The Kirby Series Episode V: Kirby's Avalanche

Hello everybody and welcome back to the Kirby series! Following the release of Kirby's Adventure on the NES, Kirby certainly took some time off from his traditional games. So far we've seen him as both a pinball and a golf ball. What else can Kirby become? We'll find that out later because in this spin-off game, Kirby takes no different forms and in fact you don't really control Kirby at all because this boys and girls is a puzzle game!

The game was co-developed by HAL Labratory, Compile, and Banpresto. It was released by Nintendo on February 1, 1995 and is the Western version of a game known as Super Puyo Puyo.

The story for this game is quite simple. King Dedede challenges the citizens of Dream Land to a tournament of a game called Avalanche or Ghost Trap (Ghost Trap in Europe). Kirby decides to take the challenge and battles his way through many of the series reoccurring characters to reach Dedede for a showdown at the Fountain of Dreams. Just some of the familiar faces Kirby will have to face includes Whispy Woods, Kracko, Meta Knight, and of course King Dedede. *Fun Fact: This is the first game where Meta Knight is actually called Meta Knight. In Kirby's Adventure you never learn his name.*

That's literally it for the story. It's a puzzle game what do you expect? Anyway this game is actually a lot of fun and the gameplay is simple. Two blobs will fall from the top of each player's screen. Once a player lines up four blobs in a row they will vanish and any blobs above them will fall into their place. If the four vanishing blobs happen to set off a chain reaction in which more blobs vanish, rocks will fall onto the other players screen. The rocks cause major issues and can only be cleared if four blobs are lined up while touching the rock. 

So the game does have a bit of strategy going for it and it also has it's fair share of luck as well I suppose. Between each round you will see a short conversation between Kirby and his opponents. This doesn't sound like a big deal, but this is the first time we actually see Kirby really talk to his enemies. We've seen him dance around them in previous games and what not, but in this game he almost comes off as sarcastic and kind of confrontational. Must be in the spirit of competition right? I mean how can Kirby be a mean little guy? Anyway... 

The graphics for this game are beautiful. Kirby's Avalanche was released later in the SNES's life and the graphics and sound for that matter show how far the creators were able to push the system. As with the other colored Kirby games, Avalanche is very bright and beautiful. The soundtrack consists of remixed versions of songs heard in both Kirby's Adventure and Kirby's Dream Course. The only original song is the panic music that is actually from the Eastern version of the game, Super Puyo Puyo. 

There really isn't too much more to say about this game. It's a great puzzle game that can get pretty intense especially when playing against friends. On a scale of 1 to 10 I can easily give it a solid 8. It does a ton of things right as a puzzle game while being basically a clone of it's Eastern counterpart with Kirby characters. *Another Fun Fact: There is another clone of Puyo Puyo out there. Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine released on the Sega Genesis.* 

Final Verdict: 8 out of 10. Kirby's Avalanche is a great take on a classic puzzle game... With a little bit of attitude!

As always thanks for reading. The Kirby Series will continue soon with Episode VI: Kirby's Dream Land 2 where Kirby returns to his roots on the Game Boy. My next blog though will be a quick top 5 list featuring my top 7 Donkey Kong Country Animal Buddies! Till next time...