In this puzzle game, Kirby stacked colorful falling Blobs. By strategically rotating and moving Blobs before they hit the pile, Kirby could destroy them and set off chain reactions. This game included two-player bouts and matches against many familiar faces from the Kirby universe. It's the only Kirby game that wasn't released in Japan.”
Kirby's Avalanche (Kirby's Ghost Trap in European languages) is a puzzle Kirby game developed by HAL Laboratory and Compile and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It was originally released in Europe on February 1, 1995 and in North America on April 25, 1995. Later digital re-releases followed on the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo Switch in 2007 and 2022, respectively. To date, it has not had a Japanese release, making it the only Kirby game with this distinction (with the debatable exception of Kirby Slide).
Kirby's Avalanche is an adaptation of the Compile-developed puzzle game series Puyo Puyo. Aside from a very rare English-language arcade version of the first game, Puyo Puyo was not properly introduced to regions outside of Japan and Asia until the early 2000s, and the series saw several other rebranded localizations internationally that featured heavily altered graphics and sounds. Kirby's Avalanche is specifically a direct modification of the game Super Puyo Puyo, and the characters and music of that game (with the exception of "Warning") are replaced by Kirby characters and songs. Super Puyo Puyo takes place in the Madō Monogatari universe, and was converted into a Kirby spin-off for its international releases without any changes to gameplay. As a result, Kirby's Avalanche is not considered to be canonical to the Kirby series.
Welcome to Dream Land, a small and peaceful country situated on a far away little star. In Dream Land the local pastime is a puzzle game called "Avalanche." Kirby decided that since every Dream Lander plays the game, it would be a great idea to have a country-wide competition to determine who is the best player of all.
After months of organizing, the First Annual Dream Land's Avalanche Competition was finally announced. To be held at the Dream Fountain, this would be the biggest event in the history of Dream Land!
All the Dream Landers have been practicing, and all plan to attend and compete. Like Kirby, they have been dreaming sweet dreams of becoming the Avalanche Champion and claiming the highly sought after "Dream Fountain Cup."
The rules for the competition are quite simple: Everyone will travel by foot to the Dream Fountain. If, while on their journey, two Dream Landers happen to meet, they must challenge each other to an Avalanche match. Only the winner of the match may continue onward towards the Dream Fountain. In this way, the number of competitors will be whittled down to a manageable size before the final action at the Dream Fountain.
Can you help guide Kirby through the competition so he arrives successfully at the Dream Fountain? Can he rise above the grizzled veterans and achieve his dream of becoming the reigning champion? His fate is in your hands!”
— The Story • Kirby's Avalanche Instruction Booklet
Gameplay[]
In Kirby's Avalanche, as in all Puyo Puyo puzzle games, groups of two colored Blobs fall from the top of the screen. The player must rotate and move the groups before they touch the bottom of the screen or the pile, so that matching-colored Blobs touch from above, below, the left or the right. Once four or more same-colored Blobs touch, they will disappear, and any Blobs above them will fall down to fill in the space. If a player manages to set off a chain reaction with these Blobs, Boulders will fall on the other player's screen. The number of Boulders that falls depends on both the number of Blobs popped and the number of consecutive chain reactions. These Boulders will only disappear if a player manages to pop a group of Blobs that are in direct contact with the Boulders. If the board gets filled up with Blobs and the player cannot move any more pairs, the game is over. In a two-player match, whoever fills up their opponent's board with Blobs is the winner.
In the cinematics between each round, Kirby and the other characters are shown having conversations and trash-talking with each other in full sentences. This differs greatly from other Kirby games, where the cast hardly speaks at all. Kirby's personality in the game is completely different from every other game medium he appears in, as he is portrayed as much more sarcastic and confrontational than normal. Kirby may have been given this attitude to cater to the perceived tastes and character preferences of Western audiences, as the game was designed specifically for North American and European markets, and has never been released in Japan. Note that in the original Puyo Puyo series, main character Arle Nadja had a similar personality before getting a major overhaul in the series' fifth game, Puyo Puyo Fever.
Each opponent shares the same AI with the following characters from each adaptation of Super Puyo Puyo, while Kirby shares the same character as Arle and replaces Carbuncle in the center frame during gameplay:
Kirby's Avalanche contains a custom options secret only accessible through a code. On Controller 2, the player must hold A, B, X, and Y, then press Reset on the Control Deck. While still holding the buttons on Controller 2, press Start on Controller 1. The player can then go to the Options mode, choose "Custom," and discover more possible options.[3]
Entering a specific Gameshark cheat code will add to the game's "Special Custom" menu. One of the options contained in this menu is called "Sousai." This option is similar to the mechanic introduced in Puyo Puyo Tsu by the same name (called Offsetting in future English releases). Before a Boulder falls, a player can pop a group of Blobs to clear them out before they fall; however, unlike future releases, it cannot be used to counterattack.
This is the first game to call Meta Knight by his actual name in-game, and the first time his name is revealed internationally.
This is the first game in the Kirby series where the Kirby Dance isn't shown after beating a level/boss.
This is also the first Kirby game to have voices, although the announcer is the only one who has voice acting.
This is also the first game in which Kirby and King Dedede are shown to speak.
All the bosses from Kirby's Dream Land and Kirby's Adventure return as opponents, with the exception of Kabula and Nightmare.
On the box art, King Dedede is not wearing his gloves. In-game, however, he does wear them.
Kirby's Avalanche and Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble are currently the only games that have an announcer announce the title on the title screen.
The garbage puyos (as they are known in the Puyo Puyo series) are referred to as "boulders" in the American version, and "ghosts" in the European version. The game's box either mentions an "Avalanche Competition," or a "Ghost Trap Competition," again depending on the version. Aside from these words, the advertising text on the back of the English boxes is exactly the same, as is the in-game tutorial that mentions "boulders" or "ghosts."
A ghost trap (as in the European title of the game) is an iconic ghost-capturing tool from the Ghostbusters movie series and other media set in their universe. Whether coincidentally or not, HAL Laboratory had previously developed a game with the Ghostbusters II license for the NES in 1990, known as New Ghostbusters II.
Squishy's dialogue box wasn't widened for the Ghost Trap name in the European version, so when he speaks the line "An eight-armed Ghost Trap for you then, Kirby!" the word "you" overflows the text box.
During King Dedede's stage, the panic music will never play if the player is close to losing.
Although Kirby's Avalanche came out after the Japanese release of Puyo Puyo Tsu, it still uses the less refined gameplay mechanics of the original Puyo Puyo, with no standard offset rule, All clear, double rotation or margin time systems.
As in some Puyo Puyo games, difficulty settings are ranked on a spiciness scale, with food icons suggesting a greater or lesser intensity. In Kirby's Avalanche, the most challenging level (5) with a high drop speed and many starting garbage blobs is named "Cajun," and shows a red chili pepper icon. This is a reference to Cajun cuisine, which was developed in 18th century Louisiana by Cajun-Acadian people descended from French colonists. Contrary to its modern reputation, it was not traditionally spicy or flavorful, meaning that the term's use in this game is based on an inaccurate misconception. (Creole cuisine, often confused with Cajun food, is in fact very spicy.)
Michael Kelbaugh, one of the game's two voice actors, would later become the president and CEO of Nintendo subsidiary Retro Studios and executive producer of several games in the Metroid Prime and Donkey Kong Country series.
Despite not being released in Japan, Masahiro Sakurai supervised Kirby's Avalanche. Ironically, Sakurai claims to be really bad at falling-block puzzle games, especially true of Puyo Puyo, of which this game is based.[4]