Ever since Kirby’s Adventure introduced the pink puffball’s trademark copy abilities in 1993, they’ve been at the heart of his every hobby, from Dream Course’s mini-golf to Air Ride’s racing. With Kirby Triple Deluxe, players were given the chance to use those powers in Kirby’s newest pastime — all-out arena battles — thanks to the included mini-game Kirby Fighters. Now, just like fellow Triple Deluxe diversion Dedede’s Drum Dash, Kirby Fighters has been expanded into a standalone eShop release, Kirby Fighters Deluxe. With some great additions and a phenomenally fun foundation, it’s well worth a round for Kirby and fighting fans alike.
As the name implies, Kirby Fighters Deluxe is a 2D fighting game that pits up to four Kirbys against each other in an unsettlingly adorable fight to the finish. With fast action, dynamic stages and a host of power-ups and items, it draws easy comparisons to Super Smash Bros. but plays very differently in practice; life-bars replace ring-outs, giving the gameplay a distinct rhythm, and Kirby’s diverse abilities feel like nothing else on the market. They’re also a huge part of what makes the game so fun to play.
Ten of Kirby’s copy abilities are available off the bat in Fighters Deluxe: Sword, Cutter, Beam, Parasol, Hammer, Bomb, Whip, Archer, Fighter, and Ninja. In addition to coming with their own cute costumes, each power encourages a different play style, making for a wonderfully varied roster. Hammer and Sword are perfect for up-close beatdowns, Cutter, Beam and Whip all offer unique midrange options, and Archer is deadly at a distance. Bomb works best as a quick-moving zoning character, Ninja is a technical trickster that can attack from all angles, and Parasol shines in defensive play. Finally, Fighter celebrates its influences with Kirby clones of the classics, like Ryu’s fireballs and dragon punches, E. Honda’s Hundred-Hand Slap, and Dan’s leaping Dankukyaku.
Admittedly, it would have been nice to see the line-up of powers expanded from Kirby Fighter’s mini-game beginnings; these are the same ten abilities that were available in the original, and we can think of plenty more we’d like to try. Wing and Leaf both seem like natural fits, and it’s a shame that Triple Deluxe’s final funky new ability, Circus, didn’t make the cut — even old standbys like Fire and Ice would have been welcome additions.
Still, every ability present is fun to use and amazingly fleshed out — several have nearly a dozen command inputs, and some even include branching combo strings. The move sets are mostly left untouched from Triple Deluxe, but it feels like their full potential’s realized here; while you could easily waltz through his platforming adventures with just a few key moves, when Kirby’s matched up against equally powerful, palette-swapped opponents, you’ll need everything you’ve got.
Along with their individual special moves, every Kirby shares a common set of skills, including dashing, sliding, floating, guarding and performing an impossibly endearing evasive pirouette. Controls are rock solid and instantly responsive, so you’ll have no trouble dodging attacks at the last second or switching up your mixup mid-jump. They’re also easy to get to grips with; ‘A’ jumps and floats, ‘L’ or ‘R’ guard, and ‘B’ — combined with different Circle Pad directions — takes care of every single attack. It’s simple and user-friendly, and you’re pretty much guaranteed to mount a respectable offense by button-mashing your heart out — at least on the easier difficulties.
The single-player side of Fighters Deluxe features a nine-stage arcade-style mode for each ability, and returning players will notice quite a few changes. There’s a fun mid-boss fight with Kracko, for one, and a memorable final showdown against a fan-favourite foe, both new for this version. Completing the single-player campaign with a certain ability now unlocks an alternate costume — known as a ‘rare hat’ — for that power. They’re predictably cute and fun to collect, and can be used in both single- and multiplayer modes.
The stage roster has also been expanded quite a bit, with five new arenas joining the returning six. They’re all great additions, but the Butter Building stage might be the best of the bunch, featuring a beautifully rendered 3D version of the classic rotating tower and 8-bit enemies floating by in the foreground.
By far the biggest change, however, is that in addition to free for all fights some stages now feature team battles, where you’ll fight two-on-two. These are great fun, and they offer up their own new twists as well: the smooching mechanic from Return to Dream Land returns, letting team members share not only health but also power-ups when they lock lips, and a new item called the Team Cannon lets players unleash a massive attack after charging it up together.
Even with all the different abilities and stages, however, Kirby Fighter’s single-player content can start to feel repetitive if you dive right into one power after another. It’s not the kind of game you’ll want to blow thorough all at once, but it’s a pretty perfect fit for pick-up play; with ten abilities, four difficulties and plenty of unlockables, there’s lots to keep you coming back. Clear times are recorded for speed runners, and the difficulty levels scale very well too — anyone should be able to button-mash their way to victory on Easy, while Very Hard demands careful guarding and full mastery of each ability’s special moves and play style.
