Kirby

I am in love with the Staff Ability, especially the Zap variant. It makes me feel a fusion of Sun Wukong and Thor, and it's amazing. It might be my favorite ability.

edited 21st Mar '18 9:10:52 AM by PushoverMediaCritic

Picked up Kirby's Dream Land 3 before the VC shuts down. Crystal Shards is my second favourite Kirby game so I think I'll like it.

I just 100% the entire game.

I never owned Kirby before, is it usually this easy to complete?

Yeah pretty much.

I think it's easier in this game, to be honest. While it's not like previous games were super difficult to 100%, I at least had to replay some levels to get something I missed.

There are only a handful of exceptions when it comes to kirby games being this short. I think it's, like, Squeak Squad, Return to Dreamland, Superstar Ultra, and Amazing Mirror? And even then the latter two can be pretty short if you know what you're doing.

Star Allies doesn't feel short to me. I've been playing it for a while now and I'm only at 37% completion. I can see the complaint that the levels don't have enough hidden secrets, though. I've only had to replay like two levels so far to find stuff I missed.

100% Amazing Mirror isn't a short task...

Star Allies is definitely on the short end.

Been doing more The Ultimate Choice on max difficulty. Still going solo.

I've cleared it with Suplex (was a bitch even with the tackle's ability to now hurt bosses), Spider (invincible guard + DOT area attacks = OP), Wing (still one of my favorite abilities, glad to have it back), Cook, and Meta Knight. In addition to ESP, Parasol, and Staff from previous runs.

I still want a Kirby game that's just The Arena. Almost every boss from every game mixed together into a random-draw pool of battles, with almost every ability at your disposal.

edited 21st Mar '18 11:18:42 AM by Anomalocaris20

it could be like an eShop only downloadable game? Like "Kirby Arena Deluxe" or something. Fight against bosses from across the entire series and such.

That's what I was thinking, yeah, though the amount of unique models, stages, and music tracks might make it a bit large for an eshop game.

Hmm, ya know, I've realized that all Kirby games have in written hard mode that gives no rewards around which all bosses are balanced around:

Not using any abilities besides sucking and spitting stars <_<

Which actually makes the fights easier...

Hmm? I suppose there is that it forces player to be patient and focus on dodging yeah, but some of the bosses in some of the game are way harder with it(aka bosses who can block attacks)

Bosses can't block big stars...

But this game seems to have bosses make obstacle pillars...

The game does feel shorter in general than most previous Kirby games. I chalk it down to having only 4 worlds, a third of the levels being boss levels with only a room or two before the boss, and the lack of a true Extra Mode and EX bosses.

I wonder if Star Allies had an abnormally short development cycle, or if there were some growing pains from this being HAL's first HD mainline Kirby game. Does seem like there were a good amount of cut corners.

• Only some bosses have harder rematches.

• The Three Generals all seem to be made from modified versions of the same model (possibly Susie's model).

• Aside from them, (and this is speculation here) the only bosses seemingly using completely new models are Pon and Kon, Grand Mam (who is the simplest boss in the game from a gameplay standpoint) and the endgame bosses. All other bosses seem like they use modified versions of models from previous 3D Kirby games.

• No Sun Stone or Code Cube equivalent.

• Simple subgames.

• No bonus video or newly created menu theme for 100% completion.

• No new phase for the hardest Boss Rush mode's Final Boss.

One thing I like about Kirby Star Allies is using certain powers on bosses to gain an advantage (and just seeing said powers working their magic). Whether it's setting Whispy Woods on fire or using electricity on Francisca's water streams, it's nice to see one's choice of power doing something a little extra.

I heard that you can only fight Void Soul on the Soul Melter difficulty. Is that true?

edited 21st Mar '18 3:10:05 PM by dragonfire5000

You forgot 30 FPS instead of 60.

Yes, but Void Soul is just a harder version of Void Termina's last phase in the main story mode. Sort of like how Magolor Soul is just a harder version of Magolor's final form.

Oh yeah. I also forgot that there aren't as many FMVs as there were in previous games, though I honestly think the in-engine cutscenes are pretty enough where that doesn't really matter.

edited 21st Mar '18 3:16:46 PM by FawfulCrump

and : I should note that Void Soul at least has a lot of new attacks compared to the regular story mode fight (including some Soul boss staples) unlike Magolor Soul.

And yeah, this game definitely feels like it was rushed out compared to the previous mainline games. Hopefully it's filler to tide us over for a more ambitious Kirby Switch game, but either way it's by no means a bad game. There are no bad Kirby games, after all.

edited 21st Mar '18 3:33:46 PM by Anomalocaris20

Yeah, even with my disappointments, it's still a good game, and I'm still trying to beat Soul Melter with every ability (being unable to lose your ability in this mode is a godsend, btw).

One thing I love about this game is the way worlds and maps are organized. After three games of worlds with largely similar maps and generic Video Game Settings^note (the settings got less generic with each game, to be fair), the Serial Escalation and uniquely structured maps of this game's worlds were a huge fresh breath of air.

Return to Dreamland's hubs were more similar to Kirby's Adventure than anything else.

While Triple Deluxe's map resembles Squeak Squad...except with a vine.

edited 21st Mar '18 4:50:49 PM by randomness4

I did it with good ol' Plugg earlier.

Plasma's still OP.

When you get around to doing Suplex, I'd recommend being Buggzy rather than just Suplex Kirby. Buggzy's elytra can damage enemies while he's flying similar to Wing, and it rips through Whispy's health as well as any boss who stays stationary near the top of the screen during some attacks, like Zan Partizanne's massive beam or Kracko's rain. I'd imagine Beetle has the same benefits.

edited 21st Mar '18 4:54:14 PM by Anomalocaris20

I meant maps within the same game are similar to each other. Like, compare the first and last maps of RtDL, then compare the first and last maps of Star Allies.

Pretty minor thing, but it makes the game feel a little fresher.

edited 21st Mar '18 5:25:57 PM by FawfulCrump