Another week arrives and lo and behold, the Virtual Console did not have to suffer through another week of neglect. But was it worth the wait? Let’s take a gander…
Kirby Super Star
Developer: Hal
Publisher: Nintendo
Original System: Super NES
Original Release Date: 09/20/96
Price: 800 Points/$8
Chris Bowen: This is a great collection of classic Kirby gameplay mixed in with some cool bonuses to go along with it. They added the ability to have a captured enemy help you along the way, which was a nice addition to the formula. This is where Nintendo started to get away from what made Kirby great, though it didn’t get silly yet – Dream Course, I’m looking at you – and the game is still very good, if a bit easy.
This is a great game if you have kids.
EDIT BY BOWEN: I forgot to mention this before: YOU GET TO FIGHT LOLO AND LALA! <333 No, seriously! (Thanks to Hardcore Gaming 101)
___
Mark B.: Kirby Super Star is one of the better Kirby games available, largely because, as Chris noted, it’s essentially a normal game in the franchise mixed with a ton of little additions and mini-games to goof around with long before that was a thing. The ability to play with a second player is also quite cool if you happen to have a friend around who wants to join in. If you own the DS remake, Kirby Super Star Ultra, you probably won’t have much use for this, but on the off chance that you don’t, this is a worthwhile download if you like Kirby or platformers in general.
The WiiWare gets two new games this week. Among them is an addition to the BIT.TRIP series, BIT.TRIP RUNNER, which runs for 800 Wii Points/$8. BIT.TRIP RUNNER continues the retro arcade theme and is a side scroller wherein you’re constantly on the move and have to duck and jump over obstacles. Blood Beach goes for 1,000 Wii Points/$10 and involves defending the Solomon Islands from the invading Japanese Imperial Navy, which might bring to mind the Solomon Islands campaign of World War II.
As far as the DSiWare goes, another four games join the ranks. Looksley’s Line Up is priced at 500 DSi Points/$5 and incorporates the camera into a hidden object game in that you move the DSi around to find various objects. Frogger Returns also costs 500 DSi Points/$5 and is basically the arcarde version of Frogger in 3D. This game is also available on the Playstation Network and WiiWare, though regardless of the system, this doesn’t seem to be the best showing for our green amphibian friend. A Topsy Turvy Life: Turvy Drops 200 DSi Points/$2 has you holding your DSi upside down (which seems somewhat…unwieldy) and drawing blocks to drop below into the empty spaces. Lastly, Flips: More Bloody Horowitz goes for 200 DSi Points/$2 and contains three tales from Anthony Horowitz, author of the Alex Rider series. As the title implies, they’re all horror themed, so if you’re in the mood for something chilling, there you go.
There you have it for this week. A relatively solid VC release (unless you own the aforementioned DS remake), two decent WiiWare games, and a hodgepodge group of DSiWare games. Check back here next week for a rundown of Nintendo’s next set of releases.
Leave a Reply