Kirby Super Star (1996)

Preliminary: Gosh I awlays love the music and colors of Kirby games. I see I put this on my Old Favorites shelf? I must've misclicked because I don't think I had access to this growign up, I believe it was just the Kirby Pinball Gameboy game and maybe the second Kirby game at a cousin's or grandparent's. This seems a bit weird that it's a collection of games it seems? But I guess I will start with Spring Breeze?

I'm already through the first boss and it felt like a nice introduction to the gameplay and everything was pretty and fun, albeit nothing really new. Oh I suppose there is you can like summon your skill? And there are more moves with the copy abilities. Neat.

Ooo I like the Mirror/Wizard ability. Unlike some of the other Kirbys I find myself trying out new ones by choice and because they all seem well-balanced for my playstyle (so far). Also, I think the Helper idea helps with making you not feel like you're losing out on something.

Day 1

Oh no, I lost my first Helper :( Only real complaint so far is I've had some SNES sprite overload slowdown already. Well that was quick, and the final boss i just turned into a stone and my Helper (Mirror/wizard) shredded the final boss lol. Yessss to a sunset for the credits, great music, what incredibly fast-moving credits lol. Love it all

Ohhh I see so that was basically "level 1"/difficulty 1. Interesting. I wonder if I will even be able to handle the super-high levels :-p

Ooo I see you Dyna Blade level select screen, beautiful

Yesss I love the music of the 2nd stage of Dyna Blade.

So many tornadoes around us tonight, and found out we've had no step flashing where our chiimney meets our roof for 5 years with rotted wood etc (explaxins some of the otehr issues we've had...) while it's downpouring... point being, tonight shoudl be super stressful for me so I am so grateful for this game rn. The Mirror/Wizard Copy is my favorite right now I love the dash split apart move. I love the level design in this, the enemy placement, etc. This beautiful pink topped palace with a great DKC esque green luscious background. Just yes all around. This is what I wanted more of Super Mario RPG to look like

And as always I'm infinitely grateful for the ability to hit away enemy projectiles.

Wow I finished Dyna Blade boss with a sliver of health left and no Helper :-p That was a close one. Annnd another sunset ending! Tho I missed screenshotting it argh. Good tune too.

Just like with the first Kirby I love all the detailed cute touches to the sprites' expressions and actions. I'm not in love with teh Gourmet Race gameplay but it's a minigame after all and it's cute and here I am still trying my best at it. It does detract from the highlight of the Kirby platforming. (I absolutely shredded tho) I got my Grand Prix win and even if there's more to it, that's enough for me for that part of the game

Hmm if I'm understanding correctly this cave adventure one doesn't have a set ending and is just about collecting as many treasures as possible? Meh, but still a neat touch of a diversion.

Ok actually I love it, it's still the platforming action that I've been loving in this game (I thought it was gonna be like a top down adventure or something), with great music, but with a 100% collection drive which hasn't been too convoluted so far but I may pull up a guide (nice there is one where it's just the treasures listed in the same order as in the menu) just to go for that 100%. The fact I even want to go for that says a lot about this game.

Wow in proper adventure mode fashion (tho I wish there were an upgrade/Metroidvania style, the use of Copies is making this work real well), there are cute cozy Save Point rooms too with great cozy music

Day 2

They definitely could have improved the AI of the computer controlled Helper when dealing wit narrow passages of spikes/lava/etc. Also, I hate infinitely respawning enemies

Ugh I wish it were easier to add a new power as a helper without losing your former power. I want to keep my Yo-Yo but get a Helper for this next boss. I turn my power into a Helper, then into an item, then my plan is to collect the new power, turn it into a Helper, adn collect the old power's item. But no, the old power item disappears as soon as I touch the new power. Argh!

Lol I love the pseudo-RPG vibe of the boss battle with the computer messages. And the RPG text of the experiencepoints and HP etc. So cute. Love this game. And lol nice Earthbound reference, one of my favorite parts of Earthbound too

Day 3

Ugh the inability to properly switch powers with your helper and get a new power caused a huge headache for me here. I guess it's time to get a Stone Helper, then go through the hell of getting this Cutter again, then come back to where I was >.<

Ugh and now I missed the Sun Ring and ognna go through hell to get back to it >.< I suppose this is really only because I'm going for 100% but the frustrations are becoming more a thing. And the enemy placement is definitely getting more irritating too

Just like in the other later, SNES Kirbys there seems to be a slight delay in turning around. I know true Kirby people are used to that and probly find it intentional and it's very reminiscent of many SNES people's faves like Mega Man, etc., but I prefer a tight control.

That's right ^.^

Lol a much sillier ending/credits than the last few games/minigames

Cute and great music for the ending screen (I wonder if it's supposed to be a nod to Goonies?) but for that one being by far the longest so far and most difficult, I am sad to see no sunset screen nor a more sentimental adventure-game-esque tune, tho I suppose they saw this more as a dungeon crawling treasure collecting adventure.

