Kirby's Epic Yarn Hands-On

One of the highlights of the Nintendo press conference--and quite possibly the show--was Kirby's Epic Yarn, a 2D side-scrolling platformer that has the handmade charm and appeal of Little Big Planet but the controls of a traditional Kirby game where you can morph or transform into a variety of different fun shapes. The demo on the show floor consisted of three levels, which was just enough to make us want to see more of it.

You can play as the loveable pink puffball Kirby or if you're playing cooperatively, you can plays as Prince Fluff, who is a Kirby lookalike except he's blue and has a tiny crown on his head. The first level served as a tutorial level where we got a handle on Kirby and his platforming abilities. Holding the Wii Remote sideways, you control Kirby with the D pad and use the 2 button to jump and the 1 button to attack. Kirby attacks by swinging a whip (made out of yarn, of course), but you can also use this to lasso your partner and hold him or her above your head and chuck him or her across the screen. Flashbacks of Super Mario Bros. Wii may come back to you, but as long as you coordinate well, two heads are always better than one.

The beautiful handcrafted world is made up of colorful felt, strands of yarn, and other types of cloth, and the goal is to collect as many beads as you go through the level. Assorted buttons, plastic zippers, and careful stitching adorn castle walls that are made up of soft fabric. You can use your whip to peel away small square patches for more gems or swing on buttons to launch you to higher ground. You interact with the environment just as you would interact with, say, your own hand-sewn creations. Tugging on stitching can bunch together a wall to make a gap smaller, or you can unzip a tower and reveal a new layer altogether. By tapping the D pad a couple of times left or right, you can transform into a little vehicle and build some speed before leaping off a strand of yarn. The little ball of yarn can also turn into a parachute when you hold the 2 button to float safely to the ground.

But all of this doesn't compare to the massive Kirby tank that you can morph into during the second stage. You and Prince Fluff are combined into one giant machine of destruction where one player swings a long mechanical arm to punch enemies while the other player moves forward and fires missiles from Kirby's mouth. The Wii Remote is used to tilt the angle of Kirby's mouth, so that you can aim it at the yarn-based foes coming at you in herds. The boss was a looming green dragon, which we saw during the press conference that spit rocks at us. We won't tell you how to defeat it, but like most boss fights, it's about finding the weakness and exploiting it.

What stood out the most in Kirby's Epic Yarn was the incredible amount of detail in the environments, the characters, and the enemies. Kirby doesn't need to inhale everything anymore, but when enemies do disappear, they leave behind strands of discarded yarn as though they were never there in the first place. It's a delight to watch Kirby's outline transition into a little car or even turn into a fish when he jumps into the water. The game looks fantastic on the Wii with different textures and colors, and we are looking forward to playing more of Kirby's Epic Yarn before it is released this fall.