Kirby 64

                That’s right gamers our favorite little pink hero is back again. The copycatting puff ball that stole our hearts is back in another installment of the Kirby series. In this story an evil being known as Dark Matter threatens the livelihoods of the peaceful fairies of the heart planet, Ripple Star. Ribbon, one of Ripple Star’s inhabitants, tries to protect the fairies’ sacred treasure, The Great Crystal. Dark Matter chases her and breaks the crystal into many pieces, and it is up to Kirby to retrieve the pieces, rebuild The Great Crystal, and say Ripple Star from Dark Matter.

The Breakdown:

Storyline (out of 20):

This game has about 10-15 hours of game-play, more if you wish to complete the game 100%. The Kirby franchise prides itself on its creative game designs and expansive cartoon levels. Much like its predecessors before it this Kirby game is a side scrolling adventure. As the player you take control on the main character Kirby and gain all of his abilities. This game takes you across 6 different planets each with 4-5 levels, one including a boss battle. Luckily for this game I enjoy a good creative storyline so I give this game a 15 out of 20 for storyline.

Character Evolution: (out of 5)

Anybody who knows Kirby knows exactly what he can do. For those of you reading this blog without any prior knowledge of the adorable and noble Star Warrior I will extrapolate. Kirby is a pink puff ball. He can fly long distances by filling his body with air and holding it in. His true ability however comes in the form of sucking in his enemies and swallowing them, gaining any abilities they may possess. Any enemies, save bosses, in this game can be swallowed by Kirby. There are 7 different types of attacks Kirby can gain in this game: Scorch, Ice, Stone, Cutter, Spike, Zap, and Bomb. Each of these gives Kirby a different ability ranging from throwing bombs at his enemies to turning them into cold cold ice cubes. Besides this Kirby can combine any of these abilities with another to create a super powered ability. These range from Shooting flaming arrows out of his mouth through shooting missiles out of his body to even becoming a refrigerator and throwing food onto the battle field.  Due to his many possibilities of attack changes I give Kirby a  5 out of 5 for Character Evolution.

Game Difficulty (out of 5):

The first 5 levels of this game are a breeze, a small amount of opponents and an easy boss battle at the end. After that though the game becomes much more difficult and I find myself needing to restart many times because I could not finish a certain level or kill a certain boss. This game became progressively more difficult as I traveled through the various worlds and because of this I give it a 5 out of 5 for Difficulty.

Graphics (out of 5):

The cartoonish world of Kirby allows for much wiggle room in the graphics department. The game designer can have their way with Kirby’s world and make him run through every environment possible, and they do. This game takes Kirby through the lava filled caverns of an active volcano through a desert and even to the bottom of the ocean in the search for the crystal shards. Each new world gives the player a unique visual experience that is sure to keep the gamer playing to see what the next world will be like. Besides this the characters and environments are smooth and free of sharp edges giving  the characters and environments an even more cartoonesque feel. All of these factors allow me to give Kirby a perfect 5 out of 5 for Graphics.

The Run down:

15           20

5              5

5              5

5              5

30           35

30 out of 35

Kirby receives an amazing 30 out of 35. This is sure to be a worthwhile game to buy if you own a Nintendo 64. Pick it up if you can!