Now with the time limit factor of Meta Knight game I am hooked again, my thumb/hand getting sore from constant playing lol I should take a break for the night but yeah. The variety helps keep things fresh after that more adventurous game, I get back to just rushing and platforming. I usually don't like time limits but it fits this well.

** Day 4**

It's kinda lame that these bosses are repeats of the earlier Spring Breeze, but I'm still having fun.

Things are getting a bit chaotic and frustrating later in this time-restrained game

Day 5

I will forever hate levels where it's scrolling on you and you have to pick a patha nd if you pick the wrong path, you die. so it's purely trial and error. luckily this one left some room for error, but that's a bad sign for the "increasing difficulty" of this game (still on the Meta Knight one) and the later "higher difficulty" ones (I will never consider that a difficulty increase thing though, even though designers always treat it as one. I jsut find it a tacky mechanic)

Ugh great and now there's like a maze type situation on one of the timed levels. Not a fan. I really loved the first few games of this but the burnout is accumulating.

Yesss okay so the final boss was lame and surprisingly easy compared to the game itself and the escape out was a bit meh, but the music and sunset ending were great :-p

Ah so there are true minigames. Not big into the block breaking one but it's cute. And I was surprised that I committed to finishing the quickest-draw one (on Novice). Probly helps there's a sun in the background for that :-p

Welp all that's left is Milky Way Wishes, which I read is the longest o.o Oh cool in this one you accumulate the copy abilities like items/upgrades in an adventure game or metroidvania etc.

Day 6

I didn't get to play for several days due to a family situation, finally back to it . And yea the Milky Way Wishes is neat in its format, but the enemy placement and level design are getting to that point of difficulty/gimmicks that I usually burn out for a game. Hopefully I can push through it though because overall I love this Super Star game. (But I'm gradually getting back in the groove as my repertoire of Copy abilities grow and I'm on Aqualiss now)

It's a bit lame that bosses are repeated across games, not that I expected all unique bosses, but I mean, yall did choose to include several "games" within one.

Day 7

Pretty

God I love the Yo-Yo ability.

Super cute ending and credits. I think I missed Suplex ugh, and I enjoy this game a lot but not quite willing to go back for it. Otherwise I darn near 100%'d this entire game my first time through

Look: 9/10

Sound: 9/10

Play: 9/10 A bit long, but an amazing variety of great gameplays.

Feel: 9.5/10 So many great endings.

Attachment: 9/10 The fact I attempted to 100% and almost did says a lot. But the fact I didn't want to do the Arena since I already did these bosses multiple times (and didn't love the laser manipulation one which it started with for me) says something too. An eventual burnout with an action game of this length.

Overall: 9.1/10

This title is one of the standout titles of the Kirby franchise and a highlight of the SNES’s library. Instead of presenting a single adventure, it offers a collection of smaller games that each explore different ideas, mechanics, and tones. This anthology approach keeps the experience constantly fresh, making even short modes feel meaningful because they contribute to a larger, varied whole. At first I thought this was a weird formula, but I ended up enjoying this very much, despite it being very exotic, making it feel like it wasn't supposed to be a mainline Kirby game in the first place. And this feeling is more related to other less polished games, which had lots of game modes to compensate for the lack of overall quality, but I'm glad to say this is not the case for this title.

At the core of the game is Kirby’s copy ability, which has never felt more dynamic than it does here. Many abilities feature expanded move sets that borrow from fighting-game inputs, giving combat a surprising depth without sacrificing accessibility. The ability to create Helper characters from discarded powers introduces a cooperative element as well; when controlled by a second player, this system turns the game into a lively two-player experience that feels ahead of its time. Unfortunately I never experienced this, so I played the entire experience alone, and while I liked this mechanic, it really makes the game feel cluttered. Sometimes there is a lot going on on-screen that you get lost if you decide to engage with this mechanic, so I decided to very rarely use this.

The presentation is among the best on the SNES, with colorful visuals, expressive sprites, and smooth animations that bring the world to life. Each ability is carefully animated, and the environments feel vibrant and playful. This is no surprise for fans of this character since all of it's games have the same very high level of quality and polish when it comes to it's minor details. Every character, especially Kirby, has a lot of animations and expressions, making them feel much more vivid, even though they are just 16-bit sprites moving around. The soundtrack is equally charming, packed with energetic themes that complement the game’s upbeat personality and have become iconic within the series.

Each mode brings something unique: Spring Breeze acts as a gentle introduction, very traditional and I think it was my favorite. Dyna Blade offers light exploration and less focus on the combat. The Great Cave Offensive experiments with treasure hunting in a large interconnected environment, and you can definitely sink a lot of hours on this one if you want to 100% it, feels like a NG+ secret hunting. Revenge of Meta Knight introduces a fast-paced narrative with timed segments, and by far this was the most dynamic one, you even get a timer to each stage, similar to classic Mario titles. And Milky Way Wishes changes the rules by removing Kirby’s inhale ability and focusing on ability collection, and I admit that this was my least favorite one, I couldn't even finish this mode, I got frustrated trying to find the correct way to progress through the maps.

