[J's List #2] Kirby's Adventure: Unforgettable

[J Arcane]

I'm a day late, and a dollar short, but nevertheless it's time to put the silliness behind me and present to you the next entry in my list:

Kirby's Adventure
Nintendo Entertainment System, 1993

Ahh, Kirby's Adventure, the strange tale of a pink puffball who treks across hill, castle, and pirate ship, to recover his people's food from an evil half-duck, half-blowfish. When this arrived under my Christmas tree as a lad, I was, quite frankly, a bit confused. I didn't know what to think of it, or what had possessed my parents to purchase it. Certainly we were excited to get a new game, especially since most of our NES games were used and long since out of date, making this something of a rare treat.

In fact, the very criteria that puts us on this list, initially inspired my siblings and I to request a return from my parents. We beat it. Legitimately. In a single Christmas evening. Being children of the NES days, we naturally assumed this was the sign of a defective product. After all, all our other NES games were stupidly hard, and required the patience of a saint, the stamina of a marathon runner, and the reflexes of a mongoose to even approach the end, at least without mechanical assistance in the form of things like Game Genies and warp pipes.

It was in fact, the only game on the entire NES for which we'd ever accomplished such a feat. Sure I'd beaten Mario 2 before, but that one had three seperate warps and a surprisingly easy end boss. Like the victims of long term child abuse, we simple hadn't known there was a better way, at least until Kirby showed it to us.

After our parents rejected our ludicrous request, I had time to think for a bit in retrospect the next day and began to realize maybe my parents were right in failing to understand our reasoning. After all, what the heck is wrong with having a game you can actually see the end of, without being some kind of super mutant? And hell, it may've only took one evening, but it was a hell of a fun evening. And that end boss DID put up one hell of a fight, so much so that we almost wrote the damn thing off as yet another impossible ending to an NES game, until we perservered and finally beat the piss out of that flying space vampire thing.

The real truth of the matter was is that the game so blew us the fuck away compared to every NES game we'd ever played, that we just didn't really know what to think of it at first. Over time, all of us came to love the hell out of the game, because of course, it is pretty much total brilliance. The controls were silky smooth in a way we'd never imagined possible on the system, the graphics were beautiful, even despite the limited hardware, the level design was fun and the puzzles actually made you think for a bit at times, the music was incredibly catchy, the whole Kirby character was brilliantly designed, and the loopy setting just left you fascinated.

It is, absolutely ,and without a single contest in my mind, the best game ever made for the NES. In fact, I would definitely have to at least put it in the running for the best platformer game of all time. If any of you out there have not played this game, I must state with the best sense of authority I can muster as a gamer, that you absolutely must play this game.

You will never forget that experience for the rest of your life. And you'll still be humming the music decades later . . .

[Urizen]

You win. I'll play it. It better not disappoint.

[BLeeP]

I got this when a Roses store was closing down near me when I was a lot younger. Fantastic game, and started my love for Kirby. Too bad I beat the game in a day, but at least there are lots of secrets to find.

[CES]

Originally Posted by J Arcane

You will never forget that experience for the rest of your life. And you'll still be humming the music decades later . . .

The Green Greens theme is on par with the Tetris theme or the Zelda theme as one of those that will simply never leave your mind. It's both awesome and completely evil.

[J Arcane]

Originally Posted by CES

The Green Greens theme is on par with the Tetris theme or the Zelda theme as one of those that will simply never leave your mind. It's both awesome and completely evil.

After I wrote this last night, I went through Youtube and started listening to a lot of the music from the game, and was surprised by how much of it I still remembered damn near note for note, even though I hadn't heard it in years, especially some of the later levels.

[LongStepMantis]

I've always found a great deal of child-like satisfaction in Kirby games.
I even enjoyed some of the bizarre offshoots like Kirby's Dream Course.

[Mr. Murphy]

Searching EBay as we speak. I've never played a Kirby side scroller, but your glowing praise has sold me on this one.

You really ought to include a link to your other J's List entries when you post a new one.

[BLeeP]

Originally Posted by Mr. Murphy

Searching EBay as we speak. I've never played a Kirby side scroller, but your glowing praise has sold me on this one.

You really ought to include a link to your other J's List entries when you post a new one.

You really are in for a treat with this game. Pretty much any Kirby game is fun, and it's a pure, simple kind of fun that makes you forget that you are blazing through the game and makes you want to return to get every little thing.

[J Arcane]

Originally Posted by Mr. Murphy

Searching EBay as we speak. I've never played a Kirby side scroller, but your glowing praise has sold me on this one.

You really ought to include a link to your other J's List entries when you post a new one.

Sorry, I forgot to tag this thread. Both the ones so far are tagged "j's list", so if you go to the bottom and click that tag in that box above quick reply, it'll give you a list of them all.