Kirby Star Allies (2018)

Full disclosure, I didn't experience all of what this game has to offer and I don't really plan to. For context of how much of the game I've played, I beat the main story, cleared Guest Star once, and got all friend hearts in Heroes in Another Dimension. In typical Kirby fashion, the main story is a breeze and the bulk of the content and challenge lies within its post game. It should be noted that I'm also speaking of my experience playing in 2023 with a bunch of extra content added that wasn't in the game upon release. Also, I played the entire game solo and this game definitely feels like it was meant to be played multiplayer.

Main Story and Gameplay
This game feels like a love letter to all of the mainline games that came before it. It plays like Return to Dreamland, brings back ability combos like Kirby 64, adds an ability that's a direct homage to Dreamland 2 & 3, and through updates, added in a character from each mainline game as a dream friend. Unfortunately, maybe because it takes from the games that came before it, Star Allies ends up feeling like it's playing it too safe and is a bit boring as a result. There really isn't anything that feels like it moves the series forward in my opinion. The ability fusion doesn't feel as impactful as in Kirby 64 and a large part of that is that the combos don't really feel distinct. A lot of the time, it amounts to adding an element to an existing ability (like a fire/lightning/ice sword) rather than having a distinct ability. This kind of makes the use cases for these combos overlap. Another issue I had with the ability fusing is that anytime any ability was needed, the ability could typically be found in the same ROOM. This is super convenient for the player, but it also takes away any decision making or thought process. Rather than having a puzzle where the player needs to think about what to do or how to progress, it felt like the game gave you the answer to the problem before the player knows what the problem is. Another issue I have with the game is the movement speed. Kirby feels super slow for no good reason. I feel like if they increased Kirby's run and float speed, the game would feel much better to play. Playing with movement speed at max in Guest Star kind of confirmed my thoughts on this. Last complaint about the gameplay is the AI. They're horrendous, but they're pretty serviceable in most cases so it doesn't feel like too big of a hindrance. There's been a handful of moments where I thought I wish I had a human partner or the ability to change which character I was controlling when the AI wouldn't do what I wanted them to though.

Guest Star ???? Star Allies Go! and The Ultimate Choice
This is honestly where the bulk of the content lies. Guest star is basically a time attack mode where you choose from every copy ability and dream ally to go through a 5 stages. The ultimate choice is this game's arena mode. They both offer the chance to use characters from previous games and as far as I know, I think this is the first time a lot of these characters are playable. I just don't think the novelty is worth it for me to really spend a significant amount of time on these modes, but it might be fun to chip away at this over a long period of time rather than binging them. As an aside, Magalor seems pretty darn OP.

Heroes in Another Dimension
This is certainly no Great Cave Offensive or Milky Way Wishes as far as quality is concerned. Part of me really enjoys this mode because it forces you to get a good feel for copy abilities and dream friends' move sets, but it's a pain in the butt to replay. A ton of sections are grouped up together rather than each ability/dream friend having their own level, so if you miss a friend heart in one section, you have to replay the entire group of sections to get it. I also just don't find it as enthralling as the other two extra modes I mentioned earlier that changed the way the game was played at a fundamental level.

Conclusion
Game is fun for Kirby super fans. It is neat seeing all of the references. If you aren't already a fan, I don't think this game would change your opinion on the series. If you are looking for a game that moves Kirby forward, I don't think this game does that either.

Question to parents of toddlers out there. I’m looking for another co-op game with my 4 year old son. This Kirby game seems to be on the shelf of a few people that I know have younger kids. We’ve played Luigi’s Mansion 3 together, and he plays Super Mario Odyssey pretty well. Is this a good switch co-op game for toddlers? Any other recommendations?

Taking a stab at this since I loved Robobot. Pretty mixed on it so far. The combining abilities mechanic is pretty great. Constantly having 4 characters in screen in single-player.... less so. I get that they wanted to make a more multiplayer focused game here, but why not separate those modes out? I think single-player would feel a lot less hectic and more fun if it was just built around being able to suck up 2 abilities. Instead, you're just in a constant mosh-pit of fluff.