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| What are the first things you think of when you see this image? |
Do you think a hero of an entire world? Do you think of someone that looks death in the face and still goes into battle with a smile on his little face...body...thing. On first reaction more than half of you would say no. When you think of classic gaming heroes you think of Mario or like Sonic. Yet there is such a hardcore following for this little pink puff called Kirby. I have two ideas that of why there is a following. The first idea is that the franchise provides variety through level design and game mechanics ever since his first appearance on the NES in 1992. My second idea is that we were raised on fairy tales and the Kirby lets us guide a character through such a tale. So in the end, one will be able to understand why any person of any age and of any gaming stature can love the pink hero Kirby.
Let’s start with the game. The franchise has always been a sidescroller, the object is to get from one end of the level to the other. In between there are many enemies, traps and other nasty things to try and end your game. This is where I find that Kirby breaks the mould of sidescrolling games. To begin the way the levels are set up, rarely does one feel like “they have been here before”. Kirby visits worlds and each of the world’s levels fit into a common thing. A classic level theme from the 8-bit era is the ice world for example. There is always something different in the levels either it be a giant cannon that shoots you to the clouds or a race to the finish whilst dodging numerous traps and other things. Now most sidescrollers you just have the power to jump and if you lucky, a few weapons. Well with Kirby...You have unlimited weapons. How is this possible? Kirby has the ability to copy enemies powers...Through eating them...You want to wield a sword? Well find a guy carrying a sword, swallow him and well there ya go. Kirby gets a sword (watch youtube video review below to see the mechanic at work). So with these simple ideas carrying over from game to game it is easy to see why gamers enjoy the franchise so much.
The second piece to the puzzle is our fascination with fairy tales. From a very early age were raised on stories of princes rescuing the princess from a dragon. Or a little boy that lifts a magical sword from a stone and becomes a king. The character Kirby fits perfectly into the fairy tale hero archetype. He is innocent and pure but then some villain threatens the land and Kirby rises to the challenge and takes on any foe to save the world of Dream Land. He is the perfect example of a knight of the round table from Arthurian myth. Those knights were willing to fight what they believe in and they were always there to help others out no matter how big or small the task was. There is something enduring about a story about a knight rising to the challenge. It strikes an inner cord within all of us. We live in times of great change and to have a solid idea of what makes a hero is something that we need to hold on to, even when the hero is a pink puff. We can relate to his struggles and his ideals, though we really have to delve into more in character behaviour and mythology to come to that conclusion.
Some of you reading this may be saying, o Justin your looking into this way too much. Well then I retort by saying just pick up a Kirby game and try it out yourself. I bet after just a few levels you will be hooked and you will get to understand why the series is so popular. Maybe you won’t ever get how Kirby is like a knight from myth but you will understand why so many people of different ages love this little pink puff. To that I say mission accomplished on my and the developers part.
For your viewing pleasure, here is a youtube video done by a father and son. They both enjoy playing and reviewing video games. In this video they take a look at a Kirby game (be sure to listen in and pick out what they like about the character). After definitely check out their channel, they are very casual with their reviews and primarily focus on the Nintendo Wii. Thanks go to the Wiiviewer for letting us here at Student Gamers spread the good word of video games and more importantly Kirby.
Justin
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