Kirby's Dream Land (Game Boy, 1992) - A Star is Born

HAL Laboratories' 1992 Game Boy classic Kirby's Dream Land introduced a puffy new superstar to the Nintendo family who would shine for decades across genres and styles. From platforming to mini-golf to Breakout to ball-rolling to goofing off as a pile of yarn, Kirby's always been a pretty experimental series, but let's take a look back at the original title that started it all.

Kirby and the Rainbow Curse (Wii U, 2015) - The Goodness of Gluttony

Nintendo's puffy marshmallow hero Kirby alternates between two types of games: Traditional platformers, like the Kirby's Dreamland series, Kirby's Adventure, and Return to Dreamland, and experimental spinoffs like Kirby's Dream Course, Kirby Mass Attack, and one of my personal favorites, Kirby's Canvas Curse. Canvas Curse, released on the DS in 2005, is one of the many Kirby spinoffs that turn the hero into a rolling ball. In this one, players guide his course using the touchscreen. Ten years later (an amount of time that feels staggering now; Canvas Curse doesn't feel like it was that long ago), Nintendo has released a sequel on the Wii U that offers more of the same, but when that content's this good there's nothing wrong with that.

Review - Kirby's Block Ball

Released on the Game Boy in 1996, Kirby's Block Ball is a Breakout-styled ball and paddle game in which Kirby is the ball. The goal is largely the same as Breakout and its various spin-offs; bounce your ball into bricks to break them, hit enemies for extra points, occasionally get power-ups. This game is one of the better Breakout types I've played, but ultimately, it's still Breakout, love it or hate it.