| Kirby & the Amazing Mirror | |
|---|---|
North American box art |
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| Developer(s) | Flagship Dimps HAL Laboratory |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Director(s) | Tomoaki Fukui |
| Producer(s) | Yasushi Adachi Masayoshi Tanimura Shigeru Miyamoto Kenji Miki |
| Composer(s) | Hironobu Inagaki Atsuyoshi Isemura |
| Platform(s) | Game Boy Advance, Virtual Console |
| Release date(s) | Game Boy Advance
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| Genre(s) | Platforming |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | |
Kirby & the Amazing Mirror, known as Hoshi no Kirby: Kagami no Daimeikyū (Japanese: 星のカービィ 鏡の大迷宮 Hepburn: Hoshi no Kābī Kagami no Daimeikyū, lit. "Kirby of the Stars: The Great Labyrinth of the Mirror") in Japan, is a Kirby video game released in 2004 for the Game Boy Advance. It is Kirby's last game for the system and is the only Kirby title where Kirby's nemesis King Dedede does not make an appearance. The game has been re-released in Europe for Club Nintendo members only. The game is notable for being extremely extensive for a Kirby game; the most intense of speedruns still take around 45 minutes to complete.[1]
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There is a Mirror World that exists in the skies of Dream Land. It is a world where any wish reflected in the mirror will come true. However, one day it only copies evil minds, and rapidly changes into a world of evil. Meta Knight notices this, and flies up to save the Mirror World.
Meanwhile, Kirby is taking a walk when Dark Meta Knight appears. Before Kirby can react, Dark Meta Knight slices Kirby in four and Kirby becomes four different colored "Kirbys". Kirby travels alone, but if his cell phone is working, he can call his friends and they will help him. They chase after the Dark Meta Knight and enter the Mirror World.
The two Meta Knights fight each other and the real Meta Knight is defeated. He is knocked into the mirror, which is then cut into eight fragments by Dark Meta Knight (which are then scattered across the Mirror World), so Kirby must save Meta Knight and the Mirror World. After collecting all eight mirror fragments, Kirby enters the Mirror World and battles Dark Meta Knight. After defeating him, a vortex appears and sucks Kirby in, who is given Meta Knight's sword. Kirby fights 4 bosses before battling the Dark Mind. Upon defeat, the Mirror World is saved.
Unlike other Kirby games, Kirby & the Amazing Mirror features a maze layout. The game map branches out in several directions and, providing Kirby has the proper power at his disposal, he is able to go anywhere in almost any order, excluding the final sequence. If the player gains access to all mirrors (excluding the one the player is collecting shards for), they will be able to access a new mirror full of Copy Pedestals for their use.
The player explores the worlds, solving puzzles, defeating enemies, and collecting items. Occasionally, a sub-boss will be encountered, at which point the screen will lock into place until the boss is defeated. Swallowing a sub-boss after defeat usually grants a rare or exclusive copy ability. Sub bosses are: Mr. Frosty (misspelled as "Mr. Flosty"): Ice ability. Bonkers: Hammer ability. Phan Phan: Throw ability. Batafire: Burning ability. Boxy: Magic ability. Master Hand: Smash Ability. Waddle Dee (Arena only): N/A. Bombar: Missile ability. Box Boxer: Fighter ability. At the end of worlds 2-9 is a boss which the player must defeat to place another shard in the broken mirror in the Mirror Room. Before each boss is an antechamber where there is no music, for dramatic effect. The player respawns there and there are usually items hidden around it for healing before the fight as well as copy pedestals. The player will also occasionally encounter "rest areas" of sorts, where the music reverts to the music from the Mirror Room. There is usually an item and a copy pedestal or two in these areas as well. Some rest areas are part of a system linking back to the Mirror Room, and can be connected via giant buttons that are usually in the room itself, but are occasionally somewhere else in the world.
The player can collect various items to improve in-game performance, such as extra health points and lives, food to replenish health, and batteries for the Cellphone. The game also features two other collectibles: music sheets, which act as a sound test mode once the music player item is found, and spray paint, which can be used to recolor the player's Kirby. Both can be accessed from the main menu. There are also three minigames accessible from the menu, which support single player and multiplayer:
The game also features multiplayer, and the player can call other players or CPU-controlled Kirbys to the location with an in-game cell phone. The three other Kirbys are CPUs by default, but connecting to another GBA (which must also have an "Amazing Mirror" cartridge in it) allows for co-op multiplayer for enhanced teamwork and faster completion. There are several new powers in The Amazing Mirror, such as Cupid (called Angel in the Japanese version), which allows Kirby to fly around with wings and a halo and fire arrows; Missile, which turns Kirby into a missile that can be guided in any direction and will explode on contact with a wall or an enemy or when the B button is hit; and Smash, which gives Kirby the abilities he had in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Also, in this version, Kirby's ability to inhale various things has more limits, as seen by his mouth expanding until he needs to exhale.
The game features 9 "worlds", each with an alliterated name, excluding the final boss sequence.
The game is a collaborative development effort between Flagship, Dimps and HAL Laboratory.[2] Capcom's subsidiary Flagship was responsible for the main planning.[2] Dimps was in charge of programming, design and sound, while HAL Laboratory provided artwork and debugging services.[2]
On August 1, 2011, Nintendo announced that Kirby & the Amazing Mirror will be available to limited Nintendo 3DS owners via Virtual Console, along with nine other Game Boy Advance games that were announced and was released on December 16, 2011 (GMT), to join the upcoming Nintendo 3DS price-cut and the Ambassador program starting August 11, 2011. This offer is available in all territories and only to those who became eligible in the Ambassador program (by accessing the Nintendo eShop before the date of the price-cut). Nintendo currently has no plans to release this game, or any other Game Boy Advance game, to the general public in paid form.
The Amazing Mirror was met with generally positive reviews, receiving an average of 80/100 on Metacritic.com.[3]
| Reception | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Aggregator | Score |
| GameRankings | 78%[4] |
| Metacritic | 80/100[3] |
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| 1UP.com | 8/10 |
| Famitsu | 36/40 |
| Game Informer | 78/100 |
| GameSpot | 8.2/10 |
| GameSpy | 4/5 |
| IGN | 8/10 |
| Nintendo Power | 4/5 |
| Nintendo World Report | 9/10 |
| PALGN | 7.5/10 |
| X-Play | 3/5 |
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