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Kirby's Adventure
Kirby's Adventure (NES)
Developer
HAL
Publisher
Nintendo
Genre
Platformer
Players
1
C3 Score
n/a
Reader Score (3 Votes)
9
n/a
9
Buy Kirby's Adventure
Reader Review by Phoenixus
Posted by 
Nintendo's Amorphous Pink Blob of a Character had an unusual start, and one that hid his tough-guy-fearing colour in shades of Green and Black. Kirby's Dream Land, brought to the Game Boy way back in 1992, featured HAL Laboratory's unofficial mascot in his first game, his mission to retrieve stolen Nosh from the greedy King Dedede. Legend goes that the placeholder gap for the box, which at that point denoted a game yet to have a central character, was decided to be the final design for Kirby, as the simplicity answered the developer's intentions. Success ensued, and a new Nintendo star was born.
His second game, Kirby's Adventure on the Nintendo Entertainment System, once again casts Dedede as the antagonist, this time obviously a bit hacked-off from his last butt-kicking, as he decides to steal the Star Rod, a source of power within Kirby's home of Dreamland. He then brakes the rod into seven pieces, keeps one for himself, and hands out the rest of them to his highest followers. Cue the Pink Powerpuff jumping and floating through the worlds to set things right.
Kirby's Adventure hit the shops in 1992/3, and subsequently won Best NES Game of 1993 by late US Magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly. A remake of the game, entitled Kirby's Nightmare in Dreamland, graced the GBA in 2002, and the original was put up for download on the Wii's Virtual Console a few months after the console's worldwide release, a year before Super Smash Bros Brawl (a series of which Kirby also participates in) featured it as a playable timed demo.
Upon startup, players will be able to see HAL Laboratory's character ideals in motion, as they will see a short piece of example artistry on how to draw Kirby. This unusual opening sets the tone for the rest of the game; as any longtime fan can agree with, the games of this series play like none other.
Kirby's Adventure is of the Platformer genre, and requires players to get from one end of a level to another. Kirby's main draw, and one that was actually introduced in this game, is the ability to copy his opponent's traits. Say for instance, an enemy grunt had a beam shooting out of his fist; one simple vacuuming trick from Kirby, and you would be able to do the same. As well as mimicking the abilities of others (and changing his own colour at the same time), Kirby can suck up and spit them out at other enemies, and also repeatedly puff himself up and float through the level at the touch of the D-Up Pad. This mechanic brings a whole new dimension to the platformer trait, and to this day there hasn't been another quite like it.
Of course, the whole game would be even more of a cakewalk if all you had to do was suck up enemies and not worry about resistance, so HAL set up limits. Power Duplication is limited to one at a time, so if you're using a beam power, and you wish to swipe an enemy's sword, you would have to discard the former with a press of the select button before you could get the latter. A few enemies cannot easily be taken without a beatdown first (represented at the bottom of the screen underneath Kirby's Lifebar.), and bosses require strategy and use of the correct power(s) to prevail over.
Although from the end result it can be seen that HAL tried to make Kirby's Adventure a decent challenge, one element of the character's arsenal brakes the difficulty bar; the floating ability. It can be done at any standing time, regardless of current power, and unlike Mario's P Bar in Super Mario Bros. 3, it has no time limit, so players are free to fly throughout the whole level and avoid almost all obstacles and foes with minimal effort. Although some levels are enclosed, effectively minimizing the amount you can exploit this oversight, it isn't enough.
Also of note are the regular health pickups littering the levels, and a relatively high amount of lives to be had. This generosity would suggest that Kirby's Adventure could be best defined as a 'My first Platformer', but due to its high playability and unique premise, regular gamers that do give it a go will pine for a Hard Mode.
Dreamland echoes the colourful nature of its pink hero by generally consisting of imagination and luminosity. Undoubtedly one of the NES's greatest lookers, K.A heavily utilized the power of its host, drawing on special visual effects, 3D-like backgrounds (that a lot of other platformers like Sonic and Shinobi later took inspiration from), and parallax scrolling. Little surprise then that the game was also one of the NES's largest, weighing in at 6 megabits of data, although it is surprising that this isn't made apparent with the Virtual Console download filesize for the game.
It is unfortunate however, that the framerate, and the level-loading speed of the game, drop in response to everything else. Certainly not a gamebreaker; Kirby can still move left and right at a regular pace, but the tearing is very noticeable, and a shame that it couldn't hold up to the rest of the visual candy.
Sound is another quality of the game that hasn't been shoved aside. Catchy and memorable tunes that have become series staples, make up the glut of the levels, and each ability trait sounds exactly as you'd expect, to the Whoooosh of a Tyre, to the Slash of a Sword. Kirby has no identifiable voice in this game, but the mute nature HAL have given him is a worthy sidearm to his simplistic nature.
Kirby's Adventure spans the breadth of 7 Worlds, each housing a number of Levels, a Boss Room, and side Mini-Games. As such, even with the cheaty nature of the float ability, the game will require players to put in a good number of hours to properly finish, easily obtainable thanks to the automatic save system. A Percentage marker is used in the game, keeping track of how much has been completed, so even after beating the final boss, there will be reason to revisit, and due to the lack of any kind of multiplayer mode, this'll be the only perquisite.
Kirby's Adventure is only 500 points on the Wii's shop channel, and is an excellent introduction to the series of Nintendo's most unique character. Recommended.
Graphics: 9 | Sound: 9 | Gameplay: 8 | Length: 7 | Final Score: 8
1
Day off for E3 Conference? Decisions, decisions...
4431
Deputy Features Editor
Doesn't anyone read these anymore? 
67
L7 Mushroom Guard
I have, don't worry man ;-
Good review, well written.
I think, based upon this review, I may well give it a bash.
