O' Kirby 64, my pleasantly polygonal darling, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. This was one of my favorite games growing up, and was my introduction to the Kirby series. I think it was nice to have a more laid-back experience to come back to between bigger games. I never managed to 100% it and was really confused by the ending that I got - something that I remedied in recent years. And I really wanted to hold Queen Ripple's hand (lowkey still do). It's still one of my most fondly-remembered games from that time period.
The story: Dark Matter invades the far-off Ripple Star, a peaceful planet populated by fairies. The Queen of Ripple beseeches a young girl named Ribbon to flee to a safe place with the planet's crystal. However, Ribbon is attacked by Dark Matter before she can make good on her escape, and the crystal breaks apart into pieces that scatter across the solar system. She crashes into Pop Star - and Kirby - and entreats everybody's favorite sentient sphere to assist her in retrieving the titular Crystal Shards and freeing her people from Dark Matter's wrath. Kirby obviously agrees, and the two set off on their journey, supported by a few familiar faces.
Kirby 64's presentation is stellar, no pun intended. The simple, colorful art style combined with a clear understanding of the N64's strengths and weaknesses results in visuals that have aged much more gracefully than many of its contemporaries - which is to be expected for this series. The 2D gameplay is retained, but Kirby 64 makes use of 3D to give the world and characters more depth and detail than they've had up to this point. The music is fantastic, which is pretty much a given for Kirby. Some of the tracks have been living in my head rent-free for decades - listen to this and tell me you don't want to hum along after a while. And then there's what I consider one of the game's greatest strengths that I feel people seldom talk about: The game is dotted with several cutscenes that do a fantastic job of telling a story without a single word being spoken. It's not a particularly complex tale, to be sure, but the main cast are given so much life simply through how animated they are and how well their personalities are conveyed, along with the musical cues that tie it all together. This all succeeds at making Kirby 64 a very memorable experience, even if the gameplay itself is barely any different than the games that came before it. Run, jump and fly, swallow the baddies and steal their powers to wreak havoc on the rest of them.
But there is a wrinkle to the gameplay - a really good one, and one I'm sorely disappointed Nintendo hasn't properly revisited since. In 64, Kirby's signature copy abilities can be combined, resulting in brand new abilities that run the gamut from broken to laughable (or laughably broken). Combine Spark with Cutter to get a Darth Maul-esque laser sword, or mix Spark with Ice instead to turn Kirby into a refrigerator... That spits out health-restoring food items. One of my favorite parts of the game was mashing up the different abilities just to see what would come of it, and the added variety was a great boon to the overall experience. My only possible complaint is that a lot of other abilities from past games were absent - I would love to see a new implementation of this expanded to include as many as the devs can muster.
It's far from perfect, almost by design. Kirby's a little slow and awkward to control. It doesn't feel great to play, and because this is a baby game for babies (I'm babies), you can probably attribute most of your lost lives to how hard it can be to keep the pink puffball out of harm's way rather than due to any meaningful challenge. Levels are somehow even more linear than in past games, with very few opportunities to duck into secret rooms or alternate paths. The collectables you'll need to snag to see the full ending are, much like in Dream Land 3, sometimes barred by obtuse and poorly-communicated requirements, necessitating multiple runs through a level until you figure out what the game wants you to do. And yes, even though you can generally expect low difficulty from this franchise, this game is almost trivially easy at certain points. It's a great introduction to video games for younger players, and many others simply won't mind - but compared to other platformers of the time, it isn't exactly exhilarating.
Even so, Kirby 64 is an adorable little feelgood experience that you can complete in a single sitting. Those who want just a bit more out of the game can fill out the enemy list, and there's also a handful of surprisingly fun, if basic, multiplayer minigames if you have a few friends nearby. Compared to more modern Kirby titles, though, it is a bit light on content. I imagine the game won't blow anybody away today, but it's an understated gem of the N64 library that belongs in your collection. For my part, I like to revisit it every few years to have a cozy little afternoon, before kicking myself for ever having let go of my cart.
