"Kirby, conqueror of genres."

Introduction:

Kirby's original games are 2D sidescrollers that have always been top-of-the-line games with amazing replayability, music, level design, variety, (because of all the powers), and overall fun.

Kirby has spread his fluffy pink self into a myriad of other things as well. Kirby' Dream Course was modeled after a golf or mini-golf game, but it translated everything that is Kirby to this so-called “golf” game. Kirby Air Ride, in my opinion, is the best, deepest, and most underrated, kart-type racing game in the market, and it too brings the Kirby franchise's powers, unlockables, music, and variety into the racing genre.

Some Kirby games create new genres, such as Kirby Tilt'n'Tumble, in which the player had to literally tilt their Gameboy around. Kirby: Canvas Curse is the latter. It is similar to a sidescroller, however all the gameplay is done via the touch screen on the DS.

Story:

Well, it's in Japanese, but if it's anything like other Kirby games, some sort of bad guy, (in this case, someone who despises color and art apparently), wants to mess up the world. You, as Kirby, must act as savior to this world and fix the problem. That's all there really is to it. But the story in a game like this pretty much doesn't matter anyway.

Audio:

Just about every single one of the Kirby tracks and sound effects are in this game. It features all new remixes of all of your favorites, but it also, (once you unlock it), gives you the choice to switch ALL the music in the game, (including the menu music), to the remixes that were in Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland on GBA. Kirby music has always been upbeat, fast, cool, and fits the game perfectly. This installment doesn't disappoint.

Graphics:

The game is 2D with a hint of 3D. The backgrounds look amazing, so do the enemies, effects of the powers, and everything else. The Kirby “ball” appears 3D and has very smooth animation. The lines you draw have a very nice effect when they start disappearing and they too are very smooth.

Gameplay:

The flow of the game goes as follows; you beat stages 1, 2, and 3 of a level, (there are 7), in any order you wish, then you pick a boss battle, (which become minigames later), and advance to the next level.

In a sentence describing the gameplay, you must guide Kirby through the different stages by drawing rails/bridges/roads for him and touch him to use his power and speed up. There's a lot more to than that however. Many times, you have to block lasers and fire, guide Kirby without drawing, make loops for him, stun enemies, shoot out of cannons, and guide him underwater.
It is extremely fun to play, and fairly difficult at times.

You have a bar for how much you can draw. This bar refills slowly while Kirby is in the air, and quickly when it is on ground. I love how this works and the levels use this system perfectly. You get powers by killing, (running into), certain enemies and use them by touching Kirby. All of the powers work pretty much like they do in other Kirby games, Fire goes forward, destroying anything in its path, Stone comes straight down and rolls down slopes, and so forth. The powers are needed sometimes to access certain areas.

Unlockables/Replayability/Etc.:

As I said before, Kirby games have a lot of things to do in order to achieve 100%. This game is no different, in fact, this has even more. There are 250 medals to collect, and just because it is a large number, don't expect to obtain them easily. Every stage has 3 medals to find, (some you need to first find a big switch, like in Super Mario World), and the final stage has 2. On top of that, you can go back to every stage and complete a time trial and a something where you can only use a certain amount of “ink” to draw with. But you might ask yourself, “Why should I collect all those stupid medals?” They are not useless, you can buy different things with them that include, special stages, music in the sound test, new colors/patterns of ink, more max life, and even an option to change all the music in the game to the music from Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland!

There is even more replayability here though, because you can unlock 4 extra characters to play through the game with, (they are actually very different from each other except for one of them), and you get more medals for doing this. On top of that, there are 3 minigames to play, except unlike other Kirby games, these are meant for only one player. They are very fun to play and if you are a “score/grade chaser” than they will last you a while since there are 3 levels of each, (level 3 being a continuous version of it). To get 100%, it will take at least 20 hours, and that is if you rush it.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, this is my favorite DS game, just above Band Brothers. The only reason I didn't give it a 10, (I would have given it a 9.5), is because I save my 10's for special occasions. This a very fun, very accessible, very long-lasting, game that will have you hooked to your DS for a long time. What more could you ask for?

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/07/05