Kirby's Adventure

Yes, I am still alive. Time does seem to fly sometimes. I'm always amazed how long it's been since I updated when I go to look at my last entry. Anyway today I wanted to do a NES game since I don't think I've reviewed one yet. I picked Kirby's Adventure since it seemed pretty solid. It was my introduction in the Kirby Series and until a year or two ago when I played that DS remake of Kirby Super Star the only real experience I had with it beyond Super Smash Brothers which obviously doesn't count.

Kirby's Adventure

Overall:

Kirby's Adventure is the second Kirby game and the only NES entry in the series. Kirby's Adventure came out near the end of the NES's life and looks pretty polished compared to other games the system is known for. Actually going back and looking at console release dates this game came out AFTER the SNES had so this was even further along the NES's life then I had thought. The basic plot is that King Dedede has broken the Star Rod up and given pieces to his minions and it's up to you to defeat them and King Dedede to get the parts back and restore the Star Rod so that everyone in Dream Land can dream again. The game actually has a plot twist beyond "The Princess is in another castle" which is sorta notable for a NES game. The game is a platformer and like pretty much all Kirby games the gameplay hinges on you eating enemies to get their powers as well as flying around for brief periods of time. The game also includes some pretty fun mini games that still hold up to today's standards.

Pros:

This is a fun game that reminds you why platformers were once king before the RPG and later FPS genres were(+0.75). The gameplay is simple but manages to stay fun and never gets dull even when all you have is a D-Pad and two buttons and the limited abilities that those enable you. The game isn't very hard but never gets brain-dead easy.

Like I mentioned earlier, the mini games you find spread through each world are really fun such as the crane game or the egg launcher game(+0.50). They have little benefits in the form of extra lives so finding them on the world map is always a treat. The little trampoline cloud thing at the end of each stage is also another enjoyable mini-game they threw in for the players.

The graphics are clean and bright and look nearly like they should be on a SNES so I have no complaints in that department(+0.25). The music is catchy and does a good job of staying with the bright happy atmosphere that generally accompanies Kirby games(+0.25).

The wide variety of abilities you can take from enemies was pretty impressive and though there were a few powers that most people would consider crappy, the developers did a good job of giving the player options for tackling the levels and bosses (+1.00). The little museums where you could go and get a power or two between levels was also helpful if you knew you can a boss coming up or the enemies in a level were giving you lame powers (+0.25). This really made the Kirby games what they were and if you only had the default breath exhale for a weapon the game would be much less enjoyable.

+3.00

Cons:

There were a few levels that you could mostly just sorta fly over completely as if you had a SMB3 P-Wing. While this wasn't true with all the levels, sometimes the game sorta let you cheap out by just flying over most/all of the enemies(-0.50). The limited flying time of later Kirby games fixed this.

Some of the bosses were really really super easy if you had a decent ability equipped and felt like they were normal enemies almost. Later games had this problem as well to a certain extent(-0.50).

-1.00

Overall Rating:9/10