Of course, multiplayer is where you’ll find the most replay value in any fighter, and there’s an excellent suite of local play options for couch-based Kirby battles. You can choose to fight a battle royal or in any combination of teams (1 vs. 3, 2 vs. 2, or 2 vs. 1 vs. 1), tweak the match options to your liking (turn off items and head to Fountain of Dreams for that ‘Final Destination’ feel), and set handicaps so that every Kirby has a chance.
Handicaps certainly help, but even if you find yourself knocked out early, all’s not lost. Once defeated, Kirbys turn into controllable ‘Ghost Kirbys’, and these slow-moving spectres can still attack; if you can manage to land a hit on a corporeal Kirby, you’ll find yourself back in the fight, reincarnated and ready to go. Along with the individually adjustable handicaps, this makes for a great game to play even in groups of mixed skill levels; everyone can compete, and no one’s ever stuck waiting with nothing to do.
With fast, fun, and accessible multiplayer, we can easily see Fighters Deluxe becoming a standard alongside Mario Kart 7 at conventions and StreetPass meet-ups; especially as Download Play letting everyone in on the action. Combatants without a copy can join in using the Sword, Cutter, or Beam abilities, and can fight on any stage. Team play sadly isn’t available over Download Play, but that’s the only major omission — otherwise you’re able to do it all.
Unfortunately, it’s not all good news on the multiplayer front. There’s no online play at all, which is a real disappointment; the frenzied fighting would be a great fit, and it would help extend the game’s life considerably for players without regular access to real-life competition. Kirby Fighters Deluxe also doesn’t interface with the original mini-game in any meaningful way, so you’ll still have to go the Download Play route to play with players who own Kirby Fighters in Triple Deluxe.
Owning Kirby Triple Deluxe — or at least having its StreetPass data saved on your console — will, however, unlock a few fun extras in the main game, including an additional stage based on Triple Deluxe’s Waddle Dee Train Tracks and two new copy abilities: Bell and Beetle. These are great bonuses, though it seems a shame they’re locked away for players without Triple Deluxe; the two extra copy abilities in particular add a significant amount of gameplay, and they also happen to be two of the most fun to use. Thankfully, both the bonus stage and the extra abilities are still available in multiplayer modes whether you’ve played Triple Deluxe or not, so you won’t have to worry about bringing a Beam to a Bell fight.
As we’ve come to expect from Kirby games, Fighters Deluxe is rather beautifully presented. It lifts its look from Triple Deluxe, but adds plenty of its own little touches, and it’s absolutely bursting with colour and charm. The 3D effect is very well done — especially when Kracko throws the pixel-art keychains from Triple Deluxe onto the screen to block your view — and camera-panning set-pieces like the Team Cannon attack look fantastic. The action’s also accompanied by a top-notch soundtrack, with the jaunty, joyous tunes of Triple Deluxe joining several old favourites, some remixed and others left untouched in their original 8- and 16-bit glory. Kirby music is always something special, and Fighters Deluxe doesn’t disappoint.
Conclusion
Expanding on the original mini-game with team battles, boss fights, collectable cosplay and several new stages, Kirby Fighters Deluxe is both a worthwhile upgrade and a great game in its own right. The lack of online play is a letdown, but this one’s worth finding friends for; local multiplayer is an amazingly good time, and simple controls, helpful handicaps and Download Play make it accessible for all. Series fans will love getting to experience classic copy abilities to the fullest in a new setting, and fighting types will appreciate the variety and depth of the fast-paced Kirby combat — if you find yourself in either camp, Fighters Deluxe deserves a privileged place on your 3DS menu.
Comments 35
Looks awesome but no online yet again for a game that's perfectly suited for it Nintendo? Come on now this is starting to get really old..... I'm grateful for every Nintendo game that is online so far but they should really make anything with multiplayer have online functionality too. This is one area I've been kinda annoyed with Nintendo the past year or two.
Great review still haven't picked it up yet seriously hoping it goes on sale during the whole smash bros sale...crossing my fingers but if it doesn't im gonna get it regardless
I got this so my wife and I could play Kirby co-op (sorry Triple deluxe, no reason to play you ever again after I beat the short story mode) on the 3DS, but...holy butts this game is easy. Even on the hardest difficulty, I think I've only died once or twice, and never had to see a Game Over or Continue screen.
Kirby Super Star's Arena was tough. Parts of Return to Dreamland were pretty hard. Arena 2 was super tough.
This... oh my.
Can we have an Ultimate Extreme mode or some such?
Great review. My kid bought this day 1, after he had already bought Triple Deluxe day 1, but I don't feel so bad now letting him spend his money on a game that he already owned inside another game. So thanks for the confirmation. Oh, he does mostly play it download co-op w/ his brother so he gets his money's worth that way.
