I don’t know what it is, but lately I’ve been having trouble finding the inspiration to write.
It could just be because I’ve been working on my superhero story for the past several days, but I find I just don’t have a whole lot I feel like blogging about.
I suppose it doesn’t help that the internet and airwaves are clogged to shit about Sony’s new handheld, the NGP.
Truth be told, I haven’t owned or even played a handheld console since the Gameboy Advance, making me less than excited for the NGP despite the amazing technical achievement it represents.
MASSIVE HYPE in the palm of your hand!
Oh well, despite my lack of reportings/findings in regard to worldwide news and the like, I feel I should take a moment to make a personal announcement of sorts.
I’ve never really been much of a fan of the Castlevania series, however I must admit; it’s games have yielded a stunning number of quality musical tracks over the years.
Anyway, give it a listen, but be warned; it’s a painfully catchy tune:
I am fully aware that there are a shit ton of spin-offs and Japanese exclusive games, but like I said, I haven’t got the time, nor the testicular fortitude to write about all of that.
The one game I will talk about in detail however, is Kirby Superstar, as that is the game that plays host to the Best Boss Music track for today.
Kirby Superstar is a standard Super NES Kirby platformer, with the same jumping, floating, eating, and pooping style gameplay of it’s predecessor, Kirby’s Adventure on the NES.
Incontinence: No Laughing Matter.
Taking full advantage of the Super NES’s enhanced capabilities, Superstar was packed to the brim with extra features to go with it’s improved graphics and sound.
With no real “main story mode,” Kirby Superstar nevertheless featured a whopping, 9 different modes of play.
Spring Breeze was the first mode unlocked, which was basically a Super NES remake of the original Kirby’s Dreamland.
This was followed by a mode called Dyna Blade, wherein Kirby embarks on a mission to calm a rampaging bird creature of the same name.
Next came Gourmet Race, which was a multi-heat platforming mode wherein Kirby and King Dedede must compete with one another to collect food while racing to the finish line.
The Great Cave Offensive was an especially unique and robust mode involving a romp through a massive cave while hunting or 60 treasure chests scattered throughout.
Revenge of Meta Knight was an especially difficult mode starring Meta Knight as the main villain, and featuring a dialogue-heavy plot line.
This was probably my favorite of the “story modes.”
Milky Way Wishes is the last of the story modes, involving Kirby’s battle against a comet named Nova using a Mega Man style weapon inventory.
The Arena was the Kirby equivalent to “boss rush” or “survival mode,” wherein the player’s task was simply to defeat the game’s boss character one after another with just one life.
The last two modes in the game were a pair of timing based mini-games called Samurai Kirby and Megaton Punch.
The objectives were to slash one’s opponent first,
or punch a stone slab the hardest respectively.
These modes took only a matter of seconds to complete, however this by no means meant they were easy.
On the contrary, they were quite difficult, but more importantly, they were crazy fun.
Smacking King Dedede upside the head with a party whistle, and literally punching the planet in half are gaming accomplishments that are hard to forget.
I was gonna' Photoshop something, but then I found THIS.
Aside from these last two mini-games, every other mode in the game had a co-op feature using Kirby’s powers of “pooping” out partner characters as a means of creating a second player character.
With all those modes, Kirby Superstar was a vibrant and incredibly varied platformer for it’s day.
Also, along with Kirby Superstar’s brilliant iteration of King Dedede’s theme, (easily my favorite version of it) the game had an overall kick-ass soundtrack.
Standouts include the remixed version of the Green Greens theme:
The Intro Stage of the Revenge of Meta Knight mode:
Not only that, but it’s also worth noting that the standard Boss theme would also be a decent competitor for Best Boss Music had it not been from the same game as King Dedede’s theme.
Giant Penguin, Second-In-Command only to the Mighty Space Bobcat...
I don’t know what it is, but lately I’ve been having trouble finding the inspiration to write.
