For the first years of the 3DS' existence, what was once thought to be its key feature – the 3-D effects – remained a nice little extra that was miles away from being a true game-changer. Super Mario 3D Land made a commendable effort in trying to create platforming elements that were affected by the depth present on the system's top screen; however, the game just made use of them occasionally in order to bring some twists to certain stages. The 3DS, in spite of its great library, remained without a flagship title that truly embraced its tridimensional quirks and validated Nintendo's bet on 3-D.
Fast forward to 2014, and such a game has – at last – arrived. Kirby: Triple Deluxe does not require the use of 3-D to be played and enjoyed; a wise choice considering a great part of the pink puffball's audience consists of youngsters that are under six years old and should not be exposed to the system's 3-D effects. However, the game and its mechanics are totally built around the sense of depth provided by the handheld, adding a whole bunch of personality to yet another great entry to the Kirby franchise and creating inventive stage design possibilities that are nicely explored by the folks from HAL Laboratory.
The game's adorable opening shows the cuddly hero having fun around Dream Land and quietly going to bed. In the middle of the night, though, a mysterious gigantic beanstalk sprouts from the ground and lifts both Kirby's house and King Dedede's castle high into the sky. Shocked by what he sees when he wakes up, he heads to the king's castle and, upon witnessing his kidnapping, decides to follow the sinister captor.
The adventure takes place across six floating islands (the game's worlds) each featuring between five and six regular levels and one boss. Although the overworld design of the islands suggests that each focuses on a specific kind of scenario, all of the levels offer pretty unique landscapes that are nicely integrated with the overall geography of where they are. Consequently, not only does Triple Deluxe deliver a pretty good deal of variety in terms of obstacles, it is also visually dynamic, greatly supporting the general freshness that permeates the game.
All of the levels set out with the goal of taking advantage of the system's 3-D. Hence, every single one of them is built around two layers, and Kirby can travel between the foreground and background by using special warp stars. The notion of depth, which is greatly accentuated by turning up the 3-D slider, becomes essential due to the fact numerous enemies, mechanics and traps have been designed to toy around with that perception.
Crazy contraptions will blast projectiles towards the screen, trees that are cut by foes on the background will fall on Kirby, enemies attached to ropes will swing between layers as if they are having fun on a playground, and players will find weapons that can affect both layers at the same time - such as a powerful laser Kirby can carry around for a while or canons that must be used to destroy boulders on the background.
Stages are not the only element of the game designed around 3-D, as the bosses also make fantastic use of those twists. They are, by far, one of the best and most creative set of big baddies to ever appear on a Nintendo game. All of them have more than one form, and the array of moves each of the forms possesses is astonishingly big. While the levels display extremely creative 3-D twists, the bosses often take them to whole new levels of inventiveness. Even the Whispy Woods, one of the series' most simple and traditional bosses, has quite a few tridimensional tricks on its sleeve.
Although it displays an incredible influx of creativity through most of the journey, Triple Deluxe stumbles a little bit when it comes close to the finish line. The last portion of the game, starting with the tail-end of the 5th world, recycles some old ideas a little bit too much – including boss rematches. As a consequence, a part of the adventure that is supposed to be its very peak ends up coming up a little bit short in relation to the rest of the game, which is widely creative from its very first seconds.
Despite all the 3-D novelty, Triple Deluxe remains a Kirby game at heart. Standards of the series – such as a generally forgiving difficulty, and the character's ability to float and suck the power out of his enemies and use them for his own good – are back in full force. Joined by a catchy joyful soundtrack and colorful graphics, they greatly contribute to the feel-good vibe that is present on every installment of the franchise, which makes Kirby come off as this little cute hero who is so awesomely overpowered he quickly disposes of his enemies.
The culmination of that power comes in the shape of Hypernova, Kirby's newest and most hilarious skill. With it, the hero's sucking power is greatly increased, allowing him to swallow pretty much everything that is on screen. Instead of using it as some sort of invincibility aura – which would be rather dull – designers wisely crafted a bunch of varied clever puzzles and even on-stage bosses that require the power, adding Hypernova to the numerous tools Triple Deluxe uses to surprise players.
It is worth noting that the overall challenge increases as the game advances, and some of the levels towards the end can be relatively hard even if they won't cause players to lose many lives. Still, the game packs extra rewards and challenges to the more dedicated gamers. For starters, each level has a few hidden Sun Stones that can usually be acquired by locating and solving very clever puzzles, some of which smartly utilize the 3DS' tilt controls to great effect. Upon collecting all Sun Stones in a world, a wild extra level – usually a fun potpourri of all mechanics introduced in that world – is unlocked.
The game also holds a whopping 250 key-chains. Depicting iconic characters that have appeared across the many years of the franchise, they are cleverly hidden around the stages. Each of the levels contains one specific gold key-chain, and a few blue ones. Sadly, the latter type awards figures that are random. Therefore, those who want to complete their collection will most likely – at some point – have to grind for them so the randomizer eventually hands out the ones that are missing. It would have been far more engaging – and less frustrating – if the blue key-chains, like the gold ones, were level-specific.
Beating the game with all of the collectibles amounts to a total of about fifteen hours of gameplay. However, in the tradition of the franchise, there is a whole lot more to Triple Deluxe. There are two Boss Rush modes, a mini-game that mixes rhythm and platforming, and a wacky time-trial adventure mode on which King Dedede must, with the aid of shortcuts, traverse slightly altered versions of the levels found on the regular adventure.
The peak of the avalanche of extra content, though, is Kirby Fighters. On it, players choose one of the many copy abilities available in order to tackle a series of Smash Bros-like battles – with items and stage hazards included – on which numerous Kirbys try to beat each other into submission. It is ridiculously fun, and the good array of copy abilities to choose from and the adjustable difficulty makes it highly replayable, challenging, and accessible at the same time. Its only downside is that there is no online multiplayer; the only way to fight against friends is through local download play.
The end result, despite a few shortcoming here and there, is one of the brightest moments of the Kirby series. More than that, Triple Deluxe is actually a major landmark on the Nintendo 3DS' life cycle for it shows that 3-D effects can be successfully used to affect and inspire gameplay. Whether or not it will inspire other companies to build more games around the system's key feature is unknown, but one thing is for sure: Triple Deluxe is a nearly perfect blueprint of what can be creatively done with the 3DS. It is an essential item in the collection of all 3DS owners.