My second least favorite is the racing one, too short, simple and easy, and while I like this aspect on most Kirby games, the racing mode simply never felt satisfying enough for me to try and get higher scores outside the minimum ones in order to progress further. Overall, this title remains one of the most inventive and polished platformers of its era. Its variety, strong mechanics, charming presentation, and cooperative gameplay give it exceptional replay value. Nearly three decades later, it still feels joyful, clever, and remarkably modern, it is definitely a must-play if you like Kirby to any extent. It is fairly short even, so there is very little reason not to try this, not to mention it got a lot of modes so you never get burn out of the gameplay loop.

This was my first Kirby game I’ve ever fully completed, and what a treat it was to experience! Now onto the review itself.

To give a fair view to everything in this game (given there is 5 campaigns, 3 mini games and the bonus arena) I will rank them based on personal enjoyment given their time constraints as shorter experiences. (Great Cave Offensive doesn’t get priority ranking over the others just because it’s longer, for example)

Up first is the honorable mention, The Arena. Given this is just a boss rush through the game’s bosses, it doesn’t deliver anything actually new and thus I cannot really rank it fairly compared it the rest of the games. Having a normal Waddle Dee enemy be the second to last enemy before the final boss is quite amusing however.

Samurai Kirby

This little mini game is a simple reaction test, with the winner of the samurai fight being decided by how fast you react to an exclamation point and sound effect appearing on screen. Pretty basic, but it’s fun, although probably having the least amount of replay value out of any game in the entire collection. Gourmet Race

The music and atmosphere around this game is peak, as any fan will tell you, but I’ll be quite honest in saying that I don’t much like the actual gameplay itself. I don’t think Kirby is suited for a game mode like this with a focus on speed, so I didn’t find it super fun. The concept is definitely there, just not for this franchise in my opinion. And again I will reiterate, the song from this game is one of the best the Kirby franchise offers, and that’s saying a lot honestly.

Megaton Punch

The other minigame of this collection, which I find more fun than the other one. In essence, you time 3 button presses as perfectly in time as possible to perform well at breaking a board against another opponent. While also extremely simple like Samurai Kirby, I found this one more fun and replayable because of the possibility of getting a perfect score by getting all the timings perfect, which made me come back to it more than the other minigame.

The Great Cave Offensive

People sing the praises of this game, and I just could not care less frankly. I couldn’t fairly place it below the previous games on the precedence of their depth being much shallower, but this is as high as it will go. (Maybe I’m traumatized from the smash stage, who knows?)

I think the large problem with it, if I had to verbalize it, would be that it tries to be a MetroidVania without the convenience and features of a MetroidVania. It just goes on and on and bogs down the pacing of Super Star as a whole, with the slower and methodical puzzle solving gameplay of GCO existing at odds with everything else the game accomplishes. The idea has potential, as I will discuss later, but this attempt is sadly just not it, which is a shame.

Spring Breeze

A shrunken down version of Kirby’s Dream Land for the Gameboy, Spring Breeze is a great introduction to the game as a whole, and a wonderful campaign for younger players to play through, as I’ve noticed. If I had to describe it in a phrase, it would be “Quintessential Kirby through and through”. It’s simple, knows what it’s here to do, and does it very well, and while that might not excite you, it delivers on its promises excellently.

Dyna Blade

Dyna Blade builds on what Spring Breeze does first, making the campaign more exciting, getting “harder” (as hard as Kirby can get lol) and adding upon the mechanics present. The secrets to be found in the new world map make decisions between levels more interesting, and not so much just viewing a transition into the next level like previous games had done. The boss fight of the titular Dyna Blade herself is also extremely fun, and one of the best boss fights in the whole game. The level design is at its best here across all games, but the final two proceeding this have an X-factor that push it above this one.

Revenge of Meta Knight

This level is so peak, through and through. The rush you have the whole time absolutely shredding through this ship as a tiny little pink guy hellbent on unintentional(?) destruction is so fun, and the incredible music (best in the whole game) playing throughout only elevates that. Having real dialogue from these crew members that are genuinely terrified of Kirby as a being is genuinely so funny, and makes the whole game a blast to play through.

Regarding the Meta Knight fight itself, this was apparently the first Kirby media of any kind to lean into his modern design of having wings which I found interesting. It was also the famous fight where you are offered the sword ability to duel him one on one, which is a fantastic fight overall. Finally escaping the ship riding on a motorcycle and watching the warship crash into the ocean is just so cool, and serves as the perfect ending to this game.