No jesting but I think I might actually enjoy playing this more than Smash Bros just because it's a bit simpler [purer] and less bloated without all the extra junk I don't really care about. I mean those menus and stuff on Smash almost make me barf with how cheap and clumsy they look visually and how many random pointless extra options and superfluous modes there are to wade through. Kirby Fighters Deluxe is keeping it pure. It also looks lovely visually too and it's a fraction of the price. I'm probably exaggerating slightly but it just looks cool and I've never been a particular fan of Smash Bros anyway so it's not so shocking that I might find this title more appealing at a quick glance. Just wish I had some money to buy a 3DS and a bunch of the top games for it
Wow I never noticed how bright and good this game looked.
I'd get this if it had online multiplayer, there's really no one I know locally that plays this.
..."bringing a beam to a bell fight." Classic. Another great review @zipmon!
I hope that if the game sells well enough, they will release extra content for the game.
@Undead_terror this kind of is the extra content
The lack of online here as well as in Triple Deluxe is frustrating. Even Sonic Lost Worlds for 3DS had an online mode! No excuses, Nintendo/Hal.
I will be downloading this soon as it's Kirby, and I'm under his spell to do so lol
Bah, you kids complaining about lack of online multiplayer.
In my day, the Internet barely existed! If we wanted to play multiplayer, we had to go out on the streets, find another person, knock them unconscious, drag them back home, tie them to a chair, wait for Stockholm Syndrome to set in, and then, and only then, would it be safe to untie them and hand them a controller so we could both enjoy multiplayer games.
Yep, those were the days.
Just bought Gunvolt last night, so I'll have to pass on this for now but I'll be back for it later.
Already said it, I'll say it again - no matter how good this beauty is, if it doesn't come out during the few coming pre-Smash weeks, then it won't have a reason to even be in my 3DS, especially considering the wait for the next Smash is what brought me to Kirby Triple Deluxe in the first place.
Eh, this didn't hold my attention for long, but that's probably because I have nobody to compete with.
@Bazly They're both great games! They're also different games - Drum Dash doesn't need online play, and while this one doesn't necessarily need it either (hence the high score!), it would've improved it, and given it legs for people who can't play local multiplayer.
I also thought Drum Dash Deluxe was the better upgrade of the two. The music and stage designs are at the heart of Drum Dash's gameplay, and that's what DDDeluxe focused on: adding new songs and new mechanics to the stage designs. The copy abilities are the heart of Fighters, and - barring the two TD extras, which are cool! - the abilities are the same in Fighters Deluxe. There are still plenty of great new additions - team battles, rare hats, boss fights, etc. - but as a player, my wish list definitely included some new powers.
As I said though, they're both phenomenal games. It's a good time to be a Kirby fan
Oh...I thought this was a Wii U game. Darn it, I need more Wii U multiplayer games!
I have it, I thought the 7 dollar price was a bit steep, but it's a great game regardless. (And still cheaper then a 16-bit VC game.)
Regardless of not having online play, even if nobody's around to play it with, it's still alot of fun playing with computer opponents, sense the game lets you customize/remove them however you wish. It's alot of fun to set them all to "random ability," and random stage.
Was on the fence about this since I have Triple Deluxe, but this review pushed me over to the side of purchase. My copy of TD is a physical one so it will be nice to have this even when the full game is not with me.
This game is so awesome.
I was seriously considering it until I found out there's no online multiplayer. What a missed opportunity.
@TheKingOfTown
It's still fun even with computer opponents actually, (and you can customize them however you want in the "training" mode) besides, alot of online opponents in other games can become a li'l to ridiculously good, and not have much of a chance against anyways.
No doubt this is a High Quality game. But online Multiplayer would have and should have been the way to go. I'm not into Smash bro Type fighters but would have picked this up if it had the online play. Maybe they will patch for Online or offer a DLC online patch I would even pay a couple bucks extra for an online patch
Coolio, I'll get it sometime.
It looks awesome, but I'll wait for a sale due to online multiplayer.
While I'm sad there's no online, I'll definitely pick this up after I'm done saving up money.
As big of a Nintendo fan I am, I am yet to play a Kirby game. Shame on me.
It has an "Egyptian Ratscrew" mechanic for defeated players! Awesome, I don't think I've ever seen that in a video game before!
No online multiplayer is a disappointment, but overall it sounds great, and its availability as its own game is the nail in the coffin for any interest I had in "Triple Deluxe" itself. (I really wish developers would stop overcomplicating their platformers with weird stuff like multiple 2D planes, indirect controls, controlling multiple characters at once, and/or overdoing gravity mechanics.) Add to Wishlist...
Nice! I think I'll consider getting it. Then again, I should probably consider getting Triple Deluxe soon. I just need to finish that backlog of games I have.
No online? I'm all for local multiplayer but that should be an option in practically every multiplayer title nowadays.
Might download someday, but it is pretty expensive.
I've already got Smash, should i still get this?
OUT IN EUROPE ON FEB 13th!!
source: NoE Twitter
No online multiplayer? Why Nintendo? Why?
@pek727 I personally don't recommend it. I have smash and got this just for fun, but it feels like a worse smash. If you don't have enough money for smash, but want something similar, get this!
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