Kirby: Squeak Squad

"In this game, Kirby chased down a gang of mice who'd stolen a precious, delicious treasure. Along the way, Kirby found many other treasures, including star seals and ability scrolls. Using the Copy Palette, Kirby could save items and Copy Abilities and mix them together. This new feature introduced players to a whole new level of strategy."

- Summary

Kirby: Squeak Squad, known in Europe as Kirby Mouse Attack and in Japan as 星のカービィ 参上! ドロッチェ団 (Hoshi no Kābī: Sanjō! Dorocche Dan), meaning Kirby of the Stars: Calling on the Dorotche Gang!, is a platformer Kirby game for the Nintendo DS that was originally released in Japan on November 2, 2006, and was then later released on December 4, 2006 in North America, on March 1, 2007 in Australia, on June 22, 2007 in Europe and on September 13, 2007 in South Korea.

Unlike the title that preceded it (Kirby: Canvas Curse), Kirby: Squeak Squad is a traditional platformer which mainly uses the face buttons, although the touch screen is used occasionally.

Story
"Early afternoon in Dream Land, it's so peaceful even the clouds are drowsy. And now it's Kirby's favorite time of day--snack time. Today's yummy snack is a sweet, fluffy slice of Strawberry Shortcake! Time to dig in... Whoa! The cake Kirby was about to eat suddenly vanished! That scrumptious, berry-topped slice of mouth-watering goodness... No doubt about it! This must be the work of that greedy King Dedede! Well there's no time to waste! Gotta get that cake back! And that's how Kirby's latest fantastic adventure begins..."

- Kirby: Squeak Squad's introduction

At the end of the game's first world, Kirby finds out that the Squeaks - an infamous group of treasure-thieving mice - are the ones behind the robbery. Kirby follows the thieves on a journey that takes him all over Dream Land. Kirby eventually fights the leader of the Squeaks, Daroach, at the end of the sixth world, Ice Island. After winning the battle, he comes close to obtaining a treasure chest supposedly containing his cake when Meta Knight swoops in and snatches the chest away. Kirby chases Meta Knight to the end of the seventh world, Secret Sea, where a duel between the two rivals ensues. Meta Knight is defeated and gives up the treasure chest, which Kirby is about to open when the Squeaks fly in and grab it from him. Daroach opens it, but the chest does not contain Kirby's cake; instead, a dark cloud envelops Daroach and flies off into outer space (the eighth world, Gamble Galaxy). Kirby follows, eventually encountering and fighting Daroach, now aptly named Dark Daroach, for the second time.

Once beaten, the dark cloud lets go of the Squeak's leader and floats away in the form of a small, black-colored star. Kirby follows the star to a crystalline arena, where the black star transforms into its true form: Dark Nebula, ruler of the underworld and a specimen of Kirby's old enemy Dark Matter. Kirby confronts the fiend and after a short but intense battle, triumphs over the monster who disintegrates and explodes. Afterwards, Kirby, wondering where his cake really is, travels back to his home of Popstar as the credits roll. Meanwhile a bubble containing his treasured dessert follows close behind once the credits finish. The Squeaks have returned the cake, supposedly as an apology for all the trouble they had caused. Overjoyed at seeing his scrumptious sweet, Kirby gladly eats to his heart's content.

Copy Abilities
As in most of his games, Kirby is able to copy all of the abilities of certain enemies by inhaling and swallowing them. There are also interactive environments, with obstacles that are passable with Copy Abilities (examples include freezing water to get across with the Ice ability, burning clouds with his Fire or Fire Sword ability, freezing lava with his Ice or Ice Sword Ability, sending sparks along metal or water with Spark or Thunder Sword, or cutting down or burning tall tufts of grass with his Sword, Fire, Animal, Triple Star, or Cutter ability).

The game places emphasis on the elements Fire, Ice, and Spark. All three of the Copy Abilities have an effect on the environment, and are especially effective against the Squeaks. The Final Weapon Triple Star's description shows three stars: red, blue, and green, representing fire, ice and spark, respectively. Dark Nebula also has three forms which are based on these elements. Finding the Sword and Bomb Ability Scroll allows versions of those abilities with properties of the elements to be created.

Returning Copy Abilities include Beam, Bomb, Cupid, Cutter, Fighter, Fire, Hammer, Hi-Jump, Ice, Laser, Magic, Ninja, Parasol, Sleep, Spark, Sword, Throw, Tornado, UFO, and Wheel. New abilities are Animal, Bubble, Ghost, Metal, and Triple Star. Many of the Copy Abilities feature multiple attacks, a recurring trend also seen in Kirby & The Amazing Mirror.

Copy Palette
Kirby is also able to collect and store copy abilities and items in the Copy Palette, which is represented on the touch screen. The Bubble Copy Ability can be used to create such abilities from enemies. The Palette can store Food bubbles (these cannot be created) and Treasure chests collected along the way. Lesser foods can be mixed to create foods which heal more when used, while mixing two Maxim Tomatoes give a random Copy Ability bubble. Stars created from the Bubble Copy Ability can be combined to create larger and more damaging stars when exhaled. Treasure does not do anything inside the game besides take up slots of the Copy Palette, but Kirby will open them if they are carried to the end of the stage. Being damaged while carrying treasure can sometimes cause them to come out of the Palette and drop onto the ground, though Kirby can inhale them again.

