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Kirby's Adventure

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is a NES game developed by HAL Laboratory and released by Nintendo in 1993. It is the only NES game to feature the Nintendo character Kirby, and the second game in the Kirby series, following his debut on the Game Boy in Kirby's Dream Land. In addition, it introduced Kirby's signature ability of copying the special abilities of certain enemies. Kirby's Adventure was released in Japanese, English, French and German.
In 2002, a remake of Kirby's Adventure, was released for the Game Boy Advance. The new version has, in addition to upgraded graphics and sound, new minigames, as well as multiplayer modes of play.

Story

After Kirby wakes up from his after-lunch nap without having any dreams, he goes to the Dream Spring to investigate. There, he discovers King Dedede, who claims to have taken the Star Rod, the source of the Dream Spring's power, and broken it into seven pieces, giving six pieces to his friends and keeping one himself.

Without dreams, all the inhabitants of Dream Land are becoming restless. Kirby decides to track down the pieces of the Star Rod and bring them back to the Dream Spring, restoring everyone's dreams.

Once Kirby collects all seven pieces and rebuilds the Star Rod, he places it back into the Dream Spring, only to discover the existence of Nightmare. King Dedede's intentions were to protect Dream Land by hiding the Star Rod, but now Kirby must use the power of the Star Rod to defeat the Nightmare before it terrorizes anyone.

Gameplay

Like most other Kirby games, Kirby's Adventure is a platformer, or a side-scrolling game. Kirby has six hit points; this means Kirby can sustain six attacks from enemies before he dies and loses a life. If he loses all of his lives, the game is over. Enemies can damage Kirby simply on contact or by way of projectile attacks. An enemy that makes direct contact with Kirby is automatically destroyed. While most enemy attacks deal one point of damage (out of six) to Kirby, some attacks, generally dealt by bosses or mini-bosses, can deal two points.

Kirby has a variety of attacks at his disposal, in addition to his basic walk, run, crouch, jump, and climbing maneuvers. Without any abilities, one of Kirby's primary means of attack is inhaling an enemy, and spitting it out at another one. The enemy can also be swallowed, although this generally does not affect Kirby in any way (unless it's a copy-able enemy). After jumping and pressing the jump button a second time in mid-air, Kirby inflates himself, enabling him to fly as long as he wants. When deflating himself, he exhales a puff of air which can be damaging to enemies. While crouching, Kirby can execute a slide kick. Kirby can swim in eight directions while in water and can stay underwater as long as he wants. While underwater, he takes on a temporary power allowing him to squirt water at his foes, which are generally fish.

Acquired abilities

Kirby inhaling an enemy in Kirby's Adventure
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Kirby inhaling an enemy in Kirby's Adventure

Kirby's Adventure is the first Kirby game to include the ability for Kirby to utilize enemy powers by 'copying' them. The powers introduced in this game are present through all the sequels. Some abilities, in the form of powerups, return from Kirby's Dream Land such as the microphone and the star rod. If the enemy provides Kirby with an ability, the status bar picture changes from the normal picture of Kirby to a unique picture showing Kirby with that ability. Not all enemies will give Kirby an ability, however. Swallowing these creatures without abilities caused the "nothing" image to appear, showing an unhappy Kirby picture briefly on the status bar.

Kirby's abilities range from fighting moves (Backdrop), projectiles attacks (Cutter and Laser), area damage (Spark and Freeze), and wielded weapons (Sword and Parasol). There are also some unusual abilities where Kirby assumes a new shape such as Tornado, Wheel, and U.F.O. The abilities range in usefulness and power. The power Sleep, for example, is completely useless as it puts Kirby to sleep momentarily. Also, if Kirby sucks up two enemies (both having copy-able powers) at once, a roulette will start randomly selecting a power; this is called Mix. Oddly enough, if Kirby eats a certain combination of powered enemies and lets the Mix roulette alone until it stops, the power he gets will be the same every time he gets that same pair of enemies. For example, if he grabs a Waddle Doo (Beam) and a Sparky (Spark), the Mix roulette will definitely land on Hammer, giving him that power. Keep in mind this will only happen if the player does not press anything until the roulette stops. Otherwise, the powerups will cycle through in order.

