This article contains content derived from Japanese | (Edit | Similar) |
...because it was never localized to English in official sources. |
“ | In addition to the four different game modes present in the Game Boy version, a Story Mode has been added, which follows Kirby's progress as he faces off against a variety of bosses. It's now also possible for two players to battle against one another in the new VS Mode, and each Player's score and the result of each two-player match are now recorded.” |
— Summary • Kirby's Dream Collection Special Edition (translated from Japanese) |
Kirby's Star Stacker for the Super Famicom, also known as Kirby's Super Star Stacker,[3][4] is a puzzle game in the Kirby series developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Super Famicom. It was released only in Japan as a title for the Nintendo Power flash RAM service on February 1, 1998, and for the Super Famicom proper on June 25, 1999.[5] It is a remake of the game of the same name for the Game Boy.
In Japan, the game saw re-releases for the Wii Virtual Console on January 5, 2010, for Wii U Virtual Console on May 8, 2013, for New Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console on November 27, 2016, and for Nintendo Switch Online on July 21, 2022. However, on September 5, 2023, it was released internationally for the first time on Nintendo Switch Online, albeit without localization.
Story[]
As Mr. Star soars across the night sky, King Dedede gets an idea for a prank. He blasts Mr. Star out of the sky with his cannon, shattering Mr. Star into various pieces and scattering them across Dream Land. Kirby soon finds Mr. Star and agrees to help him get his pieces back together, similar to what happened in the Game Boy version.
Kirby and co. travel Dream Land retrieving Mr. Star's pieces from various familiar characters before facing King Dedede himself and sending him flying from his castle. Mr. Star happily departs after bidding Kirby and his friends farewell; though if all the perfect stars are collected, Gryll appears and challenges Kirby. If Kirby loses the fight, he and his animal friends get showered in blocks, and Gryll leaves casually. If Kirby wins the fight, Gryll will complain that Kirby was stronger than they anticipated, and leave in sadness.
Gameplay[]
The gameplay is similar to Kirby's Star Stacker; Star Blocks fall in pairs from the top of the play area. There are three types of blocks (called "friends" in the game), based on Kirby's Animal Friends from Kirby's Dream Land 2: Rick the hamster, Coo the owl, and Kine the fish. The object of the game is to score stars by placing one or more stars between two matching friends, which causes the friends and the stars to disappear, adding to the score total. Performing combos by matching multiple lines of friends will make more stars fall to form more blocks and quickly disappear, these instantly add to the score if there are no matching friends.
Menu (メニュー)[]
On the Menu (メニュー) screen, the player has four options, each featuring an icon of Kirby or his Animal Friends. They are, from left to right:
Icon | Japanese | English | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Name | Description | Name | Description | |
Kirby | ゲーム | いろんな ゲームで あそべるよ! | Game | You can play various games! |
Rick | なまえ | なまえを とうろくするとあそんだデータがきろくできるよ! | Name | If you register your name, you can make a record of your played data! |
Kine | ルール | あそびかたや ひっさつわざをおしえて あげるわ! | Rules | I'll teach you how to play and use special moves! |
Coo | きろく | さいこうきろくやたいせんけっかがみれるよ! | Records | You can see your best records and VS results! |
Game (ゲーム)[]
Picking "Game" takes the player to the Game Select (ゲームセレクト) screen, which features five modes, each featuring an icon of a character. They are, from left to right:
Icon | Japanese | English | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Name | Description | Name | Description | |
Mr. Star | チャレンジ | ★をたくさん あつめてね!いくつあつめ られるかな? | Challenge | Collect lots of ★'s! How many can you collect? |
King Dedede | ラウンドクレア | ★をあつめて デデデだいおうを やっつけろ!! | Round Clear | Collect ★'s to defeat King Dedede!! |
Kirby | おはなし | ほしのかけらを あつめて ほしくんを たすけてあげてね | Story | Collect Star Pieces to help out Mr. Star. |
Kirby & Waddle Dee | VS | だれがいちばん つよいかな?さぁ ともだちと たいせんだ! | VS | Who's the strongest? Let's battle with a friend! |
Tick-Tock Jr. | タイムアタック | 3ぷんいないに たくさん★を あつめてね | Time Attack | Collect lots of ★'s within 3 minutes. |
After selecting a game, the player is taken to a screen telling the player to "Choose a name ♥︎"; any registered names will appear here, as well as the default option of "Guest" (ゲスト), which does not save data to the Records.
