Dr. K's Waiting Room

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Created by Masahiro Sakurai, the disgustingly cute, ever-ravenous Kirby is one of Nintendo’s most popular characters. Accordingly, I’m dedicating most of July to celebrating the pink puff-ball.

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Quick Facts:
After nineteen-year-old Masahiro Sakurai Kirby’s Dream Land (HAL Laboratory, 1992) put HAL Laboratory on the map, Sakurai spearheaded Kirby’s much-praised NES debut the following year alongside lead programmer Hiroaki Suga and producers Satoru Iwata, Shigeru Miyamoto, and Takao Shimizu. Kirby’s Adventure forever changed the franchise by allowing Kirby to copy enemy abilities and also debuted Meta Knight, Kirby’s oft-recurring rival. Now regarded as an NES classic, Kirby’s Adventure was widely praised as an improvement over the Game Boy title, though still noted to be on the short side.

Gameplay and Power-Ups:
Kirby’s Adventure is, essentially, a NES remake and expansion of Kirby’s Dream Land, recycling many of the same gameplay mechanics and locations (though with new names) and tasking players with guiding Kirby through seven main, dream-like levels battling many of the enemies and bosses from the handheld title. This time, players get three save files that track their completion percentage, encouraging you to both play in bursts and try out every game mode as opposed to finishing the game in one sitting. Additionally, Kirby’s Adventure features various hub worlds containing doors to levels, mini games, and bosses, with more of each hub world uncovered as you progress and the game allowing you to fast travel to previous areas as you wish. Kirby jumps with A and tapping up on the directional pad (D-pad) inflates him for indefinite flight, just as before, which does mean the platforming challenge is minimal but Kirby’s also a bigger target when inflated. Kirby dashes by double-tapping left or right on the D-pad, pressing down and A performs a slide attack to smash star blocks or fit through narrow gaps, while tapping A swims. If you press B when inflated or underwater, Kirby expels air or a spout of water to attack enemies and destroy star blocks, and Kirby can again enter doors and climb ladders by pressing up on the D-pad. Kirby also still replenishes health with Pep Drinks and Maxim Tomatoes, earns 1-Ups either by collecting them, increasing his score, or completing various mini games, uses Warp Stars to rocket across levels and occasionally becomes temporarily invincible after eating candy tossed to him by the mysterious anti-hero, Meta Knight. When falling from a great height, Kirby seems to defeat any enemies beneath him, but you’re just as likely to take damage as Kirby can’t typically defeat enemies this way, so it’s better to avoid hitting anything when in freefall.

Kirby’s repertoire is significantly expanded by his new ability to inhale enemies with B or X and then copy their abilities by pressing down on the D-pad. Some enemies don’t offer new abilities, some have limited uses, and all can be discarded with – if you fancy trying a new one, or are lost if you take too much damage (though you can reacquire the ability if you’re quick). There are twenty-five copy abilities here (twenty-six if you count “Mix”, which appears when you swallow two viable enemies at once and initiates a roulette to randomly select an ability), with each explained on the pause menu. You can toss boomerang-like projectiles with Cutter, cut enemies to pieces with Sword, crush anything beneath you with Stone, add an umbrella melee attack to your arsenal and float through the sky with Parasol, and light up dark areas with Light. Mike destroys all onscreen enemies as in Kirby’s Dream Land, and Hammer crushes enemies and special wooden pegs. You can leap to higher ground to escape autoscrolling sections with Hi-Jump, fire ricocheting shots with Laser, and barrel across hills and straights with Wheel. Sleep is more of a hindrance, causing Kirby to take a nap and leaving him vulnerable, Crash is a one-use, screen clearing ability, and Ball adds a bouncing mechanic to the game. UFO is one of the most overpowered abilities, allowing Kirby to freely fly about in a spacecraft and fire various beams at enemies but disappearing when you finish the level. Some abilities are somewhat redundant; Freeze and Ice are largely indistinguishable, with both turning enemies into ice blocks. The same is true of Fire and Fireball; though Fireball unleashes a flaming charge, they both scorch enemies and light fuses to either destroy special blocks or fire Kirby from cannons. Similarly, both Backdrop and Throw let Kirby perform wrestling moves and I fail to see why Spark couldn’t have just had Light’s functionality. Still, these abilities are super fun and there are always different ones to try. It’s rare that you cannot pass obstacles or clear levels if you don’t have the right ability, but certain abilities access hidden switches that open more of the hub world and count towards 100% completion.

