Kirby's Epic Yarn

Kirby's Epic Yarn is a new Kirby installment for the Wii. It is the first 2-D Kirby platformer to hit a home console since the Nintendo 64's Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. The appearance of the characters and layout of the game are vastly different from Kirby's other appearances. The animation style is meant to look like everything is a yarn outline with minor details such as facial features. The layout of the worlds and levels is scrapbook-like with simple pieces of fabric such as cloth and felt. Many of the enemies are also made up cloth, felt, and pipe cleaners. Kirby also appears to have new abilities such as turning into a giant Kirby-like tank, swinging across gaps, and grabbing enemies with a strand of yarn. Beads are hidden throughout the levels for players to collect along with other hidden items concealed in Treasure Chests.

Another key feature in the game is that it seems Kirby has lost the ability to inhale. Instead, Kirby can create a whip-like object using yarn that he uses to wrap around enemies. The enemy will turn into a ball of yarn which Kirby can carry and throw at other enemies to defeat them or grab items. Kirby can also use this gimmick to pull down scenery such as walls to progress or scrunch up the scenery to make gaps shorter. There is also a multiplayer features which allows the second player to control Prince Fluff, a blue and royal version of Kirby.

Plot
It has been revealed that Kirby will be sucked into the inner world of a magical wool sock with its own set of problems in the shape of evil yarn creatures.

Characters

 * Kirby
 * Prince Fluff

Transformations
Kirby has lost both the ability to inhale and the ability to fly, but Kirby has a variety of forms he can transform into.


 * Car - When on the ground, the player will need to double tap the 2 button while running. This form allows Kirby to travel faster.
 * Dolphin- To get some serious speed in the water, Kirby can become this.
 * Tank - Kirby becomes this once he picks up a certain powerup. It can hover, has light-up eyes, and can shoot Missiles. When there are 2 players it has a boxing glove as well.
 * Off-road vehicle -
 * Pendulum - Press the 1 button to latch onto a grey button with a red X. This form allows Kirby to reach higher places and new areas.
 * Parachute - While falling down, double tap the 2 button to have Kirby turn into a parachute. This form allows Kirby to slowly fall down.
 * Submarine - Kirby automatically transforms into this when he enters water.
 * UFO - Kirby is in a UFO that is able to abduct enemies. When enough enemies are abducted, he can blast out an attack destroying everything on screen.
 * Surfing -
 * Weight - While Kirby is in the air, the player must press down on the D-Pad while holding the 2 button. This form allows Kirby to break bricks that he normally couldn't break.
 * Yo-yo- Kirby turns into this form when he latches on to specific buttons, usually ones with a big X.

Controls
The game is played with the Wii Remote held sideways.


 * Directional Pad (D-Pad): Move
 * Home Button: Pause.
 * 1 Button: Use yarn whip.
 * 2 Button: Jump
 * A Button:
 * B Button:

Enemies

 * Waddle Dee (regular, balloon, spear-wielding, and dune buggy-driving)
 * Waddle Doo
 * Bomber
 * Bronto Burt
 * Blippers
 * Bandages (mummy creature)
 * Bandannachis (parrot-like creature)
 * Tubbies (green insectoid creature)
 * Volcano (volcanic enemy)
 * Monkey Doo (monkey like waddle doo)
 * Master Pink (similar in appearance to Master Green)
 * Button Fly (a green bug)
 * Buggy Dee (a Waddle in a dinosaur-looking dune buggy)

Bosses

 * Unnamed Dragon-like "boss"
 * Firebird (Phoenix-like "boss")
 * Enemies that resemble Burnis that helps the boss

Reception
The full audience reaction is unknown, obviously, as the game has not come out yet, but audiences generally enjoyed the game at E3. 1up.com named Kirby's Epic Yarn the best game of E3 for Wii and GameSpot named it both the best Wii game and best game overall at E3.

Trivia

 * Kirby's Epic Yarn appears to show similarities to Yoshi's Story. The main style of the games appear to have crafting materials for graphics in many of the early levels and Epic Yarn and Yoshi's Story are the first games of their respective series to go onto the current generation console.