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vinitagarwal's Kirby's Adventure (NES)
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| [January 19, 2007 02:20:26 PM]
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So I spent some more time playing Kirby and I've finally realized why I could play this game without end.
The game is continuous. There isn't a single time where you're taken out of the 2D side-scrolling adventure mode of play as even the "world map" is set up in a 2D side-scroller. This creates a sense of immersion that does not interrupt gameplay at any time.
The game is simple. The directions are illustrated and the mechanics are intuitive. The way you see your enemy attack is the way you will attack when you acquire their ability. In the way that the game saves after every level you clear is, at first seemingly too forgiving, but in the end is a nice convenience (especially when your NES tries to access that dusty pin and commits suicide soon afterwards).
But most importantly, the game has ingenious mini-games that hooked me for hours. In the end, the charm of the Kirby games are not in the borrowing-and-expanding platformer portion of the game, but in the mini-games that are so simple to play, but so difficult to master.
Ultimately, Kirby captures the essence of simplicity. The character itself is a circle with two eyes, feet, and hands (as described in the "how to draw Kirby" clip before the game title screen). The game is nothing more than passing through colorful stages, with interspersed, short minigames. Kirby does not try hard to integrate tough, very complex gameplay mechanics - it's just Kirby.
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| [January 19, 2007 05:48:23 AM]
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A few points of interest about the Kirby series before I begin my critical analysis of "Kirby Adventure". For one, the 1993 copyright date shot me straight in the face as I thought the Kirby series dated far further back. It's true that the very first Kirby game was in fact on the original Gameboy in 1992, but considering the iconic nature of Kirby, I thought Kirby's lineage would have begun back in the 80's.
Unlike with all the other titles on the "classics list", this was my first time playing "Kirby's Adventure". I've played several of the other Kirby games and it surprised me how similar the Kirby game of 14 years ago is to the latest one for the Nintendo DS that was just released a few weeks ago. What was immediately apparent to me was the familiar sound-track. What is true about the Kirby series, it seems, that is not true with any other game series that I know of, is the retention -almost in its full completeness- of the sound-track and related sound-effects. The same songs re-hashed into later iterations of the Kirby games may seem like a cop-out (and really sometimes it feels like that), but it's nonetheless a great soundtrack and lends itself to a solid "definite" style for the series.
Being a series made so much later than most of Nintendo's other established franchises, the Kirby series borrows several gameplay aspects from other respected series', namely Mario and Mega Man. It took the best of both series' - that is to say while it is a colorful, easy to play platformer just like Mario, there is still diversity in the gameplay mechanic as Kirby acquires new abilities a la Mega Man's powers gained from defeating reploids.
However, unlike Mario and Mega Man, Kirby implements consistent strategy and puzzle-solving into its play. Where in Mega Man, any enemy can effectively be defeated with the standard Pea shooter, Kirby will require you to make use of the various abilities to defeat certain enemies and to destroy obstacles in order to proceed. As such, there is higher potential to make the game difficult in a more sophisticated way than simply bombarding the player with more enemies.
There are a few other things I want to mention but I will get to those once I've thought about them a bit more.
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vinitagarwal's Kirby's Adventure (NES)
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Current Status: Playing
GameLog started on: Friday 19 January, 2007
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