Mind Over Dark Matter - Episode 2: A Game of Cat and Grouse
Originally recorded: April 7, 2024
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Well, despite starting 15 minutes late, everything else went according to plan on this one. I can't really say I'm surprised though: Kirby games really only get super-long if you account for the various bonus modes that later games decided to include. Back in the days of the Super NES, that was just a gimmick that made Kirby Super Star special, as opposed to the norm like it is now.
On the plus side, the mini-games were a lot less annoying this time around -- though I am kind of shocked that I managed to clear both of them on my first try. The only real hurdle I faced came at the penultimate stage of the fifth (and final) world, mainly because there was a trick to it. You effectively have to beat the level with a specific animal buddy... who is literally the only one you can't find within the stage itself. Instead, you've got to grab Nago the Cat somewhere else and take him through the entire stage without dying. Granted, the similar objective in the fourth world practically gave me heart palpitations. Kirby games were not built with standard platforming in mind.
I also definitely humilated myself on some of those boss fights, especially the fight with Ado where I literally died in a double K.O. on the final hit. Granted, I haven't had much luck with all of the boss fights in this game on my first try... but I pretty much always got them done on the second. At least I managed to avoid a game over, even though loading my save reset the extra lives I collected. That final fight with Dark Matter was pretty dope, though -- definitely wasn't expecting a third form.
I'm definitely more excited to start Kirby 64 next time. It won't be quite as much of a blind run as Dream Land 3 was, considering the fact that I made it to World 4 in that one previously. But it's nice to finally have the opportunity to finish the Dark Matter trilogy. It just felt wrong to consider myself a proper fan of the franchise without playing those games in full, you know?