While the copy abilities add some much-needed depth to Kirby’s gameplay, the rest of the game is largely copy and pasted from Kirby’s Dream Land, though expanded considerably, with each level having four to six stages to explore, alongside various mini games. While most levels are very linear, others scatter platforms for you to jump to, bottomless pits to avoid, floor and ceiling spikes that can be tricky to bypass when inflated, and claustrophobic tunnels and caverns to explore. Many of these are underwater, some levels feature wind that pushes you back, much of “Orange Ocean” features slippery, icy platforms, and some areas are blocked by destructible star blocks. Autoscrolling sections or parts where you’re chased by enemies occasionally provide an additional hazard and anxiety as you scramble up through narrow, hazardous shafts, explosive coconuts often drop from trees, spiked Gordos and annoying cannons are strategically placed to mess up your progress, and “Butter Building” features a rotating stone tower. Sadly, you’ll see the same areas recycled over and over here, with the challenge increasing and gimmicks getting mixed up but often to the detriment of the level theme. “Ice Cream Island”, for example, is noticeably devoid of ice cream and spends more time in the clouds and you’ll return to the forest aesthetic of “Vegetable Valley” even when exploring the mountains of “Yoghurt Yard”. Every time you clear a level, you can press A to fling Kirby up to platforms for points and 1-ups and there are four mini games to tackle in the hub worlds to earn more 1-ups. These see you picking up Kirby dolls with a crane, catching eggs tossed by King Dedede while avoiding bombs, pressing A at just the right time to gun down enemies, and battling the various mini bosses in a coliseum-like arena.

Presentation:
Kirby’s Adventure is as cartoony and whimsical as its Game Boy predecessor but naturally far more colourful and much bigger, increasing the length of the adventure and offering numerous mini games and extra modes upon 100% completion. Although Kirby largely looks and animates exactly the same, he’s now his trademark pink and you can track his status on the heads-up display (HUD). This alerts you when you’ve taken damage or shows what ability you have equipped, though the HUD does take up a lot of real estate and somewhat limit the gameplay area. Kirby is as expressive as ever, showing pain when hit, dancing alongside his kin upon clearing levels, and even changing colour with certain abilities. These also come with additional animations and effects, such as surrounding Kirby with ice shards or flames, transforming him into a heavy stone, or gifting him a sword. There’s a lot more attention paid to narrative in this title, with each level being introduced by small cutscenes, Meta Knight popping up to challenge you, and fun little cutscenes in the finale. These see the self-righteous Kirby ignoring King Dedede’s pleas and accidentally unleashing Nightmare from the Fountain of Dreams, leading to Kirby and King Dedede setting aside their differences to safeguard their home. Kirby’s Adventure features some returning tunes from Kirby’s Dream Land, including the victory fanfare and even evoking the Game Boy visuals and memorable tunes in one area of “Rainbow Resort”. Sadly, while things start off enjoyable enough, Kirby’s Adventure is crippled by horrendous sprite flickering, screen tearing, and slowdown in the middle-to-late game, with the game chugging along as more enemies and obstacles fill the screen and even struggling to render the environment when Kirby’s using certain copy abilities. It doesn’t help that enemies constantly respawn, but it does make some sections unbearable difficult as the NES hardware is clearly struggling to put everything onscreen, which is a shame as there are some unexpected visual elements here, such as rippling water and rotating backgrounds.

Kirby’s Adventure essentially rips its levels from Kirby’s Dream Land but gives them new names to provide the illusion of being an all-new adventure. However, “Vegetable Valley” is just “Green Greens” under a different title, “Ice Cream Island” pulls is tropical setting and underwater caverns directly from “Float Islands”, and “Castle Lololo” and “Bubbly Clouds” crop up time and again, especially in “Butter Building” and “Grape Garden”. Essentially, Kirby’s Adventure has a handful of level themes (woods, castle, clouds, sky palace, etc) that it recycles across all levels. While this adds some visual variety, it means the levels have very little cohesion. I already mentioned how “Ice Cream Island” is devoid of ice cream, but “Grape Garden” spends more time amongst the clouds than the trees, for example, and all these areas return with new colour palettes and tougher gimmicks in “Resort Island”. The only level that really stood out to me was “Orange Ocean” as it features a colourful dusk-time aesthetic, takes you from a dock to the deck and interior of a pirate ship, and ends with you skidding about on precarious ice platforms as a sadly basic (almost ugly) aurora borealis shines above. I also liked when areas were plunged into a black and purple darkness, with only Kirby visible until you get the Light ability, and I guess I didn’t mind “Butter Building”, which mixes its castle setting with a sort of toy box aesthetic, gothic visuals, and an impressive rotating tower. I also liked how “Grape Garden” sees you hopping to blimps and battleships, but again this has nothing to do with the level theme (I saw no grapes and very few gardens). The eighth stage might just be a glorified background for the penultimate boss, but the Fountain of Dreas was very colourful and beautiful and I liked that you fought Nightmare against the rushing night sky, with stars twinkling around the Moon and such. Unfortunately, I think Kirby’s Adventure suffers from not giving each level a distinct visual identity. If it had stuck to a theme for each level, it would’ve been even more impactful when the aesthetics and gimmicks returned in “Rainbow Resort” rather than simply presenting the same caverns, sloping rounds, narrow shafts, and level layouts we’ve seen a dozen times or more already just with a different colour palette.

