Kirby's Adventure [NES/1993]

System Played: NES

Year Released: 1993

Year Reviewed: 2019

Kirby's Adventure from HAL Laboratory and Nintendo is the second game in the franchise, that’s Mario-ish in its design and structure, though less of a platformer since you can effectively fly without much restriction.

Adventure also brings across the suck/spit ability from the original GB game, with a big development in the introduction of the copy mechanic, synonymous with Kirby from this point on. After you’ve inhaled an enemy, pressing down on the d-pad has him (her? it?) absorb their ability to use against them.

He can slide now. And is pink.


Not all enemies have abilities you can copy, but most do, and there is a decent number of different ones.

Abilities are knocked out of you if you take damage, though you have a brief chance to capture them again before they disappear for good. Alternatively, you can press Select to voluntarily eject an ability, so you can copy a new (better) one.

Having the right ability at the right point can make things a breeze. Combined with the fact that Kirby can take quite a bit of damage, frequent tomatoes and ketchup(?) top up your health bar, and with various mini-games handing out more lives, Kirby's Adventure isn’t a challenging game.


There also isn’t as much depth to the design as you might want. You can imagine with the copy mechanic that you’d frequently encounter areas which require a specific ability to access. There’s a bit of this, but not much.

Hidden switches in some levels open up more mini-games, to win more lives (which you don’t need). You have to find them all to be able to fight the "proper" end boss and get the real ending.


Controls are (like in the original game) still occasionally problematic, with Up on the d-pad taking you into “flight mode” easily pressed unintentionally, and going into “face plant mode” when falling means you can’t go into flight, instead having to plummet and just hope you land on something solid.


Kirby's Adventure looks and sounds great for a NES game. One of the first things you notice is how small the sprites are, giving it more of a 16 than 8-bit look. It’s all nice and colourful and relentlessly jolly.


Despite forty one stages, various sub-bosses and mini-games, the game is over pretty quickly, due to short levels and not much challenge. Battery backup, saving your progress, is still welcome.

Kirby's Adventure is technically brilliant and “pretty good” in terms of design. It’s almost a shame it’s more for kids, as the lack of challenge and depth hold it back.

7/10