Kirby's Super Star originally came out back in 1996; it was ported back in 2008 and now two years later releases on the Virtual Console. The game is not hurt by the service at all, still sporting all of its color and liveliness. The colors may feel a bit dulled to some who played the DS remake but the colors are beautiful to the rest of us. The audio still sounds as fresh as it did in 1996 and truly none of this game has really aged.
The common Kirby gameplay mechanic is set up as Kirby eating enemies and some have abilities he can take. The new element to this is Kirby can sacrifice a power he has control over and turn it into a partner AI, who can also be played by a local second player. The AI is not the greatest and while it becomes improved upon in the remake of two years ago the old problems of suicidal and confused AI show in this title.
Also new in this title is powers have multiple attacks available to Kirby and his helper. The fighter power for instance can throw some punches, do a shoryuken from Street Fighter or do a diving kick. More moves are available for that particular power but some powers get the short straw. Ice remains having one static ability to freeze nearby enemies. The trend that plays out in this game favors newer powers with deep move sets and lets older powers fall through the cracks.
Gamers who have never played this gem of the past are treated to seven game modes which are considered seven different Kirby titles. Spring Breeze is a remake of the original Kirby's Dream Land and serves as the game's tutorial to Kirby games in general. The second game is Dyna Blade which is a short mode involving a Super Mario Brothers 3 styled world map, and otherwise featuring Kirby stages similar to those seen in Kirby's Adventure.
The third title is the odd one in the bunch as its actually a race between Kirby and King DeDeDe to eat food and run really fast. The multiplayer mode for this was only added in the DS remake of the title and since this is a SNES port this version does not feature it. The fourth title plays out a lot like a Metroid in a cave. The Great Cave Offensive is a hunt for treasure and a very unique experience; this mode also supporting an RPG boss battle with Kirby being forced to wait his turn to attack.
The fifth game is a sequel to Kirby's Adventure called Meta Knight's Revenge. The titular character of this mode is seeking to destroy Kirby and invade Dream Land with his warship the Halberd. This mode invokes time limits to the levels to urge the limited time Kirby has to take down an entire warship and it's crew.
The sixth game is a quest across the galaxy to gain powers in Milky Way Wishes. In this mode Kirby can only gain abilities by collecting them throwing a twist to the usual puffball play. This mode also features a side scrolling shmup level, and a final boss with the best musical score in the game.
The final mode is a boss rush mode simply titled Arena. Fans of the Smash Brothers titles will recognize this as All-Star mode where a player can heal before the next fight but unlike Smash Brothers the health items replenish. There are also two more mini game modes in the package, one being a quick draw mini game and the other a chopping stone blocks mini game. The later has a pretty awesome over doing it screen of the character's karate chop snapping planet Pop Star in half.
Fourteen years later this is still a must buy and a more relevant title than most Kirby games have ever been since this game's original release. Unlike the DS remake this title keeps its difficulty that for once kept gamers on its toes. Later modes never get brutal but they get tough making Super Star still a unique flower in the Kirby catalog of light hearted easy adventures.
Graphics | Audio | Gameplay | Replay | Genre | Final |
