Touching Kirby All Over

Touching Kirby All Over
Article by Colin Castro

One day, our hero Kirby was strolling through Dreamland, enjoying the sights, flirting with the ladies -- you know, typical hero stuff. Out of nowhere, all of the colors in Dreamland were drastically altered and in swooped a witch named Drawcia. With a wave of her brush, Drawcia transformed all of Dreamland into a painting. However, upon seeing Kirby, Drawcia fled into a portal with Kirby hot on her heels. Once inside, Kirby found himself in a world of paintings. He then challenged Drawcia. His brash decision backfired though, and Drawcia transformed him into a helpless ball. Unable to move, Kirby watched powerlessly as Drawcia escaped. However, in her haste, she left behind her magical paintbrush, which Kirby presents for you to take. With paintbrush in hand, you are the lone hope for Kirby and the inhabitants of Dreamland.

Its been a long time coming. Ever since we were first introduced to the Nintendo DS weve been waiting for that game that really uses the touch screen extensively during gameplay. Sure Feel the Magic, Wario Ware: Touched and Yoshis Touch & Go all used the touch screen in innovative ways. Really, Yoshis Touch & Go couldve been considered the first game to fully realize the potential of the DS, yet the game really didnt feel like a game, but rather a minigame. So we waited.

Well, with Kirby Canvas Curse, the wait is over. The game takes what Yoshis Touch & Go pioneered but adds actual levels to the equation. For the first time, DS owners will acquire a fantastic idea of what gaming on their DS can be, and will be in the future.

The Art of Rainbow Paint

In Kirby Canvas Curse, you must guide a balled-up Kirby across a slew of different levels. In order for Kirby to move about, you must generate rainbow bridges for him to negotiate using a limited supply of rainbow paint. Every time you use your rainbow powers, the amount of paint you have depletes. The paint fills back up quickly, but is restrictive enough to keep the player from surrounding every enemy with a rainbow barrier so that Kirby can calmly roll by.

The rainbow bridges that you can create using the stylus have a few purposes. The main purpose is, of course, to assist Kirby in negotiating the terrain throughout each of the levels. Whether its creating a slope so Kirby may travel up towards a ledge, or swooping the bridge backward in order to assist Kirby in grabbing a passed item, the rainbow bridge is the main mode of transportation for Kirby. The truly great part about the bridge is the ability Kirby has to cling to the bridge no matter what the angle. Gravity has no effect on him! Kirby can, and will, travel straight up, diagonally up or down, and even upside down in order to reach the end of each level. Think of the rainbow bridges as you do the spider ball tracks in Metroid Prime. In this game, Kirby is perennially locked onto the rainbow.

Other functions of the rainbow bridge include a wall, which turns Kirby around, and a loop-de-loop, which speeds him up. If you construct a rainbow bridge straight down and Kirby bumps into it, he will automatically turn around and head in the opposite direction. Basically, the downward bridge functions as a wall, useful for getting Kirby to turn back the way he came in the event that you passed something valuable up. Then there is the loop-de-loop function, which will subsequently speed Kirby up and send him soaring across the screen. How fast Kirby speeds up is based on the size of your loop. The smaller the loop, the faster Kirby goes. Also, against certain enemies (say, cannons) the rainbow bridge will shield Kirby from their attacks, provided that Kirby is on the opposite side of the incoming blast.

Another obstacle to be aware of is a certain type of block thats impassible by Kirby (unless he has a power-up, more on that later). When you encounter these blocks, you must tap them with your stylus. This destroys them and opens up the path for our hero to roll through.

The top screen is your ally in Kirby Canvas Curse. Not only is it a mini-map that shows you a bit more of the current areas youre traversing (not to mention the location of medals), it also displays Kirbys current vitality, lives, and the amount of paint you have left. This isnt to say that you have a certain amount of paint per level. You have an infinite amount. Where you are limited, though, is how fast you can use that paint. You have a limited supply that can be used in a specific span of time. Therefore, you must be careful with the amount of paint you actually use, in order to avoid running out at an inopportune moment. And if you do run out, just have Kirby roll around on the ground for a few seconds. The paint bar fills up quickly whenever Kirby is grounded.

