Retro Game Review: Kirby 64 :The Crystal Shards.

Tis the season to be filled with cuteness up to the maximum degree! For today's special Retro Game Review I want to take a look at an old classic known as Kirby 64. This game was developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo back in late June of 2000. Described as the sequel to Kirby's Dreamland 3, this marked the first full 3D Kirby styled game. The plot features Kirby discovering a fallen fairy who asks of him to find Crystal Shards after her planet was doomed by a monstrous creature. Kirby being as helpful as he is, agrees to help and goes off on a planet hopping adventure being joined by others along the way.

The gameplay is pretty much what you would expect if you've ever played a Kirby game that either came before or after this. A 2D styled platformer that consists of you traveling through the level with certain parts being accomplished by an ally you run into during the story. These include the painter Adeline, a Waddle Dee and the ever reluctant King Dedede. Each world is set up with 4 levels and a boss fight around the end.

Snowman + Lightning = Refrigerator

Like most Kirby games, the core mechanic relies in you sucking up enemies and inheriting the respective powers from Sword, Spark, Fire, Spike, Stone etc. What this game introduced however was the combination of 2 powers to create a brand new ability. For example combining Fire Kirby and Cutter Kirby gave you access to a Fire Sword. Frost and Electric combined to transform Kirby into a Refrigerator that spits out health items which disappear shortly after! Two of the same power gives you a beefed up version such as two Stones give you a giant Kirby made of Stone, yea you pretty much get the idea.

An example of what 2 of the same power can do to Kirby

The game is relatively short with only 6 worlds yet comparing it to the newer games in the franchise it's also a lot tougher in my opinion at least in terms of level design. Throughout each level there are also 3 crystal shards that are hidden and are actually important in terms of reaching the real final boss (which I didn't do, talked about this in a previous post) so expect replay value. Mini bosses in some levels are also encountered and most of the time reward you with a crystal. As mentioned before your allies help you in some points with Waddle Dee assisting you in a ride like mini game and Dedede clearing the path for you with his hammer as you sit on him piggy back style.

End level bonus game!

Kirby 64 is a pretty awesome throwback to the later years of the N64. Of course this was played through the Wii's Virtual Console so that was my accessibility. I also liked the story book style cutscenes which really brought about the kid style that Kirby is known for.

Should you Play this Game?
Yes, this is a fantastic platformer with great music and a pretty decent difficulty level. The level design is awesome and is definitely a challenge (it was for me at least but to a certain degree). The concept of combining 2 powers to produce hilarious results is fun!