Genre: Platformer
Year: 1993
Developed by: HAL Laboratory
Published by: Nintendo
Platforms: NES, Game Boy Advance, 3DS
#184
Feeling Like: Last Meal
This is a pure nostalgia pick.
I forgot that Kirby’s Adventure came out in 1993. For those keeping score at home, the Super Nintendo had been released two years earlier. You’ve got to have some confidence in a system, and a game, to develop and launch on outdated hardware. And while Kirby’s Adventure is no Super Mario World, it’s still one of the Nintendo Entertainment System’s best platformers.
I must have rented it half a dozen times from Spotlight video; the game’s length and replayability were perfect for such an endeavor. Beating the game was as straightforward as it gets, but finding every secret or trying different power ups meant I had incentive to back track and try it again and again.
Kirby games are Kirby games. They rely on the titular character’s odd cuteness, and certainly not on challenge. Move, fly, swim, suck in enemies, absorb their powers, use their powers. Nothing to it, but the flavor and improvements from Kirby’s Dream Land were plainly evident from the first level.
It’s still shockingly good to look at…for an 8-bit game, ok I’m not going to go overboard and say it eclipses anything on the Super Nintendo, but it’s not far off. Games that are released late on a console’s life cycle tend to really maximize the hardware as developers get to know the system inside and out. Stages are varied, colorful and rarely repetitious. There’s almost always something going on in the background too, it’s rare you’ll just see a blank slate of blue or black.
Everything works here. The World Hub makes progression as clear as crystal, along with a few secrets on the way. The mini-games are either challenging, or hysterical; having little chickens hatch and hop out of Kirby’s mouth at the end of one even led to my mother laughing. The 24 powers offer a massive amount of customization in your journey. Some are very common, some are very useless and some are among the most satisfying powers you’ll find in any 2D game. My favorites were the hammer, stone, parasol and, by far, the U.F.O.
You’ll only find the UFO a few times in the entire game and it’s easy to miss it. Once its power is yours, you’ll never want to give it up. You zip around like an alien on ice skates and depending on how much you charge your attack, you can destroy enemies four different ways. I hung onto the U.F.O for dear life and if I somehow lost it by getting attacked, I would chase the jettisoned power with suicidal fervor.
Cozy. That’s how I feel when thinking back to Kirby’s Adventure. Until Kirby and the Forgotten Land nearly 20 years later, this was my all-time favorite Kirby game. The simple gameplay meant it was a mostly stress free experience. The 1 on 1 sword fight with Meta Knight was a get-out-of-your-chair moment. Finally getting to wield the Star Rod versus the Nightmare was appropriately climatic. The ending is satisfying and peaceful.
I’ll finish with the soundtrack. I know a game has an impact on me when I can instantly remember a melody from it years later. Rainbow Resort is my go-to when I need to chill out, although the ending theme does the trick too.
Actually now that I think about it, most of the soundtrack is chipper and upbeat. No wonder I always have a smile on my face when thinking about this little game that could, a happy relic from the past that’s still fun to think about and play.
The 500 