This review contains spoilers
So part of the thing going into this "Kirby 100% marathon" was mainly just an excuse to replay Planet Robobot, as I have a lot of connection with it over the years. Never did 100% it though since I didn't get past the final final phase of the True Arena and the stickers. But I also just wanted to come back and see if it's still as good as I remember it being since it has been... a few years I think? I don't think I've touched this since sometime in my last year of high school, which uhhhhhhhh.... fucked up. That was around when I got my switch too, so I guess that checks out.
The biggest revelation playing this after Triple Deluxe however is just wow, this game is if that game was actually really cool. Now as I said before, that game is still good, just not very standout, and a little exhausting to play through, but I had to think for awhile why that was. What clicked with me was finishing the first world.
Hell, the first couple levels of each are very on point. Triple Deluxe's first 2 levels start with a tutorial followed by Kirby being introduced to the game's gimmick ability, the Hypernova ability, and then a pretty standard cave level after. It's not bad, they're fine levels, but they don't really do much interesting outside of introduce the fruit, which even then is just "oh hey look at this fruit that just appeared, cool."
Planet Robobot is still under the context of Popstar being invaded by a mysterious invading force that mechanizes the planet. So the first level doesn't actually show the new gimmick form that kirby relies on, but is instead a tutorial followed by a chase by a rampaging robot drill tree. And like yea, you can beat it for a rare sticker, but it's the vibe of unfamiliar hostility that it creates that gives some texture to the adventure more than normal, like this is out of Kirby's range of normalcy, and you kind of feel that with this first level. The following stage then is the robobot armor introduction, where Kirby is attacked by one of the robobot mechs and has to fight it. Only after beating it does kirby think to get in it, and just like that, we got the new game's gimmick ability.
It's much more dynamic way of showing Kirby getting access to the ability, and lemme be honest with you, Robobot armor is very easily a more interesting gimmick ability than the Hypernova, and even the Super abilities. Hypernova is an evolution of Kirby's inhale, which is a smart way of showing Kirby's versatility with being part vaccum. And the Super Abilities are flashy, and fairly versatile due to there being 5 of them, but there's a certain formula with them. You'll have one level with them, and one level with out, and a lot of times it's just set up as a designated "use this ability" spot.
The Robobot Armor doesn't really adhere to that fully. Sure there are parts where you'd have to unlock it for some reason, but sometimes you have whole levels where it's nothing but Robobot stuff, some have only a few sections with it, some don't even use it at all. Usually when it's used, it's to one up the stage's hazards or for puzzle solving, but there are occassions where Kirby has to split from the armor to do something only he can do without it, usually travelling through smaller areas to open the door for the big armor.
And the armor itself is cool because normally, it's got a basic but strong moveset where it punches and can break blocks and stuff, but it can also copy abilities like Kirby. There are 13 out of the 27 abilities that can be copied, and they all usually have some kind of applications for puzzle solving, combat, traversal, or some combinations of the three. Some levels are even completely unique for the Robobot Armor because they heavily rely on Wheel for race themed levels or Jet for side-scrolling shooters akin to the landia shooter section from RtD. It's honestly such a neat way to bring that little diversion back, even having a couple bosses to itself. Notable favorites are bomb for it's neat little puzzles for guiding bombs, stone suprisingly for it being an improvement on the punching the main mech could do, and mike because it's visual noise is very satisfying to see in action.
Also inspeaking of that ability list, this is a great list returning and new. Sure a lot of mainstays like fire, hammer, sword, ninja, ice, beam, cutter, and whatnot return, but they also brought back a few new ones from the recent games like archer and leaf. They even brought back older ones that haven't seen use in awhile like Jet and Mirror, both also seeing some small moveset additiosn to make them more fun. I should also just mention, they added back the extra moves to Spark, and it's fun again. Great ability. The new ones in ESP, Doctor, and especially Poison are some of my favorites in the series actually. Poison sticks out to me not only for being a surprisingly good boss killer, but also just being a really novel reworking of water. Poison in games doesn't get much more than the status, so seeing a moveset like this puts a smile on my face.
