Kirby Triple Deluxe is a 2D platformer game only for 3DS, which was developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo, and it is a thirteenth installment and first 3DS title of all Kirby series.
It's been for very long time that I haven't had played any of Kirby's games since I remembered the first time renting the copy of Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards on the N64 back in my early 2000s days. The character had caught my attention, after playing Kirby 64 and he's also a fighting roster in Super Smash Bros series, which I consider Kirby as the cutest character in video games.
I also had a chance to play Kirby's Adventure on my NES classic mini which is also excellent NES title, so I am very glad that I had a miniature console comes with 30 built-in games awhile back in my Christmas day 2018.
I was planning to get any copy of Kirby titles for the Nintendo platforms such as SNES, GBA, N64, and Wii, but most of the Kirby titles are ridiculously rare and pricey in which I cannot afford due to my budgeting reason, not till I was lucky to get Kirby Triple Deluxe for 3DS which I got it for just £10 from online retail store.
I've been playing this game for a week on my 3DS to see if this title are just good as the previous entries of Kirby series, so far it's looks pretty and played good on the 3DS as I did enjoyed the overall single-player story filled with many great things in the game such as cool copy abilities, unique level design, two different paths, gyro controls, hidden secrets, and boss battles.
The reason why it named as the triple deluxe is because it comes with not just the main game itself, but also featuring two mini games such as Kirby fighters and Dedede's Drum Dash which is also a great bonus features that keeps you more busy on this game.
After having fun playing all three games in one, I will also discuss the two disadvantages that the game had suffered, but it's still a fun pack title for the 3DS libraries.
So without go further do, let's start the review.
Presentation
The game takes place in a fantasy world of Dream Land. The game focuses on lovable round-ball creature named Kirby enjoying his full normal day of fishing, eating, and riding his warp star, until the night where the huge dreamstalk begins growing under the Dream Land and carries various landmarks into the sky.
Kirby makes his way to Dedede's Castle where he discovers the six-armed tarantula named Taranza capturing King Dedede which leads Kirby to track down the kidnapper into very top of giant dreamstalk as well as his quest to rescue King Dedede.
The story presentation is somewhat inspired by Jack and the Beanstalk which is the reason the game had borrowed the element, but it is completely in different storyline and featuring two main characters in the game.
The story is actually pretty good in the game which does not require a strong storyline which involves the pink little hero had discovered the new land he never seen before and trying to save the King from the evil ones which is the reason why it is so good on the opening scenes.
Kirby is one of the major character in the game that has a cuteness on his personality. He always been a happy and charming kid that loves spending his time to start playing around, loves making friends, and huge food eater.
He's one of the most innocent and clever video game character that is the reason why we all loved him so much.
I'm kinda bit surprised that King Dedede are no longer a villain in every game since Kirby's Dream Land 3, so I really liked the idea of having to change him from being greedy and selfish into more nicer and friendly as well as accepting to help Kirby to deal with greater threats together.
There are two main villains in the game such as Taranza is one of the trouble-making magician that uses his power to turn objects into monsters and control other beings as well as preventing Kirby stopping him from getting in his way which I describe him as clumsy, but being outright smartass.
Then you have Queen Sectonia who is...WTF NINTENDO!!! STOP BRING A F***ING BEES IN VIDEO GAMES!!!!! woah okay, I'll apologised with my total freakout on insects especially with bees and wasps in general, okay let's move on to review now.
She's one of the corrupted villain who attempted to take over Floralia and Planet Popstar so as to become their goddess which makes her becoming the most vile Queen in the universe.
The whole presentation on levels and concepts are actually pretty well done for most part.
It came with 6 different locations are included in the main game such as fine fields which is a grassland filled with flowers and greenery, the lollipop land is one of the candyland area filled with lots of sweets and desserts all over the places, the old odyssey is an cold mountain island has covered in cliffs and icy biomes, the wild world has huge ancient Egyptian and Mayan pyramids, the endless explosions has a huge eruption of volcanoes, and finally royal road is one of the Queen's dark castle has medieval look in the stages in which I think it looks remarkably outstanding that fits pretty well in the game.
