Kirby Super Star Ultra (2008)

In 1996 Hal Laboratory released Kirby Super Star, considered by many (including me) the best Kirby videogame ever created, and it seems Nintendo knew how popular it was, because in 2008 they released the remake, Kirby: Super Star Ultra, for the Nintendo DS.

Aside from the obvious improvement in the graphics, cutscenes, and the introduction of the touch screen, there are a couple of new modes:

1) New Minigames

Not only you can play Samurai Kirby and Megaton Punch, but three new games that are entirely played with the touch screen. They are far more complex and longer, and have multiplayer support, so they are perfect when you want a rest from the other modes.

2) Revenge of the King

This is what the extra mode in Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land should have been. After completing the original modes you unlock Revenge of the King, which is basically a harder version of Spring Breeze. The scenarios are different, the bosses are harder and there are lots of exclusive enemies and music, so it feels like a new experience. Special mention to the final boss, who has one of the best themes in the franchise.

3) Mega Knightmare Ultra

This is a much better version of the Meta Knightmare mode from Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land. You play as Meta Knight through all the five original modes (Spring Breeze, Dyna Blade, The Great Cave Offensive, Revenge of Meta Knight, and Milky Way Wishes) as a single level, so you there isn't any chest or secret to unlock. You can only save after defeating the final boss of each mode, but thankfully they are far shorter than in their original version, as optional zones, like the Old Tower Area are removed, which is perfect for the frantic nature of Meta Knight. You also get points by defeating enemies that can be spent to use powerful attacks, a nice addition that is really useful in bosses.

4) Helper to Hero

Like the Arena mode, but you play as a helper, meaning that you can only use the same ability from start to finish. If you want the 100% completion you only need to defeat the final boss once, but the real challenge is completing it with ALL the helpers, which can be really hard with abilities that aren't designed for boss fights, like Wheel or Suplex.

5) The TRUE Arena

Easily the hardest challenge in the entire franchise at the time. You have to defeat all the harder versions of the bosses and the only healing items are 6 tomatos, which restore 1/6 of your full HP. You'll probably have to train a lot in order to defeat the last two bosses, but it's really satisfactory to win, and it doesn't feel unfair, as the enemies have patterns that you can memorize and all of their attacks are avoidable.

In conclusion, this remake is an improvement over the original in every way possible, and the new modes are challenging and extend the game a lot, so there is no reason to play the SNES version if you can play this one.

This is the first Kirby game I've finished. I got the game because A) I've been wanting to play Planet Robobot but apparently the ending of Robobot is better if you play Super Star first and B) multiple friends have said this is a good game. After playing it, I agree with them.

Rather than having a single story, the game is split into 6 sub-stories, each one presenting a different challenge. While the basic gameplay stays the same throughout, the objectives and methods of progressing change in each of the sub-stories. There's a good amount of variety, from winning a race to clearing levels within a time limit to exploring a giant cave for treasure. But, while this certainly was a unique method of storytelling, it did result in each of the sub-stories being extremely simplistic. I suppose this is fine, considering the target audience, but I would've preferred something a bit more complex than just "Kirby decided to explore a cave one day".

The game controls pretty well. I didn't have too many problems playing through levels. The only real challenges arose from knockback, something I always dislike in platformers, and short-range attacks, which were difficult to execute without getting hit myself. This is also one of the few times I've actually agreed with the old "water levels suck" statement. I had a lot of trouble with the water segments in this game, due to the slowed movement and how only certain powerups could actually be used while swimming.

The game looks and sounds great. Most of the SNES presentation appears to be intact, and it looks great on the DS. What doesn't look great however, are the pre-rendered 3D cutscenes, which look shrunken and compressed on the DS screen. These cutscenes also lacked sound effects,making them feel less lively than they could've been.

Ultimately, this is a fun little platformer for those looking for a good DS game. Nothing too special, but if asked, I'd recommend it.