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Thursday 21 February, 2008
Gamelog #4
Entry #2
GAMEPLAY
As I advanced further, bosses and mini-bosses became more difficult while the levels became easier. Each new world had one more level than the previous, but the levels individually were getting shorter and shorter. Some of the shorter ones didn’t even have any difficult puzzles or mini-bosses, making them more of a chore.
The bosses however became more of a challenge. Bugzy, a bug that would grab Kirby if he came to close, and a rock creature that had a similar grabbing mechanism to Bugzy, were hard to beat because abilities that would hurl Kirby straight at them would simply leave him in their clutches to body slam. The boss for world 3, Mr. Shine and Mr. Bright (the Sun and Moon), also proved more difficult then the previous two bosses because you had to face off against one while being wary not to hit the other. All the bosses getting harder isn’t completely true. World 4 boss, Cracko, proved to be very simple to beat once I figured out how the level was set up (not just a boss, I had to jump several platforms to reach the specific area to face him).
I also tried some of the mini-games. My favorite was the quick draw game. There is a similar mini-game in Kirby Superstar that my friends and I used to play. I’ve definitely gotten rusty. I’m amazed at how many quick draws I won. The first three opponents are really easy to beat, where as the last two are more of a serious challenge.
GAMEDESIGN
Like all Kirby games, this game uses the innovative idea of instead of firing projectiles like missiles and fireballs at your opponent; you can use most of your opponents as projectiles against other opponents. What sets this game apart from its predecessor is Kirby’s ability to copy most of his opponents’ abilities and use them as his own. For an NES game, I’m amazed at how many different abilities there are. There’s almost as much to compete with Kirby 64, which had the ability to combine abilities. Some abilities however were too similar to each other, such as the ice and freeze abilities. One created a field around Kirby that would freeze any enemy and the other shot out a very short distance, maybe small three steps, in one direction that could freeze enemies. Games like Kirby Superstar would combine similar abilities into one, like the fireball and fire breath abilities into one fire ability, to make the gameplay more simple and easy to understand.
Some abilities are also more useful then others. While the gameplay makes it so that no one ability is useful throughout the entire game or level, some I thought were pointless. I never found use for the ball power. I was never able to hurt an opponent or crush a block with the ball power. Some abilities were also hard to handle, like the laser. I always wondered why it wasn’t a power in Kirby Superstar (the exact same enemy that gives the laser power in this game is also in Kirby Superstar but doesn’t give a power, if I remember correctly). The laser proved to be very difficult to use. I was very glad to see that some of the limited use powers, such as the microphone and crash powers originated from this game. I wish that some of the easier powers to handle, like bombs, would have been in this game.
I was glad to see that many of Kirby’s classic characters made it into this game, such as the Sun and Moon, Wispy Woods, King Dedede, and most of the mini-bosses. While many of them were probably new at the time, it is great to see all these characters in one game. This game expressed more of the two-faced nature of Sir Meta Knight. While Kirby Superstar had him solely as a nemesis, this game features him attacking Kirby by sending his minions against him, and aiding Kirby by giving him invincibility lollipops.
My biggest complaint is level design. The levels are too short. Until I got to a mini-boss or normal boss, most of the levels were simply getting past enemies and going in doors. Some levels I barely started and I was already at the end. I think what would have improved this is if some levels could be combined into larger levels. Also there should be more challenges that require certain abilities, like Kirby Superstar.
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