Kirby has always been a cool character in my books but I’ve only appreciated him from a distance until now. Cute, a bit sassy, versatile; however I’ve never played his games for some reason. Not that they looked bad, I just have more serious games to play and never owned a NES to see where it all started. So far I’ve bought every Wii U classic game, because 30 cents is basically a gift. Balloon Fight, F-Zero, Punch Out; I played each of them for at least a few hours and had a good time appreciating their mechanics. The GamePad is just so comfortable and sharp that I want to play every game ever made on it, and these are the kind of games that never lose their magic touch. Kirby’s Adventure came out a few days ago so I grabbed it, looking forward to sampling another classic on the GamePad. I ended up playing through the entire game and beating it in two marathon sittings, completely engaged.
I was smiling the second I took control of Kirby. What looked like a by-the-books easy platformer to my ignorant judgmental eyes, punched me in the face with charm and solid game mechanics. Kirby really moves, the controls have momentum and the animations have attitude. The jumping, floating and attacking all feel great and responsive in a way most NES games aren’t, with the only stiffness being in my pants. The next thing that struck me was all the powerups. I don’t know why this was news to me, after all this is the trademark of Kirby’s character. Sucking in powers and using different abilities just clicked when I found multiple ways to tackle the levels. The level design is fantastic, not too punishing but daring. Can I get through there without a powerup? What’s the best way to tackle this boss? The game had me thinking and smiling at the same time. Half my deaths must have been from the excitement of chasing a powerup and diving off a cliff.
The Wii U (PAL) version has a little screen glitch on the left side of the screen while scrolling. I’ve seen some people bitching about it and it’s not ideal, but I got used to it straight away. I’m not easily bothered by these things, the game plays well on the GamePad and looks sharp on the TV. Just a note that this is probably not the best version of the game, it seems like some sort of compromise was made to get it running smoothly. The colour glitch isn’t there 100% of the time, maybe one third of the frames.
Kirby, really? He’s just a cute little fluff ball carrying a bunch of internet memes, right? Do I need to play a crusty platformer on NES?
Yes. I’m now a member of the Kirby fan club and I’ll be tracking down every Kirby game I can find (including the 3D Classics version of this). This is probably not news to most of you, but I thought I’d do this post for everyone on the sidelines. If you have a Wii U you absolutely must try Kirby’s Adventure. The game goes beyond the call of duty to impress the player, everything from the level design to the art style, music, backgrounds; all compliment each other and bring this bizarre world of Kirby to life. Forget that it’s a NES game, there’s nothing holding this game back, no compromises. The variety of enemies is astonishing and keeps the game fresh from beginning to end. I was also surprised to see mini-games between levels, a trend that developers are still getting wrong in 2013. Did I do a good job explaining the appeal of Kirby? Probably not, because I never listened to the praise myself until now. Play Kirby’s Adventure and you’ll get it.
Pietriots 
I’ve never played a Kirby game. I want to start with this one then the collection for Wii.
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That screen glitch thing isn’t exclusive to the PAL version. I just always assumed it was due to NES limitations.
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Ah, so it’s in the original NES version too?
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Yup.
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If you’re interested in other Kirby games, I highly recommend Canvas Curse and Mass Attack for DS. The gameplay is completely different, but they both have the same charm you would expect from a Kirby game.
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Yeah, when I first played this game I thought it wouldn’t be good because the flying seemed broken (you can literally fly over the first few levels), but the level design quickly makes that a non-issue. It turns out that this is a game where the first few levels are secretly tutorials, teaching you how to play without text, while also introducing you to the charm of the world and characters. They let you fly over everything simply to say, “Hey, look at all the cool stuff Kirby can do!” Then the game really takes off.
This game is really great, and I’m going to go play some more right now.
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