Kirby Triple Deluxe - Nintendo 3DS

Kirby got the short end of the stick for a long time when it came to new entries in his series; for whatever reason, it was decided that instead of focusing on action platforming and copy abilities, he should star in a series of gimmicky spinoff titles of varying quality (at least Air Ride was fun). Return to Dream Land was the series savior by taking the gameplay of Super Star / Ultra, refining it, and making it better in almost every way. Kirby Triple Deluxe is a spiritual successor in that it plays similarly, but also improves it even further.The game's story is thus: late one night while everyone is asleep, a massive beanstalk sprouts under Kirby's house and King Dedede's castle; when Kirby wakes up the next morning, he sees his house isn't on the ground anymore, instead being high in the air in a mysterious kingdom called Floralia. When he goes outside, he sees King Dedede's castle above, and climbs the beanstalk to get to the castle, presumably to check on Dedede. Upon entering the castle, he spots a spider creature (revealed to be named Taranza) easily defeating Dedede's Waddle Dee guards and proceeding to capture Dedede himself. Taranza then breaks through the ceiling and ascends the beanstalk with him, and Kirby chases after to save Dedede. The rest of the game's plot does not really come in until the final world; Kirby games have never really been story-based, more using it as an excuse for gameplay, so the fairly barebones plot is fine.This game continues the trend set by Super Star / Ultra of giving every copy ability multiple attacks (save for Mike and Crash, which are limited use), rebalances them from Return to Dream Land, and adds five new abilities in Archer, Beetle, Bell, Circus, and Hypernova, the latter of which replaces the Super Copy Abilities. The first four new abilities are interesting and don't feel like any abilities before them, while Hypernova is used to solve puzzles and get through certain levels. Sadly, the Water ability introduced in Return to Dream Land did not return, even though Leaf and Whip did. Tornado, though not a new ability, was also removed but replaced by the return of Wheel. Speaking of Hypernova, it's on an entirely different level: Kirby turns golden and his inhale is made drastically more powerful, capable of inhaling enemies, objects, hazards, even parts of the level he gains the ability. To give you an example, in one level with Hypernova, Kirby's path is blocked by a tank, and upon attempting to inhale it, you get to watch Kirby's inhale quickly strip the tank apart piece by piece, and eat all of it.A fairly large gameplay gimmick is 3D space: the game functions like a 2.5D game, as the background and foreground of levels almost always have things in them, and Kirby can move between them using special stars that appear at certain points. Full advantage of the 3DS' 3D technology is taken by frequently having Kirby, projectiles, and other things move toward or away from the screen; for example, Kirby can get flattened against the screen by some hazards. Enemies can enter Kirby's path from the background and foreground, and certain items and abilities let him attack enemies from the background, foreground, and the level. The bosses in this game are some of the most creative, dynamic, and elaborate in the entire series, which is saying something considering the Kirby series' standards, and they make full use of the background and foreground in their attacks and movement.The soundtrack features remixes of some good songs from previous games, and keeps a few themes from Return to Dream Land, but all of the songs exclusive to this game are also great to listen to as well. The jingle when you get a copy ability is an updated version of Super Star / Ultra's, and the Kirby Dance themes (short and full) are played at end of every level depending on how well you do at the cannon minigame, while only the full version is used when a world boss is defeated. A special mention goes to each of the final boss' themes, which sound like they came from a different franchise entirely, and rank among the highest of the series'.The main game (which the game refers to as Story Mode) is single player, which is unfortunate considering Return to Dream Land and four player co-op. I suppose it makes sense to an extent: King Dedede was kidnapped, Bandanna Waddle Dee gives you items in some levels and before each boss, and Meta Knight is not present in the game at all, but it would have been nice to have two player co-op, especially since the new minigame Kirby Fighters can be played with up to four people. In addition, though there are many levels, and has its own version of Extra Mode based on Meta Knightmare Ultra (from Super Star Ultra) called Dededetour, the game still feels a bit on the short side.Speaking of Kirby Fighters, it is essentially Smash Bros. with health bars, wherein 2-4 people (or 1 player and 1-3 CPUs) pick from one of 10 copy abilities and fight one another. Archer, Beam, Bomb, Cutter, Fighter, Hammer, Ninja, Parasol, Sword, and Whip are the abilities available. Stages to choose from are fairly varied, featuring classic locales like King Dedede's arena from the Kirby's Dream Land (though based on Super Star / Ultra), Castle Lololo, and a forest with the animal friends from Kirby's Dream Land 2, to give a few examples.Shortness aside, the game is still excellent. Its only real flaws are that it is somewhat short, lacks multiplayer in Story Mode, Kirby Fighters needing more abilities (Fire, Ice, and ESPECIALLY Circus should have been present), and the nerfing of Ninja (Quad Shock is now ground-only, the ability does less damage in general, and it's almost worthless in Kirby Fighters). If you like Kirby games, definitely get Kirby Triple Deluxe for the Nintendo 3DS.

