On the surface, Elebits: The Adventures of Kai and Zero looks like a completely different game from its predecessor, Wii furniture-tossing effort Elebits. And it's true, to a degree: your goals are different, your methods are different, your environments most certainly different. But one thing is absolutely preserved from its legacy: the notion of playing hide-and-seek with these little guys.

Kai and Zero, when I first saw it in screens, immediately reminded me of the legacy of 2-D Zelda adventure games. The game (and the producer himself, in our interview) did little to dissuade that connection. There are certainly several similarities between Kai and Zero and most Zelda series entries, probably the most obvious being the "guard boosts" that Kai will obtain along the way—they're round heart containers, basically. And, true to form, the game's worlds consist largely of environmental obstacles that will require you to use things you've picked up along the way in order to progress.

Those things are the Omega Elebits, a collection of several special little creatures, each possessing some sort of power that is generally useful in traversing the worlds. The basic elementals make an appeareance, of course, but there are also some others with powers of magnetism, speed, or even water absorption. While you'll often find uses for newly-acquired Omegas in the immediate world, you'll also continue to use them in later worlds as well; they're not one-off "keys", which is very nice to see. But these guys need power to operate—power you'll gather, throughout the game, by looking under rocks, shaking trees, and being quick on the draw to capture the other Elebits that inhabit the world, converting them to watts in order to get your newfound abilities moving.

You'll do this with Kai's capture gun, brought over from the original Elebits, but working a little differently this time: now, you'll use the DS's stylus to find and capture the Elebits in the world. This is Kai and Zero's key mechanic, and I'm pleased to say it never got tiresome, poking at them as they appeared (and before they made a run for it), then sweeping them up quickly. You get watt bonuses for chaining many at a time, the finishing touch on making the mechanic worthwhile. The capture gun is also useful for more than just catching Elebits; you'll use it to move things from one place to another and grapple off landscape features as well. It's truly this game's best feature.

In contrast to many modern games, Kai and Zero's level design can be a bit of a throwback to the light-on-text days of the SNES; rarely will you find signs sticking out of the ground telling you how to solve a particular environmental puzzle; much like hide-and-seeking Elebits, you must rely on your powers of observation and be ready to try various things to get to where you need to go. This is potentially a great blessing for those who like challenge in their games, but it's moderated somewhat by the occasional WTF moment where you're struck trying every Omega in your toolbox and, once the solution is found, end up wondering how that could have made sense in the first place. (Or worse: At one point, I was convinced I didn't have the necessary Omega—a visual cue suggested one that didn't actually exist in the game—and spent a pretty ridiculous amount of time wandering one world looking for it.)

Kai and Zero's bosses are also quite good, as is to be expected from the team behind Elebits and Dewy's Adventure. You won't necessarily be using your last-acquired Omega on these guys, either; you'll have to keep your mind open to using everything in your arsenal to take them down—very nice. If I could change one thing, it would be that some seem to need to be hit too many times to take them down—a small complaint, really, but it's there nonetheless.

Outside of what you need to get the main quest done and dusted, there's plenty of extra content should you be so inclined to pursue it. Each world has hidden pink Elebits that, when all three are found, will yield up a spare guard boost. There are battery upgrades which may be in rather out-of-the-way places. There are even optional, completely new Omega Elebits that you can get by going back to the various worlds and checking out previously-inaccessible areas. (I didn't do these before I completed the game, but it's my understanding you can.)

Kai and Zero ends up a solid game that's rooted firmly in the classic 2-D adventures of yore, and it turns out to be just what the doctor ordered for the homesickness I didn't know I had for games of this type. It was particularly nice to be able to play a new game in this genre with its own fresh take, even if there were some minor problems here and there. If nothing else, it proves that even as we pursue new types of game machines with new input possibilities, there are still new depths to be explored—even in the classics.