It is possible to choose a powerup at will, but it is very difficult. For example, a player may try to inhale two stars from the sun's beam during the boss run and attempt to pick UFO, making the rest of the boss fights trivial until reaching Meta-Knight.

Power ups

Each level will generally contain one or more power-ups. These items, when picked up by Kirby, will have a certain positive effect on Kirby, depending on the powerup.

Minigames

Mini-games can be found in each world, and are essentially distractions to earn the player points or extra lives. Mini-games are played by entering doors, like regular levels (see Worlds below) , but are barred shut after being played once (and thus cannot be played again). Some minigames can only be played after finding a secret switch inside a level.

Gameplay Glitches

Kirby's Adventure also has quite a few gameplay glitches and hidden easter eggs. For example in the battle against the boss "Paint Roller" you can go to the lower middle section of the level and duck to make "Paint Roller" run right over Kirby without Kirby taking any damage. Another glitch in the battle against "Paint Roller" allows you to use the Mike ability 256 times instead of just three. To perform this glitch, hit "Paint Roller" 3 times, then wait for him to draw a microphone. Swallow the microphone to get the Mike ability and use it to hit him twice more. Use the third and final Mike usage directly in the middle of the stage where the Star Rod piece appears after "Paint Roller" dies. When you leave the boss battle, the game will have glitched so that you will have 256 Mike usages. This is especially useful in the unlockable boss endurance mode of the game.

In-game areas

Worlds

The game takes place in Dream Land across seven different worlds. Each world contains six levels, a boss, and assorted mini games. Exceptions to the six level per world rule are the first world, which only has four levels, and the second world, which only has five levels. The levels are accessed through small doors on the overworld screen. When Kirby first enters a world only the first level door and the entrance door to the world can be seen. New areas in the world screen are revealed as levels are beaten.

Every world, in addition to levels and mini-games, houses a Museum. In each museum, there are one or two stationary enemies standing on pedestals; these enemies do not attack Kirby. Any enemy that appears in a museum has a copy ability; Kirby is free to inhale any enemy in a museum in order to use its respective copy ability.

Kirby with the Sword ability.
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Kirby with the Sword ability.

Each world (with the exception of the last two) are named for some type of food. The first seven worlds begin with a letter corresponding to a colour of the rainbow, in reverse order (violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, red). The different worlds (as well as their respective bosses) are as follows:

Every boss (including every miniboss, which appear in various levels) can be cleared without copy abilities, as they all throw projectiles of some sort. Kirby must launch these attacks back at the enemy who sent them, or use a copy ability (if he has one; some bosses will even throw Kirby copy-able enemies).

After clearing the main game 100% (with all levels, minigames, and secrets cleared/unlocked), Extra Mode is unlocked. In Extra Mode, Kirby only has half as much health, and the game cannot be saved. The game's sound test is unlocked if Extra Mode is cleared.

Bonus levels

After clearing each level, Kirby is dropped into a bonus level. He drops onto a platform which briefly dips downward, and then launches him up. The object for the player is to press A at the platform's maximum descent, which will launch Kirby up as high as possible. Seven tiers of clouds are above the platform; reaching the topmost tier will award Kirby with an extra life, while levels 2-6 will just award him points and the seventh gives nothing except the tip to "Push A!".

In Vegetable Valley and Ice Cream Island the mini-games and museums are unlocked by beating the levels. On Butter Building and subsequent worlds, if the door to the level changes white then the level is finished; if it remains brown then there is a secret switch left somewhere in the level. Most switches are in concealed rooms; generally Kirby needs a specific copy ability found in that level to get in, or he needs to travel off the beaten path of that area a little. Kirby's Adventure is 100% complete when every secret switch is found, in addition to beating every level.

Trivia

External links