When Halo Reach came out, video game stores across the country celebrated with Halo launch parties with all sorts of fun stuff. But you know what’s not fair? NOBODY ever did a Kirby launch party when Kirby’s Epic Yarn came out last week. Don’t you think a Kirby party would be fun? Or maybe I’m the only one. Oh well, I’ll show you how much fun a Kirby party can be with my own pretend Kirby party right on this blog! I’ll have a special review of Kirby’s Epic Yarn. And stick around afterwards for some more Kirby fun!

But first, my short review on Kirby’s Epic Yarn. In this game, an evil wizard has transported Kirby to Patch Land, a world made of yarn and fabric. Kirby finds that he has also turned into yarn, and can’t suck up enemies anymore. But he can use a piece of yarn to grab onto objects and enemies. Kirby meets Prince Fluff and together they’ll help stitch back Patch Land and defeat the evil wizard Yin Yarn once and for all.

Kirby’s Epic Yarn is basically a by the books 2-D platformer (albeit a really darn good one). But it’s the style that really sets Kirby’s new adventure apart. Everything is made of yarn and fabric, and Kirby can interact with it in really creative ways. Need to stop a volcano from spewing yarn lava? Just cinch it up like strings on a change purse (or for you nerds out there, a 20-sided dice bag). Pull a section of the stage closer to you and it wrinkles. Pull out the slack on a piece of zigzag yarn representing electricity, and Kirby can walk on it safely when it’s flat. And that’s just a few examples, there are many more.

Kirby himself is pretty versatile and can change into all sorts of objects in this game. Some include a tank, fire truck, UFO, dune buggy, train, and much more! Even when Kirby is his regular old self, he can turn into a parachute to slow his decent, a weight to smash things below, or a car to run (or drive?) faster.

I can’t do a review on this game without talking about the music. Originally I was going to complain that Epic Yan didn’t have enough classic Kirby tunes, but near the end of the game, they rectify that a bit. The new tunes in the game are very unique. Most of them are just simple piano melodies. Heck, even in the volcano stage, it’s just a piano piece played very fervently. A lot of the music reminds me of Christmas tunes, because of the syncopated woodwinds and muted brass (sorry, I can be a little bit of a music nerd at times). But most of the piano tunes make me think of Charlie Brown, too! It’s more low key and jazzy than most game tunes, and I like it! I guess the only problem I have with the unique music is that it’s just another reminded that Epic Yarn wasn’t originally going to be a Kirby game at all!

Kid Factor:

Kirby’s Epic Yarn is rated E for Everyone with an ESRB descriptor of Mild Cartoon Violence. Personally, I think Kirby titles are the best kinds of games to introduce young kids to video games. Most people would say Mario, but not me! In Kirby’s Epic Yarn, you can’t die. Even if you get hit by enemies or fall off a pit, the only thing that happens is you might lose some of your collected beads. So younger gamers shouldn’t get too frustrated. Also, no reading skill is required, as all the instructions have picture cues. The story sections are told by a narrator that sounds like he stepped out of a Nick Jr. show. I almost expected him to say “Kirby can count by twos and tie his shoes!” But even if a younger player needs help, a second gamer can join in at the beginning of a stage as Prince Fluff. I haven’t played the game in 2 player mode much yet, I’m hoping to get brother Jeff to play with me, but it’s hard to drag him away from his more mature games like Dead Rising 2 and Halo: Reach!

But just because Kirby’s Epic Yarn is easy for young players to enjoy, don’t think that this game is a cakewalk for older gamers, too! Depending on how many beads you collect in each stage, you’ll earn a medal at the end of it. The challenge comes from trying not to get hit and lose too many of your beads! That’s especially tough in the boss fights! Plus, there are three hidden treasures in each stage to find. Can you locate them all? It’s not always easy. The game has legs, too. I’ve had the game for a week and I’ve only just now beat it. Other 2-D games I’ve reviewed recently, like Sonic 4 and Captain Smiley, I bet in a couple of days! And I’m still going back to play Kirby’s Epic Yarn to find all the treasures and stages I missed!

Speaking of treasures, the goodies you find in the game can be used and arranged in Kirby’s apartment. So in a way, the game is a little bit like Animal Crossing. Also, if you can match furniture in the other apartments, new tenants will come and offer even more challenges in the stages. So I guess you could say Epic Yarn is educational, too, since it teaches shape recognition!

So in short, Kirby’s Epic Yarn is a wonderful game for all kinds of gamers, from the young to young at heart. I highly recommended it.

More Kirby Fun!

OK, that’s all for my review! In the past, I wrote Kirby blogs where I listed all the games in the series. Well, I’m not going to do that this time, but I will list my top five favorite Kirby games, my least favorite ones, and my top Kirby powers!

Cary’s Top 5 Favorite Kirby Games:

I’ve never played a bad Kirby game, but here are my favorites of the bunch.

Kirby’s Super Star

Depending on my mood, I can go back and forth on what my favorite Kirby game is. But right now, I’d have to say Super Star on the SNES (and the DS remake) is the epitome of Kirby games. The two player co-op is great, me and my brother Jeff used to love playing this when he was little. Most other Kirby games since then have only emulated the basic game ideas found in Super Star and NES Kirby’s Adventure.

