GBA e não pelo original, já que la o jogo ta bem melhor pra jogar e a sua experiência vai ser bem mais redondinha, igual o Kirby.
There are some unfair enemy placements, and the boss patterns are fairly unreadable and quick at times, but this is a Kirby-venture, and it looks stunning on NES for being one. It's by no means an unfairly difficult game, but it might just challenge you a bit compared to other Kirbs.
Just remember, if you're on Switch, the - button is the one that takes away your ability. I learnt that on the 6th World and I felt pretty stupid. ;-;
Just remember, if you're on Switch, the - button is the one that takes away your ability. I learnt that on the 6th World and I felt pretty stupid. ;-;
This game is essentially the perfect NES game, and it stoll holds up incredibly to this day. Absolutely everything is ahead of its time, including the visuals, music, boss fights, gameplay, hub world, difficulty, and lives system. it pulls everything off so much better than every other NES game and doesnt feel infuriating or clunky at all to play today.
It’s absolutely wild that I had no idea how foundational this game was to the further Kirby series and especially Super Star, though I suppose it shouldn’t be so surprised how much it has in common with the latter. I did play the GBA remake back in the day, though at the time I had the incorrect impression that was spruced up in specific ways to resemble the anime. I was quite wrong! Or rather, I suppose the anime took a lot more from Kirby’s Adventure than I initially expected. Also the Kirby’s Avalanche soundtrack. This is where all those tracks were from…
It’s a little weird playing this after Dream Land 2 and 3, because while the copy abilities feel pretty fragile compared to later in the series on account of Kirby losing them after one hit, they feel a lot more geared towards faster-paced action than my experience with those two games. Perhaps… too geared towards faster paced action, as this bad boy causes the NES to chug. I’m told this isn’t a quirk of the NSO emulator but accurate to the hardware, which doesn’t really surprise me. This game has a LOT going on for a NES game, between the variety of abilities and the quality of the spritework.
I gotta say, I LOVE all the cute little copy ability status indicators and, generally, how quirky everything is. It was fun seeing the origins of some of the later minigames even if some of them have been altered, like how Quick Draw has been reimagined as Samurai Kirby. The stage designs are really striking, too, and I cannot fucking BELIEVE they got away with making a nostalgia love letter level to the first game back on the NES. It wasn’t even that old! But it made me grin with delight anyway, because holy shit. Well played.
I did not feel remotely compelled to get all the secrets, but I do appreciate that they’re there for people to track down if they like. I think if it had more modern control I’d give it a shot, but I feel pretty confident in being done with the game for now.
Despite my effusive praise, I do have one pretty strong criticism that I’m not sure was relevant on the NES or if it’s a result of the controller I’m using to play on the Switch, but hitting the up button on the D-pad causing Kirby to float rather than tapping double jump made the game a lot more frustrating than it needed to be. Initially it was just muscle memory from later games tripping me up when I wanted to glide, but more often I found myself accidentally pressing up and sending Kirby into a float when I didn’t want to because I needed to attack. It caused the otherwise Pretty Fun boss fights to be a lot more frustrating than they needed to be.
Still, in spite of that big point of frustration, I’d probably say that from my experience giving honest to god NES games without any reworks from later re-releases the old college try because Why Not, They’re There and Free (Kind Of), this is probably my favorite of the ones I’ve played. It’s just good shit! God I love Kirby man.
It’s a little weird playing this after Dream Land 2 and 3, because while the copy abilities feel pretty fragile compared to later in the series on account of Kirby losing them after one hit, they feel a lot more geared towards faster-paced action than my experience with those two games. Perhaps… too geared towards faster paced action, as this bad boy causes the NES to chug. I’m told this isn’t a quirk of the NSO emulator but accurate to the hardware, which doesn’t really surprise me. This game has a LOT going on for a NES game, between the variety of abilities and the quality of the spritework.
I gotta say, I LOVE all the cute little copy ability status indicators and, generally, how quirky everything is. It was fun seeing the origins of some of the later minigames even if some of them have been altered, like how Quick Draw has been reimagined as Samurai Kirby. The stage designs are really striking, too, and I cannot fucking BELIEVE they got away with making a nostalgia love letter level to the first game back on the NES. It wasn’t even that old! But it made me grin with delight anyway, because holy shit. Well played.
I did not feel remotely compelled to get all the secrets, but I do appreciate that they’re there for people to track down if they like. I think if it had more modern control I’d give it a shot, but I feel pretty confident in being done with the game for now.
Despite my effusive praise, I do have one pretty strong criticism that I’m not sure was relevant on the NES or if it’s a result of the controller I’m using to play on the Switch, but hitting the up button on the D-pad causing Kirby to float rather than tapping double jump made the game a lot more frustrating than it needed to be. Initially it was just muscle memory from later games tripping me up when I wanted to glide, but more often I found myself accidentally pressing up and sending Kirby into a float when I didn’t want to because I needed to attack. It caused the otherwise Pretty Fun boss fights to be a lot more frustrating than they needed to be.
Still, in spite of that big point of frustration, I’d probably say that from my experience giving honest to god NES games without any reworks from later re-releases the old college try because Why Not, They’re There and Free (Kind Of), this is probably my favorite of the ones I’ve played. It’s just good shit! God I love Kirby man.
Hmm.....Kirby is pink now and can copy abilities? This is awesome....Very powerful NES game, sir...
Great game for the time, I'm sure, and easily the first instance of Kirby being awesome.
Anyways NES slowdown is cringe and you should only play Nightmare in Dreamland on the GBA.
Great game for the time, I'm sure, and easily the first instance of Kirby being awesome.
Anyways NES slowdown is cringe and you should only play Nightmare in Dreamland on the GBA.
