Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards is a 2 and a half D Kirby game for the Nintendo 64. It is one of the few games to not feature Meta Knight or be directed by the Kirby creator, Masahiro Sakurai. It is the sequel to Kirby's Dream Land 3. This game was later re-released on the Wii's Virtual Console in America and Europe in early 2008.

Story
One peaceful day on the planet Ripple Star, a dark cloud covers the planet. The queen of Ripple Star orders a fairy named Ribbon to call for help. She gets one crystal and tries to fly away, but is defeated by the Dark Matter minions. She crashes on a planet called Pop Star, losing 72 crystal pieces in the process. Kirby finds one crystal and gives it to Ribbon, whereupon the two set out to find the others. Once Kirby and his friends collect every Crystal Shard and defeat Miracle Matter, the Dark Matter flees Ripple Star, and manifests together to create Dark Star. Kirby and his friends infiltrate Dark Star, and King Dedede launches them up to the revived form of Zero, Zero Two. It turns out Zero Two can only feel negative emotions, and wants Dream Land to feel the same (this seemingly being the reason he attacked Ripple Star to begin with.) However, Kirby and Ribbon, armed with their Shard Gun, defeat Zero Two.

During their journey, Kirby and Ribbon find three friends who join them:


 * Waddle Dee
 * Adeleine
 * King Dedede

Planets

 * Pop Star
 * Rock Star
 * Aqua Star
 * Neo Star
 * Shiver Star
 * Ripple Star
 * Dark Star

Bosses

 * Whispy Woods
 * Pix
 * Acro
 * Magman
 * HR-H
 * Miracle Matter
 * Zero Two

Game play
Like every other main-series Kirby game, The Crystal Shards is a platformer that features Kirby's signature abilities of flight, inhalation, and ability imitation, though a few adjustments have been made to their mechanics. Whereas in most other games Kirby is able to fly indefinitely, here he is limited to a grounded jump and seven midair jumps (possibly due to this same limitation being present in Super Smash Bros., which was released prior to Kirby 64.) It also features the special aspect of combining two copy abilities to create new ones by either sucking up two enemies up at the same time or releasing a power star then inhaling that star and an enemy. Each power has a different color power star and a double power star has the colors of both sub-powers in a 10-point star. Also, the game only features seven (base) abilities: Burning, Ice, Spark, Cutter, Bomb, Needle, and Stone. Some combo abilities include Volcano, Refrigerator, Light Saber, Snare, Ninja Bombs, and Double Stone. It is also the only game in the series where Kirby can inhale underwater.

Multiplayer Mode
Kirby 64 offers a multi player mode for up to 4 players. There are 3 Mini-games.
 * 100-Yard Hop
 * Bumper Crop Bump
 * Checker Board Chase

Beta
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Trivia

 * This is the only game in which Kracko doesn't appear as a boss in some form.
 * The Level Select music was remixed and used for the Menu music in Kirby Canvas Curse. It also has some elements of the Milky Way Wishes intro music, and bears similarities to the File Select music of various Legend of Zelda games.
 * In the Japanese version, food items include onigiri (rice balls). In all other versions, it has been replaced with a sandwich.
 * However, at the end of a level during the goal game, Waddle Dee is seen eating an onigiri.
 * The level select music for Ripple Star is used as the "wait-room" theme for Helper to Hero in Kirby Super Star Ultra.