King Dedede is letting Kirby copies run amok in Kirby Battle Royale. Team up with Bandana Waddle Dee and take down the copies in various mini games to thwart his dastardly plans. With 10 different mini games and plenty of unlockables, the brawler’s a fun, albeit mediocre, pick up and play title for all ages.
Our lovable pink puffball is back to kick up a storm in his latest action brawler for the 3DS. Developed by HAL Laboratory, Kirby Battle Royale is the third handheld spin-off title to release this year as part of his 25th Anniversary, following hot on the heels of Team Kirby Clash Deluxe and Kirby’s Blowout Blast. While fans won’t get their hands on Kirby Star Allies for the Nintendo Switch console until next year, Kirby Battle Royale features three fun modes and 13 copy abilities in the base game to keep all ages satisfied, albeit only for a short time.
Starting with a pleasant tutorial to ease players in, Kirby Battle Royale kicks off its story mode campaign with five different leagues in King Dedede’s Cake League. By teaming up with Bandana Waddle Dee or going it alone, you’ll play through a variety of neat mini games and rack up league points and battle points to advance through to the qualifier stages for the next league. Mini games such as Apple Scramble and Ore Express are superb for co-operative play, where each team member must work together to pick up apples or ore and throw them on the plateau or into the cart. Dirty work is also at play here too, with players able to fight each other and sneakily steal items to score big. Both of these mini games shine in local and download play with friends.
Flagball on the other hand is a hot mess of volleyball-like frenzy. Either capture the ball and slam dunk it into the flag, or carry the flag and make your enemies do the work for you. With such a small area and multiple background distractions, it can be hard to keep track of where your character is on the screen, making it difficult to score. While Slam Hockey and Crazy Theatre also sport interesting co-operative play, they suffer from a lack of overall enthusiasm and become exceedingly repetitive over time. It’s clear that these three mini games are most likely to place at the back of the pack.
Some of the best mini games, though, are the most simple. Battle Arena – which pits players against each other in a top-down perspective Smash Bros style Coliseum – is the easiest place to show your copy ability moves. Work as a team or alone and KO each player in the arena with your Ninja-like skills, your glistening sword, your wonder whip or any of the other copy abilities available to take the victory crown. When you’re ready to take on a boss fight though, you’ll want to go up against Robo Bonkers; the lean, mean robotic machine. Avoid his electrifying moves and place rockets into cannons to bring him down so you can unleash your killer copy moves.
While there’s only 10 mini games on offer within Kirby Battle Royale, there are between one and four alternate versions, which increase the difficulty by placing more traps or giving bosses bolder movesets. Given the game’s RRP, there’s not enough content in the base game, however with more copy abilities arriving from Nintendo – such as the fan favourite Mirror ability – there’s still hope for additional mini games yet.
Kirby Battle Royale’s single player campaign takes no longer than five hours to complete. Playing through the story mode will unlock mini games and characters, which can be bought with battle points for use in Battle Mode and Online Ranked Matches. Making it through to the final Platinum League means you’ll be able to purchase Boost Orbs. These special items increase the amount of damage you can do, increase your overall speed or give you additional life and defence. While they can only be used in Battle Mode between single and local multiplayer, they shake the game’s pacing up with amusing moves such as fiery breath and berserk action. And trust me, there’s nothing better than seeing the cute puffball taking a fiery stance against other players. Different headgear and music can be purchased with battle points too, so there’s plenty of unlockables at your fingertips.
Of course, Kirby Battle Royale’s longevity is placed within its Battle Mode and Online Ranked Matches. Choose from local or download play and select from random battles or choose a custom list so you can play your favourites. However, there’s a painful issue with download play. Since the host player must choose from two mini game packs, you’ll have to exit out of the menu to play the other mini games, forcing your friends to re-download the game.
Kirby Battle Royale falls short in Online Ranked Matches too. While it largely depends on your fellow players’ internet connections, certain mini games can suffer from some real spotty action. Between the huge framerate drops and the forced errors combined with horrible lags from connection issues, Robo Bonkers, Attack Riders and Ore Express can easily become unplayable and frustrating. Yet if we put those issues to one side, online matches are great fun to play and culminate in extra battle points when your rank levels up.
Despite Kirby Battle Royale featuring no stereoscopic 3D, the top-down and side-view visuals are a treat to view. As a multiplayer action brawler, the game certainly has its issues. Though the heart of its multiplayer action is largely repetitive, it’s still an enjoyable co-operative experience with upbeat music and interesting quirks. Just don’t tell King Dedede you ate all his cake.
6/10
This is why we need Smash Bros. 5.
omg it’s coming hold your horses. You all could literally can still be playing the Wii U one and it’ll probably be mostly the same. I don’t know what else they can add to that shit other than levels and characters but the core gameplay will be there and is an experience that is out already and can hold people over until it is. WE all know it’s coming.
No I won’t. Wii U is dead and wasted. I still have the 3DS but I’m hooked into the Switch after I got 7 games for it (Mario Kart, Mario Odyssey, Sonic Mania/Forces, Zelda, Shantae 4 and Doom)
Same, aside from Forces.
lol I’m actually spending my time unlocking shit to see if there’s anything else that’s interesting. I just wish it had more bodily options like height/weight/markings/expressions
Look at all these saltman robots.
It’s coming, salty fam. Learn some patience. You have your precious Switch. Enjoy that.
I just got into Smash with Super Smash Flash for computer. It’s free and has more characters such as Sonic and some anime characters. Not to forget it’s FREE
I rather pay for Smash Bros. since it’s definitely worth the money. Besides, Project M shits on your flash shit you keep mentioning. I never heard of that knockoff and it’s probably not worth wasting time over either. AM2R is more than worth my time to play for free than that shit.
Super Smash Bros. Switch
Super Smash Bros. *insert more creative subtitle here* is more like it. “For whatever system” as a subtitle name is just lazy.
Ya, but I’m talking about a strat port or a DX like Poken. If we can Smash, I’m happy and from the looks of no leaks about it they are gonna do a port
Framedrops are the worst!
This game sounded just like a collection of all those mini-games we’ve encountered with those other 3DS-titles. I might skip this one since there’s plenty with other things to play at the moment.
Thank you for this honest and excellent review! I can tell you put a lot of effort in it :) Keep up the fantastic work, C!
Thank you, K. :3
Review is out but I can’t buy the game yet. I’m in the US. So strange that we get it so late.
Maybe they’ll patch in the stereoscopic 3D.
oh it’s just… mostly kirby’s fighting other kirby’s? doesn’t sound all that interesting after all to me
You can also do that in Smash Bros. and still have a rich roster of characters and stages to choose from.
Really don’t understand why they’d release a mini game into it’s own physical copy. I swear to you I played this before with a bunxh of Kirby’s to choose from. It was fun for a minute because it kinda, in the slighest way, sort of, just a tini tiny bit, reminded me of…..smash.
…..just barely, that is. Lnao. This game is a 5 or 6 all day y’all.
That’s the problem of this game. It reminds you and makes you wish you play Smash instead.
Look at all these saltman robots
So about that eternal sleep…
Welp, hopefully Kirby Star Allies will be better.
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The 3DS going real strong with this epic support from Nintendo, amiright? ;)