Kirby Star Allies Update Introduces New Dream Friends And Adds Challenge Mode

Wondering if this will be the content making it worth getting. Is it actually a challenging addition at all? How long is it? I held off because the demo made it feel much easier than even the average Kirby game and the reviews seemed to echo that. I want a challenge level more similar to Super Star Ultra, ranging from very easy to at least fairly challenging...

@ShadJV trust me when I say its the easiest Kirby game possibly ever made but atleast its fleshing out more and more but I hardly doubt it will make it worth the full price point but at a discount most likely.

@edgedino I’ve seen it often on Amazon for 25% off (so $45), clocking in at little over a 3DS game. Was tempted a few times because I DO agave a friend to play local co-op with... but I had been waiting for a good sale and/or some more challenging content. Hence why I’m wondering if this is a meaty update that gives any challenge. It does indeed sound quite easy (and contrary to belief, there are some fairly challenging Kirby games, at least to 100%). Guess I gotta wait to see what this mode adds. I might just throw it on the old Christmas list and let fate decide.

No online co-op though

@ShadJV This game was well worth 60$ before the dlc updates, and now it's beyond what it was worth at launch. The storymode for this game is fairly short and easy, however every ally in this game has their own story mode. At launch they were all the same levels, but now every character has unique levels (excluding boss levels). While the story mode is easy, the boss rush mode is where youd find a nice challenge, even with your allies. This new update however not only adds 3-6 new characters, each with a unique story mode. But it also adds a new mode with proper EX bosses. This is a fairly easy Kirby game, but it's by far not the easiest. (Someone hasn't played Kirby's Epic Yarn nor Return to Dreamland) but as far as content goes, it's well worth 60$ at this point. Even better if you do get a discount.

I'm hyped for this dlc, and I hope there will be more on the way. I would love to have Prince Fluff from Kirby's Epic Yarn to join the game.

@patbacknitro18 I’ve played Epic Yarn, I’d list that near the harder end of the spectrum... but I 100% my games and some of the levels, especially the bosses, were fairly difficult to 100%. There’s harder Kirby games, but I wouldn’t list it as one of the easiest... unless you’re breezing through the story. Which certainly is easy to do in this entry as well, we’re discussing more than just “beating” the games though.

Hooray for Suzie!

@ShadJV Really? It has to be by far the easiest Kirby game I've played. The levels are easy to breeze through, getting all the secret items isn't any harder than getting the puzzle pieces in Star Allies. And a majority bosses are super easy, excluding Metaknight and the Final Boss. It's meant to be a fun and casual game, which is why you never really die you just lose some points and aren't forced to restart the level or go back to a checkpoint.

Alright, Susie! Been a little while since I played this. This new challenge mode will definitely make me come back to it.

@patbacknitro18 once again, it’s super easy to beat because you literally cannot die. But a lot of the boss fights essentially require you to barely get hit to 100% the stages, which can be a bit stressful, especially in co-op. Though everyone is good at different games so maybe you’re just better than me at it?

Why one day late?
Old news

@ShadJV Kirby Star Allies is the same, since on the hardest boss rush difficult if you get hit like twice then it's game over and you have to restart the entire gauntlet.

@patbacknitro18 fair, and I appreciate hearing that. I am, however, on a stricter game budget than I was back then due to current financial situations and only can really afford one game every month or two, so I still likely am either waiting for a price cut or getting it for Christmas. And still hope to hear more detail on what this update is adding in terms of difficulty and length. If my budget wasn’t so limited this year, I would’ve gotten this at launch regardless of easiness or amount of content.

I am more inclined to get this game during Black Friday. I've wanted to play it, it's just the easy mode is holding me back. The challenge mode looks quite promising.

@ShadJV same, except the Switch is the only currant gen console I own so I mostly just wait and buy the AAA titles from it. I bought Star Allies at launch and I didn't regret it then and after all these updates I am more than happy I got it. I wouldn't say this game deserves priority over many others, but it is a fantastic entry in the Kirby series. If you go on the Kirby news channel on the switch, you'll see how much thought and effort they put into this game (as they occasionally talk about the games development). If you want to wait for a discount then that's perfectly fine, though it's a game no Kirby fan should skip out on entirely.

@ShadJV What's your opinion on the hardest Kirby game? I would say 64: The Crystal Shards. It's not so much the level design as it is how darn slow Kirby feels in that game, as well as the limit they gave to his hover ability.

