Kirby Super Star Ultra

Being the first Kirby game I played while genuinely invested in the series, Kirby Super Star Ultra undoubtedly holds a very special and privileged place in my heart. Kirby Star Allies, was my first overall, but... for all my affections and apologia of the game, it doesn't even break the top 5 in a series so saturated with bangers. One of the things about Star Allies that majorly disappointed me even without reference of the rest of the series was its soundtrack - there were many beautiful and iconic compositions, don't get me wrong - but the soundtrack was about Mario levels of quality. But every now and then there was a song that was in an utterly different style in the extra modes, and fascination with these much better songs is primarily what led me into the depths of other games, one of them being Kirby Super Star and Ultra.

Kirby Super Star and its remake both have their own merits. For all the amazing content added to Super Star Ultra, there's a lot more character in the rougher sprite art of the original, and even if the newer midi instruments are better quality, the DS speakers aren't doing them any favors over the SNES's. At the same time, it's VERY hard to turn down 4 new sub-games, many of which are filled with some of my favorite experiences in the series, and a far more cohesive and polished artstyle. It's a no-brainer to recommend the remake, but if you love it I'd also recommend messing around in the original to take in the older atmosphere.

The variety offered in Kirby Super Star and Ultra are it's greatest strength on every level. It offers a diversity in length, tone, and structure in each that makes it incredibly easy to jump back into after a while and relive your favorite sub-games easily, which probably contributes to my many great memories of it. This breadth also makes it a little hard to condense my feelings on the whole experience into one topic, so of course I will be going over every sub-game and my favorite aspects or moments from them.

The first 3 sub-games, Spring Breeze, Dyna Blade, and Gourmet Race, aren't of too much note, but they are great ease-ins to the game and are short enough not to drag. Spring Breeze has its own novelty as a remake of Kirby's Dream Land with the addition of copy abilities to a campaign previously designed without them, and it's always entertaining to start Super Star with a flex on how far the series had come. Dyna Blade is a fun romp with iconic music, and some very charming continued characterization of Kirby as a hero who sometimes rushes to save the day before knowing the full scope of things, but is willing to show compassion to his foes and fix mistakes. Gourmet Race also hosts some of the most classic framing of Dedede and Kirby's rivalry through their up-beat and silly race to eat the most food. It accents this with great expressions from Dedede that drive home how much more obsessed he is with this rivalry than Kirby ever was.

After this is where the meat of the game begins. Great Cave Offensive is a little underrated in my eyes. It might be the sub-game I return to most often, seeing if my muscle memory from previous runs gets better and better as I speed through. It's a showcase of one of my favorite unimportant trait of Kirby, which is it's ability to make interior levels feel like real buildings with sensical and identifiable architecture. The Old Castle is my favorite example of this, I never tire of running between it's sections and remembering what entrance leads to where, and feels rather lived in to me due to that sense of place.

From there is arguably the peak of the game in Revenge of Meta Knight, a narrated, dramatic sub-game boasting Meta Knight's only villain role. It delightfully characterizes him and his crew in a simple but effective way. They're far more organized and serious than Dedede's armies ever dared to be, but still fly apart at the handle once Kirby overcomes their many schemes to ground him. Meta's reaction to all this bumbling, unlike Kirby who recovers with the aid of allies and helpers, is to shut himself off and push his crew away into safety, a rather complex trait that makes him sympathetic and a perfect foil. Many gags and dramatic beats from this mode live rent free in my head, but one that isn't talked about nearly enough is the final sequence of escaping the Halberd. Meta Knight unveils his black wings as he swears to take Kirby down with the ship, and thee most kick-ass escape music Jun Ishikawa's ever composed blares as you book it out of there. Sakurai clearly loved this character, I sometimes wonder what other plots he would have brought us had his tenure at Hal Labs been longer.

The last but not least of the original 6 sub-games is Milky Way Wishes, a mode for which my fondness goes beyond words. It isn't as flashy as Revenge, nor as addicting as the Great Cave, but there's a great level of finality and gravitas to it that moves my silly heart to tears. Kirby Super Star if you didn't know was Masahiro Sakurai's last directorial role with Kirby, and the ambition of this game is due to his wish to finish with a bang. With how iconic and pervasive the presence of this sub-game's villain, Marx, is it's safe to say he succeeded.

Marx is honestly a very flat character besides the gimmick of his cutesy appearance covering up selfish ambitions, but like the dialogue in Revenge it is simple and cutting. This fucker hasn't even made a new (story) appearance in nearly 25 years and he's still many fans and even MY favorite. It's just a genius move for a final boss. The series has been building to a twist like this since the redemption of Dedede in Adventure, slowly peeling away the most basic conventions of the cutesy fantasy setting to reveal a healthy dose of character depth. But now it's not even about what evils are hiding behind those who seemed morally grey, but what can hide within those who front with the best and sweetest intentions. Nothing revolutionary by a long shot, but effective enough to give a generation of children trust issues.

