Retro Review: Kirby's Dream Course

Archive — Tue, 03 Mar 2015 05:41:00 +0000

I love golf games. I love Kirby games. But the question is, would a Kirby golf game be any good? I think the answer would surprise you. Originally released on the SNES in 1995, Kirby's Dream Course combines the ascetic of Nintendo's Kirby series with gameplay that combines the elements of golf and billiards. This fusion of styles may sound a bit strange, but it works astonishingly well.

The goal on each board is to knock Kirby into all the enemies on the field and then into the hole that the last enemy turns into. For each stroke that you take, you lose one tomato (Health Pip in 2-player mode), and you gain one back for each enemy you take out on the field, and if you manage to get a Hole-In-One, an automatic 1-Up would be your prize. Kirby can be putted or driven much like in golf, but he bounces off many obstacles in a similar fashion to a cue-ball on a pool table. Because of this, careful planning must be employed to ensure victory.

In classic Kirby fashion, specific enemies grant Kirby certain powers that may help improve your chances of winning, but if you don't know what each ability does, it may actually make matters worse. Some abilities include Spark (destroys roadblocks), Stone (halts all movement), Hi-Jump (launches you into the air) and Wheel (skims across water hazards). These powers are often extremely helpful in certain courses, but like most Kirby games, it is usually pretty forgiving when it comes to mistakes.

In 2-Player mode, you compete against a friend in a series of 8 courses while you try to collect as many stars as possible. Stars are collected when you defeat enemies or by stealing your opponent's stars on the field. The player with the most collective stars at the end of last course is declared the winner. It is also a lot of fun messing with your opponent in this mode as you can knock your Kirby into theirs to swap copy abilities and/or to force them off the course reducing the number of times they can act before their inevitable 1-turn penalty.

I had a ton of fun with this game. It's creative, the controls respond really well and VS mode is a great way to pass time with friends. If you want to purchase this game legitimately, it is also available for Virtual Console on the Wii and Wii U. You may even enjoy it as much as I had. But until then, I'll be seeing you.

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Retro Review: Yoshi's Story

Archive — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 08:23:00 +0000

I have a bit of an unconventional taste when it comes to video games. I'll play almost anything as long as it plays well and how it looks is often unimportant. Yoshi's Story falls under that category. Sure, it looks like it was designed for younglings, but looks can often be deceiving.

Originally released for the Nintendo 64 in 1998, Yoshi's Story is a simple 2.5D platforming game in which you go from stage to stage (one per world) throwing eggs and eating fruit. Eat thirty fruit and the stage ends and you move onto the next one. This game is extremely easy if you only do the main goal, but unlike most games that were released around the same time, this game is only as difficult as you make it to be.

In each stage, there are thirty green melons that can be found and eaten and are crucial to getting the high score in the stage. In addition to this, there are also three large smiling hearts that will unlock more difficult stage options in the world succeeding the one you are currently in. Doing both of these tasks makes the game's replayability go up quite a bit as more stages will be unlocked in the game's Time Trial mode. There are also two unlockable yoshis that are more powerful and can eat the damaging and bitter Black Shy Guys and spicy red peppers. They also give you a higher score from all available fruit instead from just a specific kind that the other six yoshi's have favorites of.

Now as I was saying before about how the game looks and feels, it has a very childish appearance about it making it look very much like a pop-up book. Backgrounds are rendered too look like felt, quilting material or even cardboard. The story is cutesy and happy and there doesn't appear to be any kind of conflict told within the game's narrative. This may sound extremely off-putting for even the most tolerant and patient of gamers, but I really think this is an excellent way to narrate this specific type of game. It collectively feels very much like a bed time story and I often like to come back to it whenever I can just so I can relax.

All in all, I had a lot of fun with this game. While the music is overly happy and cheerful and the environments literally look like cardboard and felt, the gameplay is what really matters and I think it plays extremely well for what it does. If you want to legally play it for yourself, the game is available on the Wii's Virtual Console service. You may find that looks aren't everything as well. But until then, I'll be seeing you.

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novogamer.com

Retro Review: Kirby's Dream Course

Retro Review: Yoshi's Story