Dedede's Drum Dash Deluxe

Dedede's Drum Dash Deluxe
Kirby meets HarmoKnight in this rhythm game starring King Dedede!
Protagonist(s): King Dedede Genre(s): Rhythm Action Platform(s): Nintendo 3DS Release Date: JP: July 23, 2014 NA: August 29, 2014 KOR: September 24, 2014 EU/AU: February 13, 2015 Discontinuation: March 27, 2023 Developer(s): HAL Laboratory Publisher(s): Nintendo Country: Japan Series: Kirby

Dedede's Drum Dash Deluxe is a rhythm action game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. It is based on the Kirby: Triple Deluxe subgame Dedede's Drum Dash, and is the first Kirby game to feature King Dedede as the main protagonist.

Good Qualities

1. The idea of a Kirby rhythm game is a novel one, and this game pulls it off decently, just like its subgame counterpart did.
2. The game takes everything that made the original Dedede's Drum Dash fun and adds more to it, including blindfold curtains that obscure the view ahead of you, spiked pencils that function similarly to the Mario franchise's spiked bars, countdown coins that add points if you can collect them all, etc.a
3. Compared to the original, this game slightly longer due to having seven songs to bounce along to, as well as Secret versions of the stages that are unlocked after beating the game once.
4. As per usual for a Kirby game, the music is fantastic despite reusing tracks from previous games for each level.
5. The controls are just as tight as one can expect from a Kirby game, with King Dedede's jump height being determined by how many times you press A on a drum and moving backwards and forwards in the air is smooth.
6. Your score is determined by four different factors: clearing the level in a set amount of time, not taking any damage, collecting all of the coins, and making a perfect backbeat. These will be added up to give you a Trophy that increases if you complete a level with a Platinum rank.
7. King Dedede can wear Masks in the levels when he unlocks them: by clearing all of the normal levels, he gets the Masked Dedede Mask, while after clearing the Secret levels, he unlocks a Taranza mask. He can also obtain Kirby, Meta Knight, and Waddle Dee masks if you have StreetPass data from Triple Deluxe.

Bad Qualities

1. As per usual for eShop games, the game is still short even with the Secret versions of each stage and can be beaten in under two hours if the player is good at the game.
2. Just like HarmoKnight, there are no checkpoints in the levels, so you must retry them from the beginning if you wish to do so.
3. Sadly, due to the 3DS eShop's closure, you can no longer legally buy this game at all.

Reception

Dedede's Drum Dash Deluxe received largely mixed-to-positive reviews from critics and users (scoring 65/100 and 7.0/10, respectively, on Metacritic), with its music, level design, and creativity being praised, while it received criticism for its short length.

Trivia

• This is the only game in the Kirby franchise where Kirby himself isn't playable at all, though he does appear on the "Halfway There!" sign and as a Mask.

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