In all game modes but Story and VS, once the player chooses a name or "Guest," the game goes to a screen asking the player "Which one?" regarding the mode's difficulty level. Unlike Kirby's Star Stacker on the Game Boy, which has four out of five difficulty levels available by default, this version has three of four difficulty levels available by default. The fourth and final difficulty level is unlocked through special criteria depending on the game mode:
Japanese | Translation | English name |
---|---|---|
ふつう | Normal | Hard |
たいへん | Hard | Very Hard! |
すごい | Terrible | Super Hard |
めちゃすご | Absurdly Terrible | Insane! |
The difficulty level that corresponded to Normal in the Game Boy version, やさしい (meaning: Easy) was dropped; however, the lowest difficulty level still uses the "Normal" face, with the "Hard" face being skipped. Each increase in difficulty level adds or changes different elements, such as adding Hard Blocks, increasing the frequency of of rows periodically rising from below, increasing the speed of falling blocks, and increasing the maximum number of rows a player can attack an opponent with (and vice versa) in competitive modes.
Challenge (チャレンジ)[]
The goal of the game is simply to stack as many Stars as possible. After every 100 Stars, confetti falls down and a small fanfare plays. After every 200 Stars, the music changes and the difficulty increases; after 1200 Stars, VS. Meta Knight plays; after 2000 Stars, VS. King Dedede plays; and after 3000 Stars, VS. Gryll plays. The final difficulty level is unlocked by collecting 1000 Stars in any difficulty level. Collecting 2000 Stars is required for game completion.
A player's highest score and difficulty level appears in Records for Challenge under "Individual" (こじん); the top five scores and difficulty levels appears under "Game" (ゲーム).
Round Clear (ラウンドクリア)[]
The goal of the game is to collect enough Stars to reduce King Dedede's HP to 0. Each difficulty level has its own amount of rounds, increasing by 10 for each difficulty level. The final difficulty level is unlocked by clearing the first three difficulty levels. Clearing all 100 rounds is required for game completion.
Japanese | Translation | English name | # of Rounds |
---|---|---|---|
ふつう | Normal | Hard | 10 |
たいへん | Hard | Very Hard! | 20 |
すごい | Terrible | Super Hard | 30 |
めちゃすご | Absurdly Terrible | Insane! | 40 |
A player's percentage clear appears in Records for Round Clear under "Individual" (こじん); the top five percentage clears appears under "Game" (ゲーム).
Story (おはなし)[]
"Story" is the only new game mode in this version of Kirby's Star Stacker. Choosing a name or "Guest" takes the player to the opening cutscene of the story. If a registered name has any saved progress, however, choosing it instead leads to a screen that prompts the player to resume "From Continue" (つづきから) or "From the Beginning" (はじめから); if the player selects "From the Beginning," the player can press A for "Delete Data" (Aーデータをけす) and start Story Mode from the beginning, or press B for "Don't Delete" (Bーけさない) and return to the previous prompt, allowing the player to resume "From Continue" if desired. In Story Mode, Kirby competes against seven opponents to get Mr. Star's Star Pieces back; each opponent has a difficulty level, which increases as harder opponents are encountered. Only the first three difficulty levels are used in Story's default mode, Amateur (アマ). Beating an opponent without losing rewards a Perfect Star, which appears on the map above the opponent's icon. Obtaining all seven Perfect Stars and defeating King Dedede allows the player to fight Gryll; defeating Gryll unlocks "Professional Mode" (プロモード), which increases the difficulty level at a faster rate, allowing the final difficulty level to be used. Upon selecting a registered name where Gryll has been defeated, choosing the "From the Beginning" prompt instead leads to a new prompt for "Amateur" (アマ) and "Professional" (プロ) modes, before once again giving the A Button and B Button prompts on whether to delete or not delete the current Story Mode data. Choosing to delete the data and start from the beginning on Professional changes the border from pink to gold, signifying the mode being played on.
