At a video-streaming event on Thursday, Japanese gaming giant Nintendo announced plans to release an anthology of titles in the Kirby series for the Wii console to celebrate the pink puffball’s 20th anniversary. The collection will include Kirby’s Dream Land, Kirby’s Dream Land 2 (both originally for the Game Boy, Nintendo’s first handheld system), Kirby Super Star, Kirby’s Dream Land 3 (both originally for the Super Nintendo, the company’s second home console), Kirby’s Adventure (originally for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo’s first system), and Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (originally for the Nintendo 64, the Super Nintendo’s successor).
While these are all excellent games, a lot of gems from the franchise’s past are missing from the list. Some of them may not be as conventional as those traditional 2D platformers, but no true celebration of Kirby would be complete without these titles.
In the 16-bit era, game devs and composers could finally change the type of tones used in the music, simulating a wider array of instruments and creating a whole lot of great soundtracks in the process.
It wasn’t easy picking out the best of the best because there were so many great ones. Even middle-of-the-road soundtracks seemed to deserve a bump if the game was just that damn good, and so many from that era are that damn good!
Here's the Ghetto Gamer list of top 20 soundtracks from the 16-bit era.
WTMG's Oliver Shellding: "We can respect and acknowledge those that came before us: it’s just good manners and showcases that we know our history. I will always be appreciative of Kirby’s Dream Land, and I think that Kirby enthusiasts (as well as Gameboy fans) should go back and give it a try. Yes, it looks and plays better in almost every subsequent incarnation, but there’s heart here. There’s a lot of care and soul and amazing groundwork that led to even better things. And, most importantly, there’s Kirby."
This was one of the first, if not the first, Gameboy games I played all the way through.
What you did not know about the star of the show.
