Come on a journey with me. Imagine this: 'Kirby doesn't exist'. Stop screaming. It's going to be alright.
Prior to 1992, that's how the world was. A horrible place. There was no established impression of what Kirby was, who he knew, or what he could do. A young team at HAL Laboratory had the opportunity to make a Game Boy platformer, and all was put right.
We don't know who Kirby is. There's just this one cartridge that you put in your Game Boy and love. Kirby's a funny little ball who walks around and does levels. He can kind of fly if he wants. He can do the standard running and jumping stuff, but that's up to you.
Kirby's Dream Land is a terrific thing for your Game Boy to do. It's what you want the screen to display and the speaker to amplify when you hold one of those devices in your hand. It's a game, sure, but it's something different - "a funny little game". It's presented with real affection and delight. Someone drew Kirby and said "that's our character", and everyone on the project made sure he was put into the perfect little game for him.
Viewed from this perspective, you don't take characters like Whispy Woods or King Dedede for granted. It's really great that Kirby is fighting a big tree or a pompous penguin in a boxing ring. You gain such appreciation for the later series standards when you embrace the context that justified their inception. Inhaling enemies has continued to be an important part of Kirby games, but in Dream Land it's all he has, and the surrounding design makes more sense as a result. Sucking up enemies and spitting them back out feels just like holding Koopa shells in Mario 3. An instant feeling of power that you hold over the screen in front of you. Excitement in a flash.
Kirby's Dream Land washes away all the prejudice of what a videogame should be. It takes no notice of the industry around it. It just exists as its own thing. It takes encouragement from Super Mario Bros, because by that point, the notion of scrolling levels filled with wandering enemies and obstacles was already agreed upon as the essence of what a videogame was. But it's a much more welcoming game, and it doesn't dismiss casual curiosity nearly as harshly. This is a game that learns from the developing industry of the eighties and turns their electronic experiments into something immediately appealing for a new generation.
Kirby's Dream Land is where I hope people start when first trying videogames. I'd never push it upon them, or sway them away from whatever flashy new thing first piqued their interest, but in my wildest dreams, this is the ideal. I'm so thankful that they made Kirby.
Prior to 1992, that's how the world was. A horrible place. There was no established impression of what Kirby was, who he knew, or what he could do. A young team at HAL Laboratory had the opportunity to make a Game Boy platformer, and all was put right.
We don't know who Kirby is. There's just this one cartridge that you put in your Game Boy and love. Kirby's a funny little ball who walks around and does levels. He can kind of fly if he wants. He can do the standard running and jumping stuff, but that's up to you.
Kirby's Dream Land is a terrific thing for your Game Boy to do. It's what you want the screen to display and the speaker to amplify when you hold one of those devices in your hand. It's a game, sure, but it's something different - "a funny little game". It's presented with real affection and delight. Someone drew Kirby and said "that's our character", and everyone on the project made sure he was put into the perfect little game for him.
Viewed from this perspective, you don't take characters like Whispy Woods or King Dedede for granted. It's really great that Kirby is fighting a big tree or a pompous penguin in a boxing ring. You gain such appreciation for the later series standards when you embrace the context that justified their inception. Inhaling enemies has continued to be an important part of Kirby games, but in Dream Land it's all he has, and the surrounding design makes more sense as a result. Sucking up enemies and spitting them back out feels just like holding Koopa shells in Mario 3. An instant feeling of power that you hold over the screen in front of you. Excitement in a flash.
Kirby's Dream Land washes away all the prejudice of what a videogame should be. It takes no notice of the industry around it. It just exists as its own thing. It takes encouragement from Super Mario Bros, because by that point, the notion of scrolling levels filled with wandering enemies and obstacles was already agreed upon as the essence of what a videogame was. But it's a much more welcoming game, and it doesn't dismiss casual curiosity nearly as harshly. This is a game that learns from the developing industry of the eighties and turns their electronic experiments into something immediately appealing for a new generation.
Kirby's Dream Land is where I hope people start when first trying videogames. I'd never push it upon them, or sway them away from whatever flashy new thing first piqued their interest, but in my wildest dreams, this is the ideal. I'm so thankful that they made Kirby.
2 Comments
Imagine if they then went on to put this Kirby character in a pinball game!!
HylianBran
1 year ago