Milkyway Wishes

Now we get to my favorite of the games, Milkyway Wishes. Remember when I said I would discuss MetoridVania’s again? This is it. The main gimmick behind Milkyway Wishes (aside from it being the finale to the game) is that copy abilities work differently here from every other game. Instead of just eating enemies, Kirby obtains abilities by finding them in levels, then being able to swap to any previously found abilities in the menu.

This is a FANTASTIC gimmick, and it absolutely made the whole campaign for me. This gimmick in combination with a real MetroidVania themed game would be incredibly fun and one I would totally play in a heartbeat. That is not to say, however, that the campaign was not also fantastic, but rather the exact opposite. The level design is at its hardest here, and based on how easy the rest of the game is overall, this was a great change of pace in my personal opinion. Having the choice to do any level in any order was also fun, being able to pick whatever interested you from the world map. There are a ton of bosses in this game specifically, with a favorite being the RPG-themed boss that permits you and the enemies to attack back and forth like an RPG game (think older Final Fantasy, etc.). That stupid Fatty Whale in Great Cave Offensive that reappears here (yes that’s the real name) was not hard, just obnoxious to fight, and I didn’t appreciate having to do it 3 TIMES across the whole game.

Back to positives, the Marx fight at the end is also amazing, serving to be one of the first of many final Kirby bosses to be horrific Eldritch nightmare abominations from Hell itself lol. Overall, this campaign ended up being my favorite because of its challenge, uniqueness among the rest of the other games, and the insane amount of freedom it offered in how you could approach every problem you came across. Kirby Super Star overall was a great experience, and while being kind of short overall (I only spent a few hours on it in total across all the games) during most of the whole thing I had a blast revisiting a classic SNES game that many hail as some of the best the system has to offer, and for good reason.

Kirby Super Star is a classic from my childhood. I have no idea how many hours I sank into this game, solo or co-op with friends/siblings, but I replayed all the games in it so many times that when I replayed it this year on Switch, it felt like stepping into the home where you grew up, and to be a bit sappy, it sort of was in a metaphorical sense. This was easily one of my top favorite games from the SNES generation and could've been considered one of my top favorite games period for a good while as a kid. Admittedly playing it now, it didn't quite hold up, but I still found it pretty fun to replay all the various scenarios and game modes that came back to me as though it really hadn't been that long since I last played it some 20-something years ago. Since Kirby Super Star is essentially a pack of several different smaller games with similar mechanics, I'll do a brief review of each of those.

Spring Breeze - This is basically an abridged remake of Kirby's Dream Land and I still remember the first time I played it thinking it seemed awfully familiar and not realizing for a while why, lol. In my defense, remakes were much less of a thing back then. It's rather short in this iteration but it's a simple and fairly easy introduction to the mechanics of Kirby's Super Star that is perhaps a little too hand-holdy given how easy it is made by the availability of the powers you get. Since it's so short, I recall often playing it first as a good warm-up if I hadn't played the game in a while.

Dyna Blade - This is a mini-campaign that is similar to Revenge of Sir Meta Knight and Milky Way Wishes in that sense, but it's just a handful of levels leading up to a fight with the titular Dyna Blade. This one feels like a natural next step from Spring Breeze as it's a bit more challenging and involved, but still not as extended as the later campaigns.

Gourmet Race - This is a goofy little racing game. It's not quite as short as the other games in the pack that are best classified as "minigames" (see below), but it's not too significant of a game in its own right. You race against Dedede and try to gobble up food as you go, awarding you points. You can also do a sort of time trial mode in which you race against your own best time. One cool thing this does is it actually has a ghost of Kirby doing that previous run going alongside you so you have an idea of how you're doing as you go. I recall a few older racing games doing this, but it's not something I've seen in a while, despite it being a fairly useful way to judge your performance compared to previous.

The Great Cave Offensive - This was one of my favorite modes when I played this growing up. You navigate a pretty large metroidvania-style map with the ability to backtrack and explore numerous side paths. There are tons of collectibles to pick up, many amusingly alluding to other Nintendo IPs (for instead you can find the Triforce). Just about every boss that appears in Kirby Super Star is featured somewhere in these maps. I think I enjoyed it most long ago because it was the mode my friend and I could binge for several hours in a night. Replaying it, I found this one the most tiresome, likely because it doesn't really capitalize on the metroidvania elements I enjoy more in later, more developed iterations of the genre and I don't find the treasure hunt aspect as appealing anymore, but it still wasn't bad. This was overall the longest mode in the pack and it also managed to be the hardest on-balance, especially if you wanted to hunt down every treasure, which I accomplished as a kid (without a guide!), but didn't have the patience to do as an adult.

The Revenge of Sir Meta Knight - This mode probably offers the best "story" experience of the pack as it's all about a continuous romp through levels facing off against Meta Knight's many minions, interspersed by some amusing dialogue as Meta Knight and his flunkies panic over your progress in taking down their airship. It was one of my favorites as a kid because my friend and I, being kids, of course thought Meta Knight was so cool. It's also got a good pacing of level to bosses.

