Screenshots :.
Kirby's Adventure
Wii
Matt
11-01-2008
"Yup, Vegetable Valley. Ice Cream Island up next!"
"Look at the little guy go! Bless 'im."
As you may have seen in my review of DS platformer Kirby’s Mouse Attack last year, I have somewhat of a soft spot for Nintendo’s curious pink pillow. The little chap tends to be somewhat overlooked when it comes to most peoples’ lists of top Nintendo characters, which is more than a bit of a shame given his rather superb back-catalogue, and with his much-heralded NES adventure sitting happily amongst the Virtual Console release titles it was high time we took a peek backwards into history.
Not quite as far back as you’d imagine, though, what with Kirby being a NES title and all. The game’s 15-years old now, having been launched in 1993 at the very arse-end of the platform’s lifespan. It’s immediately apparent that Kirby’s Adventure stretches the native hardware to the very limit with a bright range of colours and effects, and packed in with the rather lovely visuals is a game that’s cracking good fun to boot.
This was the first game in which Kirby was given his enemy-gobbling ability, something that most recently Smash Brothers fans have benefited from. As Kirby travels around the levels within the game he can hoover up an enemy and absorb its powers, giving him a whole number of potential abilities. Munch on a sword wielding beasty, for example, and Kirby will get busy with the sharpened steel as his main attack, whilst eating a laser monster will give you a little laser gun to shoot people with from afar. Lovely stuff.
The levels themselves are rather sparkly too, with numerous doors and passages dotted throughout allowing you to progress through a number of different ways. The game’s divided up into a number of worlds with a handful of levels in each, with all of them being completed via a showdown with a big boss character. It’s pretty standard fare in the way it’s all structured, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s standard fare in how it all plays.
You see, you can’t help but love Kirby’s Adventure. For a game more than half my age it shows a heck of a lot of prowess, be it the multi-path levels, the large number of possible power-ups or the cutesy, well-drawn graphical style. It’s simple platforming fun, with great level design and a heck of a lot of amusing enemies to battle against. As with subsequent Kirby games you could possibly level at it that it’s not the most taxing of titles on offer, with a run through taking a half-dozen hours or so. It’s a point I’ll have to grant you, but for that six or so hours you’ll have a great time.
It’s only 500 Wii Points too (about £5 or so), which is a bonus. It’s more than likely that those of you who give more than a passing interest to classic titles filling the Virtual Console have already purchased staple Nintendo titles such as Super Mario World and A Link To The Past, but it’s quite likely Kirby may have slipped under your radar. We might still be waiting for Kirby’s fantastic SNES title to arrive online (soon would be nice, if you happen to be reading this Nintendo of Europe bods), but Kirby’s Adventure is more than good enough to fill the void. You know you want to.
Not quite as far back as you’d imagine, though, what with Kirby being a NES title and all. The game’s 15-years old now, having been launched in 1993 at the very arse-end of the platform’s lifespan. It’s immediately apparent that Kirby’s Adventure stretches the native hardware to the very limit with a bright range of colours and effects, and packed in with the rather lovely visuals is a game that’s cracking good fun to boot.
This was the first game in which Kirby was given his enemy-gobbling ability, something that most recently Smash Brothers fans have benefited from. As Kirby travels around the levels within the game he can hoover up an enemy and absorb its powers, giving him a whole number of potential abilities. Munch on a sword wielding beasty, for example, and Kirby will get busy with the sharpened steel as his main attack, whilst eating a laser monster will give you a little laser gun to shoot people with from afar. Lovely stuff.
The levels themselves are rather sparkly too, with numerous doors and passages dotted throughout allowing you to progress through a number of different ways. The game’s divided up into a number of worlds with a handful of levels in each, with all of them being completed via a showdown with a big boss character. It’s pretty standard fare in the way it’s all structured, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s standard fare in how it all plays.
You see, you can’t help but love Kirby’s Adventure. For a game more than half my age it shows a heck of a lot of prowess, be it the multi-path levels, the large number of possible power-ups or the cutesy, well-drawn graphical style. It’s simple platforming fun, with great level design and a heck of a lot of amusing enemies to battle against. As with subsequent Kirby games you could possibly level at it that it’s not the most taxing of titles on offer, with a run through taking a half-dozen hours or so. It’s a point I’ll have to grant you, but for that six or so hours you’ll have a great time.
It’s only 500 Wii Points too (about £5 or so), which is a bonus. It’s more than likely that those of you who give more than a passing interest to classic titles filling the Virtual Console have already purchased staple Nintendo titles such as Super Mario World and A Link To The Past, but it’s quite likely Kirby may have slipped under your radar. We might still be waiting for Kirby’s fantastic SNES title to arrive online (soon would be nice, if you happen to be reading this Nintendo of Europe bods), but Kirby’s Adventure is more than good enough to fill the void. You know you want to.
8/10
