kirby posts (Subscribe to this feed)

Harnessing the power of Nintendo franchises for charity, the folks at TripleSpeedRunners will be spending 48 hours this weekend speed-running through games from the Donkey Kong, Star Fox, and Kirby series. Live streaming of the event will be handled on the crew's website, with live commentary and chat available to cheer the players -- or jeer 'em if you're a player hater.

All proceeds from donations during the event will go to DC Outreach, an organization that provides worldwide support to families affected by Dyskeratosis Congenita. Last time TSR got together, it raised $1,140 for the DC charity, but we know with the full support of the Joystiq BioMass behind them we can help them double that. Right, folks?

The speed-runs kick off this Friday at 7PM ET sharp.

Nintendo of Japan just updated its Club Nintendo rewards shop with a bunch of new exclusive items that will no doubt have you crying into your canvas Wiimote storage box. The most eye-catching new item is the 350-Coin Kirby flying disc, which looks just like a flat Kirby made out of nylon.

Other new items include Zelda posters, a Mario & Luigi 3 soundtrack (which is discounted for those who purchased the game), pencil cases, and a very cute set of Animal Crossing magnet clips. We can't help but think that no matter how sad we are over our inability to obtain the Kirby frisbee, we're going to weep openly when Japan's Platinum and Gold rewards are unveiled.

[Via andriasang]

When Chrismix sent us pictures of a pink lantern Kirby, we were so bowled over by the cuteness that there was no other option than this: dedicating this week's Show and Tell to the little pink guy. Thus did we set out, scouring the harsh planes of these wild internets in search of custom Kirby swag. Interested in what we found? Take the guided tour here, or jump right into the gallery below.

WiiWare
Sandy Beach (Konami, 1-2 players, 500 Wii Points): First, the good news: Yes, you can build sand castles in this game, either at your leisure or facing off against swarms of crabs in the Defend Your Castle-esque Crab Battle mode. The bad news? Well, it wasn't the first Crab Battle that came to mind ...

Virtual Console
Kirby's Dream Land 3 (Super NES™, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points): This title had the unfortunate luck of coming out within a week of the incredibly awesome Kirby Superstar -- great timing, Nintendo! Still, it's a fun game that happens to be just like its predecessors. We half expect the company to pull some poetic injustice and release Superstar on Virtual Console next week.

The Japanese Club Nintendo store was updated this week with a soundtrack CD for Kirby Super Star Ultra. Now, we're almost certain (because we're pessimists) that we won't get neat items like that on our own Club Nintendo page, and instead we'll be "treated" to the opportunity to exchange points for wallpapers that would have just been free before.

But if we do get stuff like this, will you be interested? If so, would you be interested in Nintendo game soundtracks for collecting-related reasons or listening-related? Do any DS games stand out as soundtrack-worthy? It totally counts if you already have the soundtrack. And would charging points instead of money affect your thought process?

Kirby Super Star Ultra, specifically, or Hoshi no Kirby Ultra Super Deluxe as it's known in Japan. We used to look at these Japanese Club Nintendo gifts with jealousy and despair, but now that Nintendo of America is planning some kind of Club Nintendo, we see them with ... jealousy and despair combined with the expectation of disappointment.

The Kirby Ultra Super Deluxe Sound Track contains 33 tracks from Super Star Ultra, along with newly arranged stage and boss medleys and an arrangement of the credit sequence music. It'll cost Club Nintendo members who register Super Star Ultra 250 points, and 400 points for non-Kirby-owning members.


[Via Famitsu]

Okay, let's try this again. Our latest giveaway has come to a close, so it's about time we crowned a winner, right? Who's the lucky individual walking away with a free copy of Kirby Super Star Ultra? Well, it's none other than:

• Kitty, who likes it when Kirby gobbles up a UFO
  

Thanks to everyone that entered and better luck next time! We'll be sure to start up our next giveaway real soon.

Last night, we made a mistake and prematurely selected a winner for our latest contest. See, we usually run these things until Sunday night, selecting a winner via random drawing the following day and putting up a post that night. For those of you that regularly read us, you probably saw the post and thought nothing of it. Well, in reality, we made a mistake.

