Kirby’s Dream Land is an excellent little Game Boy game and the one which introduced us all to Kirby. The only downside to Kirby’s Dreamland is that it’s a very short game and Kirby’s Adventure takes the building blocks of Kirby’s Dream Land and turns it into a full game.
Like the last game, it’s a regular 2D side-scrolling platformer game – it’s not too hard and quite pleasant and relaxing to play. There’s a nice soundtrack and a lovely magical tone to the game. What’s most exciting, however, is that Kirby has a new ability: after eating his enemies, he can the steal their abilities. There’s a ball creature that shoots lasers and if you eat it, Kirby can fire laser beams from his hands. There’s a little flying saucer enemy which turns Kirby into a flying saucer when he swallows it – using these abilities and choosing which ones to keep and which to discard adds a fun element of strategy to the game. I also found it exciting whenever I found new enemies, because I always looked forward to seeing what new powers they’d yield.
Story-wise, I’m quite impressed too. You don’t expect very much at all in terms of a storyline from an 8-bit platformer, but there’s quite an unexpected twist towards the end of Kirby’s Adventure. We’re also introduced to Meta Knight, who has since become one of the icons of the Kirby series. He, along with King Dedede, help to make the story quite interesting.
But while there is a lot to like about this game, it does have a few problems. Firstly, while there are a couple of new additions and features, it does feel a little too similar to Kirby’s Dream Land to me. I also think that the game starts to get a little boring before you get to the end, because it just starts to feel a little stale. I think they needed to introduce a few new things as the game went along. The first game may have been too short, but this actually feels too long (and it’s not even that long, so that’s bad.)
Nonetheless, Kirby’s Adventure is a fun little game and definitely worth a try for fans of platformers, Nintendo or Kirby. A solid second entry which is just as good as the first, but that’s potentially a little disappointing, as it could have improved.
Rating: 7.4/10
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