Kirby Super Star
Encyclopedia
Kirby Super Star, known as Kirby's Fun Pak in Europe
and as in Japan
, is a 1996 platforming
video game developed by HAL Laboratory
and published by Nintendo
for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System
video game console
. It was first released in Japan
on March 21, 1996, in North America
on September 20, 1996, and in Europe
on January 23, 1997. Kirby Super Star′s box art states that the game features eight games in one cartridge. Most of these games offered are mostly platforming-oriented, while some others are mini-games.
Kirby Super Star has been remade for the Nintendo DS
under the name of Kirby Super Star Ultra.
Kirby Super Star plays like a standard 16-bit era
platforming video game, in which Kirby, the main character, can go left, right, up and down on a two dimensional plane. Throughout each level, Kirby must avoid touching environmental hazards and a variety of enemies, who mostly have their own attacks. Kirby has a health meter, and when this is depleted, Kirby loses one life and returns to a save point. If he loses all of his lives, the game ends.
Kirby Super Star allows Kirby to copy the abilities of his enemies, and then perform a wide range of attacks using these abilities. Kirby wears different hats and changes color according to the ability he is using.
One of the unique features of this Kirby game is the addition of a "helper". The helper is an enemy-turned-friend who follows Kirby around and helps fight enemies. A second player can use an additional controller to control the helper, making a solo experience into a two-player adventure. The helper also sometimes has abilities that Kirby does not when taken control of by a second player. For instance, if Kirby got a Wheel Kirby
power and turned it into a helper, Kirby could ride on the helper. While Kirby would die after falling into a pit, a helper character had no such vulnerability. Most of the mini-games have two-player modes as well.
Kirby Super Star is one of the three international Super Nintendo
games (outside Japan) that uses the SA-1 chip. The other two are Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
and Kirby's Dream Land 3
.
There are seven main games in Kirby Super Star that follow the platforming mould set forth by Kirby's Adventure and other earlier Kirby games.
for the Game Boy
, and uses Kirby Super Star′s gameplay and enhanced graphics, including copy abilities and a helper, which the original game lacks. Kirby must make his way to a castle to challenge King Dedede and recapture the food that was stolen from the citizens of Dream Land. Unlike the original, Float Islands and Castle Lololo have merged and Kaboola doesn't appear. Also, upon reaching Castle Dedede, Kirby does not have to face all the previous bosses he fought.
′s Quick Draw. There are five opponents, which get progressively more difficult. The objective is to attack the opponent at the right time without being too early or too late. Reaction times are based on the 1/100 of a second. The hundredths of a second go by whole numbers (e.g. 24/100 of a second would be displayed on the screen as "24"). Another version was featured in Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land, which replaces Quick Draw. The English version still has the "Quick Draw" name, however, the Japanese version states that it is an update of Samurai Kirby.
.
) in 2008 for the Nintendo DS
. It includes all games found in the original, but adds several new ones. In addition, the game features 3D FMV
cut scenes for all of the levels, improves the visuals from Kirby Super Star, includes additions and modifications to some of the games, while also adding unlockable features that let the player view all unlocked cut-scenes and music from the game. Unlike the original SNES game, Kirby Super Star Ultra wasn't renamed for its European release.
