One of the best gets better
| Platform | OVERALL |
|---|---|
| Nintendo DS | 8.00 |
| Overall | 8.00 |
|
When released back in 1996 on the Super Nintendo, Kirby Superstar was an interesting project that while a great game, quickly became one of the most overlooked games in the system - due it being released at the tail end of the Super Nintendo's life and during the beginning of the Nintendo 64's life. Over a decade later, Nintendo have re-released Kirby Superstar, in the form of Kirby Superstar Ultra - and even with little added to the overall package, there's still plenty here that is definitely worth the money. The concept of Kirby Superstar is that it’s a game compilation, but not necessarily a mini-game compilation in the vein of something like the Rayman Raving Rabbids games or Mario Party. The original game featured seven fleshed out games: “Spring Breeze”, “Dyna Blade”, “The Great Cave Offensive”, “Gourmet Race”, “Revenge of Meta-Knight”, “Milky Way Wishes” and “The Arena”, and two mini-games: “Samurai Kirby” and “Megaton Punch”. SSU adds in four new fleshed out games and three new touch-screen based mini-games, which will be covered momentarily. The original games are still copious amounts of fun and hold up well. Spring Breeze plays as a annotated remake of Kirby’s Dream Land, the first game in the series; Dyna Blade also plays very similarly to this, with it having newer levels and enemies. The Great Cave Offensive plays as a more sandbox-esque game, where you need to find a way out of a gigantic cave while searching for 60 treasures; Gourmet Race is a simple race challenge between Kirby and King Dedede, Revenge of Meta Knight is a time based platformer as Kirby rushes to save Dream Land from Meta Knight and his airship, Halberd; Milky Way Wishes sees Kirby trying to quell a conflict between the Sun and the Moon and finally, the Arena is an endurance challenge where Kirby fights off against every enemy and boss in the game. Lastly, Samurai Kirby and Megaton Punch are fun little diversions. Samurai Kirby tests your timing as you play a samurai duel against five opponents – press the button when indicated and if you’re not too early or too late, you win. Megaton Punch is another timing game where the objective is to perform a Megaton punch. Think the test your might mini-game from Mortal Kombat, and you have the right idea. The new games aren’t as exciting, but are still good. Revenge of the King is a remake of Spring Breeze that adds in a few new enemies and levels, Helper to Hero is a remake of the Arena game where instead of playing Kirby, you play one of the enemies (i.e. helpers) and True Arena is the Arena game with the new enemies. However, the best of the bunch comes in the form of Meta Knightmare Ultra – where you take control of Meta Knight as you play through all of the levels of the previous games. That’s right from the beginning of Spring Breeze all the way to the end of Milky Way Wishes. It’s the longest, and arguably the most epic of each of games – and controls interestingly. He has additional moves that can be used by collecting points, which are attained by defeating enemies. Finally, the new mini-games are a disappointment. Snack Tracks is a simple dragging mini-game where you put food on your Kirby’s conveyor belt while removing anything that isn’t food. Kirby Card Swipe is a basic matching game, while Kirby on the Draw is a shooting gallery game. Each of these games can be played with others, but otherwise, they’re mostly forgettable. After all, once you’ve seen Kirby take on enemies in a split-second samurai duel or destroy the earth with a megaton punch – shooting galleries and matching games just don’t cut it. Each of these games (barring Gourmet Race and the mini-games) play like your standard Kirby platformer. You're still running around levels, sucking up enemies and absorbing them to attain special powers and defeating bosses, all done in a bright and colourful visual style and cheery music. Not a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination, but if you were hoping for another Kirby game that played like the excellent Canvas Curse, then look elsewhere. Really, the only problem with the game is the difficulty – specifically, it’s a tad on the easy side. It doesn't ruin the game by any stretch of the imagination, but it can hurt if you wanted to get a lot out of the game. Graphically, the game shines. The look is still modelled on the SNES game, which still looks good, but touched up slightly so that it retains its 16-bit origins, but still looks new and refreshing. The addition of CG cutscenes (to replace the intro/outro cutscenes for each game) also helps to bolster the presentation. Yet at the same time, they have an unpolished feel about them. Nothing too major, but when you look at what other developers have done using CG cutscenes on the DS (i.e. Square-Enix with their Final Fantasy games), then there are some major comparisons to be had. Aurally, the game excels. The soundtrack to the game is absolutely brilliant, and rather underrated. In particular, the music to the Great Cave Offensive is outstanding, ranging from a brilliant remix of the Green Greens theme to some other excellent tunes. Granted, the songs still sound like Super Nintendo songs, so expect nothing new in that regard. Though despite this, the soundtrack is excellent. Kirby Super Star Ultra was one of the best games on the Super Nintendo, and its transition to the DS is nothing short of masterful. Retaining all the elements that made the original game a classic, as well as adding in some new games that work and giving the game a visual and aural touch-up helps immensely. Granted, for anyone who already owns the game, or anyone looking for something that was as revolution as Kirby Canvas Curse, they might want to give it a miss; and the lack of challenge does hurt it some, but when you’ve got a fantastic playing, good looking and brilliant sounding game, that kinda goes away. Definitely worth a purchase. |
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Posted by darthhomer Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:01:30
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robio (2m)
Only Played Kirby's Adventure and didnt care for it but the SNES game looked awesome. Didnt know it had a variety of modes. I may rent this.