Kirby Super Star Ultra

Developer: HAL Laboratory
Publisher: Nintendo
Release Date: Sept. 22, 2008
System: Nintendo DS
ESRB Rating: E
Official Web site

In a nutshell: Better in retrospect.

0:00 The original Kirby Super Star is one of my all-time favorite SNES games, thanks mainly to the wide variety of gameplay modes and the excellent two-player platforming. No second player here right now, though. Will the experience hold up after a decade?

0:01 The cut scene intro, with Kirby flying in on a yellow star, is surprisingly similar to the one I remember so well from the original, except rendered in faux 3-D and with too-smooth animation. I think I liked the old one better.

0:02 Of the main game modes, only "Spring Breeze" is open currently. It's sad, but I can't even remember if I had to unlock these games in the original, or if they started out as available. The classic music really brings me back.

0:03 Let's check out some new stuff first, the "three simple but deep sub-games," as the top screen describes them. Everything is touch-screen-controlled. "Kirby Card Swipe" is first. Sounds like a credit card instructional video?

0:04 Wow ... that's even simpler than I imagined. A card shows up on the top screen and I have to click the matching card from among four on the bottom screen. The presentation is cute, but it's definitely not "deep."

Read the full review at Crispy Gamer