''Kirby's Star Stacker'' is a 1997
puzzle video game
Puzzle video games make up a broad genre of video games that emphasize puzzle solving. The types of puzzles can test problem-solving skills, including logic, pattern recognition, sequence solving, spatial recognition, and word completion.
H ...
developed by
HAL Laboratory
formerly shortened as HALKEN (derived from its native name), is a Japanese video game developer founded on 21 February 1980. While independent, it has been closely tied with Nintendo throughout its history, and is often referred to as a seco ...
and published by
Nintendo for the
Game Boy
The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same t ...
.
It received a
remake for the
Super Famicom
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South ...
in Japan.
Gameplay
''Kirby's Star Stacker'' is similar in many respects to other falling block puzzle games that were around at the time of its release, most notably ''Soldam''. The goal of the game is to earn as many stars possible by matching pairs of blocks (also referred to as friends in-game) that fall from the top of the play area. There are three types of blocks, all based on Kirby's friends from ''
Kirby's Dream Land 2
''Kirby's Dream Land 2'' is a side-scrolling platforming video game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy handheld video game console. It was released in Japan on March 21, 1995, in North America on May 1, 1995, ...
'': Rick the hamster, Coo the owl, and Kine the fish. Stars are scored by sandwiching the stars between two matching blocks. When stars are scored, they disappear from the play area along with the pair of blocks enclosing them. The game is lost when the falling blocks reach the top of the play area (middle rows only), so it is critical to eliminate as many blocks as possible by scoring stars.
Gameplay modes
There are four game modes in ''Star Stacker''.
*Round Clear - this is the main game, split into five difficulty modes (Normal, Hard, Very Hard, Super Hard, and Insane), each with a certain number of rounds. Rounds are cleared by eliminating a set number of stars. Each stage takes on a theme, such as a forest or outer space. When each round is cleared, the player is rewarded with special artwork using the themes of each stage.
*VS - the multiplayer mode, which requires two cartridges of the game, one for each player.
*Challenge - an endless mode. The object is to eliminate as many stars as possible before the stack of blocks reaches the top of the screen; a hand raises up the set of blocks, introducing a new row. Like Round Clear, in-game artwork is awarded depending on the number of stars collected, often encouraging the player to try harder next time (until the final picture is received).
*Time Attack - eliminate as many stars as possible in three minutes.
There is a high score table for the Challenge and Time Attack modes, showing the top three scores for each mode.
''Kirby no Kirakira Kizzu''
''Kirby no Kirakira Kizzu'' (カービィのきらきら きっず - ''Kirby's Sparkling Kids''), also commonly referred to as ''Kirby's Super Star Stacker'', is a
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
released in 1998 for the
Super Famicom
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South ...
; ROMs for the game were distributed via the
Nintendo Power
''Nintendo Power'' was a video game news and strategy magazine from Nintendo of America, first published in July/August 1988 as Nintendo's official print magazine for North America. The magazine's publication was initially done monthly by Ninten ...
flash RAM service, before the game was given a standard cartridge release a year later. ''Kirby no Kirakira Kizzu'' is an SNES remake of ''Kirby's Star Stacker'' with nearly identical gameplay. The point of the game is to remove falling star blocks by placing matching animal friends (Rick, Coo, and Kine) at either end. One of the primary enhancements is story mode, in which Kirby faces several opponents from other Kirby games (mostly from ''Kirby Super Star''). The game's title is exactly the same as the Japanese title of the Game Boy version of ''Kirby's Star Stacker''. There were plans to release the game overseas, but they were halted after Nintendo of America stopped shipping SNES games in 1997, leaving the game Japan-exclusive.
This version was released on the
Wii Virtual Console
A virtual console (VC) – also known as a virtual terminal (VT) – is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. It is a feature of some Unix-like operating systems such as Linux, BSD, illumos, Uni ...
in Japan on January 5, 2010, and on the
Nintendo Switch Online
Nintendo Switch Online (NSO) is an online subscription service for the Nintendo Switch video game console. Nintendo Switch Online features include online multiplayer, cloud saving, voice chat via a smartphone app, access to a library of Nint ...
service on July 21, 2022.
Notes
References
External links
*
{{Portal bar, Video games, 1990s
1997 video games
1998 video games
Falling block puzzle games
Game Boy games
HAL Laboratory games
Kirby (series) video games
Multiplayer and single-player video games
Nintendo Switch Online games
Puzzle video games
Japan-exclusive video games
Super Nintendo Entertainment System games
Video games developed in Japan
Virtual Console games for Wii
Virtual Console games for Wii U
Video games scored by Jun Ishikawa
Video games scored by Hirokazu Ando
Virtual Console games for Nintendo 3DS