(I will say I did not really engage with the New Game+ at all, it felt like a little too much which kind of plays into my overall feelings about this game)
In terms of a remaster, I think this is a really good example of how to approach them in a general sense. A new look that doesn't ruin the original's aesthetic and differs slightly but not too much to be radically different, an expansion on the core game & some extras added in to spice things up. However, this might also be an example of a little too much of a good thing. While this is the pretty standard Kirby experience throughout with the central gimmick of Ultra Powers being...fine, I guess, it felt like there was a real content bloat here that felt like trying to finish a whole birthday cake by myself (which I guess also works as an analogy for the syrupy nature of the Kirby series).
Even just trying to finish the main game while taking time to get the minigame tickets & extra lives felt like a bit of a time slog on it's own, not to mention trying to get all the Dress-Up masks & achievements in the park. The minigames, the level design, all that was pretty standard issue Kirby stuff but it just felt like an obligation near the endpoint. I think this is broken up a little by the more interesting Magolor side game, which almost seems like a test run for the game engine to branch out into different game styles that still adhere to a general Kirby formula. The idea of an upgrade system & the different moveset was enough to keep me going for the short runtime, so I think that more than anything else was the biggest pull in this game for me. A fun enough traditional Kirby game but too bloated & familiar to be one of my favorites.
In terms of a remaster, I think this is a really good example of how to approach them in a general sense. A new look that doesn't ruin the original's aesthetic and differs slightly but not too much to be radically different, an expansion on the core game & some extras added in to spice things up. However, this might also be an example of a little too much of a good thing. While this is the pretty standard Kirby experience throughout with the central gimmick of Ultra Powers being...fine, I guess, it felt like there was a real content bloat here that felt like trying to finish a whole birthday cake by myself (which I guess also works as an analogy for the syrupy nature of the Kirby series).
Even just trying to finish the main game while taking time to get the minigame tickets & extra lives felt like a bit of a time slog on it's own, not to mention trying to get all the Dress-Up masks & achievements in the park. The minigames, the level design, all that was pretty standard issue Kirby stuff but it just felt like an obligation near the endpoint. I think this is broken up a little by the more interesting Magolor side game, which almost seems like a test run for the game engine to branch out into different game styles that still adhere to a general Kirby formula. The idea of an upgrade system & the different moveset was enough to keep me going for the short runtime, so I think that more than anything else was the biggest pull in this game for me. A fun enough traditional Kirby game but too bloated & familiar to be one of my favorites.