In addition to the original games, Kirby Super Star Ultra features several new games. The first new levels are the Touch Screen-based sub-games, which include Snack Tracks, Kirby Card Swipe, and Kirby on the Draw. All of these games feature four Kirbys, and the objective in them is to get the most points of the four. In Snack Tracks, Kirby is laying in front of a conveyor belt which is carrying food towards them, attempting to eat the most of the four while the player touches non-food objects to keep them out of Kirby's path. Kirby Card Swipe requires the player to view a certain number of cards with images on them, wait for an image to show on the top screen, and then touch whatever card matches the image shown. Kirby on the Draw requires Kirby to shoot at images that appear in a shooting gallery. Like in many shooting galleries, most images give the player extra points, while some give negative points. A two player mode was added to Spring Breeze, using Nintendo Wi-Fi to connect to another Super Star Ultra game card. Although player 2 controls the helper from his/her DS, they have to look at player 1's screen, who plays as Kirby. There were four new platforming modes which were based on previous games in Kirby Super Star. The first, Revenge of the King, is a more difficult version of the mode Spring Breeze, modeled after the Extra Game mode in Kirby's Dream Land, including an extra stage which reinstates Kabula as one of the bosses. The second, called Meta Knightmare Ultra, was based on Spring Breeze, Dyna Blade, The Great Cave Offensive, Revenge of Meta Knight, and Milky Way Wishes. It features the character Meta Knight in a playable capacity. The latter two new modes are based on The Arena; the first put players in control of Kirby's helper characters, while the latter is a more difficult version of The Arena. In Helper to Hero, all of the characters are the helpers of each of Kirby's abilities, and they will have to battle various bosses. In The True Arena, the player must fight all of the bosses and mid-bosses from Revenge of the King, as well as the last bosses from Helper to Hero, and Meta Knightmare Ultra, with the player ultimately facing a stronger version of Marx known as Marx Soul, who serves as the true final boss of the entire game. In addition to the new sub-games, the two original sub-games, Megaton Punch and Samurai Kirby, are unlockables.
. Electronic Gaming Monthly gave the game a review score of 8.62/10.
Kirby Super Star Ultra has received mostly positive reviews. Famitsu
gave the game a 32/40. 1UP
gave Super Star Ultra an "A-", praising it for its multiplayer and describes it as "excellent", but notes that it is not very difficult and the level design is not as intricate as in the Mario series
. IGN
's Craig Harris gave it a 7.9, saying that, while fun, the game is "a bit on the easy side".
On December 11, 2008, Super Star Ultra became a Famitsu Gold title. As of January 11, 2009, Kirby Super Star Ultra has sold 1,021,000 copies in Japan. It was also the ninth best-selling game of Japan in 2008. As of December 2008, it was the fifth best-selling Nintendo DS game in the U.S.
Kirby Super Star was made available on the Japanese Virtual Console
on October 13, 2009, in North America on May 17, 2010 and in the PAL
region on May 28, 2010.
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and as in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, is a 1996 platforming
Platform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
video game developed by HAL Laboratory
HAL Laboratory
is a Japanese video game developer that was founded on February 21, 1980. It is headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo. Its name comes from the HAL 9000 computer in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. The company is most famous for its character Kirby, the protagonist of the eponymous game series, as well as...
and published by Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
video game console
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
. It was first released in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
on March 21, 1996, in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
on September 20, 1996, and in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
on January 23, 1997. Kirby Super Star′s box art states that the game features eight games in one cartridge. Most of these games offered are mostly platforming-oriented, while some others are mini-games.
Kirby Super Star has been remade for the Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
under the name of Kirby Super Star Ultra.
Gameplay
History of video game consoles (fourth generation)
In the history of computer and video games, the fourth generation began on October 30, 1987 with the Japanese release of Nippon Electric Company's PC Engine...
platforming video game, in which Kirby, the main character, can go left, right, up and down on a two dimensional plane. Throughout each level, Kirby must avoid touching environmental hazards and a variety of enemies, who mostly have their own attacks. Kirby has a health meter, and when this is depleted, Kirby loses one life and returns to a save point. If he loses all of his lives, the game ends.
Kirby Super Star allows Kirby to copy the abilities of his enemies, and then perform a wide range of attacks using these abilities. Kirby wears different hats and changes color according to the ability he is using.
One of the unique features of this Kirby game is the addition of a "helper". The helper is an enemy-turned-friend who follows Kirby around and helps fight enemies. A second player can use an additional controller to control the helper, making a solo experience into a two-player adventure. The helper also sometimes has abilities that Kirby does not when taken control of by a second player. For instance, if Kirby got a Wheel Kirby
Wheel
A wheel is a device that allows heavy objects to be moved easily through rotating on an axle through its center, facilitating movement or transportation while supporting a load, or performing labor in machines. Common examples found in transport applications. A wheel, together with an axle,...
power and turned it into a helper, Kirby could ride on the helper. While Kirby would die after falling into a pit, a helper character had no such vulnerability. Most of the mini-games have two-player modes as well.
