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Kirby Flies high on the NES!
http://www.rarityguide.com/articles/articles/71/1/Kirby-Flies-high-on-the-NES/Page1.html
By Douglas Shepard (Editor in Chief, RarityGuide.com)
Published on 01/25/2009
 
Kirby, star of the Gameboy, had one NES title: Kirby's Adventure. A fun platforming game for anyone.

System: Nintendo Entertainment System
Title: Kirby’s Adventure
Publisher: Hal Laboratories
Circa: 1993
Overall Rating:
87 percent

Kirby's Adventure Title

Intro
Kirby is everyone’s favorite marshmallow. He really looks like one … or a ball of fluff (isn’t that someone else?). Kirby’s Adventure was one of the last games I bought from Kay Bee Toys before they went under some time later. While I’d played Kirby on the Gameboy, I was curious how he would look on the TV screen and in full color opposed to the very limited grey scale of the Gameboy. So, recently I returned to this game after a VERY long time of not playing it. Thinking of the days and games I couldn’t just hop on the internet and get tips of where to find things or solve the last problem. While I’ve beaten the game, I noticed my best file was 96% and couldn’t help but remember all the time I put into trying to get the final bits of percentage and not being able to pull it off.

Story
King Dedede is up to no good again. This time, he’s stolen the Star Rod from the fountain of dreams, unleashing Nightmares upon everyone in Dream Land. Kirby, the hero of Dream Land, sets off immediately to catch Dedede and return everything to rights.

Gameplay
This is a game made to be easy to play, somewhat challenging for anyone (if only in ferreting out secrets) but widely appealing. Aside from issues directly with the controller, the game play felt fluid and right. Kirby was jumping, sliding, floating and bouncing around Dream Land just as I envisioned. The game itself tracks your over all progress through the saves, showing you your exact percentage in terms of game completion. The doors of the levels themselves help a lot, as the completed levels get white doors with a flag while the incomplete levels, those who still have secrets to be found, remain showing as their default brown shade. At the end of each stage, Kirby falls onto a small Sling shot, and depending on when you press A, Kirby will either land low or high up on the tiers, with Tier 1 getting you a 1-up and all the others adding to your score.
There are numerous mini-games as well for Kirby to play through. The Crane game works like any skill crane, with big Kirbys worth 2 lives and small Kirbys worth one life. The shoot-out mini-game focuses purely on reflex, as to who’s got the quicker reaction. Set and done in the Old Western style, it’s a nice, quick little diversion from the main game. The Arena is a great way to get powers, letting you easily get a power to use in a different level. Many of these games reward you with lives, making it easy to keep playing in spite of what could be a challenging level, as it’s very easy to achieve the max number of lives and keep it.
The biggest thing with Kirby to remember is the variety of powers he can get from various enemies throughout the course of the game. While many of the classic Kirby powers showed up, a few new ones where added, like the UFO: allowing Kirby to fly and shoot a variety of lasers. But the most impressive features were the save and the warp-star stations, allowing Kirby to easily move through the various different areas of the game as he progressed. This is a great way to stock up on lives or to grab some specific powers from museums in different areas of the play.

kirby game play

Multiplayer
None.

Controls
The controls are quick to learn and very easy to use. With jump and inhale covering A and B, it’s not too hard to use. The D-pad does have some more intricacy as Up will get Kirby to inflate himself like a balloon, letting you fly (ladders will prevent this from happening). While Kirby is flying tapping the B button will make him shoot a gust of air from his mouth.

Graphics
While an 8-bit system, the NES could pull off some nice graphics. Kirby got such a treatment.

Sound Effects & Music
The music in the game fits very well to the scenery and the style of the game. Nothing is very depressing, all of it keeps to generally a lighter tone, adding to just atmosphere opposed to having any to add to the tension of the game. Of course the final boss battle music is a minor exception for obvious reasons.

Obscurity
Decently obscure at this point as the NES has long since faded out and not too many people look into the past of the Kirby series.

Summary/Author’s Take
This is a sweet little game for younger people (and some older ones as well). It has a very sweet charm to it, letting anyone either drift away in a nice dream or remember joyous younger days. Some parts are still decently challenging, but nothing that will get you to tear hair out because of it. It's a fun game, great for both kids and adults.


Story

85 percent

Decent.

Gameplay

89 percent

Come one, come all.

Multiplayer

N/A

N/A

Controls

87 percent

Touchy, if simple.

Graphics

94 percent

8-bit sweet.

SFX and Music

82 percent

Happy and decent.

Obscurity

67 percent

Older knowledge needed.

Overall

87 percent

*GULP* it up.



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