Suggested by Sonic Meta Knight is a fast fighter with a whole lot of offensive moves. He will be able to easily out speed Thunder Birdo and land some devastating hits here. Birdo doesn’t have any way to protect from Meta Knight’s attacks or land any counter attacks. Meta Knight is a seasoned fighter with a whole lot of strategies at the ready, he’s just not going to lose here. Meta Knight wins.
Suggested by Sonic Hatman is an EXE villain so you’d expect him to be incredibly powerful but he never really got to show his stuff. He has some basic attacks and projectiles with his cards but he hasn’t shown that he would have enough speed to deal with Meta Knight. Meta Knight was able to match Marth for a few blows after all so ultimately he has the speed advantage here. A few good sword strikes should do the trick. Meta Knight wins.
Suggested by Destroyer I know Kirby characters get a lot of hype but I am not quite sold on that part of the verse. For the most part their feats aren’t super impressive. Meta Knight’s speed is his best shot here but I don’t think it’s enough to beat Mephisto. While he is mostly known for getting clowned by the more powerful supernatural fighters he does have super strength, durability, energy blasts and a lot of other tricks. I don’t think Meta Knight would be able to get around enough of his attacks in order to win. Mephisto wins.
It’s time to look at a recent Kirby game for the DS. Kirby is one of those titles where I’ve lost track of how many portable games there are. There are just so many and then you have the remakes and ports to deal with as well. I figured I could at least get a little closer to being caught up with the series though and what better way than with this one? Squeak Squad is one of the shortest Kirby games out there as it’s barely over 2 hours. That means it is the perfect pick to blast through. The gameplay is pretty solid but the length is hard to ignore.
The plot involves Kirby getting ready to eat a nice slice of cake. Unfortunately the cake is snatched away right before his very eyes. It appears that the group known as the Squeaks have stolen it. Kirby makes it his mission to track all of these guys down so he can get his cake. He will have to travel across multiple lands in order to do this, but nothing is going to stop him from getting his meal. I know how good a solid slice of cake can be so it is definitely hard to pass that up. Meanwhile, is there something more sinister at play here?
The story doesn’t move much as you only get a quick cutscene at the start and then for the final few worlds. Still, I’m always glad to see a story of any sort. It may feel rather low stakes but this is Kirby so you know that something will change by the end. Kirby has come to be known as the title with all of the extremely high end cosmic villains by the end and the games do not disappoint with this. As they go on you can always count on some pretty big villains showing up to cause damage and take people down. The final boss here is enough hype being with a cool design. In general the boss fights are pretty solid.
I also expected them to be a walk in the park but 1 in particular was actually a real challenge where I lost some lives. A big thing in the Kirby games is to make sure you have the right power for each situation. If you lose a power then a boss or level can be a lot more difficult than it would have been otherwise. That’s exactly what happened here. I lose my boomerang power so that I could make a space for the chest. Then the cloud boss that showed up was hard to deal with. I kept falling or I would get stunned for a while. The boss design was actually pretty clever and worked quite well to be honest. This was a true threat that just wouldn’t go down very easy. The rest of the bosses were more standard but I was still reasonably impressed with this.
As for the gameplay, it’s your standard Kirby style. You run through a level as you try to get to the goal. A new wrinkle is that you can hold up to 5 items in storage in addition to the ability you already have. This can be pretty handy for sure. You’ll also need those spots because some levels can have up to 3 chests. They each take up a slot so this prevents you from holding more food or special abilities. You don’t actually need to collect all of the chests in this game to clear it, but I wasn’t taking any chances and grabbed half of them during the game. In particular the important ones appear to be the mega chests at the end of a level. These have the potential to carry the Star Brands and you will need those brands in order to access the final worlds. Most of the chests aren’t really hidden during the opening worlds and only get a little more difficult in the second half of the game. I’d say that’s the main thing to be aware of but otherwise you should be good to go.
The levels are a lot shorter than I expected which makes sense for why the game is so short. There are around 50 levels in the game and you don’t have to actually clear all of them. Each level comes with a bonus level that you can skip so most worlds just have 5 levels. Each level shouldn’t take you longer than around 2 minutes to complete if you’re looking for chests. I liked the pocket size of the levels. They’re part of the game’s charm and it makes this game very easy to just pick up and play. The level designs are quite excellent but that’s no surprise.
The graphics are definitely pretty good. I liked the little illustrations we would get to progress the story as well. The artwork was definitely on point and it helped to show that this game had a reasonable budget. The soundtrack is very good. That one has a lot of remixes from previous games and all of the tunes end up feeling pretty iconic. This is definitely more in line with what I would expect from a Nintendo title and they did not disappoint. These tunes are memorable and really get you into the spirit of things.
