Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards

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This article is dedicated to the late of Satoru Iwata, who lived from December 6, 1959 to July 11, 2015, of which he died from complications of a bile duct tumor (despite getting surgery) on July 11, 2015, where fifteen years before Satoru Iwata's death on July 11, 2015, he worked on and was one of the supervisors on Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards.

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Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
"Kirby joins in the 3D fun!"
Protagonist(s): Kirby Waddle Dee King Dedede Ribbon Adeleine Genre(s): Action Platform Platform(s): Nintendo 64 Wii Wii U Nintendo Switch Release Date: Nintendo 64 JP: March 24, 2000 NA: June 26, 2000 EU: June 22, 2001 FR: July 6, 2001 AU: July 26, 2001 Virtual Console (Wii) NA: February 25, 2008 EU: March 7, 2008 AU: March 7, 2008 JP: April 15, 2008 SK: September 16, 2008 Virtual Console (Wii U) EU: June 25, 2015 AU: June 26, 2015 NA: July 30, 2015 JP: August 19, 2015 Nintendo 64 - Nintendo Switch Online JP: May 20, 2022 NA: May 20, 2022 EU: May 20, 2022 AU: May 20, 2022 Developer(s): HAL Laboratory Publisher(s): Nintendo Country: Japan Series: Kirby Predecessor: Kirby's Star Stacker (Kirby franchise, by release date) Kirby's Dream Land 3 (Kirby games by release date) Successor: Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land (Kirby franchise, by mainline Kirby video games) Kirby & The Amazing Mirror' (Kirby games)

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards is a side-scrolling platform game by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo on the Nintendo 64. It was released on the Nintendo 64 on June 26, 2000. It was later available on the Wii Virtual Console and it was released on February 25, 2008, and Wii U Virtual Console and it was released on July 30, 2015, and is also in Kirby's Dream Collection which was released on September 16, 2012 on the Wii, and Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards was also released on Nintendo 64 - Nintendo Switch Online on May 20, 2022.

Why It Deserves To Get The Crystal Shards

1. As a sequel to Kirby's Dream Land 3, this game features a unique "combo ability" system, which allows Kirby to have two abilities at once. You have a total of 49 combinations of abilities, all of which are cool to try out, and some are even important in order to complete the game.
2. Unlike the previous Kirby games, this game features 3D graphics, and though the player is still restricted to a 2D area, they can now interact with objects in the background. The camera angle is just right and you can see things clearly.
3. Awesome soundtrack. Of them, the 0² battle theme is very nice to listen to.
4. Beautiful 3D graphics, especially for 2000 standards, even though they didn't age well.
5. Fun boss battles. Some of them are in a ring-like arena. This later inspires some bosses from Kirby: Planet Robobot.
6. In some areas, you play as King Dedede, who can use his hammer to smash down obstacles. Alongside, some levels have you ride a minecart or bobsled with Waddle Dee.
7. Amusing and cute cutscenes between stages. For example, during the Rock Star cutscene, Kirby is so hungry that the team has no choice but to stop for a picnic.
8. The characters are pretty likable, especially the new additions Ribbon and Adeleine.

Bad Qualities

1. The controls of this game are not as smooth as the other Kirby 2D games: Kirby is slower than usual, and he can't fly infinitely. He will fall down after a period of time if you try to stay in the air. Partly because of this, the level designs are flat.
2. Unlike other Kirby games, the mid-bosses are just larger versions of enemies and they are almost passive (with some staying completely stationary).
3. Much like Kirby's Dream Land 3, you have to collect every Crystal Shard in this game in order to unlock the final boss and good ending. The game doesn't give hints for you, and some of them need you to enter another stage and quit just to find the right ability. You need a lot of backtracking to collect all of them.
4. While the graphics are beautiful by Nintendo 64 standards, they haven't really aged well.
5. Some of the combo abilities are ultimately useless, such as the Burning + Ice (Melting Ice Block) or Bomb + Cutter (Explosive Ninja Stars) one.

Reception

This game has a score of 77/100 on Metacritic.

Trivia

• The game was planned for the Nintendo 64 Disk Drive, but got cancelled due to the add-on's failure.

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