November2020
Review Part Time UFO - A Game About Picking Things Up That You Won't Want To Put Down
Grab it right away
A lot of people may not realise this, but HAL Laboratory isn’t actually owned by Nintendo. It may have been responsible for the likes of the Kirby, Smash Bros and Mother series and its main office may even be located in Nintendo’s Tokyo building, but the developer remains independent and could make games for other platforms if...
September2020
Review Kirby Fighters 2 - A Brilliant Bite-Sized Alternative To Super Smash Bros.
Kirby sucks, but this doesn't
You don’t need us to tell you this, but Nintendo makes some strange decisions sometimes. The latest example of this is Kirby Fighters 2, a digital-only fighting game that was stealth-dropped onto the eShop without any warning, promoted with a couple of tweets then generally abandoned (at least at the time of writing)...
April2019
Review BOXBOY! + BOXGIRL! - A Challenging Little Puzzle-Platformer That Ticks Most Of The Boxes
Boxing clever
The original BOXBOY! trilogy proved to be one of the quiet triumphs of the 3DS era. These unassuming puzzle-platformers might have lacked the visual fireworks or the 3D gimmicks of some of their contemporaries, but they more than made up for that with a fresh concept and rock solid level design. We're delighted that HAL Laboratory has...
March2018
Allies assemble!
The core Kirby series has seen something of a revival in recent years, after a long period of interesting yet different spin-off titles taking the main spotlight. Starting off with Kirby’s Return To Dreamland, this new era of mainline Kirby games has taken on a character of its own; almost standing apart as a distinct sub series...
November2017
With added cheese
When Nintendo confirmed a 'multiplayer-focused' Kirby title plenty speculated over the approach it would take, but Kirby Battle Royale ultimately delivers a rather predictable spin-off release. What we have, once you get past an initial introduction that suggests a different style entirely, is a minigame collection, one...
July2017
A Past from the Blast
After 25 years, the Kirby universe has enough material to fill a Hyrule Historia-like compendium (hint, hint). Many games along the way have added little quirks and abilities to shake things up, but Kirby’s Blowout Blast takes a decidedly throwback approach by channelling the veteran hero’s first game. Blowout Blast strips...
May2017
A fond farewell
Nintendo has been on something of a roll with surprise announcements lately, and one of them was the localisation of the third and final game in the BoxBoy trilogy, BYE-BYE BOXBOY! If you’ve already played the first two games, then this should come as no surprise — BYE-BYE BOXBOY is excellent. If you haven’t played another...
August2016
Gotta catch 'em all (on camera)
There are moments during Pokémon Snap where - upon finding a hidden path - the game ditches the first person perspective to show your character looking on in amazement at the new discovery. Despite being a low-polygon Nintendo 64 release, it still manages to convey a sense of wonder – something the game manages...
July2016
It's still hip to be square
Life may be good when you're a ninja block, but the original BOXBOY! possibly ended up doing a bit too much sneaking around when it released last year. The HAL Laboratory puzzle-platformer went completely under the radar for some people, never gaining widespread attention or shaking the eShop up with its monochromatic...
Kirby's Krazy Golf
Super NES title Kirby's Dream Course has made it to the New Nintendo 3DS, and we had to see how this non-conventional Kirby title has held up since its initial release in 1994. Kirby's Dream Course is effectively crazy golf with our little pink pal acting as the ball. Kirby has three lives with four attempts each, and unless...
Review Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia
New region, new Pokémon, similar circling action
During the Pokémon Ranger games you spend a lot of time wandering around catching Pokémon. Captures are different from the main series, however, as Poké Balls are ditched in favour of Capture Stylers, requiring you to use the touch screen to draw circles around the Pokémon with your stylus. The...
May2016
A new technological age for Kirby
While some franchises have a 'one per generation' rule, others seem somewhat more spontaneous - factors such as development progress and sales can be more important to their fate. So when Kirby: Triple Deluxe provided a strong 3DS début as a fairly traditional adventure with the Pink One, HAL Laboratory seemingly...
