The Kirby Series Episode IV: Kirby's Dream Course

Welcome to the long awaited episode IV of the Kirby Series. I apologize for my absence, but life tends to get the better of us from time to time right? Well today's blog will be a quick review of the first Kirby game to hit the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, "Kirby's Dream Course". The game was developed HAL Laboratory and was released on February 1st, 1995. Kirby's Dream Course is not a traditional Kirby game, but rather a wacky golf game. While not exactly my favorite game in the series, the game offers a good deal of fun. This was also the first 3D Kirby game in the series!

 

Before I start looking a bit deeper into the game I'm going to make a small disclaimer. I am not a fan at all of golf and outside of Mario Golf on Nintendo 64, I've never really gotten into a golf game so this review may be a tick biased, but I will try to be as fair as possible. 

In this game you shoot Kirby (in the form of a ball) into enemies to defeat them. Once the enemies are defeated a hole will appear and you'll want to shoot Kirby into said hole to finish the level. You do not have unlimited attempts to do this though. Kirby's health for whatever reason is represented by tomatoes (not even max tomatoes). Lose 4 tomatoes and you lose. The game sounds simple enough, but it is actually quite challenging, especially for a Kirby game. There is a tutorial that will do nothing but help new players get a handle on the controls and to practice a bit before really getting into the game.

Each of the 8 courses you will play on consist of 8 holes so there is plenty of golfing to go around. You can do some pretty cool stuff like bank Kirby off enemies and angle shots similar to billiard games. Kirby can also nab powerups from beating enemies. These powerups include freeze, hi-jump, ufo, wheel, spark, needle, parasol, and stone. The powerups all do different things, what those are I will leave for you to discover as to not spoil too much. The scoring system consists of the classic bronze, silver, and gold medals. The better your score, the better the medal.

Other than that there isn't really much to say about the gameplay. You keep on going through the many holes until you reach robo King Dedede.

The sounds of the game are pretty good overall. In fact there are quite a few sounds that you may recognize from Earthbound. The music in traditional Kirby fashion is largely upbeat and entertaining. Graphically this game is pretty respectable for Kirby's first appearance in 3D. It's bright, it's colorful, it's Kirby! It's also the only Kirby game with this type of view, which only adds to the uniqueness. 

Since I am not a big fan of golf, or even golf games in general I have a hard time giving this game more than a 6.5 out of 10. With that being said though. This game is very well put together and in an unbiased world I'd probably give this game somewhere between a 7.5 and an 8. It is a very good looking and good playing game, but to me, it just doesn't do it and that's okay. For me the biggest minus about this game is that it's a golf game, but considering what it is, it's easily one of the best in my eyes. 

Final Verdict: 6.5 out of 10. Kirby's Dream Course is another golf game that failed to keep my attention for very long. That being said it is easily one of the better golf game's I've played and is certainly worth checking out if you are into Kirby, golf, or I'd even say billiards. 

As always thanks for reading this blog and I hope you are enjoying the Kirby series and the rest of the blog. My next blog I am going to mix up a little bit. I'm going to be taking a look at something quite recent as it can potentially pertain to some classic characters. Recently the voting closed for Super Smash Brothers Wii U/3DS DLC characters. I'm going to look at a few of the characters that I'd like to see in the game and take a look at the games these characters come from. Till next time, may Adun be with you!