Kirby Super Star is one of the three international Super Nintendo
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
games (outside Japan) that uses the SA-1 chip. The other two are Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, often shortened and officially known in Japan as , is an action role-playing game developed by Square and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System . It was originally released on March 9, 1996 in Japan and on May 13,...
and Kirby's Dream Land 3
Kirby's Dream Land 3
Kirby's Dream Land 3, known as in Japan, is the fifth platformer video game starring Kirby. Specifically, it is the third game under the Kirby's Dream Land name. Although the first two games were largely unrelated, Dream Land 3 features many similar characters to Dream Land 2...
.
Platforming games
Spring Breeze
Spring Breeze is the first game in Kirby Super Star. King Dedede takes food from Dream Land, and Kirby needs to take it back. It is based on and is a remake of the first Kirby game, Kirby's Dream LandKirby's Dream Land
Kirby's Dream Land, known as in Japan, is a 1992 third party developed platforming video game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy handheld video game console. It was first released in Japan, and was later released in North America. It is both the first video game...
for the Game Boy
Game Boy
The , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
, and uses Kirby Super Star′s gameplay and enhanced graphics, including copy abilities and a helper, which the original game lacks. Kirby must make his way to a castle to challenge King Dedede and recapture the food that was stolen from the citizens of Dream Land. Unlike the original, Float Islands and Castle Lololo have merged and Kaboola doesn't appear. Also, upon reaching Castle Dedede, Kirby does not have to face all the previous bosses he fought.
Dyna Blade
Dyna Blade is the second game in Kirby Super Star. Dyna Blade, a giant bird, is disturbing Dream Land's crops, and Kirby tries to stop her. It uses a world map, with four levels Kirby must clear and a boss at the end. The boss at the end is Dyna Blade. There are also two secret areas and a mini-boss that moves across the world map.Gourmet Race
Gourmet Race is the third game in Kirby Super Star. Dedede challenges Kirby to a race to see who can get the most food. It is a race against King Dedede incorporating platform elements. The objective is to both beat King Dedede to the finish line and collect the most food. However beating the course is very important since you can get 90 points by winning every course, 30 for each course you win. There are three levels, and the player can choose to race either King Dedede or his "ghost", which is the player's best attempt at the race. You can also race on the courses without King Dedede. There are no snacks but the goal is to go as fast as possible, like when going against Dedede, but your fastest time is recorded for each course. There is no multiplayer option, although one is added in the Nintendo DS remake, Kirby Super Star Ultra. Also, unlike the DS remake, it does not show the total time of the best time of your courses after you finish a course when running alone.The Great Cave Offensive
The Great Cave Offensive is the fourth game in Kirby Super Star. While venturing in a forest, Kirby falls into a cave, in the game you try to get out. In it, the player attempts to collect up to sixty treasure chests strewn throughout the game. There are many different rooms containing hidden treasure chests with prizes that raise the player's score and completion rate. The maximum score is 9999990, which by collecting all 60 treasures. You go through four worlds, only to end up on the first world to go on a warp star for Kirby to escape from the cave. Some of the treasures are references to other Nintendo games, such as the Triforce, the Screw Attack, Captain Falcon's Helmet and a Mr. Saturn.Revenge of Meta Knight
Revenge of Meta Knight is the fifth game in Kirby Super Star. In it, Kirby attempts to destroy Meta Knight's battleship, the Halberd, before Meta Knight can conquer Dream Land. Each area has a time limit, which will cost Kirby a life if it hits zero. It is particularly plot-based, featuring comments from the various crew members of the Halberd. Every time you beat a round, either the ship takes damage or Kirby tries to get back on the Halberd. At the bottom of the screen, there is a meter showing how the Halberd is doing. Bosses appear such as Twin Woods, two Whispy Woods, and Heavy Lobster, a robotic lobster-like machine.Milky Way Wishes