Fire!	Speed!

Now, you may be wondering: if Kirby is always in ball form, how does he destroy enemies? In Canvas Curse you dont suck your enemies in and shoot them out, as has become the staple of most Kirby games. Instead, Kirby takes out his enemies by rolling into them. However, this does not mean that Kirby slowly rolls through every single enemy in each level. In fact, you have to (dare I say it) do some prodding in order to achieve the destruction of Kirbys enemies. You must either tap Kirby to have him perform a short dash that will subsequently speed him up briefly and destroy any enemies in his path, or you can poke any incoming enemies, causing them to briefly be stunned so that Kirby may finish them off.

Most of the time, when you destroy an enemy it bursts into a puff of smoke and stars, never to be seen again. As is the case in most Kirby games, some enemies will give you powers -- others wont. Common powers include rock form, spark lightning, and fireball form. I dont want to get into each of the forms too deeply, because grabbing them and discovering the many things you can accomplish in each form is part of the fun. But I will say that youll need to use the various forms effectively in order to complete the game and grab all of the medals that are scattered throughout each of the levels.

Medals? You ask. Allow me to explain. There are three levels to each, shall we say, zone. Each level consists of several sections. In order to complete the level, you must successfully navigate Kirby through each of the sections without losing all of your vitality. Some sections will contain a medal, whether it be hidden or out in the open. Grabbing the medal will assist you in unlocking some of the hidden features of the game, which I'll explain later. What is important to understand is that there are three medals in each level, and more specifically, there is one medal in each third of the level. Namely, one in the beginning, one in the middle, and one in the end. The difficulty in acquiring each of the medals ranges from very easy (lying almost directly in the logical path you must travel toward the end) or difficult (flipping a hidden switch that removes a wall shielding the medal from you). For me, scouring the levels in search of medals, and figuring out how to acquire them, was the most satisfying element of the game.

Remember how I mentioned that there are three levels to each zone? Well, once you complete the third level of each zone, Drawcia appears and gives you the option of fighting one of three bosses: King Dedede, Krackos, or Paint Roller. Bosses are fought in their own unique way, and there are two versions of each.

If you choose King Dedede, Kirby must race him in a mine cart that follows a line thats drawn by a generator. It's up to you to move the generator up and down in order to help Kirby grab food, which will give him a partial speed boost, and to destroy enemies and obstacles in his path. Grabbing two items of food in rapid succession will temporarily max out your speed. Your goal is simple: beat King Dedede to the finish line. I make it sound so easy, dont I?

When facing Krackos, you must draw paddles for Kirby to bounce off of and toward various enemies in each of several confined areas. It's like a mix between Pinball and Breakout, except you can place your paddles anywhere and can swing them toward Kirby with more precision. Once all of the enemies in each area are defeated, the gate blocking Kirby from advancing is blown away. You then repeat as necessary, bumping Kirby up toward the end until you find Krackos. Once you find him, you must continually paddle toward him, while avoiding his trademark lightning.

The Great Gourmet Race!	Electric Spankings!

Against Paint Roller, you must mimic a picture he paints -- in connect the dots fashion. Its fairly straightforward, except for the fact that you have a stream of enemies trailing behind Kirby, slowly catching up. Because of this, youre forced to act quickly in your attempts to mimic the drawing. There are a few sections of connect the dots, followed by a panel tapping section, where you must tap any panel (that has a star on it) as soon as it appears. All the while, your friends are gaining on you, waiting for their chance to strike.

Minigames and Unlockables

That was a rundown of the main part of the game. Now lets discuss some of the fun extras.

