Collection essentials #409: Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (N64)

It became somewhat of a pattern for mainline Kirby games late in a Nintendo console’s lifespan. Kirby’s Adventure on NES came out in 1993 well after the launch of the Super Nintendo, while that console got Kirby Super Star in 1996 around the same time as the Nintendo 64’s launch and it also got Kirby’s Dream Land 3 a year later in 1997. Kirby 64 is not quite as late by comparison, launching in 2000 over a year before Nintendo’s next console yet, but it was still in the later part of the system’s prime.

Unlike other series that made the leap to 3D on the Nintendo 64 such as Mario, Kirby 64 doesn’t use 3D to fundamentally change the gameplay from previous entries. This means that gameplay is still locked to a 2D plan, with Kirby only able to move left and right. This sort of game is often called a “2.5D” platformer. So the basic gameplay is the same, with Kirby able to suck in enemies and spit them out or swallow them to potentially earn a special power-up depending on the type of enemy. Kirby can also fly, although this game gave Kirby’s flying ability a time limit so he cannot simply fly above everything.

This is one major innovation introduced in Kirby 64 which is still unique to this game specifically, and that is the ability to combine powers. In other Kirby games, to give an example, Kirby can swallow a fiery enemy to gain the “fire” power-up, and he has to give it up if he wants to try something different. But in Kirby 64, Kirby can shoot a swallowed enemy or power towards a different eligible enemy, and if contact is made then a special star thingy is made which gives Kirby the combination of those two powers! This can also be achieved if Kirby manages to swallow two enemies at once, but that is often tricky to pull off. The same power can be combined with itself for a more powerful iteration (in other words, if Kirby swallows two “fire” enemies at once), or it can be mixed with any of the other different powers in the game. Each potential combination grants a unique weapon, so a combination does NOT result in the two powers added together, but rather something new entirely. For example, the “ice” power gives Kirby ice breath, the “cutter” power gives Kirby the ability to throw a boomerang-like weapon, but combining ice and cutter gives him ice skates which lets him move quickly and do a spinning jump that he can damage enemies with!

Simply beating the game by getting to the end of each level isn’t too challenging, but to fight the true final boss and get the real ending, you will need to collect every hidden crystal shard in the game. Every normal level has three of them. Some are easy to find, but others can be well-hidden and require specific powers to get. 

Since this is a Nintendo 64 game and local multiplayer modes were all the rage, there’s also a mini-game mode with up to four players. It’s not one of the best multiplayer experiences on the console by any means, but it’s a decent little bonus.

This is a childhood game for me, but I technically didn’t own it. My sister Abby got it for Christmas, and I can’t remember if that was 2000 or 2001. But even though the game was hers, I certainly got many opportunities to play it back then. My siblings and I sometimes played the mini game mode together as well. After some time, though, the game got misplaced and I have no idea how or why, but that old copy is long gone. The copy shown in the photo is one I acquired during adulthood. I never collected all the crystal shards as a kid, but I went back and did so as an adult some years back. 

I wouldn’t call Kirby 64 the best Kirby game or the best Nintendo 64 game, but it definitely stands out due to its still-unique feature of combining power-ups and it’s absolutely a lot of fun and still worth playing. It’s both nostalgia for me and a legitimately very good game, so it’s a clear choice for the essentials list.