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
the pinkprint <3
[ 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 ^^
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.
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 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!
Such a charming Kirby game!!! :3
kirby's dream land already had a strong aesthetic, but adventure is just on a whole other level. the game's wide variety of colour palettes are all striking; vivid sunsets, dreamlike castles in the clouds, highly stylised pastel spacescapes, they're not only impressive on a technical level befitting a game at the end of the NES' life cycle, but they also evoke a surprising amount of ambience, giving its myriad locales a lot of character
the game generally has a remarkable sense of place, i really like how the world map is not so much a menu like in a lot of its contemporaries but more of a mini-stage that uses the same mechanical language as the rest of the game, the backdrops of the level entrances have a sort of theatre set look to them that serves as an abstraction of what that level will feature, and where it exists in relation to the other levels which is an incredibly cool idea, i particularly like how butter building's hub world is entirely vertical, giving the impression of climbing one big tower that i don't think would quite come across otherwise
all this is to say nothing of the levels themselves, which are so eager to wow you with their amount of visual themes its astonishing, the first level of grape garden for instance starts in a sort of cloudy castle area, then goes to a purple-y starry sky, and then an icy aurora borealis area, all in like under two minutes. dream land 1 was great at this too but i find it even more impressive here considering how adventure goes even harder on the detail and variety, in a much longer game to boot
the level design is very simple, more focused on enemies and stage hazards than platforming and not very challenging, but it's just very comfy as a result and as i said before never sticking with one thing too long, the stages are all very short too and while a much fuller feeling game than its predessor, the game can be comfortably beaten in one sitting, it's a game that burns bright and fast and doesn't let its simple gameplay wear thin, and if you have any passing knowledge about this series at all then you probably don't even need me to tell you what a welcome addition copy abilities are in complimenting all of this
if i were to gripe about something it would probably be that the extra mode is a little disappointing compared to dream land's which increased the difficulty by changing enemy placements and behaviours to be far more dangerous, and also introducing new enemy types altogether which made the game feel very fresh and really enhanced the game for me. adventure merely lowers your max health and doesn't allow you to save, which is far less interesting and the latter of which was a non-factor considering that i was playing the game on my 3DS that i could just put into sleep mode
otherwise though kirby's adventure is a delight, beautiful art and animation, amazing music, fun and cozy gameplay, all jam-packed into a lovely little two-hour adventure. so fluff up your pillow, for tonight dream land will sleep well~
the game generally has a remarkable sense of place, i really like how the world map is not so much a menu like in a lot of its contemporaries but more of a mini-stage that uses the same mechanical language as the rest of the game, the backdrops of the level entrances have a sort of theatre set look to them that serves as an abstraction of what that level will feature, and where it exists in relation to the other levels which is an incredibly cool idea, i particularly like how butter building's hub world is entirely vertical, giving the impression of climbing one big tower that i don't think would quite come across otherwise
all this is to say nothing of the levels themselves, which are so eager to wow you with their amount of visual themes its astonishing, the first level of grape garden for instance starts in a sort of cloudy castle area, then goes to a purple-y starry sky, and then an icy aurora borealis area, all in like under two minutes. dream land 1 was great at this too but i find it even more impressive here considering how adventure goes even harder on the detail and variety, in a much longer game to boot
the level design is very simple, more focused on enemies and stage hazards than platforming and not very challenging, but it's just very comfy as a result and as i said before never sticking with one thing too long, the stages are all very short too and while a much fuller feeling game than its predessor, the game can be comfortably beaten in one sitting, it's a game that burns bright and fast and doesn't let its simple gameplay wear thin, and if you have any passing knowledge about this series at all then you probably don't even need me to tell you what a welcome addition copy abilities are in complimenting all of this
if i were to gripe about something it would probably be that the extra mode is a little disappointing compared to dream land's which increased the difficulty by changing enemy placements and behaviours to be far more dangerous, and also introducing new enemy types altogether which made the game feel very fresh and really enhanced the game for me. adventure merely lowers your max health and doesn't allow you to save, which is far less interesting and the latter of which was a non-factor considering that i was playing the game on my 3DS that i could just put into sleep mode
otherwise though kirby's adventure is a delight, beautiful art and animation, amazing music, fun and cozy gameplay, all jam-packed into a lovely little two-hour adventure. so fluff up your pillow, for tonight dream land will sleep well~
hazier, sillier, and more playful than dream land, adventure takes an expansive approach to the nascent formula and adds the finishing touches necessary to elevate it even higher, doubling down on its unique personality, design philosophy, and impeccable style
the key addition here's the power snatching, but what really makes it pop is how the levels and encounters are so often built with it in mind: big zones with lots of optional interactions, secrets, and possibilities you'd never encounter on your first go, and never ever ever if you weren't explicitly meeting the game half way and inhabiting its joyful spirit
the laid back difficulty makes stuff like turning into a fucked up wheel and zooming around all haphazard feel encouraged; its lack of imposition an invitation to take chances and experiment in ways a harsher game might discourage or outright prohibit. you're given no reason not to treat every situation like a canvas, to muck about and to proceed without consequence with the reward being "play" at its most earnest and wide eyed
