Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards

released on Mar 24, 2000

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards

released on Mar 24, 2000

Kirby's first 3-D adventure is also his Nintendo 64 debut, and it finds the always-versatile hero battling a new enemy called Dark Matter. Dark Matter is after a distant land's powerful crystal, but a young fairy named Ribbon attempts to save it by escaping with the gem to Dream Land. Now the crystal has been broken, and it's scattered around the world. Take control of Kirby and help him journey across six worlds, battling a wide variety of enemies and challenging bosses, as he tries to collect all 100 pieces of the shattered crystal.


Also in series

Kirby Air Ride
Kirby Air Ride
Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land
Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land
Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble
Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble
Kirby's Super Star Stacker
Kirby's Super Star Stacker
Kirby's Dream Land 3
Kirby's Dream Land 3

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Apparently a bit of a divisive Kirby game? My introduction to the series, the combination powers are incredibly cool, even if there are like 2-3 that are objectively better than the rest. Generally a pretty easy game, except for one or two parts, including one boss, but 100% the game is a nice challenge.

If you think of a game that completely streams infinite charm, Kirby 64 should be one of the first names that will come to mind.

This title is absolutely adorable, featuring some of the most expressive world and characters of its time, and an adventure that doesn't just screams personality in its writing, cutscenes, memorable characters and really enjoyable multiplayer modes, but also in its gameplay.

The main mechanic of this title, unique even compared to the rest of the srries, is the ability to combine abilities together to create a surprisingly amount of different trasformations, each of them with their own gimmick. Some of them are sick and really effective, while others are useless or straight up a joke.... but that is the charm of discovering and using them.

You feel like living a goofy Hanna-Barbera skit for the amount of funny absurdity and cute moments you will witness, while having fun with the always solid Kirby formula.

Personally I feel compared to other games from the series, it has some flaws: it can feel to slow for most of the runtime, the requirements to achieve the "True Ending" (WHICH YOU SHOULD TRY TO GET) can be tedious and lead to replay levels over and over again, and the lack of a higher difficulty can turn it into a less enjoyable titles, especially compared to the difficulty options of later Kirby titles.

But aside from these flaws, Kirby 64 is an absolute charm! A must-have for the time, and a title able to stand out even today!

Kirby 64 brought Kirby to the realm of 2.5D platforming. It has a bright and visually appealing aesthetic with a great soundtrack.

I’m sure a standard play, where you run through each level and do the bare minimum is a brisk and enjoyable. Playing with the different power combinations are fun and the levels themselves are varied visually where the gameplay may be lacking - a lot of it are basic left to right which is probably suited to the audience.

The true ending is frustrating, you need not just the specific power, but a combination of powers to collect every single crystal. At the very least you don’t need to finish the level for the crystal to be collected. I used a guide to cheese this, because it is really unreasonable and a waste of time and erroring which power up can destroy a block three quarters into a stage.

People say Kirby 64 is the downslope, but I sorta consider Kirby’s Dreamland 3 to be in the same general ballpark. Both are visually impressive games that don’t innovate on the 2D plat-former. Can be beaten quickly if you avoid all side content, but the moment you shift gears it’s difficult and unrewarding pulls from some crazy overarching plot.

dude why did i like kirby so much. i fucking beat like every kirby game as a kid and i swear i haven't thought about the fucker in like half a decade

Loved it as a kid, but now that i'm older it don't hit the same. Needless to same i'll cut straight to the point. Kirby is to slow and sluggish in this game. Most of the combine abilities suck ass. Worst off all, some crystals are just impossible to get first playthrough without prior knowledge because they're so outta the way or copy ability specific. Which is then made worse by the fact you need ALL CRYSTALS!! Just to get the true ending. This game had a lot of ambition and creative ideas, but It wasn't executed well.

Kirby games are just different, man.

Is it kind of ass to play? Sure. I'm not really gonna write home about this one in any capacity. Maybe within the grand picture of Kirby I can at least say this one is "different", but that's as far as my praise really extends.

All you're really gonna find here are some cute visuals, good music, and a gameplay loop that's tired out as soon as you discover there's really only, like, 4 abilities worth having.

With that being said, I can't be mad at this guy. I mean, look at him. Whenever he sets off on a mission he looks so happy. Who am I to try to take that from him? I'll probably keep playing games starring him just to keep seeing him be happy.

Maybe I’m a victim to marketing, who knows.