You see, the contest is still open now. When we set up the rules for these things, they're final, so we're obligated to keep the contest open for its full length, as we should. So, for those of you who want to win this game, get on over to the original contest post here and leave a comment. The contest closes tonight.

We apologize to the mixup and thank you for your patience and understanding in this matter. Thanks.

Update: Wow, we can be pretty boneheaded sometimes. We prematurely ended the contest and chose a winner, thinking it ended on Sunday night, as per our usual routine. This latest contest, however, wasn't supposed to end until the evening of Tuesday, October 28th. We apologize for the mistake and will be leaving the contest open, selecting the winner at random again, after it has officially concluded. Sorry to everyone involved, we'll do our best to avoid this mistake in the future. Please ignore all of that at the bottom.

Our latest giveaway has come to a close, so it's about time we crowned a winner, right? Who's the lucky individual walking away with a free copy of Kirby Super Star Ultra? Well, it's none other than:

• greennoo, who likes Kirbuy's stone form
  

Thanks to everyone that entered and better luck next time! We'll be sure to start up our next giveaway real soon.

That's right, boys and girls, we're hooking up one lucky reader with Nintendo's Kirby Super Star Ultra ($35)! What do you have to do to enter for your chance at this great game?

To enter, simply leave a comment between now and Tuesday, October 28th at 11:59PM ET, telling us what your favorite Kirby form is (you know, what happens when he swallows an enemy up!). You can leave one comment per day. We'll select a winner the following day via random drawing.

There are a few things you should know before entering. Entrants must be current and legal residents of the United States or Canada (excluding Quebec) and at least 18 years of age or older. Read up on the rest of the official rules right here. Good luck!

The beach is awesome. The life of a game blogger is a difficult one, my friends, so it's nice to step away from the monitor, sink into the white sands and catch up on that glorious invention known as sleep. Such a relaxing week could only bring good things, and I'm incredibly pleased to say it did: it gave good David a chance to talk about Electroplankton, one of the DS's most eccentric titles, and it gave me a chance to give the Kirby series a go.

You can imagine my delight, then, to finally gets my sandy hands on one of the DS's premiere platformers, to see how one cute and cuddly pink ball can inspire so much adoration. Kirby has made a number of appearances on everyone's favorite handheld, but this week's edition of Gaming to Go will be focusing on the first time the prolific cake eater showed his face on the portable. Kirby: Canvas Curse, in case you haven't given it a go, is all about drawing. You'll use the stylus exclusively to fling our spherical friend through many different adventures, all of which are short, colorful, and an absolute blast to play. Want to hear more? Point your stylus at the big button down there and race on to the next page!

NEXT >>

Kirby Super Star Ultra is the best of the traditional Kirby games (by which I mean the ones that don't feature Kirby as a ball). It features more abilities and more moves than pretty much any other Kirby game, and the levels are more varied in their design. It manages to still be the best traditional Kirby game, despite the fact that it was released in its original form on the Super NES. The new content certainly hasn't done it any favors, and, like all Kirby games, it won't provide much of a challenge, but Super Star Ultra remains as clever as it was in 1996, and completely worth every platform fan's time.

We're taking a little break from our regular format this week in order to do something very simple: make you jealous as hell. Reader John has some good stuff -- hardware, gear, extras -- but not so much that it's really notable. We do like the plush Kirby, though. No, what brings us here today, agape and agog, is his collection of DS games, which stood at 209 titles when he sent in these pictures, with more on the way.

So today, John, we salute you, O Buyer of Games. And, uh, got anything we could borrow?

By now, you've no doubt heard: Nintendo is rolling out Club Nintendo in the U.S. by the end of 2008. Wahey! Yeah, we know that Japan (generally speaking) gets the most excellent items when compared to elsewhere, but listen here, bub: it's free stuff. We're not about to complain, and nor should you (if you want to feel sorry for somebody, Australia's Club Nintendo scheme has gone AWOL, and check out South Africa's piss-poor Stars Catalogue).

Anyway, as these are happy times for North Americans, we thought we'd reflect on some of the bestest Club Nintendo gifts and trinkets from both Japan and Europe to date -- some of which could end up in the U.S.! Hit the gray button to start DS Fanboy's whirlwind Club Nintendo Tour of Wonders!