Looking Back: Kirby And The Amazing Mirror
Looking Back is a series where we take a glance at a particular game of yesteryear, whether it be influential, under appreciated, or just simply worth remembering.
Since the NES, the platforming genre has stood the test of time, as it still stands in one piece today. Throughout the past decade there have been many platforming games from Nintendo, but one that stood out to me the most was Kirby and the Amazing Mirror. This game managed to take the well known character Kirby, platforming, storytelling, and good multiplayer and combine it all into one amazing game. The game was made at the decline of the GBA system, and with the DS’ release upon gamers, so you can bet that Nintendo made Kirby’s last game for GBA near-perfect.
The main setting of the game is a place called Mirrorworld, where any wish that is reflected into a mirror comes true in real life. However, one day the mirrors only copy the minds of villains, and before you know it Mirrorland is inhabited by lots of evil creatures. It is then Kirby’s job to collect all of the shards to the broken mirror and save Mirrorland!
A screenshot of the game, with the player using the Cupid power.
What makes this game different than other Kirby games is that it requires teamwork. The team that you work with is made up of Kirby clones, which appeared when Dark Metaknight split Kirby into 4. The other 3 clones can be controlled by other players at any point in the game, or they can be called upon as "backup" in difficult parts of levels (on levels that require all 4 Kirbys be present). To call upon the Kirby clones, the main player uses a cellphone that has a certain battery limit (to prevent players from calling them at every point in the game). This system always worked well and I liked the feeling that I always had backup when things got tough (I will admit, it certainly helped me get through the hard levels!)
The main gameplay consists of collecting the shards to complete the "end mirror", which is where the final boss battles take place in. To collect the shards you have to beat levels, in the same style as any other platformer. The levels are set up like mazes, with different mirrors bringing you to different rooms. There were many ways to complete each level, which made the replay value pretty high. There are different types of enemies that you can swallow and either shoot them back out or absorb their powers. The different powers that you obtain can be used to get through the level easier. You’re never forced to a power, because you can always disown your power as you please, which is good to keep variety and choice involved.
While the single player is engaging and fun, what I enjoyed most about this game was the multiplayer. For the multiplayer, there were 2 options. You could either Co-op the story mode, or you could participate in mini-games against your friends. The co-op experience worked perfectly, requiring players to work together to beat the levels, leaving many fond moments of playing this with a couple friends over the weekend in my head. As for the mini-games, they were also fun and enjoyable. The mini-game that stood out the most was a "boss showdown" type game, where you battled off all of the bosses in the game in a row. What made this fun was that it offered a challenge, and you could bring in your friends also to help beat it.
A screenshot of one of the game’s many boss battles.
What made me want to play through the game a couple times at least was mainly the collectibles. There were hundreds of collectible items (such as spraypaint to change Kirby’s color) that were hidden in each level, and you had to truly explore each level to the fullest to obtain all of them. Of course, this created a competition between my friends and I, as we all raced to see who could collect all of the items in the game first.
Kirby and The Amazing Mirror is a game that I will never forget, because it was one of the first games that I truly had a fun time with. Whenever I played it with my friends, I had this amazing feeling that I never wanted to leave. As time went on, so did the games, which is why I feel that this installment in the Kirby franchise deserves a tribute.