"you're gonna be just fine", sakurai whispers in my ear as I send my dumb ass down the same chasm for the third time in a row in case it's different this time
feeling cute, might turn into a UFO later; might light a wick and shoot myself out of cannon; might make dedede feed me dozens of eggs as punishment for getting smoked at quick draw. as much as you've seen, it never loses its ability to skirt familiarity and catch you off guard
there's a lot of slowdown here, but if shoot em ups taught me anything it's that slowdown just means you're probably looking at something too fuckin sick. this is for your protection; you're experiencing mercy; the human brain isn't equipped for this kind of stimuli
it may feel like smoke's about to billow from the cartridge slot at any moment, but hal laboratory deserves to burn down your landlord's apartment — it's just common sense
anyway: I was wrong in thinking dedede should be put to the guillotine, and if you need me I'll be in the yogurt yard, eating lollipops and giving metaknight's goons german suplexes
tonight dream land will sleep well
the key addition here's the power snatching, but what really makes it pop is how the levels and encounters are so often built with it in mind: big zones with lots of optional interactions, secrets, and possibilities you'd never encounter on your first go, and never ever ever if you weren't explicitly meeting the game half way and inhabiting its joyful spirit
the laid back difficulty makes stuff like turning into a fucked up wheel and zooming around all haphazard feel encouraged; its lack of imposition an invitation to take chances and experiment in ways a harsher game might discourage or outright prohibit. you're given no reason not to treat every situation like a canvas, to muck about and to proceed without consequence with the reward being "play" at its most earnest and wide eyed
"you're gonna be just fine", sakurai whispers in my ear as I send my dumb ass down the same chasm for the third time in a row in case it's different this time
feeling cute, might turn into a UFO later; might light a wick and shoot myself out of cannon; might make dedede feed me dozens of eggs as punishment for getting smoked at quick draw. as much as you've seen, it never loses its ability to skirt familiarity and catch you off guard
there's a lot of slowdown here, but if shoot em ups taught me anything it's that slowdown just means you're probably looking at something too fuckin sick. this is for your protection; you're experiencing mercy; the human brain isn't equipped for this kind of stimuli
it may feel like smoke's about to billow from the cartridge slot at any moment, but hal laboratory deserves to burn down your landlord's apartment — it's just common sense
anyway: I was wrong in thinking dedede should be put to the guillotine, and if you need me I'll be in the yogurt yard, eating lollipops and giving metaknight's goons german suplexes
tonight dream land will sleep well
I bought a sun-bleached copy of this game laying outside on the ground at a yard sale. For some reason it's in French. One of the best NES games out there - it might as well be a modern game, that's how polished it is. Fun stages, great soundtrack, cool characters, neat power-ups.
Peak.
No idea how this is running on an NES. The pixel art here is beautiful. There’s colors and effects here that are mind-boggling for the time. Some of Kirby’s animations are so butter smooth they feel like they were made yesterday. Amazingly detailed and crisp. Responsive.
Aesthetically dreamlike, but mechanically very modern. Kirby’s expanded moveset is complemented by his iconic copy ability, which I’d never really experienced until now – but yes, its legacy precedes it. Also, the slide ability was a welcome addition, and further elevated by its synergy with Kirby’s copy abilities (sliding with the Sword ability is a great fusion of moves).
Playing with all the copy abilities is the main highlight. Tremendously fun to just be able to steal enemy’s attacks and turn them back around on Kirby’s opponents. Learning how each one works is also rewarding. Abilities like Sword or Laser are self-explanatory, but then powers like “Ball” or “High Jump” might seem useless until you learn these usually deal damage during certain animations, which makes them feasible to bring into most levels.
World 7 was a big highlight. Incredible art with genuinely challenging levels. Plus a Dream Land throwback in the second game?! Such a charming level. The visuals for the final boss are amazing, appropriately climactic, otherworldly, and menacing.
My only criticism is that controls are not as responsive as I would’ve liked, I felt like there were some actions where my inputs wouldn’t register (although rarely). Some slowdown here and there. Some brutal instadeath pits.
All in all, though? I don’t think it’s enough to dock a point. Impossible not to be happy while playing this one. Supremely satisfying. My new favorite NES game.
No idea how this is running on an NES. The pixel art here is beautiful. There’s colors and effects here that are mind-boggling for the time. Some of Kirby’s animations are so butter smooth they feel like they were made yesterday. Amazingly detailed and crisp. Responsive.
Aesthetically dreamlike, but mechanically very modern. Kirby’s expanded moveset is complemented by his iconic copy ability, which I’d never really experienced until now – but yes, its legacy precedes it. Also, the slide ability was a welcome addition, and further elevated by its synergy with Kirby’s copy abilities (sliding with the Sword ability is a great fusion of moves).
Playing with all the copy abilities is the main highlight. Tremendously fun to just be able to steal enemy’s attacks and turn them back around on Kirby’s opponents. Learning how each one works is also rewarding. Abilities like Sword or Laser are self-explanatory, but then powers like “Ball” or “High Jump” might seem useless until you learn these usually deal damage during certain animations, which makes them feasible to bring into most levels.
World 7 was a big highlight. Incredible art with genuinely challenging levels. Plus a Dream Land throwback in the second game?! Such a charming level. The visuals for the final boss are amazing, appropriately climactic, otherworldly, and menacing.
My only criticism is that controls are not as responsive as I would’ve liked, I felt like there were some actions where my inputs wouldn’t register (although rarely). Some slowdown here and there. Some brutal instadeath pits.
All in all, though? I don’t think it’s enough to dock a point. Impossible not to be happy while playing this one. Supremely satisfying. My new favorite NES game.
Apenas um jogo daquela bola rosa que destrói Deuses
A história é que basicamente o Kirby acorda de um sono que ele não sonhou e ele vai descobrir o motivo indo para uma fonte dos sonhos e lá ele descobre que o King Dedede quebrou a Star Rod em 7 pedaços e agora o Kirby tem que derrotar os 7 chefes incluindo o Dedede.
