Kirby: Triple Deluxe game review

Kirby: Triple Deluxe stars one of my favorite Nintendo characters, Kirby. The lovable, round puffball was created back in 1992 and has magical powers galore. That includes the ability to swallow objects, spit them out or use their properties to defend himself.

KIRBY: TRIPLE DELUXE Gameplay: 8.7 Graphics: 8.6 Sound: 7.0 Replay Value: 8.6 Overall Score: 8.5Pros: Three games for one price; Hypernova ability; engaging level design.Cons: No online play; music can be annoying; tiny fighters in fighting game don’t work well on tiny screen.

In Kirby: Triple Deluxe, you get three different games. Let’s look at each of them.

Judging from the opening scenes, you may think Kirby is starring in a Nintendo version of Jack and the Beanstalk. As he slumbers, a giant green vine grows and pushes his house high above DreamLand to a world called Floralia.

In Floralia, he finds that a six-armed, spider-like creature named Taranza has kidnapped King Dedede. (Actually, Taranza’s a minion of the evil, bee-like Queen Sectonia). It’s up to Kirby to free the penguin-like king and get life in DreamLand back to normal.

The story mode is full of bright colors and enemies who have a wry sense of humor. Early on, for instance, you encounter a giant beaver who holds up a wooden image of himself, egging you on destroy that instead of the real thing.

And the design of the game makes play really challenging, but not in the way that it makes you want to quit. When you die, you just want to keep coming back to finish the level to get medals, stickers and more.

Kirby has many abilities, but you’ll love two especially wild abilities. When you suck in the Miracle Fruit, you can inhale with Hypernova, which has the power of a tornado: giant trees, buildings, even whole levels can be inhaled. It is truly an awesome power to wield and to see in action.

And check out the Circus ability. Not only does it let a clown-like Kirby ride a big ball to roll over baddies, it lets you juggle burning purple bowling pins to attack enemies above. Maybe the most creative part of this power is that you can use exploding balloon animals on your foes. Such creativity!

Triple Deluxe also includes a jumping-for-coins mini game called DeDeDe’s Drum Rush. It’s an amusing diversion, but, despite power ups, it becomes tedious quickly.

More fun and frenzied is a battle portion called Kirby Fighters in which you can take on your friends in co-op mode or the 3DS’ artificial intelligence. You’ll get power ups to help you, but it’ll be next to impossible to win in Very Hard mode. The problem here is that the characters sometimes seem too small for the 3DS screen. Too bad there’s no online multiplayer.

Overall, I’d say Triple Deluxe is an enjoyable games. There’s something magical about Kirby that always keeps me coming back for more.