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To celebrate the recent release of Kirby Star Allies for Nintendo Switch, let’s look at another Kirby game that came out earlier this year that I just now got around to playing.  It’s Kirby Battle Royale, a 3DS game featuring four player battle style mini-games with Kirby and his different copy abilities.  There are ten different types of arenas to battle in, and they’re all pretty interesting enough to be deemed ‘blog-worthy’ by me, so let’s take a look at them!  Also be sure to stick around to the end, as I’ve got some news about HAL Laboratory (creators of Kirby), and their first new mobile game!

There’s not really much to this game, it’s just a collection of four-player mini-games with an emphasis on battle.  You choose one of Kirby’s many copy abilities and use it to fight it out with three other Kirbys.  The mini-games kind of remind me of ones found in titles like Mario Party and whatnot.  The only bad thing I could say about this game is it lacks the creativity of other Kirby spin-offs.  But at least the mini-games here are fun and there isn’t any really bad ones.  Overall the game kind of reminds me of a combination of two other downloadable Kirby titles: Kirby Fighter Deluxe and Kirby Blowout Blast.

You can play against the computer, or locally with players who have a 3DS as well.  Plus you can go online.  However I don’t think I’ll have many opportunities in the future to play this game with others.  Which is why I kind of wish this game was on the Switch, as I think I’d have a better chance to play this with others on that system.  But I could see them making a “Deluxe” version of this game on the Switch later on, though. 

There’s also a single player story mode where King Dedede sets up a battle tournament and the winner gets a great big cake.  But you know King Dedede is up to no good as he uses a magic 3-D printer to make copies of Kirby to fight the real Kirby.  It’s just a sequence of single player battles, though.  You can also test out abilities in the training room, see things you’ve unlocked in Collections, and toggle options.

Kirby Copy Abilities

So you probably want to know what Kirby copy abilities you can use in this game.  I’m not going to go over each one in detail, but I will list them.  I figure their names are descriptive enough.  But if you do have any questions about any of them, let me know and I’ll go over the ones you want to know more about in my reply, how’s that sound?  Anyway, the copy abilities you can use are: Sword, Bomb, Beetle, Spear, Cutter, Fighter, Ninja, Whip, Parasol, Hammer, Doctor, Tornado, and Ice. By meeting certain requirements in Story Mode, you can later play as Waddle Dee, Meta Knight, and King Dedede.  But they play exactly like the Parasol, Sword, and Hammer abilities, respectively.  What’s neat is that if you downloaded the Kirby Battle Royale demo, you could transfer over your data and play as Meta Knight right away.  And Kirby related amiibo will unlock special headgear for some of the characters.  One of them has Waddle Dee wearing a Kirby Café uniform.  Yes, there really is a Kirby Café in Japan (look it up).  I SO wish I could go there, but by the time I save up enough money to go to Japan, plus get a passport and get enough vacation time at work, the café would have already closed down!  They just need to build one where I live! 

But anyway, that’s really Kirby Battle Royale in a nutshell.  The real stars of the game, though, are the different mini-game arenas, so let’s take a look at those.

Battle Arena

So the least creatively named game is also the most basic.  All it is a round arena with you and three other Kirbys battling it out.  Whoever is left standing wins.  If you run out of energy you can get back up by pressing the A button, similar to Punch Out, but you’ll have less energy each time you do this.  So eventually, someone’s going to emerge the victor.

Apple Scramble

In many of the games you can team up with another player to compete with another team, and Apple Scramble is a good example of using teamwork to win.  At the top of the screen are two Wispy Woods trees.  Hit them a bunch of times and apples will drop, and you must then carry apples to your chute to earn points.  But you won’t earn the points for the apples until you flip a lever to open a trap door to send the apples falling.  You can really use teamwork by having one player man the lever and the other collect apples.  Or you can go on the offensive and attack other Kirbys for their apples and steal them for your own.  Another neat thing about many of these games is there are multiple boards for them. So in one Apple Scramble level, you might have to jump over some pits to get to your lever, for example.  So you do get a bit of variety, even in the same game.

Coin Clash

This level has a haunted house theme, and you must collect coins that appear around the area.  You can attack players to knock coins out of them, but there is something else you must watch out for.  A ghost will appear shortly after you start, and if it touches you, you’ll be possessed by the ghost and will lose coins at a steady rate while being possessed.  If you are the ghost, you must tag another player to possess them and be free of the ghost yourself.  Whoever has the most coins at the end wins.