The game came in great, came sealed and new, no damage to the cartridge, the game plays great

Kirby: Triple Deluxe is the latest game in the Kirby series, and the first original Kirby title for Nintendo 3DS. This game presents an excellent platforming experience with content suitable for both casual and intense players. Let's look at the game in detail.Kirby: Triple Deluxe plays very similarly to most other games in the series. Kirby, the titular pink puffball, proceeds along a 2.5D environment filled with collectibles, sucking up enemies to copy their powers. These include four new copy-abilities: Bell, Archer, Beetle, and Circus, all of which I had a lot of fun using, though I think Archer was my favorite. But with these similarities, don't think this is a mere rehash; you'll notice early on that it's not. The most obvious change is the environments. In the background and foreground, enemies, items, environmental hazards, etc. are found, and often have their attacks shift into Kirby's path. Through the use of 3D Warp Stars, Kirby can shift between the background and foreground to get items, affect the environment, defeat enemies, and solve puzzles. Kirby can even use some items in one part of the level to affect the other part, such as a long pole and a cannon. While not particularly hard like most Kirby games, this concept very fun, well-implemented, and on the perfect hardware. I played this game with the 3D on full blast the whole time, as it just makes the 2.5D environments all the more satisfying. It is this unique level design throughout the game that really sets this game apart from the rest of the series, and side-scrolling platformers in general.Another major gameplay change is a new ability for Kirby: the Hypernova. This amplifies Kirby's suction power to where he can suck up almost anything, including parts of the environment. This power can also be used to move large, heavy objects to solve puzzles, such as giant snowballs and wrecking balls. Whether used to solve puzzles, eat enemies, take down mini-bosses, or just clear the path, this technique is very fun to use. Additionally, this technique is used a lot throughout the game, so you'll get a lot of experience with it, compared to the Mega Eggdozer in Yoshi's New Island, which was only used here and there, and in very simple ways. All these positives being said, though, there is one thing that bugged me about it: it's a bit too overpowered. There's one point in the game where suped-up versions of mini-bosses are made short work of with the Hypernova. Hypernova is also the only ability that cannot be dropped, even if you die. While overall a fun concept, it just felt too powerful on occasion.The game's boss battles are some of the best in the series. They all utilize the 2.5D level design that makes the whole game great. Their attacks weave between layers of the area, they shift between these layers, and sometimes you have to shift with them. While I don't want to spoil too much, I will use an obvious boss as an example. While Whispy Woods does not appear, the very similar Flowery Woods does. It starts out seeming simple, but he eventually shifts to the background, and you have to hit his roots when he attacks. Throwing his fruits and flowers at you from the background, you'll need good judgment to avoid these attacks and strike back appropriately. Even for a pretty easy and simple game at first glance, the boss battles are surprisingly-advanced.To run through the main game, you'll take about 10 hours, more or less. But that's not all this game has to offer. Right from the start, two alternate game modes are available. The first is Kirby Fighters: a fighting mini-game similar to Super Smash Bros. that utilizes different colored Kirbies with a selection of abilities. I had a lot of fun with this mode, and this mode is required to be played for 100%. It has local multiplayer, but I was disappointed by the lack of online play, as this would have been perfect for online. Overall, though, if you have people nearby to play it with, you'll spend a lot of time with this one; it's great! The second mode is Dedede's Drum Dash. This one, I wasn't as impressed by. You play as King Dedede bouncing across drums and collecting coins to the rhythm of the level's theme. While good, it just doesn't have much to it, as some of the stages are ridiculously-unforgiving, and there's not much reason to replay the levels. It just doesn't match quality rhythm games like HarmoKnight. Some other modes are available in the post-game, and while I won't spoil what they are, they add a lot of life to the game, and are very challenging. Overall, these extra modes add quite a bit of content, which, combined with the game's 256 collectible keychains, make getting 100% a very challenging task.Great level design and boss battles, replay value, a fun but admittedly-overpowered central ability, and our favorite pink puffball come together to form a great game. While I wish the extra modes had some online play, especially Kirby Fighters, the game left me very satisfied. I highly recommend it.Rating: 9/10 (displayed here as 5 stars)