Some of you probably know how much I love this series, after first seeing the GBC build at Spaceworld 2000 to its eventual release on the GBA and I've been playing the third one rather non-stop for the past two and a half days. So onto some impressions.
I'm not going to do a big overview of the game, as there've already been two. Think Kirby in water without the capability of stealing powers, and it's something like that. Controls are super smooth and responsive and I think really go a long way to making these games a real joy to play. Anyway, the third title follows up the changes made to the second. Gone are the large stages with multiple paths from Stafy 1. It's just like Stafy 2, with a lot more levels without the branching. Each stage has one goal, and it makes it an ideal game to just play through a couple stages and put it back down.
Alright, changes to the series. The big change is the addition of Stafy's little sister, although I also think it's the big weak link of the game. From what I can gather she's more of a plot device than a major influence on the gameplay. Every once in a while in the plot Stafy and the sister split off, and each takes a different route and ends up at the same place. Basically, you play as one, reach the end, then the game puts you in control of the other. The thing is, gameplay between the two is largely similar. The main differences are the sister being able to crawl and walljump while Stafy can double jump and can shoot through the water fast. But truth be told, they could have easily just given Stafy the new abilities and rearranged the level design a little. Hell, after you beat the game you gain the ability to switch between the characters on the fly, so this essentially takes place but with the minor inconvenience of switching. There are only two moments in the game where you use both characters in different areas of the level and do things that influence the area by the other character and can voluntarily switch characters by ringing a bell thingy. For instance, one of those moments has each character on the opposite side of a wall, with blocks in it that stick out and can be pushed to one side of the wall or the other, thus possibly creating a vertical stair of sorts. This showed some promise, but the potential of using both characters 'at once' to solve puzzles was never really utilized at all.
Other than that, there's not much changed. A few new minor gameplay tweaks, some new kinds of obstacles and puzzles, but nothing major. The game's relatively easy for anyone experienced in Nintendo's platformers but harder stages open up after beating the end boss for the first time. These can be a good deal harder, but they're never frustrating and always have a sort of carefree atmosphere from the vibrant graphics and great controls.
The vehicles/costumes are back, and largely the same as before. The pogo stick is cool and occasionally offers some challenge, while the horse riding one has been markedly made more difficult than the similar versions in the last two games. There are more obstacles and you have to occasionally jump on areas only one block in width and that was a nice, if simple, change to add some more challenge. The other two vehicles are a sub that you just move around obstacles fairly plainly, and a sheep costume that has that scare ability that turns spiked platforms into blocks that can be stepped on for a short time. Pretty much the exact same as they appeared in the last games.
Graphics are noticably improved, with more frames of animation for a lot of enemies and bigger/larger enemies at that. I really love the animation for this one wolf/lion hybrid that you can either trap in cages or knock food down to distract it. The animal jumps at the food and just grabs it with the two front paws and chomps away at it like ribs. Looks really nice. Almost every area in the game now has 2 or 3 layers of parallax scrolling which is really beautiful but occasionally a little much. Bosses are generally huge and feature all kinds of rotational effects. There's one that's pretty cool, where you have to rotate the arena in order to try and make the boss hit moving obstacles.
The minigames that are earned either through game progress or buying stuff with collected coins (those black balls, whatever they are) are back too. I really have no idea how they're earned. Anyway, there are five of them and they're made in the same style as the Kirby multiplayer games found on the recent GBA releases. They can be done single player too though, and two are rather fun and original. The first, as pictured, is sort of a very simplified Super Smash Bros on trampolines. You basically just knock your Stafy around into others trying to push them off the bottom of the screen. The person with the least deaths wins. It's simple but fun. The second, as pictured, has the fish jumping out to hit a ball, and you can choose which other fish to hit it to, and basically you just keep hitting it around until someone misses. The person with the least misses wins. They're all simple, but a nice distraction once in a while.
Ok, now for the really cool surprise I found upon reaching the 8th world. I'll hide the secret just in case some of you plan to ever play this, but suffice to say a certain Nintendo character plays a big role.
I think my inability to read Japanese actually creates some puzzles/obstacles that others wouldn't have. There's a ton of text in this game, and I can only assume that a lot of it is explanations of what to do next, and I just don't get that. So I'm often guessing and checking to get through things or just experimenting and discovering solutions to problems. It makes it more fun for me I think. The feeling of discovery is cool, but I wonder if the text holds the player's hand and gives things away too much. Guess I'll never know, but it's something that dawned on me with this third installment.
Anyway, I've beaten the game once, and I'm going back through the new levels, which are thankfully harder. There's still a good deal left to go, but those are my thoughts for now. Hopefully they're of interest to someone. And pardon the lack of articulation in my writing, it's summer break for me
Any questions, just ask. I'm sure I missed talking about some things.
I'm not going to do a big overview of the game, as there've already been two. Think Kirby in water without the capability of stealing powers, and it's something like that. Controls are super smooth and responsive and I think really go a long way to making these games a real joy to play. Anyway, the third title follows up the changes made to the second. Gone are the large stages with multiple paths from Stafy 1. It's just like Stafy 2, with a lot more levels without the branching. Each stage has one goal, and it makes it an ideal game to just play through a couple stages and put it back down.
