Kirby and the Labyrinth of Mirrors review

A fantastic adventure outside of Dream Land.

Version tested Wii U.

Kirby and the Labyrinth of Mirrors is the latest of the cute pink ball inspired video games to come out gameboy Advance. Released in 2004, the title boasted a style of play platform expanded to the utmost by a free exploration that is very reminiscent of what can be found in those titles that are classified as "Metroidvania"(Metroid + Castlevania), plus the presence of numerous backtracking elements.

Kirby and the Labyrinth of Mirrors was the first title in the series not to be set in Dream Country and in which the archenemy of Kirby, King Dedede, with a graphic style and a soundtrack inspired by its predecessor, Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land.

The "new" adventure, however, had all the credentials to amaze and give many hours of fun.

The title is now available again thanks to Virtual Sideboard gameboy Advance di Wii U and starting from 10 April 2014 it is present on the Nintendo eShop at a cost of € 6,99.

What is happening…

A call for help comes from a world distant from Dream Country: the peaceful land has been invaded by a dark presence that is slowly conquering it; the message, picked up by Meta Knight, immediately receives an answer and the rider ventures into World of Mirrors. Kirby it is however still a Dream Country and one day he meets a Cavaliere Dark that by striking it divides it into four; the four Kirby of different color then decide to hunt him down and also reach the World of Mirrors. Meta Knight meanwhile is defeated by Cavaliere Dark himself and remains a prisoner of the Large Mirror, destroyed and divided into 9 fragments. The four Kirby so they decide to venture into the new world to hunt down Cavaliere Dark, retrieve the nine fragments of the mirror and save the World of Mirrors. The defeat of Cavaliere, however, it will not be enough to save the World of Mirrors and we will face the Force Dark who tried to conquer the entire universe.

The more we are, the more we have fun!

This chapter of Kirby boasts a peculiar gameplay function, namely the possibility of having up to 4 Kirby on screen, controlled by our playmates or by CPU. Wandering around the game world which, unlike the previous episodes of the series, will be free from all limits, in full style Metroidvania, we will be able to explore every area freely, except the final area.

There will be numerous sub-boss who will try to put a spoke in the wheel and who, once defeated, will give us a particular ability otherwise impossible to obtain. There will also be numerous collectibles ranging from color sheet music to use on ours Kirby. Among the many innovations introduced by this chapter, the new ability must certainly be mentioned Cupid di Kirby, which will allow him to shoot arrows and float in the air with no where to use air, and skill Missile, which will allow Kirby to transform itself into a very powerful and deadly missile that can be controlled freely until impact against a solid surface or against an enemy.

Past techniques, present results

Kirby and the Labyrinth of Mirrors uses the same graphic style as the previous one Kirby: Nightmare in Dream World: Although the changes are minimal and many of the textures may seem recycled, the title still retains its own personality. The color palette of gameboy Advance it's limited, but the color choices are spot on and add that hint of cheer to the whole gameplay scene.

Keeping in mind that this is a title born on gameboy Advance, the sound defends itself very well with good quality songs and discreet effects, which almost never clash and vary according to the areas and situations in which we find ourselves.

As for the other games for Virtual Sideboard gameboy Advance su Wii U, the increase in resolution used on the screen of the Gamepad for us it gives new life to the game which, through a smoothing of the edges, makes the images a little cleaner. We recommend playing these games on the Gamepad to have an improved visual rendering given the rather low native resolution.

Final comment

Kirby and the Labyrinth of Mirrors is one of the many masterpieces featured on Gameboy Advance to have achieved the Virtual Console gameboy Advance di Wii U. Very fun and colorful, the title can be appreciated by players of any age, the new approach to "Metroidvania”Used in this chapter gives new life to the series that allows us an almost total freedom in the development of the game and in the recovery of the fragments of the mirror. Once again a purchase that we recommend to those who have particularly loved this period of the video game world.