Kirby

Hypernova is a bit dull most of the time. Good for gags, as you said, but the gameplay associated with it isn't that diverse.

Super Abilities were similar. They didn't really hit their stride with those power-ups until Robobot's eponymous armor and Star Allies' Friend Circle/Friend Star.

I agree with that. The only thing I really liked about Super Abilities was the song that played during Grand Doomer’s second phase.

How do you do a no float run? Some places you need to float to get to.

Heavy abuse of Beetle, Wing, Sword’s up + b, Fire’s shinespark to ram and climb walls, and Beam/Archer’s dash + jump + b. Sadly, Hypernova kills a run like this because it doesn’t have a height-increasing attack.

Super Abilities were similar. They didn't really hit their stride with those power-ups until Robobot's eponymous armor and Star Allies' Friend Circle/Friend Star.

I'd argue that Star Allies' Friend Circle/Friend Star don't even do it well. Friend Circle (and every other "Friend" ability) boils down to "hit A before you fall into a pit or to get... nothing of substance because there's no interesting collectables". Friend Star is also just another star ship, though I will admit it finally does something interesting with the starship mechanic by giving it abilities based on who's in the lead.

RTDL does some pretty cool stuff with it, though admittedly only the boss fight does anything genuinely clever with the mechanic.

Robobot definitely does it the best, but I really hope this super ability trend stops. I honestly think it's become formulaic and harmful to creativity at this point to the kirby games.

Honestly, I think the Friend Train levels were more interesting and inventive than the Friend Circle levels.

Friend Circle's just a fun, simple Minecart Madness-like mechanic, so I like it well enough. Friend Star is closer to the Super Ability/Hypernova/Robobot Armor trend, as a music-overriding gimmick that tends to occupy a large chunk of the level and comes back in some form for the finale (as the Star Allies Sparkler).

Edit: Ah, right, somehow I forgot about Friend Train. Yeah, that's pretty similar to Friend Circle, just tends to last longer and has some weirder properties like running up walls.

Regardless, I'd consider Friend Circle, Train, Bridge, and Star to collectively be the Super Ability equivalent, especially the lattermost one.

Edited by Anomalocaris20 on Aug 3rd 2018 at 2:21:06 PM

And that's different from other Kirby games how?

They haven't exactly been in a rush to change things up to much. About the most innovative Kirby titles we get are the art based ones like epic yarn and canvas curse. And also Mass Attack.

Which were the norm for a while...and less about being innovative, just more spin-off game.

Edited by randomness4 on Aug 4th 2018 at 5:50:43 AM

Actually, they're canon. Games like Kirby's Block Ball is not

Spin-off doesn't mean non-canon.

Edited by randomness4 on Aug 4th 2018 at 6:24:04 AM

Unrelated: I was looking up Kirby Fan Art for some inspiration (specifically Kirby's Dreamland 3) and found some pretty good ones.

https://www.deviantart.com/plucky-nova/art/Kirby-s-Dream-Land-3-510360926

I like the one this guy/gal/other did.

https://www.deviantart.com/keikuina/art/Kirby-s-Dreamland-3-398194409

This one is also cool (and adorable).

https://www.deviantart.com/torkirby/art/Kirby-s-Dream-Land-3-180665981

Nice shot of the "cast" while dark matter looks overhead.

Edit: You know what. That pictures just gonna be gone entirely.

Edited by BackSet1 on Aug 4th 2018 at 6:32:02 AM

I’ve never played Dream Land 3, mostly because it isn’t on 3DS. Is it good?

I've never played it either. Because I refuse to buy dream collection because ot brings Magalor back for seemingly no reason.

That makes sense.

Dream Land 3 is mechanically great and probably the prettiest game on the SNES, but it's filled with obnoxious puzzles to collect Heart Stars, which are necessary to face the final boss.

Well...the puzzles are only really obnoxious because they're one try.

Crystal Shards basically does everything Dream Land 3 does, minus the incredible pastel artwork, better. Combining powers is more intuitive than using the Animal Friends, and collecting three shards a level is somehow less a chore than getting a single Heart Star.

Now pit that together with a system as poweful as the switch and add something new to the mix...

Dream Land 3 had the bad fortune of coming after Super Star which codified a lot of the deeper elements into the series, and releasing near the end of the SNES's lifespan.

In hindsight its a beautiful looking title, but lacks the more interesting gameplay elements of the games before and after it.

Now the Arena, the True Arena, and mini games as a staple of the series.

and multiple use abilities, and Super Abilities

Super Abilities are from Return to Dream Land.

And that's different from other Kirby games how?

Huh? If you're talking about super abilities, it's different because previous games just didn't have them.

If you're talking about how formulaic the games have gotten, it's a criticism i'm applying to all the games that came out recently. Including Triple Deluxe, Robobot, and Star Allies.

And Fighters Deluxe, Drum Dash Deluxe, Rainbow Curse, Clash Deluxe, Blowout Blast, Battle Royale?