Manual Stimulation: Hoshi no Kirby (GameBoy)

I don't know about you, but something I expect from any Kirby game manual is a ton of adorable illustrations of the pink puffball himself.



Sadly, the Hoshi no Kirby instruction manual disappoints mightily in that regard.



Sure, it offers up a few nice Kirby drawings, but I thought I'd find a lot more than a few in this particular booklet.



Oh, well. It's still worth ogling. One case in point: the rather fabulous border that lines each and every page of the Hoshi no Kirby--Kirby's Dream Land elsewhere in the world--manual.



Seriously, it's bubblegum pink and it's filled with stars. What more could you ask for in this kind of situation?



This booklet is similarly filled with screenshots of the game, of course. Normally that would prompt an unenthusiastic yawn from me, but here they're colored to complement the rest of the manual's color scheme, so instead it produced a mildly appreciative nod of the head.



This next page, on the other hand, is like a stab through the heart. No one at HAL Laboratory or Nintendo could be bothered to whip up some line drawings of Hoshi no Kirby's items?



The game only has a handful, after all. Plus, I can't imagine reproducing them in illustrated form would be much of a challenge.



To be honest, the only illustrations that impress here are found on the Hoshi no Kirby instruction booklet's last couple of pages.



These pages detail the game's five stages, by the way. Speaking of which, I love their names--especially "Float Islands" and "Bubbly Clouds."



Now that you've taken a gander at the Japanese Kirby's Dream Land manual, what do you think of it?

See also: my Hoshi no Kirby review, some photos of the Hoshi no Kirby GameBoy cartridge and box, and scans of the Hoshi no Kirby Famicom manual

The Great Gaymathon Review #71: Hoshi no Kirby (GameBoy)

Game: Hoshi no Kirby

Genre: Platformer

Developer: HAL Laboratory

Publisher: Nintendo

System: GameBoy

Release date: 1992

It may be hard to believe given my current love of cute games, but my first experience with a Kirby game didn't come until I eagerly picked up a copy of the DS-based spin-off known in my neck of the woods as Canvas Curse.

Which means, of course, that I was about 13 years late to that pink, puffy party. (The title we're chatting about here, which was Kirby's maiden voyage--or whatever the gaming equivalent of that ages-old phrase may be--first hit store shelves back in 1992.)

Why did I ignore Hoshi no Kirby (aka Kirby's Dream Land) for so darn long? I owned a GameBoy system and a whole slew of GB games at the time this cart was released in my region, after all, so adding it to my collection shouldn't have been out of the question. Sadly, the only answer I can come up with at the moment is that it looked a tad too easy for my liking.

Even then, it seems, I couldn't understand the point of a cakewalk platformer. I mean, really, who wants to stroll through a side-scrolling action game that refuses to put up an adequate fight? Not me, that's for sure.

And so I turned my nose up at Hoshi no Kirby--until I played and loved Canvas Curse. Actually, it took longer than that for me to give this portable effort a chance, as I didn't dive into it until after Kirby's Epic Yarn extracted its flannel-tipped claws from the depths of my soul sometime in 2010 or 2011.

At any rate, I eventually acquired a copy of Hoshi no Kirby--and quickly fell in love with it, too. Which is a good thing, as this particular Kirby adventure doesn't last very long. In fact, its five or so worlds and their respective bosses can be toppled in about 25 minutes if you can keep yourself from dillydallying.

Strangely, coming face to face with that truth didn't bother as much as I thought it would, and my only explanation for that is Hoshi no Kirby is so damn cute, and its titular protagonist is such a joy to control, that it's hard not to put aside your usual prejudices and instead focus on having fun when you pop its cartridge into your trusty GameBoy.

Does that mean I consider this initial iteration of the Kirby formula--which is what I imagine Super Mario Bros. would be like if it had been made by kids, what with its cartoonish, dream-like focus on manipulating Kirby's gaping maw to inhale baddies and float above the earth--to be portable perfection in black and white? Not hardly.

A case in point: although Hoshi no Kirby is a total, grin-inducing hoot to play through, there's no denying its brevity--even when a second, slightly more difficult adventure is offered up on a pixelated platter at the tail end of the first. Also, there's no question that this Kirby escapade feels a bit "bare bones" when compared to pretty much every other game that stars this pink puffball.

That's not enough for me to give this game whatever my version of a "thumbs down" would be, though, especially considering both physical and digital copies of it can be picked up for less than $10 these days. Back when it was a new release and cost a couple of times that amount? Sure, why not. But here in 2015, the only reason I can come up with that would prompt me to recommend someone not buy this gem of a platformer is if they already own it in some form or fashion.

See also: previous 'Great Gaymathon' reviews

I've quickly gone from having zero copies of Hoshi no Kirby (aka Kirby's Dream Land) to having two

Given my propensity toward cute games, the declaration in the header above probably strikes a few of you as odd.

Sadly, I can't really explain to you why it took me so long to acquire a copy of--or even play--this particular platformer, other than I just wasn't all that keen on this Kirby character when he first arrived on the scene back in 1992, and that lack of interest prompted me to ignore him and pretty much every one of his games until Kirby's Canvas Curse piqued my interest a few years ago.

Even after I had that change of heart--which was bolstered by the release of Kirby's Epic Yarn and Kirby's Return to Dream Land--about the little squeeze toy, though, I still couldn't be bothered to pick up the GameBoy cart that introduced him to the world.

That's mainly because I'd always imagined a "mainline" Kirby game without the series' trademark--the ability to take on enemies' powers--would be a waste of time. Then, a couple of months ago, I watched a video of Dream Land's first stage. I liked pretty much all of what I saw, of course, but what pushed me from "like" to "love," strangely enough, was seeing a couple of Grizzos--one of which had a Poppy Bros. Jr. on its back--hop to and fro in the most adorable manner.

So, I ran out--well, directed my browser to eBay--and bought a copy of the Japanese version of Dream Land, which is known in that part of the world as Hoshi no Kirby, or Kirby of the Stars.

Its packaging, as you can see in the photos shared throughout this post, is simple but effective. I especially like how the illustration that sits behind Kirby (on the front cover) looks like it may have been made out of fabric. (A precursor to the aforementioned Epic Yarn, perhaps?) That said, I think I prefer the even more simplistic cart-label art to the box art.

The back of the Hoshi no Kirby's packaging is pretty darn appealing, too--or at least I think it is.

I still haven't played a ton of the game, I'm embarrassed to admit, but I've played through a small handful of stages, enjoying every second of the experience, and as a result I can assure you I'll return to finish the rest of them sooner rather than later.

Do any of you consider yourselves to be fans of Hoshi no Kirby or Kirby's Dream Land? If so, please share your thoughts about why that is in the comments section of this post.

See also: 'I guess I've come around to Bubble Bobble Junior's box art as well as its gameplay'