A gameplay do jogo diferenciou muito do primeiro jogo pois ele agora pode copiar as habilidades de certos inimigos e ganhar poderes. algumas musicas do jogo são legais e outras eu tive que escutar alguma do Spotify por que eu não tankei. Sinceramente eu digo que ele esteja no top 5 de melhores jogos do Nintendinho. 8/10
A história é que basicamente o Kirby acorda de um sono que ele não sonhou e ele vai descobrir o motivo indo para uma fonte dos sonhos e lá ele descobre que o King Dedede quebrou a Star Rod em 7 pedaços e agora o Kirby tem que derrotar os 7 chefes incluindo o Dedede.
A gameplay do jogo diferenciou muito do primeiro jogo pois ele agora pode copiar as habilidades de certos inimigos e ganhar poderes. algumas musicas do jogo são legais e outras eu tive que escutar alguma do Spotify por que eu não tankei. Sinceramente eu digo que ele esteja no top 5 de melhores jogos do Nintendinho. 8/10
Okay yeah this game is really great. Multiple times I had to ask myself, “How is this an NES game?” Then the game would chug harder than almost any other NES game I had seen. Outside of that (which is a huge problem but I’ve heard is corrected in the 3D classics version), I’m in love with this game
idk the meta but frame 1 ice ability hmmm might need a nerf idk (doesn't matter i'll get hit once and run across all of China to get the ability back)
looks as good as it could and jam packed with as many little features and physics as humanly possible
looks as good as it could and jam packed with as many little features and physics as humanly possible
kirbys adventure is one of the greatest games on the nes. so many games on this console feel so dated due to bullshit difficulty or just weird things that arent in games nowadays. kirbys adventure is not that. the game has a great difficulty curve and it is great fun trying out all the different abilities. the game does chug a little and lag but other that that it is a great time
A wonderful little romp through some colorful Kirby worlds, with creative level design which avoids repetition often found in 2D platformers. The basic movement is gratifying, and the copy abilities enhance this, even if many are a little bit one-note. The bosses are also well-balanced and decently fleshed out for an NES game.
It's a relaxing game, which I often find myself coming back to for a half-hour here and a half-hour there. It's easy, but that's actually a boon; sometimes, all one wants is a bit of casual button mashing, and this game fills that niche perfectly.
It's a relaxing game, which I often find myself coming back to for a half-hour here and a half-hour there. It's easy, but that's actually a boon; sometimes, all one wants is a bit of casual button mashing, and this game fills that niche perfectly.
Played on the NES Classic
Add 1/2 - 1 star to the rating if you play this game on better hardware (or the enhanced remake)
Kirby’s Adventure is an absolute delight, the kind of hidden gem I was always hoping to find on the NES. Released at a time when the SNES was not doing that great in sales, it remains a potent example of how pure dedication can push outdated hardware to its fullest potential.
What do I mean by this? Well, I’m so glad you asked. You guys remember how, in Super Mario Bros., Mario had a floaty jump, a slide to his landing zone, and no facial expressions whatsoever? How in Zelda the sound was irritating, environments bland, and enemies basic? Or in Final Fantasy, how you had to contend with difficulty spikes whilst casting spells with little visual variety between them?
Imagine a game that had none of those problems and you’ve got Kirby’s Adventure. Released back in 1993, it (unsurprisingly) feels more akin to a SNES analog than anything that came before, and while the 10-year time gap obviously made a difference, I feel a large part of the game’s advancements owe fealty to developer HAL Laboratory’s prowess. See, prior to the Wii, these guys were responsible for some of the deepest releases of their respective generations, from Earthbound to of course Super Smash Bros., and it’s a shame that Nintendo’s seemingly relegated them to pointless Kirbyware when they clearly have the talent to do so much more.
Kirby’s Adventure shows the inception of HAL’s adeptry in just about every category, chief among these being the graphics. The first thing you’ll notice are the pink puffball’s expressions - they’re absolutely incredible. From his eyes to his mouth, this is a sprite capable of multiple demeanors, and what’s amazing is how HAL combined this facet with a diversity of character models contingent on damage: whether you’re getting zapped, burned, tossed, sumoflexed, sucked, or outright knocked down a hole, you can expect a unique countenance shortly before Kirby’s recovery/demise. That aptitude for spritework extends to the bosses, all of whom are wonderfully-designed and stand head-and-shoulders above their counterparts in A Link to the Past, let alone any NES correspondent.
If you know who Kirby is, chances are you’re well aware of his signature copy ability, and while specific models weren’t built for each of the replicas the way they were in Smash Bros., what you do get instead are some beautifully-handcrafted cards hearkening back to Nintendo’s karuta days (all of which DO show a special variant of the adorable globe+).
My last major bastion of praise goes to the background design of levels; a spectrum of auras ripe with chroma galore. Considering the limitations of the NES’s color palette, I was consistently amazed whenever the game would throw in a visual extravaganza of purples, blues, and greens, the darker shades contrasting well with Kirby’s rosa figure. Unfortunately, the developers weren’t quite able to remove that brown tint that seemingly plagued all Famicon releases, and, on a more negative note, I ultimately wasn’t a fan of the vast majority of enemy designs. I don’t mean to make accusations, but they genuinely came across as discount versions of standard Super Mario enemies: goombas, cheep cheeps, bullet bill cannons, lava bubbles, and more exist in Kirby’s Adventure albeit in a heavily-diminished aesthetic (it being clear the lion’s share of artistic merit went towards the aforementioned bosses).
On the topic of bosses, let’s shift to the gameplay - Kirby’s Adventure is a platformer, meaning your goal is to get from point A to point B amidst a slew of threats. The aforementioned vortex ability is your gimmick, its power enabling you to vacuum 99% of enemies and either imbibe their talent or (if they possess none/you so wish) redirect them as star-shaped projectiles. While this could’ve easily made for some interesting puzzle design, HAL, for better and for worse, opted to stick to pure combat; yes, certain secrets require certain assets to unlock, but that’s less deductive reasoning and more just copying the specially-placed enemy in your immediate or preceding vicinity.
