Kirby & the Amazing Mirror

"Kirby's Superstar + Metroid = The Perfect Platformer"

All right, so here it is. The newest Kirby game and HAL (The company that makes the Kirby games) has worked with Flagship (a company that I don't think many people have heard of, but they've done a great job on this game!) to create Kirby:Kagami no Daimeikyuu, or Kirby: Labyrinth of Mirrors which is the best sounding translation I can come up with.

Kirby's Superstar was an awesome game made a couple years ago for the SNES system and it included multiple Kirby games, some of which were quite long and extensive. The Metroid series, which has no relation to Kirby games, involves a player having to explore a huge map, with tons of back tracking and powering up. Kirby: Kagami no Daimeikyuu combines the best of these games to result in a platformer masterpiece. Well, not quite a masterpiece, but it comes close.

Kirby games, often beaten too quickly in less than three or four hours, provided to be a waste of $30 for the game. Now HAL has made a game which includes all the innovative copy abilities from Kirby's Superstar and the maps of Metroid, but without the tediousness (is that even a word?) of extensive backtracking.

Story - 4/10
Kirby games often don't really have much of a story. Here the character Metaknight goes off to save Mirror Land, and suddenly a shadow Metaknight and shadow Kirby appear. Later you beat the last boss and save Mirror Land (I hope that you could have guessed that much). Blah. No story. But platformers aren't supposed to have a story so I won't count this in the overall score. Just don't expect this game to equal an RPG in terms of plot twists and all that.

Gameplay - 11/10
Yeah, this game is that great. The levels are nicely designed, where there is some backtracking involved so you get to see the same area more than once and get to know it, but it's not frustrating either. Some of the ''puzzles'' which involve figuring out how to get to certain rooms aren't impossible either, and the difficulty is just right. Enough to make you think and try a couple of times, but never so bad that you break your GBA or switch to another game. The enemies aren't annoying either-they're easy to kill, but you still have to get rid of them, so it gives you something semi-fun to do while running through a level. Another new device is the cell phone. Press R to call your Kirby friends (who have an AI with the IQ of a soap bar) and press L to call the Warp Star to go back to the main room. Bosses are fun, and personally, only the last boss gave me a *bit* of frustration. But what good is a game if you don't get mad at least once? However, what sets Kirby apart from other games and makes it so good is the fact that you can suck up enemies and copy their abilities. I discuss this next.

Copy Abilities - 9.999~/10
Does 9.999~ = 10? That's up to you to decide once you've seen all the copy abilities this game has to offer. Kirby can suck up most enemies and gain their ability so that he can use it until he gets hit. Then a star will pop out of him and you can suck it up again to regain the ability you just lost. Some of the abilities in this game seem fairly useless, but everyone will like some of them, and not really use the others. The classic abilities, like Burning, Spark, and Parasol are back, along with new ones like Magic and SMASH BROS.!!! That's right. HAL is also the company that works with Nintendo on Super Smash Bros. and in this game you can fight Master hand and suck him up to gain the Smash Bros. ability. I almost screamed with joy when I got this ability. All of Kirby's Smash Bros. moves get transferred over when you get this ability. Final Cutter is amazing. Trust me. Almost as amazing as the new *Secret Ability* which I will not go into detail about as it would be considered spoilers, and besides, you'll appreciate it more when you've obtained it yourself. Just imagine... being able to break any kind of block, shooting a blast, lighting cannons, and blasting across the screen in one smooth ability. Yeah, it's awesome. The only thing that could make the abilities better is if they included the Plasma ability from Kirby's Superstar, and included the old Hi-Jump, even though the new Missile ability does the same thing, but is even better.

Music/Sound Effects - 9/10
The Sound Effects are great. There are about 370+ SE's in the game and you'll love everything from the twinkling of the Warp Star to the classic Kirby dance. The music isn't as great however. It doesn't get on your nerves and at times it can be quite nice, but it just isn't catchy. If you want a catchy theme go listen to Megaman Battle Network's title song. Kirby just doesn't have a catchy song, but as long as the music isn't annoying it's pretty good. The music in this game isn't annoying so you won't have to worry. *hums end-of-level Kirby dance song :)*

Overall - 10/10
The gameplay is exceptional, only the music needs to be catchier. This is a great game and the best part about it is the fact that you won't finish it in one sitting, yet you'll be addicted like crazy. You'll need to play it to truly experience it though. So get an import copy from Japan NOW!

Buy or Rent - Other Kirby games you could rent. This one is pretty big so you'll want to buy. You won't regret it-if you have friends who are planning to buy this game, you'll have even more fun with the multiplayer option. BUY IT, BUY IT, BUY IT!

And thus concludes this review, but hopefully not the line of Kirby games!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 04/20/04