Review: Kirby’s Dream Buffet

destructoid.com:

You can always count on Kirby to give us copious amounts of spinoff games. While many franchises in Nintendo’s stable remain dormant, Kirby is always there, whether it’s with a mainline entry or something else entirely. While Kirby’s Dream Buffet is held back by a few things, it’s one of the stronger side game efforts in recent years, especially if you have people to play with.

Kirby’s Dream Buffet (Switch)Developer: HAL LaboratoryPublisher: NintendoReleased: August 17MSRP: $14.99

The core of Kirby’s Dream Buffet involves taking control of one of many aesthetically different Kirbys (with unlockable costumes and colors) across a series of courses and minigames. Your goal is to eat as many strawberries as you can (which are littered about the race track and in the minigames), and become as big as possible. The person with the highest strawberry count at the end (of a group of four total) wins.

You’ll do this by rolling down courses, hovering to get back on after getting knocked off, and using copy abilities (which are modified for racing purposes, and have a dessert-like aesthetic to them). The more you eat the bigger you grow, and the faster you go. It’s simple, and the two-button scheme (hop and use copy ability) is something everyone in the family can pick up.

Yes, it even has Mario Party-esque equalizer bonuses that can shift the balance of power at the very end, like “most enemies destroyed.”

In true Kirby fashion, it’s a very relaxing, low stakes game. Racing is seamless, and something you’ll get used to midway through your very first course. There’s walls to roll up, pathways to finesse without falling off, enemies to avoid, strawberries to pick up, and Mario Kart-like question mark blocks to grab to trigger powers.