@patbacknitro18 I have a PS4 too (got it last year when money wasn’t as tight), and I share games with friends so I’m trying to spend as little money as possible on games, every penny not spend there is a penny more for groceries - I just splurged on World of Final Fantasy but I haven’t gotten a new game in months. And the games of Switch games I want is quite long...

As for Kirby, I wouldn’t call myself a huge fan. I haven’t played every entry (though I have played most), but I did grow up with Super Star and have some nostalgia there. But the past few games, while enjoyable, have been too short for me to feel I got my money’s worth. I mean, Robobot was one of my favorites thus far, but I still couldn’t justify the cost at this point. Hopefully I don’t miss this one, I do honestly want to get around to it, but at this point either it has to get cheaper or I have to get more money. I have Pokémon and Smash Bros preordered (both of which I’m a much bigger fan of) and I can’t justify spending any more money this year on games unless something drastically changes. I mean, I enjoy eating every day, that takes precedence right now.

It’s still on my radar though and appreciate to hear I shouldn’t be disappointed whenever I DO get to play this.

@Not_Soos hmm... I’d nearly agree with you there, anytime I try to replay 64 I just lose interest partway through because the gameplay feels so slow (and the backtracking to get the right power combos for shards gets frustrating). But honestly... Super Star Ultra wins that award from me. I still haven’t managed to beat the True Arena, it’s pretty brutal IMO and because of it Ultra remains as the only Kirby game I haven’t 100%ed. I’m sure I could eventually beat it if I kept throwing myself against the wall... but I at least enjoyed my time with it and it beats Robobot as my absolute favorite, it took my childhood classic and cranked it up to 11. So it’s a good challenging.

64 is probably second though and in a more frustrating way. I 100%ed it at least once (I think twice even, pretty sure I pushed through it a second time when it came to Wii VC) but I just don’t have any interest in doing that again. Kirby isn’t nearly as quick or responsive, and it becomes a frustrating slog. I loved the power combination gimmick, having a unique combo for every two powers, but the movement needed to be more fluid and faster, and they shouldn’t have locked so much behind random power combinations that you pretty much need to hold onto for entire levels.

I wish it was common practice, when announcing meaty game updates, to mention whether future cartridge print runs will include the data.

I hope the next kirby game is better. I love me some kirby. but the game was so easy it was stupid (n boring) that I sold it pretty quick after purchase

I will probably be picking this game up soon. It’s great that they’re supporting it this much.

@ShadJV At least the True Arena variant in Star Allies (forget the replacement name) is pretty tough. I used Marx's one invisibility move to cheese it...but the remixed final boss was a pain.

Spoilers! In the final boss your friends are turned against you for one attack. You can throw hearts to get them back, but mostly likely you can't afford to take much damage, and 1-2 hits will kill your allies if you don't hurry. Then the area gets flooded, so you can't revive those allies. It makes the fight a lot harder as you have to mostly face him alone, with attacks that does 50% or more of your health.

@FlameRunnerFast Marx is very OP for the boss rush lol. I just stayed in the air and kept dropping Bombs on them to win lol. Though the final boss was a pain even for that cheap trick lol.

@ShadJV 1. Oh ya no as much as I love Kirby Super Smash Brothers should definitely come first. As for Star Allies, I think you'll enjoy it. It's not a game that requires immediate attention, but it is one that should be picked up someday.

And 2. Kirby 64 is by far the most frustrating Kirby game to complete. Collecting those freaking shards has got to be the worst experience collecting anything in any video game ever. I would argue its worse than finding the Korok seeds in BOTW. While you may eventually find all the seeds just by exploring the world, in Kirby 64 there are some shards that are so near impossible to get that you'd probably spend a good few years trying to figure that crap out without a walkthrough. I have a love/hate relationship with that game. I love the game's style, the crystal music, the worlds, and level design. But every time I think about collecting those shards I feel like throwing up. And like you said, it has some pretty sluggish controls for a Kirby game.

@Pod Chances are probably not. That would be like if Super Mario Odyssey updated its cartridges to include all of the new DLC costumes. So far Nintendo hasn't done that with any of its mainline games, atleast with their free dlc.

Is this the last update? Anyway, challenge mode looks nice.

I really hope the challenge mode makes the game somewhat of a challenge. As someone said before, this IS the easiest Kirby game so far. I mean, there's obviously a problem when you reach the end of the game and you own like 250 lives or more.

This may not be the ultimate solution, but i think new Kirby games need:
A) A numbered life bar. Like the old times, 6 hits and you're out.
B) Less accesible food and healing abilities. Get a painter or chef ability in Star Allies and you're pretty much invincible.