Regardless, the endeavor never gets tiring, and a large part of that has to do with the breeziness of the levels, most of which can be completed in under 7 minutes. When you’ve got short stages combined with brand new power-ups, it goes a long way towards refreshing the experience each time the player engages with it. As far as the design of the levels themselves, they’re admittedly not the most memorable, often rehashing standard video game skins we’ve seen time-and-time again: you know, ice, amphibious, castle rock, etc….It’s not bad, but won’t leave a lasting impression on you the way other platformers of this era did.
Objectively, I think the biggest issue Kirby’s Adventure has is they may have made the Mascot a bit too overpowered. What I mean is you can, as stated before, siphon the vast majority of critters, and the reach of Kirby’s air tunnel not only exceeds the range of their attacks, but outright negates them once in proximity. There were times where I was able to cheese the game by having Kirbs suck-in someone at a different elevation, and, even when you enter a body of water, inhaling is replaced with a water spout attack that instakills anyone in your proximity.
To add onto this, Kirby’s infinite floating outright breaks the game at times. You guys remember how, in Demon’s Crest, Firebrand could fly over a good chunk of the game’s obstacles? Well, I have to believe Capcom took inspiration from Kirby’s Adventure in light of it ailing from the exact same problem: see, there’s no stamina, no cap on midair recoveries, and the better part of Dreamland’s minions (including bosses!) just can’t reach you. Don’t get me wrong, there are times when the game throws aerial enemies your way (and they do add a challenge), but all too often I found myself scratching my head wondering why someone bothered placing platforming rungs when it was far easier for the player to just simply glide over it all. And if that weren’t enough, exhaling any drawn-in air gives you infinite pellets to shower adjacent foes with.
I wouldn’t call the game easy by any means; however, if you’re not rushing things, it’s admittedly hard to die in. Thankfully, even when you do collapse, Kirby’s Adventure is very forgiving courtesy of an astute checkpoint system. This is one of those old-school titles where I genuinely didn’t have to save scum, and I was eternally grateful for that in light of my less-than-satisfying experiences with SMB and ALTTP. Every completed level is conserved, and even when you do lose all your lives, you’re merely placed back where you left off albeit with five new tokens(++).
No, subjectively-speaking, my biggest criticisms with KA’s gameplay come down to three flaws: first are the respawning enemies, who quickly reform when you move the screen back even a little. Sometimes this is helpful as far as allowing you to absorb a specific minion that you missed/accidentally killed, but more-often-than-not it becomes annoying having to reface someone you just slayed (i.e., hitting a swordsman on a ledge above you, falling down slightly, and having to encounter him yet again when you jump back up).
Second is the lack of boss/miniboss variety -- it shouldn’t be surprising that a large chunk of these brawls consist of simply redirecting conveniently-forged projectiles, and while things do get spiced up towards the end, I wish there’d been more creativity from the get-go given the plethora of powers available to Kirby throughout. To add insult to injury, a lot of these fights are not only rehashed throughout the escapade, but rendered outright cakewalks when initiated with certain abilities (a facet the game unintentionally encourages, though more on that later+++).
Thirdly, in terms of level secrets, Kirby’s Adventure comes across as a bit too unintuitive. You’ll see a lot of extras and hidden areas during your excursions, but, with respect to getting to them, the pathway is not really clear. You may catch stones arranged in a certain way that don’t lead anywhere, concave gaps between daises that appear to hold some treasure only to be pits of death, and howitzer-style artillery that’s seemingly-impossible to ignite in time. In many ways, it reminded me a lot of the first Donkey Kong Country, which, as much as I love, was also confusing as far as making it clear where you had to go to get a concealed gem (Kirby’s Adventure, to its credit, at least informs you if you got everything ala turning the level door white).
That said, retrieving all these secrets isn’t necessary for completing the title, their collection simply unveiling hidden doors of their respective overworld. Some lead to minigames, others power-ups, and still more prior boss fights that reward maxim tomatoes (HP restoration). But again, none of these end up being significantly helpful: minigames grant lives/points that are dispensable in view of the forgiving nature of the game; every level already comes with all the requisite power-ups you’ll need to glean everything; and health restoration falls under the same caveats as the aforestated forgiving nature.
Don’t mistake me, you’ll definitely have fun playing Kirby’s Adventure; these critiques are, moreso, small setbacks in an otherwise great game. If you want further proof of its quality, we need only look at the music by Hirokazu Ando, who pulls a miracle via making the NES audio chip…actually sound good. Part of this has to do with his score deliberately avoiding the kind of drawn-out melodies you (unfortunately) had to hear in Metroid and Zelda, but part of it’s also due to his inherent virtuosity as an artist. Ando further deserves props for composing A LOT of music for the title: each of the seven worlds boasts its own theme, and an additional two tunes were synthesized for the 4-6 stages within (not to mention the plethora of other jingles for end completion, dying, the abovementioned minigames, etc…etc…). Though I would’ve appreciated individual leitmotifs for each of the boss figures, I can’t deny the OST, as a whole, is an incredible achievement amidst its third-generation compatriots.
SFX maintains that same degree of diversity. Whilst Kirby’s inhalation din does get vexing over time, it’s more than offset by every single ability containing a unique sonar. Combined with great collision crashes, excellent boss grunts, and the fact that a low HP bar beeps only ONCE per a screen (cough cough Zelda cough cough) and you’ve got a solid package overall, a saying that honestly sums up Kirby’s Adventure as a whole -- it’s a solid package overall….albeit with ONE major flaw I experienced: the sheer tech problems.
