My relationship with Kirby has always been that of casual acquaintance (outside of Super Smash Bros., since he was my main on Nintendo 64). I didn’t play any of the Dream Land games growing up, and before Triple Deluxe, I had only played the N64’s Crystal Shards and the Wii’s Epic Yarn to completion. By the end of both of those titles I was forcing myself to make it to the credits out of some ambiguous sense of obligation instead of excitement.
Learn more about the Game Informer Fight For The Top 50 Challenge 2014.
I like stealing powers and the puzzle opportunities that creates, but I never found any of the Kirby games challenging enough to totally engage my attention. Triple Deluxe isn’t a hard game, but it was the first time I got a sense of a consistent difficulty climb throughout, creating the first occasion I was excited to make my way to the end, instead of yawning and eyeing my watch during the last levels.
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The addition of the Hypernova plant and the multiple platforming planes adds new layers (literally, in the case of the latter) to the Kirby formula that I really appreciate. The Hypernova plant is just ridiculous and awesome and I love it, but the platforming planes took something other games have experimented with and made it more interesting. Games like Rayman Legends and Donkey Kong Country Returns toyed with sending the player between the background and foreground, but Kirby is my favorite use of the mechanic with the dangerous objects and obstacles that can move and attack between the planes.
Kirby: Triple Deluxe is a solid game and my personal favorite entry in the series, but it's still a Kirby game. It has new mechanics that are well-executed, but most of the game is familiar to players who have played Kirby's past adventures. It's not a shoe-in for the top 50 for these reasons, but I think it deserves a spot. For my full review of Kirby: Triple Deluxe, head here.
Fight for the Top 50
I have no idea what Ben Hanson thinks of Kirby, but he agreed to give Triple Deluxe a shot and offer his opinion on whether the game belongs on our top 50 list. His taste in games is... let’s say "unpredictable"... so I am curious to know his thoughts on Triple Deluxe.
Hanson was given a day to play Kirby: Triple Deluxe. Come back tomorrow at 4 PM CT to read his impressions and see if he'll support the game's inclusion on our Top 50 Games of the Year list.