Overall, it has cute storyline, memorable characters, and very sweet presentation.
Gameplay
On the main story, you have overhead map to select which level to play on, while it also shows stats in the game like how many sun stones and key chains you have collected after beating each stage.
You take control of Kirby in 2D perspective which borrows the elements from Kirby's Return to Dream Land as your main objective is to beat the stage by heading to goal area.
You can move Kirby by pressing d-pad or circle pad to move, the A button to jump while repeatedly mashing A to make him float high, but you can also press B button to blow out air attack in mid-air. Holding down the B button to inhale the enemies, but also press B again to spit out star at the enemy, while inhaling the enemy again and then pressing d-pad down to swallow which allowing him to use various of copy ability.
You will have a total of 26 Copy Abilities appear in this game such as the archer that shoots arrow in different direction, the bomb that allow you to throw bombs, the fighter makes kirby punching and kicking, the sword lets you use sword weapon, the wheel turns you into racing wheels, the ninja gives you ability to throw shurikens at far range and slashing blade at close range, the fire lets you melt icy objects, the whip uses as whipping attacks, and there's plenty more variety of Kirby's copy abilities you can attack them which I think these ability system are working flawlessly on most stages, but you can also remove ability by pressing the X button if you want to.
To keep you mind, the enemy instantly attacks you which causes your ability to remove as ability star starts bouncing around the level which you can also retrieve it by inhale and swallow it back into same form as before.
Kirby also can perform slide attack by pressing d-pad down and A button to break ground objects.
It also introduces new mechanics in the game, such as boxes with stars on them that allowing Kirby to teleport to other boxes, and there are a glass walls that you are walking through them which instantly removing one of the Kirby's abilities.
The game also uses the 3DS's motion controls that you can use it by tilting the 3DS system in which are used for some parts in the game such as riding on a gondola and pouring a bowl of water which is quite responsive to use gyro-motion especially you can also reset your tilting balance on the touch screen into centred position which really helps you balancing your 3DS system smoothly.
You can increase your health by collecting various of food to eat and then you will have invincible candy which makes your character invisible on short period of time.
The game features stars that can be collected throughout levels, so each of stars has different collecting system such as green stars are worth five, red are worth ten, blue are worth twenty, and yellow stars are worth one, but if collecting all 100 stars will reward you with extra life.
You will have a buddy named Bandana Waddle Dee will provides Kirby with a random assist item, which is stored on the touch screen and can be used at any time you want.
The goal game at the end of every level that can reward you with stars and recovery items, but it can also award you a collectable keychain which can stored on your world map or the main menu screen.
You will able to find sun stones which can be found on hidden secrets, so collecting all the sun stones on each world level will unlock the extra stages which the stage will labelled as EX.
The game takes advantages of 3DS's 3D technology by frequently having Kirby, projectiles, enemies, and obstacles move toward or away from the screen.
You will see Kirby getting hit by springy hand which launched him into screen, the 3D warp star will change Kirby's dimension from the foreground into the background and vice versa, and there's certain of new items and abilities which allowing Kirby to attack enemies in the background from the foreground and vice versa which I think it's very creative to see how the game can able to manage the game well for its 3DS standards.
My favourite part in the game is the miracle fruit item called hypernova which makes Kirby's inhaling abilities even powerful that allowing him to inhale bigger things such as large trees, pulling large items, and catching giant projectiles which is one of the best parts in the game that I really enjoyed it.
So far I really liked the various of abilities had worked absolutely well as the older Kirby's titles because we know the character is so cool for having to copy and using the same abilities as some enemies in the game especially with swords, ninjas, fire, and etc. are very useful for whole main game.
The 3DS motion system are actually done smoothly for some parts in the level which fits really well for the 3DS library, so I didn't have any trouble of using the motion sensor thanks to reset position button on touch screen which really helps me to balancing the system properly.