Kirby’s Dream Course

Epic Yarn wasn’t the first time a game wasn’t originally going to star Kirby. Dream Course was first going to be an early SNES mini-golf game called Special Tee Shot. They added a Kirby motif and released it much later. It’s a very creative and fun game that combines mini-golf and bumper pool together. You can get it on Virtual Console and I highly recommend it.

Kirby’s Pinball Land

I love pinball games. I could play this one forever. HAL, makers of Kirby, know their way around good pinball as well, as they made the first Pokemon Pinball game, and an early GB one called Revenge of the Gator which is also super fun. HAL has made other pinball titles as well that I liked.

Kirby Air Ride

HAL took the Mario Kart motif and stood it on its ear the same way they did with fighting games with Super Smash Bros. I personally think Kirby Air Ride is a much better racer than Mario Kart: Double Dash on the same console. Controls are unique and there is so much to do and unlock. Super Sprint fans will love Top Ride and the City Trials are great multiplayer fun!

Kirby’s Dream Land 3

I love all the traditional Kirby platformers, but I guess Dream Land 3 is the best. The crayon graphics, while not as good as Yoshi’s Island, are still pretty stylish for the SNES. There are six animal friends you can ride in this one, and each one has different combinations of attacks depending on what power Kirby has. Samus and the Metroids also have a fun cameo here, too. Really!

Cary’s Bottom 5 Worst Kirby Games:

OK, just because I say these are the worst, it doesn’t mean they’re BAD games. There’s no such thing as a bad Kirby game. I just don’t like these as much as the others.

Kirby’s Block Ball

Kirby meets Arkanoid in this one. Normally I would like these kinds of games, but one of the gameplay decisions (maybe an oversight) ruined the game for me slightly. You see, when you earn extra lives, you can’t carry them over to the next world. This makes the later levels very challenging and frustrating!

Kirby’s Dream Land

Believe it or not, the very first game didn’t win me over right away. Kirby couldn’t copy any abilities in this one; he could just suck in and spit out foes. But you could tell by playing it that the makers of the game had their gears turning on what later Kirby games would have. I’m glad HAL made Kirby for young players, but I managed to beat both easy and hard modes in this one in less than an hour.

Kirby’s Avalanche

It’s just the puzzle game Puyo Puyo. It’s a great puzzler, but the Kirby motif didn’t add anything to it. Neither did Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, which was also the same game on the Genesis. I would’ve rather had the Super Famicon only Super Star Stacker instead.

Kirby’s Canvas Curse

Most people LOVE Kirby’s Canvas Curse and say it was one of the first real reasons to get a DS (personally I thought Pac-Pix was the first real reason). But I just couldn’t get into it as much. I still thought it was a great game, though. Maybe I was just holding the stylus funny, but I couldn’t control Kirby as well.

Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land

Actually this was a great game. I was just disappointed that it was only a remake of Kirby’s Adventure, a game I played to death on the NES.

Honorable mention goes to Tilt N Tumble. I really liked this game. You tilted the Game Boy around to roll Kirby through a maze. It was one of Nintendo’s first forays into motion controls. But I can see why people didn’t like it. It was hard to see the screen sometimes since you had to hold it flat. I did like the Kirby kickball Nintendo gave me when I got my review copy of it, though. I still have it. Maybe a Wii remake of Tilt N Tumble is in order?

Cary’s Favorite Kirby Powers:

If Kirby sucked up Mega Man, would he absorb the power to…steal other people’s powers?

Yo-Yo

This was Jeff’s favorite power in Super Star because Jeff is actually really good at doing tricks with real yo-yos. I bet he could do almost all the tricks Kirby does, except for the one where Kirby breakdances and propels himself upwards with the yo-yo!

UFO

You can fly with ease and shoot lasers. How cool is that? In Epic Yarn, the tractor beam is fun for sucking up enemies and beads. Plus, in Dream Course, if you have the UFO power and can control it properly, you’re almost guaranteed to get Kirby in the hole!

Wheel

I like it in Super Star when Kirby has a Wheel helper and hops on him and dons riding goggles! Plus it’s fun to drive the Wheel enemy in Air Ride.

Fire Truck

This new transformation in Epic Yarn won me over. I love how you can control the yarn water by tilting the Wii remote. You can probably make a whole fun game with Kirby as a fire truck!

Electric and Fire

In Kirby 64, you could combine two powers together. My favorite was electricity and fire. Kirby would rub his head to create static electricity, but then he’d rub too hard and his head would catch on fire! It was a pretty useless power, but it was so funny to see Kirby running around all panicky with a flaming head!

Honorable mention goes to Smash Kirby. In some of the later games, if you swallowed Master Hand, you could get all of Kirby’s powers from the Smash Bros. games!

And that’s all I feel like talking about Kirby for now! In the comments section, share with me your favorite Kirby moments, your favorite and least favorite Kirby games, and your best Kirby powers as well! Did you enjoy the Kirby anime? (I did) Do you think Kirby games are better than Mario ones for kids? I do, but then, I like Kirby, Zelda, and Metroid games better than Mario ones. Just let me know! Next time on my blog, some of my unexpected Halloween game picks! Later!

Tags: Game Reviews