Nintendo has no shortage of classic retro games that deserve a makeover, such as Excitebike, Punch-Out!! and Kid Icarus. For now, however, we have Kirby Super Star Ultra for the DS, a revamp of the 1996 Super Nintendo offering, Kirby Super Star. Instead of being a true Kirby sequel, it's a collection of short minigames with little substance. You still get the same old Kirby, but much like his insatiable appetite, you'll always feel empty.
We knew something was wrong after beating the first game, Spring Breeze, in 20 minutes. It's a watered down version of past Kirby games, where you guide the pink fellow through clouds and forests in an inevitable showdown with his nemesis, King Dedede. It's good innocent fun, as you inhale bad guys, spit them out or copy their abilities, enabling you to cut and shoot your foes. But with only four levels, there's no reason to play it again.
Most of Kirby Super Star's modes are variations of this same and basic idea. Dyna Blade is essentially a carbon copy of Spring Breeze but with a different antagonist, The Great Cave Offensive also relies on the same concept, but you'll search for 60 treasure chests; at least figuring out how to reach each chest breaks up the monotony. Gourmet Race has you running through courses picking up fruit and attempting to either beat an opponent or get the best time. Revenge of Meta Knight is cool, only because you play as that character, and Milky Way Wishes has you visiting different planets, which is a welcome change of scenery from Dream Land. We unlocked other games over time, but none of them has us coming back for more.
In addition, you can play alongside a friend in Spring Breeze (they serve as a your helper with unique abilities) and there are three sub games you play against the computer or with up to three other people, with or without a game card: Kirby Card Swipe (match the shown card before someone else), Kirby on the Draw (hit targets with your stylus) and Snack Tracks (consume food while avoiding bombs and caterpillars). Unfortunately, these brief distractions won't keep you entertained long.
Nintendo didn't do much to spruce up the original game. There are some cute full motion video cut scenes but they're low resolution. The graphics are simple and colorful, with white puffy clouds, dark forests and dank underground lairs, but nothing shows off the DS' power or introduces an ingenious way to use the hardware.
That sums up Kirby Super Star Ultra. You'll see what this game has to offer in a few hours and that's a generous estimate. We love Kirby, the colorful worlds he explores and the cheery music, but this aged SNES game can't compare to a true sequel with hours of content. Save yourself $34.99 and play one of Kirby's previous adventures.
Reader Comments (4)
OK, I cannot even begin to express my explosive detestation of this article. I was just googling for like an hour to find chris $%$@ing buffa's email address so I could retort this asinine article. There is one criticism you can make for this game if you enjoy kirby games at all: You can't change the controls. Fortunately, someone above saved me the trouble of calling buffa on the fact that he rated this game very highly in it's original version in a SEPARATE ARTICLE, so I can leave that alone for the most part. It is incredibly clear that chris buffa DID NOT FINISH THE GAME. He FAILS TO MENTION THAT UPON COMPLETION OF THE ORIGINAL GAME, you gain access to it's 6 ADDITIONAL GAMES,(I think, might be off by one or two) one of which you play as HELPERS, one as meta k***ht, and they all include spruced up or brand spanking new bosses. Not to mention the true arena is tough for a tried and true kirby fan. I'm appalled by this article. This article is the reason why I don't read game daily. Get rid of writers like this. This garbage belongs on youtube, or IGN.
So according to this review, Kirby Super Star Ultra is a 6 for "mediocre." However, according to this GameDaily article, Kirby Super Star (SNES) is the third best Kirby game: http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/galleries/top-10-kirby-games/?icid=aimDBDL1_link1-a&page=8 Different strokes for different folks, right? Surely GameDaily staff can disagree. Except no, that doesn't explain anything. Check the name at end of that top 10 Kirby games article right over here: http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/galleries/top-10-kirby-games/?icid=aimDBDL1_link1-a&page=10 Wouldn't you know it: that article was written by the same Chris Buffa. So is Kirby Super Star mediocre or is it one of the best Kirby games? Real fans know the answer already, but now we also know that Buffa's got fatal integrity problems.
Answer to kefkajr: if you wanna play the actual game with someone you need your own cards, but you can do spring breeze with 2 players on one card. the bad thing about that is.... P2 has to look at P1's DS to see what he is doing.... anyway... i didnt like this review. just because it doesn't have much more to do, it is still fun as hell.
So are the controls better or worse? How much co-op content can you access with just one copy of the game?