Milky Way Wishes is the sixth game in Kirby Super Star. In it, the Sun and Moon around planet Popstar are fighting. A person about the size of Kirby bouncing on a ball, Marx, tells Kirby he must travel to different planets and defeat the boss at the end of each one in order to reach the giant comet-clock NOVA, who gives Kirby a wish. But Marx caused the Sun and Moon to fight, so Marx wishes to take over Pop Star. There are 10 planets Kirby visits although two of them are unnamed: Popstar(only in cutscenes), Floria, Skyhigh, Hotbeat, Halfmoon, Mechani, Aquarius, Cavius, Marx's Planet, and the Copy Planet. Unlike the other platform games, Kirby cannot copy the abilities of enemies he inhales; instead, he collects "Deluxe Copy Ability Pedestals". These are items with abilities on them that, once in Kirby's possession, allow the player to select them from a list of abilities. It also features a scrolling space shooter stage near the end in which you fight Nova's Nucleus. After that, you fight Marx. When he is beaten, he flies into NOVA, who then explodes, stopping Marx from taking over Popstar.The Arena
The Arena is the final game in Kirby Super Star. It is an endurance challenge that requires the player to fight every boss in the game, as well as a Waddle Dee with a LOT of endurance, one after the other without dying once. The total boss battles include 26 bosses in 19 rounds. After every boss battle is a room with the 5 Maximum Tomatoes, two randomly selected pedestals which will grant the player certain powers, the warp star to go to the next boss, and a rectangular area that shows what boss is next and how many bosses there are left. The beginning area allows the player to select a power for Kirby to use that includes almost every power in the game excluding Crash, Mike, Paint, and Starship. Five Maximum Tomatoes (they revive your health completely) are available throughout, and disappear when used. The order of bosses is random, but the final boss, Marx, is always the last one fought.Samurai Kirby
Samurai Kirby is a timing mini-game similar to Kirby's AdventureKirby's Adventure
Kirby's Adventure, known as in Japan, is a platforming video game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System video game console. It was first released March 26, 1993 in Japan, and was later released in North America on May 1, 1993, and in Europe on...
′s Quick Draw. There are five opponents, which get progressively more difficult. The objective is to attack the opponent at the right time without being too early or too late. Reaction times are based on the 1/100 of a second. The hundredths of a second go by whole numbers (e.g. 24/100 of a second would be displayed on the screen as "24"). Another version was featured in Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land, which replaces Quick Draw. The English version still has the "Quick Draw" name, however, the Japanese version states that it is an update of Samurai Kirby.
Megaton Punch
Megaton Punch is a timing mini-game. In it, the player must punch a stack of platforms by hitting the mark as close as possible in several different timing mechanics, attempting to cause more damage than the opponent. The best score you can get is 201. Another version was later featured in Kirby & the Amazing MirrorKirby & the Amazing Mirror
Kirby & the Amazing Mirror, known as in Japan, is a Kirby video game released in 2004 for the Game Boy Advance. It is Kirby's last game for the system and is the only Kirby title where Kirby's nemesis King Dedede does not make an appearance. The game has been re-released in Europe for Club...
.
Remake
Kirby Super Star received a remake titled Kirby Super Star Ultra (known as in JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
) in 2008 for the Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
. It includes all games found in the original, but adds several new ones. In addition, the game features 3D FMV
Full motion video
Full motion video based games are video games that rely upon pre-recorded TV-quality movie or animation rather than sprites, vectors, or 3D models to display action in the game. In the early 1990s a diverse set of games utilized this format...
cut scenes for all of the levels, improves the visuals from Kirby Super Star, includes additions and modifications to some of the games, while also adding unlockable features that let the player view all unlocked cut-scenes and music from the game. Unlike the original SNES game, Kirby Super Star Ultra wasn't renamed for its European release.