Mix
Using the Copy Palette, the player can combine abilities together, via Mix. There are certain fixed combinations involving the basic abilities Sword, Fire, Ice, Spark, and Bomb, (and Sleep once the Ghost Medal is complete). Mixing abilities is achieved by dragging one ability over another with the stylus. If the two are compatible with each other, they will combine and produce a new ability (example: Fire + Sword = Fire Sword). These combinations require the Sword and Bomb Ability Scrolls, besides the Ghost Medal combination (which requires two Sleep ability bubbles).

If the chosen abilities do not fall into one of the fixed combinations, they follow a separate ruleset. While still random, the sets from which the resultant ability is randomized from can be chosen by the player.

Ability Scroll
A new concept to Kirby games introduced in this game are the Ability Scrolls, which power up any Copy Ability that Kirby has when chosen. Examples include Hammer growing nearly double its size if charged up, Tornado and Wheel taking the elemental properties of the terrain they pass over, Spark building up energy that can be released in a similar fashion to the Plasma copy ability's Plasma Wave, and Beam and Cutter's attacks have increased power.

Treasure
Each level, except level 1-1, contains one to three treasure chests. Usually, each level contains two small red chests and a large blue chest, and boss levels also grant the player a blue chest when defeated. The ultimate goal of the game to collect all the chests, which include keys needed to unlock secret levels, the ability to change Kirby's color, portions of a jigsaw puzzle picture, and more additional game content; these are awarded when the player successfully completes the level with that chest. The player will need to make sure they have enough space in Kirby's stomach to store the chests, removing unneeded items or combining similar items to make space. The larger chests are generally more difficult to obtain, and require Kirby to face a Squeak in a mini-challenge of sorts. If the opponent gets the chest, they will attempt to escape into their own small hideout, but if the player is fast enough, they can follow them into this hideout and attempt to beat them and retrieve the chest. If the player is too slow, the Squeaks will board up their hideout to stop Kirby from entering. If the player fails to obtain any chests, they are free to go back to any previously completed level to try to retrieve the chest again; chests already recovered can be collected again, but it will have a gray appearance and contain an ability or food item in a bubble when opened.

The game supports multi-card multiplayer and single-card download play for 3 special sub-games based on the Squeaks.

Levels

 * Prism Plains
 * Nature Notch
 * Cushy Cloud
 * Jam Jungle
 * Vocal Volcano
 * Ice Island
 * Secret Sea
 * Gamble Galaxy

Subgames

 * Smash Ride
 * Speedy Teatime
 * Treasure Shot
 * Boss Endurance - Unlocked by beating the game once

Goal-game
Kirby starts off in a regular rotating Cannon, with either Food, 1UP or nothing on eight platforms around it. The speed of rotation is randomized at the end of each level. Firing Kirby towards the platform nets whichever item Kirby flies through.

Reception
Even though this Kirby game had the same budget as Kirby & The Amazing Mirror, it received slightly less positive reviews, though the overall ratings were still positive. Kirby: Squeak Squad received a score of 7.5 out of 10 from Nintendo Power, and three scores of 7, 7.5 and 7.5 out of 10 from EGM. Criticisms concerned the lack of originality in the title when compared to the previous Kirby game on the Nintendo DS, Kirby: Canvas Curse and the removal of Kirby & The Amazing Mirror's map system. Television show X-Play gave the game a 3 out of 5, criticizing the game for weak subgames and unnecessary use of the touchscreen. The British Official Nintendo Magazine gave the game, on its European release, a score of 70%. Even though reviews were less positive, Kirby: Squeak Squad has managed to sell over 1.7 million copies, with one million copies sold in Japan alone. It has a score of 71 on Metacritic and a ranking of 72.24% on Game Rankings based on 34 reviews.

Trivia

 * If the date on the Nintendo DS system matches the date of birth entered into the DS system, a screen saying "Happy Birthday" with a cake will appear.
 * There is an unused ability called Block in the game's data. This may be an early or scrapped version of the Triple Star. Interestingly enough, Kirby wears a hat similar to that of the Mirror ability from Kirby Super Star when Block is active.
 * This was the first Kirby game to be officially released in South Korea; in previous years, the nation had banned the import of most Japanese cultural products as backlash against their occupation by Japan from 1910 to 1945.
 * Being a normal Kirby boss, Whispy Woods does not appear in the game outside of his cameo on the title screen.
 * Even though the Squeaks are implied to be the thieves of Kirby's strawberry shortcake, carefully observing the opening cutscene shows that the individual who actually committed the act was a Waddle Dee.
 * An exclusive Polar White DS Lite (marked with a monochromatic Kirby holding a treasure chest) was released in Australia shortly after the release of Kirby: Squeak Squad. Forty of these handheld consoles were given away by the Australian magazine, K-Zone.
 * In the Music Room in Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, Kirby: Squeak Squad is represented by an image of a yellow Squeaker.
 * This is the last game to have the Boss Endurance mode, as future Kirby games replaced it with The Arena.
 * Many of the songs in the game are remixes of songs from previous games; most are from Kirby & The Amazing Mirror. The main theme itself is a remix of the track "Grass Land 3" from Kirby's Dream Land 3.
 * The time between the releases of Kirby Squeak Squad and Kirby's Epic Yarn marked the longest duration without an entirely original Kirby release in the United States since the beginning of the series, at 3 years, 10 months and 13 days.
 * This is the first (and so far only) game not directed by Shinichi Shimomura to feature a confirmed member of Dark Matter's race as the main villain.