Kirby and the Amazing Mirror was released in 2004 for the GBA and later in 2011 on 3DS as part of the 3DS Ambassador Program. I have played it on the 3DS, but I finished the original version, so that will be the one I review.
Its a peaceful day in Dreamland and Kirby is out for a nice walk when suddenly, he is cut up into four pieces by a Dark Meta Knight. The 4 Kirbies go after Dark Meta Knight. Sometime later, we see Meta Knight getting banished into the Amazing Mirror, after losing a battle with his darker counterpart. a Dark Kirby is also seen entering a door. It's up to the four Kirbies to restore the mirror and save Dreamland.
Right off the bat, you'll notice that four Kirbies are in this game. If you have multiple GBA systems with the game and Link Cables, you can invite up to three other people to join in the fun. In single-player, Kirby can use his phone to call in the Kirbies anywhere for some assistance. However, the AI can be very unreliable at times as they can cause you to mess up an are or they just die frequently. It is essentially local multiplayer before games like NSMB Wii etc. made the whole formula more popular. Also, the game now goes for a more open-ended Metroidvania type game, rather than the traditional formula. Bosses can be found in various rooms, with the unique boss keeping the Mirror Shard away from them.
There are three sub-games in this game; Crackity Hack, which is essentially Megaton Punch, Kirby Wave Ride in which you race to the finish and Speed Eaters, where you have to eat the most food while avoiding the bombs. It's an overall good line-up of sub-games.
There are Chests found in the game that house certain things like music pieces, items and colour sprays to swap Kirby's palette colour. The chests aren't really that well handled, as there are more useless items than useful. Especially when your lives counter resets each time you finish your play session on the game.
I like that the game is taking a completely different turn in the series, providing a fresh and fun experience. Ther is still the usual copy abilities and such in the game. New ones like Smash, Angel and Cook join the fray. My personal favourite is the Smash ability, as it is essentially Kirby's move set from Super Smash Bros.
It is quite a short game with an anti-climactic final boss, but DAMN is the game amazing! It breathes new life on the Kirby series by trying a different formula while still retaining the mechanics of the Kirby series. That and some fun exploration sections make this my personal favourite Kirby game in the series. If you want to try out the game, you can get a copy of the game for cheap on eBay or via Wii U Virtual Console.