Kirby Game Boy Games

The phenomenal portable pink puffball

Written by A.J. Maciejewski for Retrospectives on April 21, 2020

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Kirby has a long history of fun-filled adventures and it all started on the original Game Boy so let's explore his humble pocket-sized origins.

Kirby's Dream Land

The very first Kirby game was indeed Kirby's Dream Land for Game Boy even though he didn't yet have his pink complexion and lacked the ability to copy his enemies. This delightful game is renowned for its iconic soundtrack, imaginative game world, and easy breezy platforming that's perfect for younger gamers and those just looking for a game to wind down with after a long day. The entire campaign can easily be completed in under an hour and doing so makes for one enjoyable nostalgia trip. Of course, Kirby had to start somewhere and Kirby's Dream Land definitely isn't the most robust journey that he's ever gone on but it remains a memorable one that's still fun to revisit even today. Plus, many of its enemies and bosses became engrained in the series for years to come.

Kirby's Pinball Land

A year later, Kirby's Pinball Land debuted after the classic NES game Kirby's Adventure delighted fans earlier in '93. However, this wasn't HAL Laboratory's first pinball game for Game Boy as they created Revenge of the 'Gator well before Kirby was conceived. Anyway, Kirby's Pinball Land was quite a clever game for its time as it took the premise of virtual pinball and added many enjoyable elements including 3 multi-level stages that you can play in a non-linear way, familiar enemies from the franchise, and plenty of silly gimmicks that are rewarding to figure out. Once you finish all 3 tables, you can challenge King Dedede but the real challenge is achieving a sweet high score.

Kirby's Dream Land 2

Kirby's Dream Land 2 is a huge step up from the original game. For starters, it's the first Kirby game that makes use of the Super Game Boy which gives it a more colourful presentation as well as provides a cute custom border. For the record, I played all 5 of these games on my Super Game Boy 2 for this article and let me tell you; that makes them feel like brand new experiences. Back to the game; Kirby's Dream Land 2 not only incorporates the ability to copy enemies, it also features 3 animal friends that Kirby can team up with including Rick the hamster, Coo the owl, and Kine the fish. Each one enhances an aspect of Kirby's abilities and it's a ton of fun experimenting with what they're capable of. Overall, I'd say it's the best Kirby game for Game Boy so be sure to check it out if you haven't yet already.

Kirby's Block Ball

Kirby's Block Ball is basically a Breakout game where the ball is Kirby. Although the core gameplay is simplistic, certain touches make it feel like a fresh take on the classic formula. First, you can tap a button before deflecting Kirby and if you time it correctly, he'll grow which makes reaching tricky blocks much simpler and it also allows him to break through tougher blocks easier. As you play, you'll take part in mini-games that offer rewards upon completion. I attempted the air hockey one in the gameplay video below but as you can see, it didn't go well. Another welcome wrinkle is the power-up system which makes mastering challenging stages an enjoyable treat.

Kirby's Star Stacker

Last but not least, here's Kirby's Star Stacker. Out of all 3 spin-off games, this is certainly my favourite. What we have here is a puzzle game but it's not as simple as it looks. Basically, you have to match Kirby's friends and you do so by touching 2 of the same ones in a row or column. Where the gameplay gets interesting is that if you have 2 friends on opposite ends of a row or column of star tiles, they get removed along with all the stars. The resulting gameplay will have you trying to set up and execute combos as tiles cascade down and you rack up stars which double as points. It kind of reminds me of Puyo Puyo but it's rather unique and I haven't played anything quite like it since. There's a decent variety of modes to master as well so you can easily sink hours into this adorable puzzler.