Abusing Pink Balls

KIRBY’S DREAM COURSE (SNES – Originally Released February 1st, 1995)

What can I say, I have been spoiled by Kirby Superstar. Every expectation of what a Kirby game should be has been scaled up to the standards that seminal game put in place. So after having gone through it, Kirby’s Dreamland 3 decidedly became mediocre when I continued my quest to complete the Dream Collection on Wii. So upon booting up Kirby’s Dream Course for the Super Nintendo, I held my breath, and had hoped that the impression that Superstar left on me would not soil my expectations of an entirely different Kirby experience.

PREMISE

Over the twenty-two year history of his franchise, Kirby has taken the form of a ball many times to facilitate various tasks, and so no doubt golf (albeit a bit bastardized) was going to be utilized at one point or another to get to the end goal: to stop King Dedede and his dastardly deeds, of course. I would be lying, if I stated that I have previously knocked Kirby around a pinball table, bounced him around arenas to break blocks, or drew lines to accelerate him to the end of stages. To be perfectly honest, this is my first time doing any of that sort of thing with Kirby, so I didn’t have any expectations when it came to Kirby’s Dream Course, which provides an amalgamation of a beloved sport with our favorite pink puffball thrown into a concise package on the Super Nintendo.

To sum it up, Kirby is called once again to keep King Dedede in check. The game really doesn’t give us much story or background to why we need to stop him – perhaps he’s stealing all the food in Dreamland again, who cares – as was generally the trend with Kirby games. The setup is simple: stop Dedede by hitting Kirby across various themed courses with a club. In the manner, the likes of which PETA would have a problem with, if Kirby was an actual…thing.

GAMEPLAY

Kirby is controlled by a competent hit box system that works decently well to get him across the screen. Though, deceptively simple, these courses can end up being much more difficult than they need to be due to the isometric angle, the health system, and the requirement to kill every enemy on screen. Health is tied to the number of strokes you have available to you per stage. Though health can be regenerated by one point with every dead opponent, getting hit forces you to lose a possible stroke which could mean either your victory or defeat. This gets infuriating later on when there are more enemies, and more instant death pits to rob you of your health and lives. When you have lost all of your lives, you are sent back to the beginning of that particular world, even if it was the trend of that time, it became incredibly annoying. I found myself, as I went further into the game, just simply trying to get the end of a particular course, rather than caring about the points system. To top it off, the final boss battle with Dedede was a cakewalk. It was insultingly easy after the hardship that the game put me through, especially at the latter half of the game. But to tell you the truth, I was thankful he was easy, because up to that point, I was dreading that last battle. I figured that if the main game was this difficult, facing Dedede was going to be a task in and of itself.

Or maybe I just simply suck at golf. I think I’ll attribute my lack of skill with this game to that. Despite my apparent absence of aptitude for this particular type of game, the overall experience was enjoyable enough to keep my attention. It certainly wasn’t boring, and its steep difficulty curve should not deter anyone from playing this game. Difficulty should never be a bar to entry, nor a reason to discourage anyone from experiencing it themselves.

VISUALS

Displayed in an isometric 3D-like design, similar to Sonic 3D Blast on the Sega Genesis/Saturn, Kirby’s Dream Course holds up relatively well despite trying to pull off visuals the SNES really wasn’t designed for. The colors are bright, and Kirby looks like Kirby with minimal detail, yet still containing his signature charm. At times the viewpoint skews what would have looked like a manageable gap, into a rage inducing, frustrating trial. Think Marble Madness, but with a bouncing and rolling pink ball, combined with platforming challenges. Background animation is minimalist in design, which doesn’t detract from the main experience, so the player’s focus is on the course, not what’s happening behind it.

SOUND

I’ve always loved the Super Nintendo’s soundboard chipset, as you will undoubtedly see me discuss this facet whenever I get the chance to talk about an SNES game. Though this is on the lower scale of what the platform is capable of, the game puts out some nice classic Kirby tunes. As far as Dream Course’s soundtrack is concerned, I do think that it could have been much better. Either that, or I am just spoiled by the awesome sounds that Kirby SuperStar put forth. Regardless, the sound of hitting our hero has a nice pop to it, giving you the feel of the connection between the invisible paddle and Kirby’s movement across the screen.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Overall, Kirby’s Dream Course is a fair game. It does what it sets out to do, with some slight frustrations; it doesn’t make any outrageous offenses for an SNES isometric game. For what it is available for now on Nintendo’s Virtual Console service on the Wii or WiiU, I would suggest picking it up if you haven’t experienced it for yourself. If you’ve seen everything Kirby has to offer, but missed this when it first came out, give it a look. There are certainly worse options available to you.