In addition to the original games, Kirby Super Star Ultra features several new games. The first new levels are the Touch Screen-based sub-games, which include Snack Tracks, Kirby Card Swipe, and Kirby on the Draw. All of these games feature four Kirbys, and the objective in them is to get the most points of the four. In Snack Tracks, Kirby is laying in front of a conveyor belt which is carrying food towards them, attempting to eat the most of the four while the player touches non-food objects to keep them out of Kirby's path. Kirby Card Swipe requires the player to view a certain number of cards with images on them, wait for an image to show on the top screen, and then touch whatever card matches the image shown. Kirby on the Draw requires Kirby to shoot at images that appear in a shooting gallery. Like in many shooting galleries, most images give the player extra points, while some give negative points. A two player mode was added to Spring Breeze, using Nintendo Wi-Fi to connect to another Super Star Ultra game card. Although player 2 controls the helper from his/her DS, they have to look at player 1's screen, who plays as Kirby. There were four new platforming modes which were based on previous games in Kirby Super Star. The first, Revenge of the King, is a more difficult version of the mode Spring Breeze, modeled after the Extra Game mode in Kirby's Dream Land, including an extra stage which reinstates Kabula as one of the bosses. The second, called Meta Knightmare Ultra, was based on Spring Breeze, Dyna Blade, The Great Cave Offensive, Revenge of Meta Knight, and Milky Way Wishes. It features the character Meta Knight in a playable capacity. The latter two new modes are based on The Arena; the first put players in control of Kirby's helper characters, while the latter is a more difficult version of The Arena. In Helper to Hero, all of the characters are the helpers of each of Kirby's abilities, and they will have to battle various bosses. In The True Arena, the player must fight all of the bosses and mid-bosses from Revenge of the King, as well as the last bosses from Helper to Hero, and Meta Knightmare Ultra, with the player ultimately facing a stronger version of Marx known as Marx Soul, who serves as the true final boss of the entire game. In addition to the new sub-games, the two original sub-games, Megaton Punch and Samurai Kirby, are unlockables.
Reception
Kirby Super Star sold over 1 million copies in Japan. It has an average score of 82.1% on Game RankingsGame Rankings
GameRankings is a website that collects review scores from both offline and online sources to give an average rating. It indexes over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 games.GameRankings is owned by CBS Interactive...
. Electronic Gaming Monthly gave the game a review score of 8.62/10.
Kirby Super Star Ultra has received mostly positive reviews. Famitsu
Famitsu
is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Enterbrain, Inc. and Tokuma. Currently, there are five Famitsū magazines: Shūkan Famitsū, Famitsū PS3 + PSP, Famitsū Xbox 360, Famitsū Wii+DS, and Famitsū Wave DVD...
gave the game a 32/40. 1UP
1UP.com
1UP.com is a video game website owned by IGN Entertainment, a division of News Corporation. Previously, the site was owned by Ziff Davis before being sold to UGO Entertainment in 2009....
gave Super Star Ultra an "A-", praising it for its multiplayer and describes it as "excellent", but notes that it is not very difficult and the level design is not as intricate as in the Mario series
Mario (series)
The video game series, alternatively called the series or simply the series, is a series of highly popular and critically acclaimed video games by Nintendo, featuring Nintendo's mascot Mario and, in many games, his brother Luigi. Gameplay in the series often centers around jumping on and...
. IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
's Craig Harris gave it a 7.9, saying that, while fun, the game is "a bit on the easy side".
On December 11, 2008, Super Star Ultra became a Famitsu Gold title. As of January 11, 2009, Kirby Super Star Ultra has sold 1,021,000 copies in Japan. It was also the ninth best-selling game of Japan in 2008. As of December 2008, it was the fifth best-selling Nintendo DS game in the U.S.
Legacy
Many of the music tracks in Kirby Super Star have been remixed in various games, such as the Super Smash Bros. series.Kirby Super Star was made available on the Japanese Virtual Console
Virtual console
A virtual console – also known as a virtual terminal – is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. It is a feature of some operating systems such as UnixWare, Linux, and BSD, in which the system console of the computer can be used to switch between...
on October 13, 2009, in North America on May 17, 2010 and in the PAL
PAL
PAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television colour encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are NTSC and SECAM. This page primarily discusses the PAL colour encoding system...
region on May 28, 2010.