Honorable Mention #2: Kirby Super Star and Kirby Super Star Ultra

Now the real game that is getting the honorable mention is Kirby Super Star because the other game is just a remake with some added features on the DS. Now Kirby Super Star would probably rank with the Donkey Kong Country Series with its nostalgic value. Super Star came out on the Super Nintendo (SNES) and it was one of the first video games I played co-op with my friend Ivan. It wasn't until a birthday (or Christmas not sure but I think birthday) when I received both Kirby Super Star and Kirby's Dreamland 3 from the McKee family. Now this game is huge (For its time) it had about eight games on this one cartridge (I know you youngsters might not remember cartridges but us old farts do). Now most of the games are platforming games while some of them were mini games which were still a lot of fun.

The first game named Spring Breeze you play as our little pink hero Kirby and you have to hunt down the evil King Dedede who has stolen all of the food in dreamland. Now this game is short and the easiest game out of all of them. It has four worlds but still offers a lot of fun. This game is based off of Kirby's first game that came out on the Game Boy however it adds better game play power ups and a helper as well as improved graphics. Like I said this one is a simple game however it does end in a rather fun battle with Kind Dedede which includes wrestling ring with Mario Luigi and others from the Mario Bros franchise as Spectators (some heroes just letting this evil king instead of fighting him themselves).

So the next game is called Dyna Blade which I have to say is an Awesome title. Now Dyna Blade is a giant almost robotic looking bird that is destroying Dreamland crops. Now this game isn't much longer then Spring Breeze but it is a little harder and involves a game map. This lets the player to manually select the next stage and go back and play them again with out going in order. Now this game also has two bonus areas which gives you access to all of the power ups (called copy abilities) for you to use with out having to find and defeat the enemy that the power represents. So our final boss for this one is Dyna Blade and the bird isn't easy. It's weak point is its head which you have to jump into the air to attack however you don't want to get to close or you will get hurt. Once you beat the bird you will find out that Dyna Blade is a mother who is collecting food for her baby birds. Kirby feels bad about this and raises the baby birds while Dyna Blade heals before sending the family off together into the sun light.

Now for the Gourmet Race which I never actually thought of it as one of the main games but it is. This is a race between King Dedede and Kirby who can both run the fastest and eat the most food (so in other words to see who is the fastest Glutton way to teach good health habits). There are only three stages here and the only objective is to get to the end first with the most food inside you (don't try this at home slight choking hazard). There are some abilities in this but mostly speed boost powers like Wheel, Wing, and Jet. Not much else to say on this one so lets move on.

We are now on the the the epic known as The Great Cave Offensive. This game is long and its deep (I mean that in more then one way). Once again you play as Kirby who has taken up Archaeology (for some reason). While exploring Kirby falls into an incredibly deep hole (one use of the word deep). This leads Kirby to a massive new world which leads to a deep exploration quest (look deep again aren't I clever? No..... Oh ok). Now the main goal is to get out of the massive cave however there are many treasures that need finding (ok you don't need to find them but why not). Some of the treasures are missing from other game franchises like the Screw Attack (Metroid), Capitan Falcon's Helmet (F Zero), Mr. Saturn (Earthbound) and finally the freaking TRIFORCE (Legend of Zelda). Now how Link and Zelda managed to lose the Triforce I have no idea maybe this cave is the Sacred Realm but yes some how the Triforce is here and Kirby can find it. Now in total there are 60 items to find in this game and even though it is long its still a lot of fun.

Next up is the Revenge of Meta Knight who is a very cool character (Despite how over powered he is in Brawl). Now I had never heard of Meta Knight before Super Star however he is one of the bosses you fight in Spring Breeze. Now this game is awesome it makes this pink puffball look Bad Ass. Kirby goes on a full assault on Meta Knight's flying battleship the Halberd. This game is truly awesome with one of the strongest stories in the game conversations between Meta Knight and his crew. Riding Dyna Blade so you can re-bored the Halberd. Meta Knight willing to stay behind so hic crew can escape the ship just because Meta Knight wants another show down with the puff ball. The battle with Meta Knight is an epic sword fight and then the game ends with you riding a wheelie (looks like a one wheeled motorcycle) off of the ship avoiding attacks by Meta Knight who is flying over head with a par of demonic like wings before you take a jump off the ship. The last image before the credits roll is Kirby and Wheelie riding off into the sun set as the Halberd crashes into the water behind them. Now if that isn't Awesome then you can go do get injured some how.

This brings us to the last game with a story Milky Way Wishes. This game starts off with the sun and the moon fighting each other. The citizens of Dreamland ask Kirby to go in search of the living wish granting space station called Nova so he can get them to stop the fighting. So Kirby has to visit about seven different planets which have star keys or seals or just stars. Once you have collected the Stars Kirby will be able to reach Nova and make his wish however Marx (Who is the one who told Kirby to use Nova to stop the sun and moon) knocks Kirby out and wishes to have the ability to take over Popstar (Where Dreamland is). It turns out he was also the one who made the sun and the moon fight each other (How you convince inanimate objects to fight is beyond me) So Nova rockets towards Popstar only to be held back by the sun and the moon. The stars Kirby has collected through out the game form a ship for Kirby and he rockets off to Nova. This leads to a side scrolling space ship battle inside of Nova. This is in an attempt to destroy Nova from the inside. Now if you succeed (It is rather hard) you will have to face Marx who now has wings and super powers. Including what has been called the Marx Blast. He will fire a giant laser at you which will send you flying into the sky before landing painfully on the ground. He also has the ability to split his body in half opening up a black hole that will suck you into a dimension of pain. This is a hard fight and one of my favorites Marx is a cool enemy that would even make the great Master Chief quake in his boots (and yes I am serious)

So this leads us to our last "Game" if you can call it that, It is to big to be a mini game but it doesn't have any sort of story or anything that all games usually have. This is the Arena and all it consists of is an endurance test. It makes you play through all of the bosses in a random order however the last one is Marx. That is really all there is to it just stay alive to the end. There are five Maximum Tomatoes that you can use in the game as well as abilities but if you die once you lose.

Now there are two mini games which are pretty basic but fun both of the test your timing. In the first mini game Megaton Punch you have to test your strength against enemies in the game with a block breaking contest. If you punch powerful enough you will break more then just blocks as you will send a crack through popstar if your good enough. Then the other game Samurai Kirby is also a timing game. However this has Kirby as a Samurai facing off against several enemies in a show down fashion. The weapons used are matched with the enemy he faces. Like with the cook he uses a pie and against Dedede he uses a hammer. These to mini games are fun but you aren't going to get as much out of them as the main games.

Recently in a rather genius move Nintendo remade Kirby Super Star for the Nintendo DS calling it Kirby Super Star Ultra. This game has the origional games but also extra games. Now I won't talk about this one as much because even though its an improved version of the origional I like the Original better then the remake. Im guessing because of the nostalgia. Now another cool addition to Super Star was the helper. This was someone who helped Kirby in his adventures that can be controlled by a second player. The helper will take the form of the enemy who has the power the helper is using. It is a lot of fun giving you a rather different control scheme but still making it fun to play as.

So yes in a nut that is Kirby Super Star. If I were to place it in the list It would tie for 5th with Donkey Kong Country Series. However DKC has more nostalgia attached to it so it got the top spot. My next honorable mention will go to Metroid Prime so stay tuned.