Milky Way Wishes - This, in my opinion, is the quintessential Kirby Super Star mode. It blends a lot of things you find in the other modes and has the same basic abilities but you can no longer use Kirby's signature "eat an enemy and gain its powers" that you've used elsewhere in the pack. Instead, Kirby has to acquire abilities from certain specific points in the levels. For instance, you might find the fire power in a room and from then on can cycle through and use Fire at will. While it's pretty overpowered given losing a power isn't a big deal—you can just re-use the transformation and get it back—this is pretty fun in that finding a new power is an exciting power-up, early on you're pushed to really learn the early powers, and you get a bit more competency using the limited powers you have available early on. The story isn't too grand, but the fact it still has a narrative puts it in a similar position as the other narrative campaigns that at least provide a hook for your adventures beyond just beating levels for fun.

Arena - A boss rush mode. This is a pretty good test of skill at knowing good weaknesses for the bosses and using the different powers available to you. Given the lack of narrative or interesting levels, there's not too much to it, but it's a good succinct way to play through the various bosses in the myriad game modes and test your abilities.

Samurai Kirby - Really more of a timing minigame than a campaign or full mode. Not much fun to be had here, though seeing the iconic sunset standoff screen definitely brought back some nostalgia, despite it being a minigame you won't really get much out of or feel compelled to replay a bunch.

Megaton Punch - Another timing-based minigame. Though it functions a little differently from Samurai Kirby, there's not too much to it, you just have to follow a series of timing prompts (in THE FUTURE these would be called QTEs but that wasn't much of a thing back in the day to the point it needed a name).

All in all, this was probably one of the best SNES games out there. There was so much bang for your buck with the many game modes. Even if some were fairly short and basic, it was so cool just how much you were getting in this one game. As an adult, the game is a little easy, but I didn't find it overly easy as a kid and there was some challenge to be found in a couple of the modes. If I were basing my review on my most recent experience, it was a decent way to pass the time, but not outstanding. However, given my history with the game that I have to take into account, this is easily a 5-star game that I've never really forgotten.

Game #6/200 This is an odd Kirby title that’s broken up into 8 separate games. Some are (very) mini games, like Megaton Punch and Samurai Kirby, which don’t offer a ton of replay value and aren’t strategically deep (they’re basically a test of reflexes/accuracy). Gourmet Race is another mini game that you can complete in under 3 minutes. It’s a badly controlled race against King Dedede to obtain the most food. It’s not much fun - picking up food is not satisfying, powers barely appear, it’s janky and slippery, and Kirby controls completely differently than usual.

Those 3 wastes of time aside, you have 5 games in the Kirby spirit.

1. Spring Breeze - it’s a remake of Kirby’s Dream Land in bright, vibrant colors. I don’t remember being able to have a partner in the first game, nor do I honestly remember the health bar or powers having multiple attacks, but I could just be misremembering. This was a blast to look at. Gorgeous artwork. The gameplay was fun but a bit too fast and slick for my tastes. It felt like a Kirby game on 1.5x speed. It was predictably very easy but at least every power felt fun and usefulness. The implementation of discarded powers becoming an AI ally was a cool idea that I really enjoyed.
2. Dyna Blade - This is when I realized that the core gameplay mechanics were going to be utilized across all 5 portions of Kirby Super Star (not mad about it at all). Dyna Blade is basically a normal Kirby experience with an overworld map. This mode showed off some cool new abilities like ninja and fighter. Nothing too special or noteworthy - decent experience.
3. The Great Cave Offensive - This mini game exhausted me. There are 60 treasures spread out inside of a tiny game world, so they’re relatively easy to find and are come across frequently. I didn’t find much satisfaction treasure hunting and I actually found the “open world” level design to be frustrating to get through (remembering where to go and where I’ve already been) and sort of boring. Dying sets you back very far in some parts of the game world and repeating sections is monotonous. Bosses, like in all mini games, can be beaten with any power by simply mashing “Y.”
4. Revenge of Meta Knight - Back to linearity. It’s more fun than the previous game but still nothing noteworthy. There is dialogue added in to enhance the story telling but the story itself is nothing interesting. On par with Spring Breeze and Dyna Blade.
5. Milky Way Wishes - this has a pretty interesting mechanic where you permanently keep powers from a selection screen after obtaining them, but they have to be found instead of sucked up. Unfortunately, levels are still quite boring and each planet reuses the same level designs and bosses from other games. Incredibly easy final boss as well. I used bomb power for the entire game.

Probably my least favorite Kirby that I’ve played up until this point overall. The graphics are awesome and sound is OK, but the gameplay experience comes together like 5 appetizers and 3 snacks instead of a full course meal. None of the main titles (not counting gourmet race) are even bad, just unnoteworthy despite the tricks and gimmicks implemented.