That'll help in the last week of waiting for Smash.

Challenging levels you say. I'm in for them, should be fun.

The game would have been so much better if it limited you to one partner/two player co-op (like KSS) instead of building it around rolling deep with three friends throughout the game. They do almost all the heavy lifting.

Kirby games were never meant to be super challenging, but back in the day they were at least challenging enough to not be sleep inducing. I still have fond memories of playing the 'Extra Game' in Kirby's Dream Land and Adventure, and they were actually a little tough.

Hopefully the next Kirby game gets it right, if there is one...

PLEASE play this game! Sure, you can beat the main story in 6 hours, but there is more to do. The side modes are fun with friends, and the boss rush and speedrun modes (that add extra levels for dream friends) can add MANY more hours onto the game. I've been playing through Return To Dreamland for the first time on my channel, so it's nice seeing Magalor. The Triple Deluxe was the first Kirby game I got, so seeing Taranza is a hit in the nostalgia gut. I LOVED Robobot and the lore with Susie was awesome if you knew where to look. Hopefully this game shines some more light on it. I'm SUPER excited for this.

@ShadJV I'd say this game is the easiest if you've already played Kirby games before. Otherwise some may think it not to be the easiest game. For example, I've owned, played, and beaten Returns to Dreamland And even for 100% the game... I would not say the game was the easiest It was often unforgiving when in the True Arena but then again you don't have to do that to beat the game same as Star Allies.

@MysticGengar My first Kirby game was Return to Dreamland! I LOVED this game, and had my little brother always picking Meta Knight to help me out too! When playing Star Allies I told him I wanted Magolor in the game as DLC (He's my favorite character) He said He wanted Marx (His favorite villain) and look what happened BOTH of them in the SAME GAME!

@Dualmask You mean Kirby: World of Light?

@Pod Considering how many games launch these days without the entire base game on the disc - you can buy the Spyro trilogy but it's looking like only the first game is on the disc - in the future the only thing discs and carts are going to have is a code.

I would like to think Complete Editions of games would actually be complete when you buy them, but I'm really not even hopeful of that. Future is digital.

@FlameRunnerFast My little brother tried the same thing with Marx! But after beating it with some help from both little and big brother finally beat it with an intersting combo: Rickki Kine and coo/Marx/Goey.

Obviously, Kirby Star Allies is the Smash Ultimate of Kirby games.

Also the ending of the video is the same thing as adding characters into smash ultimate, same thing happened here in the Star Allies trailer...

@Reigestugatensho
We've only recorded to the 3rd world so far. I already edited them all to.. if my memory serves corectly and our weekly uploads work, these episodes will go all the way to Janurary.

The game is much longer than I expected...

@DrawnRed
EVERYONE.
IS.
POYO.

I'll check out the challenge mode when it drops for sure, but I really hope it is challenging... I love the look and feel of the game, but the game literally plays itself to the point that it's incredibly boring. Some of the worst gameplay I've seen on Switch, and that's despite the mechanics and characters being some of the best in the Kirby series.

I don't know whether it's a feeling that's spurred on because 2018 has been a little underwhelming first party exclusive-wise, but it does seem like some of these games have rushed out the door but could have done with a longer development cycle. They made Kirby look and feel brilliant, made some great mechanics, but then seemingly forgot to include an actual game...!

This game while easy is an amazing co-op experience.

The game is easy but has plenty of content and it looks beautiful. It really is worth a play.....

Kinda surprised to see people debating what was the most challenging and frustrating Kirby game, yet no one has said Kirby's Adventure.
Maybe it's more of a case of being frustrating than actually hard, but that's the only game I couldn't finish. And I've played all the platformer Kirby games.

On another note, I love Star Allies. It's easy yet still enjoyable. Arena was a fun ride, and all the unlockable content plus free dlc have made this game a great addition the series imo.

This update looks to be the best yet by far. Introducing three characters from Kirby games I adore, especially Magolor. Return to Dreamland was a favorite Wii game of mine. And this new mode looks like fun too, as long as it has substance. I really hope it’s not a rushed job.

I’m just glad this will release before Smash, so I’ll actually play it.

@patbacknitro18 @rjejr

Quite many "ultimate edition!!1 Everything is on there!"-editions are coming to Switch though. Which a attractive draws for me, since I don't dig Steam very much, and certainly don't enjoy having to buy eight separate pieces of DLC for some indie or AA game, to get the full experience.

So I'm hopeful that more complete games will see release. If nothing else, a good bit of the indie games on the eShop
seem to come out on cartridge once they're fully formed and patched.