The game does have two different paths on some levels where it had two different doors to figure out which ones are leading us to something like hidden secrets.
I like spending time of collecting all of key chains and sun stones which is huge rewarding for players like me that loves discovering a new item in the game.
The issue in the game was the game's difficulty itself which I considered it too easy for boss battles and the whole levels which makes the game much quicker to beat, so it could have been better if they added the difficulty options to satisfy players who seeks with the bigger challenge and I finding the length of the game is quite short compared with games like Kirby's adventure has 8 world levels opposed with this game has 6 world levels which is just exactly the same length as the Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, so I wish it could have added 3 more worlds to extend the game's length, but so far I did manage to enjoy the whole main story mode for its creative gameplay and unique levels.
There are some games mode that can keep you busy such as Kirby fighters which is a super smash bros style where you get to play as any Kirby with different ability to battle other Kirbies in stages based on levels from previous Kirby games which is really awesome that you can enjoy playing this mode with your friends through multiplayer, and then you have a rhythm game mode called Dedede's Drum Dash where you take control of King Dedede bouncing the drum through the level while avoiding the enemies and collecting coins to the tune of classic Kirby songs.
He also a playable on the extra modes called Dedede Tour! where you need to complete the whole level through time attack which is also a fun to play.
Overall, it has creative gameplay, unique levels, and cool game modes.
Graphics
The graphics is looking spectacular on 3DS standards. The overall environments of level design are bright and colourful for most stages in each worlds. I also liked the dimensions between the foreground and background on each stage which is pretty unique for 3DS title where you can able to see well made scenery from the background stages, while it has the objects and other random stuff on the foreground which is looking better on 3D side by displaying the 3DS's stereoscopic 3D effects.
The visual design has great use of animation and lighting effects which fits pretty well on the stages and most of the characters and enemies is looking amazing for its overall design especially most of the 3DS game like this was being capable of making the game look damn impressive for the system's powerhouse.
Overall, it has colourful environments, cool dimensions, and impressive visual design.
Music and Sounds
The original soundtrack is just sounds epic as the rest of the Kirby's titles which was composed by Hirokazu Ando and Jun Ishikawa did a fabulous job of making the greatest music of all Kirby series.
The sound effects still retains the same old-school sounds from previous Kirby games that keeps the game very faithful to the series.
Although it didn't had a full voice over in the game except it only uses small phrases from Kirby like "Hi" or "Poyo" in every stage which is quite acceptable for every Kirby titles.
Overall, it has great soundtrack and decent sounds design.
Special Features
The game has over 100 sun stones and numerous key chains to collect, and it has unlockable content such as copy ability testing room, EX stages, jukebox, Dedede Tour!, and The Arena which is a welcome addition to this game.
Overall, it has plenty enough content in the game.
Advantages
Cute presentation
Adorable protagonist
Colourful graphics design
Unique levels
Cool ability system
Great game mode
Memorable soundtrack
More unlockables
Disadvantages
The game too easy
Short length play
Final Verdict
Presentation 9/10 - cute storyline, memorable characters, and very sweet presentation.
Gameplay 8.5/10 - creative gameplay, unique levels, and cool game modes.
Graphics 8.5/10 - colourful environments, cool dimensions, and impressive visual design.
Music and Sounds 9/10 - great soundtrack and decent sounds design.
Special Features 8.5/10 - collectable items and unlockable content.
Overall 8.5/10 - I am very happy that I am fully enjoyed Kirby Triple Deluxe on the 3DS had filled with adorable moments, classy gameplay, colourful visuals and has fair replay value which is the reason to recommend to all the fans of not just Kirby fans, but also a fan of platform genres in general.
Kirby Triple Deluxe is a finest 2D platformer that everyone should get a hands on because it is clearly one of the Kirby's strongest title of all 3DS libraries.
The game cost around less than £15 from online store thanks to Nintendo Selects program allowing their game to reduce down the current price.
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