Rodrigo: I LOVE THIS BIG ROUND PINK THING. its a really colorful and fun game! the levels always stay interesting and the power ups keep looking cool throughout the first time you find them. I have to say that towards the last modes it gets a little repetitive and boring. Finishing the last two modes felt like a chore more than anything else. My favorite thing was bombing everything with the best power up: Poppy Bros. Jr.. The colors really are also a big standout, they kinda look like super mario world graphics but on steroids. 7.5/10

Lana: I love this game! It's a vibrant, playful world where you get to kill a lot of enemies with a shitton of copy abilities, every single one being unique in their own way. Also the 2-player mechanic is really fun, you can basically play the whole game in co-op which makes it the best! I love the mirror ability simply because kirbys outfit is super cute ;u; 8/10 (fuck great cave offensive tho that shits confusing)

The ninth Kirby videogame ever released and the fourth mainline game in the franchise, Kirby Super Star is also the first Kirby in the SNES that is part of the main series, which is curious, as we already had three spin-offs in the platform (Kirby's Dream Course, Kirby's Avalanche and Kirby's Toy Box). Anyways, it's time to see how they took advantage of the hardware this time.

The biggest change this game had, when compared to Kirby's Adventure or Kirby's Dream Land 2, is that there are multiple modes and stories to experience. You have to complete some of them to unlock more, so the best way to approach this collection is reviewing every single mode, just like in Kirby's Toy Box (1996).

The modes you can play when you start the game for the first time.

1) Megaton Punch

This is a pretty simple minigame. You have to defeat opponents in a punch championship, but instead of punching them, you punch the ground. First you have to press A when a power meter is as full as possible, then you have to press A right when two moving crosshairs overlap. Finally, you have a pendulum and a green circle, and following the same pattern, you have to press A when the pendulum is inside the green circle. The more accurate you are, the more powerful your punch will be. There are only three opponents and they aren't very good, so you will easily win even in the highest difficulties.

This is a pretty basic minigame that I doubt you can play for more than 5 minutes without getting bored, so I'm not surprised that it was ported in the Kirby's Toy Box collection. But at least there is a two players option if you want to compete against a real person!

2) Samurai Kirby

This has the same gameplay as the Quick Draw minigame from Kirby's Adventure, where you have to press A as soon as an exclamation mark appears on the screen, and if you were faster than your opponent, you win. There are three difficulty modes and five enemies, but the real difficulty depends on how fast are your reflexes. In my case, I don't have very good reflexes, so I had a hard time, but it was still a fun and intense experience, no wonder they also included this in Kirby's Toy Box.

3) Gourmet race

This is where the the iconic Gourmet Race theme came from, which is probably the best part of the mode. As the name implies, you are in a race not just to get the first place, but to eat as much food as you can. There are three courses and you are always racing against King Dedede, and while the first course is pretty easy, in the other two you will be in a serious disadvantage if you do more than one mistake, so there is a challenge to be had, and you're probably going to play more than once in order to win.

However, each course has a duration of 2-3 minutes at most, there isn't a lot of replayability and the gameplay can be a little repetitive after a while, so you probably won't play this again after you defeat King Dedede, unless you want to hear the beautiful soundtrack again.

4) Spring Breeze

This is a pretty interesting mode, as it is essentially a remake of Kirby's Dream Land, the first game in the series. The biggest differences are that there are only four levels instead of five, you can copy abilities and use all the new mechanics that didn't exist in the original game and the graphics are totally different.

Is it better than Kirby's Dream Land? Well, that's subjective, and I wouldn't say they are a similar experience, as their gameplay are vastly different, so I would consider it a homage of the humble beginnings of the franchise, not a replacement or improvement of it. Still, it was amazing to experience the same scenarios again in a total different light, and it reminded me of playing Super Mario All-Stars (1993) as a kid, but without the nostalgia factor I guess it would lose its main attractive.

5) DynaBlade

This is the first mode with an original story, which is Kirby going on an adventure to defeat Dynablade, a bird that is destroying Dream Land's crops. There are some hidden switches in a couple of levels, just like the hidden switches in Kirby's Dream Land 2, with the difference that you don't need to find them in order to unlock the final boss, and are just a nice little bonus that unlock special stages.

The difficulty is considerably higher than in Spring Breeze, but don't expect something actually hard, especially because there are only five stages that you'll probably complete in about 2 hours. Even then, it was a fun time, and the ending was pretty cute, so I don't have any complaints.

6) The Great Cave Offensive

This is easily the longest mode, especially if you try to do the 100% completion. Unlike the other modes, here the story is the least important part: Kirby falls into a cave and needs to escape, but there are 60 treasure chests that you can find on the way out. In the pause screen you can see how many treasures you have in the order they can be found, which makes pretty easy to know if you missed one, but you don't need to worry, as you can backtrack all the way to the beginning if you want to.

