Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack is getting a pink puff of power, as Kirby and the Amazing Mirror is getting added to the Game Boy Advance app on September 29, 2023.
Originally published on the Game Boy Advance in 2004. This was a co-production of Kirby owner HAL Laboratory, Flagship, who also worked on The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages, and Dimps, who is best known for making fighting games like Street Fighter IV and The Rumble Fish.
Flagship was the group that actually took charge of planning the game. Dimps did the programming, sound and game design, while HAL provided art and debugging. Interestingly enough, Shigeru Miyamoto was tied as a producer to this game, but not two Nintendo employees best known for coming from HAL. Satoru Iwata was at this point already president of Nintendo. Kirby’s creator, Masahiro Sakurai, was already an independent game developer, but he has a special adviser credit in the game.
Kirby and the Amazing Mirror is the first game in the franchise to shift from a simple platformer game, to a Metroidvania. At this point, all three Game Boy Advance Castlevania games, and Metroid Fusion had already released to the system, creating a trend for this genre to become more popular.
One can imagine this as an expansion of everything Kirby had been able to do before. While he mostly still jumped platforms and swallowed enemies to take their powers, he now also had free reign to conquer the game map in any order or direction that he wanted. Players would also find that the worlds had small puzzles and sub bosses to get in the way of progress, as well as tons of items to collect.
What makes Kirby different from other franchises is a focus on making players feel powerful,
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