Besides the subtle genius of his character, a lot of my love for Marx is just projection of my love of the game onto its true final boss, and therefore mascot in a sense. Milky Way Wishes is a remix of the entire game thus far into the settings of beautiful themed planets, and there's something endlessly moving about this as Kirby's first true romp THROUGH the stars, which is bit soured by the fact he does it all in the end for nothing. The introduction of the Galactic Nova is grand and mysterious, the final fight is dizzying and exhilarating, scored by a super dynamic and expressive track from Ishikawa, and do I really have to reiterate how iconic the ending cutscene is? It's Kirby's Triumphant Return, you know the deal.

The original game ends there, with a credits sequence rising past Kirby's bedside window and back into the expanse of space, littered with an array of shining stars, but it's not where my first experience with the game did. The arena was present in the original, and certainly had a presence with its heart-pounding main theme and gladiator themeing, but the remake really gave it love it deserved. The Helper to Hero Arena is not my preferred way of playing, but is very welcome as a challenge and further endeared me to the helpers. But before the True Arena, the other 2 main sub-games need to be beaten.

Revenge of the King is deeply interesting to me, as it's a conversation between Sakurai who originally directed Revenge of Meta Knight and the original Super Star, and Kumazaki who directed this Dedede-themed follow-up, Ultra, and all Kirby games since 2008. And that dialogue would go on to be a springboard for some of the best character moments in the series. Revenge of the King parallels Meta Knight's mode in a way that puts into perspective the two's faults and strengths, and what makes them great foils to Kirby as well as eachother - something that really wasn't too explored before Kumazaki's era. It's a great call that has shot those two (as well as an originally throwaway Waddle Dee) into stardom, and added a lot of personality and consistency to the games. Gameplay-wise the siege section of RotK is not much, but the fight against Masked Dedede knocks the one against Meta Knight out of the window, and managed perfectly to establish Dedede as a great threat despite his bumbling demeanor.

Kumazaki wasn't just satisfied remixing the old however, and in the penultimate new sub-game, he made the best decision of his career - introducing Galacta Knight. YESSIR, thee Galacta Knight whom you will hear much about in the following rant. While Revenge of the King established a parallel between Meta Knight and King Dedede, there was still much to do with Meta himself, he's still a very independent and mysterious character. So, he was introduce a foil of his own in Galacta. A character design that instantly knocks you off your feet, a metal-core theme that knocks the air out of your lungs, and a pretty tough boss-fight (without healing) that keeps you down! There was a lot of love that went into his design and introduction, even earning himself an cinematic that hypes him up under the authority of the Galactic Nova. Meta Knightmare Ultra is also just an amazing sub-game, but WHY it is is without question.

Finally we come to the final final sub-game of Kirby Super Star Ultra, and though not as bombastic as the previous story and gameplay-rich sub-games, it still managed to be one of my favorite experiences in the game and series. Arenas are an underrated part of Kirby, mainly because they're there for the fans and not most casual players, especially not the True Arenas. But they are a tour-de-force of some of the peaks of your average Kirby game, combined with their own careful design. The first ever True Arena of Kirby Super Star Ultra is that! Down from the rather bloated 20+ bosses of the vanilla and helper arenas to just 10, it offers a concentrated challenge like no other True Arena that's come since. And the hype it pulls for the Final Four with the Restless Rest Area theme still gives me chill.

It's a perfect bow on the remake, in a infinitely replayable and challenging dose of the back end of the experience. One that I kept coming back to even as I was inspired to move on to the rest of the series and only found myself more and more delighted by it.

My favoritism towards Super Star and Ultra is not at all a condemnation of the rest of the series' quality, so many of the games I love an equal amount as KSSU and in some ways more, but this just happened to settle itself into being top dog. As someone who loves every corner of the series, I think part of what makes this game so special is how it bridges between the two main eras of the games - that being the classic (90s - 2000s) and the modern (2010s - 2020s). You could tell both the directors who touched the two versions of this game had much love to put into it, as one's final magnum opus and another's jumping off point, and it houses the best of both worlds.

If you yourself aren't into Kirby I recommend starting with Super Star Ultra ! It has the best of all worlds and its structure makes it easy to pick up and put down.

Galacta Knight

Also from Super Star Ultra, because I'm predictable!

Galacta Knight is the character I credit with getting me into the lore of the Kirby series. I was just finishing Kirby Star Allies and found it amusing there were "like 3 different Meta Knights", so I chose the one that looked the coolest and checked out his backstory. The story I found myself in about ancient fallen warriors and grim reapers completely blew my mind with it's unexpected epicness and depth. Kirby is really not a series that you look at on the surface and think you'll find in it a mythos like that, and I was instantly hooked by that contrast. And it proved incredibly fruitful, because the lore of the Kirby series is more than fluff for a simple platformer, and even more than a bunch of shockingly dark musings in the background of a cute game - it is a very rich collection of environmental storytelling, flavor text, and character acting that creates a very whimsical yet deeply thought-out world.

