Kirby's Adventure

Voices of: N/A
Developer: HAL Laboratory
Publisher: Nintendo
Director: Masahiro Sakurai
Rating: E
Genre: Platform
System: NES
1993

Times Completed:
Tim: 1

Summary: Kirby must retrieve the pieces of the Star Rod to combat Nightmare, who is disrupting the dreams of the residents of Dream Land.

Review:
Tim: When you think about Nintendo, you have to include one of their longest-running franchises, Kirby. While this franchise will never have the influence of Mario or The Legend of Zelda, it's still a major Nintendo franchise. For what it's worth, I've always loved playing these games. Kirby's Adventure is the second game in the franchise, the first for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It builds upon the mechanics established in the original game, while delivering a more involved, better overall experience. This is a game that improves on its predecessor in nearly every way.

While 1992's Kirby's Dream Land is the originator of the franchise, that game was constricted by the limitations of the handheld system. This game expanded on that concept with the full power of the NES. It also introduced several new elements that would become essential to the franchise. The most noteworthy is that this is the first time we've seen Kirby in color- his trademark pink first showed up here. That is big within the context of the franchise. The most memorable improvement, though, is Kirby's Copy Ability. This is as synonymous with Kirby as anything else, so it's a bit surprising that it didn't exist until this game. Sucking in various bad guys and obtaining their powers is immensely satisfying and it really emerges as one of the highlights of this game.

The narrative here felt a bit hard to follow. You get some explanation in the beginning, but I have to admit, I didn't fully get the story of Nightmare, King Dedede, the Star Rod, and Dream Land while playing. This is a game that's focused primarily on gameplay and the narrative is clearly secondary. That doesn't hurt the fun of the game, but I was often accomplishing goals without thinking deeply about the "why" behind it. I do think that's a bit of a limitation of this game. This game does feel far more expansive than the original. There's seven different worlds and a total of 41 different levels. That's a lot of playing. Now, while the game does feel like a huge improvement over the original, it did feel a bit repetitive- the levels don't feel wildly unique, and without a lot of story, I mostly just focused on what was right in front of me.

That being said, where Nintendo has always shined is on gameplay. Even with the limitations of the NES controller, this game felt very playable. You jump, suck, run, slide and move through each level. It's immense fun to play as this super cute pink character that is also tough and formidable. The game pushed the boundaries of the system- it's well-designed and there were 24 different copy abilities. This certainly gives the game some added depth. The boss battles were always fun- I loved battling against Whispy Woods, Kracko, and the rest. The game also features the first appearance of Meta Knight, although he doesn't have his name listed within the game. You also battle King Dedede, before finally combating Nightmare.

Along the way, you need to complete every level and also find and hit all the big switches. This brings you to 100% completion, and gives you the title of Hero of Lore. It also unlocks the Extra Game mode, which sounded ridiculous- no saving, limited lives, and harder bad guys. No thanks. I did work to get the 100% completion mark, but I wasn't interested in continuing past.

I really do love the character of Kirby and the fantastic Dream Land that he inhabits. I do wish this game had a bit stronger narrative, but I'm shocked to see how much the game advanced from the original. This feels like Kirby as he was meant to be played. I had a lot of fun 100%'ing this game, and it helped to set Kirby up as one of the better video game characters out there.



Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: N/A



If You Enjoyed This Game, We Recommend: Kirby's Dream Land, Kirby's Dream Land 2