Of all the sports games in the SNES Online launch library, this is easily the one I like the most, and it barely registers as a sports game. BACKGROUND:
Though I'm not too enthusiastic about real life golf (unless it's minigolf), I do enjoy playing the occasional golf game. Something about the sport just seems more fun to me in video game form than the real thing. One thing I enjoy more than playing golf games is, strangely enough, watching Let's Plays of other people sucking at golf games. There's just something about them that lends itself well to hilarious fuck-up moments and fantastic reactions from the players (especially in ensemble settings). Some of my favorite examples are Achievement Hunter's many golf Let's Plays (including, but not limited to: 3D Ultra Minigolf 1 and 2, and their Fore Honor series), and Markiplier playing Golf with Friends. The reason I bring the above point up is because my familiarity with Kirby's Dream Course comes from a Let's Play. The Game Grumps' versus series of the game is perhaps one of their most enjoyable playthroughs to watch ever, and was so popular that fans created a romhack of the game just for them (which they played on the show, too). I'm thrilled to finally get to play this game after years spent watching the Grumps go toe to toe in 2P mode. SUMMARY: On the surface, Kirby's Dream Course seems like "golf, but Kirby" and nothing more, but there's more than enough twists to the gameplay that it almost doesn't feel like a golf game at times. The core objective is pretty much the same as any golf game: get the ball (who is represented by Kirby himself in this case) into the hole. However, in Kirby's Dream Course, the hole isn't accessible at the start of the course. To unlock it, you must clear the field of enemies, which you do by hitting the Kirby-ball into them. Once you've done that, the hole will appear, and you proceed from there. It sounds tough, but the impressive amount of control you have when hitting the ball more than makes up for it, as you can adjust both the angle and the spin on top of the power to pull off some sweet trick shots. Courses have all sorts of elements to figure out, from a decent variety of enemies, a cavalcade of hazards to navigate around (e.g. spikes, vents that blow wind, water that slows you down, etc.), and a host of other bizarre mechanics (like warp tiles). They were able to mix and match these components into an impressively wide assortment of courses, coming in at a whopping 96 holes (single player has 64 holes and two-player mode has 32 holes). The fact that you have to kill everything before sinking the ball into the hole makes course layouts a tad more challenging than most other golf games, because instead of just aiming for the hole, you have to make the rounds and find the most efficient path to hit all the enemies. What's more, the order you kill the enemies determines where the hole will be on the course, which is another thing to think about. There's a lot more strategy here compared to other golf games, and I like that a lot. If you think that's a lot, there's more. Hitting certain enemies can give your Kirby-ball special abilities, much like how Kirby acquires Copy Abilities in the regular Kirby games. These abilities range from things like a high jump that launches the ball upward, the wheel ability (which boosts you forward), the stone ability (which stops you in your tracks) and more. Many holes are built around these abilities, and your mastery of them is the difference between a game over and a good score. To make things more challenging, your Kirby-ball has health points. Every time you make a shot or take damage from certain enemies/hazards, you lose HP, and is restored for every enemy you kill or when you sink the ball into the hole. In single player, your HP falling to zero will take one life, and losing all your lives results in a game over. In two-player, losing all your HP causes you to lose your next turn (which can give your opponent an advantage). It's a novel spin on the usual "stroke limit" mechanic, and it makes you think less about getting a good score and more about actually surviving the hole. Getting the least strokes still matters somewhat in single player, as there's a scoreboard for each course that awards you medals depending on how well you do. In two-player, it matters little, as the objective is to get more points than your opponent (done by killing enemies and collecting stars throughout the course). Now, all this information may seem like too much, but the game is nice enough to provide a Demo Mode, which is essentially the game's tutorial menu. Here, you can look up everything from basic controls to individual Copy Abilities, and it's presented in a helpful instructional video format. VERDICT: Kirby's Dream Course is a delightfully fun twist on golf, combining both gameplay elements and the signature charm of the series with the sport to create a surprisingly challenging yet highly entertaining game. Whether you go through the many single player courses or battle a friend in two-player, this game's got more than enough mechanics to keep you engaged all throughout. If you're not into the more realistic golf games, but still enjoy getting holes-in-one, this may be worth checking out. It's also an enjoyable spinoff game if you're a fan of the Kirby series. - end -
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July 2024
Derryck
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