Welcome to The Platformer where we talk about games in an extremely amateur but fun way! This post is in regards to my Ultimate Video Game List where I’m on a journey to discover what my personal favourite game ever is. Today I play my first ever Kirby game and I was surprisingly good at swallowing peeps. You at the back! Stop sniggering.

Kirby started life on the small, weak brick that was the Gameboy. He’s jumped from one grey platform to the next, only resembling the series in shadow form. Makes sense. When a game is on smaller consoles the expectation seems to be lowered due to the limitations of the hardware thus big things were expected of the pink nipple-less boob when journeyed to the NES. They probably didn’t expect him to embody a vacuum cleaner, this decision lead to a gaming icon. Admittedly, one for young children. (That’s why he’s a boob!)

Kirby has all the basics every platformer provides: enemies, platforms, boss battles and the ability to infinitely fly. Wait? That can’t be right… There was always a question in my mind why Kirby was considered for younger audiences? (besides the aesthetic) Now I know, the game gives the player the ability to float above all the enemies and obstacles with little to no consequences.

Granted this is as fun as watching a political debate whilst giving your thumb arthritis (another reason it’s designed for children) but when your life is low, it’s hard to deny yourself the comfort and peace of mind. This makes it difficult to judge the game’s challenge because if you play the game as intended, then the player will feel tested, however knowing that the challenge is self-imposed restrict the ability to truly get emotionally invested in the experience.

But do people go to Kirby for intricate platform challenges? No, they come for the same reason we use straws. To suck (Unlike your minds I’m trying to keep it clean) Kirby can inherit enemies powers by absorbing them in his infinite void, his stomach (I’ve never connected with a character more). The excellent design instinctively tells the player what new powers to expect. See an enemy wielding a sword? Most likely you’ll be that sword’s new master. This is where the simplistic character design of Kirby makes sense as he embodies his new power with headgear and accessories, of course retaining his adorable nature.

This single mechanic intrigued me to explore the world as I discovered powers as some were more effective than others because you will need them for the one thing you can’t float over. The boss battles, which I love! Every boss has a specific power that can be tackled in various ways and I screech and excitable glee as learnt their power could be mine! (Bear in mind, it’s a one-off)

These are all just appetisers for the main course, no not that overweight penguin (or Danny Devito). Metaknight. Kirby faces Metaknight on various occasions, not directly. Instead, he sends his minions but he is always prevalent, mocking, building to the epic encounter. Last week (Read my review of Xeodrifter here) I mentioned that the battle with Lex was probably my most memorable from a villain-hero perspective, that lasted a week.

The fight with Metaknight is beautifully simple but does what a good boss battle should – test you. I was focused and determined to vanquish my foe. The game extends beyond this point but is as pointless a salad from McDonald’s. It diminishes the experience as the climax is overly complex and lacks pay off, I wasn’t trying to save the world (which Kirby inevitably caused anyway) I was here to defeat Metaknight. It was Smash brothers Brawl all over again.

Kirby’s Adventure was my first taste of the pink blob, honestly, I was expecting a game that for the time was impressive but does not stand up to modern scrutiny. To my surprise, it was remarkably good and comes with a definite recommendation. This game would be great if it did not have such slowdown in some areas which does diminish the experience, even for me a non-fps snob. However, if you have a Nintendo Online Subscription and want to play a 2D platformers, ignore the Italian plumber and be an adult. Play with a boobie. Kirby is the worst game that I would consider good and if it ran perfectly it would rank higher than Xeodrifter, but the slow down is apalling! Still better than Arkham Knight though.

Right now I’m playing a modern game! I can hear my backlog crying as we speak. So next week I will review…

Pokemon Sword

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