The Hidden Difficulty of Kirby Games

Look at this face.



So cute. So innocent. Kirby has always been my favorite Nintendo character/franchise. Starting at the ripe age of 8 with Kirby Super Star, I've had a bit of an obsession with the character. Now here we are 20 years later, and I'm only now truly discovering the beast hidden beneath this adorable facade.



I have always accepted that Kirby games were easy (except for Mass Attack and Dream Course), but I've never believed that they were lesser games because of it. The enjoyment I got out of each title outweighed my desire for a challenge. But then I discovered Sakurai's original intent. You see, the reason why Kirby can fly is because Sakurai wanted to create a series anyone could play. If you reached a part of a level you found too difficult to play, you could simply fly over it. Once I heard about this, I got an idea. An awful idea. I got a wonderful, awful idea.



I am going to play through every game in the Kirby's Dream Collection without flying. At least, that was the idea. But as I started playing Kirby's Dream Land, I realized that this would technically be impossible. Why? Because there are some parts of the game that force you to fly. It was then that I decided "fly" would only be used as a super jump, and to add an extra layer of difficulty I would ignore any healing items.

So far, I've only tried this with Kirby's Dream Land, but I plan to play through the others soon enough. What follows is my 2-part, profanity-packed, rage-filled journey through the flightless world of Kirby's Dream Land. After playing this way, I will never again agree with someone who claims all Kirby games are "easy." And if you want to experience Kirby in a new way, I recommend trying this out for yourselves.

Part 1


Part 2












inb4 Kyousuke Nanbu complains some more