Kirby Super Star

Kirby Super Star Kirby's Fun Pak
North American box art
Developer(s)	HAL Laboratory
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Director(s)	Masahiro Sakurai
Producer(s)	Satoru Iwata Shigeru Miyamoto
Composer(s)	Jun Ishikawa Dan Miyakawa
Series	Kirby
Platform(s)	Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Virtual Console
Release date(s)	SNES JP March 21, 1996 NA September 20, 1996 PAL January 23, 1997 Virtual Console JP October 13, 2009 NA May 17, 2010 PAL May 28, 2010
Genre(s)	Platforming, action
Mode(s)	Single-player
Rating(s)	ESRB: K–A, E PEGI: 3+

Kirby Super Star, known as Kirby's Fun Pak in Europe and as Hoshi no Kirby Super Deluxe (星のカービィスーパーデラックス, Hoshi no Kābī Sūpā Derakkusu^?, lit. "Kirby of the Stars Super Deluxe") in Japan, is a 1996 platforming video game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System video game console. It was first released in Japan on March 21, 1996, in North America on September 20, 1996, and in Europe on January 23, 1997. Kirby Super Star′s box art states that the game features eight games in one cartridge. Most of these games offered are mostly platforming-oriented, while some others are mini-games.

Kirby Super Star has been remade for the Nintendo DS under the name of Kirby Super Star Ultra.^[1]

Gameplay

Screenshot of the Spring Breeze game in Kirby Super Star, showing Bomb Kirby and the player's helper, Poppy Bros. Jr. fighting a Kabu.

Kirby Super Star plays like a standard 16-bit era platforming video game, in which Kirby, the main character, can go left, right, up and down on a two dimensional plane. Throughout each level, Kirby must avoid touching environmental hazards and a variety of enemies, who mostly have their own attacks. Kirby has a health meter, and when this is depleted, Kirby loses one life and returns to a save point. If he loses all of his lives, the game ends.

Kirby Super Star allows Kirby to copy the abilities of his enemies, and then perform a wide range of attacks using these abilities. Kirby wears different hats and changes color according to the ability he is using.

One of the unique features of this Kirby game is the addition of a "helper". The helper is an enemy-turned-friend who follows Kirby around and helps fight enemies. A second player can use an additional controller to control the helper, making a solo experience into a two-player adventure. The helper also sometimes has abilities that Kirby does not when taken control of by a second player. For instance, if Kirby got a Wheel Kirby power and turned it into a helper, Kirby could ride on the helper. While Kirby would die after falling into a pit, a helper character had no such vulnerability. Most of the mini-games have two-player modes as well.

Kirby Super Star is one of the three international Super Nintendo games (outside Japan) that uses the SA-1 chip. The other two are Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars and Kirby's Dream Land 3.

Platforming games

Cutter Kirby and Rocky, fighting Dyna Blade in the unlockable game The Arena.

There are seven main games in Kirby Super Star that follow the platforming mould set forth by Kirby's Adventure and other earlier Kirby games.

Spring Breeze

Spring Breeze is the first game in Kirby Super Star. King Dedede takes food from Dream Land, and Kirby needs to take it back. It is based on and is a remake of the first Kirby game, Kirby's Dream Land for the Game Boy, and uses Kirby Super Star′s gameplay and enhanced graphics, including copy abilities and a helper, which the original game lacks. Kirby must make his way to a castle to challenge King Dedede and recapture the food that was stolen from the citizens of Dream Land. Unlike the original, Float Islands and Castle Lololo have merged and Kaboola doesn't appear. Also, upon reaching Castle Dedede, Kirby does not have to face all the previous bosses he fought.

Dyna Blade

Dyna Blade is the second game in Kirby Super Star. Dyna Blade, a giant bird, is disturbing Dream Land's crops, and Kirby tries to stop her. It uses a world map, with four levels Kirby must clear and a boss at the end. The boss at the end is Dyna Blade. There are also two secret areas and a mini-boss that moves across the world map.

Gourmet Race

Gourmet Race is the third game in Kirby Super Star. Dedede challenges Kirby to a race to see who can get the most food. It is a race against King Dedede incorporating platform elements. The objective is to both beat King Dedede to the finish line and collect the most food. However beating the course is very important since you can get 90 points by winning every course, 30 for each course you win. There are three levels, and the player can choose to race either King Dedede or his "ghost", which is the player's best attempt at the race. You can also race on the courses without King Dedede. There are no snacks but the goal is to go as fast as possible, like when going against Dedede, but your fastest time is recorded for each course. There is no multiplayer option, although one is added in the Nintendo DS remake, Kirby Super Star Ultra. Also, unlike the DS remake, it does not show the total time of the best time of your courses after you finish a course when running alone.

