That’s his title, not mine! It’s a very rare occurence that we get to see a written feature from our very own tduck, which makes me more than happy to feature it as an End of Day thought! I’ll leave you guys to enjoying that, and be sure to leave the guy some feedback! See you in a few, short hours – RMC

I’m sitting at a friend’s house watching one of their roommates playing Kirby’s Epic Yarn. She’s not much into gaming. In fact, to watch her try to jump from platform to platform in Sonic Colors is like watching a train wreck in slow motion. Tonight, I popped in Kirby for her to try and she’s loving it. There’s something about that cute little pink puffball that you just can’t look away.

Anyway, all the hardcore Kirby action going on made me start to think about Kirby’s past adventures that I hold near and dear to my heart. There’s the original classic on the GameBoy, his first colored outing on the NES, and of course the most awesome Kirby game of all: Kirby Super Star on the SNES. However, one more that I truly enjoyed was Kirby’s Pinball Land.

Kirby’s Pinball Land was a GameBoy game released back in 1994 in North America and created by HAL Labs. By now, you’re probably familiar with similar outings with well-known video game stars such as Sonic Spinball, Mario Pinball Land, and Metroid Prime Pinball. The character is the ball and you travel through various pinball levels themed after the character’s game universe. Kirby’s Pinball Land is no different, and in fact, is the granddaddy of all character-themed pinball video games (beating out Sonic Spinball’s launch by a couple months).

The game is divided up into three worlds, each with a boss fight, plus a final fight with King Dededededede (sp?). Each world is then divided into three levels which are just small pinball tables stacked on top of each other. Left on the + pad controls the left flipper while the A button controls the right. Up on the + pad and the B button nudges the table left and right respectively, giving you slight control over Kirby. No tilting, though.

The bottom level of each world is very basic, usually just some random enemies and bumpers to run into. The middle level is a little more complex, often with a small puzzle you can solve, e.g. hit all the right bumpers in order, set switches on the table to the same symbol, etc. to open up a mini game and earn a crap-ton of points. The top level also offers a challenge/puzzle to solve and unlock a warp star for access to the boss. The bosses are popular favorites from the Kirby universe: Kracko, Wispy Woods, and Poppy Brothers, and ultimately King Dededededodaday.

Yes, it’s black and white. Yes, it’s an old game. Yes, it is a Kirby game, so difficulty is on the light side. However, this game is FUN. It’s simple and to the point. No need to unlock levels or play for hours to rack up enough stars, rings, jewels, or whatever to unlock the next table. The three main worlds are available from the get-go and you can clear them at your own pace. It’s really sad that we’ve gotten away from fun, short games that ignore intense difficulty when you just want to waste some time using minimal brain power. This is the signature charm of Kirby games; they’re supposed to be easy, quick, quirky, and (dare I say it) fun! Kirby’s Pinball Land is stuffed full of the IP’s sights, sounds, and music. Even when slammed into spikes, Kirby is always smiling throughout the game. You have to give credit to that little ball of fluff for taking such a beating and still coming back for more.

The more skilled pinball player could probably beat the game in an hour or so; maybe two if they get stuck en route to a couple of the bosses, but that’s not the point. The game is not just blasting through the bosses. Any good pinball player knows it’s all about the points. Points points points points. Let me tell you, there are a ton of points to be gained in this game, plus multipliers, mini-games, and bonuses. When I was ten, I started playing this game at around noon on a Saturday. About 546,850 points later, I realized it was 3 p.m. This game can easily blast away so many hours of your day if you let it. I mean what’s more fun than ramming Kirby into a row of Waddle Doos over and over again? Again, it’s all about the points.

Whether you’re a pinball fan like me or not, Kirby’s Pinball Land is one of those amazing games of yesteryear that we just don’t see being made often enough these days. If you pine for the time when video games were about who got the most points instead of who unlocked the most achievements on mega-hyper mode while only using the basic weapons and standing on one foot, this game is for you. I so hope this comes out on the 3DS’ virtual console someday.

Source: GoNintendo

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