There are also save cottages in certain places where you can restore all your HP and save your progress, meaning that even if you lose all your lives, you just return to the last place you saved. Want to rest or play another mode? You can also do that without losing your progress! Pretty convenient and useful if you don't want to get all the treasures (many of them are references to other videogames franchsies, by the way) in one sitting.

Don't want to get all the items? You can also do that! It is possible to just get to the final boss, defeat it and see the credits roll even if you didn't get any treasaure. The non-linear structure of the map means that you can play however you like and skip entire areas if you wish, which is surprising for a platforming game in the SNES.

In my case, I decided to get all the 60 treasures, and while I had to backtrack in many parts, I never had to use a guide, as even the hardest chests can be found if you explore well, something that you can't say about many games with similar gameplay style. Getting all of them was extremely satisfying and a lot more entertaining than I thought it would be, so while it can be intimidating at first, I definitely recommend trying to get everything even if you don't plan to get the 100% completion in the save file, just don't feel forced to do it.

7) Revenge of MetaKnight

This is the direct sequel of Dynablade, but the gameplay and story are considerably different, as you have to destroy Meta Knight's airship, called Halberd. There is also a timer, which means that you have to be fast or Meta Knight will take over Dream Land before you've ever meet him. In addition, during certain points you can read conversations between Meta Knight and his crew, which is not only charming, but adds to the overall fast-paced feeling of the mode.

Of course, being a Kirby game, the timer is very forgiving, thus you can mess or get lost and still arrive at the checkpoints with plenty of time left. The difficulty, on the other hand, is harder than normal, as there are lot of unique bosses that can only be damaged in specific ways, zones without any floor where you can fall and lose a life easily, and many, many enemies in small places. It never feels unfair tough, and if you managed to unlock the mode I'm sure you will be able to complete it. Definitely a great experience that shows how flexible the main concept of Kirby can be, as it feels really different from the other modes despite being the same gameplay at its core.

8) Milky Way Wishes

If you completed all the other modes you unlock Milky Way Wishes, a whole new adventure with an interesting twist: You can't copy abilities from absorbing enemies. Instead, you need to find statues that let you turn into that ability any time you want. The story is also fascinating, as it introduces a new character called Marx, who requests Kirby to ask a giant comet called Nova for help in order to stop a fight between the moon and the sun. With that, Kirby explores the whole Milky Way galaxy to gather the stars from the different planets near Kirby's home planet Popstar.

Not only the story is far more complex than in the other modes, but the fact that you have to unlock the abilities means that you will feel vulnerable when you start, even when you have already defeatead countless enemies and bosses at this point. But that makes extremely satisfying finding the statues and unlocking forever an ability, and when you find your favorite one, it's time to have fun without worrying about losing it!

This is another example of how the core gameplay can feel very different with subtle changes. The enemies and main mechanics are still the same, but the level design and the possibility of changing abilities do a huge difference, and that's my favorite part of Kirby Super Star: While in other Kirby games you have the same concept and story for 50 levels, which can feel tedious or samey after the level 20 or so, here the story and main setting is changing constantly. Because of that, even after many hours of playing the game still feels fresh, something that I wasn't feeling during the final levels of Kirby's Adventure or Kirby's Dream Land 2.

Another thing that I really liked are the multiple themes of the modes: Regardless of being in the classic landscapes of Dream Land, inside a cave, over an airship, or in this case, the space, the setting is very well done, and they feel totally different from each other, which helps immensely to keep you immersed in the game. After all, if they can make a cave as interesting as traveling to another planet, they are doing something right.

But this isn't the last mode, as when you finally finish the endless battle between the moon and the sun, you unlock another one:

9) The Arena

This is basically a Boss Rush, where you have to defeat 18 bosses with limited healing items that you can only use in a rest zone where you rest after every battle. If you've ever played the All-Star Mode in Smash Bros Melee or Brawl, this is exactly the same. The boss order is random, except for the final battle, where you always battle the final boss of Milky Way Wishes. I'm not really a fan of boss rushes in videogames, and this isn't the exception, but it isn't bad at all, and you enjoyed the game bosses and want a harder challenge, I'm sure you'll love it.

Finally, if you defeat all the bosses, you unlock the sound stage, which is just a bonus where you can hear the soundtrack and sound effects of the game. Not really useful when nowadays you can find the songs anywhere in the Internet, but I'm sure at the time there were many people that could only enjoy them with modes like this.

In conclusion, Kirby Super Star is a huge experience where you explore many settings and the gameplay is changing constantly, but it never loses focus or feels underwhelming, as it is obvious that there was a lot of effort to make all the modes unique and entertaining. Maybe you won't like all of them, but I'm sure you will enjoy at least one, and if you've never played a Kirby game in your life, this is definitely the perfect place to start.