The Great Cave Offensive

The Great Cave Offensive is the fourth game in Kirby Super Star. While venturing in a forest, Kirby falls into a cave, in the game you try to get out. In it, the player attempts to collect up to sixty treasure chests strewn throughout the game. There are many different rooms containing hidden treasure chests with prizes that raise the player's score and completion rate. The maximum score is 9999990, which by collecting all 60 treasures. You go through four worlds, only to end up on the first world to go on a warp star for Kirby to escape from the cave. Some of the treasures are references to other Nintendo games, such as the Triforce, the Screw Attack, Captain Falcon's Helmet and a Mr. Saturn.

Revenge of Meta Knight

Revenge of Meta Knight is the fifth game in Kirby Super Star. In it, Kirby attempts to destroy Meta Knight's battleship, the Halberd, before Meta Knight can conquer Dream Land. Each area has a time limit, which will cost Kirby a life if it hits zero. It is particularly plot-based, featuring comments from the various crew members of the Halberd. Every time you beat a round, either the ship takes damage or Kirby tries to get back on the Halberd. At the bottom of the screen, there is a meter showing how the Halberd is doing. Bosses appear such as Twin Woods, two Whispy Woods, and Heavy Lobster, a robotic lobster-like machine.

Milky Way Wishes

Milky Way Wishes is the sixth game in Kirby Super Star. In it, the Sun and Moon around planet Popstar are fighting. A person about the size of Kirby bouncing on a ball, Marx, tells Kirby he must travel to different planets and defeat the boss at the end of each one in order to reach the giant comet-clock NOVA, who gives Kirby a wish. But Marx caused the Sun and Moon to fight, so Marx wishes to take over Pop Star. There are 10 planets Kirby visits although two of them are unnamed: Popstar(only in cutscenes), Floria, Skyhigh, Hotbeat, Halfmoon, Mechani, Aquarius, Cavius, Marx's Planet, and the Copy Planet. Unlike the other platform games, Kirby cannot copy the abilities of enemies he inhales; instead, he collects "Deluxe Copy Ability Pedestals". These are items with abilities on them that, once in Kirby's possession, allow the player to select them from a list of abilities. It also features a scrolling space shooter stage near the end in which you fight Nova's Nucleus. After that, you fight Marx. When he is beaten, he flies into NOVA, who then explodes, stopping Marx from taking over Popstar.

The Arena

The Arena is the final game in Kirby Super Star. It is an endurance challenge that requires the player to fight every boss in the game, as well as a Waddle Dee with a LOT of endurance, one after the other without dying once. The total boss battles include 26 bosses in 19 rounds. After every boss battle is a room with the 5 Maximum Tomatoes, two randomly selected pedestals which will grant the player certain powers, the warp star to go to the next boss, and a rectangular area that shows what boss is next and how many bosses there are left. The beginning area allows the player to select a power for Kirby to use that includes almost every power in the game excluding Crash, Mike, Paint, and Starship. Five Maximum Tomatoes (they revive your health completely) are available throughout, and disappear when used. The order of bosses is random, but the final boss, Marx, is always the last one fought.

Sub games

Samurai Kirby

Samurai Kirby is a timing mini-game similar to Kirby's Adventure′s Quick Draw. There are five opponents, which get progressively more difficult. The objective is to attack the opponent at the right time without being too early or too late. Reaction times are based on the 1/100 of a second. The hundredths of a second go by whole numbers (e.g. 24/100 of a second would be displayed on the screen as "24"). Another version was featured in Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land, which replaces Quick Draw. The English version still has the "Quick Draw" name, however, the Japanese version states that it is an update of Samurai Kirby.^{[citation needed]}

Megaton Punch

Megaton Punch is a timing mini-game. In it, the player must punch a stack of platforms by hitting the mark as close as possible in several different timing mechanics, attempting to cause more damage than the opponent. The best score you can get is 201. Another version was later featured in Kirby & the Amazing Mirror.

Remake

Kirby Super Star Ultra
Developer(s)	HAL Laboratory
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Director(s)	Shinya Kumazaki
Producer(s)	Masayoshi Tanimura Kensuke Tanabe
Composer(s)	Jun Ishikawa Hirokazu Ando
Series	Kirby
Platform(s)	Nintendo DS
Release date(s)	JP November 6, 2008 NA September 22, 2008 AUS November 27, 2008 EU September 18, 2009
Genre(s)	Platforming, action
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	CERO: A ESRB: E PEGI: 3+

Kirby Super Star received a remake titled Kirby Super Star Ultra (known as Hoshi no Kirby Ultra Super Deluxe (星のカービィ ウルトラスーパーデラックス, Hoshi no Kābī Urutora Sūpā Derakkusu?^?, lit. "Kirby of the Stars Ultra Super Deluxe") in Japan) in 2008 for the Nintendo DS. It includes all games found in the original, but adds several new ones. In addition, the game features 3D FMV cut scenes for all of the levels, improves the visuals from Kirby Super Star, includes additions and modifications to some of the games, while also adding unlockable features that let the player view all unlocked cut-scenes and music from the game. Unlike the original SNES game, Kirby Super Star Ultra wasn't renamed for its European release.

