Features:
- 1 Player
- 2-4 Player Local Play
- 2-4 Player Download Play
- Streetpass Enabled
I’ve always thought that Kirby is pretty awesome. What exactly is he anyhow? A puffball? A marshmallow? A balloon? I’ve used him as a character in Super Smash Bros and I watched the TV show when I was little. I know that he kicks some serious butt and I know that his special power is inhaling, but for some reason I’ve never had the chance to play any Kirby games. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started Kirby Triple Deluxe, but I can say after spending lots of time playing that I was really happy with what I played.
So a huge beanstalk has grown in Dreamland and it takes Kirby’s house and King Dedede’s castle really high up in the sky. Kirby is confused at first but then notices King Dedede’s castle. Not only does he notice the castle, he also notices a strange looking droid thingy enter the castle. He follows the thingy into the castle and witnesses it knocking down all the guards and kidnapping King Dedede. Kirby sees the thingy go higher up and follows it in order to rescue the king and restore order to Dreamland.
The controls in this game are pretty similar to any 3DS platformer. If you’ve played Yoshi’s New Island or any Super Mario Bros game you’ll feel pretty comfortable playing this. I thought the levels were all very fun to play through, and there are many different worlds to explore, like jungles and icy lands and levels filled with lollipops. A very neat thing is that some of the gameplay takes place in the background, which happens when you acquire a special yellow star. This helps avoid enemies, and helps you find some of the hidden collectables in game.
Kirby’s main attack of course is inhaling his enemies and swallowing them. Kirby can also jump, and you can make him do that by pressing ‘A’. And if you hold ‘A’ Kirby will hold his breath and float, which can be useful for gliding across large areas of spikes or high up to reach things. But you should now that when he is holding an item like a key he cannot float. Sometimes that can get a bit tough but if you jump at the right time it works.
Inhaling isn’t the only thing Kirby can do. He has quite a few different attacks and abilities that he gains when he inhales a certain type of enemy or gets a special item. There are 26 special moves in all and they are all fun to use. Each move lets Kirby wear a special hat that indicates what ability he is using, which makes him look even more adorable! Like Fighter, in which he wears a red headband that gives him karate like moves, or Whip, in which he wears a cowboy hat and he whips his enemies. My favourite hat is Circus, in which he wears a circus tent on his head, juggles bowling pins and jumps through rings of fire. Kirby also has an awesome move called Hypernova which is an ability you can get by eating a magical fruit which makes your inhaling power incredibly stronger and he can eat anything and everything!
There are many things to collect in each level. The first thing that really comes to mind are the sunstones, which act a lot like the stars in Super Mario 3D world. These are needed to unlock boss fights, but thank goodness you don’t need a ridiculous amount of these to move on. There are also things like keychains to collect, and although they don’t do anything they’re just fun to collect and they look really cool.
I thought the Kirby Triple Deluxe wasn’t too easy or too hard which is perfect. There were times when I would easily run the level with no trouble, but other times I had a bit of a tough go figuring out the puzzles, which might be a bit challenging for some younger kids. Some of the levels were a bit tough, like the one with the collapsing walls. The enemies are very cute, but very vicious too! The gloves smashing you up against the screen are especially annoying! The boss battles left me very frustrated at times though. I did like there is no time limit, which is a big help for little kids who might otherwise not complete the level when time runs out.
Kirby Triple Deluxe looks and sounds really, really good. The colours are very vibrant and bright. I usually hate turning on the 3D feature as it hurts my eyes but I just had to keep the 3D on for this game. It is not the same seeing a hand squish Kirby against the screen in 2D, plus there are many little things in the game, like a glimmer of sunshine that would go unnoticed in 2D mode. The music is very, very awesome. I enjoyed the music so much that I really would like to own the soundtrack. The “Catastrophe Carnival” theme is especially memorable and I actually played the level over and over just to hear it.
If you get sick of Story Mode, you can play the other modes like Kirby Fighters and King Dedede’s Drum Dash. In Kirby Fighters you get to choose from a limited amount of abilities and fight other abilities. It is like Super Smash Bros. and plays the same way as classic mode in Super Smash Bros Brawl. which being a huuuuuuge Smash Bros Fan makes it by far my favourite mode. You can play this with friends who have a 3DS, but not the game, using Download play, but I was a bit disappointed you couldn’t play this online. I think it would have really been a good idea. The other extra mode is King Dedede’s Drum Dash (try saying that 10 times fast). In this mode you play as King Dedede and bounce high on the drums all while keeping a steady beat, collecting coins and avoiding enemies. Even though there is no online play in Kirby’s Triple Deluxe I thought it was cool that people you’ve Street Passed appear in Story Mode and give you healing items to use. You can also collect keychains in Street Pass, which is a very cool feature.
Kirby’s Triple Deluxe is really cool game. It’s very nice to look and I really enjoyed playing it. Kirby is such an adorable little pink puffball and I loved using his different abilities and wearing all the funny hats. The story mode was really fun to play through and I think that this game is definitely one of my new favourite Nintendo platformers, up there with Super Mario Bros! While I did get frustrated sometimes I think kids of all ages will love playing this, and adults will have fun too! I definitely recommend anyone who has a 3DS to play Kirby Triple Deluxe. It’s awesome.
Kid Score: CUTE AND HIGHLY PLAYABLE FOR ALL AGES
About the Kid Author:
Growing up in a gaming household with her mom, and COG writer, Jen Dingle, Hannah has been playing video games since before she knew how to talk. One of the biggest Legend of Zelda fans out there, she aspires to be a Pokemon Master, and can be found glued to her Nintendo 3DS at all times. She loves internet memes, Harry Potter and trolling her mom, and can be found tweeting about her favourite games and space cats on her twitter account, @NyanHannah