Really great game. The general gameplay is as fun as ever, and the gimmick is a little fun too though I wish it could've been explored more and had a little more challenge to it. The bosses are a notable step up, especially the EX forms. This is the first game since like The Crystal Shards that actually feels like its bosses were designed with using vanilla Kirby in mind, and honestly the bosses are a lot better that way. This is the first game since the aforementioned Crystal Shards where I beat The True Arena without any copy abilities, and it was super satisfying.
The story and characters start to get fun here too. While Magolor is obviously meant to be a callback to Marx, I feel like his betrayal felt more personal here. Marx just kind of tells you to save Popstar and then comes in last minute, while Magolor is here from start to finish, and you can even talk to him and he seems really friendly every time. I also love how during this entire game, we're literally just helping the villain out. And then a bit later, you fight the Lor Starcutter, which uses each piece you saved as a different attack, which is honestly one of my favorite fights in the entire Kirby series so far. And the thing is, that fight is just one part in the entire fantastic finale. After this game and Forgotten Land, I've realized just how good Kumazaki is at making an incredibly satisfying ending, and judging by the other games this trend continues and will continue for as long as Kumazaki is director.
Few other things, the side modes are generally pretty fun too. The Arenas are as great as ever, the two minigames are actually really fun and my favorite so far, and the copy ability trials are fun but damn are they hard to get a good score in. Learning that there was a platinum metal after spending hours to get all gold was painful.
The music is as good as ever, shout outs to the Another Dimension theme, it goes so hard. This is the first game where I think the backgrounds start to truly shine as well. One of the most underrated parts of the 2D Kumazaki games is the game's visuals, especially the backgrounds, and this game is a fantastic showcase why. Each one of them are beautifully designed, and it's kinda sad that they put so much effort into a beautiful background as you never get to see it much, but I also appreciate that they still put so much effort into them besides that. If you wanna see them better, I HIGHLY suggest going to noclip.website so you can see them for yourselves, they're incredible even outside the game.
However, that brings me into my main complaint with the game, that being the extra mode. On paper, I love extra mode. A more difficult remixed version of the main story with completely reworked bosses and 1 or 2 new ones. Great! However, the problem comes with how it works. For whatever reason, this mode does not carry over any collectibles or scores from the main story. You have to collect all of the Energy Spheres again, and you have to redo all of the ability stages and the minigames. Why??? When I realized this I immediately lost motivation to continue, but I pushed through purely for the True Arena, which was very much worth it, but god this was just annoying. I understand this is a replay thing, however it locks bosses behind the True Arena, which you can only unlock if you beat the entire mode. I would've given this game a high 8 or even a low 9, but this entire mode spoiled the game slightly for me. I would've had no problems if the Energy Spheres were taken out, but no. They literally just copy and pasted them all from the main story with no differences.
Overall, I truly love this game. I will acknowledge that I have slight bias for this game due to it being my childhood Kirby game, however I think I provided enough specific reasons why I like (and dislike) this game to justify my feelings. This game is a great starting Kirby game and will introduce you to most of what makes the Kirby games so beloved by its fans.
The story and characters start to get fun here too. While Magolor is obviously meant to be a callback to Marx, I feel like his betrayal felt more personal here. Marx just kind of tells you to save Popstar and then comes in last minute, while Magolor is here from start to finish, and you can even talk to him and he seems really friendly every time. I also love how during this entire game, we're literally just helping the villain out. And then a bit later, you fight the Lor Starcutter, which uses each piece you saved as a different attack, which is honestly one of my favorite fights in the entire Kirby series so far. And the thing is, that fight is just one part in the entire fantastic finale. After this game and Forgotten Land, I've realized just how good Kumazaki is at making an incredibly satisfying ending, and judging by the other games this trend continues and will continue for as long as Kumazaki is director.
Few other things, the side modes are generally pretty fun too. The Arenas are as great as ever, the two minigames are actually really fun and my favorite so far, and the copy ability trials are fun but damn are they hard to get a good score in. Learning that there was a platinum metal after spending hours to get all gold was painful.
The music is as good as ever, shout outs to the Another Dimension theme, it goes so hard. This is the first game where I think the backgrounds start to truly shine as well. One of the most underrated parts of the 2D Kumazaki games is the game's visuals, especially the backgrounds, and this game is a fantastic showcase why. Each one of them are beautifully designed, and it's kinda sad that they put so much effort into a beautiful background as you never get to see it much, but I also appreciate that they still put so much effort into them besides that. If you wanna see them better, I HIGHLY suggest going to noclip.website so you can see them for yourselves, they're incredible even outside the game.
However, that brings me into my main complaint with the game, that being the extra mode. On paper, I love extra mode. A more difficult remixed version of the main story with completely reworked bosses and 1 or 2 new ones. Great! However, the problem comes with how it works. For whatever reason, this mode does not carry over any collectibles or scores from the main story. You have to collect all of the Energy Spheres again, and you have to redo all of the ability stages and the minigames. Why??? When I realized this I immediately lost motivation to continue, but I pushed through purely for the True Arena, which was very much worth it, but god this was just annoying. I understand this is a replay thing, however it locks bosses behind the True Arena, which you can only unlock if you beat the entire mode. I would've given this game a high 8 or even a low 9, but this entire mode spoiled the game slightly for me. I would've had no problems if the Energy Spheres were taken out, but no. They literally just copy and pasted them all from the main story with no differences.
Overall, I truly love this game. I will acknowledge that I have slight bias for this game due to it being my childhood Kirby game, however I think I provided enough specific reasons why I like (and dislike) this game to justify my feelings. This game is a great starting Kirby game and will introduce you to most of what makes the Kirby games so beloved by its fans.