Nyt.fi | Nintendo’s pink ball character is now adventuring in a destroyed future: Kirby and the Forgotten Land is the best in a 30-year-old game series

Kirby and the Forgotten Land

Developer: HAL Laboratory. Publisher: Nintendo. Available: Nintendo Switch. ★★★★

“Anyone can’t hold you back. In front are new fields full of riddles.

The sky opens; there is so much to see.

Let’s run free! ”

The song of the bright female voice is fresh in the warmth of the summer sun in Japanese. A platform game Kirby and the Forgotten Land is still in its infancy but is gaining momentum. The atmosphere is simply as lovely as it is from some Japanese cartoon animation decades ago.

The star of this multi-part game series, the pink ball character Kirby has just sucked in a rusty passenger car and thus stretched like a vehicle into a chewing gum. Only the smooth tires and the blue-colored crack at the bottom of the body split a bit when Kirby cruises.

As the song takes Kirby as he goes, the character closes his eyes, stretches his hands obliquely as side mirrors, and just lets go of the gas at the bottom of his heart’s content in a long straight line. The white logs lurking next to it hardly keep up.

Hearty the initial period tunes to the right mood. Although Kirby games have been played for over thirty years, there is a game in their hands that exudes freshness and the courage to surprise. There are many reasons for this, but one rises above the others: the series goes into full 3D for the first time.

While Nintendo’s other top series, such as Mario, Metroid, and Zelda, jumped into a new dimension decades ago, the time for Kirby’s three-dimensional gameplay has only matured now — the series will turn 30 next month.

But better late than never: Kirby and the Forgotten Land is a delicious, versatile whole. It is a playful, visual and finished 3D level jumping game that you can enjoy alone or together.

And perhaps most surprisingly, there’s a cheeky sense of humor and a real challenge to adult taste — and the resulting sense of reward.

Kirby is a game series that has been marked from the beginning by childlike joy and easy approach. The games are enjoyable but rarely challenging. This time, however, the fields and their end bosses are even kinky. The challenge can be found especially in the worlds that open at the end.

Kirby is also marked by living in the shadow of Nintendo’s number one star, Mario, who appears superior in a colorful genre.

But now is the time for change, and the pieces are starting to snap into place right away.

First, the control feels right in its way. The movement on Kirby is cloudy soft but suitably precise. Kirby’s distinctive abilities – flying safely in the air for a while and sucking in enemies Rivakka – turn from old side-by-side gaming to 3D.

When Kirby catches an enemy inside, he gets its abilities to himself, as usual. This turns into a knight, tornado or pencil drill, among other things. As a novelty, abilities can be enhanced with collectible coins and stars available from separate, tough challenge fields. For example, with the ability to fire, flames are initially thrown, later fluttered like a burning dragon.

New it is also that Kirby is able to suck in huge objects like the aforementioned car. Fresh skill is all fun to use.

As a vending machine, Kirby teases slowly and shoots beverage cans, cracked surfaces are broken as a construction site cone, and Kirby becomes a big fan by sucking in a metal bag. Then you can defeat the enemies or bounce on the boat and take it as an air propeller. The arched gate inside Kirby, in turn, heads to the sky like a flying plane.

Field design takes Kirby’s changes into account and also offers hidden secrets based on them. The fields are an essential strength of the game anyway: the levels are imaginative, varied, and surprisingly long. And they can be happily played in collaboration with a friend.

In the story, Kirby accidentally moves to a new dimension. It is like a destroyed real world whose ruins are ruled by undergrowth and fabulous creatures. At first, the narrative feels insignificant, but surprises with a comic sense as well as a serious message about forced labor and identity. The melancholy backdrop runs alongside hope and telming in the game.

And let’s not forget the game’s beautiful layout and outgoing soundtrack. Both are a lustrous and in some places experimental, and create an atmosphere that stands out from the series.

Kirby series has provided qualified, albeit often reluctant, entertainment over the years. The games have been cheerful and finished, but stayed in it. The last touch has been missed.

My favorites from the series have been games that have not shunned risks: built on imaginative drawing mechanics Kirby: Power Paintbrush (2005) and Kirby and the Rainbow Paintbrush (2015), the latter of which was created by impressive modeling wax aesthetics.

But Kirby and the Forgotten Land overrides previous achievements. So I lift it into the best part of a long-running series – and easily.

And this marks a new time for Kirby other than for 3D. For with the thrilling platform game, the series seems to have finally found its true purpose.

Here is a Kirby game for the first time that feels truly like a game for the whole family. It offers a bit of bounce, which appeals to small children but also attracts a more experienced experiencer with its field design, challenge and humor – just like Mariok.

Kirby finally emerges from Marion’s shadow – and if not right now – at least to a good feel.