Completed most of the game. I did all 4 campaigns, the arena, the great cave offensive (40 out of 60 treasures) and the race. I did not like the race, and the punch and samurai mini games were not worth playing. I had a lot of fun with the game, though the cave offensive was a bit of a drag without a map. I really did not feel like backtracking to figure out what I missed, and did not like having to use specific powers to unlock areas. That concept would have worked much better with way you collect powers and can freely switch between them in the Milky campaign. I preferred the ninja power most due to its quick long range attacks, and would often solo with it rather than lose it to a helper. The beam was great with the charge up long range blast, and the bomb has good range too. Most of the other powers were useful in their own ways but I preferred to stay safe at range.

This was the first Kirby game I have played; never even played any back in the day. I was very impressed with the excellent mechanics, controls and design. No idea how this compares to other Kirby games but it makes me want to find out.

9.0/10

It's a cute, simple platformer. The box says 8 games in one, but it's really more like... five short campaigns, and three mini-games. That's not a bad thing, but don't expect eight full "Kirby's Adventure"s for the price of one. The true main selling for Super Star IMO is that you can play with a friend, who will play as one of the game's enemies (which is essentially the same as Kirby having eaten said enemy). Co-op makes for a quick and breezy romp through each campaign, and you can take a break between them with one of the silly mini-games ("time your button press just right" sort of deals). This co-op mode is especially great for playing with someone newer to video games, I would imagine.

Super Star looks great, but much like Kirby's Adventure I found the level design in general quite bland. (The exception may be the campaign "Great Cave Offensive," which is essentially an exploration-focused Super Metroid, but cuter.) And while I like the variety in Kirby's abilities, I still don't really feel much of the game is actually designed around them.

One thing that stood out to me while playing this was just how much it all felt like Smash Brothers, particularly in terms of the actual platforming and movement, the lackadaisical floatiness of it all. (It's something I've never liked in Smash, and don't care for it much here either.) And really, at the end of the day a bunch of Kirbies with their many different little projectiles and different little melee attacks is essentially the same as having a bunch of Smash characters doing the same sorts of attacks. Even short-attention-span Kirby's changing his attack style every few seconds is very reminiscent of Smash and its hundred random items. So all you Smash lovers are actually just Kirby lovers! Fun fact.

Gameplay, Story and Value:

While the core Kirby gameplay mechanics remain widely unchanged, it's the way Kirby Super Star packages its content that makes it unique. Rather than simply working your way through a series of courses, you're given a selection of bite sized minigames and various takes on more traditional Kirby.

The primary Kirby experience revolves around a three part adventure consisting of Spring Breeze, Dyna Blade and Revenge of Meta Knight. Each of these game modes plays like your typical Kirby game and, while they're all fairly short on their own, together that make for a satisfying playthrough. Outside of that, you'll be racing King Dedede for snacks in Gourmet Race, trying to karate chop the planet in half in Megaton Punch, participating in Japanese duels in Samurai Kirby, and so on.

By far the largest standalone experience in Kirby Super Star would have to be the Great Cave Offensive. You're placed in a massive non-linear world in search of treasure, and your only goals are collection and exploration. You get all the familiar Kirby tools to navigate the level, including Super Star's new ability to turn your current power into an AI controlled ally, and while my initial reaction to this mode was "SPELUNKY!!!" it didn't take long for me to realize that this was straight up Metroid! Save points are littered throughout the world as are large and exciting boss encounters. It's a lot of fun to play through and makes for a great time sink.

As far as controls are concerned it's your standard Kirby affair. They feel tighter than in Dreamland 3 which is great, but there's still some nuances to pick up on. In this game, if you have a power equipped you can press the A button at any time to manifest that power into a monster companion to help you through the game. If your companion takes too much damage they'll begin something of a self-destruct sequence, and if you can run them into an enemy during this sequence they'll turn into that enemy and recover all their health!

While all the game modes come together to make a great package, part of me still wishes this was more of a traditional Kirby game, as I start to lose focus after a while, and with a loss of focus comes a loss of interest. I think part of why I feel this way is because I still see Dreamland 3 as something of a missed opportunity, and had it adopted the engine and visuals from this game, could have been one of the best on the console.

Presentation, Music and Sound:

With its bright, bold colors and razor-sharp sprites, Kirby Super Star's visuals looks like a natural progression from Kirby's Adventure on the NES, which is to say they look fantastic. Animations are smooth and detailed, sprites and environments are fun and distinct, and everything just pops graphically.

Things are good on the audio front as well, with the entirety of Kirby's excellent soundtrack making a return for Kirby Super Star. All the Kirby sound effects you'd expect to hear are present as well, and it all just sounds great.

Afterthoughts:

Kirby Super Star is even better than I remember it being! What I thought was going to be a somewhat shallow experience turned out to have considerably more value to it. In spite of that, given the overall excellence of the presentation and gameplay, I really do wish it was put into a somewhat more concise package. There's really nothing wrong with breaking the game up the way they did, and you do still get a decent proper Kirby campaign, but that's just my personal preference. All in all this is definitely my preferred Kirby game on the console!

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Gameplay: