I have to hand it to Nintendo’s composition efforts lately. Despite my previous comment that Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze was but a slight shimmer in a sea of mediocre Nintendo soundtracks as of late, since that day the company has stepped things up considerably. Super Mario 3D World, Mario Kart 8, bits and pieces of Yoshi’s New Island, and now this toe-tapping classic remix for Kirby and the Rainbow Curse have all been knocking it out of the park, and I couldn’t be more thrilled. If this streak carries over the 2015’s Wii U Zelda, I’d say it’s fair to call it official — Nintendo’s timeless tune-manufacturing process is back in business. It’s been a long wait since the GameCube days.
I do realize that exceptions like Super Mario Galaxy exist, but pairing great music with the latest Kirby is not something that’s always a guarantee. To be fair, Kirby and the Rainbow Curse is far from your average Kirby game, and for fans of the DS’s Kirby: Canvas Curse, it’s a sequel they had long since given up on. Canvas Curse was a favorite for many and one of the highest rated Kirby’s of all-time, so underestimating its spiritual successor ought not be done lightly. Plus, its graphics are entirely composed of what appears to be Play-Doh and clay. Who doesn’t love assorted bits of colorful clay?
Rainbow Curse’s controls are highly GamePad-centric, and I’m happy to report that they work equally as well as Canvas Curse’s DS implementation. The player can draw paths for Kirby to roll on, and stuck in ball form as he is, the stylus indirectly controls his movements. For example, drawing a loop activates a speed boost, while tapping Kirby will provoke a spin-move that can be used to dispatch foes who get to close. It’s pretty straightforward stuff, and despite being one of the few Nintendo games at the show I’d describe as kid-centric rather than just kid-friendly, there is a trace of hidden depth if you look for it.
This mainly comes in the form of collectible stars, laid out in convenient paths throughout the game’s levels so Kirby can roll right up and collect them. The fun starts when you reach 100 stars, at which point a special ability can be activated depending on which power Kirby currently has access to. During my play time, Kirby morphed into a super mecha-tank, almost Transformer-like, and decimated everything onscreen in response to a few simple taps. It was pretty awesome, and much welcomed after five minutes of admittedly boring rolling around.
And that, I think, is my main concern with Rainbow Curse at this stage — it just feels a lot slower and less action-packed than Canvas Curse on DS ever did. It’s certainly not too late for this to change, and it’s very possible that slowness is part of the game’s design (perhaps to allow for ogling of the fancy claymation visuals), but for a company that puts fun first, I’d be very surprised if things weren’t sped up a bit before the game actually releases next year.
Kirby is easily Nintendo’s most amorphous property, constantly bending to any-which-whim the company may currently need, so I can’t say I’m all that worried despite some of the demo’s eyebrow-raising pacing issues. HAL Labs knows how to deal with the pink puffball better than anyone, and even if Kirby and the Rainbow Curse is just another horse in Wii U’s growing 2015 stable, I expect the game will suit the kids whose parents pick it up just fine. If not, there’s always real-life Play-Doh to eat and rub in your hair instead.
