Kirby Super Star Ultra

October 7,2008 - Despite his rather alarming popularity, Kirby is somewhat of a neglected character when it comes to Nintendo’s massive first party library. Kirby games are among the most solid, but the games tend to be released at about the time their given platform is phased out. This was true for Kirby’s Adventure on NES, which came out in the early 90’s when the SNES was gaining hold of the industry. It also remained true with Kirby Super Star on the SNES as well as Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards on the Nintendo 64. With our favorite pink puff ball’s recent resurgence, his third entry into the DS library is one of more familiar and extremely satisfying territory.

Kirby Super Star Ultra is a remake of Kirby Super Star on the Super Nintendo. As stated in the introduction, Kirby Super Star was a great game that was short-lived due to the fact that the SNES was being phased out in preparation for the Nintendo 64 at the time. Kirby Super Star included the core gameplay featured in most Kirby games, with plenty of platforming and the ability to use the different powers of your enemies. The main nuance in Super Star was the ability to turn your enemy into an ally that the computer could take control of just like how the computer would take control of Tales in the early Sonic games. The game also had a very different sense of pacing as opposed to virtually every other sidescroller out there. Instead of having to play through the entire game at once and reaching save points along the way, Super Star encouraged playing the game piece-by-piece by separating the game into multiple chapters, featuring their own subplots. This remains the case with Super Star Ultra, and this totally works out because handheld games were made to be played piece-by-piece anyway.

But what has exactly changed? Since it’s a Nintendo game on the DS, obviously some touch screen functionality is used. Unfortunately, none of the touch screen gameplay found in Canvas Curse and Squeak Squad make an appearance in Super Star Ultra. Instead, the game comes packed with a bunch of “sub-games” to keep players busy, especially during road trips when everybody in the car has a DS to play with. The main game is also available to play cooperatively when Kirby turns an enemy into an ally, but that’s only if you choose to play in the cooperative mode. Either way, it makes the game a lot easier than it already is.

As expected from any other Kirby game, Super Star Ultra is an extremely vibrant game. Kirby will travel along many colorful environments as he swallows many cute-looking enemies that can’t wait to be sucked up. Also, making use of the DS’ visual power, players will be greeted by a few 3D cutscenes that help tell the somewhat pointless story. The developers didn’t have to add these, but at the same time, they make the game feel new while maximizing the storage space on the game card.

The sound is also vintage Kirby. People around you might ask if you’re playing Smash Bros. on the DS, because HAL—the Smash developer—has taken countless references from the Kirby games. From the familiar music of Green Greens to extreme swipes of Meta Knight’s sword, the sound and music of the game simply screams Nintendo and Kirby.

While Kirby Super Star Ultra comes jam-packed with all sorts of content, it’s a relatively short game that can be finished in less than three hours if you choose not to use up any time overplaying any of the game’s minigames. There are plenty of games and chapters to unlock, so sometimes it would definitely play to try everything out. If you haven’t played Kirby Super Star, this is a great remake that should definitely give you an experience—just don’t expect any of the features from the previous two Kirby games on the DS

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