Monday, November 17, 2014

Let's chat a bit about the awesomeness that is Kirby and the Rainbow Curse's Japanese box art

Also, let's chat a bit about how awesome it is that games like this are still getting released via retail--as opposed to only being sold digitally. Speaking of which, copies of this absolutely amazing looking Wii U title will hit store shelves in Japan on Jan. 22 and in North America on Feb. 13--although European (and I'm guessing Australian?) store shelves won't be stocked until sometime in third or fourth quarter of 2015.


The question is: will Western copies of Kirby and the Rainbow's Curse sport the same great cover art that was created for Touch! Kirby Super Rainbow (that's the Japanese version's name), or will Nintendo's European, Australian and American artists once again ruin everything by transforming this cuddly cover boy into "angry Kirby"?

(Via neogaf.com/forum)

18 comments:

Justin Difazzio said...

He's gonna be all, "There is clay twine coming out of my anus and I am NOT happy about it!" on the US box art.

thegaygamer.com said...

Unfortunately--or maybe I should say hilariously?--this is *exactly* what's going to happen, Justin, and you know it!

Justin Difazzio said...

Oh yeah. I wouldn't be surprised if they change the art entirely just to find a reason to make him angry. It'll be some boring fight scene where he's flattening enemies or racing along a barely-visible rainbow line.

Korby said...

To be fair, todays european Kirby-Cover tends to adopt the Japan-Covers so no fear there. But USA is another topic...

thegaygamer.com said...

I have a feeling you may be right, Justin :(


BTW, I'd really like to find and slap all of the people who took part in the focus group the brass at Nintendo of America green-lit years ago that prompted them to believe Americans would only love Kirby if he looked angry.


I don't know that such a focus group actually took place, mind you, or that it's actually responsible for NOA's current treatment of the character, but I wouldn't be surprised to learn that's the case.

thegaygamer.com said...

That's true, Korby, although not *entirely. After all, the Euro version of Kirby's Canvas Curse (Kirby and the Amazing Paintbrush, or something like that?) uses the NA cover art rather than the JP art, doesn't it?

Monster_Hunter2882 said...

I'm guessing when/if you get a Wii U this game is going to be one of the 1st games you get if not the 1st you get.

As for the box-art I also hope they keep it for the western releases instead replacing with an angry Kirby one. I just hope they never do what Sega did to Ristar and make him angry the whole game in western releases.

thegaygamer.com said...

Oh, boy, don't give Nintendo ideas, Sam! (I say that in response to your Ristar comment, of course.)


As for this being one of my first Wii U games: yes, I have to imagine that will be the case.


Unfortunately, though, there are so many games on my Wii U wish list at the moment that it's going to be tough for me to decide which ones to get first--although I have to imagine Mario Kart 8, Super Mario 3D World and this game will be right up there.

Monster_Hunter2882 said...

Hopefully the original creators of the games would never let that happen.


An other thing about seeing the box-art is that it reminded me is that the game supports amiibo. This changed my odds of getting the Kirby one from probably to definitely.

thegaygamer.com said...

Oh, yeah, I nearly forgot about this game's Amiibo component myself. What is it about this aspect of the game that interests you, Sam?

Monster_Hunter2882 said...

I'm mostly interested in amiibo because I've been interested
in collecting figures for awhile now and since the fact they do small things in
various games adds more of a reason to buy one. I'm also interested to see to
how they are going to be used in games. One way I can see them being used is in
multi-player mode like in Mario Party where they can have a mode were 4
players with Wii remotes try to compete with each other while a player that
uses the game-pad is able to mess with the game and one thing they can do is
scan an amiibo to cause something to happen for example scanning Mario might
cause fireballs to appear or maybe you can use an amiibo to get discount on
D.L.C. such as say Kirby and the Rainbow Curse has a King Dedede themed pack
that's $8 but if you have the Dedede amiibo already you can scan it so you only
have to pay $4.

thegaygamer.com said...

Ah, yes, I'm interested to learn more about how Amiibos can and will be used, too. Also, I look forward to Nintendo eventually revealing that they'll be used in Animal Crossing Wii U :)

apricotsushi said...

This cover just kills me! It's so amazing! Not holding out any hope for the western version(s) though. It's a shame the AU/EU version is coming way later in the year... Now that I'm finally getting a Wii U, I think I'll definitely be wanting to pick this one up, but mine will be an Aussie system

thegaygamer.com said...

It's so strange that the game supposedly won't be hitting Europe or Australia until later in 2015, Anne. Here's hoping the brass at Nintendo change their minds and release it earlier!

apricotsushi said...

Here's hoping! That's the problem with deciding what system to buy for a region-locked console... I considered getting a US one but then that'd mean importing all my games, which may be cheap for cover price, but then you've gotta include shipping... Just make it region free already Nintendo!

thegaygamer.com said...

Yes, let's hope this is the last "gen" when Nintendo's consoles are region-locked. Let's return to the days of the GB, GBA and DS, please!

apricotsushi said...

To be fair, that's wishful thinking on my part, considering Nintendo consoles haven't been region free since the N64, right?

thegaygamer.com said...

Hmmm, well, it depends on what you consider region-locked. I mean, even the Famicom, Super Fami and N64 required you to use some sort of converter cart to play games of other regions on each system, which I consider at least a kind of region locking. Still, that's a lot easier to get around than what's happened since then :|