Kirby Super Star/Kirby's Fun Pak (SNES, 1996)
Graphics-9 Sound-8 Control-7.5 Challenge-7/8 (platform/treasure hunt) Story-5
Level Design-7.5 Frustration-7.5 (8) Fun-8/7.5 (7) Originality-6.5
Overall Score-8
(mini-games in parenthesis)
+
Diversity (2 platform games, 1 treasure hunt platform game and 5 mini-games; Spring Breeze is a remake of KDL1)
Great animation
Good use of mode 7 (the intro)
Great tutorials for each game (and each ability – press start)
More shape-shifting (ninja, fire wizard, bomb chucker, boomerang knight etc)
Lots of moves (blocking – l/r, slide, smart bomb, mid-air dash, etc. - explained in the pause menu for each form)
2-player co-op play (or w/ an AI controlled partner)
Many hidden items, secrets
Mini-bosses
You can give food to your partner (to restore health) - similar to Toejam & Earl
Cute cutscenes between levels
Kirby is a fast climber
Your partner gets teleported to you if you walk away from it
+/-
Respawning enemies (as soon as you scroll the screen away from their spawning points)
Can’t swallow new enemies while transformed (press B to drop the current ability and return to normal) - can't have an inventory of forms to switch between
Spring Breeze and Dynablade are easy compared to the other main modes
-
The standard platform game (spring breeze) is only 4 stages long
Slowdown in co-op play
Some control problems (somewhat slippery movement, no jump height adjustment, double tap to run instead of a specific button, some movement delay after using a smart bomb)
Can’t switch abilities directly with your partner (instead you drop the current ability which your partner can then pick up)
Somewhat repetitive
Some trial & error (bosses, some aspects of certain abilities, certain obstacles)
Your AI partner sometimes gets in the way or kills itself
Only the platform games have any lasting appeal
Searching for the right ability to use to get to a chest can be a chore
Ability thieves (annoying enemy)
Addendum:
The Great Cave Offensive Mode
+
2-Player Co-op
Save points and checkpoints
Some decent puzzles
Pretty good variety
+/-
Non-persistent abilities and rooms and it's a collectathon (chests just contain point items)
Enemies respawn as soon as you move out of sight from their spawning points (can be both good and bad)
-
Trial & error (death pits!, the switch puzzle near the beginning makes it seem like you'd need a second player since you can't tell the cpu to stand still but it can be done alone with the hawk form (downward mid-air attack), some bomb blocks create lava barriers in front of chests when triggered, poor overview in the third room makes it easy to miss that the chest will fall into lava if you stand on (thus removing) the falling block beneath the chest, the chest in a stream and the underwater switch which drops a chest into a pit, etc.) - non-persistent rooms means that you can try again if you screw up though
No maps
Can't access the pause menu during boss fights
Short invincibility time
No teleporters or other forms of quick travel (at the end of some detours you get sent back to the fork in the road though)
kinda short and re-uses bosses from the main game (spring breeze)
Very easy minecart segments
Ability thieves return (annoying enemy)
Level Design-7.5 Frustration-7.5 (8) Fun-8/7.5 (7) Originality-6.5
Overall Score-8
(mini-games in parenthesis)
+
Diversity (2 platform games, 1 treasure hunt platform game and 5 mini-games; Spring Breeze is a remake of KDL1)
Great animation
Good use of mode 7 (the intro)
Great tutorials for each game (and each ability – press start)
More shape-shifting (ninja, fire wizard, bomb chucker, boomerang knight etc)
Lots of moves (blocking – l/r, slide, smart bomb, mid-air dash, etc. - explained in the pause menu for each form)
2-player co-op play (or w/ an AI controlled partner)
Many hidden items, secrets
Mini-bosses
You can give food to your partner (to restore health) - similar to Toejam & Earl
Cute cutscenes between levels
Kirby is a fast climber
Your partner gets teleported to you if you walk away from it
+/-
Respawning enemies (as soon as you scroll the screen away from their spawning points)
Can’t swallow new enemies while transformed (press B to drop the current ability and return to normal) - can't have an inventory of forms to switch between
Spring Breeze and Dynablade are easy compared to the other main modes
-
The standard platform game (spring breeze) is only 4 stages long
Slowdown in co-op play
Some control problems (somewhat slippery movement, no jump height adjustment, double tap to run instead of a specific button, some movement delay after using a smart bomb)
Can’t switch abilities directly with your partner (instead you drop the current ability which your partner can then pick up)
Somewhat repetitive
Some trial & error (bosses, some aspects of certain abilities, certain obstacles)
Your AI partner sometimes gets in the way or kills itself
Only the platform games have any lasting appeal
Searching for the right ability to use to get to a chest can be a chore
Ability thieves (annoying enemy)
Addendum:
The Great Cave Offensive Mode
+
2-Player Co-op
Save points and checkpoints
Some decent puzzles
Pretty good variety
+/-
Non-persistent abilities and rooms and it's a collectathon (chests just contain point items)
Enemies respawn as soon as you move out of sight from their spawning points (can be both good and bad)
-
Trial & error (death pits!, the switch puzzle near the beginning makes it seem like you'd need a second player since you can't tell the cpu to stand still but it can be done alone with the hawk form (downward mid-air attack), some bomb blocks create lava barriers in front of chests when triggered, poor overview in the third room makes it easy to miss that the chest will fall into lava if you stand on (thus removing) the falling block beneath the chest, the chest in a stream and the underwater switch which drops a chest into a pit, etc.) - non-persistent rooms means that you can try again if you screw up though
No maps
Can't access the pause menu during boss fights
Short invincibility time
No teleporters or other forms of quick travel (at the end of some detours you get sent back to the fork in the road though)
kinda short and re-uses bosses from the main game (spring breeze)
Very easy minecart segments
Ability thieves return (annoying enemy)