Kirby Super Star Ultra (DS) Review

Posted by Drew Robbins on 10.02.2008

Being the latest game in the "Refurbished SNES game" genre, how does this Kirby remake stack up to the original?



Kirby Super Star Ultra
Developer - Nintendo
Publisher - Nintendo
Release Date - September 22nd, 2008

Long ago, back in the days when games had more than gray and brown as colors, when Mario was king as opposed to a super-tough Spartan…there was a game called Kirby Super Star. Kirby was one of the more popular franchises by Nintendo, popularized by the NES debut “Kirby’s Adventure” and the portable release “Kirby’s Dream Land.” In these games you played a pink puffball that could use take on the powers of his enemies, as you traveled through a few hours of platforming. Super Star didn’t change this formula…much. Yes, you could still suck up your enemies, and of course, the game wasn’t very long. But instead of strolling through one path, Super Star featured many different, smaller adventures. Along with those adventures were adventure games and a mode where you take on the game’s bosses in a row, dubbed “the Arena.”

Super Star was not only a critical success, but a commercial success. While it pleased those who enjoyed Kirby’s earlier adventures, it also introduced many younger kids to the adventures of everyone’s favorite pink puff. I was one of those young kids, oblivious to Kirby’s past, but willing to try something new. The game completely shaped my gaming tastes, pushing me towards the platforming genre, and making me a Kirby fan for life. What the game lacked in actual length, it made up for in replay value. If I had a nickel for every time I played each of the game’s six main modes, I’d be sitting pretty on a mountain of cash.

A year ago, Nintendo announced that they were bringing back Super Star for the extremely popular Nintendo DS, featuring all new modes and the same old gameplay that made everyone fall in love back when it came out on the Super Nintendo. While Kirby Super Star featured insane replay ability…it has nothing on it’s remake.

Gameplay

Let me begin by saying that if you have played any Kirby game (outside of Canvas Curse, Tilt ‘n Tumble, Dream Course, Avalanche, Star Stacker, Air Ride…crap, he has had quite a few spin-offs), you will know the basic gist of Super Star Ultra. Kirby can jump, suck up enemies, and release abilities that he has swallowed. Unlike in past games, though, releasing your ability in Super Star will give you an ally to help you throughout the game. This feature is only good for multiplayer sessions, as the AI behind your partners is less than stellar. You would figure that Nintendo would throw in some touch screen abilities but…outside of mini-games and ability selection in Milkyway Wishes, they really don’t. It did my heart good to see that Nintendo could keep their “innovation” away from their classic games; I think Rare could learn a thing or two from this…

As you might know, Kirby Super Star featured seven “normal” modes, Spring Breeze, Dyna Blade, Great Cave Offensive, Milky Way Wishes, Revenge of Meta Knight, Gourmet Race, and the Arena. I’ll try to run these down quickly for you, as I figure more of this review should be dedicated to what is new. Spring Breeze is, more or less, a remake of Kirby’s Dreamland. This may sound “big,” but Kirby’s Dreamland was only four stages long…which just goes to show how much gaming has changed over the years.

Dyna Blade is a tad bit longer than Spring Breeze, and features a confrontation with the giant-bird, Dyna Blade. My personal opinion holds Dyna Blade as the second best boss fight in this game…but they trumped that with the new modes (more on that soon.) Great Cave Offensive is a less linear mode, where you take Kirby on a treasure hunt. There are 60 treasures to find, making the Offensive the real “meat” of the game for many. Revenge of Meta Knight, despite what Gamedaily might say, does not allow you to play as Meta Knight, but does present the best boss fight from the original game, a showdown with Meta Knight. Something about walking into his chamber and grabbing the sword as the music picks up is just…magic.

Milky Way Wishes is probably the most lengthy if you play it straight through, as it has many different planets to travel to. The main difference here is that instead of sucking up abilities, you find an ability and then you can use it for that mode whenever you choose. I enjoyed this change, but part of the charm to Kirby was sucking up whatever power that surrounded you. That charm goes away when you can just go through most of the game with the sword ability. Last, but certainly not least, is the Arena mode, a run through some of the game’s bosses. If you have played the All-Star mode in Smash Bros, then you will know the setup. It gives you a limited amount of healing items to take on 20 different bosses, and it offers up a decent amount of challenge in a game that is, to be honest, extremely easy.

