Kirby Super Star Ultra (DS) Review
Kirby is one of those characters that almost everyone loves. No matter the quality of the title he appears in, whenever a Kirby title gets released almost everyone finds some way to have fun with it. When Nintendo announced plans to remake one of Kirby’s best outings, Kirby Super Star (known as Kirby’s Fun Pak over here) brand new on the Nintendo DS, fans were understandably excited. Kirby Super Star Ultra is an enhanced remake of Kirby Super Star, retooled for the DS with a bunch of extra features and modes thrown in. This being my third remake in a row for the DS that I’ve had to review, how does it hold up? We’ll see.
Kirby Super Star Ultra doesn’t really have an overarching story, like other adventure / platformer games. Instead, it is comprised of several games with differing mechanics, but it’s probably best if you viewed each game as a “level” in the game rather than separate games, as they are rather short. In each game, players assume the role of Kirby, everyone’s favourite pink….thing, with a few exceptions as more games start to unlock. Each game has a different objective, with some being collect-a-thons, some being typical platforming and others being races. There is a major thing all these games have in common, however, and that is the fact that they all encourage players to continue to beat their previous high scores and compare them with friends.
The first game, “Spring Breeze”, is a remake of the first ever Kirby game, Kirby’s Dreamland, except with Kirby being able to copy his enemies powers, unlike the original version released so many years ago. Spring Breeze also removes several levels and sequences that were present in the original, presumably to make the game play a little “faster”. The second game, “Dyna Blade”, utilizes a world map and sees Kirby travelling to a mountain to confront the Dyna Blade, a bird responsible for destroying Dream Land’s crops, and put an end to the ruckus he is causing. The third game, “The Great Cave Offensive”, is a little different to the other games so far mentioned. In it, Kirby must collect 60 treasures (based on Nintendo properties, like the TriForce and the Screw Attack) and make it to the end of a “miner’s cave” succesfully. This mode utilises a lot of backtracking, similar to the Metroid titles, and takes a much different pace to other titles included in Super Star Ultra.
Revenge of the Meta-Knight is the fourth game, and sees Kirby hijacking the Meta-Knight’s ship, the Halberd, and destroying it. This game takes a much faster and more action based pace and sees Kirby running all around the Halberd, destroying critical equipment before a timer runs out. This of course all culminates with an epic final battle with the dark knight (the other one =P) himself, Meta-Knight. Last but definitely not least is Milky Way Wishes, a game that also utilises a world map and sees Kirby seeking out help in stopping the Sun and the Moon from arguing with each other. What changes in Milky Way Wishes, however, is that Kirby can no longer copy abilities from enemies but must learn them by finding trophies (similar to Smash Bros’ trophies). Once Kirby has a power in this mode, players can choose which one to use using the DS’s touchscreen. It’s all a very seamless experience and it’ll keep players entertained for hours – but that’s not all!
The DS remake of Super Star contains several new modes that are unlockable with the completion of certain modes. Gourmet Race, although not new to the DS version is the first unlockable, and see’s Kirby racing DeDeDe to get the most food and reach the finish line – naturally this mode can also be played with two players via local wireless too. Upon completion of Milky Way Wishes, “Revenge of the King” will unlock, which is basically a harder, revamped version of Spring Breeze. “Revenge of the King” incorporates the whole sequences of events found in Kirby’s Dreamland, similar to Spring Breeze, but features brand new boss battles and events not found in Spring Breeze. Finally, and most interestingly, is the Meta Knightmare Ultra mode, in which players can play as Meta-Knight himself, with a unique moveset, through the whole of Kirby Ultra Deluxe. Finally, there are also some stylus-only mini-games that aren’t really anything worth writing home about.
So, with all that out of the way, how does Kirby look? The first thing players will notice when they first start playing Kirby Super Star Ultra, is that the game is exceptionally colourful. Everything is moving, everything looks alive and everything has a very cute charm to it, similar to Kirby himself. And, although Kirby doesn’t speak, his animations and bodily gestures say everything for him, and give layers upon layers of personality to the lovable pink puff. The enemies and helpers are all very well animated too, and really gives the game a charm that cannot be found anywhere else. In addition, Super Star Ultra also includes several pre-rendered cutscenes to play out important events, and although they are enjoyable to watch, they just don’t feel as good as, say, the real time cutscenes that we saw in previous games.
The gameplay for the titles contained within Kirby Super Star Ultra vary, but they share some common similarities. Players control Kirby, who can walk, run, jump and swim, as well as inflate himself in order to fly. All these movements are done with the face buttons, but one really annoying alteration is that Kirby now uses the A button to jump instead of the B button, which can take some getting used to if you’re a seasoned fan of the series. When Kirby is inflated, he can expell the air inside of him to perform a relatively weak attack. In order to strengthen his attacks, he must swallow enemies and spit them out at high speeds to do much more damage. Kirby can also swallow his enemies, granting him a power associated with the enemy he swallows. Kirby can then use that power himself, or use it to manifest a helper, who is essentially a friendly enemy that fights with Kirby. In addition, players can also take control of this helper via local wireless and play the whole game through co-operatively with a friend, a very nice touch.
The biggest thing about Kirby is that it’s definitely not a game to look at if you’re looking for a challenge. The gameplay is extremely simple and accessible, but at the same time is quite easy. In fact, the implementation of the “Copy” ability that Kirby has into games such as Spring Breeze, where the game wasn’t designed with the ability in mind, makes the title extremely easy to finish. Completionists will find solace in The Great Cave Offensive and Milky Way Wishes, in which treasure and trophies are collected respectively, but they aren’t necessary to complete the game. Playing as Meta-Knight also makes the game ridiculously easy, although he is a bonus unlockable.
Those who have played Kirby games before will be thrilled to hear that, especially in Spring Breeze, the original tunes are still in place, albeit slightly “remixed” to give a fresh new shine. The soundtrack in Kirby has always been one of the most unique and adds to the game’s “cute” charm that it has. It definitely adds to the nostalgia of playing through the games when you were younger, with the Spring Breeze music in particular bringing back many memories of myself playing through Kirby’s Dream Land on the original brick GameBoy, it’s just incredible fanservice.
Kirby Super Star Ultra is a brilliant remake that adds quite a lot of new content into the mix in order to provide what can only be described as a “Best Of” compilation of Kirby. Gamers who were wowed by Power Paintbrush / Canvas Curse may be disappointed to find no innovative games in Kirby Super Star Ultra, but Ultra manages to deliver to any Kirby fan first and foremost everything that made Kirby great – simple, awesome gameplay, a charming protagonist and a large variety of skills to play around with. In addition, it’ll leave gamers pretty busy as in order to unlock everything (and trust me, you’ll want to) the game will take about 10 hours to complete – a very nice length for a handheld title. A game that will serve as a brilliant introduction to Kirby for newcomers, or just as a brilliant addition to the series.
