So this was the first game I played on my freshly modded DSi XL, and I think I started on the right foot. And see, I've played Super Star Ultra before, and I was aware that Spring Breeze is basically just this game but in HD with modern mechanics. However, I guess I assumed that they were going to be map-for-map the same. Now I'm just wondering why the developers for KSS/KSSU trimmed the maps down so much, because that combined with the modern movement/ability mechanics makes Spring Breeze ridiculously easy.

Anyway, I had an interesting time with this one. I knew the game was going to be more difficult than other Kirby games due to its controls/hardware. It was interesting, though, because I was able to make it all the way through the first stage without taking any damage, and then got my shit rocked by Kabula and Kracko in the later stages. Kirby moves REALLY slow here, and you can't run, so I think that added to my troubles.

And because it was an old game, I was convinced that the game was going to be really brutal with dying in the same way that other old games are, where if you get a game over, you get booted to the title screen and you have to play from the beginning. So once I noticed I was running low on lives, I started making save states often, because although I was having fun, I didn't have the time (or really the desire) to play again from the beginning if I died.

Now picture this: it's the last stage, and in lieu of long platforming challenges, you get these mini rooms that each end with one of the previous bosses. And you get no health during or in between. I had 0 lives left and a full bar of health. As I make my way through the chambers, my health slowly whittles down to one, as I continue making save states, to make sure I don't lose more health than I need to. Against all odds, I beat Kabula with only 1HP. And then I realize I have to do a damageless run with Dedede. And of course, I die during my first try. I go to load my save state aaand... I save over my save state. Just as I received the final blow. I was devastated, knowing I was so close, but now had to start from the very beginning. I knew I wasn't going to do that, however, at least not today. And being met with the game over screen, I decided to hit 'continue' just to see what would happen. And poof! I'm back in the chamber, pre-Dedede, with all the bosses beat. Four lives, full health. This WHOLE time. I could've played normally had I just let myself get a game over. But, I guess that's on me, right? It was more exhilarating to try and do damageless runs though.

And seriously, why did they make Spring Breeze so stupidly easy?

Got in a #Kirbymindset as of recent largely due to just thinking about the franchise and how much I love it, I don't really have a consistent video game grind anymore as I find it very easy to lose my commitment to them with other mediums but uh even still I had a MASSIVEE Kirby phase a few years back that's given the character a special place in my heart. They're all very simplistic games when it comes to how they're designed which fits with Sakurai's general montra of "Easy to learn hard to master", but that combined with the general innocence of the character makes them all very comforting games for me with ones like Planet Robobot Return to Dreamland or the very recent Forgotten Land becoming all time favourites for me. In fact this recent kick might get me to play some of those again, this statement could go either way and potentially be horribly outdated but I have a lot of ground to cover with him so we'll see! But uh anyway decided to fufill this recent urge and go back to this one due to it being a brisk 5 levels, and uh it being that short is both this game's biggest weakness and biggest strength at the same time. Biggest weakness in that because of it I couldn't really call it one I'd urge many to actively play much, in fact Super Star just remakes it all in one of its modes so it sometimes begs the question as to why it should even be playedjikefofe. It's SO simple that this is pre Kirby's iconic Copy Ability move, which in some aspects I appreciate as in later games I almost never use his ability to suck shit up and hurl em back at enemies but still it's kind of weird playing a Kirby game like that! However I'd also call its biggest strength as it's one that's very easy to pick up and play casually, the Gameboy has a lot of games like this that were built for simplicity but I think this is one of the best examples as you literally got those 5 levels that if you're good enough you can beat in just a little over half an hour. And yk for a game built in that vein I think Kirby's Dream Land is very fun! It's got some of the best music on the handheld, levels that while not overly complicated have a very nice vibe to them that makes it easy to relax to, and while I do think it's sort padding to make you fight all the bosses a second time when if you're doing this all in one go you'd have done them like right before I do reallllyyy like that last Dedede fight that ends the game on a very high note. Despite it kind of just being a game of waiting for him to jump so you can hit the stars at him the simplicity of it combined with the banger music makes it super effective, + on this playthrough I had to cut in real clutch with 1 health point left on last life so doing beating it then felt super awesome genuinelyefijkfeokfe. Plus in a morbid sense it's funny our first final boss with a King Penguin before it morphed into other worldy gods every other game, what a franchise this is really! But uh TLDR is Kirby's Dream Land is a LOT of fun, I haven't tried out that Extra Mode cuz I hear it's a pain in the ass but maybe I should considering how enjoyable this revisit was! Something something better then Mario Kart 64, goodbye everybody it's funny when I remember what a "Backloggd" is!

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.”

And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. God called the vault “sky.”

And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day. And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day. And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.

And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day. And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.”

And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day. And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.

During my time on this place called Backloggd, I’ve only written reviews of Sonic games. However, there is only a single video game franchise that I have an even deeper connection to, and that is the Kirby franchise. Today begins a journey, and a long one at that. Today begins…

My Kirby marathon.

