When I started this game, I wouldn’t have thought that I remembered very much, but that is totally wrong. Every level I struggled with as a child came instantly rushing back when I got there, it was a nice little nostalgia trip.
I don’t remember whether I beat this game back when I originally had it, but as an adult, I thought it was extremely difficult for a Kirby game.
There might be some kind of New Game+ stashed in here somewhere, but I think I would need an entirely new file to get at it. I did something really dumb with this save file:
Bonus content is unlocked at 100% completion and up.
I am missing a total of 7% completion.
6 of that 7 % comes from the “Bonus Stage” challenges you can do in each boss room after you beat the boss itself.
Trouble is, in order to get % credit for each one, you have to beat those bonus stages BEFORE you complete the mainline game.
I did not know this; I thought I could finish the game (including the “real” final boss, from getting every rainbow shard) then come back and tackle the Bonus Stages later.
WRONG. The bonus stages seem not to increase % completion at all any more. I beat one of them and the number didn’t go up.
Since there is no Bonus Stage on lv.7, the remaining 1 of 7 % comes from finding Girl Gooey in an Animal Friend bag.
Anyway, my only complaint about this game is that the controls are a little wonky. I think it’s way too easy to accidentally push 🔼 on the d-pad and end up in ‘flying’ mode, which causes this whole cascade of problems:
You move much slower than a jump
To get out of it, you spit out air, which can damage the star containing the power you just lost (if you were trying to jump away from damage)
The in/out animation takes forever to complete, so if you do it while trying to dodge something, you almost always get hit again
I don’t think that problem is due to the Analogue; I remember thinking the same thing about my original GB Pocket back in the day.
Everything else about the game is really awesome. It has aged incredibly well; I would even hook this up to the Pocket Dock and play it on the big screen if I had the rest of the hardware.