Nintendo has been re-releasing both discs and cartridges with software fixes since forever themselves, so I wouldn't find it ridiculous to assume they'd include content that's already free on subsequent print runs, to make sure people enjoy the content.

But as you both say, I'm not exactly getting my hopes up.

@Pod I do wonder about it with a game like Spaltoon 2. That game released, then sold a Starter pack w/ stickers and then another starter pack with a guide book. So that's 3 different versions of the box, so I wonder if the carts are different b/c Splatoon 2 gets a lot of new content on a regular basis. But I doubt it.

This update kinda makes me want this game. How is it?

One Youtube comment put it best: it's essentially the Smash Bros. Ultimate of Kirby games at this point.
The three characters representing the new polygonal golden era of the pink puffball are the cherry on top of a new mode that's truly making the game worth its hefty pricetag. I'll be here waiting for the update, knowing it's mainly going to keep me company until Smash is released.

@Radbot42
As far as co-op gameplay is concerned, it oozes fun all over the place.
That said, its price tag is being made up for with each free update the game gets. This is by far the biggest one, however, as the extra playable characters - already six added to the base game for free, with three more announced here for a grand total of nine - get a new campaign where they and Kirby are all playables without the one-way speedrun-only stuff that's holding the Guest Star Allies mode back.

@patbacknitro18 thing is, the Korok seeds are optional and, after enough, the extra inventory space becomes unnecessary. If I’m not mistaken, the shards in 64 are required to fight the final boss. 64 has its merits, and the first time I completed it I wasn’t too unhappy, but I wouldn’t say it has a much replayablity, it’s the only Kirby game I have that I have zero interest in playing again.

Thankfully the price for this game has been creeping down slowly on Amazon, so sooner or later I should be able to afford it (it’s probably in my top 5 currently released Switch games I want to get).

@Radbot42 The games fantastic, and the free dlc support has been great. Its a fairly easy Kirby game, and the main story mode is rather short. But every character in the game has a storymode they can play through, with Update 2 giving every dream friend unique levels in their storymodes (Aside from boss levels). Then you also have the returning Arena mode, which can definitely be difficult on its higher difficulties. And there's also this new game mode which looks far more difficult than what the main game was.

@Pod The thing is though that these aren't so much DLC that you have to go download from the eshop manually, they come in updates. And the game automatically updates whenever you first try to play it, meaning it'll download the DLC content no matter what. There is the small issue with people who still don't have Wifi or any online connection. But since the content is in the updates and not from an actual DLC pass, then there doesn't seem to be a reason to include them in some kind of special bundle, since you're pretty much guaranteed the characters no matter what.

@Platinumhobo I didn’t have an NES so my first experience with it was Nightmare in Dreamland, which had a rather enjoyable coop mode. I didn’t play the original until Wii VC and, while it’s not my favorite, I wouldn’t say it was very frustrating or hard. Probably right down the middle. The level design was hit and miss but the series was still in its infancy. Of course, if I bust out my Wii U to play my VC games I’d just do Super Star, will always be my favorite (that and its remake).

@Platinumhobo Kirbys Adventure wasn't too difficult for me, even as a kid. The only part of Kirbys Adventure that I found super difficult was the Final Boss's second phase, where you're falling from the sky and have to defeat the boss's sphere form in a certain time limit or else you'll hit the ground. I could never beat that boss in time and I had to have my uncle beat that part for me, but everything else wasn't that hard. It's one of the harder games in the series, but its definitely no Kirby 64.

@patbacknitro18
You're of course right. There are the reasons reasons I would want them included on the cartridge, however.

If I'm getting them anyway, I'd like them to not take up system memory.

If I'm SUPPOSED to get them without even deciding to do so, I'd like for them to be included on the cartridge, so that if I gave the game to someone ten years from now, they'd still get the full experience, whether or not they had online, and whether or not Nintendo still operated the update service.

@MysticGengar Agree. Game is pretty long, possibly, no, without a doubt longer than Kirby Star Allies. Especially if you plan on recording the Extras or Minigames too.

@patbacknitro18 I died approximately 3 times before beating that Final Boss.

@ShadJV I love Superstar! Really captured the essenc of Kirby and crew. Even establishing a degree of time change (King Dedede's Revenge/Meta Knight/and of course Milky Way Wishes) I kind of felt they built upon the game with Returns To Dreamland but didn't get the same vibes.