I’ll be starting this long run of reviews with Kirby’s Dream Land. I’ll be analysing the gameplay, music, and artwork of this game while explaining each of its levels. Now, no debut is perfect, but this game is not bad in the slightest. If that doesn’t convince you, which it probably won’t, the following paragraphs will.

Green Greens is one of the most iconic video game levels of all time and it honestly deserves its popularity. After watching a cute little opening animation, you are plopped into this colourless but vibrant world. The wonderful chiptune music gives you this energetic and joyful feeling as you swallow random creatures and shoot them at other random creatures as stars. I am happy that copy abilities were introduced in Kirby’s Adventure, but that doesn’t mean that the gameplay loop of inhaling enemies and firing them at others is bad. It can get a bit repetitive, but it’s also quite original. Anyway, after eating some enemies and learning how to fly, you jump onto a star and fly to the next part of the level, which is relatively the same as the first part except for the setting changing from grassy plains to a forest. However, before actually playing this forest part of the level, you must fight a mini-boss. This mini-boss jumps around while throwing bombs at you, and you must inhale the bombs before shooting them back at the mini-boss as stars. This is a pretty neat way to make the inhaling mechanic more interesting, although it is stupidly easy. After that, you make your way up this narrow tower. I was able to easily do this part by flying. Finally, you reach the main boss battle of Green Greens, which is Whispy Woods. He will blow clouds at you and drop apples from his branches. You must dodge the clouds while inhaling the apples and damaging Whispy Woods with them. Just like the mini-boss battle, this is easy, but it’s also kinda cool and fun.

Castle Lololo is even better than Green Greens as it contains better music, artwork, and gameplay. After watching another short but cute animation, you find yourself in front of a castle. In this castle, you find ghosts, mummies, bats, and much more. This just goes to show how each level isn’t just another version of one another. Water is introduced in this level, but it doesn’t make you agonisingly slow and the sections that do include water are short. The mini-boss for this level is quite original and fun, although it is a bit repetitive and easy. Basically, there are 4 pathways leading to 4 doors. A ball with eyes and limbs called Lololo will push a block out of one of these doors before throwing it. You must inhale the block and hit Lololo back while trying to figure out where it will go and attempting to get to it before it throws the block. After beating this mini-boss, you can continue the level. I’d just like to say that the level design of Castle Lololo is much more complex and original than the level design of Green Greens. I love it. Anyway, the main boss battle is basically a repeat of the mini-boss except for there being two enemies, which are Lololo and Lalala. Amazing names, I know. This fight is much faster and even a bit harder since it takes longer to reach either Lololo or Lalala. By the way, this won’t be the last time we see these two in this franchise.

Float Islands is a bit of a downgrade from Castle Lololo and Green Greens due to it containing death pits and unforeseeable/unavoidable enemies. Yes, my two biggest enemies in the Sonic games have come back to haunt me here. Also, it lacks a mini-boss, which is a bit sad. Outside of the boss battle, which I’ll take about in a second, a lot of this level is just flying over death pits, dodging cannons, and defeating enemies. It doesn’t really have the interesting level design of its predecessor. However, this level still isn’t bad. It has amazing music, a nice little animation at the beginning, and a very cool boss battle. You have to shoot blasts at a blimp that has a cannon attached to it called Kabula. You have to move around quite a bit since Kabula will occasionally go upside down, making it harder for you to dodge the cannon and shoot Kabula. Also, Kabula will sometimes zoom towards you, so you have to do a bit of more dodging. It’s actually quite fun, original, and even a bit difficult.

Bubbly Clouds contains more death pits and unforeseeable/unavoidable enemies, along with not so original and interesting level design. However, the music is still good and both the mini-boss battle and main boss battle are good. You have to try to beat Kracko, a cloud with an eye, in both fights. He will hit you with a variety of attacks, such as a long spinning laser rod. He will also zoom towards you in a direction that depends on where you are and drop Waddle Doos in front of you. You must inhale the Waddle Doos and fire them back at Kracko to beat him. It’s pretty hard at times and quite cool, but it can get repetitive.

Mt. Dedede consists of reprises of the last 4 boss battles and a final fight against King Dedede. The Dedede fight is definitely the worst in this game. You have to wait for Dedede to use one of two attacks that emits large stars. You then have to inhale these large stars and shoot them back at him. It’s pretty repetitive and waiting for Dedede to use an attack that emits large stars is very annoying and boring.

Kirby’s Dream Land deserves 3.5 stars. It’s not perfect, but it’s definitely not bad either. The music, artwork, and animation are all great and the gameplay ranges from a bit below average to great.

A wonderful introduction to a wonderful character. Many of Kirby's trademark abilities would be introduced with this first game through a relatively short, but very accessible action platformer with some light shooter segments. The gameplay was intentionally designed to be easy to pick up and play by none other than the Super Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai, and even his first game shows his dedication to making games accessible while also offering a hard mode for those looking for more of a challenge. The cutesy visuals and excellent soundtrack really helped to cement the look and feel of Kirby and instantly made him a household name in Nintendo's roster of mascots.