If Nintendo making a new Punch-Out!! and publishing Sin and Punishment 2 hasn’t convinced you that they still have love for the hardcore gamer, here’s a sight that should warm your icy heart: The two games being promoted on Nintendo.com‘s front page right now, representing the Wii and DS respectively, are Wario Land: Shake It! and Kirby Super Star Ultra. See? They do care. And while the former turned out to be more of a rental than the transcendant 2D milestone we all wanted it to be, if you have any oldschool sensibilities whatsoever, the latter belongs in your DS.
It always surprises me when savvy gamers admit they’ve never played Kirby Super Star. Even though it was released post-PlayStation, I’ve always considered it one of the essential SNES titles, up there with A Link to the Past and Yoshi’s Island. A solid base of Kirby platforming, augmented by over twenty special powers and move sets, spread across several varied game types, plus co-op equals something very much resembling perfection. Now DS owners (that is, you and eighty million friends) have the perfect opportunity to find out what they’ve been missing out on.
[[image:nn_081008_kirby_01.png:We can rely on each other.:center:0]]
Which isn’t to say those who have played Super Star to death shouldn’t look into this; it just goes double for everyone else. Longtime fans can appreciate the complete visual makeover on display (impressive, given it was already one of the best-looking SNES games), as well as enjoy all the new sub-scenarios, which stand up to the originals for fun and invention. My favorite is “Revenge of the King,” a subtly disturbing nightmare version of Spring Breeze, the first scenario of the game. That probably sounds too heavy for a Kirby title, but believe me; albeit in a very simple, Kirby-esque way, there are parts where the developers seem to have flown off into Kojima territory.
And on the off-chance that none of the new content appeals to you, hey: it’s still portable Super Star. You can’t go wrong.
Kirby Super Star is one of the few SNES titles that I considered to be really freaking awesome, awesome enough that I pre-ordered it. Powers with movesets large enough to rival the typical Street Fighter II update, enemy helpers you can create with the moveset powers, and the awesome Metroidvania-styled Great Cave Offensive really stood out, among other modes.
Honestly though, one of my favorite things is the Heavy Lobster boss. Giant robot lobsters are freaking awesome.
Wow, the whole game is visually overhauled, like in those screenshots?! I had no idea. I’ve gotta get this now.
I owned a PlayStation since launch but never actually bought any software for it until FF8 (all rentals, baby, even finished FF7 that way) but continued to buy SNES games until the sweet embrace of it’s death. The whole save battery VS memory card issue had a lot to do with my buying cartridges and renting CDs.
SuperStar was now only fun, but had an awesome soundtrack. Even if Nintendo wasn’t remixing them with every Smash Brothers, the themes from Gourmet Race and the Dedede fight in Spring Breeze would still be burned in my memory.
I was one of the people who inexplicably missed this the first time around despite it being right up my alley. Fortunately, KSSU *is* in my DS right this very minute, and I’ve been enjoying the hell out of it.
I’ve played Kirby Superstar. That is, played, not finished. The game was forgettable. I don’t really care about Kirby and I don’t believe his games are for everyone. Or even most of the people.
But why can’t we just have it (and Chrono Trigger) on Virtual Console instead?
:(
Yes Yes Yes. Super Star is so awesome (and I second Psyael – GREAT soundtrack).
Maybe I’ll actually dust off my DS for this one!
So this is the Kirby game I need to get right?
This is THE essential Kirby game, as far as I’m concerned. I remember randomly renting it at my grandma’s house and falling in love with it.
“So this is the Kirby game I need to get right?”
Pretty much. If you don’t like at least one of the subgames in Super Star, chances are that Kirby is not for you.
You would have had me on board with the “Ghetto Superstar” references if you had referred to Kirby’s nemesis as The Ol’ Dirty Deedeedee.
Kirby Superstar felt rather short to me, but it might have been because I was so engrossed in it. In this case, quality is definitely worth a potential lack of quantity.