25 of these abilities are pretty standard, but 2 are stowed away through hidden rooms and completion/amiibo support. Smash Bros., a copy ability from Amazing Mirror that basically gives Kirby a reworked version of his smash moveset which is really cool to see, and UFO, something you most likely won't get until 100%'ing the game, but the fact they hid it just for people to find is really cool.
What helps make these abilties and the robobot stuff be as cool as it is is because the abilties are normally pretty heavily utilized in the myriad of scenarios the game has, like remembering a given path put up on a monitor, which can contain puzzles in itself, or using the stages hazards to aid you like the cyber space blocks acting as platforms or the multitude of things you can slam back with robobot armor moves like large metal cylinders, waddle dees in cars and buses, cue balls, dice, giant cue balls that chase you, the casino levels were kind of fucking wild. Oh the level themes in general are actually pretty cool. Because yeah, it's basically popstar but mechanized, and it thus would take some familiar stuff and just add like, metal everywhere, right?
Well sure, that's kind of what you get with patched plains or gigabyte grounds, basically areas turned into a dedicated sawmill spot or industrial factory respectively, but then you got the water world where it has an ice cream factory for it's ice levels, the water levels, especially the one before the boss (3-5) is basically bioshock with underwater cities, and while you'd expect a burning lava world for the 5th world, it and the 2nd are are just a city and town respecitively, and the city itself is always shining with bright and flashy lights among the rooftops. Both also have casino levels, and they are both kind of the coolest. And the last world of Access Ark, part of it is just working your way through the ship, seeing the halls with Haltmann's faces plastered over them as his troopers and security drones roam the halls, but then you get thrown into the trenches of Cyberspace, and it's just as cool and bizarre as you'd expect. That also happens to contain some of my favorite levels but either way.
Oh and the boss fights. Clanky Woods is one of my favorite interpretations of Whispy Woods for both it's introduction in the first world, but it's fight is also really good. The Holo-projector is neat fan-service fight, Mecha Knight and the Dedede Clones while at first pretty standard pull out some crazy shit like metal scorpion tail or a cannon. They also bring back some smaller fights like against that crackheaded war blimp that wanted you dead from the earlier games, Kabula, and the security drones scouring the hall are just stock versions of the Metal General from RtD, even having the damage number indicator everytime you hit him.
The fights with Susie and Haltmann are both really good, and also something about Haltmann's voice lines, especially when he pulls out the 3d cube laser that torches his own bots are really funny to me. AND THE LAST FIGHT, there's a reason the final fight from Frontiers I immedietly thought of Planet Robobot, because not only do we fight some big cosmic entity in the shape of a planet sized super computer bent on wiping out all life in the name of "prosperity" but also the game turns into a fucking shooter near the end, and yes, it's one of the coolest fights in the series. Also the way that fight ends is just a major fucking Gurren Lagaan reference, infact a lot of fights with the robobot armor are just that, and I very much appreciate it.
We also got some unique fights from Meta Knight's side mode, which are clones of Dark Matter and Sectionia, finally ending with the Galacta Knight rematch, and while that one is cool, I also gotta feel bad for Galacta Knight everytime we see him, because he's either into two perpetual states. Locked away in a crystal, or destroying planets, and it's never not either of those things. Though while I bring it up, I should probably just mention the side modes row quick.
Meta Knightmare Returns is a better Dedede Tour for two reasons. Meta Knight has a points system that gives him a few abilities that can increase speed, attack, or heal, and those are handy AF, and the mode while still around the same length as Dedede's doesn't feel bloated near the end because of Royal fucking Road. Access Arc is still big, it's the last world of the game with the most levels technically, but it's definetly not as draining to run through. But otherwise, I like both Meta Knight and Dedede pretty equally, though I do like shuttle loop into the upward thrust attack a lot, but I also really like hammer flip.
And the Kirby 3D Rumble and Team Kirby Clash Modes are more interesting to me than Kirby Fighters or Dedede Drum Dash, just because that 3D Rumble led to Blowout Blast and that game is lowkey really fun, and Team Kirby Clash inches ever closer to the idea of Kirby just being a full one turn based RPG, and I like that idea a lot. What we got here is a good take on it using the normal gameplay. Hammer Lord and Time Mage are my favorites, especially when you get a party of mages in the latter.
