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KIRBY SUPER STAR Company: Hal/Nintendo Released: September 1996 Genre: Side-Scroller Graphics: 8.5 Control: 8.5 Sound/Music: 7.0 Storyline: 7.0 Review by: Corbie Dillard ©2008 SUPER-NES.COM

Even though I've always been a huge fan of the Kirby series of games, I somehow missed this game back when it was first released on the Super NES. It wasn't until about three years ago that I picked this game up at a local pawn shop along with a group of other games. I put this one aside and didn't touch it until one day when I was going through all my games to clean them when I noticed it again. It was then that I popped it in and discovered what a terrific game it really was. Although it technically has 8 games in 1, as the box says, for the most part this is just one more terrific side-scroller in the much underrated Kirby series of games. The other sub-games are not just thrown in mini-games, but actually some pretty playable single and multi-player games that are a nice bonus to an already fun game. Graphically this game shines. It has the trademark Kirby visuals, complete with brilliant colors, sharp details, and a fairytale-looking world to play in. Everything in the game has an unusually smooth animation to it which even further brings the colorful world of this game alive onscreen. There's also an incredible amount of variety in all of the different areas of the game, making it seem like you never see the same area twice, even within the same level. The surroundings are constantly changing within each level to the point that you'll wonder how they crammed all of this game data into a single SNES cartridge. I will go even further to say that I think this game looks even better than Kirby's Dreamland 3, in part because it has a much more vibrant look to it. Hal has always done a great job with the Kirby series of games, but they went above and beyond the call of duty with this one. As I said above, I've always enjoyed the Kirby series of games. Kirby Super Star carries on the tradition of the typically cheery and upbeat tunes you'll find in every Kirby release so far. You'll notice that many of the tunes in the game are actually remakes of original tunes from past Kirby games and they sound better than ever here on the Super NES. The newer tunes are even better, and range from very upbeat stylings all the way to suspenseful when there's danger around. Not many side-scrollers have soundtracks that I generally like right off, but there was something about the soundtrack in this game that just fits in with the game perfectly. If you've ever played any incarnation of Kirby on any system you'll know exactly what to expect from the music in this game. There's always been one aspect of the Kirby games that's kept me coming back to these games often over the years and that's Kirby's ability to take on the abilities of enemies he inhales. To me this adds a lot to the playability of the game as some abilities work better in certain situations than others. I gave the game such a high score in this category based mostly on the sheer amount of different games on this one cart. There's something for just about every type of gamer here and the variety is what keeps me coming back for more. Of all the Kirby games released so far, even the GBA games, this one is still my favorite hands down. For those not familiar with the general gameplay of these games, Kirby has the ability to inhale things in the game, ranging from plain old air that allows him to fly, to enemies in which he can either spit them out to destroy other enemies, or swallow them to take their unique powers from them and use them for himself. While the boss fights in the game are a tad on the easy side, they are my favorite part of the game. The Kirby side-scrolling levels in the game are already chock-full of gameplay, but when you add in the other variations of games and mini-games, what you get is a SNES game with more gameplay than just about any other single game cart I can think of for the system. The only real downside to the Kirby line of games is that they are typically a little on the easy side. The upside is, they're a lot of fun to play so it seems to balance out fairly well. Loads of variety and a lot of game for one cart should keep you busy for quite some time. If you're a Kirby fan then this game should be at the top of your list as it's easily one of the best in the series, and if you''ve never played a Kirby game, this one is a good place to start as it offers just about everything you could want out of a Kirby game. I definately recommend this one. It's a lot of game on one cartridge.