Kirby Super Star Ultra

"Suck it up"

Kirby Super Star is a fan favorite of the Kirby series. It has just been made even better on the Nintendo DS as Kirby Super Star Ultra, being one of the systems must own titles.

The idea of Kirby has always been a simple yet fascinating concept. Kirby floats, absorbs enemies, and ever since "Kirby's Adventure" on NES, he steals the enemies power. This makes Kirby a basic but entertaining and unique platforming series.

A feature unique to Kirby Super Star is the ability to create a partner from an enemy. This also enables cooperative gameplay. Unfortunately, the pick up and play feature from the SNES version is gone, because in order to play co-op on DS, you need to connect with another system.

As opposed to having one full game, Kirby Super Star has several shorter games and minigames that add up to the length of one full game, made even longer with the new games in the Nintendo DS version. Each game has a different story and an interesting feature that separates it from the others, for instance the overworld map in "Dynablade", the treasure hunt in "The Great Cave Offensive", or the power choosing system in "Milky Way Wishes". Each game varies in length from 5-30 minutes, and there are are about eleven in all (4 added in the Nintendo DS version). There are also five minigames, 2 from the SNES version and 3 in the DS version with touch screen gimmicks.

Excluding the new games, the changes from the SNES version to the Nintendo DS version are minor. Everything level wise has stayed intact as far as I can tell. There is a graphical increase and full CGI cutscenes in each game which look gourgeous. Audio is similar to that of the SNES version, but the speaker quality of the DS system is less than that of a TV set, so if it is noisy, it is best to wear headphones, these are some catchy tunes that should not be missed.

The biggest new games included in Kirby Superstar Ultra are "Revenge of the King" and "Meta Knightmare Ultra". Whether it is worth paying 30 dollars just for two new games for veterans depends on the person's liking of the series. These two new games are just as good as the other games on the cart.

"Revenge of the King" is a harder and darker version of the first game on the cart, "Spring Breeze", with a new look (for instance, the level "Green Greens" is the more eerie looking "Purple Plants"), and some new level segments. There are also new bosses, from a Blimp that appeared in the original Kirby's Dream Land to a different version of the final boss, King Dedede. "Revenge of the King" is also similar to another game on the cart, "Revenge of Meta Knight", in that there are dialogue segments. Revenge of the King is very loyal to the difficulty present in the original Kirby's Dream Land, as opposed to the more beginner friendly "Spring Breeze"

"Meta Knightmare Ultra" involves going through a good portion of the games on Kirby Superstar as Meta Knight. Meta Knight cannot absorb powers, but instead slays enemies with his sword to gain power points to use moves on the touch screen, like a knight partner summon move or a mach tornado.

Kirby Super Star Ultra also provides some new boss rush modes. One with the new bosses and one where you can play as a partner.

Grading the game as a remake, this game succeeds. It is a much better remake than Nightmare in Dreamland was back in 2002. I hold Kirby's Adventure as the better game (the perfect Kirby), but the remake of it wasn't as good as this remake is. This remake has more features, did not touch any level segments (as far as I can tell) and did not touch the difficulty level of the game (doing so would be criminal as this game is already very easy). There were a few very minor changes, (Plasma was made weaker in the DS version), but nothing noticeable. The only real downside of the DS version is the inconvenience of the co-operative play, but everything else about it is better.

If you never played Kirby Super Star, I highly recommend you pick up this title, with the old games added to the new ones, the game feels more fleshed out than it did on SNES. Even if you have played Kirby Super Star, this title has a good amount of new features.

Story (7/10)- Short but to the point.
Gameplay (9/10)- Shorter games that are very entertaining. The partner system adds to the fun.
Graphics (9/10)- CGI sequences are amazing, the game is sharp and colorful.
Audio (10/10)- Great tunes that correlate to the games setting. Sound is very basic.
Lasting Appeal (9/10)- Each game can be beaten in a sitting, and each is very replayable.

Overall: (9/10)

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/26/08, Updated 02/02/09

Game Release: Kirby Super Star Ultra (US, 09/22/08)