I'm honestly kinda sad this game got forgotten. It makes sense, being an SNES title that released after the N64. However, I personally love it.
A big part of it for me is how stupidly cozy this game is for a Kirby game. The art direction has a childish charm to it while staying professional in look. The music is good, by no means amazing, but fits the mood to a T, and Kirby alongside the game's animal helpers and side characters are all very expressive, even if there's little shown of them (i.e. The heart star characters in each stage).
I never cared about the limited copy ability variety. I liked the animal helper system, and it brings both movement variety and ability variety. Going from 30 or so copy abilities in Superstar and most other games to just 8 never bothered me.
Heart stars are pretty cool. Some requests were better than others. I hated the memory games for example, but loved having to play through stages with a certain animal helper, especially for Sand Canyon 5 and Cloud Park 5, where those levels seemed designed for Chu Chu and Rick's respective abilities.
The levels were nowhere near as bland as I had heard people say they were. A lot of them have long, flat sections that you can float over, but the same goes for most Kirby games. Maybe it's the fact that level-specific gimmicks are really subdued, which I can completely understand. However, the level design outside of a couple levels was way better than I expected.
The bosses were actually really fun and put up quite the fight (outside of Whispy Woods of course). They weren't particularly hard, but they were engaging.
If I have one complaint about this game, it's that it moves slowly. You have a dash that goes pretty quickly, but I used it repeatedly and learned the hard way to not rush this game.
9/10 - A cozy and fun experience that made me smile. However, you move a bit too slow.
A big part of it for me is how stupidly cozy this game is for a Kirby game. The art direction has a childish charm to it while staying professional in look. The music is good, by no means amazing, but fits the mood to a T, and Kirby alongside the game's animal helpers and side characters are all very expressive, even if there's little shown of them (i.e. The heart star characters in each stage).
I never cared about the limited copy ability variety. I liked the animal helper system, and it brings both movement variety and ability variety. Going from 30 or so copy abilities in Superstar and most other games to just 8 never bothered me.
Heart stars are pretty cool. Some requests were better than others. I hated the memory games for example, but loved having to play through stages with a certain animal helper, especially for Sand Canyon 5 and Cloud Park 5, where those levels seemed designed for Chu Chu and Rick's respective abilities.
The levels were nowhere near as bland as I had heard people say they were. A lot of them have long, flat sections that you can float over, but the same goes for most Kirby games. Maybe it's the fact that level-specific gimmicks are really subdued, which I can completely understand. However, the level design outside of a couple levels was way better than I expected.
The bosses were actually really fun and put up quite the fight (outside of Whispy Woods of course). They weren't particularly hard, but they were engaging.
If I have one complaint about this game, it's that it moves slowly. You have a dash that goes pretty quickly, but I used it repeatedly and learned the hard way to not rush this game.
9/10 - A cozy and fun experience that made me smile. However, you move a bit too slow.