What's Your Favorite Kirby Ability?

[Kriven]

And Kirby 64 is regarded the best (Besides Super Star) because it's nostalgic.

Why did you say this. This is not a positive attribute. It's a very poor defense of the game.

I like Crystal Shards the best of all the Kirby games I've played (though to be honest, I don't like most of them), but saying nostalgia is why is hurting my opinion and its reputation.

In my opinion what K64 lacked in platforming it made up for in aesthetic, scenario, character (while you can't play as Kirby's allies [except Dedede technically] throughout the game, their presence is definitely felt and you get a pretty good idea what each of them is like as a person), and... I don't really know how to word this last one succinctly... Collectableness is the best I can do. The enemy info cards are a treat to obtain and sift through. The ability to mix and match powers to discover new ones, and to figure out which ones cater to your personal playstyle, is also great. Sometimes I just spend hours mixing up the powers and messing around with them in a level where I might not normally use them.

But it is greatly lacking as a platformer, I'll concede. At least, for older gamers. There aren't any particularly difficult platforming segments like you would find in Super Mario Bros., and there isn't really a momentum system to help you look damn fashionable while you trapse through the game. Honestly the whole franchise is really light on platforming, even the ones that feature more traditional platforming segments... Allowing Kirby to fly indefinitely (in most games) is pretty genre breaking, and the franchise as a whole falls back on the exploration of Kirby's abilities and by presenting puzzling situations more than anything else.

Honestly I find the majority of Kirby games to be pretty confusing. I have a very tough time telling active elements from inactive ones, and a lot of them feature "false walls" which work when used sporadically and only for secrets like extra lives, but a lot of the Kirby games seem to punish you for not recognizing them. Kirby 64 is a much more approachable title.