No one is safe as Kirby, rapacious cutie-pie and king of the Nintendo B-list, extends his boundless hunger into our own third dimension today. 3D Classics: Kirby’s Adventure is a remake of the pink all-devourer’s second outing and NES debut. The 3D Classics line’s been pretty sparse for platformers so far (as in, there haven’t been any), so an old-time gem like this is a bit of a treat.
Kirby, created in the mascot boom of the early 90s by then-19 Masahiro Sakurai, never gained the system-selling status of a Mario or a Link; but then, being as his notable characteristics are “looks like a marshmallow” and “will eat absolutely anything, seriously,” cult fandom suited the character much better anyway. After his Game Boy debut (also Sakurai’s first project as director), Kirby’s Adventure marked the character’s expansion into color and onto home consoles.
A late-period NES release, the game’s often regarded as one of the system’s last great titles, with graphical trickery that wowed NES players and will doubtless make 3DS newcomers grin politely with its quaint ideas about how to be impressive. 3DS retrogamers wanting more from the 3D Classics line ought to welcome the addition of such an ambitious port, which you can download right now for $5.99 from the 3DS eStore. How appropriate that a game all about eating should cost less than an actual meal.