Kirby Super Star Ultra

"I would have given it a higher score, but it's WAY too short."

"I would have given it a higher score, but it's WAY too short."

Ahh... Kirby Super Star. The game was released in 1996 on the SNES. What made this special was that there were 8 different mini-adventures on one cartridge, making this a must-have for Kirby fans. I had always wanted to play this game, but I was too young to have access to a Super Nintendo. When I heard that the game was coming to DS with 15 total games, I was overjoyed. When I got the game, I was disappointed in how easy it was and that I was almost done in less than a day of playing.

Introduction- I have to give kudos to HAL Laboratory for this. The once pointless opening music is now the background theme for a short full-motion video showing Kirby riding on a warp-star. It seems all the old cut scenes have been replaced with these nice animated videos. Highly polished intro. 10/10

Graphics- Also very nice. I can see that the original Kirby Super Star was an ugly game compared to say, Super Mario World, but in this remake the sprites are vibrant and full of color. I also give credit again to the FMV cut scenes because they look nicer than some Xbox 360 games. Graphics are a 10/10

Story- There are 12 full game modes and each have there own storyline. The only problem is that while some story lines are believable, like in The Great Cave Offensive,when Kirby falls into a hole and discovers a cave filled with treasure, others are ridiculous, like Gourmet Race's plot where Kirby and the oppressive tyrant penguin King DeDeDe race to see who is faster and can eat more. Don't you think that is offensive to fat people? Maybe it's just what I think. 8/10

Gameplay- This is where KSSU is lacking. If you've ever played a Kirby game, you know that Kirby can walk, run and fly in the air. Unlike other platformers, Kirby can suck in enemies and steal their powers to gain abilities. What makes this game different is that Kirby can turn an ability into a Helper, or an enemy on your side. The main problem is that the Helpers are terrible fighters- I promise if you play this game the Helper will get itself into all sorts of situations. Interestingly, one of the new games lets you play as the Helpers. Why would I want to play as a brain-dead moron who wouldn't know how to fight even if Kirby went up and slapped them. You can share healing items to replenish your Helper's health, but it just looks like they're [Kirby and the Helper] are french kissing. What really is cheap is why you can press the DS's shoulder buttons and shield against an attack. Very cheap. With that, there is NO suspense, because you can just guard enemy attacks instead of avoiding them. It doesn't help with the difficulty. Kirby games are designed in mind for newbies, but this is ridiculous! I have heard of people who beat the game in less than two days! And they weren't playing it for more than an hour at a time! HAL, raise uo the difficulty next time. It just sucks why the game is so short. 3/10

Replay Value- Pretty much after playing this game you'll never play it again. Sure, you can get all 60 treasures in Great Cave Offensive, or all 19 copy essences in Milky Way Wishes, but that's pretty much it. 5/10

Multiplayer- Ridiculous. You can play with a friend over Multi-card wireless, or play the mediocre mini-games, or do a two-player version of KSSU's first game, Spring Breeze. But that is poorly designed as the second player has to look at the host's screen, which creates the problem of having to sit next to each other, which is pretty strange.1/10

Final comments- The game isn't bad; it's just was too short. Unless you absolutely suck pork rinds at gaming or want something to play on the city bus, by all means. People looking for a challenging platformer, you should get New Super Mario Bros.or a Castlevania title.

Original Release date: 09/22/08 Review Written 03/20/09
2009 Mareth SilverBlade

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 03/20/09

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