Kirby's Adventure blows almost every other 8-bit platformer out of the water. I mean, I get it. It was 1993, so HAL had all the know-how and in-cartridge chips to make a game this good for NES, but still.

Copy Abilities debut here, and the system is done quite well for its first iteration, with a good variety of them and puzzles designed to keep you playing around with what they can do. World maps with secrets entice you to thoroughly explore levels for things you might've missed. Gorgeous pixel art and great music make the presentation something special.

One of the last big games on the NES, Kirby's Adventure is quite the note to go out on.

One of the strongest proofs that easy games can be fun because the level design & scenarios are fun and just feel so good to play.

I've still only played a handful of NES games, but I think this is easily my favourite so far.

If you like later 2D Kirby games I think Kirby's Adventure can be worth your time.

The thing is this game is so interesting, it's essentially the most average platformer conceived just in the prettiest bowtie known to man. I can't take away the fact that visually this game is stunning, and sonically it's amazing as well. It is easily the best on the console and nothing can take away from that fact. But if you step away from the charming visuals, and fantastic music. What are you left with? just ok levels, the levels, tbh aren't that memorable. The black and white one is cool and the final boss is AWESOME, easily the best on the console. But at the same time, how good is this game really when most of it, I can't remember? It's just not that challenging. There are some cool ideas, cool bosses, and charming mini-games but scratch that back and there's still an extremely simple NES platformer underneath.

Was it a good idea to give Kirby copy abilities? From a sales perspective, maybe so; but from a game design perspective, I'm not so sure.

I grew up with Kirby 64, and I always felt cheated when I'd bring in a copy ability to a midboss, and curb stomp it before its health bar had even loaded. Those poor developers had to design traditional boss attack patterns, and enemy projectiles for players to exhale back at them in case little Timmy wanders into a boss arena without a copy ability, and here I am, ignoring all that by spamming the B button. It also wasn't fun in the slightest to have to bring in copy abilities from other levels to break the color-coded blocks hiding crystal shards. It didn't test my skills or ingenuity, only my patience.

Last year, I picked up Kirby's Dream Land, which was a revelation. THIS is the game I suspected was buried underneath the incongruous copy ability mechanic. I really enjoyed the ebb and flow of inhaling and exhaling enemies, and actually having to learn and accommodate for Kirby's slow, unorthodox movement system.

Instead of copy abilities, traditional power-ups are available for the developers to design the level segments around; I found these sections - such as the bullet hell-like boss Kabula - to be much more engaging and memorable than the usual Kirby fare.

The game is a little on the simple side, without the wrinkle in game design that copy abilities provide, sure, but I think its simplicity compliments its handheld pick-up-and-play format; and I doubt many of Dream Land's detractors have really engaged with its criminally overlooked extra mode.

But this is a review of Kirby's Adventure. Most everyone sees it as an unqualified upgrade from Dream Land - it added Kirby's signature copy abilities, how could it not be? Unfortunately, I see it as a downgrade.

In my opinion, Adventure is a much more bloated and haphazardly designed game. It feels like they stretched each level from Dream Land into an entire world, without adding anything engaging to make up for the increased length.

Several enemies, background elements and music tracks are recycled from Dream Land. Instead of funnelling the player into enemies and obstacles, levels are much more open, and Kirby takes up much less space on the screen. I found myself able to simply fly over obstacles much more often this time around.

Performance is rough, too. Slowdown in retro games doesn't really bother me, but here, it leads to temperamental controls. At first, I thought something was wrong with my NES controllers, but it's definitely the game's fault. Every tenth or so button input simply doesn't register, which was especially frustrating on this game's harder extra mode.

I can't help but feel that many of this game's problems result from squeezing in Kirby's copy abilities. The level design has to accommodate for whichever ability you might have, leading to bigger, blander spaces. Less tightly designed, engaging obstacle courses, and more empty rooms in which to experiment with copy abilities.

Level segments are occasionally designed around nearby enemy copy abilities. But the one hit loss of abilities often led to times where I'd be slowly walking along a long stretch clearly designed for the wheel ability, or slowly flying over a dozen trees laden with exploding coconuts clearly designed for the parasol, thinking, "Wow, this might have been kind of fun." The punishment for losing the copy ability is...being forced to easily beat the level in a less interesting way?

And just as in Kirby 64, bosses were pushovers if I didn't challenge myself by tossing my copy ability in the garbage beforehand. Of course, the exceptions are Meta Knight and the secret final boss, which force power-ups on you that ignore the usual one hit ability loss rule. And of course, these were the most engaging moments of the game for me, especially the tonally discordant spectacle of the Nightmare.

Was it a good idea to fracture Kirby's moveset via copy abilities? My experience so far says no. I tend to believe these games would have been better going the traditional collectible power-up route. It's possible that the execution has simply been lacking in the games I've played so far, so I'll withhold final judgment.

Overall, not a bad game, just underwhelming. I'm interested to hear any feedback on my ruminations. Next up is Super Star.

Kirby’s Adventure is a 2 hour showcase of what the NES was truly capable of.

Obviously, this game could’ve just been on the SNES, since it was released in ‘93. But, the consumer wasn’t feeling the SNES just yet, so Nintendo decided it’d be best to put Kirby on the OG.

The reason I say this shows off NES capabilities is because of how detailed and colorful the entire game is. The lengthy health meter, the multitude of copy abilities, the bangin’ soundtrack, it’s practically an 8-bit SNES game.

You aren’t without your shitty NES level design, of course. The worst NES stereotype is the occasional awful enemy placement, but bearable enough to not have to worry about too often. Also, if there’s too many enemies on screen, or an exploding attack, the game dips to, like, 10 FPS, it’s very annoying.

If more NES games were like this, I think the newer generations wouldn’t have has hard of a time going back and enjoying some of the pioneers. 7/10.