In terms of replay value there is some although not a whole lot. Completing the whole game with half of the collectibles only took a little over 2 hours. If you go back to get the rest of them then I guess you could maybe stretch this to 4 hours. That’s about it though so I can’t give the game a whole lot of credit for that. 4 hours for 100% completion rate is not really amazing at all but the sheer enjoyment factor of the game will keep this one operating at a positive level. If anything I would just say as a disclaimer that you shouldn’t buy this game for a high price. Make sure you get it for around 15 or something and then it’s a good deal.
Overall, Kirby Squeak Squad was pretty fun. It’s a brief experience but I certainly enjoyed the smooth gameplay and fun plot. This is a game I could recommend to anyone who likes platformers or wants to start the genre. Despite that one boss being a little tricky, the game is pretty easy so it works perfectly as an introduction. After clearing it you’ll be ready for some more adventures and slightly more difficult titles. I have another Kirby game coming up which is supposed to be tougher to complete so I look forward to seeing what challenges that one has in store for me.
Overall 7/10
I have wanted this Kirby game for a very long time. It always looked like a lot of fun since the cover was so exciting and that’s how I judged games back in the day. Alas, the title was 25 dollars and that’s not exactly chump change when you’re a kid. Still, I saved up and over 20 years later I was finally able to snag it. Unfortunately this game does not live up to the hype. Nintendo messed around with the gimmicks a little too much once again and as a result this game is rather messy. There’s a great final boss as always, but the game is just lacking that wholesome feel to it.
The plot of the game is that Kirby has been thrown into the Mirror World and split into 4. He must now team up with himself to save the planet and stop the darkness from consuming it. I do like the plot as teaming up with yourself is always the smartest possible move. You just can’t go wrong there. Of course, you have to take the plot at face value as there will be no more cutscenes at all until the climax of the game. Clearly you are supposed to be playing this game for the gameplay and not the riveting story. Certainly not a bad thing, but worth pointing out.
The gameplay is your typical Kirby experience as you run and jump while going through the levels. You can absorb all of the enemies and most of them will give you super powers. You can only use one ability at a time though so don’t try and overdo it with absorbing everybody or you’ll end up with a weaker move than the one you already had. If you are playing on single player mode then you can use the R button to call in the other 3 at the expense of 1 Wifi Bar. They are extremely OP in this game so if you want to beat a boss really quickly just call them in. Typically they will restore you to full health and also beat the boss in under a minute. Even the final boss is no match for the Kirby crew. Meanwhile you can use the L button to leave a level. Why would you possibly want to leave a level? Well, that’s where things get a little interesting.
This game doesn’t have typical start to finish levels like most Nintendo games. Instead it went the Metroid route (Why would you do that?) and the level just segways into a bunch of others, but they are also connected. Unlike Metroid you do get a bunch of different teleport areas which will take you from place to place so that’s a start. At first the game will be a rather tough experience as there are dozens of entryways to explore. Once you find a portal and activate it you can use it from the hub world. Naturally this does mean that the game will get a lot easier as you go through it. The first 2-3 world keys took me forever to get, but the last 3 were done in a snap because there just weren’t many paths left. It’s not really my cup of tea though. The intro would have certainly been a lot easier if I had realized the perks of each special ability though. Fire Comet lets you break metal blocks in front of you while stomp handled the ones beneath. Most abilities have some kind of purpose to them so just remember where you can find the enemy with the ability that you need. If not, each teleport chamber has 2 abilities so the more that you find, the easier access you have to them. I spent a ton of time just running around without a clear direction because I couldn’t find out how to get past the blocks. If you know which abilities to use from the start that should help considerably.
The graphics are pretty solid and do the Kirby characters justice. The sprites have aged really well and the colors are very easy to look at. You won’t have to squint at the screen and wonder what is happening at any point in the adventure. Likewise the soundtrack is also pretty solid as we get some nice boss themes and level music. It’s really no surprise as Nintendo excels in these two categories, but always nice to see nonetheless. Of course, since the game was so light on cutscenes that probably did free up the budget for everything else.
As far as the length is concerned, I was certainly satisfied. Thanks to the maze like structure of the game I doubt you will be speed blitzing through this title. A lot of the levels involve trial and error as you choose one way the first time and a different one on the second try. Once you get the maps for each world that eliminates such an approach but the irony is that you probably won’t find them until you are nearly at the end anyway. I ended up beating the game while still missing 4-5 of the maps so ultimately they weren’t a huge factor. As far as replay value goes, collecting the rest of the collectibles is naturally the main incentive. That should take a reasonably long amount of time.
Overall, Kirby & The Amazing Mirror is probably the weakest Kirby game. It’s very close between this one and the Rainbow title, but the latter did have a better story. Still, the game holds up decently. It’s just one of those titles that has a really dicey start so you just have to endure it until you’re in the second half. It’s the same situation as Digimon World Next Order for example as your Digimon have to constantly use the bathroom and everything at first, but by the end it’s better. Still, you can certainly find better platformers so buy this Kirby game only if you’ve already played all of the others.
Overall 6/10
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