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Harman Necroskowitz's Kirby's Adventure (NES)
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| [January 26, 2008 02:32:58 AM]
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GAMEPLAY
Alright then, my second go with Kirby got me as far as the Fourth World. And no, that isn’t a reference to any sort of regional socio-economic measurement system. Rather, Dreamland appears to have provinces very much similar to those in Mario’s homeland of the Mushroom Kingdom. You have your Forest land, your magical kingdoms, subterranean areas, and airships. Which makes me wonder, Kirby’s world can have all this crazy crap in it because it’s Dreamland and, I assume, consists of people’s dreams, whereas the Mushroom Kingd- oh, yeah, I guess that one makes sense, too.
So apparently King Dedede, for all his apparent regal malevolence, is an equal opportunity employer. The bosses you fight include, but are not limited to, a rollerskating artist whose paintings literally “come alive,” a sapient tree, a walrus, a beetle, the sun and the moon, and an alarm clock. I was particularly fond of dispatching the last of that list, and I think many of my fellows with early classes will agree that alarm clocks deserve nothing more than our collective scorn and rage. It was also nice that each mini-boss offered a nifty, rare power-up for Kirby. Among them is the ability to pile drive enemies, which is more fun than it should be.
DESIGN
The thing that amazed me most about the game was how good it looked. When I loaded up an NES game from the early nineties I did not expect what I saw. Kirby’s Adventure is wonderfully animated and quite colorful. The game graphics-wise is very much on par with Super Mario 4 for the Super Nintendo. Granted, today, that’s like saying, “This abacus is very much on par with the Apple IIe,” the achievement is still quite evident. That an 8-bit game can make me chuckle at its (intentional) silliness is a testament to how well it has aged.
Of course Kirby’s defining mechanic is his ability to absorb the powers of the enemies he eats. Having only one power at a time also adds some elements of strategy in that you need to save powers gained from rare or boss enemies. The powers are quite noticeable although some are somewhat useless (turning into a ball) or redundant (Should I use ice breath or ice aura?). Still many are very nice to have around and affect areas in meaningful ways. In one instance I used Kirby’s fire breath to ignite a fuse to a nearby cannon which he could then leap into to be launched far into the Stratosphere. Which as any veteran of Mario knows is where all the best stuff is located.
This entry has been edited 1 time. It was last edited on Jan 26th, 2008 at 14:47:18.
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| [January 26, 2008 01:53:56 AM]
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Kirby’s Adventure
SUMMARY
Kirby’s Adventure is a platformer for the Nintendo Entertainment System circa 1993. Game mechanics include the capability of jumping, hovering, inhaling enemies and stealing their powers, and exhaling enemies. As usual for games of the era it is divided up via levels although there is a lobby area to rest between adventures in Dreamland. The game centers on Kirby foiling the machinations of the birdlike King Dedede and his plot to destroy Dreamland.
GAMEPLAY
On Thursday, I had the profound honor of seeing the beginnings of a now famous face in Nintendo history, Kirby. For those of you unfamiliar with the character, Kirby is a small, pink, spheroid with two stubby fingerless arms, two red toeless feet, and an ever-smiling face with large, puppy dog eyes. But for most of us gamers, however, that’s all we know of the little guy, other than that he sucks. Not to slight Kirby or his games, but he literally inhales his enemies, consumes their powers, and vomits them out as high speed projectiles. The entire process is actually cuter than it sounds.
So all is not well in Dreamland, in fact there are no dreams in Dreamland, thereby negating the existence of such a place as Dreamland. It does indeed appear that the avian monarch, King Dedede, has stolen the sacred Star Rod and shattered it into seven pieces for which are no doubt devious purposes. So it falls on Kirby, in all his round, vacuumous glory, to bring an end to such a dastardly villain and restore peace to sleepers everywhere.
The game is very much a platformer in that there are platforms involved. These platforms, however, are entirely cosmetic in nature. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure they provide a number of uses in the Dreamland economic structure. But Kirby scoffs at such terrestrial objects with cool disdain – that is if Kirby did scoff at things rather than be a pink bubble of pure optimism. No, for Kirby is capable of flight and happily soars over such obstacles, only touching down for the errant power-up or to teach some upstart “boss,” what small, pink, round men are really made of. Fluff, I imagine.
This entry has been edited 1 time. It was last edited on Jan 26th, 2008 at 03:12:29.
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Harman Necroskowitz's Kirby's Adventure (NES)
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Current Status: Finished playing
GameLog started on: Thursday 24 January, 2008
GameLog closed on: Thursday 21 February, 2008 |
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