Alright, I'll do a short little 'review' of my take on Kirby Triple Deluxe. I'm up to 96% on the game (100% on the story mode, but the remaining 4% will be a bitch to get), I think it's alright at this point to now share my thoughts and whether I recommend or not. It's nice to see we finally got a Kirby game on the 3DS (Not counting the Kirby's Adventure NES 3D remake on Eshop). Story is certainly nothing special, as it is a Kirby game, so I won't really care to tell the story, only thing you really need to know is the games new villain, Daranza. I will post spoiler-related stuff like bosses here, so don't read any further if you don't want that. Anyways gameplay is like your standard Kirby, however there is a catch. Abilities like Beam, or Parasol which we usually know to have just one basic attack, is filled to the brim with new movesets. Seriously, movesets all over the place, which is a really cool thing, you can pull off really interesting combo moves and such using these new attacks, with the sword for example there is a pretty sick combo I like to often use on enemies where I sweep dash them, fling them into the air, while airborne finish them off. It does feel pretty awesome to say the least
. Anyways gameplay while same as always, is the way it should be, only major change is the new graphical overlook (which still is a bit like Kirby Return to Dreamland, only on the go.) It's nice to see more 3D Kirby games which we rarely get (or 2.5D I mean to say, however it's a shame that Gamecube one got cancelled). Anyways graphics indeed look really nice on the 3DS of course (I can't judge the 3D since I barely use it, but I hear it's implemented pretty well). You're given a pretty 60 frames per second which looks and feels very nice. Everything controls very tight just the way it should. So honestly I really can't list any cons for the gameplay, again, it's Kirby, plays like we've always known. Forgot to mention there are a LOT of new powerups in this game, however, a lot of old favorites sadly don't return. It is nice to see some new Power ups such as Bell, Whip, or Circus for that matter. And of course the Hypernova ability which allows Kirby to be pretty much invincible (Well, not really), but this ability practically lets you suck up the entire fucking environment, of course the ability isn't used forever in every level, but you'll still see it often nonetheless. Of course you'll still have to fight some tough enemies even with this overpowered ability and solve some puzzles here and there. The hypernova was pretty cool... only problem I had was just seeing that as the only 'big' ability in Triple Deluxe, whileas in Return to Dreamland we saw multiple versions of those.
Now I want to get to level design as my thoughts on this are very mixed... The whole game has 6 worlds (including bonus 'EX' levels for collecting all the sun stones in that world). Of course, the worlds vary sometimes, like in World 3, Old Odyssey, you're given your standard 'Kirby' type world when halfway through it mixes up into a snow world. This concept is pretty cool. The worlds overall though, eh, let's say I certainly have seen better in Kirby games. There are some levels that just felt... lacking, a bit. The environments in some levels are really nice, but other few levels might have a particular section that will be a tad boring. You might just have your casual 'egypt' themed level. Honestly in some of the levels barely much action goes on, even with the brand new background/foreground system, which I'll explain in a minute. I do think this was an occasional problems with the levels being rather bland at times, but it's worth noting. I think this game really should have took lessons from Kirby 64 and The Crystal Shards level design, which was absolutely stunning. Anyways, I'll mention the new background/foreground system now. This serves to be kind of the main thing for Triple Deluxe, you'll have enemies trying to jump from the background to foreground towards you. This whole new 'system' added to Kirby will be used VERY often, especially in puzzle solving. The question is if I find this concept annoying? Honestly, I can't think of a time it really annoyed me, I think it's very well used and feels pretty well placed rather than a 'gimmick'. Speaking of gimmicks, you have forced gyroscope controls at times. However, part of me feels this isn't really a complaint, yes the whole forced gyroscope felt a bit gimmicky, but to be truly honest, I've never seen the 3DS gyroscope used so well. It felt tight, and I never got frustrated with it (Sonic Lost World 3DS Special stages *cough*) Anyways, in order to obtain 100% on the story, you need to hunt down all the sun stones. I don't know whether I'm just really good at games, or if it's really that easy, but I found all the sun stones on my first run (occasionally I'd pass by one but I'd go back for it immediately.) Considering the limited level design using the foreground/background, in my personal opinion hunting down these sun stones I found to be fairly easy actually, not unfairly easy I should mention, like I said, I don't know whether it's me just being good at the game or if it's just the game itself. It is worth mentioning though if you do play through the game normally, you likely won't struggle at all.
The bosses on this game were actually really awesome, even the sub bosses, with some pretty kickass music to often accompany the fight. Casual bosses like Whispy Woods who we've seen in the past will seem easy at first, but down there halfway mark they'll pull a trick such moving into the background and jumping into the foreground. It adds for interesting challenge, despite still being easy for me, they were a lot of fun. The final boss especially was actually pretty epic, and for a game that's mostly easy, somewhat difficult. However the TRUE final boss of Kirby Triple Deluxe can only be fought in an unlockable. Which is something I'll get to now, the unlockables. I'll start with the subgames first. What kind of sucks is that you're only given 2 subgames as opposed to 3 which we often get in Kirby games. Kirby Fighters is the first one we get, which is actually a lot of fun, it's a Smash Bros type subgame where you are fighting against 2-4 players in an Arena to drop your opponent down to there health. There will be stage hazards here and there, it's certainly not what I'd call competitive, but it is fun. Dedede's Drum Dash is the second subgame, which is also a lot of fun. It's basically a rhythm game where you have to avoid hazard while jumping on drums and tap to the rhythm of the music while airborne. The first unlockable you get for beating the game, is the Arena, which pits you against all the bosses of the game using any ability of your liking. Second unlockable is Dedede Tour, where you play pretty much the same game only with King Dedede, however there is a bit of a catch here, rather than collecting sun stones, playing King Dedede is all about speedrunning, you'll have the option of finding secret shortcuts which you can jump in which will progress you further into that world. This can be pretty fun, but in my opinion kind of a lazy way of making the game last longer, I mean it is the same only with King Dedede... oh except the final boss, being completely different actually, Dark Meta Knight from The Amazing Mirror returns as the Final boss for King Dedede. Once you've completed all 5 of the modes on the main menu, Story Mode, Kirby Fighters, King Dedede's Drum Dash, Dedede Tour, and the Arena, you're given a final mode to play.
This final mode is the True Arena, and trust me when I say it is fucking hard. Forget what I said about Triple Deluxe being easy, the true difficulty shines right here, the bosses will kick your ass. If you manage to actually make it through the sweep of really difficult bosses you'll fight the true final boss of the game. This is a pretty rewarding thing to me since I love seeing really cool bosses like this hidden in the game. Once you've beaten these modes... you're practically done with the game. The reason for my 96% is because I missed some keychains that I still need to collect.
Overall I'd have to say Triple Deluxe and trying to 100% complete it can be good fun, however it truly doesn't compare to past Kirby titles. If not going for 100%, it will be very short, and very easy. Only cons I can say for the game is some of the environments lacking at times. Otherwise it's a very fun game, I just wish it could have took more from Kirby 64 with the 2.5D environments. And the lack of one subgame.
I'll have to give it a 7.5/10, this title in the Kirby franchise had me bored rather quickly, which is pretty normal after beating a game, but I usually always want to come back to a Kirby game, this one doesn't have me wanting to come back to it so quickly, of course for now, that doesn't mean I won't in the future. For the price of $35, (Whatever currency that is for you) it's totally worth the price and very cheap for a new 3DS game.
