Kirby's Epic Yarn

Kirby's Epic Yarn is a new Kirby installment for the Wii. It is the first Kirby platformer to hit a home console since the Nintendo 64's Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. It was first uncovered at E3 on June 15, 2010. Inspired by a commericial for Kirby's Adventure from almost two decades ago, the game's overall design is 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, with every level having three chests.

Another key feature in the game is that Kirby has lost the ability to inhale, as the air goes right through his new body. 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 ability to pull down scenery such as walls to progress or scrunch up the scenery to make gaps shorter so that he can jump across them (as he can no longer puff up and float). There is also a multiplayer feature, which allows the second player to control Prince Fluff, the prince of Patch Land, who is similar in appearance to Kirby.

Of note is that this game is the first game since Kirby's Avalanche, which is dubiously canon, to feature Kirby speaking during cutscenes, making it the first main series game to do so and possibly the first canonical game.

Plot
The story begins when Kirby is somehow sucked into a world within a magic sock (from the Nintendo Power mag of September 2010). A sorcerer named Yin-Yarn is running amok in Dream Land, turning everything, citizens included, into yarn, drawing the attention of Dream Land's hero, Kirby. When Kirby encounters this sorcerer, he attempts to eat the Maxim Tomato from the top of Yin-Yarn's head, angering the latter and causing him to suck Kirby into a sock around his neck, inside of which is a world called Patch Land. Upon entering Patch Land, Kirby encounters Prince Fluff, who is being chased by a monster. When Kirby attempts to suck up the monster, he finds that the air goes right through his body in Patch Land, forcing him to come up with a different strategy - he transforms into a car and escapes with Prince Fluff.

Later on, once Kirby has gotten a better handle on his new body's abilities, a monster tries to eat Prince Fluff. Kirby defeats the monster and obtains a piece of yarn that allows him to stitch the world back together. As it turns out, Yin-Yarn split Patch Land into seven parts. Kirby and Prince Fluff set out to retrieve the 7 magic pieces of yarn that will help them put the whole world back together.

Characters

 * Kirby
 * Prince Fluff
 * Yin-Yarn
 * King Dedede
 * Meta Knight

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 - Double-tap left or right on the Wii Remote's Control Pad. This form allows Kirby to travel faster, as well as making him jump higher and farther.
 * 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, and it seems that, instead of piloting the robotic tank, Kirby becomes the tank while Prince Fluff pilots it.
 * 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 - Kirby surfs and says "Poyo" when he lands on an enemy. Kirby can jump, though.
 * 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.
 * Drilling machine - Kirby can dig sections of the ground that look like cotton.
 * Fire Truck - Kirby can put out fire enemies when he is in this form.

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, missile-throwing, and dune buggy-driving)
 * Waddle Doo
 * Bomber
 * Bronto Burt
 * Blippers
 * Bandages (mummy creature)
 * Bandannachis (parrot-like creature)
 * Tubbies (green insect creature)
 * Volcano (volcanic enemy)
 * Monkey Doo (monkey like waddle doo)
 * Master Pink (similar in appearance to Master Green)
 * Button Fly (a green bug)
 * Unknown Ghost-like enemy
 * Unknown Caterpillar Enemy

Bosses

 * Fangora
 * A gaint squid like boss
 * Firebird
 * Enemies that resemble Burnis that helps the boss
 * Meta Knight
 * King Dedede
 * Yin-Yarn

Levels

 * Grass Land
 * Fountain Gardens
 * Rainbow Falls
 * Mole Hole
 * At least two currently-unknown levels
 * At least five other currently-unknown world areas

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. GameTrailers.com awarded it the best graphics of E3 for 2010.

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.
 * This will be the first game since Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards that Kirby's voice will be heard on a current generation console outside of the Super Smash Bros. series.
 * The plot appears to follow a similar premise to that of Kirby: Canvas Curse, with Kirby being transfigured by the villain into another form, which changes the way he is controlled. This is compounded by the fact that Yin-Yarn bares a striking resemblance to the villain of Canvas Curse, Drawcia.