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How do you feel about Kirby? [roundtable]
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This was inspired by the Triple Deluxe thread. Kirby is such a weird character. Who stars in weird, non-traditional games. I have a feeling that a lot of people don't really have a handle on what he's all about. But the games still sell tons of copies, at least worldwide. (It might be interesting to rank the Nintendo franchises by sales per entry. I bet Kirby would be pretty high on the list.) So what do you guys think about Kirby? Are you a fan? Think his games are for kids? Exclusively play the spinoffs? I'm a Kirby convert. I really never gave half a shit about the character until I played Kirby's Tilt and Tumble. Even after that, I was more interested in the weird, experimental spinoff games. It wasn't until I dedicated some transit time to 100%-ing Nightmare in Dreamland on the GBA that I gained some appreciation for Kirby's bread and butter (and flesh and skin and bone and soul, all of which he consumes with a peaceful smile on his face). Kirby games are platformers, but they play NOTHING like other platformers. (Except for Starfy, I guess, but Kirby did it first!) The movement is floaty, the enemies become friends, his powers are so expansive that rigorous game balance isn't even a consideration, UP jumps, and everything is a dream... But it's a fun dream! My appreciation deepened when, in my long, arduous quest to wean my nephews off of Burnout Paradise and Blur, I introduced them to Kirby: Return to Dreamland, which finally succeeded where the Marios and Donkey Kongs of the world had absolutely failed and became their favorite game. It really is fun for all ages, and it was a blast to play through with them. Apparently, it's super-rare and kind of valuable now, which is kind of surprising, but kind of not, because it's awesome. It gives so many options to the player, and it just oozes charm. I can almost understand how each Kirby game takes, like, eight years and two to three fully upended tea tables to develop! (Poor HAL... Who would think a tiny, squishy pink ball could have such a difficult birth?) I've since played some of the earlier games, like the very first one on the e-Shop. It was just a skeleton of the Kirby framework, but it was still pretty fun. Impressive for a game that Sakurai developed while still in his mother's womb. The spinoffs have always been fascinating to me, as well. Kirby Air Ride is not my favorite game, but I'm so happy that it exists. And that the amazing and bizarre City Trial is getting a second chance at the big leagues with Smash 3DS. Tilt and Tumble might be my favorite handheld game ever. Mass Attack is cool, and Canvas Curse was also very interesting and innovative, although Yoshi's Touch and Go ate its lunch. (Before it started eating, even!) Epic Yarn is jaw-droppingly beautiful, but I'm a bit conflicted on it. It certainly is whimsical and pleasant, but it might be a bit too free of repercussion. Still, I'll always be anticipating the next Kirby game, be it a cutesy platformer or a bizarre take on golf. Triple D even has a surprisingly robust (and unsurprisingly unbalanced) little arena fighter packed in! I have no definitive way to prove this statement, but it'll probably go down as the cutest arena fighter ever created. You just can't keep that little puffball down. And, really, why would you want to? URL to share (right click and copy)
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05/10/14, 06:03 Edited: 05/10/14, 16:46
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Kirby came around about the time I jumped off the Nintendo train, and (unlike Star Fox or DKC) I never played any of his games until many years later. So any nostalgic connection I have to him is basically tied to this one funny commercial:
Which is quite funny but also the beginning of the weird history of NOA trying to sell Kirby as an angry-eyed badass rather than the cute little guy he actually is.
Anyway, my point is I don't have much Kirby nostalgia for starters. But when Kirby's Adventure hit the VC in the very early days, I picked it up. In fact, it may have been my first VC purchase. And I loved it. As platformers go, it's fairly easy and the characters are pretty basic kid's stuff. But the whole thing feels like a joy. You can tell it's a game that's been made by professionals who've been in the business for a long time. One of the great NES games.
I haven't played a whole heap of Kirbys since then. I've got Crystal Shards (didn't do it for me) and Return to Dreamland (love, love, LOVE this one). I've also got Amazing Mirror from the Ambassador program, but I've never really gotten into playing any of those games for some reason. I've tried Air Ride, but I think it wasn't what I was looking for in that moment, so it went over my head. I've tried a few new Kirby games at kiosks and they don't always grip me.
