Monday, May 11, 2015

Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland (Game Boy Advance, 2002)

In today's MAN-SIZED post, I cover the super-cool Kirby's Adventure remake.


It's ATTACK OF THE CLONES as Kirby launches a full-scale invasion of the Hal logo.

Daniel Bryan's favorite world returns! Right off the bat, this is a lot nicer visually than the original. And portable!

I wanted to cover this right after Kirby's Adventure so that I could see the similarities firsthand. I first played this years after Adventure, and enough time had passed that I didn't even realize it was a remake.

Super Saiyan Kirby takes on the enemies of Freedom. Right off the bat, I like that the special powers add to Kirby's character sprite in this one.

The first miniboss is Poppy, as usual, but the visuals are a huge improvement. It's more like playing a cartoon now.

The Freeze power makes Kirby look oddly familiar...

Ice Man: "ICE TO MEET YOU."

Translation: "Fear Me"

The electric power returns and looks cooler than ever. Electric bolts are much more fun than mere sparks.

Man, these power-descriptions need to chill out. Is he burping?

Whispy Woods is the first boss, of course. The visuals in this are so awesomely detailed. Here's the NES version again, for comparison:

Retro charm or not... yeah, this doesn't look anywhere near as good.

Kirby now takes a much-needed vacation with the second world. Or tries to, before he gets interrupted by Puerto Ricans King Dedede's ruffians.

Wow, that background really is nice. Especially for a portable in 2002. Ten years before this we had black and white screens and LIKED IT

The sword is one of the things that made Kirby's Adventure stand out from the Kirby pack, and it's just as common in this game.

More great backgrounds... is this really Game Boy Advance?

Our hero acquires a laser beam as the backgrounds continue to be wildly stimulating and colorful.

Kirby takes on a super-dastardly miniboss. Meanwhile up top we see some Waddle Dee on Waddle Dee action, which is illegal in some parts of the south.

Kirby sometimes takes a moment to cut a blistering promo. I was going to do a whole bit here re-creating the final Battle Rap of 8-Mile, but that'd just be ridiculous.

GIMME YO ICE POWAA.

Kirby busts out the Hi-Jump power, another thing I really like from Kirby's Adventure. It's a little hard to use effectively as an attack, but it sure is fun to mess around with.
Second boss is The Artiste and his malevolent paintings. Eh, I liked it more when Final Fantasy VI did it.

The level intros are pretty much the same as the NES version, as we see Poppy getting the better of Kirby for the one time in recorded history. Speaking of, let's check in with 1993...

CLIMB, YOU MAGNIFICENT BASTARD! DON'T LET THIS BE THE END!

At this point I take on a "quick-draw" minigame. It's pretty fun, actually.

Defeat several jobbers and you meet King Dedede in samurai combat to the death. I really dislike calling him "DeDeDe"

Wait, what? Meta Knight is higher on the totem pole than King Dedede?

Here's a shot that almost looks an NES game. Maybe it's the ladder, maybe it's the background...it reminds me of Mega Man 6.

You heard it here, folks. Kirby cuts people.

Behold! The third (plus?) iteration of these guys. They're as angry as ever. Why all the rage?

It doesn't help that I brought Hi-Jump to this fight. It's one of the lesser offensive powers, as I mentioned before. The good news is that these guys aren't exactly difficult, so I win regardless. I think they put up the most fight in Dream Land 2 since they had a nasty eclipse attack there.

Next, Kirby takes on bomb-throwing terrorists in a new post-9/11 world.

Next, Kirby takes on the German blitzkrieg! EAT FIRE POWER, LUFTWAFFE! USA! USA!

Tough-as-nails All-American Kirby puts on a hard hat and gets shot out of a cannon! Our enemies fear his blue-collar work ethic!

Here's the greatest shot in this entire post, as I utilize the backdrop power to literally SUPLEX some poor foe.

Kirby suplexes the red right out of these communist bastards! SUPLEX CITY, BITCH!

The Kracko fight pretty much goes down (...or up) the same way it does on the NES, with you having to stay ahead of Kracko in a vertical cloud passage. Hi-Jump rules here.

It's good during the ensuing fight, too. Man, I have a lot of fun with this particular power. I have a lot of fun with this particular GAME. I'd put this and Kirby's Adventure way above the three Kirby's Dream Land games from the 90's, nostalgia aside. They're just a blast. Either way, all of the above are still better than Kirby's Epic Yarn. That game... I did not like. Took me two hours to beat it and I think it might have been near-impossible to actually lose a life, plus it didn't seem to have anything to do with Kirby. Inventive level design with the yarn n'stuff, at least.

Tornado is another power that I really like. It's hard to control, but it lets you zip all around the screen just murdering everything.

Ball COULD be a fun power, but it's a bit hard to use effectively. I vastly prefer the ball controls in, say, Super Metroid once you have the Spring Ball.

Uh oh. This flaming dog boss looks like a refugee from a completely different game. This shot is as close as Kirby ever gets to Bloodborne.

Speaking of the Spring Ball, the wall-chewing boss that leads you to it shows up here...sorta. Went over this in the previous post.

Five worlds down, two left, as I head for Orange Ocean. I like the color scheme of this place even more now with the watercolor-ish graphics.

Kirby: Where America finds hope. Where wings take dream.
Not only is our hero hot pink, he also sports a dainty umbrella. Gay rights! USA! USA!

...I don't even know what Kirby stands for anymore. He's like the ultimate Independent candidate. A true uniter!