Yes, playing on the NES Classic, Kirby’s Adventure was unfortunately ripe with hicks and higans. On the lower end, you get jittery screen tear on the right & left sides whenever you progress in the opposing direction. On the higher end, you’re privy to some awful lag, particularly whenever Kirby begins respirating amidst a myriad of on-screen foes. If you opt to play this game (which I highly recommend), I strongly suggest you do so on modern hardware (there are plenty of official ports you’re welcome to peruse on Wikipedia, as well as of course the official remake, Nightmare in Dreamland).
So yeah, what’re you waiting for? Go add this game to your backlog!
NOTES
+You also get unique cards whenever Kirby is: attacked, in midair, or normal.
++Four lives, but here 0 counts as a life.
+++Because boss stages are their own level, you can prep by grabbing one of the power-ups unlocked on the overworld and consequently blitz them.
-At first I thought the story was stowed away in the in-game manual, and perhaps it was, but what’s interesting is that the game DOES divulge it to the player, albeit in the pre-credits scene AFTER you’ve completed everything. Due to an interesting twist, I won’t say anything more other than that it involves Kirby trying to retrieve the Star Rod from King DeDeDe; however, the ending does beg the question of whether the prior bosses to DeDeDe were working for him or independent (Meta-Knight, in particular, remains an enigma).
-Speaking of Meta-Knight, he has the most annoying mini-encounters in the game, entailing him summoning a bunch of henchmen in a Mario Bros.-style field that you need to repeatedly axe.
-Was not a fan of the developers putting extra lives and HP restores behind heavy traps. It begs the question of why the player would engage with that when they risk losing more than they gain?
-Every world has a food-themed layout to it, but I can’t say the graphics expanded upon them in an efficient manner (i.e., they don’t look as delicious as they should!).
-It seems like every single one of Kirby’s base abilities from Smash Bros. originated in this game: the hammer swing, boulder drop, and sword slash to name a few.
-Tell me the laser ability card wasn’t a homage to Star Wars Episode IV’s OG poster?
Add 1/2 - 1 star to the rating if you play this game on better hardware (or the enhanced remake)
Kirby’s Adventure is an absolute delight, the kind of hidden gem I was always hoping to find on the NES. Released at a time when the SNES was not doing that great in sales, it remains a potent example of how pure dedication can push outdated hardware to its fullest potential.
What do I mean by this? Well, I’m so glad you asked. You guys remember how, in Super Mario Bros., Mario had a floaty jump, a slide to his landing zone, and no facial expressions whatsoever? How in Zelda the sound was irritating, environments bland, and enemies basic? Or in Final Fantasy, how you had to contend with difficulty spikes whilst casting spells with little visual variety between them?
Imagine a game that had none of those problems and you’ve got Kirby’s Adventure. Released back in 1993, it (unsurprisingly) feels more akin to a SNES analog than anything that came before, and while the 10-year time gap obviously made a difference, I feel a large part of the game’s advancements owe fealty to developer HAL Laboratory’s prowess. See, prior to the Wii, these guys were responsible for some of the deepest releases of their respective generations, from Earthbound to of course Super Smash Bros., and it’s a shame that Nintendo’s seemingly relegated them to pointless Kirbyware when they clearly have the talent to do so much more.
Kirby’s Adventure shows the inception of HAL’s adeptry in just about every category, chief among these being the graphics. The first thing you’ll notice are the pink puffball’s expressions - they’re absolutely incredible. From his eyes to his mouth, this is a sprite capable of multiple demeanors, and what’s amazing is how HAL combined this facet with a diversity of character models contingent on damage: whether you’re getting zapped, burned, tossed, sumoflexed, sucked, or outright knocked down a hole, you can expect a unique countenance shortly before Kirby’s recovery/demise. That aptitude for spritework extends to the bosses, all of whom are wonderfully-designed and stand head-and-shoulders above their counterparts in A Link to the Past, let alone any NES correspondent.
If you know who Kirby is, chances are you’re well aware of his signature copy ability, and while specific models weren’t built for each of the replicas the way they were in Smash Bros., what you do get instead are some beautifully-handcrafted cards hearkening back to Nintendo’s karuta days (all of which DO show a special variant of the adorable globe+).
My last major bastion of praise goes to the background design of levels; a spectrum of auras ripe with chroma galore. Considering the limitations of the NES’s color palette, I was consistently amazed whenever the game would throw in a visual extravaganza of purples, blues, and greens, the darker shades contrasting well with Kirby’s rosa figure. Unfortunately, the developers weren’t quite able to remove that brown tint that seemingly plagued all Famicon releases, and, on a more negative note, I ultimately wasn’t a fan of the vast majority of enemy designs. I don’t mean to make accusations, but they genuinely came across as discount versions of standard Super Mario enemies: goombas, cheep cheeps, bullet bill cannons, lava bubbles, and more exist in Kirby’s Adventure albeit in a heavily-diminished aesthetic (it being clear the lion’s share of artistic merit went towards the aforementioned bosses).
On the topic of bosses, let’s shift to the gameplay - Kirby’s Adventure is a platformer, meaning your goal is to get from point A to point B amidst a slew of threats. The aforementioned vortex ability is your gimmick, its power enabling you to vacuum 99% of enemies and either imbibe their talent or (if they possess none/you so wish) redirect them as star-shaped projectiles. While this could’ve easily made for some interesting puzzle design, HAL, for better and for worse, opted to stick to pure combat; yes, certain secrets require certain assets to unlock, but that’s less deductive reasoning and more just copying the specially-placed enemy in your immediate or preceding vicinity.
Regardless, the endeavor never gets tiring, and a large part of that has to do with the breeziness of the levels, most of which can be completed in under 7 minutes. When you’ve got short stages combined with brand new power-ups, it goes a long way towards refreshing the experience each time the player engages with it. As far as the design of the levels themselves, they’re admittedly not the most memorable, often rehashing standard video game skins we’ve seen time-and-time again: you know, ice, amphibious, castle rock, etc….It’s not bad, but won’t leave a lasting impression on you the way other platformers of this era did.