Enemies and Bosses:
Seventeen enemies return from Kirby’s Dream Land, with each posing the same threat level as before. Obviously, Waddle Dee is back to wander about and float down on parasols but Waddle Doo is also back, now gifting the Beam power. Poppy Bros. Jr. continues to roll around on apples and bombs, you can now utilise Sir Kibble’s Cutter attack, Kabu still teleport about and try to crush you, Scarfy still leave a lingering explosion when defeated, and Glunk still take pot shots when you’re underwater. Sadly, you can’t improve Kirby’s swimming abilities by devouring Blipper, but you can become a whirling tornado by eating Twister (once it stops spinning), gain a sword by eating a Blade Knight (providing you avoid their surprisingly effective slashes), and perform a Hi-Jump after swallowing a nimble Starman. You’re best off quickly destroying or fleeing whenever a Bomber appears as their self-destruct can damage you if you’re too close, Chilly’s will also freeze you solid if you don’t give them a wide berth, and Hot Head’s will similarly roast you alive. Wheelies blast along at high speed (but can easily be tricked to fall down pits), frog-like Slippys (no relation) can catch you off-guard while you’re happily platforming above water, Cool Spooks allow you to light up dark areas, and Rockys crush you from above if you’re not careful. Enemies respawn once you leave the area and often fill the screen, causing massive slowdown and making it difficult to pass certain sections without taking damage. Most enemies are defeated in one hit, however, or award a copy ability, with some waiting behind museum doors in the hub world or helpfully trapped within block walls to give you the edge before trickier sections.

You battle a bunch of mini bosses in Kirby’s Adventure, often after being transported to their territory via Warp Star or challenging the “Arena” mini game. Each is also fought as you progress up the “Rainbow Resort” tower and also awards a rare copy ability when their corpse is swallowed. Poppy Bros. Sr. returns to toss bombs that you must spit back at him (unless you have a copy ability on hand), though you sometimes fight two at once, which can cause performance issues. The ape-like Bonkers swings a massive hammer, sometimes multiple times, tosses explosive coconuts, and charges at you. The beetle-like Bugzzy was quite tough as it tries to skewer you with its needle-like nose and performs the Backdrop if it grabs you. Similarly, the Rolling Turtle hurls you with Throw if you’re not careful, closing the distance with his roll attack, and the Fire Lion can both unleash a flaming charge and ponce on you, scratching with its claws, meaning you must be on your toes when fighting these mini bosses. Mister Tick Tock and the Grand Wheelie were jokes by comparison, especially with the Cutter ability. You simply slide under the former and stay away when he unleashes his sonic blasts and hop over the latter as it charges back and forth, with even its smaller minions being easily avoided. Likewise, the walrus-like Mister Frosty was a complete pushover, especially if you have Fire, with him barely getting a chance to toss his ice blocks if you corner him. Meta Knight constantly forces you to endure a gauntlet against waves of his formidable Meta-Knights. These guys continuously respawn until you whittle down their combined health bar, often occupying different platforms and making it difficult to manoeuvre due to their weapons. You’ll face four of his formidable Meta-Knights in these gauntlets, with some hacking or tossing axes, others flittering about and flinging javelins, another swinging a nasty mace, and others tossing tridents.