March2016
This game smells lovely
Well here's a treat for New Nintendo 3DS owners: EarthBound! Back on the SNES, this second instalment of Shigesato Itoi's much-loved Mother series only received a western release in North America (where it sold poorly). Buying a second-hand copy for silly money was most people's only option until the Wii U came to the rescue,...
February2016
The Legend of Alen
When you think HAL Laboratories, you immediately think Kirby. This is natural since it is by a long shot the most recognizable character ever to come out of the Chiyoda-based software house. Yet with over three decades producing video games, it goes without saying that HAL has a diverse back catalogue going all the way back to...
December2015
Safety in numbers
Known in Japan as Atsumete! Kirby, Kirby Mass Attack is the final title in the long-running HAL Laboratory series for the Nintendo DS. Originally released in 2011, Mass Attack moves away from traditional platform game design in preference of a completely touch-driven experience. Thankfully, unlike the original 2005 entry for DS –...
Review Kirby: Power Paintbrush
Time has passed
Kirby: Power Paintbrush – also known as Canvas Curse in North America – was originally released on the Nintendo DS in 2005. Following the trend of many other franchises during this new generation of handheld gaming, the HAL Laboratory-developed title moved away from traditional platform game conventions by utilising the defining...
July2015
Review Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
Kirby Sixty-Phwoar
Like many of Nintendo's properties during the transition from the SNES to the N64, Kirby underwent a shift from a flat 2D sprite to a fully rendered polygon rendition of himself. Rather than taking Kirby down the route of Mario and Link, however, the pink mascot stuck closer to his origins - the mechanics of Kirby 64: The Crystal...
Squeaky Clean Fun
For a company so often associated as being at the forefront of innovative thinking in the video game industry, Nintendo can have a tendency to stick with a tried and tested formula. The Mario, Zelda and Pokémon franchises have all received their share of criticism for not drastically changing their instalments over the years, and...
April2015
Boxed in
BOXBOY! is Game Boy-era design and aesthetics reincarnated for Nintendo's latest handheld, picking up a few new ideas since the monochromatic minster's heyday. With plenty of polish and thoughtful puzzles to conquer, we were surprised to find ourselves so bored with it all. Just like the retro classics, BOXBOY! makes a simple request of...
February2015
Review Kirby and the Rainbow Curse
Clay achin'
Kirby and the Rainbow Curse is a sequel of sorts to 2005's Canvas Curse, which is considered to be among the top titles the pink puff has ever starred in. That's pretty high praise and a tough act to follow — but 10 years on, Nintendo and developer HAL Laboratory are giving it another whirl. The result is a video game equivalent to a...
November2014
Bubbles and puzzles and DEATH
The fine folks over at HAL Laboratory have an affinity for protagonists who could double as pretty decent basketballs, and the often-forgotten NES puzzler Adventures of Lolo features our first example of a blob hero. Unlike the platforming cuteness of the Kirby series, arguably HAL's most famous creation, Lolo has a...
July2014
Review Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land
Full of promise, or just hot air?
Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land is in fact a remake of Kirby's Adventure, Kirby's first outing on the NES from 1993. While it isn't his original adventure (that honour goes to Kirby's Dream Land), it is the first instance in which he was able to use his now classic copy ability. The remake — which originally...
May2014
YOLO, Lolo
HAL Laboratory's 1989 puzzler Adventures of Lolo falls into the same category as titles like Mach Rider and Clu Clu Land: C-list NES classics that are often overlooked today but provide an arcade-like fun experience for those searching out Nintendo's "deep cuts" from the '80s. Adventures of Lolo is probably best remembered these days as...
April2014
The pink puff goes for the hat trick
Kirby, Nintendo’s pink puffball of concentrated cuteness, arrives on 3DS with a big bumper of a package, promising a trifecta of portable happiness. And it’s sure tough to not smile at the game’s chirpy demeanor and cheery world as the little guy floats and bops his way along his first 3DS adventure. But...
Review Kirby & The Amazing Mirror
Kirbytroid
For the most part, not much has changed about the Kirby series — many of its titles are fairly straightforward platformers in which your main ability is to suck up enemies and acquire their powers. It's not until somewhat recently that the development teams started trying different things, and one can certainly make a case saying that...
