as someone who isn't particularly fond of the kirby franchise, this is by far the best game in the series i've played thus far. color me surprised, as i don't even really like the NES either, so i am surprised i enjoyed myself as much as i did.

i think the (in my opinion) bizarre control scheme of kirby works in this game due to the NES controllers lack of buttons, having run be bound to double-tapping the directional pad makes sense in this game since there was genuinely only 6 buttons to work with. whereas on a game like kirby super star, it just felt odd since there were plenty of other buttons to work with.

this game was also suuuuper expressive for a NES title, it coming out in 1993 really shows, thick into the SNES era, the usual things that date a NES game like it's poor execution of checkpoints or unfair difficulty was practically non-existent in this game, i'd go as far as to say this game was too easy in that department. the bosses however did provide good challenge and kept the game engaging.

all of kirby's little animations and the beautiful backgrounds made this game a visual treat too, which again, is surprising to say regarding a NES title. my biggest gripe is probably the floating mechanic being bound to up on the directional pad felt slightly awkward. but besides that, the game really surprised me.

for the first game with captures, this game sure nailed it in my opinion. i'm still not sure if kirby is the franchise for me - but this game was certainly a step in the right direction.