Every time you complete a level, Kirby is whisked to a jump minigame. The idea of the minigame is to poke Kirby several times and then draw a ramp for him to launch off of to see how far he flies. Its baffling to me why I find this so enjoyable, especially considering the fact that Im absolutely terrible at it. As of now, my longest jump is 1141 inches. And of course, right after you complete your jump, one of Kirbys trademark moves takes place. The Kirby, in ball form, will shimmer and smile with delight and on the top screen five Kirbys will waltz onto the stage and perform the Kirby dance. It truly is a nostalgic moment.

Once you beat a level a time trial and line mode are both unlocked. The object of time trial mode should be fairly obvious -- you must complete a section of the level within a specified time limit. There are three time limits that you must achieve; each one awards you a medal if youre successful. The first few levels of time trial mode are fairly easy, and will likely give you a false sense of security. Once you start progressing through the game more, the time trials will become progressively more difficult and require precision, proper timing, and a lot of patience in order to achieve a runtime worthy of acquiring all three medals.

The line mode makes things a little more interesting. The basic idea is that you must navigate Kirby through the section using as tiny an amount of rainbow paint as possible. You can take all the time in the world, but you must minimize your brush strokes. This may sound fairly simple, but once you start actually attempting some of the later line mode levels youll soon learn that your available paint drains much quicker than you want it to. Similar to time trial mode, in each level of line mode there are three remaining levels of paint that you must shoot for when you complete each section. Earning three medals never seemed so difficult.

Alright, I keep mentioning all of the medals that you collect. But what are they for? On the main menu, there is a button called Medal Swap. By entering it, you will find several boxes that are locked. You must insert the specified number of medals into each box to acquire the prize that is underneath. The various prizes that can be awarded are: new styles of lines, new music, more vitality for Kirby, bonus levels and secret characters, and perhaps more. The only catch is that you cant see what youre unlocking until youve inserted a good chunk of the medals that are required. The added goodies, which you acquire via medal swap, add to the replay value of the game in an immense way.

These Pictures	Have No Relevance

There you go. Thats my rundown on Kirby Canvas Curse. For those of you who have played this gem, you may have noticed that I havent mentioned everything (for example: the different faces Kirby makes while scrolling through the zone select menu). This was intentional. There are some aspects of the game that should be left for the player to discover. Its what adds to the enjoyment of playing the game. I myself have completed the first four zones in the game and have thoroughly enjoyed every minute of playtime. This is, hands down, the most unique game that Ive had the pleasure of playing in a long time. Kirby Canvas Curse showed me exactly why I purchased a DS and why Nintendo is still the leading innovator when it comes to videogames.

A Short Story

I have a short story for you folks that, for me, gave me another way to justify just how great Kirby Canvas Curse is. First, some background information. My mother has felt (for a while now) that my brother and I are too old for video games and should be spending our days off participating in other activities. Ive tried explaining to her many times that there are people outside who may want to interact with me, thus ruining the whole purpose of being outside. She still cant see why this is such a big deal. However, I digress. The point is that she doesnt like the fact that her two sons still play video games. Because of this, we usually avoid telling her when weve acquired a new game or piece of hardware. She even resisted getting me a DS for my birthday (I had to rely on my brother instead -- bless his soul). So, in an effort to bring her back to the light side, I decided to show my mother Kirby Canvas Curse in action.

The response is something I will never forget.

For the first time in as long as I can remember, she honestly seemed interested in game I was playing. She was amazed at all the little maneuvers I was provoking my little puffball into performing. Several times she said aloud to my father, Adrian, you have to see this! Those words alone nearly brought a tear to my eye. She still refused to try the game out herself, but I feel I made some significant progress that day and hope to one day fully bring her back. If Kirby Canvas Curse can impress my mother, then clearly this game is a must have for any true gamer.

Even if you do not own this game, or a DS, I highly recommend that you find a way to play this game. In my opinion, this game is a must buy. There is no renting or tryout period needed. It alone is reason enough to own a Nintendo DS. For those of you who still havent jumped on the DS bandwagon, now is the time. The handheld gaming revolution has truly begun.