And the stickers in this game do take quite a few notes from the Keychains from Triple Deluxe. Luckily however, there is only 200 including rare and non-rare ones, and they have a better use than the nothing of the keychains, which is cosmetics to put on your Robobot armor. They're still a bit tedious to fully get but thankfully not nearly as much.
Lastly however is the arenas, and they're about as good as the ones from Triple Deluxe. I will say the True Arena in this game can feel a little daunting towards the end since this game also has an extra last boss after the final boss in their EX form, and that boss has two phases of it's own, alongside some near-death attacks that can kill you if you're not ready for them, so if you're for some reason reading this without finishing the game first, well first hi, secondly why are you reading this? And lastly uhh... be careful.
Anyways yeah, that's Planet Robobot. I know I went into this knowing that this was already one of my favorite Kirby games, but I kind of underestimated how much this game would still find ways to surprise or at least keep me hooked for most of the way through. A lot of the game feels like it took a lot of what Triple Deluxe offered from it's structure and mechanics and whatnot, trimmed the fat where necessary, just went nuts with the new themeing or the new abilities, robobot or otherwise. And look, I don't mean to keep harping on Triple Deluxe because it is still a good game to me, and it has more than a few moments of charm or hype to offer. I just felt with that game, getting through completing it was a little uninteresting and honestly kind of exhausting at points.
Robobot just does more with itself, and that's not just in it's fanservice stuff regarding the return of certain old but well-loved abilities or the return of old but well-known bosses. They even brought back Meta Knightmare. But I also mean that it does a lot of cool things with it's setting, taking full advantage of the theme of a mechanized Pop-Star where once green pastures lay natural and undisturbed now lie in wake of being harvested or metalized by the invading company. They also do a bit more story telling than in Triple Deluxe, though mostly done by Susie, who I think is just a slightly better executed Taranza just due to how we get more direct conversations with her from the third world onward, which I think helps keep me caring on what's going on a bit stronger than Taranza constantly trying to get Kirby off his tail by pissing off the local inhabitants.
Planet Robobot just feels like a better executed game, and it's just really fun to play through. I'm confident in saying it's my favorite so far in this little 100%ing marathon, but Forgotten Land might be some tough competition, and Star Allies could surprise me. We'll see. In general though, this is still probably my favorite Kirby game.
Also it made me feel sad for the robobot armor, how did do that??
The biggest revelation playing this after Triple Deluxe however is just wow, this game is if that game was actually really cool. Now as I said before, that game is still good, just not very standout, and a little exhausting to play through, but I had to think for awhile why that was. What clicked with me was finishing the first world.
Hell, the first couple levels of each are very on point. Triple Deluxe's first 2 levels start with a tutorial followed by Kirby being introduced to the game's gimmick ability, the Hypernova ability, and then a pretty standard cave level after. It's not bad, they're fine levels, but they don't really do much interesting outside of introduce the fruit, which even then is just "oh hey look at this fruit that just appeared, cool."
Planet Robobot is still under the context of Popstar being invaded by a mysterious invading force that mechanizes the planet. So the first level doesn't actually show the new gimmick form that kirby relies on, but is instead a tutorial followed by a chase by a rampaging robot drill tree. And like yea, you can beat it for a rare sticker, but it's the vibe of unfamiliar hostility that it creates that gives some texture to the adventure more than normal, like this is out of Kirby's range of normalcy, and you kind of feel that with this first level. The following stage then is the robobot armor introduction, where Kirby is attacked by one of the robobot mechs and has to fight it. Only after beating it does kirby think to get in it, and just like that, we got the new game's gimmick ability.
It's much more dynamic way of showing Kirby getting access to the ability, and lemme be honest with you, Robobot armor is very easily a more interesting gimmick ability than the Hypernova, and even the Super abilities. Hypernova is an evolution of Kirby's inhale, which is a smart way of showing Kirby's versatility with being part vaccum. And the Super Abilities are flashy, and fairly versatile due to there being 5 of them, but there's a certain formula with them. You'll have one level with them, and one level with out, and a lot of times it's just set up as a designated "use this ability" spot.
