Some areas split the group up in order to unlock areas, while others require all four of you to work together. This tends to make the platforming sections chaotic, as everybody works to solve puzzles and get items before the others. Now that privilege extends to your friends or computer counterparts. The fun of playing Kirby has always been how you can select what powers you like at any given moment. So you can theoretically be in a group with a Blade Knight, a Burning Leo, and a Waddle Dee. However, throwing hearts strategically leads to a well-rounded team with fighters, elementals, and parasol carriers.

You can still play as Kirby and absorb enemies while waddling down hills and collecting coins and other prizes. Since the enemies are varied in the Kirby games to allow them to utilize multiple abilities, your team will never look the same each time.

NintendoĪnd this is where the game shakes things up. If you’re playing alone, the computer takes over, but if you have friends over they can drop in by picking up a controller. There is still one core player who gets to play the lovable pink squish, but that player has an extra ability: the power of friendship! If you come across an enemy at any moment in a level (besides a boss) you can throw a heart at it to turn it to your side. It supports up to four players - or one player and three AIs - and each one can take on a distinct role. Kirby Star Allies, however, is a true multiplayer experience. Installments like Kirby & the Amazing Mirror did support up to four players, but because each player was just playing a Kirby clone, the novelty of multiplayer got old and redundant. Kirby Super Star introduced the Helper System, which allows a second person to take on the role of an actual helper, but not Kirby. You can play as main character Kirby, with his absorption abilities and his terminally delightful demeanor, or one of his sidekicks. There have been numerous multiplayer Kirby games - usually allowing two (and rarely four) players to traverse a level - but the effort and gameplay has never been fairly distributed. I recently got the chance to play two early Star Allies levels, and that experienced focused on heavily on the multiplayer component. So it makes sense that Kirby Star Allies, the latest addition in the Kirby franchise, would prominently feature multiplayer. By highlighting its multiplayer games out of the gate, the Switch could be something the other consoles couldn’t. When the first commercials appeared for the Nintendo Switch, the company made sure to stress its portability, but also that it can be used as the life of a party.

Kirby star allies review multiplayer