In addition to the original games, Kirby Super Star Ultra features several new games. The first new levels are the Touch Screen-based sub-games, which include Snack Tracks, Kirby Card Swipe, and Kirby on the Draw. All of these games feature four Kirbys, and the objective in them is to get the most points of the four. In Snack Tracks, Kirby is laying in front of a conveyor belt which is carrying food towards them, attempting to eat the most of the four while the player touches non-food objects to keep them out of Kirby's path. Kirby Card Swipe requires the player to view a certain number of cards with images on them, wait for an image to show on the top screen, and then touch whatever card matches the image shown. Kirby on the Draw requires Kirby to shoot at images that appear in a shooting gallery. Like in many shooting galleries, most images give the player extra points, while some give negative points. A two player mode was added to Spring Breeze, using Nintendo Wi-Fi to connect to another Super Star Ultra game card. Although player 2 controls the helper from his/her DS, they have to look at player 1's screen, who plays as Kirby. There were four new platforming modes which were based on previous games in Kirby Super Star. The first, Revenge of the King, is a more difficult version of the mode Spring Breeze, modeled after the Extra Game mode in Kirby's Dream Land, including an extra stage which reinstates Kabula as one of the bosses. The second, called Meta Knightmare Ultra, was based on Spring Breeze, Dyna Blade, The Great Cave Offensive, Revenge of Meta Knight, and Milky Way Wishes. It features the character Meta Knight in a playable capacity. The latter two new modes are based on The Arena; the first put players in control of Kirby's helper characters, while the latter is a more difficult version of The Arena. In Helper to Hero, all of the characters are the helpers of each of Kirby's abilities, and they will have to battle various bosses. In The True Arena, the player must fight all of the bosses and mid-bosses from Revenge of the King, as well as the last bosses from Helper to Hero, and Meta Knightmare Ultra, with the player ultimately facing a stronger version of Marx known as Marx Soul, who serves as the true final boss of the entire game. In addition to the new sub-games, the two original sub-games, Megaton Punch and Samurai Kirby, are unlockables.

Reception

Kirby Super Star sold over 1 million copies in Japan.^[2] It has an average score of 82.1% on Game Rankings.^[3] Electronic Gaming Monthly gave the game a review score of 8.62/10.^{[citation needed]}

Kirby Super Star Ultra has received mostly positive reviews.^[4] Famitsu gave the game a 32/40.^[5] 1UP gave Super Star Ultra an "A-", praising it for its multiplayer and describes it as "excellent", but notes that it is not very difficult and the level design is not as intricate as in the Mario series.^[6] IGN's Craig Harris gave it a 7.9, saying that, while fun, the game is "a bit on the easy side".^[7]

On December 11, 2008, Super Star Ultra became a Famitsu Gold title.^[8] As of January 11, 2009, Kirby Super Star Ultra has sold 1,021,000 copies in Japan.^[9] It was also the ninth best-selling game of Japan in 2008.^[10] As of December 2008, it was the fifth best-selling Nintendo DS game in the U.S.^[11]

Legacy

Many of the music tracks in Kirby Super Star have been remixed in various games, such as the Super Smash Bros. series.

Kirby Super Star was made available on the Japanese Virtual Console on October 13, 2009, in North America on May 17, 2010 and in the PAL region on May 28, 2010.

References

1. ^ "Nintendo's Wario, Kirby Bring the Fun; Sleuths Get a New Mystery Case Files Game" (Press release). Nintendo of America. 2008-06-25. http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080625005442&newsLang=en. Retrieved 2008-06-25. 
2. ^ "Japan Platinum Game Chart". The Magic Box. http://www.the-magicbox.com/Chart-JPPlatinum.shtml. Retrieved 2008-08-21. 
3. ^ "Game Rankings Kirby Super Star Reviews". GameRankings.com. http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/588425.asp?q=kirby%20super%20star. Retrieved 2008-08-21. 
4. ^ http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/949625.asp?
5. ^ http://fs.finalfantasytr.com/search.asp?query=kirby
6. ^ http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3170107&p=39
7. ^ http://ds.ign.com/articles/912/912188p1.html
8. ^ http://www.hallab.co.jp/diary/detail.php?id=355
9. ^ "Sony Opens 2009 With a Bang: Dissidia and Monster Hunter Take Top Two Spots". Chart Get. 2009-01-07. http://chartget.com/search/label/Media%20Create%20Software?max-results=100. Retrieved 2009-01-09. ^{[dead link]}
10. ^ "JAPANESE 2008 MARKET REPORT". MCVUK. http://www.mcvuk.com/interviews/403/JAPANESE-2008-MARKET-REPORT. Retrieved 2009-01-09. 
11. ^ "Top 10 Games of December 2008, By Platform". blog.wired.com. 2009-01-18. http://blog.wired.com/games/2009/01/top-10-games-of.html. Retrieved 2009-01-19. 

External links

• Kirby Super Star at MobyGames