Three bosses return from Kirby’s Dream Land, meaning you battle Whispy Woods again, with it still raining apples and spitting air puffs (though Freeze decimates it). Paint Roller was an interesting boss as he spawns various enemies you can either destroy or use as projectiles. While his movements are erratic, I found Cutter easily beat him. Mister Shine and Mister Bright have separate life bars and fling fireballs, summon shooting stars, charge at you, and spew pixelated rain. Kracko returns in “Grape Garden”, beginning as an invulnerable eye that chases you past destructible cloud platforms before it assumes a monstrous form and blasts the ground with lightning bolts. With the wrong copy ability, this fight can be tough as Kirby’s hit box is especially sensitive to Kracko’s attacks, Kracko also has a large hitbox, and the sprite flickering causes serious issues. Heavy Mole was also an interesting fight as you must chase it as it bashes away dirt, making sure to not get crushed by the screen or thumped by its boxing glove-like appendages or hit by its missiles. Tornado works well but also had me taking damage if the ability wore off in the wrong place. When you fight Meta Knight in “Orange Ocean”, he tosses you a sword for a fair fight and proves an adept swordsman, attacking from above, performing a spinning slash, and using quick swipes on the ground. King Dedede is largely the same as Kirby’s Dream Land, with him sucking you up and spitting you out, inflating to fly about, performing a ground pound from above, and swinging his mallet. Defeating him kicks off a two-phase final fight with Nightmare. In the first, you freely fly firing projectiles with the repaired Star Rod and must quickly whittle down the eye-like Nightmare’s health, avoiding his projectiles, before the ground crushes you, which is tricky as he’s a hard target to hit! Next, he assumes a wizard-like form and you must battle him with whatever health you have left (though you restart from this section if you die). In this fight, Nightmare teleports about, swoops by, and flings stars, with his only weak spot being his distorted torso, which is only exposed for a short time.

Additional Features:
Each level has anywhere from two to six hidden switches to find, which will open more of the hub world and contribute to your 100% completion score. Hitting them all also unlocks all the mini game doors and brings you closer to unlocking the “Extra Game” mode. “Extra Game” mode limits Kirby’s health to three hits and disables in-game saves, and beating it unlocks the game’s sound test. Clearing the main game also unlocks a boss rush mode and the Nintendo Switch Online version allows for save states and rewind functionality, making it easier than ever to clear levels, find hidden switches, or unlock these extra modes. If you want to jump right into a 100% clear saved game, however, you can load up the “SP Version” to explore all the unlockable features. If you play the Game Boy Advance remake, not only will you have the benefit of far better graphics and multiplayer modes, encounter different bosses, and altered copy abilities, but you can also play as Meta Knight in the unlockable “Meta Knightmare” mode.

Final Thoughts:
I’ve put off Kirby’s Adventure for some time. I first bought it from the Nintendo Wii’s Virtual Console, played about ten minutes, and never came back to it because of life and such. That was a shame as there’s a lot to like about this classic 8-bit title. It’s everything its Game Boy predecessor was and more, with the hub world, multiple levels, and extra unlockable modes all adding to the replay factor. Allowing Kirby to copy the powers of his enemies was an inspired way to expand his repertoire and make the gameplay more fun and interesting. While there aren’t many chances to explore levels further with each copy ability, they make combat much more enjoyable and its fun testing out different copy abilities and seeing how they can help or unlock hidden doors. I enjoyed the many mini bosses, even if fighting them gets a bit old after a time, and the colourful, interesting boss battles. Meta Knight’s always been a favourite of mine and I enjoyed seeing him pop up, but I got a bit fed up of repeatedly fighting his minions. While Kirby’s Adventure is very colourful and packs a lot into it, the NES is clearly struggling with the game; the screen tearing, slowdown, and sprite flickering was honestly awful at times. I was also disappointed that levels lacked recognisable theming, recycling many backgrounds and gimmicks and making everything feel very samey very quickly. While this is still is an enjoyable title, a must-play for any fans of the NES, and its many improvements mean it’s the superior choice to Kirby’s Dream Land, I’d wager you’re better off playing the Game Boy Advance remake.

My Rating:

Pretty Good

Was Kirby’s Adventure in your childhood NES library? Do you agree that his new copy abilities vastly improved the gameplay? Were you disappointed that the levels didn’t have strong thematic identities? Did you enjoy seeing Meta Knight crop up or did you find his gauntlets tedious? Were you also bothered by how much the hardware struggled with the game? Did you ever unlock all the extra modes? Which Kirby videogame is your favourite? Whatever your thoughts on and memories of Kirby’s Adventure, leave them below and be sure to support me on Ko-Fi if you want me to cover the Game Boy Advance remake.