This review contains spoilers
Note: Originally finished on 12/21/2018 with a score of 7/10. Didn't write a review for that playthrough.
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"Gurren Lagann but good"
Out of every Kirby game I've been marathoning, Planet Robobot was easily the one I was most excited to revisit. While I remember enjoying it on my first playthrough, I didn't think it was anything particularly amazing. However after replaying it, I easily understand why this game is so beloved. Though, I do think it falls shorts in some areas.
The gameplay is as good as ever, basically no differences from Triple Deluxe, with one major addition: the Robobot gimmick. I actually really love this gimmick, it's easily the best of them from Modern Kirby. It takes a step back from the flashiness and goes fully into gameplay. You'd think half the stages using the armor would get old, but no it stays consistently interesting. The copy abilities are all implemented in interesting ways, and there's unique puzzles every single time. There's also racing levels with the Wheel robot and side shooters with the Jet robot, which are both great. The Robobot armor made the game much more fun to go through overall.
The bosses in this game are a mixed bags full of peaks and valleys. Some of these bosses were pretty disappointing: Susie and Haltmann being essentially the same fight, fighting Meta Knight basically 4 times, half of bosses from the API fight being just exact copies from Triple Deluxe, literally just copy and pasting the Queen Sectonia fight with one new attack, and Galacta Knight being the exact same as his RtDL fight with only a new attack or two. However, these down points are made up for by some of the best fights in the entire series. Clanky Woods, the D3, Haltmann, every single Star Dream phase (including Star Dream Soul OS), and fucking DARK MATTER??? Just some incredibly made fights. Star Dream in particular is easily the best final boss in any Kirby game, bar none. The atmosphere, music, scale, visuals, lore... just everything about the fight is amazing. I especially loved the use of the title screen music for the final phase, it genuinely sent chills down my spine. Also, the return of the shooter style from Crystal Shards was so cool to see too, and I'm glad they utilized it in the best way possible (especially since I didn't enjoy it that much in that game).
Also side note on the bosses, the Arena and True Arena were great too. I liked the more creative approach to it, not only having a set order on the bosses to call back to the older Boss Endurances, but having healing only available with the single inventory slot was a neat idea too, which made the True Arena much more thrilling. This is probably the hardest Arena I've gone through so far. (Though I will say, beating Star Dream Soul for the first time with no abilities only to die to the final attack due to me not expecting there to not be invincibility frames after getting hit was kinda annoying. I didn't mind going through it again though since the True Arena is really fun, but this felt like an oversight since I literally didn't have time to dodge due to the hit animation.)
As usual, this game is aesthetically great. Fantastic music, visuals, and great level variety. The levels follow more generic themes ala RtDL, but the robotic theme makes them feel so unique. The ocean world in particular surprisingly had some of my favorite ideas, with it taking place on a harbor, before you go underground to this awesome glass bottle city. Also bonus points for the casino levels, I love casinos in games.
The last thing I want to mention is the story. While I think the story is really good, especially for a Kirby game, I think there's flaws in how it was told. A lot of the story just didn't make sense to me until I read the Miiverse posts, which spells out a lot of the story in this game. I'm glad they kept their mouth shut about the Nova though, since it's a fun thing to speculate about.
Overall, Planet Robobot is a truly fantastic game. While it definitely has some big flaws, it also has the highest peaks in the series. I don't think it's possible to get much better with 2D Kirby than with this game.
"Gurren Lagann but good"
Out of every Kirby game I've been marathoning, Planet Robobot was easily the one I was most excited to revisit. While I remember enjoying it on my first playthrough, I didn't think it was anything particularly amazing. However after replaying it, I easily understand why this game is so beloved. Though, I do think it falls shorts in some areas.
The gameplay is as good as ever, basically no differences from Triple Deluxe, with one major addition: the Robobot gimmick. I actually really love this gimmick, it's easily the best of them from Modern Kirby. It takes a step back from the flashiness and goes fully into gameplay. You'd think half the stages using the armor would get old, but no it stays consistently interesting. The copy abilities are all implemented in interesting ways, and there's unique puzzles every single time. There's also racing levels with the Wheel robot and side shooters with the Jet robot, which are both great. The Robobot armor made the game much more fun to go through overall.
The bosses in this game are a mixed bags full of peaks and valleys. Some of these bosses were pretty disappointing: Susie and Haltmann being essentially the same fight, fighting Meta Knight basically 4 times, half of bosses from the API fight being just exact copies from Triple Deluxe, literally just copy and pasting the Queen Sectonia fight with one new attack, and Galacta Knight being the exact same as his RtDL fight with only a new attack or two. However, these down points are made up for by some of the best fights in the entire series. Clanky Woods, the D3, Haltmann, every single Star Dream phase (including Star Dream Soul OS), and fucking DARK MATTER??? Just some incredibly made fights. Star Dream in particular is easily the best final boss in any Kirby game, bar none. The atmosphere, music, scale, visuals, lore... just everything about the fight is amazing. I especially loved the use of the title screen music for the final phase, it genuinely sent chills down my spine. Also, the return of the shooter style from Crystal Shards was so cool to see too, and I'm glad they utilized it in the best way possible (especially since I didn't enjoy it that much in that game).
Also side note on the bosses, the Arena and True Arena were great too. I liked the more creative approach to it, not only having a set order on the bosses to call back to the older Boss Endurances, but having healing only available with the single inventory slot was a neat idea too, which made the True Arena much more thrilling. This is probably the hardest Arena I've gone through so far. (Though I will say, beating Star Dream Soul for the first time with no abilities only to die to the final attack due to me not expecting there to not be invincibility frames after getting hit was kinda annoying. I didn't mind going through it again though since the True Arena is really fun, but this felt like an oversight since I literally didn't have time to dodge due to the hit animation.)
As usual, this game is aesthetically great. Fantastic music, visuals, and great level variety. The levels follow more generic themes ala RtDL, but the robotic theme makes them feel so unique. The ocean world in particular surprisingly had some of my favorite ideas, with it taking place on a harbor, before you go underground to this awesome glass bottle city. Also bonus points for the casino levels, I love casinos in games.
The last thing I want to mention is the story. While I think the story is really good, especially for a Kirby game, I think there's flaws in how it was told. A lot of the story just didn't make sense to me until I read the Miiverse posts, which spells out a lot of the story in this game. I'm glad they kept their mouth shut about the Nova though, since it's a fun thing to speculate about.
Overall, Planet Robobot is a truly fantastic game. While it definitely has some big flaws, it also has the highest peaks in the series. I don't think it's possible to get much better with 2D Kirby than with this game.