Objectively, I think the biggest issue Kirby’s Adventure has is they may have made the Mascot a bit too overpowered. What I mean is you can, as stated before, siphon the vast majority of critters, and the reach of Kirby’s air tunnel not only exceeds the range of their attacks, but outright negates them once in proximity. There were times where I was able to cheese the game by having Kirbs suck-in someone at a different elevation, and, even when you enter a body of water, inhaling is replaced with a water spout attack that instakills anyone in your proximity.
To add onto this, Kirby’s infinite floating outright breaks the game at times. You guys remember how, in Demon’s Crest, Firebrand could fly over a good chunk of the game’s obstacles? Well, I have to believe Capcom took inspiration from Kirby’s Adventure in light of it ailing from the exact same problem: see, there’s no stamina, no cap on midair recoveries, and the better part of Dreamland’s minions (including bosses!) just can’t reach you. Don’t get me wrong, there are times when the game throws aerial enemies your way (and they do add a challenge), but all too often I found myself scratching my head wondering why someone bothered placing platforming rungs when it was far easier for the player to just simply glide over it all. And if that weren’t enough, exhaling any drawn-in air gives you infinite pellets to shower adjacent foes with.
I wouldn’t call the game easy by any means; however, if you’re not rushing things, it’s admittedly hard to die in. Thankfully, even when you do collapse, Kirby’s Adventure is very forgiving courtesy of an astute checkpoint system. This is one of those old-school titles where I genuinely didn’t have to save scum, and I was eternally grateful for that in light of my less-than-satisfying experiences with SMB and ALTTP. Every completed level is conserved, and even when you do lose all your lives, you’re merely placed back where you left off albeit with five new tokens(++).
No, subjectively-speaking, my biggest criticisms with KA’s gameplay come down to three flaws: first are the respawning enemies, who quickly reform when you move the screen back even a little. Sometimes this is helpful as far as allowing you to absorb a specific minion that you missed/accidentally killed, but more-often-than-not it becomes annoying having to reface someone you just slayed (i.e., hitting a swordsman on a ledge above you, falling down slightly, and having to encounter him yet again when you jump back up).
Second is the lack of boss/miniboss variety -- it shouldn’t be surprising that a large chunk of these brawls consist of simply redirecting conveniently-forged projectiles, and while things do get spiced up towards the end, I wish there’d been more creativity from the get-go given the plethora of powers available to Kirby throughout. To add insult to injury, a lot of these fights are not only rehashed throughout the escapade, but rendered outright cakewalks when initiated with certain abilities (a facet the game unintentionally encourages, though more on that later+++).
Thirdly, in terms of level secrets, Kirby’s Adventure comes across as a bit too unintuitive. You’ll see a lot of extras and hidden areas during your excursions, but, with respect to getting to them, the pathway is not really clear. You may catch stones arranged in a certain way that don’t lead anywhere, concave gaps between daises that appear to hold some treasure only to be pits of death, and howitzer-style artillery that’s seemingly-impossible to ignite in time. In many ways, it reminded me a lot of the first Donkey Kong Country, which, as much as I love, was also confusing as far as making it clear where you had to go to get a concealed gem (Kirby’s Adventure, to its credit, at least informs you if you got everything ala turning the level door white).
That said, retrieving all these secrets isn’t necessary for completing the title, their collection simply unveiling hidden doors of their respective overworld. Some lead to minigames, others power-ups, and still more prior boss fights that reward maxim tomatoes (HP restoration). But again, none of these end up being significantly helpful: minigames grant lives/points that are dispensable in view of the forgiving nature of the game; every level already comes with all the requisite power-ups you’ll need to glean everything; and health restoration falls under the same caveats as the aforestated forgiving nature.
Don’t mistake me, you’ll definitely have fun playing Kirby’s Adventure; these critiques are, moreso, small setbacks in an otherwise great game. If you want further proof of its quality, we need only look at the music by Hirokazu Ando, who pulls a miracle via making the NES audio chip…actually sound good. Part of this has to do with his score deliberately avoiding the kind of drawn-out melodies you (unfortunately) had to hear in Metroid and Zelda, but part of it’s also due to his inherent virtuosity as an artist. Ando further deserves props for composing A LOT of music for the title: each of the seven worlds boasts its own theme, and an additional two tunes were synthesized for the 4-6 stages within (not to mention the plethora of other jingles for end completion, dying, the abovementioned minigames, etc…etc…). Though I would’ve appreciated individual leitmotifs for each of the boss figures, I can’t deny the OST, as a whole, is an incredible achievement amidst its third-generation compatriots.
SFX maintains that same degree of diversity. Whilst Kirby’s inhalation din does get vexing over time, it’s more than offset by every single ability containing a unique sonar. Combined with great collision crashes, excellent boss grunts, and the fact that a low HP bar beeps only ONCE per a screen (cough cough Zelda cough cough) and you’ve got a solid package overall, a saying that honestly sums up Kirby’s Adventure as a whole -- it’s a solid package overall….albeit with ONE major flaw I experienced: the sheer tech problems.
Yes, playing on the NES Classic, Kirby’s Adventure was unfortunately ripe with hicks and higans. On the lower end, you get jittery screen tear on the right & left sides whenever you progress in the opposing direction. On the higher end, you’re privy to some awful lag, particularly whenever Kirby begins respirating amidst a myriad of on-screen foes. If you opt to play this game (which I highly recommend), I strongly suggest you do so on modern hardware (there are plenty of official ports you’re welcome to peruse on Wikipedia, as well as of course the official remake, Nightmare in Dreamland).
