An excellent little platformer that stands out on it's own but suffers from being too short of an adventure.
> Outstanding graphics for an NES title.
> Still great fun to play after 15 years.
> Sucking up enemies and stealing their abilities never gets old.
> Memorable Soundtrack.
..::The Bad::..
> The game is far too short and can be beaten within 3 hours at most.
> A little on the easy side.
Kirby popped up on the NES come towards the end of it's life cycle, just as those abandoned Nintendo's 8-bit console in favor of the Super NES and Sega Genesis. This being the case, Kirby's Adventure stood up and produced the best 8-Bit goodness that the NES could offer. Both graphic and soundwise.
Kirby's Adventure is a 2D side-scroller at heart, but because of it's cute scenery, characters and unique gameplay, players found themselves with a refreshing side-scrolling platformer instead of the stale formula the games had come to produce.
Kirby, a pink puffball, could fly, as well as suck up his enemies and steal their moves. Unlike in traditional platformers, Kirby's diverse arsenal gave you more freedom to figure out how to get through levels and how to deal with the enemies contained within them.Power-ups included a sword wielding Kirby, the ability to turn into a speeding wheel and using ice to freeze those around you.
The "adventure" part of the title refers to Kirby's quest to track down and recover the star rod, a magical object that allows people to dream, which the evil King Dedede has stolen and broken into seven pieces. Therefore, Kirby's Adventure takes you through 42 different levels spread across seven different worlds. Each level contains multiple segments filled with various enemies for you to suck up and steal their abilities from. You'll encounter sub-bosses frequently that usually offer more advance and powerful techniques. There is also a main boss waiting at the end of each world.
If all you want to do is beat the final boss and see an ending, Kirby's Adventure is not a lengthy game, which is the main criticism levied against it. You'll lose a few lives here and there, usually figuring out the bosses' patterns, but you can generally zoom through most levels once you find a strategy that works for you. If you approach the game that way, you can expect to topple King Dedede in about three hours. Alternatively, you can draw out the experience by trying to achieve the best ending, which is accomplished by replaying levels until you've found every hidden switch and bonus room in the game. The Virtual Console version automatically saves your progress, just like the original game did, so there's no reason to rush in either case.
Kirby's Adventure has weathered the passage of time remarkably well. The ability to go through the levels using so many different abilities is still just as much fun now as it was when the game was first released. Well worth the 500 Wii Points.