![]() |
Part III: Ahtletic Kirby
|
|
|
Kirby's Dream Course
(SNES, 1995)
Strap on a pair of rainbow suspenders and horrendous plaid pants because we're going to head out to the links! For reasons unknown, Kirby had been plunked into a golf game. Kirby's Dream Course was not originally intended to star the pink puffball; he was added later, likely as a coy marketing ploy. Under normal circumstances, a golf game could be considered boring and unseemly, but there was some extra charm placed into this one. Your goal is to use Kirby as a golf ball and, after setting the power and direction to travel upon an isometric field, destroy all your enemies within a limited number of strokes and THEN get Kirby into the hole. That's right: you'll need even more strategy than just getting Kirby from Point A to Point B! This game isn't horrible, but it IS quite difficult, so it's not one I would be returning to frequently. However, if you're in the mood for some competitive action, this game supports two players, so if you want to battle it out to see who can get their Kirby Ball in the hole first, go for it!
|
|
|
|
BS Kirby Series
(BSX, 1996)
From 1995 through until 2000, owners of the Satellaview adapter (which served almost like an early online service) for their Super Famicom systems were lucky enough to play some exclusive titles based on popular game franchises of the time, including Mario, Zelda, Chrono Trigger, and even Kirby, plus a few original games thrown in for good measure. Numerous little Kirby mini-games were released in 1996, although the majority of them have been generally lost over time. These included sports games, pachinko (a popular pastime in Japan), and even a pinball game, which was similar to Kirby's Pinball Land for the Game Boy, but with more advanced graphics and only one screen. The following is a supposedly complete list of games available for download at any given point in time:
BS Kirby no Omotya Bako Arrange Ball
BS Kirby no Omotya Bako Ball Rally
BS Kirby no Omotya Bako Baseball
BS Kirby no Omotya Bako Cannonball
BS Kirby no Omotya Bako Guru Guru Ball
BS Kirby no Omotya Bako Hoshi Kuzushi
BS Kirby no Omotya Bako Pachinko
BS Kirby no Omotya Bako Pinball
|
|
|
|
Kirby Air Ride
(GC, 2003)
Kirby Air Ride had started its development cycle eight years before its actual release, perhaps leading to one of the longest periods of time a game has endured before completion. It was originally intended to be a title for the Nintendo 64, but it is rumoured that due to technical setbacks -- particularly in the implementation of having four players simultaneously playing while keeping the game at an acceptable framerate -- the game never quite was able to reach the plateaus that its designers had hoped for. It was pushed to the wayside and eventually cancelled. Years later, when the GameCube came to fruition, development was refueled, and Kirby Air Ride was finally released to happy gamers. However, they could have used that supplementary time to improve the gameplay. One of the main criticisms of Kirby Air Ride was its overly simplistic gameplay, especially when compared to pretty much any other racing game available at the time. Cconsider that one button alone acts as the brake, as a booster, and is also used to inhale enemies. How skilful do you need to be?
|
|
(Screenshot of 'Kirby Air Ride' provided courtesy of GameFAQs)
|
|
![]() |
