Kirby Star Allies
Kirby Star Allies is a platform game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo as part of the Kirby series. It was released worldwide on the Nintendo Switch on 16 March 2018 and released a full version with extra modes and new characters on 30 November 2018. The game has sold 2.56 million copies as of March 2019, making it one of the best-selling games on the Switch. It received mixed or average reviews. Praise went to the game's graphics, gameplay and soundtrack, but received criticism for its very easy difficulty level.
Gameplay
Kirby Star Allies is a 2.5D platform game played from a side-on perspective. Players control the series' titular protagonist Kirby who can be accompanied by up to three companions. Kirby can throw hearts at enemies to turn them into allies. The game can be played alone with the game's AI controlling companions or cooperatively with other players controlling companions. When Kirby has companions, new special attacks become available which allow Kirby to combine his abilities with those of his allies', a feature not seen since '. The elemental fusions last for as long as the power is held or until a new element is introduced over it, while some of the combinations are single-use moves that bear more of a resemblance to the combinations found in '. Also, when Kirby has three allies, they can perform "Friend Actions" on specific stages, like "Friend Train" and "Friend Star." To fight the final boss, Kirby can use a Friend Action called the "Star Allies Sparkler", which resembles to the Dragoon from Kirby Air Ride. With it, Kirby can traverse around the boss in full 3D - a rarity for the series - and shoot targets of interest.The game also introduces the "Dream Friend" system, which allows the player to call upon characters from past Kirby games as special allies with expanded movesets. Bandana Waddle Dee, King Dedede, and Meta Knight can all be unlocked as Dream Friends through progression in Story Mode. Additional Dream Friends have been added via software updates, including Rick, Kine and Coo ; Marx ; Gooey ; Adeleine & Ribbon ; Dark Meta Knight ; Daroach ; Magolor ; Taranza ; Susie ; and the Three Mage-Sisters.
Plot
On the Jambandra space station far away from Kirby's home planet, a dark crystal heart explodes due to an imperfection in a mysterious ritual, sending its numerous fragments, Jamba Hearts, hurtling into deep space. Many characters, including King Dedede and Meta Knight, are possessed while investigating the hearts that land on Popstar. A heart hits Kirby, but it instead gives him the ability to befriend enemies by throwing hearts. Kirby notices many Waddle Dees bringing food to Castle Dedede and decides to investigate. After Kirby defeats Meta Knight and King Dedede and frees them from the Jamba Heart's influence, a large fortress known as Jambastion lands on Popstar. After defeating three generals of ice, fire, and electricity, Francisca, Flamberge, and Zan Partizanne, respectively, Kirby and his friends fly to the far reaches of space.After defeating Francisca and Flamberge, along with other bosses, Kirby and his friends connect a path to Jambandra Base and breach its defensive barrier. They battle Zan once again before meeting Hyness, an evil priest who is planning to restore a dark force, Void Termina, to full power using the Jamba Hearts. Defeating Hyness reveals his true face, a blue large-nosed figure with twitching eyes. He summons Francisca, Flamberge, and Zan Partizanne and uses dark energy to strengthen them and drain their life force. After being defeated, Hyness sacrifices the three and himself to subsequently revive Void Termina. Kirby and his friends use a Friend Pedestal to summon the Friend Star but it transforms into the Star Allies Sparkler via the power of the four heart pins that were stuck in the prison of Void Termina. After overcoming its humanoid body, also regurgitating Hyness, Francisca, Flamberge, and Zan Partizanne in the process, and defeating its bird form, it is revealed that its true form is a purplish pink cluster with three dark eye-like spots that can arrange themselves to resemble Kirby's face. During battle, this blob morphs into different shapes that reference Dark Matter from Kirby's Dream Land 2 and 02 from . Kirby then destroys Void Termina with the Star Allies Sparkler, summoning friends in the process. The Sparkler is destroyed by the resulting explosion, but Kirby uses a Warp Star to return himself and his friends safely home.
Post Game Modes
After defeating Hyness in the sub-game Guest Star ???? Star Allies Go!, Galacta Knight suddenly emerges from a portal to battle the player and their allies. However, before he starts the battle, a butterfly lands on his lance and absorbs him. It later transforms into a new masked swordsman called Morpho Knight, who wields a pair of butterfly-themed swords. The player and their friends defeat Morpho Knight, and he vanishes away.In the Soul Melter difficulty of The Ultimate Choice, Void Termina gets battled once again, though more powerful than before. After defeating the third form, its true form is revealed to be Void Soul, a blue version of the core with black spots. Kirby and his allies eventually defeat Void Soul.
In Heroes in Another Dimension, Hyness and the Three Mage Sisters are corrupted and went to another dimension. So Kirby and his heroic Dream Friends has to travel four dimensions in order to unlock the final dimension and battle a corrupted form of Hyness and the other corrupted mages. If the player collects all 100 or more hearts, they can make Francisca, Flamberge and Zan Partizanne friends and send Kirby and his friends back to Dream Land.
In the Soul Melter EX difficulty of The Ultimate Choice, Morpho Knight and Void Termina feature more difficult versions of their previous forms with darker color palettes. The fourth phase is of Void Termina is completely revamped to now feature Void, a white and red colored variant with rainbow cracks surrounding its body. The defeat animation is changed to instead have Void smile with stars being released as the screen turns white.
Development and release
Kirby Star Allies was developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo. The game is thought to be based upon the first incarnation of the cancelled Kirby game for the GameCube, the trailer for which shows Kirby making multiple helpers, akin to the fundamental element of Star Allies. The game was initially teased under the tentative title Kirby during E3 2017. In September 2017, the game's official title was announced during a Nintendo Direct presentation. The game was released for the Nintendo Switch game console on 16 March 2018. On 3 March 2018, a free demo of the game was released on the Nintendo eShop showcasing two of the game's stages.Reception
Kirby Star Allies received "mixed or average reviews" according to video game review aggregator Metacritic. Critics praised the game's visuals, saying that they are "gorgeous", however they criticized the game's easy difficulty with Kyle Hilliard from Game Informer saying that " demands so little from the player that I sometimes felt like I was barely involved at all".Critics praised the game's soundtrack. Hilliard called the game's soundtrack "fun and bubbly" and GameSpot reviewer Peter Brown and IGN reviewer Brendan Graeber calling the soundtrack "catchy".
The game was nominated for "Family Game of the Year" at the D.I.C.E. Awards.
At the release of the game's final post-launch content, some critics reevaluated the game, finding that the additional content resulted in an improved experience. Stephen Totilo of Kotaku commented that, while the main game was "a cakewalk", the additional Heroes in Another Dimension mode was "a head-scratcher and a reflex-tester", stating that Star Allies was "one of the most-improved Nintendo games on the Switch roster." Another review, by Sean Anthony of Gaming Trend, also praised the creative level design and difficulty of Heroes in Another Dimension, and additionally complimented the added "Soul Melter EX" difficulty level; his conclusion was that "Kirby Star Allies is finally a complete game."