We’re all familiar with Kirby’s bottomless pit of a stomach and uncanny ability to copy his food’s abilities, and we’ve seen Kirby used as a golf ball (Kirby’s Dream Course), placed in patchwork (Kirby’s Epic Yarn) and roll along various locales on Pop Star as a ball (Kirby: Canvas Curse). But we haven’t seen Kirby run around with 10+ smaller copies of himself all screaming “Hiii!” and wreaking untold havoc. That will all change September 19 when Kirby: Mass Attack launches on the Nintendo DS.
Here’s a video of Kirby: Mass Attack that was seen at E3, so everyone can get a better idea of what this game’s going to include.
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All poor Kirby was doing was taking a light snooze on a hill and some evil dark and shadowy fiend zaps him with some sort of spell to split him into multiple, weaker, Kirbys. Now he has to worry about traversing Pop Star in order to defeat the malefic wizard who put him in this mess, all while hopefully finding some sort of cure for this malady. It’s not much of a plot, but this is only a preview article, so don’t expect a novel or anything of the sort.
Now, how does Mass Attack plan to make use of Kirby’s sudden splitting into ten? Well, the control scheme looks to be a touch-to-move system a la Phantom Hourglass, where the player must tap and hold the stylus in the direction they want the character to move. Attacking works in a couple of ways: first there is the tap and drag method which involves picking up one Kirby via stylus and then dragging him to where you want to attack; second there is the tap on an enemy and batter it into submission as Kirby and his many selves swarm the poor doomed soul.
The multiple personality aspect is also being incorporated into the game’s puzzles from basic enemy encounters to stage obstructions. For instance, the video displayed various instances where the weight of multiple Kirbys (guessing his voracious appetite is finally catching up to him) snaps things in half or gives them the leverage they need to pull down boulders or other various obstacles. Getting Kirbys appears to be linked to the amount of food Kirby takes in (which shouldn’t be too hard for Kirby, and explains the whole weight problem), so collecting points and progressing becomes just as important as staying alive.
The standard Kirby power-ups appear to be present in this game (the Candy, Maxim Tomato, etc), but the copy abilities are not. Whether or not that absence is a bad thing remains to be seen, considering this isn’t the first Kirby game that doesn’t feature the Copy Ability.
Mass Attack also has a variety of unlockable content (mostly minigames), which can be discovered by obtaining medals and the like during story mode. Aside from the minigames, there is no multiplayer or any co-op mode over local wireless planned for the game, so it’s restricted to solely single-player.
Kirby: Mass Attack is set to hit the shelves at a suggested price of $29.99. In the meantime, here’s a few screenshots of the game in action to sate your appetite.
