Kirby no Omochabako

On 1995 Nintendo of Japan paired with a defunct satellite radio company called St.GIGA, known for being the world's first digital satellite radio station, to create the Satellaview, a satellite modem peripheral that allowed players to download videogames, among other media, through satellite broadcasts. Different games were available depending of the time, and while you could save games on different memory packs, the main way to get them was rewriting the data of the same memory pack, so when you were finished with one videogame you would simply replace it another one.

Image taken from Wikipedia

However, due to high costs of the system (you had to pay a monthly subscription in order to use the service, as well as buy or rent a special broadcast satellite, and of course, buy the Satellaview itself), along the fact that at the time this was released you could pay a lot less to buy a Nintendo 64 or a PlayStation 1, the Satellaview wasn't exactly a success, and in 2000 the service was closed, so you couldn't download any of the 114 games that were released anymore, making them a huge source of lost media.

Fortunately, nowadays there are groups of preservationists dedicated to find these games and dump them, so they can get archived and people can experience this really interesting piece of videogame history. Thanks to them, we can emulate games like Kirby's Toy Box, a collection of Kirby minigames released in 1996.

Like the Satellaview, Kirby's Toy Box (unofficial translation of the original name, as it was never released outside of Japan) has an interesting backstory: First, you had to download every minigame by its own, so they are technically different videogames with Kirby as the protagonist. As such, preservationists had to found all of them in order to get the true Kirby's Toy Box experience, and they delivered.

In november of 2016, a group of preservationists got a hold of three of them. A few days later, preservationist Frank Cifaldi got four of them in a raffle thanks to the help of people that donated money for the cause. Finally, in December of 2020, the last minigame was dumped online by sanmaiwashi, a member of the Satellaview research blog Satellablog, and while there are two other minigames that haven't been found, they are known to be just ports of two Kirby Super Star modes (Samurai Kirby and Megaton Punch), so while they are as important to archive as other Satellaview games, you can experience them in Super Star and its remake.

Talking about Kirby Super Star, an ad for the game appeared at the start of all the Kirby's Toy Box games.

After that preamble, it's time to play Kirby's Toy Box and take a look at the amazing products that only the Satellaview could provide, starting with:

1) Kirby's Toy Box - Baseball

This is basically a mix between Pinball and Baseball, as you have to hit a ball that appears at the middle of the map and try to put it into the slots above. When you get three Kirbies in the bases you get a point. If the ball gets stuck in a foul slot, or you miss three times in a row, you get an out, and when you get three outs the game ends. The speed of the ball is unpredictable and the bat is extremely slow, so it definitely feels like you need more luck than skill to get a decent score. You can also play with another player if you get another person that wants to play something this obscure. Not really fun, but at least it's an original idea.

2) Kirby's Toy Box - Pinball

This is an extremely simplified version of Kirby's Pinball Land, with just one screen and nothing to do aside from trying to get a Hi-Score or play until you get bored. There aren't bosses nor bonus games, so if you want a better Pinball experience just play the Gameboy game.

3) Kirby's Toy Box - Star Break

It seems HAL Laboratory really liked the idea of doing a Breakout clone with Kirby's Block Ball, because they did it again, but without any of the charm nor originality of that game. In this case, the paddle is replaced by two Ricks, the hamster from Kirby's Dream Land 2. While the graphics and characters look cute, the minigame itself gets old really fast, especially because there are six levels and a boss battle against King Dedede, so there is actually a goal and something more interesting to do that trying to get a Hi-Score.

The problem is that the gameplay is just watching the ball destroy the bricks and get stars that save Kirby from losing a life if he hits the floor, and a single level can last like 10 minutes with the same music and background every single time. After 15 minutes it becomes a mind-numbing experience, and it actually made me appreciate that the other minigames are much shorter. And what happens if you defeat Dedede? Well, the first level starts again and the game continues until you lose all your lives. So, while I appreciate that they put more effort in this, it definitely overstayed its welcome, and it's easily the most boring Kirby experience I've ever had. But at least the hamsters are cute!

4) Kirby's Toy Box - Round and Round Ball

This is easily the shortest and most simple minigame of the collection. You control an ejector in a spiral tube which is designed to look like Efreeti, a mid-boss from Kirby's Dream Land 2. You have to shoot three Kirbies and, depending of the amount of time you pressed the A button, how far they go. There is a random bonus multiplier that changes every second, so not only you have to get Kirby into a hole that gives lots of points, but to ensure that it falls while a good bonus multiplier is on the screen. It may sound complex, but eventually you realize that the bonus is kind of random, and the real key to get a good score is to be lucky. Pretty interesting concept, but I doubt that you can play more than 5 minutes without getting bored.

5) Kirby's Toy Box - Cannonball

Have you ever played Worms? Well, this game is an extremely basic version of that. For those who don't know Worms, it is a multiplayer game where you control a team of worms and use different weapons to destroy the map and/or defeat your enemy. However, in this case, instead of controlling worms you control a robotic version of Rick, and your only weapon is shooting explosive Kirbies that damage your enemy and destroy the map. You can play with another person, and there are multiple maps, so it is actually kind of fun! Just don't expect anything revolutionary, as like I said, Worms is basically the same experience but much better.

6) Kirby's Toy Box - Arrange Ball

This is another interesting game. It's like a mix between Tic-Tac-Toe and Pachinko, as you have to launch nine balls into a descending platform and try to put them in the 9 Mr. Frosty holes to make the same rows that you would make in tic-tac-toe. This is another game that I found fun, and it was pretty satisfying getting the perfect score!

7) Kirby's Toy Box - Pachinko

This is basically the Pinball minigame... But with Pachinko. If you don't know what Pachinko is, it's basically a Japanese version of pinball, but you don't have control of the ball aside from the initial throw. In this game you have infinite balls and a timer, and the only thing you control is the level of power put into each shot. I like how chaotic it is, but when you find the perfect amount of power to make most balls fall into the best spot, there's nothing else to do aside from waiting for the timer to end. I'd say it is as fun as the pinball one.

8) Kirby's Toy Box - Ball Rally

This was the one found at December 2020, and to be honest... It's pretty fun! You have 50 balls that must complete a series of obstacles. The only thing that you control are the green platforms, as when you press A some of them extend while others retract. You can get a bonus multiplier if you manage to get multiple Kirbies to the exit in a row, and after a while it becomes extremely chaotic, with balls everywhere and even Dedede appearing sometimes. This was my favorite of the bunch and easily the one with most replayability.

In conclusion, most of them aren't really that entertaining or interesting and it's pretty obvious there was very little effort during their development, so people that didn't buy a Satellaview didn't really miss anything special. The story behind them, on the other hand, is the total opposite, and I'm glad there are people that dedicate their time in archiving such a fascinating piece of videogame history, especially when Nintendo doesn't even acknowledge the existence of these experiments.