So, to answer the question, I think Kirby is a cute character and the series overall is a worthy one. I like Kirby. But I will say this - there are probably enough good Kirby games out there right now to last me a while. If Nintendo said they were going to lay back and not make any Kirby games for the rest of the generation, I'd be cool with that. Kirby's gotten a lot of love from Nintendo over the years. I wouldn't mind if some of that love was spread around to Star Fox, F-Zero and Kid Icarus. |
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@nate38I feel like Nintendo started using Donkey Kong for more of their experimental spin-offs. And now they usually create new IP, most likely to bolster our List Warz defense capabilities. @kriswrightThanks a lot, Kris. Now I'm aching for the hybrid animation/live film Kirby serial that will never be. Watching Kirby suck up real people was surprisingly amusing. If that commercial was somehow made forty years earlier, he could've been sucking up Hitler in propaganda shorts! Wait, I guess it would be FDR... @InfinitywaveActually, I was expecting to see a LOT of this. I feel like a lot of huge Nintendo fans aren't necessarily Kirby fans. Older ones, at least. When you get down to it, some Kirby entries ARE kind of style over substance. Cuteness over substance. @OctorockinThanks, dude! |
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It's no secret that I'm a big fan of the little guy. I think Kirby is actually a pretty underrated Nintendo series. IMO, his best games can hang with some of Nintendo's greats--I rank Kirby Super Star almost as high as DKC2, Kirby's Adventure is a top 5 NES title, Return to Dream Land and Epic Yarn are two of the best platformers last gen, Air Ride is roughly on par with F-Zero GX (will saying this get me a ban…?), and Mass Attack might be the best late-era DS game out there. I think Kirby detractors generally will say that his games are too simple and basic. Now, to a point, I can agree with this; the "Dream Land Trilogy" (KDL 2, 3, and 64) were all made by a different team than Sakurai's main Kirby team (DL1, Adventure, Super Star), and all comparatively feel sluggish and simple. They're good for what they are, but I definitely prefer the more ambitious Sakurai games. Super Star took Kirby to the next level, its controls and moveset system becoming the framework for a little game called Super Smash Bros. The music is also consistently great through this series, which I can't say for all of Nintendo's second-stringers (Star Fox's is uneven after the great SNES soundtrack, F-Zero's never stood out to me, Excite, WaveRace, and PilotWings are all just kind of there). Dream Fountain! Dedede's Theme! RtDL's boss theme! Frosty Wheel! Dusk Dunes! (I'm a huge fan of Epic Yarn's amazing piano soundtrack) The quick-change element of most of Kirby's games gives a great deal of variety to the gameplay, as you'll rarely play through a stage the exact same way twice. It's neat, and akin to character-switching mid-stage to solve puzzles, access new moves, etc. And then you have the spinoffs, wildly experimental, creative games that take some fun risks because they star an established character. Not every one of Kirby's games is my favorite, but I would certainly suggest that you guys check out Adventure (remember, this is an NES game!), Super Star, Return to Dream Land, Epic Yarn, and Air Ride's City Trial with your buds. All of these are terrific gaming experiences with lots of creativity and charm. Just started Triple Deluxe, but it feels like a 3DS RtDL, which is definitely a good thing. |
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I like Kirby games and own a lot of them, but I feel like the series hasn't reached its full potential. Kirby's Return to Dream Land was a disappointment to me because it felt like a step back from Kirby 64; it's straight-up, flat 2D. I wanted to see an expanded take on the extra depth in Kirby 64, such as having winding pathways and objects popping out of the background and other stuff that utilises the third dimension. Heck, I'd also like to finally see a full 3D entry, even though it might not work well. Also, I feel like the level design could be a little more complex and revolve more around the powers, instead of having powers be more akin to choosing a character like they currently are. I realise that Kirby games are skewed towards younger players which is why the level design is relatively simple, but I'd still like to see more from it.
My faves are Dream Land 3 and Kirby 64. It really sucks that they didn't put co-op in Kirby 64 for some reason, as Kirby games are best served in co-op. And not the good kind of sucks, because Kirby really sucks in general. The suckiest series ever. |
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