The Robobot Armor doesn't really adhere to that fully. Sure there are parts where you'd have to unlock it for some reason, but sometimes you have whole levels where it's nothing but Robobot stuff, some have only a few sections with it, some don't even use it at all. Usually when it's used, it's to one up the stage's hazards or for puzzle solving, but there are occassions where Kirby has to split from the armor to do something only he can do without it, usually travelling through smaller areas to open the door for the big armor.
And the armor itself is cool because normally, it's got a basic but strong moveset where it punches and can break blocks and stuff, but it can also copy abilities like Kirby. There are 13 out of the 27 abilities that can be copied, and they all usually have some kind of applications for puzzle solving, combat, traversal, or some combinations of the three. Some levels are even completely unique for the Robobot Armor because they heavily rely on Wheel for race themed levels or Jet for side-scrolling shooters akin to the landia shooter section from RtD. It's honestly such a neat way to bring that little diversion back, even having a couple bosses to itself. Notable favorites are bomb for it's neat little puzzles for guiding bombs, stone suprisingly for it being an improvement on the punching the main mech could do, and mike because it's visual noise is very satisfying to see in action.
Also inspeaking of that ability list, this is a great list returning and new. Sure a lot of mainstays like fire, hammer, sword, ninja, ice, beam, cutter, and whatnot return, but they also brought back a few new ones from the recent games like archer and leaf. They even brought back older ones that haven't seen use in awhile like Jet and Mirror, both also seeing some small moveset additiosn to make them more fun. I should also just mention, they added back the extra moves to Spark, and it's fun again. Great ability. The new ones in ESP, Doctor, and especially Poison are some of my favorites in the series actually. Poison sticks out to me not only for being a surprisingly good boss killer, but also just being a really novel reworking of water. Poison in games doesn't get much more than the status, so seeing a moveset like this puts a smile on my face.
25 of these abilities are pretty standard, but 2 are stowed away through hidden rooms and completion/amiibo support. Smash Bros., a copy ability from Amazing Mirror that basically gives Kirby a reworked version of his smash moveset which is really cool to see, and UFO, something you most likely won't get until 100%'ing the game, but the fact they hid it just for people to find is really cool.
What helps make these abilties and the robobot stuff be as cool as it is is because the abilties are normally pretty heavily utilized in the myriad of scenarios the game has, like remembering a given path put up on a monitor, which can contain puzzles in itself, or using the stages hazards to aid you like the cyber space blocks acting as platforms or the multitude of things you can slam back with robobot armor moves like large metal cylinders, waddle dees in cars and buses, cue balls, dice, giant cue balls that chase you, the casino levels were kind of fucking wild. Oh the level themes in general are actually pretty cool. Because yeah, it's basically popstar but mechanized, and it thus would take some familiar stuff and just add like, metal everywhere, right?
Well sure, that's kind of what you get with patched plains or gigabyte grounds, basically areas turned into a dedicated sawmill spot or industrial factory respectively, but then you got the water world where it has an ice cream factory for it's ice levels, the water levels, especially the one before the boss (3-5) is basically bioshock with underwater cities, and while you'd expect a burning lava world for the 5th world, it and the 2nd are are just a city and town respecitively, and the city itself is always shining with bright and flashy lights among the rooftops. Both also have casino levels, and they are both kind of the coolest. And the last world of Access Ark, part of it is just working your way through the ship, seeing the halls with Haltmann's faces plastered over them as his troopers and security drones roam the halls, but then you get thrown into the trenches of Cyberspace, and it's just as cool and bizarre as you'd expect. That also happens to contain some of my favorite levels but either way.
Oh and the boss fights. Clanky Woods is one of my favorite interpretations of Whispy Woods for both it's introduction in the first world, but it's fight is also really good. The Holo-projector is neat fan-service fight, Mecha Knight and the Dedede Clones while at first pretty standard pull out some crazy shit like metal scorpion tail or a cannon. They also bring back some smaller fights like against that crackheaded war blimp that wanted you dead from the earlier games, Kabula, and the security drones scouring the hall are just stock versions of the Metal General from RtD, even having the damage number indicator everytime you hit him.
