"Does he still suck?"

When you first take a look at Kirby, you can't help but think that he's a hero well out his league. He's a rounded, hollow vessel of air who hopes to save the day (usually in the name of desserts) by sucking things in and spitting them out; rinse and repeat. Oh, and he's pink.

But the old adage - Never judge a book by its cover - could never be used more appropriately; this little pink ball of sugar(?) is able to acquire a myriad of killer moves by assimilating the foes he consumes. Think of it as this: Kirby is literally what he eats!

Traditionally, Kirby stars in derivative platforming games made more interesting due to his surreal transformations. Kirby: Canvas Curse shares the same concept of sucking and morphing, but it does so in a less traditional manner. It was among the first wave of DS titles and given the system's unique dual screens and touch-based controls, HAL Labs decided to make Kirby's inaugural DS effort unlike anything seen before.

Control pads? Buttons? "Let's ditch them!" they said. Drop any expectations for yet another "decent" platformer; Canvas Curse is as far from being one as the Earth is from the moon. You don't actually have any direct control of Kirby here and given that he has been cursed into a completely limbless form, he's never looked more like a useless, pink ping-pong ball.

Oh no! How will he save the day now? He can't even walk! This is where you come in with stylus in hand. See, you have the the magical ability to inscribe inky track lines over the game screen. Apart from shimmering with a radiant glow, these lines are able to serve as temporary platforms for Kirby to roll across. By tapping the pink one you can coerce him to spin forwards, and in conjunction with the tracks drawn by your own hand, this is how our spherical oddity will traverse the eight colourful worlds chock-full of equally goofy enemies.

The control scheme works remarkably well. Initially you may be tracing wonky paths as you get to grips with how it works, but soon you'll be swiping like a professional artist, creating masterful strokes that enable Kirby to zip along at a high speed.

Of course, you don't want to be going too fast lest you crash into an enemy. In a series first, Kirby doesn't suck (taken literally, of course). If you want to avoid Kirby being hurt by an untimely bump, you will have to tap enemies to stun them before guiding Kirby in for a head-on collision. This is how you steal enemy powers this time around. Once successful, touching Kirby will no longer make him dash. Instead, it will activate the technique that he has acquired from devouring his most recent foe. Most of the traditional abilities are present here: firing a circular wave of plasma, morphing into an unbreakable rock, soaring ahead as a scorching fireball, and my favourite - turning into a spiked ball that can cling onto walls as well as inflict some serious pain, much like a puffer fish out of water... that's pink.

It is a lot of fun to experiment with different abilities in different situations. You'll need to play smart if you hope to nab all of the medals deviously placed on each level. You can then use them to purchase some neat unlockables including different ink colours, a couple of bonus courses, and five other playable characters including the one-hit wonder, Metaknight! There is also a time trial mode and a line mode to bolster replay value; the latter scores you according to how much ink you must use to finish a set course. Along with the 250 medals to collect, there is a lot of game here.

It is disappointing that there are only four different boss levels with the final fight being the only one which is rather impressive, and Kirby enthusiasts may be disappointed at the lack of abilities on offer (not to mention the loss of complexity; only one move per copy), but Canvas Curse isn't trying to be your average generic platformer. With a fresh control method and an equally refreshing gameplay style, despite missing a few things, it brings in a lot more to the table to compensate.

Canvas Curse isn't your typical Kirby game and it's far from being epic. It was more of a follow-on experiment after Yoshi Touch & Go which first introduced the idea of indirect guidance via user-drawn paths. Unlike that bare-boned game, this succeeds in being an infinitely more rewarding experience. Doing away with finnicky buttons has made Kirby accessible to an even wider audience than before. While purists may not find it to be their cup of tea, it's hard not to appreciate how well this new simplistic style works. Add in some of Kirby's signature copy abilities to the mix and you've got an innovative and addictive sucker right here.

VERDICT – 8.5/10 This was the first DS game to really emphasize that "touching is good".

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/02/07

Game Release: Kirby: Canvas Curse (AU, 04/06/06)