So yeah, what’re you waiting for? Go add this game to your backlog!
NOTES
+You also get unique cards whenever Kirby is: attacked, in midair, or normal.
++Four lives, but here 0 counts as a life.
+++Because boss stages are their own level, you can prep by grabbing one of the power-ups unlocked on the overworld and consequently blitz them.
-At first I thought the story was stowed away in the in-game manual, and perhaps it was, but what’s interesting is that the game DOES divulge it to the player, albeit in the pre-credits scene AFTER you’ve completed everything. Due to an interesting twist, I won’t say anything more other than that it involves Kirby trying to retrieve the Star Rod from King DeDeDe; however, the ending does beg the question of whether the prior bosses to DeDeDe were working for him or independent (Meta-Knight, in particular, remains an enigma).
-Speaking of Meta-Knight, he has the most annoying mini-encounters in the game, entailing him summoning a bunch of henchmen in a Mario Bros.-style field that you need to repeatedly axe.
-Was not a fan of the developers putting extra lives and HP restores behind heavy traps. It begs the question of why the player would engage with that when they risk losing more than they gain?
-Every world has a food-themed layout to it, but I can’t say the graphics expanded upon them in an efficient manner (i.e., they don’t look as delicious as they should!).
-It seems like every single one of Kirby’s base abilities from Smash Bros. originated in this game: the hammer swing, boulder drop, and sword slash to name a few.
-Tell me the laser ability card wasn’t a homage to Star Wars Episode IV’s OG poster?
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 gained his identity with this entry. This is what you expect out of the series, the ability to take the abilities of your enemies and use them to your own advantage. Naturally, this is the earliest form of this staple mechanic, so you shouldn't expect Smash Bros-like movesets where holding each direction lets you use a power in a different way. The abilities here come down to one single move, one single advantage. But swapping in and out of them is still just as quick, and even this early on, using each power is encouraged to solve bite-sized puzzles for 1-ups, health items, and the occasional secret button. Of course, you could also just try and stick to one powerup, if you're interested, but that'd mean you wouldn't be taking full advantage of the level design given to you. I won't fault you if you really grow to like that Sword, though, I know I did.
Being a very late NES title, Kirby's Adventure has some wonderful art direction on display. The closer you get to the end, the more you start appreciating the variety of colorful and dream-like backgrounds. This was undoubtfully a team that was ready to work on a SNES title, but had to make-do with making one of the best looking NES games instead.
There is plenty of charm to this game, amongst a relaxing difficulty, a great soundtrack, an exciting final boss, and a couple neat one-button minigames to play around with. Under these circumstances, I'd rate it 4.5 stars at least, but there is one single major flaw that really puts a stain on Kirby's Adventure's otherwise impeccable quality: Unresponsive inputs. In other words, sometimes when you press the jump button... Kirby doesn't jump.
Now, I thought I was crazy at first, because this is barely talked about on the internet. I thought it might've been my controller breaking down, and it was time for a replacement. But, every game I've played before and after this one did not have this problem. And I managed to officially confirm it when I asked my friend to keep an eye out when they played the game themselves, and it turned out they also reported instances of the controls randomly failing to respond.
And this fucks the game up, because it feels completely random and unpredictable when it happens, and it has predictably led to several instances of me running straight into an enemy or a bottomless pit because Kirby did not jump when I pressed the button. There's nothing worse than a game where you cannot trust the controls to do what you want. It may be hyperbolic to call it "unplayable," but it's certainly a big enough annoyance to deter me from wanting to play it agai- oop, hold on.
The GBA remake is out there, and plays overall better, although you'd have to to accept that the art style on that one is way different, and imo did not hold up as well as the NES counterpart. I did however, learn just now that there's a romhack for the NES version that's meant to fix the inputs. So, perhaps this is the definitive way to play the game? I should try it out sometime! Especially since playing the game without it does not seem like a good idea these days.
Being a very late NES title, Kirby's Adventure has some wonderful art direction on display. The closer you get to the end, the more you start appreciating the variety of colorful and dream-like backgrounds. This was undoubtfully a team that was ready to work on a SNES title, but had to make-do with making one of the best looking NES games instead.
There is plenty of charm to this game, amongst a relaxing difficulty, a great soundtrack, an exciting final boss, and a couple neat one-button minigames to play around with. Under these circumstances, I'd rate it 4.5 stars at least, but there is one single major flaw that really puts a stain on Kirby's Adventure's otherwise impeccable quality: Unresponsive inputs. In other words, sometimes when you press the jump button... Kirby doesn't jump.
Now, I thought I was crazy at first, because this is barely talked about on the internet. I thought it might've been my controller breaking down, and it was time for a replacement. But, every game I've played before and after this one did not have this problem. And I managed to officially confirm it when I asked my friend to keep an eye out when they played the game themselves, and it turned out they also reported instances of the controls randomly failing to respond.
And this fucks the game up, because it feels completely random and unpredictable when it happens, and it has predictably led to several instances of me running straight into an enemy or a bottomless pit because Kirby did not jump when I pressed the button. There's nothing worse than a game where you cannot trust the controls to do what you want. It may be hyperbolic to call it "unplayable," but it's certainly a big enough annoyance to deter me from wanting to play it agai- oop, hold on.
The GBA remake is out there, and plays overall better, although you'd have to to accept that the art style on that one is way different, and imo did not hold up as well as the NES counterpart. I did however, learn just now that there's a romhack for the NES version that's meant to fix the inputs. So, perhaps this is the definitive way to play the game? I should try it out sometime! Especially since playing the game without it does not seem like a good idea these days.
Meta knight is such an honorable dude
kirbo
Funny Pink Ball With Super Powers.