Alright, changes to the series. The big change is the addition of Stafy's little sister, although I also think it's the big weak link of the game. From what I can gather she's more of a plot device than a major influence on the gameplay. Every once in a while in the plot Stafy and the sister split off, and each takes a different route and ends up at the same place. Basically, you play as one, reach the end, then the game puts you in control of the other. The thing is, gameplay between the two is largely similar. The main differences are the sister being able to crawl and walljump while Stafy can double jump and can shoot through the water fast. But truth be told, they could have easily just given Stafy the new abilities and rearranged the level design a little. Hell, after you beat the game you gain the ability to switch between the characters on the fly, so this essentially takes place but with the minor inconvenience of switching. There are only two moments in the game where you use both characters in different areas of the level and do things that influence the area by the other character and can voluntarily switch characters by ringing a bell thingy. For instance, one of those moments has each character on the opposite side of a wall, with blocks in it that stick out and can be pushed to one side of the wall or the other, thus possibly creating a vertical stair of sorts. This showed some promise, but the potential of using both characters 'at once' to solve puzzles was never really utilized at all.
Other than that, there's not much changed. A few new minor gameplay tweaks, some new kinds of obstacles and puzzles, but nothing major. The game's relatively easy for anyone experienced in Nintendo's platformers but harder stages open up after beating the end boss for the first time. These can be a good deal harder, but they're never frustrating and always have a sort of carefree atmosphere from the vibrant graphics and great controls.
The vehicles/costumes are back, and largely the same as before. The pogo stick is cool and occasionally offers some challenge, while the horse riding one has been markedly made more difficult than the similar versions in the last two games. There are more obstacles and you have to occasionally jump on areas only one block in width and that was a nice, if simple, change to add some more challenge. The other two vehicles are a sub that you just move around obstacles fairly plainly, and a sheep costume that has that scare ability that turns spiked platforms into blocks that can be stepped on for a short time. Pretty much the exact same as they appeared in the last games.
Graphics are noticably improved, with more frames of animation for a lot of enemies and bigger/larger enemies at that. I really love the animation for this one wolf/lion hybrid that you can either trap in cages or knock food down to distract it. The animal jumps at the food and just grabs it with the two front paws and chomps away at it like ribs. Looks really nice. Almost every area in the game now has 2 or 3 layers of parallax scrolling which is really beautiful but occasionally a little much. Bosses are generally huge and feature all kinds of rotational effects. There's one that's pretty cool, where you have to rotate the arena in order to try and make the boss hit moving obstacles.
The minigames that are earned either through game progress or buying stuff with collected coins (those black balls, whatever they are) are back too. I really have no idea how they're earned. Anyway, there are five of them and they're made in the same style as the Kirby multiplayer games found on the recent GBA releases. They can be done single player too though, and two are rather fun and original. The first, as pictured, is sort of a very simplified Super Smash Bros on trampolines. You basically just knock your Stafy around into others trying to push them off the bottom of the screen. The person with the least deaths wins. It's simple but fun. The second, as pictured, has the fish jumping out to hit a ball, and you can choose which other fish to hit it to, and basically you just keep hitting it around until someone misses. The person with the least misses wins. They're all simple, but a nice distraction once in a while.
Ok, now for the really cool surprise I found upon reaching the 8th world. I'll hide the secret just in case some of you plan to ever play this, but suffice to say a certain Nintendo character plays a big role.
The 8th world revolves around Stafy and friends stumbling into Wario as he explores a ruined temple/castle for treasure. It's all based on Wario Land 4. Each of the initial four stages has Wario finding one of the gems (as in, those gems of which there were four in each WL4 level) and then at the end of the fourth stage you hit the frog pedastol thing, and there's a short forced scrolling bit to reach the end. It would have been neat to go through the stage backwards, but oh well. Anyway, Stafy has to help Wario through the stages. In some bits you have to set Wario on fire and he runs back and forth between obstacles, and you have to underneath and bump the ground he's on in order to catapult him over the obstacle and into the next bit, rinse and repeat until he reaches the fire block that he extinguishes and opens the door to the next room. Other bits have Wario bumping into bubbles, and you have to guide his bubbled form either with or against currents in various ways. Or he gets stung and you jump on top of him and guide him through spike-infested airspace. It's all a really cool homage to Wario Land 4, and a very unexpected surprise.
I think my inability to read Japanese actually creates some puzzles/obstacles that others wouldn't have. There's a ton of text in this game, and I can only assume that a lot of it is explanations of what to do next, and I just don't get that. So I'm often guessing and checking to get through things or just experimenting and discovering solutions to problems. It makes it more fun for me I think. The feeling of discovery is cool, but I wonder if the text holds the player's hand and gives things away too much. Guess I'll never know, but it's something that dawned on me with this third installment.
Anyway, I've beaten the game once, and I'm going back through the new levels, which are thankfully harder. There's still a good deal left to go, but those are my thoughts for now. Hopefully they're of interest to someone. And pardon the lack of articulation in my writing, it's summer break for me
Any questions, just ask. I'm sure I missed talking about some things.