Currently Playing #4

Super Punch-Out!!

I was thinking of opening up Punch-Out!! for the Wii, but I decided I'd go ahead and play my freshly downloaded Super Punch-Out!! on the Virtual Console.

It's been years since I've played this game but a lot of things are still fresh in my mind. I took out Gabby Jay pretty quickly. It wasn't a 27 second KO, but I did have him kissing the mat in under 48 seconds. Not too shabby for a guy that hasn't played in years. Piston Hurricane gave me some trouble. I did pretty lousy dodging those hurricane punches, but I was still able to defeat him.

I played through the Minor Circuit and called it a day. My nieces watched me play through it. They thought I was really good. I told them a lot of it was memorization, because as good as I did, I could have done a lot better. It's crystal clear that I'm rusty at Super Punch-Out!! but it feels great to to get back into it.

Kirby Air Ride

I can remember the first time I ever heard of this game. It was in the GamePro 1996 E3 issue. Back then I had N64 fever and gobbled up any coverage on N64 games I could find, especially Nintendo's first party titles. Kirby Air Ride had a struggling development cycle and was silently canceled only to resurface in 2003 on the GameCube.

I had planned to purchase Kirby Air Ride upon release but this was a time in my life where I was easily swayed by reviews and the game received mixed reactions due to it's simple controls. But recently I'd kept hearing so many fans mention how great Air Ride is. According to the Kirby 20th Anniversary Celebration Book that came with Kirby's Dream Collection, a lot of fans are still playing Air Ride to this day. I picked up Kirby Air Ride off Amazon, complete for a reasonable price of under $22. It came in the mail pretty quickly and I've spent the last few weeks playing it and really enjoying it.

With controls being restricted to the analog stick and the A button, I do feel somewhat limited when playing Kirby Air Ride. I mean, you don't even have to press A to accelerate because that's done automatically. You do have to steer around turns and using A to drift takes getting used to. I still don't quite have it down. You also have to position your air ride machine just right for landings. Do it properly and you'll get a boost for landings. Flub it and you'll land roughly and lose a bit of speed.

I like how the Copy Abilities was implemented in this game. Get close to an enemy, press A and Kirby can inhale them to gain a power. You can use these abilities to screw with the other three racers but you still have to race a good game to come in first so this game isn't totally about power-ups. At least when you're playing Air Ride and Top Ride mode. City Trial has you powering up your machine and then completing a various, random challenges. It's quite fun and this was the mode that was walked about the most among Kirby fans that played the game. Though to be honest, I find myself coming back to Air Ride mode more. Top Ride is the most simplistic mode in the game. The race tracks can be viewed on a single screen, similar to the race tracks in the Super Off-Road games.

Kirby's Epic Yarn

I finished this game last year with 77% and I felt compelled to start up a new file and play through it again. Despite not playing like a traditional Kirby game, Epic Yarn is still one of my favorite games in the Kirby series. This game received much praise for it's visual style and gameplay but some people slam it because it's too easy and it doesn't play like the usual Kirby game. First off, Kirby games are designed with younger players in mind, so they aren't made to be brutally difficult. Secondly, some of the best Kirby games are the ones that don't play like traditional Kirby games. One of the main reasons I love Kirby is because he's so diverse. Heck, even Mario hasn't branched out nearly as much as Kirby has. Anyway, I've gone so far off topic.

I'm trying to unlock every level in the game and get a gold medal on each stage. Thus far, I've gotten gold medals on all levels the first two worlds. I'm also gonna get every piece of furniture and wallpaper so I may have a lot of bead collecting ahead of me depending on the cost of all the items.

Maybe it's due to the decreased challenge. Even by Kirby standards, Epic Yarn is easier than other Kirby games. Perhaps it's the atmosphere. But Kirby's Epic Yarn is a very calming game to play. There's this overwhelming feeling of bliss that comes over me whenever I'm playing it. There's stuff to collect and levels to unlock but it still feels very much like a "chill" game, something I think every gamer needs from time to time.

Still Playing: Kirby's Dream Collection, New Super Mario Bros. 2, Mario Kart 7