Hello Kitty World

"Don't Pop Your Balloons"

Plotline? What plotline? When you press ''START'' to play this game, Hello Kitty stands up and relates (in picture form) the story of a friend of hers who has been carried off by some balloons. This takes all of three seconds, then the game begins. If that doesn't give you the impression that this is a kids' game, I'm not sure what will.

Gameplay is, obviously, simple. Press A and Hello Kitty will use her magic balloon powers to float upwards in the direction you're pressing on the D-pad. Press B and Hello Kitty's balloons will float away; this is of questionable value in a game where you're floating in the air most of the time. Press down and Hello Kitty will inflate a balloon which you have captured, allowing you to sail the open skies once more. Your quest is to wander around the level in the given direction, jump on bad guys' heads, and eventually find Hello Kitty's missing friend.

Graphics and sound-- hmm. The sound is unmemorable but not annoying, and the graphics are rather good, given the limited palette of the NES. Hello Kitty is displayed in all her two-color fashion, and the backgrounds are shaded so as nearly to give it the impression of being a Super Nintendo game (although I'd expect much more from a Super Nintendo game than floating around on balloons). The worst part of the game are the badly designed pictures in between levels.

This may be an import, but the text you'll be looking at is generally English, and the Japanese words are as follows:

Title screen: ''Hello Kitty World''
Select screen: ''How many people are playing? One person / Two people''

If you learned Japanese for the purpose of playing import games, your skills will basically go to waste on this game. It doesn't even use any kanji-- or, as far as I can tell, katakana-- in its instructions. Hello Kitty talketh not and nor doth her enemies.

Once you've finished this game, it won't be a waste of space on your shelf, but neither is it fiendishly addictive like other, less cute NES games. The obstacles can get somewhat annoying. You'd be better off handing it down to your little brother.

In summary, this is good game for young children, but that's all it is. Don't expect to find any impressive gameplay in this. 7/10 for being a decent game for its time, for its audience.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10 | Originally Posted: 12/30/02, Updated 12/30/02

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