Kirby 3DS

[Jermungandr]

It says "re-occurring foe" actually; and that description was from a video game blog not from the official website. I'm pretty sure the term Hal prefers to use is "Rival" or sometimes "Bully".

[MrYoshbert]

Hm Daranza, Dedede, I wonder who the third will be?

Dark Matter?!

I kind of wish they'd stop referring to Dedede as Kirby's arch-nemesis since he's been the antagonist maybe twice and usually plays a friendly role.

Except for Revenge of the King in Super Star Ultra. Not to mention games like Kirby's Dream Course, Avalanche, and pretty much every spin-off game on the Game Boy.

[Ton]

I kind of like that Dedede is still called the arch-nemesis. They are pals most of the time, so it's kind of adorable that his arch enemy is still on semi-friendly terms with him.

[SchAlternate]

Isn't that expresion from Kirby 64?

[E-Man]

I think Kirby used a similar expression to that one prior to Kirby 64, but they were only sprites.

In a sense, SchAlternate, that expression on Kirby's face was first used in Kirby 64.

[Jermungandr]

Today's Nintendo direct revealed two new abilities; Archer and Clown.

Also Wheel is back, making this it's first 3D appearance. Unless you count Air Ride.

Additionally there's going to be a multiplayer mode where players can use abilities to brawl against each other. FINALLY. That's something we've needed since Super Star.

[E-Man]

With all these great features, this new Kirby game is shaping up to be one of the best games in the series. I know it's too soon to say something like that about it, but the game already holds a lot of promise as it does.

[Jermungandr]

Oh and Kirby's ultra inhale move is apparently officially called "Hyper Nova" in English.

Here's the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS_gYzv02SQ&t=2m32s

[Darky's Reincarnation]

clown looks so damn fine

archer looks more interesting than cupid ( ... this comes from a former cupid kirby recolour, take some time to take this in )

[Jermungandr]

With all these great features, this new Kirby game is shaping up to be one of the best games in the series.

I don't know if I would go that far. I didn't dislike Returns, but I am not fond of the direction that the Kirby franchise is heading.

See, the big problem with Returns, which looks to be an issue in the new title as well, is that even though the game's design respects all the classic elements of Kirby, the abilities in the game are way OP.

Yes it's true that fans of the franchise have been craving another game with the dynamic moveset abilities presented in Super Star, and this game was created with the express desire to fill that request. However the issue is that they went way too far with it and gave each ability far to many skills.

Just about every ability in the game has a strong attack, a rapid attack, a projectile attack, and an attack that offers super armor. In short, pretty much every ability can do everything with no flaws to compensate.

Now for a guy like me who is a Kirby enthusiast, I like to play through each game utilizing only a single specific ability at least once for each ability; especially the ones that are harder to use because it's more of a challenge. But in Returns I haven't been inspired so much to do so, because since every ability can do pretty much everything, no special tactics are presented for any of the abilities to compensate for what they lack. All the challenge that usually comes from dedicating yourself to a single specific ability has disappeared.

To make things worse, unlike in Super Star where each enemy had a hidden health bar, the majority of the common enemies in Returns will go down in a single hit from any attack. And there aren't many places where you're swarmed by enemies either. This also reduces the challenge of dedicating yourself to a specific ability, as every attack is effective against every enemy.

Honestly, Squeak Squad's movesets were kind of clunky, but I feel like they did a better job of handling the Super Star style gameplay than the more recent games do, if only because they didn't go overboard.

And the fact that they are continuing this trend even in the portable games ... yeah, I feel like the series I fell in love with is basically gone. We're never going to see another game in the truly classic style again ... and that is why I wasn't as excited as I usually am when this game was first announced.

[Kitsu]

In short, it feels like they made Kirby 64 levels (focusing on puzzles and platforming challenges), but then had Kirby Super Star abilities (focusing on combat).
So then the abilities don't really get much chance to actually shine, simply being "press 2 whenever you're close to an enemy so you can get back to going straight forward."

[Jermungandr]

Footage of Circus and Archer abilities.



The last skill on the video is the best thing ever.

[Jermungandr]

I'm a few days late on this update, but here's a big video showing off a lot of gameplay elements:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzanT8n0xmU

Amongst other things shown off here we learn
- King Dedede WILL be playable in the main game.
- When you die in battle mode you will turn into a Ghost Kirby, which reminds me a lot of turning into a bomb in Mario Kart 64's battle mode. It looks like if you can tag another player from behind as a ghost you can come back to life.
- It looks like there's going to be unlockable Kirby colors judging by the white and Meta-Knight-colored Kirbies shown here. They're only shown in battle mode so it's unknown if you can change your colors in the main game a la Amazing Mirror and Squeak Squad.
- The video shows off some new bosses/mini-bosses, as well as something very interesting going on with Kracko and Whispy. Check it out for yourself.

[Omega]

I wonder if they consulted sakurai on the kirby smash bros. thing.

[E-Man]

From the looks of the trailer, it seems like we're getting a reference to Drawlica in the form of some kind of boss enemy.

By the way, I took a look at the scene where DeDeDe is playable and it almost looks like you might get a chance to play the whole game as him al la Meta Knightmare.