Attack Riders

This battle is more 2-D side scrolling in nature, as you travel along a circular race track with raised platforms scattered about.  You still collect coins like in Coin Clash, and whoever has the most at the end wins.  But a little while after starting, a Wheelie will appear on the track.  Wheelies are popular Kirby enemies that look like a one-eyed, single tire motorcycle.  If you can hop on it, you can drive around and do a dash attack to knock a lot of coins out of the other Kirbys.  But watch out as you are extremely vulnerable on your ride.  If another Kirby manages to hit you, you’ll get knocked off and they can hop on the Wheelie instead.  Sometimes even more Wheelies will roll out, making things even more chaotic!

Crazy Theater

Before the battle starts, you’ll see a stage curtain with instructions like “Attack other players” or “Avoid Kracko’s Lightning.”  Then when you start, if you can do what they say, you’ll get a point.  It kind of reminds me of WarioWare.  Whoever can reach the top of a point tower first, wins.  Sometimes you must even solve math problems and stand on the right answer, and can knock any other Kirbys out of the way.  Who says Kirby games can’t be educational?

Rocket Rumble

For some reason this game makes me think of Chu Chu Rocket.  You’re in a circular playfield with four rockets on each side, and one is yours.  You must throw fuel cubes at your rocket, all the while attacking other Kirbys and keeping them from filling up their rockets.  You can even attack their rockets to lower their fuel as well.  Before the timer runs out, you must hop in your rocket and blast off.  Whoever has the most fuel and can rocket the highest, wins.

Robo Bonkers

The layout of this stage is similar to the circular Attack Riders area.  But in the middle of this circle is a giant robot Bonkers.  Bonkers is a Kirby enemy who is a monkey/gorilla and uses a hammer to attack.  All four Kirbys must attack the Robo Bonkers to defeat him and avoid his attacks.  A cannon will appear and if you can pick up missiles and throw it in the cannon, you’ll deal major damage to Robo Bonkers.  The game ends when Robo Bonkers is defeated, and whoever dealt the most damage to him wins the game.

Slam Hockey

You may think this is like Air Hockey, what with the rectangular playfield and hockey puck, but it really isn’t.  Instead, you smack the puck around and if it hits other players, you’ll get a point.  You can hit the puck or pick it up and throw it.  You’ll know when to avoid the puck because it’ll have a different color around it.  Sometimes a roulette wheel will spin and whichever Kirby it stops on, you’ll get three points instead of one for hitting that Kirby!

Ore Express

This one has an Old West mining theme.  The screen automatically scrolls and you must pick up ores and throw them into train cars as they go past for points.  Just make sure the boxcars are open first.  There are different colored ores that are worth different points, and if you can throw them into the golden boxcars, you can get even more points!  And whoever has the most points at the end, wins.

Flagball

And last is this sports themed game which has a beach volleyball motif.  The action is viewed in 2-D side scrolling fashion and there is a ball and two different colored flags on each side of the playfield.  The object is to pick up the ball and toss it to hit your flag.  When you do, you get a point.  Whoever gets to seven points first, wins.  After a while, the flags will turn into double flags for double the points, which allows for some crazy comebacks.  One last unique thing is that not only can you pick up the ball, but you can grab the flags and carry them around as well!

And those are all the games!  Thanks for reading and let me know what you think in the comments section!

Part Time UFO

OK one last thing involving HAL Laboratory, creators of Kirby.  Did you know that they just recently released their first mobile game in the US?  I didn’t either until one of my brothers told me about it!  You’d think Nintendo would’ve released it or said something about it, since HAL and Nintendo are so close, but HAL is still an independent company and it’s probably like how The Pokémon Company has released a lot of mobile games on their own, too.  Anyway, HAL’s new game is called Part Time UFO.  You play as a cute little UFO with eyes who has a claw, and you must grab things with it and put them in other places, so it’s like a claw arcade game, or UFO Catchers as they’re called in Japan.  Each mission takes the form of a part time job, so you must use your claw crane skills to load up a farm truck, stack a group of cheerleaders, and much more.  No Kirby cameos, although the UFO character looks an awful lot like Kirby’s UFO ability.  But there is a secret cameo and outfit based on Qbby from the 3DS eShop BoxBoy series.  Only ‘problem’ with the game is that it costs four bucks, but considering that’s just a value meal at Wendy’s and you don’t have to deal with any in-game ads or purchases, it’s not too bad.  The visuals remind me of Rhythm Heaven and the game is just as weird and quirky.  It’s even more creative than Kirby Battle Royale.  So I recommend downloading it, especially if you enjoy supporting HAL Labs.  --Cary