Good review, well written.
I think, based upon this review, I may well give it a bash.
May you be in heaven for half an hour before the devil knows you are dead.
Day off for E3 Conference? Decisions, decisions...
4431Deputy Features Editor
Awesome, hope you enjoy, I sure did. 
I didn't nope
22260
Moderator
Liking the new review layout!
For me this has gotta be one of the best NES games there is, it's aged very well and plays closer to a SNES game than your typical NES game. High tier stuff!
One day I will be a real life anime.
For me this has gotta be one of the best NES games there is, it's aged very well and plays closer to a SNES game than your typical NES game. High tier stuff!
One day I will be a real life anime.
WE ARE THE DY-NAS-TY!
1180
L55 Snake
Kirbys adventure has always been one of my favorite games and I never clicked this link because I thought It would be a bad reveiw but I was wrong!
[img align=center]http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/Captian/CaptianHERE-2.jpg[/img]
:}
John:
I..I can't watch porn. My Mommy finds out
I..I can't watch porn. My Mommy finds out
Gotta live life to the fullest =] You never know what might happen...
25
L3 Goomba
yea me to they are beast!!!!
Death To All who Oppose Me!!!!
I found out my cousins first word was bitch!!!!!! my hero!
282
L25 Kyle Hyde
I bought this game for my wii (wii shop channel) I haven't played it yet but this review kind of convinced me to play it!
I also do crack and heroin
I also do crack and heroin
11 days left!
713
L43 Pipsy
Nice work Phoenixus, this game looks really good for a NES game. I wholeheartly agree with SL, it's aged really good even against Mario games from the same time. I gotta play this, I might buy a NES from ebay with this and a few other good NES games. Not mario though, I have Mario all stars on my SNES- It was my first video game ever back in 1992-3. *sheds tear*
Day off for E3 Conference? Decisions, decisions...
4431Deputy Features Editor
Thanks Andre.
Strange how this has appeared on the forum list though, is that what will be happening with Reader Reviews now Jeebs? If so, great!
Strange how this has appeared on the forum list though, is that what will be happening with Reader Reviews now Jeebs? If so, great!
English exam on Thursday. Wish me luck everyone.
1088
L53 Yoshi
Phoenixus said:
Thanks Andre.
Strange how this has appeared on the forum list though, is that what will be happening with Reader Reviews now Jeebs? If so, great!
Thanks Andre.
Strange how this has appeared on the forum list though, is that what will be happening with Reader Reviews now Jeebs? If so, great!
That was me. Sorry about that. I deleted my post when I found out it was an old review. Sorry for the confusion
SuperYoshi6 PSN name
3DS friend code 2878-9581-8999
Day off for E3 Conference? Decisions, decisions...
4431Deputy Features Editor
Thats fine, it's just that even when commented on these reviews never used to appear under 'Recently Posted' in the forum section. Big improvement though.
English exam on Thursday. Wish me luck everyone.
1088L53 Yoshi
LOL. Happy I could make something new happen.
SuperYoshi6 PSN name
3DS friend code 2878-9581-8999
SuperYoshi6 PSN name
3DS friend code 2878-9581-8999
11 days left!
713L43 Pipsy
I really enjoy your reviews Phoenixus, Love the layout and easy to understand. When you described the game, it was easy to get it straight away what you were talking about made me think of a Kirby game not taking my attention away.
Have you played the GB versions of Kirby? How does it compare? This looks pretty darn good for a SNES games and the GB games looked pretty bad, like didn't age too well.
Have you played the GB versions of Kirby? How does it compare? This looks pretty darn good for a SNES games and the GB games looked pretty bad, like didn't age too well.
Day off for E3 Conference? Decisions, decisions...
4431Deputy Features Editor
Nah, this is the only Kirby game I've played so far, useful when judging it on it's own merits of course. (and it's an NES game btw) 
I guess I still enjoy doing these mainly because I can go all-out on them. With the C3 stuff I have to be a lot more restrictive, as what I say and type is reflected on the whole site, whereas here it's free-er.
I guess I still enjoy doing these mainly because I can go all-out on them. With the C3 stuff I have to be a lot more restrictive, as what I say and type is reflected on the whole site, whereas here it's free-er.
11 days left!
713L43 Pipsy
Yeah lol I meant NES like in my first post, lol I was somehow thinking SNES. Oh, give it a go on the GB ones, they're cool but it's the type of game that you gotta play it before playing the SNES versions cause it spoils you. Specially when playing Kirby's fun pack, because of so many modes.
Currently Playing: Okami (PS2)
88
L9 Peahat
Great review of a great game.
So many of the old NES games were so under-budgeted or just shoddily put together that you sometimes couldn't even tell what to do. Kirby's Adventure far and away has to be one of, if not the best produced NES game in existence.
The first time I played this game was just a few years ago, and I remember saying "Wow, this game was made for the original Nintendo?!"
I was definitely blown away by the graphical quality, even by todays standards for a 2D sidescroller. It looks almost as good as a GBA game in my opinion. I greatly enjoyed this game. It's my second favorite Kirby game next to Crystal Shards.
And again, great review.
So many of the old NES games were so under-budgeted or just shoddily put together that you sometimes couldn't even tell what to do. Kirby's Adventure far and away has to be one of, if not the best produced NES game in existence.
The first time I played this game was just a few years ago, and I remember saying "Wow, this game was made for the original Nintendo?!"
I was definitely blown away by the graphical quality, even by todays standards for a 2D sidescroller. It looks almost as good as a GBA game in my opinion. I greatly enjoyed this game. It's my second favorite Kirby game next to Crystal Shards.
And again, great review.
Like video game music?!
>Do a Barrel Roll!<
>Do a Barrel Roll!<
1