This is part 3, the final part, about Kirby and the importance of entry-level games!
It is crucial that you first read part 2 and part 1 of this text sequence before diving into this article, as it is a direct continuation!
You can go there and I’ll wait.
Have you read it yet? Then let’s go, my brothers! Let’s finish this article about Kirby!
Upon reaching the dream fountain and defeating DeDeDe, who was only trying to help the planet PopStar by breaking the star wand into 8 pieces and scattering it around the world, Kirby manages to put all the pieces back together again. He just didn’t expect that in doing so he would release the entity known as Nightmare, the devourer of dreams and planets (yes, that’s his name), that had been imprisoned in the wand by DeDeDe and the battle for the future of Pop Star and its habitants begins!
I will never forget the feelings that came over me the day I faced and defeated Nightmare for the first time. And, my brothers, I will tell you… It was something indescribable and that no other game has ever been able to do for me.
To this day this is my favorite Boss Battle. The build up from the fight against DeDeDe, the theme of the battle, the stage of the battle (taking place on the moon), everything. Everything is stitched together so well that it is impossible for any beginning player to not feel totally emerged in the experience, even though it is so weird and unlike anything they have witnessed in other media.
I have always looked for some other game that would make me feel that same adrenaline rush, or that would make me have that same feeling I had when I first defeated Nightmare… No other game I have played in my life has come close to this in over 30 years of gaming career.
No other game puts you up against a dream-crusher and planet-devourer wearing sunglasses with a battle culminating in the EXPLOSION OF THE MOON! AND MAN, THIS IS SO CRAZY, YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND!
And all this by finishing the game from beginning to end alone, without any help from anyone. I felt proud, I felt all the adrenaline of almost dying in the final battle against the Nightmare and, even without understanding anything that was written on the screen at the end, I felt that a cycle of my life was over.
It is for these reasons and many others that this game will always be deeply special to me and Kirby will always be my favorite IP of all time. This is part of the power that entry-level games have in the industry, but very few games and IPs actually set out to be one of them.
And Kirby has been one of them masterfully for 30 years, thanks to HAL’s expertise and the team’s level of dedication to always bringing amazing experiences to people who haven’t had contact with games yet.
Whenever I’m asked about favorite games, I’ll give a list or something, but I always make it clear that Kirby’s Adventure changed my life. If it wasn’t for Kirby’s Adventure I would never have had an appreciation for video games, I would never have worked at GamePlan, and I would never be here writing this article about the 30th anniversary of Kirby’s Adventure.
So congratulations on your 30th anniversary, Kirby! I’m here celebrating both playing Kirby and the Forgotten Land and enjoying the legacy of this wonderful series!
Well, I’ll stop here. Today we learned a little more about the game design philosophy behind Kirby’s games, and we learned that Kirby’s Adventure is a hell of a game!
But if you’ve made it this far, tell me in the comments, what was your entry game? What were the feelings you had when you finished a game for the first time? I am fascinated by this kind of story!
Until next time, my brothers, see you around for the next article!