Wow, that's... that's Beautiful.

The Meta-Knight battle is great in this game too, just a straight-up swordfight.

Every strike to him causes the whole screen to pixellate. Awesome.

Win the duel of the ages, and it's onward to the final stage as Kirby pledges his support for marriage equality. Who knew this game was so political?

Whoa, I'm under the floor. One mistake and Kirby falls to his death. BEHOLD KIRBY, I AM YOUR GOD.

Kirby finds a switch. "I am the clitoris" says the switch. I did NOT see that coming!

Kirby takes a hammer to the switch, proving he has no idea how to work a switch.

Then he gets stoned on a cloud. He may be politically involved, but what kind of example is he setting for the kids here?

I defeat the flaming dog boss again, only to have Kirby use his flames to light up a blunt and get high again. He then looks around at the arena crowd and goes "Are you not entertained, maaan?"

Kirby uses his lightning power to dispatch a clock boss right out of Mario RPG. It isn't easy being a clock. People are always asking you what time it is.

The backgrounds in this game are OUTTA CONTROL.

As in the NES original, the final level is a Kirby's Dream Land redux. Since this is a remake of an NES game, having a Game Boy redux level inside of that is like video game Inception.

The enemies are still color, but the rest of this is grayscale. Because it's The Past, but it's also a reminder of where this series came from.

A quick bit of Castle Lololo follows. If this were a Mario game, I'd be totally screwed here. I'd have to do a running ducking-leap perfectly to get over the cannonball.
I've never liked these suck-impervious flying foes. After all these years I'm still not sure what they're supposed to be, either.

The moon has a secret door, just like the original game(s). So cool. Kirby goes through it and immediately plummets several hundred feet. He was 38.

Finally, our hero locks horns with King Dedede yet again. It's the same fight as usual, except Dedede seems to have gotten bigger. He takes up a lot of the screen, so it's a bit tougher to avoid him.

Dedede busts out fresh dance moves! He's getting down and getting funky!

Kirby counters with Blue Steele!

Dedede is DONE. Cart him off to the hospital, he's been served. It's the worst serving I've ever seen.

But wait! There's another world? Ya don't say. Time for Nightmare.

The Star Rod materializes, and that'll be Kirby's weapon for the final fight.
Nightmare's first form is a ball that fires lasers. The Star Rod lets Kirby fling stars back at him, essentially turning this final fight into a shooter.

Atmospheric re-entry is the biggest threat here, as usual. Take too long to win the fight, and...

...Kirby eventually gets crushed by the oncoming ground as the screen autoscrolls downward.

Defeat the ball, and Nightmare shows his true form. He's quite a bit more detailed and memorable here than the NES version.

Unfortunately, I get distracted by his chin and die. The hell is up with his chin?

The next go is much better. At this point he throws his cloak to the side and flashes our hero with his weird distortion-body. The police were called, and Animal Control ended up taking him down with a taser and a huge net.

Kirby speeds off on a warp-star while "The Crow Flies Straight" plays. He lets us know that King Dedede is a really good guy, honest. He's just oddly susceptible to mind control.

That does it for the main story. I'm not done yet, though.

Now I get to go back to the earlier stages to get 100%. I swim to hidden doors, get fired out of cannons, sabotage boats, and stimulate switches. Finally, I...

...get 100%. That does it for this super-awesome game, and Impromptu Kirby Week for that matter. Time to cover something a little more grown-up, like more Ninja Turtles or something.

Other Kirby Posts

6 comments:

  1. This was my very first game and I love it so! :3
    2 things regarding Epic Yarn: The reason you found it near impossible to lose a life is...you can't. It's impossible to die. Also it felt like it had not much to do with Kirby because it was originally gonna star the blue guy, but they felt it wouldn't rack up as many buys so they slapped Kirby on.
    And what? D: You didn't beat Extra Mode? Dude! If you do, you unlock a mode where you play as Meta Knight! It's super cool and ultra MANLY.

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    1. I remember you mentioning that this was your first game. That's pretty awesome. I had no idea you can play as Meta-Knight in ANY Kirby game, so now I'm going to have to give this game another round...

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    2. You can in Kirby's Return to Dreamland too!

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  2. GBA had a lot of stuff you wouldn't see on SNES, sometimes it was more like PS1 2D.

    Down there they insist that marriage is between a Dee and a Doo.

    Damn Poppy Bros and his banana shoes!

    Just call him Triple D. He already has the hammer.

    The best iteration of Mr. Shine and Mr. Bright is in Kirby's Dream Course. Fantastic game.

    Man, Kirby can even take Lesnar's powers.

    Ball would be the most useless if Sleep didn't exist.

    I love the Parasol float.

    In this game DeDeDe took the Star Rod because putting it in the fountain would cause Nightmare to arise. That's why he's all "plzdon't" to Kirby after their battle.

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    1. I remember seeing this image:
      King Dedede: hoe don't do it
      *Kirby pulls the Star Rod out of the fountain*
      King Dedede: oh my god
      Needless to say, it fit pretty well.

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  3. "Wow, that background really is nice." GIVE WHOEVER DREW THIS A RAISE. At first I was like "how could this be appreciably better than the NES game that looked so good?" but you're right it is on a new level, with this shot that looks like a painting proving it.

    Little to say throughout because I was so agog at the graphics. Just beautiful. Had to scroll through them all again just so I could appreciate the creativity of whoever designed them.

    Jer have you played the game as Meta Knight yet???

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