Games like Halo and Call of Duty get launch parties, but why not Kirby? Well, Kirby Mass Attack is being released next week, so in honor of that (and my birthday this week), we’re going to have a Kirby launch party and birthday bash right here with a blog about some of my favorite Kirby stuff!

You can actually play a demo of Kirby Mass Attack right now if you have a Wii and can connect it to the Internet and go to the Nintendo Channel. There you can download the demo to send to your DS to use on Download Play! As a huge Kirby fan, I’m really looking forward to Mass Attack. In the game, you control ten little Kirbys at once and use the stylus to help them overcome 2-D platforming obstacles. Plus the title has tons of mini-games that sound really cool, like a 2-D shooter, pinball game, and even a little Kirby RPG!

Personally I think Kirby games are better than Mario ones. When most people recommend good games for kids, the first that pops in their minds is Mario. Which is great, because Mario games are very good for all ages. But, Mario games are also pretty difficult for younger gamers. That’s why I always recommend Kirby games first, because they are easy enough for younger gamers to enjoy. But, Kirby games almost always have hidden challenges and polished gameplay that older gamers can get into, too. And Kirby is such a versatile character, he can go from being a pinball to being made out of yarn and no one would even bat an eye.

So for this blog I thought I’d celebrate Kirby by listing my top five favorite Kirby games, my top five favorite Kirby powers, and my top five least favorite Kirby games!

Cary’s Top Five Favorite Kirby Games

I guess these aren’t really in any order. It just depends what mood I’m in.

Kirby Super Star (SNES)

Many would agree that this is the ultimate Kirby game. Released late in the SNES life, it had almost 32-bit level graphics and tons of content for a Kirby title. But best of all was the multiplayer support. Brother Jeff and I had tons of fun playing this when he was little. And you can play an updated version of it on the DS with even MORE stuff, or download the original on Wii Virtual Console. I can’t wait to play Kirby’s Return to Dreamland coming to Wii this October. It reminds me of Super Star, but with FOUR players!

Kirby’s Dream Land 3 (SNES)

While Kirby Super Star was a better multiplayer game, Dream Land 3 was probably a better single player game (you can do two players in Dream Land 3, but it’s not as good as Super Star). Kirby’s animal friends returned from Dream Land 2 with even more combinations and powers, and the game featured crayon style graphics (not as good as Yoshi’s Island, though). I think my favorite part of Dream Land 3 was the Nintendo cameos, though. In each level was a character at the end who would give you a bonus if you performed a certain task in that level. In one, you had to help Professor Hector build ROB the robot! And in another, you had to defeat Metroids for Samus. Yup, she was in a Kirby game. And you know how you defeated the Metroids? With Kirby’s ice power!

Kirby’s Pinball Land (Game Boy)

I love video pinball games. I could play this for hours. HAL is no stranger to pinball games either, as they made this and the first Pokemon Pinball game, as well as others like Revenge of the Gator on Game Boy. And they’re all fun! I’m excited about one of the mini games in Kirby Mass Attack because it’s a pinball game, too!

Kirby’s Dream Course (SNES)

This is a really creative take on golf. It also has elements of mini-golf, Marble Madness, and bumper pool. And Kirby as the ball and his copy abilities fit right in perfectly. This was actually shown as a near launch title for the SNES called Special Tee Shot. And it was actually one of the very first Kirby games I played. You can download it on Wii Virtual Console, and I highly recommend it.

Kirby Air Ride (GameCube)

A lot of people bashed on this racer, but I loved it. I even enjoyed it more than Mario Kart: Double Dash, also on GameCube. HAL has a tendency to take game genres and turn them on their ear. They did this with fighting games with Super Smash Bros., and again with racing games with Kirby Air Ride. The way you control the game was totally different, and the City Mode was a creative take on multiplayer. My brothers would even make up their own games using City Mode, which I thought was cool. I also liked the way you unlocked stuff and the awesome music. Definitely an underrated GameCube gem!

Cary’s Top Five Kirby Powers

Kirby’s signature move is to suck in enemies and copy their powers. So if he inhaled Mega Man, would he get the power to use other enemies’ powers? Hmmm. Again, these aren’t in any particular order either. One of the powers in the upcoming Wii Kirby game has Kirby donning a fedora and using a whip. Indy Kirby could become a favorite power later, too!

UFO Kirby (Kirby’s Dream Course)

If you got this power in any of the 2-D platformer Kirby games, you were pretty set for the rest of the level. Easy flying and lasers? Heck yeah. But the best was getting this power in Kirby Dream Course, as you were guaranteed to get Kirby in the hole if you could control him right. Plus, UFOs are cool.

Fire Truck Kirby (Kirby’s Epic Yarn)

At certain points in this creative Wii platformer, Kirby could turn into other things like a tank or UFO. The fire truck was my favorite, as it used the motion controls in a non-gimmicky, useful way. You tilted the remote to aim your fire hose. It was really fun, and I think they could’ve made a whole game out of that concept.

Yo-Yo Kirby (Kirby Super Star)

This is actually Jeff’s favorite Kirby power. He always had to be the Yo-Yo guy when he was little. I think it even inspired Jeff to get good at real life yo-yo tricks. Kirby does some mean break dancing moves with the yo-yo, I have to admit.

Smash Kirby (Kirby and the Amazing Mirror)

In the Amazing Mirror game on GBA, one of the mini-bosses was Master Hand. If you inhaled it, you could use all of Kirby’s moves from the Super Smash Bros. games! It was pretty awesome. Kirby is my favorite in the SSB games, naturally.

Fire/Spark Kirby (Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards)

In Kirby 64 you could combine powers for some awesome results. But while mixing fire and spark powers was pretty useless, it was also hilarious. Kirby would rub his head to make static electricity, but he would rub too hard and his head would burst into flames. Then Kirby would run around uncontrollably with a flaming head! It was pretty demented!

Cary’s Top Five Least Favorite Kirby Games

There’s never really been a BAD Kirby game, per se, but there are some Kirby games I didn’t enjoy quite as much. So here is that list in no particular order.

Kirby’s Block Ball (Game Boy)

Normally I would love an Arkanoid clone starring Kirby. But the reason why I didn’t like this one as much was from a design standpoint. When you got extra lives, you couldn’t carry them over to the next world, rendering them useless. It also made the game pretty hard, too.

Kirby’s Dream Land (Game Boy)

As a huge Kirby fan, it’s hard to believe that Kirby’s very first game didn’t win me over. I do appreciate the concept HAL was trying to do: make a platformer that very young players could enjoy. But I managed to beat the game and both quests in less than an hour. Plus, Kirby didn’t have his copy ability yet. He could just suck in enemies and spit them out. But while playing it, I could see the gears turning at HAL for their next great mascot!

Kirby’s Avalanche (SNES)

It was just Nintendo bringing Puyo Puyo to the US. Sega did the same thing on the Genesis with Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine. But I’d rather just play Puyo Puyo.

Kirby’s Canvas Curse (DS)

A lot of people praised this game as one of the DS’ first great games. But I just didn’t get into it as much. It was kind of hard and the drawing controls took a bit of getting used to. I liked it, but I didn’t go ga-ga over it like everyone else did.

Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land (GBA)

This was actually a remake of Kirby’s Adventure on the NES. Both the original and remake are great games, I was only disappointed that the first Kirby game on GBA was a rehash of a game I played to death on the NES, not a new Kirby adventure. Luckily, we got one a while later with Amazing Mirror.

Kirby Konclusions

And that’s all I feel like rattling on about Kirby for now. In the comments section, tell me your favorite Kirby games and powers, and your least favorite ones, too.

Tags: Misc