The fights with Susie and Haltmann are both really good, and also something about Haltmann's voice lines, especially when he pulls out the 3d cube laser that torches his own bots are really funny to me. AND THE LAST FIGHT, there's a reason the final fight from Frontiers I immedietly thought of Planet Robobot, because not only do we fight some big cosmic entity in the shape of a planet sized super computer bent on wiping out all life in the name of "prosperity" but also the game turns into a fucking shooter near the end, and yes, it's one of the coolest fights in the series. Also the way that fight ends is just a major fucking Gurren Lagaan reference, infact a lot of fights with the robobot armor are just that, and I very much appreciate it.
We also got some unique fights from Meta Knight's side mode, which are clones of Dark Matter and Sectionia, finally ending with the Galacta Knight rematch, and while that one is cool, I also gotta feel bad for Galacta Knight everytime we see him, because he's either into two perpetual states. Locked away in a crystal, or destroying planets, and it's never not either of those things. Though while I bring it up, I should probably just mention the side modes row quick.
Meta Knightmare Returns is a better Dedede Tour for two reasons. Meta Knight has a points system that gives him a few abilities that can increase speed, attack, or heal, and those are handy AF, and the mode while still around the same length as Dedede's doesn't feel bloated near the end because of Royal fucking Road. Access Arc is still big, it's the last world of the game with the most levels technically, but it's definetly not as draining to run through. But otherwise, I like both Meta Knight and Dedede pretty equally, though I do like shuttle loop into the upward thrust attack a lot, but I also really like hammer flip.
And the Kirby 3D Rumble and Team Kirby Clash Modes are more interesting to me than Kirby Fighters or Dedede Drum Dash, just because that 3D Rumble led to Blowout Blast and that game is lowkey really fun, and Team Kirby Clash inches ever closer to the idea of Kirby just being a full one turn based RPG, and I like that idea a lot. What we got here is a good take on it using the normal gameplay. Hammer Lord and Time Mage are my favorites, especially when you get a party of mages in the latter.
And the stickers in this game do take quite a few notes from the Keychains from Triple Deluxe. Luckily however, there is only 200 including rare and non-rare ones, and they have a better use than the nothing of the keychains, which is cosmetics to put on your Robobot armor. They're still a bit tedious to fully get but thankfully not nearly as much.
Lastly however is the arenas, and they're about as good as the ones from Triple Deluxe. I will say the True Arena in this game can feel a little daunting towards the end since this game also has an extra last boss after the final boss in their EX form, and that boss has two phases of it's own, alongside some near-death attacks that can kill you if you're not ready for them, so if you're for some reason reading this without finishing the game first, well first hi, secondly why are you reading this? And lastly uhh... be careful.
Anyways yeah, that's Planet Robobot. I know I went into this knowing that this was already one of my favorite Kirby games, but I kind of underestimated how much this game would still find ways to surprise or at least keep me hooked for most of the way through. A lot of the game feels like it took a lot of what Triple Deluxe offered from it's structure and mechanics and whatnot, trimmed the fat where necessary, just went nuts with the new themeing or the new abilities, robobot or otherwise. And look, I don't mean to keep harping on Triple Deluxe because it is still a good game to me, and it has more than a few moments of charm or hype to offer. I just felt with that game, getting through completing it was a little uninteresting and honestly kind of exhausting at points.
Robobot just does more with itself, and that's not just in it's fanservice stuff regarding the return of certain old but well-loved abilities or the return of old but well-known bosses. They even brought back Meta Knightmare. But I also mean that it does a lot of cool things with it's setting, taking full advantage of the theme of a mechanized Pop-Star where once green pastures lay natural and undisturbed now lie in wake of being harvested or metalized by the invading company. They also do a bit more story telling than in Triple Deluxe, though mostly done by Susie, who I think is just a slightly better executed Taranza just due to how we get more direct conversations with her from the third world onward, which I think helps keep me caring on what's going on a bit stronger than Taranza constantly trying to get Kirby off his tail by pissing off the local inhabitants.
Planet Robobot just feels like a better executed game, and it's just really fun to play through. I'm confident in saying it's my favorite so far in this little 100%ing marathon, but Forgotten Land might be some tough competition, and Star Allies could surprise me. We'll see. In general though, this is still probably my favorite Kirby game.
Also it made me feel sad for the robobot armor, how did do that??