The story: Dark Matter invades the far-off Ripple Star, a peaceful planet populated by fairies. The Queen of Ripple beseeches a young girl named Ribbon to flee to a safe place with the planet's crystal. However, Ribbon is attacked by Dark Matter before she can make good on her escape, and the crystal breaks apart into pieces that scatter across the solar system. She crashes into Pop Star - and Kirby - and entreats everybody's favorite sentient sphere to assist her in retrieving the titular Crystal Shards and freeing her people from Dark Matter's wrath. Kirby obviously agrees, and the two set off on their journey, supported by a few familiar faces.
Kirby 64's presentation is stellar, no pun intended. The simple, colorful art style combined with a clear understanding of the N64's strengths and weaknesses results in visuals that have aged much more gracefully than many of its contemporaries - which is to be expected for this series. The 2D gameplay is retained, but Kirby 64 makes use of 3D to give the world and characters more depth and detail than they've had up to this point. The music is fantastic, which is pretty much a given for Kirby. Some of the tracks have been living in my head rent-free for decades - listen to this and tell me you don't want to hum along after a while. And then there's what I consider one of the game's greatest strengths that I feel people seldom talk about: The game is dotted with several cutscenes that do a fantastic job of telling a story without a single word being spoken. It's not a particularly complex tale, to be sure, but the main cast are given so much life simply through how animated they are and how well their personalities are conveyed, along with the musical cues that tie it all together. This all succeeds at making Kirby 64 a very memorable experience, even if the gameplay itself is barely any different than the games that came before it. Run, jump and fly, swallow the baddies and steal their powers to wreak havoc on the rest of them.
But there is a wrinkle to the gameplay - a really good one, and one I'm sorely disappointed Nintendo hasn't properly revisited since. In 64, Kirby's signature copy abilities can be combined, resulting in brand new abilities that run the gamut from broken to laughable (or laughably broken). Combine Spark with Cutter to get a Darth Maul-esque laser sword, or mix Spark with Ice instead to turn Kirby into a refrigerator... That spits out health-restoring food items. One of my favorite parts of the game was mashing up the different abilities just to see what would come of it, and the added variety was a great boon to the overall experience. My only possible complaint is that a lot of other abilities from past games were absent - I would love to see a new implementation of this expanded to include as many as the devs can muster.
It's far from perfect, almost by design. Kirby's a little slow and awkward to control. It doesn't feel great to play, and because this is a baby game for babies (I'm babies), you can probably attribute most of your lost lives to how hard it can be to keep the pink puffball out of harm's way rather than due to any meaningful challenge. Levels are somehow even more linear than in past games, with very few opportunities to duck into secret rooms or alternate paths. The collectables you'll need to snag to see the full ending are, much like in Dream Land 3, sometimes barred by obtuse and poorly-communicated requirements, necessitating multiple runs through a level until you figure out what the game wants you to do. And yes, even though you can generally expect low difficulty from this franchise, this game is almost trivially easy at certain points. It's a great introduction to video games for younger players, and many others simply won't mind - but compared to other platformers of the time, it isn't exactly exhilarating.
Even so, Kirby 64 is an adorable little feelgood experience that you can complete in a single sitting. Those who want just a bit more out of the game can fill out the enemy list, and there's also a handful of surprisingly fun, if basic, multiplayer minigames if you have a few friends nearby. Compared to more modern Kirby titles, though, it is a bit light on content. I imagine the game won't blow anybody away today, but it's an understated gem of the N64 library that belongs in your collection. For my part, I like to revisit it every few years to have a cozy little afternoon, before kicking myself for ever having let go of my cart.
3 Comments
@imshitting420 If they played it at my funeral I'd groove right back out of the grave
@DoctorQuark lmao
imshitting420
7 months ago