
It works brilliantly with the stereoscopic 3D element. At times you can jump in and out of the screen between two planes, even shooting cannon balls from the foreground into the distance to clear objects and destroy enemies.

New to the Kirby-verse is the ability to enter Supernova form, wherein Kirby can inhale huge objects and chunks of scenery, which are usually incorporated into basic yet fun push ‘n’ pull puzzles. There is a crazy amount of abilities to be absorbed this time out – including old favourites like fire, swords, speeding wheel and cracking whips – as well as some ace new ones like the Rhinoceros Beetle and the unusual yet effective Bell, which allows you to weild two bells as weapons that can beat enemies upside their head, shield the puff ball from attacks or generate sound waves that stun baddies. You do this by usual Kirby means – jumping, floating and sucking things up to absorb their abilities – on a gorgeous 2.5D platforming plane. Of course, it is up to the puffball with attitude to inhale things right again – and your job to guide our hero on a mission to restore order to Dream Land. We find out soon enough that this is the work of a crazed insectoid creature called Daranza – who sounds like a Brazilian centre forward but is in fact hell-bent on messing Dream Land up left, right and centre – and that includes taking former badass number one Dedede hostage. This time out, young Kirby is woken from his slumber to find that his home and everything around it – including the castle of his arch-nemesis King Dedede – has been hoisted up into the ether by an enormous beanstalk. HAL Laboratory guide you in beautifully with a charming introductory sequence that explains what is going down to spark off the latest shenanigans in Dream Land. It may lack the supreme gimmickry that set Epic Yarn apart from all other adventures in and around Dream Land, but it’s certainly worthy of your hard-earned cash. Rather than clogging your arteries and dripping with oozing grease, the latest outing for the cutesy, transmorphing pink fella is a healthy treat for the soul and the senses, that perks you right up from the moment you start playing.


God knows how many moons later and here I am again with the splendidly monikered Triple Deluxe – a game that sounds remarkably like a delicious hamburger. You might not know this little GIAG fact, but probably the first “name” title I ever looked at for the site was the glorious fabric-woven Kirby’s Epic Yarn for the Wii.