Challenge mode better make up for such a mediocre base game

@patbacknitro18 I disagree with it being worth $60 at launch, and that's coming from a huge kirby fan. I like the game a lot more now but I remember being fairly disappointed at launch. Definitely worth $60 now even if I think the story mode is still one of the worst in the series

@edgedino I'd argue that Kirby 64 is not much of a needle either, especially if one were to use Bomb + Cutter ability to tear through nearly everything.

@StephenYap3 And then you have to collect all of the Shards, which might possibly be the hardest F****** collectibles in any freaking game to get.

@Oat It was well worth 60$. While the storymode was fairly easy and short, it still offered multiple characters to play through the story with, the Arena mode, speedrun mode, minigames, and pictures to complete. Giving the game arguably more content than Kirby Returns to Dreamland. So this game was well worth the asking price, and has only improved immensely with the updates.

@patbacknitro18 I wouldn't say the collectibles in 64 were "hard". They're just tedious and annoying, mainly because the game barely gives you enough clues or knowledge to know what you have to do or prepare yourself for at the time, often resulting in you exiting the stage and go to another to bring the right ability with you and return to the stage from the beginning, forcing you to backtrack to that exact spot and trying again. For instance, the last area of Rock Star Stage 1 forces you to enter the stage with the Spark + Rock ability to shatter the sphinx nose holding the shard. On the same planet, Stage 4 forces you to bring the Spark + Bomb ability to illuminate a room to give you a clue to get a shard and unless if by some miracle you knew beforehand, you can't get the shard because you can't see the dark background. If that's not enough, the third stage of Neo Star has the second shard that forces you to make a shape of three items Adeleine paints out of the 7x7 blocks thrice, which can become terrible to work with since even one small little mistake will force you to reenter the room to try again. It's design flaws like those that render Kirby 64 utterly flawed in many angles and for being the only game in the franchise on the N64, it could've used a lot more development time to help iron out its many flaws.

That said, I won't lie when I say that it's one of my very first Kirby games and as a result, it does hold a lot of nostalgic value for me, not to mention that I feel that it has some of the best multiplayer modes I've seen in the franchise. But when comparing it to many of the other traditional games in the franchise, especially to the games with the Super Star gameplay, Kirby 64 didn't leave me impressed in many ways.

@Oat Even at launch, the game was well worth my $60. I wanted a Kirby game that brings the helper system back and being able to play as them beyond Arena mode, as well as a Mix Ability system that's actually good without feeling too restrictive or unbalanced for one bit. Star Allies may not replace Super Star, Return to Dream Land, or Triple Deluxe for me, but at the end of the day, SA still kicks tail for me on the Switch and is one of my favorite games on system by far.

@StephenYap3 1. Ya, I think Kirby 64's biggest issue was the short development time, as I believe a lot of the mainline N64 games had an insanely short deadline, like Majoras mask for instance. But that aside while the Crystals are definitely tedious, that still makes them so [removed] difficult to get. Theres 1 crystal, I think its towards the end of the game, that I spent months trying to get. Only to figure out that in order to get it you had to complete a block puzzle in some strange way that you would have never figured out unless you had prior knowledge, looked at a walkthrough, or had insane luck.

@StephenYap3 star allies computers can do everything you just have to move around and be a fourth wheel on a tricycle.

@edgedino The CPU allies cannot recruit enemies nor revive them.

@patbacknitro18 Mind your language!

@StephenYap3 I've seen them revive others before its just at a super low priority iirc.

@edgedino Oh, okay. Good to know. I haven't encountered that part yet.

Then again, I still liked the CPU Helpers feature. Hopefully that becomes the mainstay for the traditional formula (though this time an option so that it will please both worlds).

@patbacknitro18 Actually, Kirby 64 was in development for three years and was originally going to release on the failed N64DD, which led to HAL being forced to pull back and (for the most part) start over from scratch and release the final version on cartridge form. Then, before Mix Abilities became a thing, we would've originally played as Waddle Dee, Adeleine, and King Dedede (without Kirby riding on his back), each with their own abilities.

It pains me to say this: the beta version looked much better than the one we have now.

@StephenYap3 Thats what I meant, hence why I used Majoras Mask as an example since that was also planned to be a Disk Drive game. And due to the restart, they were given an insane deadline to have the game finished.

@Octane I censored my language just as much as you have. Just enough to where the actual word isn't revealed, but using context clues people can insinuate what I was trying to say.

@StephenYap3 it would be nice it they made a few different types of ai settings like a fighter and assist where assist will focus on sharing food it just ate and reviving people then fighting and vice versa for fighter.