Previews// Kirby Squeak Squad (DS)
That's simple hiragana and katakana to you, mate
There are other things to get your stylus out for as well. It’s almost become mandatory for Nintendo’s biggest DS titles to include mini-games (see Super Mario 64 DS and New Super Mario Bros), and Kirby SS follows suit. There are only three mini-games available to begin with, each of which can be played in three difficulty levels.
In Treasure Shooting, you hurl Kirby at treasure chests containing fruit and cakes, and try to avoid firing Kirby at chests which contain bombs. Instant Teatime has Kirby dining out with some baddies and battling them with knife and fork to eat as much cake as possible. There’s a theme developing here, folks.
Smash Ride, though, is a bit different – it’s like a simplified version of Super Monkey Ball’s Monkey Fight game, where the object is to stay on the surface of a hovering UFO while pushing other players over the edge. These games can be played either against the CPU or with other DS owners in the vicinity, regardless of whether they have their own copies of the game.
The main story mode is where we’ve been spending most of our time though. Kirby travels between eight worlds throughout Squeak Squad . All the traditional themes are covered in these gameworlds and, in this Japanese version at least, there’s enough alliteration here for a whole series of splendid Squeak Squad sequels: Creamy Cloud, Island Ice, Nature Navel, Voice Volcano, Jam Jungle, the list of weird worlds goes on.
Kirby’s traditional method of attack remains intact here. He sustains damage if he jumps on the heads of enemies, so instead he inhales and digests them (and any special powers they may possess) and then uses those powers to get through levels and defeat bosses. In fact, most of the bosses here can be defeated without too much trouble, and special items aren’t even necessary a lot of the time.
Boss characters spew missiles in keeping with their own world themes – ice cubes from the boss of Island Ice, rocks from the guardian of Voice Volcano, and so on, which Kirby can inhale and then spit back to inflict considerable damage. Either way, the bosses in Squeak Squad seem to be on the weak side. Then again, it’s not hard to see why that might be.
Kirby is one Nintendo game that is - whether fanboys like it or not - aimed directly at a younger audience. This explains why the Japanese version we’ve been playing contains no complicated kanji characters; in-game text is written entirely in the simple hiragana and katakana scripts.
Although it might sound like we’ve just dismissed Squeak Squad as a ‘kiddie game’ (oops) that’s really not a criticism. We’ve had a lot of fun playing this one so far, and although it probably could have done with some cleverer Canvas Curse-esque stylus features, there must still be a place for trad Kirby adventures. Kirby SS seems like it’ll be one of the best of those.
In Treasure Shooting, you hurl Kirby at treasure chests containing fruit and cakes, and try to avoid firing Kirby at chests which contain bombs. Instant Teatime has Kirby dining out with some baddies and battling them with knife and fork to eat as much cake as possible. There’s a theme developing here, folks.
The main story mode is where we’ve been spending most of our time though. Kirby travels between eight worlds throughout Squeak Squad . All the traditional themes are covered in these gameworlds and, in this Japanese version at least, there’s enough alliteration here for a whole series of splendid Squeak Squad sequels: Creamy Cloud, Island Ice, Nature Navel, Voice Volcano, Jam Jungle, the list of weird worlds goes on.
Boss characters spew missiles in keeping with their own world themes – ice cubes from the boss of Island Ice, rocks from the guardian of Voice Volcano, and so on, which Kirby can inhale and then spit back to inflict considerable damage. Either way, the bosses in Squeak Squad seem to be on the weak side. Then again, it’s not hard to see why that might be.
Although it might sound like we’ve just dismissed Squeak Squad as a ‘kiddie game’ (oops) that’s really not a criticism. We’ve had a lot of fun playing this one so far, and although it probably could have done with some cleverer Canvas Curse-esque stylus features, there must still be a place for trad Kirby adventures. Kirby SS seems like it’ll be one of the best of those.