Upon your victory over the original modes, you are greeted to *gasp* more modes. Among these new modes is Revenge of the King, Meta Knightmare Ultra, Helper to Hero, and the True Arena. To me, this was where the game really turned up a notch. Revenge of the King is a reskin of Spring Breeze, with higher difficulty, an extra boss, and easily the best final boss in the history of Kirby. Dyna Blade and Meta Knight have nothing on this confrontation, just trust me. Helper to Hero and True Arena are both variations on the arena. Helper allows you to play as the helper that accompanies Kirby when you dismiss an ability, and the True Arena will just kick you in the balls. I’m not even kidding, True Arena is tough, and not just tough for Kirby, tough in general. This mode forces you to take on 10 bosses from the newer modes, with no ‘maximum’ healing items. I told myself that I wouldn’t write this review until I beat True Arena, and rest assured, I completed it…after a billion tries, I finished the fight. Fist-pumping is something I rarely do, and I haven’t done that for a game in years. Kirby Super Star Ultra, upon beating True Arena, made me fist pump. That is incredible.

You may say “Hey, you skipped Meta Knightmare Ultra, what the heck?” Well, I aim to please, so I have saved the best for last. Meta Knightmare Ultra allows you to play through the five main modes as…yes; you probably guessed it by now, Meta Knight. It plays almost the same as sword Kirby, but faster and with some touch screen abilities. This mode lends itself to speed runs, so if you like high scores, then this is for you. Even if you don’t, holy crap, Meta Knight…playable, what are you waiting for?



Graphics - One of the things I mentioned in my “retrospective” at the beginning of this review as the fact that older games embraced colors. An open embrace of colors stands in direct contrast to the current fascination with “grim,” “dark,” and “realistic,” graphics. Luckily, you can always count on Nintendo to remain above the influence (ok, they had that one Zelda game), and Kirby is certainly no different. Seeing this pink puff run around in some sort of realistic castle wouldn’t be right. Instead, Kirby runs around in colorful and vibrant backgrounds, with some really nice level design.

It may appear that the graphics haven’t undergone any change, but that isn’t true. The backgrounds seem to be brighter in contrast, and the animations have been improved drastically. Nintendo took this older game’s graphics and just polished them to ridiculous levels. Older design plus updated animations and brighter backgrounds equals great success, says this reviewer!

Another thing added in this game was cut-scenes, which play fairly often, at least once per mode. The videos look nice but the video quality on them is Youtube quality (a.k.a. really bad and grainy), and they weren’t stretched to fit the whole screen, making the videos look kind of strange.



Sound - Something that really stands out about older games is how incredibly awesome the music used to be. Tell me, with a straight face, that the music in Mega Man 9 or Bionic Commando: ReArmed doesn’t give you an amazing sense of awesome? Kirby is no exception to this standard, featuring some of my favorite tunes in the entire video game world.

Some standouts are Gourmet Race, Meta Knight’s theme, Dedede’s theme, and the remix of Dedede’s theme which debuts in Super Star Ultra.

Outside of the music, the sound is solid; I mean…the objects in this game make noise? Kirby’s microphone ability doesn’t sound particularly pleasant, but I’m fairly sure that it was purposefully bad.

Fun Factor - While it lasts, Kirby is very fun. The game certainly doesn’t pack a punch as far as difficulty goes, but it goes for more of a “soothing” style of play instead of a frustrating “I just want to break my controller in half” style of play. I know that Kirby fans enjoy this style, but I’m not entirely sure how it will be received by everyone else. Actually, I do, games are almost by law, stupidly easy these days. This will just fit right into the crowd for difficulty, although the final challenge makes for an insane difficulty curve.

Lasting Appeal - Depending on your situation, this game can last a very long time. First you have the five hours it will take you to reach True Arena, which could take you many hours depending on your skill level. After that you have co-op, which always tacks onto the life span of a game. Added on for nice fluff is the self-proclaimed ‘nostalgic’ mini-games in Megaton Punch and Samurai Kirby. I’ll just sum up those modes with this one fact; you can break a planet in half during one of those games…so just let that sink in.



The 411 - Much like it did in 1996, Kirby Super Star will satisfy old fans, and bring in new youth who have yet to experience a true Kirby game. It may not be enough to satisfy the person who requires a game be “controller breaking” hard or “Final Fantasy-esque” long, but people in for a fun pick-up-and-play adventure will be satisfied immensely.

Graphics	8.5	Vibrant and colorful backgrounds, plus cut scenes with Youtube video quality. I mean, it is better than nothing...
Gameplay	9.5	Not much has changed since the SNES game, but not much needed to.
Sound	9.0	Music that is just plain awesome, much like other recent old-school revivals.
Lasting Appeal	8.0	Co-op and the tough as nails True Arena should have you playing for quite a while.
Fun Factor	9.5	You get to play as Meta Knight. What more do you need to know?!
Overall	9.0   [  Amazing ]