Galacta Knight's character is a great example of this himself, which is once again why he is my beloved:

In KSSU he is fought as the final boss of Meta Knight's solo mode where he wishes upon a magical clockwork star to fight "the greatest warrior in the galaxy". Before the fight the clockwork star, Galactic Nova, gives exposition for him being an ancient warrior sealed outside of space and time for fear of his power, which is already an amazing character hook. Combined with his menacing but angelic appearance that contrasts with Meta Knight's, a hard as fuck theme, and a challenging final bossfight, Galacta Knight was already a character to remember.

In the following game you learn from another character that the Nova was created by people known as "The Ancients" within Kirby mythos, and that they once lived on the planet Halcandra which has since fallen into fiery ruin. You even fight Galacta Knight again in that game in an arena on Halcandra which ties together his origins, and the current state of his past home mixed with his alleged crimes raises some interesting questions about what he did.

A few games later there is a character explicitly descendant to The Ancients and he recounts how his faction was banished after stopping a "Galactic Crisis", which once again points towards Galacta Knight's crimes. But in a spin-off game following, there is strong evidence that supports that Galacta Knight was once revered as a hero and helped seal away a very important and dangerous entity with the aid of 3 others. And you realize this as you fight him in a corrupted form reminiscent of the entity he helped seal away, which is known for corroding minds.

Over the course of many games through interconnected background details and text the picture of this ancient hero of light doomed to corruption and eternal sealing emerges. And this whole arc ends in Kirby Star Allies with the introduction of Morpho Knight, a cryptic character who is the reaper of warrior souls. (A character who you must understand took the appearance of an innocent butterfly for several games and then suddenly fluttered into the arena before a showdown with Galacta before wordlessly casting judgment on his soul and fusing with him - it is very important you understand how blinding of a twist that is.) With this character's introduction, Galacta Knight - after aeons and aeons of living trapped in an eternal prison only being freed to fight and be resealed - was put to rest. From what I understand as of right now, Galacta Knight is resting in peace!

One of the best parts too is that this is just an outline of his character based on the most important details of his introduction. There is a lot of room for interpretation and for one to say . . . write a lot of piss lore filling in the blanks of his life . . . But I digress. Galacta is an amazing character from text to character concept. This shining white knight with gold horns, a fallen angelic hero from a forgotten time, eyes and hot pink armor blazing . . . a living legend begging to be put to rest . . . GREAT STUFF! His design is a wonderful foil to Meta Knight's as well, who is also probably one of my favorite character designs in the series.

"Presentation"

It's hard to pin down what exactly I mean by "presentation" as it basically translates to "all the details about the game as you play it that add up to it's overall feel". But I guess to try and put it into words: its the unwavering feeling of positivity and kindness these games radiate. In the beautiful and adorable art direction, in the friendly but still challenging game design, and in the upbeat energetic music. But its not JUST that the series has these, but that it has it in a distinctly Kirby flavor. That they're all executed with a feeling of real passion behind the creators, which I think is most uniquely present in the series' writing.

Not to make a big speech about the series lore again, but it is a key part of what I mean. I mean the fact that ever since the second game Sakurai had wanted to write the Dedede to be just a bit more in-depth than your standard platformer baddie. And that he imbued Meta Knight with an air of consistent edge and mystery to make you want to understand him. In the fact that Shimomura made a through-line of his games in the Dark Matter, but no matter how dark the games got it was shown that friendship and rainbows can unironically defeat any evil. And in the staggering amount of attention to detail the current director, Kumazaki puts in taking all those past elements and combining them with new characters, themes, and ideas to create the current series mythos. A mythos that for all it's dark secrets and tragedies, still revolves around the core tenant that even the darkness of the void itself can be your friend if you're willing to understand it.

All of these details and bits of writing and characters building were not necessary to make a successful platformer for kids, but they did come together to create one that so passionately believes in it's positivity that its honestly infectious. This dedication isn't just in the lead directorial department either, when you listen to how other staff talk about what they make there's a lot of passion for this series flowing through the devs - and you can feel that in these games. THAT is what I think makes this series so comforting. Knowing that Kirby is not just a series of cute, friendly platformers, but that it's created by a team of creatives who really believe in what that is. And who care enough about that to write a bunch of flavor text, and consistently craft epic soundtracks, and create new worlds, characters, and games for years to come.

So by "presentation" when talking about this series, what I mean is that everything that goes into this series is created by people who truly believe in and care about that feeling of comforting simplicity. People who don't think that "simple" means less or that "friendship and rainbows" means vapid - Which is a very core value to me when it comes to art in general, and why I adore this series with my ENTIRE heart.

If you want more of me talking way too much about Kirby, check out my lore bible!: