Kirby's Adventure

Kirby's Adventure is a Nintendo Entertainment System game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo in 1993. It is the second game of the overall Kirby franchise, but it is not a direct sequel to the first title, Kirby's Dream Land, which only got an indirect follow-up in 1995 with the release of Kirby's Dream Land 2. Kirby's Adventure is the first game to have Copy Abilities, a signature ability of Kirby in which he can obtain a power-up by inhaling certain enemies.

In 2002, Kirby's Adventure received a remake for the Game Boy Advance titled Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land. The original Kirby's Adventure has been ported several times, starting with a release on the Wii's Virtual Console in 2007. In 2011, Kirby's Adventure was remade as a 3D Classics title for the Nintendo 3DS rather than as a Virtual Console title. In 2012, Kirby's Adventure was one of the six titles included on Kirby's Dream Collection Special Edition. In 2013, Kirby's Adventure was released for the Wii U's Virtual Console. Kirby's Adventure is one of the thirty titles included on the NES Classic Edition. In 2019, Kirby's Adventure was released as a title for Nintendo Switch Online along with a library of several other Nintendo Entertainment System titles.

Story
Story from the instruction booklet: Light years away, on a tiny star not visible from Earth, is the magical, peaceful place known as Dream Land. The beings that inhabit this wonderful place live a blissful existence that centers on eating, sleeping, and playing. An example of their care-free customs include the traditional after-lunch feast nap. After they awaken from their nap, the Dream Landers discuss their dreams and fervently hope that each other's fondest wishes come true. One day, a young Dream Lander named Kirby awoke from his after-lunch nap feeling terrible. "What happened?" he wondered to himself. "I didn't have any dreams during my lunch nap!" This lack of dreams left Kirby feeling very uneasy. After talking to some of his friends, he found that the problem was much more serious than he had thought, for they had not experienced any dreams either! "Something must have happened to the Dream Spring!" they exclaimed in unison. The Dream Spring is a magical well that is a reservoir for all the dreams of the inhabitants of Dream Land. Dreams also flow out of the Dream Spring and envelop Dream Land, granting all sleeping beings enjoyable dreams. Legends told that the Dream Spring was created by a magical artifact known as the Star Rod. The sparkling star on the tip of this scepter was an actual fragment of a star that had landed in Dream Land in the distant past. The Star Rod now provided energy to the Dream Spring and served as the very symbol of Dream Land. The lack of dreams made everyone in Dream Land feel restless and irritable. The joyful laughter that had once resounded throughout Dream Land could no longer be heard at all. Things were bleak. Kirby, the roly-poly hero of Dream Land, boldly announced his intention to investigate the Dream Spring and find the cause of all the trouble. Upon reaching the Dream Spring, who did he find but King Dedede, bathing in its magical waters! In the past (see Kirby's Dream Land™ for Game Boy®), King Dedede had caused mischief in Dream Land by stealing all the Dream Landers' food and Sparkling Stars. Now, in the middle of the Dream Spring, in place of the Star Rod, sat Dedede, covered with bubble bath. "So you're up to your old tricks again, eh, Dedede?!" accused Kirby. "What are you talking about, young pudge ball?" Dedede looked surprised. "I thought I'd do everyone a favor by..." "No, no no!" Kirby shook his head. "I won't listen to your tricks! What have you done with the Star Rod?!" "Oh, that old thing," Dedede said nonchalantly. "I broke it into seven pieces and gave each piece to one of my friends..." "What was Dedede thinking?!" Kirby wondered. Before hearing any more of what Dedede had to say, Kirby set off on the long trek to gather the pieces of the Star Rod and return them to the Dream Spring. Hopefully, he could return the sparkle to the Dream Spring so that the people of Dream Land could again enjoy their happy midday naps.

In-game text: ''One day, the peaceful life of Dream Land was shattered by a mysterious crisis! The inhabitants didn't dream! On the edge of Dream Land, dreams and hope once gushed forth from the Dream Spring, fueled by the Star Rod. Investigating the Dream Spring, Kirby found naughty King Dedede swimming in its magical waters! Dedede had broken the Star Rod and given the pieces to his friends, who are now hiding in Dream Land! To bring back the lost dreams, Kirby sought the Star Rod!''

One day, the inhabitants of Dream Land lost their ability to dream, so Kirby went to investigate. At the Fountain of Dreams, Kirby finds that the Star Rod, which allows Dream Land's inhabitants to have dreams, had been stolen. He also sees King Dedede swimming in the Fountain of Dreams. King Dedede had broken the Star Rod into seven pieces, giving one to each of his six close friends and keeping one for himself. Kirby goes on an adventure to reassemble the Star Rod and return it to the Fountain of Dreams.

Along the way, Kirby encounters the Meta-Knights and fights their leader, Meta Knight, at the end of Orange Ocean. At the end of the seventh level, Rainbow Resort, Kirby faces off against King Dedede near the Fountain of Dreams. When Kirby defeats King Dedede in a battle, the eighth and final level begins, The Fountain of Dreams. It starts with a cutscene of King Dedede dragging on Kirby's foot, begging him to not return the Star Rod to the Fountain of Dreams, but Kirby ignores him. When Kirby puts the Star Rod back on the Fountain of Dreams, Nightmare emerges from it, and this terrifies both Kirby and King Dedede. Kirby is then inhaled by King Dedede, who then spits him out high into the sky where Kirby begins his battle against Nightmare. The second phase of the battle takes place on Planet Popstar's moon, where Nightmare ultimately manages to defeat Kirby. The resulting explosion blows off a chunk of the moon, making it crescent-shaped.

The following epilogue shows Kirby flying on a Warp Star in the sky while King Dedede floats after him. Meanwhile, the conclusion states that King Dedede had good intentions when hiding the Star Rod, as Dream Land had been invaded by Nightmare, who wanted to torment Dream Land's inhabitants. As a result of Kirby and King Dedede's teamwork in defeating Nightmare, good dreams have been restored to Dream Land.

Gameplay
Kirby's Adventure is a side-scrolling 2D platformer where the objective of each stage is to reach the end goal. Kirby can inhale most enemies and certain objects, and in doing so he can either swallow them or spit them out as a Star Bullet. Kirby can also float in midair, during which he cannot attack or use any other move, but Kirby can exhale to release an Air Pellet which cancels his flight and can be used to damage enemies or destroy Star Blocks. Kirby's Adventure introduces the ability for Kirby to run, perform a slide kick (after crouching), and most notably the use of Copy Abilities. There are several Copy Abilities, each granting Kirby a certain ability, such as fire breath. Without a Copy Ability, Kirby cannot really attack aside from inhaling enemies or objects and then spitting them out at his target.

Kirby has six vitality bars that measure his health. If Kirby touches an enemy, he takes damage and therefore loses a vitality bar. Certain attacks, usually dealt by mid-bosses and bosses, can take away two of Kirby's vitality bars. Kirby starts off with five lives, and if he loses all six vitality bars, he loses a life. If Kirby loses all of his lives, he gets a Game Over.

Instead of standard progression like in Kirby's Dream Land, Kirby has to access the individual stages from numbered doors within separate hub areas, which are the overall levels themselves. The levels consist of a few stages, some Sub-Games, a Museum (where Kirby can inhale an enemy for their Copy Ability), and a boss fight at the end. There is also a Warp Stage, allowing Kirby to travel between levels that he has already visited. Kirby must defeat the boss in order to access the next level. Whenever Kirby completes a level, the game's progress is automatically saved.

Kirby's Adventure also introduces Goal Game, which Kirby must do after clearing a stage. It starts with Kirby dropping onto a platform which briefly dips downward and then launches him up. The player must press at the platform's maximum descent to launch Kirby up as high as possible. Seven tiers of clouds are above the platform, and reaching the topmost tier awards Kirby with an extra life while most other tiers except the lowest one just awards him points. The lowest tier rewards him with nothing and only provides the tip, "Push A!".

Items
Each stage usually has one or more items. Whenever Kirby picks up an item, it assists him in some way. Certain items do not return from Kirby's Dream Land, such as Superspicy Curry or Mint Leaf, as their abilities have been integrated into a Copy Ability, so many items are about restoring Kirby's health.


 * 1-Up - obtaining one grants Kirby an extra life.
 * Candy - a lollipop that makes Kirby temporarily invincible, protecting him from enemy attacks and obstacles, although it does not protect him if he falls into a pit.
 * Maxim Tomato - fully restores Kirby's health
 * Pep Drink - refills two of Kirby's vitality bars
 * Star Rod - Kirby earns a Star Rod piece after defeating a level's boss. He needs all seven pieces to reassemble the Star Rod and return it to the Fountain of Dreams.
 * Warp Star - These allow Kirby to travel between sections of a stage. Like the other items, Warp Stars have a one-time use, and break upon impact with the ground.

Copy Abilities
Kirby's Adventure is the first Kirby game to include the ability for Kirby to utilize enemy powers by 'copying' them. The powers introduced in this game are present through all the sequels. Some abilities, in the form of power-ups, return from Kirby's Dream Land such as the microphone. If the enemy provides Kirby with an ability, the status bar picture changes from the normal picture of Kirby to a unique picture showing Kirby with that ability. Not all enemies will give Kirby an ability, however. Swallowing these creatures without abilities causes the "nothing" image to appear, showing an unhappy Kirby picture briefly on the status bar. Some abilities are necessary to solve puzzles, such as using the fire ability to light a fuse, or the hammer ability to pound down a post.

Kirby's abilities include fighting moves (Backdrop), projectile attacks (Cutter and Laser), area damage (Spark and Freeze), and wielded weapons (Sword and Parasol). There are also some unusual abilities where Kirby assumes a new shape such as Tornado, Wheel, and U.F.O. The abilities range in usefulness and power. The power Sleep, for example, is completely useless as it puts Kirby to sleep momentarily. Also, if Kirby sucks up two enemies (both having copy-able powers) at once, a roulette will start randomly selecting a power; this is called Mix. Oddly enough, if Kirby eats a certain combination of powered enemies and lets the Mix roulette alone until it stops, the power he gets will be the same every time he gets that same pair of enemies. For example, if he grabs a Waddle Doo (Beam) and a Sparky (Spark), the Mix roulette will definitely land on Hammer, giving him that power, while two Sparkies will earn the player the coveted U.F.O. ability. Keep in mind this will only happen if the player does not press anything until the roulette stops. Otherwise, the powerups will cycle through in order.

Levels
The game takes place in Dream Land across seven different levels and an area where the final battle takes place. Each level has a number of stages, usually six, followed by a boss. The stages are accessed through small doors on the level hub. When Kirby first enters a level hub, only the hub entrance and the door to the first stage are available. The first six levels are named after some type of food. The first seven levels begin with a letter corresponding to a color of the rainbow, in reverse order (violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, red).


 * Vegetable Valley - Whispy Wood is a large tree. It attacks Kirby by dropping apples and puffing air.
 * Ice Cream Island - Paint Roller jumps between four easels, drawing pictures which spring to life and attack.
 * Butter Building - Mr. Shine and Mr. Bright (personifications of the sun and moon, respectively) take turns attacking Kirby. One of them will fight on the ground, and one will fight in the sky, covering his partner with aerial attacks.  They frequently trade places mid-fight.
 * Grape Garden - Kracko, a spiky cloud with a large eye. It drops high jump creatures and shoots lightning.
 * Yogurt Yard - Heavy Mole, a drilling machine which Kirby must chase (or be caught at the left side of the screen and die) and attack with projectiles.
 * Orange Ocean - Meta Knight, Kirby's eternal rival wields a sword similar to Kirby but has more advance attack techniques.
 * Rainbow Resort - King Dedede, the self-proclaimed ruler of Dream Land. He is a large penguin with attacks very similar to Kirby.
 * Fountain of Dreams - The final battleground. This is not actually a level, but merely the last area. Nightmare is the true evil in Dream Land, and Kirby must use the power of the Star Rod to defeat it.

Once the player has achieved 100% completion, Extra Mode is unlocked. In Extra Mode, Kirby only has three vitality bars, and the player cannot save the game. Completing Extra Mode unlocks the Sound Test.

Minigames
Minigames can be found in every level, and are essentially distractions to earn the player points or extra lives. Minigames are played by entering doors, like regular stages, but are barred shut after being played once (and thus cannot be played again). Some minigames can only be played after finding a Big Switch inside a level. As the game progresses, the difficulty of the minigames increases significantly, each one being graded out of three stars (three being the most difficult).


 * Arena - Kirby fights one of the mini-bosses scattered throughout the levels; after winning Kirby is given a Maximum Tomato and is able to gain their ability. Losing results in one life lost. Each arena is unique, starring a different mid-bosses and thus offering a different prize.
 * Crane - Similar to the Toy Crane Machines, popular at arcades. The button is held down and the crane moves to the right, and when let go, the crane lowers at that point and potentially grabs either a small or large Kirby replica. The small toy is easier to pick up and earns one life, whereas the large toy is considerably more difficult, although worth two lives. The higher the difficulty, the quicker the crane moves.
 * Egg Catcher - King Dedede throws eggs and bombs at Kirby. Timing is required to open Kirby's mouth at the right intervals, if a bomb is swallowed then the game ends immediately and the player receives no bonuses. At the end of a successful game, the eggs are tallied, and lives are awarded accordingly.
 * Quick Draw - Cowboy themed gunfight, similar to Wild Gunman. The objective is to shoot the enemy before being shot, by pressing the A button after a randomly timed signal. Shooting before the signal results in a penalty, after three penalties the player is disqualified. There are a total of 5 stages, which increase in difficulty (requiring quicker reactions). The more stages passed, the more points/lives accumulated. The final opponent is King Dedede, and if passed successfully, results in Kirby drawing out a cannon and blasting him away, earning three extra lives.