Character | Difficulty | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Amateur (アマ) | Professional (プロ) | |||||
Japanese | Translation | English name | Japanese | Translation | English name | |
Waddle Dee | ふつう | Normal | Hard | ふつう | Normal | Hard |
Poppy Bros. Jr. | ||||||
Lovely | たいへん | Hard | Very Hard! | |||
Knuckle Joe | たいへん | Hard | Very Hard! | |||
Chef Kawasaki | すごい | Terrible | Super Hard | |||
Meta Knight | ||||||
King Dedede | すごい | Terrible | Super Hard | めちゃすご | Absurdly Terrible | Insane! |
Gryll |
A player's most recent play time appears in Records for Story Mode under "Individual" (こじん); only when a player first defeats Gryll will the time display under "Game" (ゲーム), to which the time stops accumulating in "Individual"; the top five times appears under "Game" (ゲーム), but does not denote whether the player played on "Amateur" (アマ) or "Professional" (プロ).
VS[]
Picking "VS" takes the player to a screen telling the players to "Choose a name ♥︎"; any registered names will appear here, as well as the default option of "Guest" (ゲスト), which does not save data to the Records. Player 1 is highlighted in red while Player 2 is highlighted in blue; "Guest" can be used by both players, but registered names can only be used by one player at a time; if one of the players chooses "Guest," the Records for VS will only be added to the Individual instead of for the Game. After both players choose names and/or "Guest," they are taken to the VS screen, giving the players three selections. These three selections, from top to bottom:
- How many? (なんかい勝負): The maximum number of rounds for a given match. Players can pick 1, 3, and 5; a player needs to win one, two, or three rounds, respectively, to win the match.
- Difficulty level: Each player can independently pick a difficulty level; only the first three difficulty levels are available by default. Difficulty levels affect how many blocks start in the play area, how fast blocks fall, how often a row rises up from the bottom, and maximum number of rows that can be added from an opponent attacking after performing a chain.
- Character: Each player can independently pick one of the required opponent characters that appear in the Story, even being able to pick the same character. If a player is using a registered name that has defeated Gryll in Story, Gryll can be chosen for that player; as such, using "Guest" prevents being able to pick Gryll. Character choices do not affect gameplay.
Once all selections are chosen, the players enter a match. Every round win is marked with O and every round loss is marked with X. Once a match is complete, the losing player is given the choice to "Continue" (つづける) or "Quit" (やめる).
A player's overall number of wins and losses appears in Records for VS under "Individual" (こじん); each player's wins and losses against every other player appears under "Game" (ゲーム).
Time Attack (タイムアタック)[]
The goal of the game is to stack as many Stars as possible within a 3-minute time limit. The final difficulty level is unlocked by collecting 150 Stars in any difficulty level. Collecting 200 Stars is required for game completion.
A player's highest score and difficulty level appears in Records for Time Attack under "Individual" (こじん); the top five scores and difficulty levels appears under "Game" (ゲーム).
Name (なまえ)[]
Picking "Name" takes the player to a screen asking "What's your name?" There are three options, from top to bottom:
- Register New (あたらしくとうろくします): Register a new name. Upon selection, the game says to "Please choose a spot", referring to one of the six boxes the player an enter a name in. After selecting a spot, the player is taken to a keyboard to enter a name. Names save and record an individual player's data, similarly to the Name Entry function in Kirby's Dream Course. Playing a game without using a registered name renders the player as a "Guest" (ゲスト), and data will not be recorded.
- Name Correction (なまえをなおします): Edit an existing name. Upon selection, the game says to "Please choose a name", referring to any of the six boxes that has a name in it; this option cannot be chosen if no names exist. Upon selecting a name, the player is taken to the keyboard to make any corrections.
- Delete Name (なまえをけします): Delete an existing name. Upon selection, the game says to "Please choose a name", referring to any of the six boxes that has a name in it; this option cannot be chosen if no names exist. Upon selecting a name, the player can press A for "Delete" (けす) or B for "Don't Delete" (けさない).
The keyboard that appears when registering or correcting a name has four tables of letters, each having five columns. The fourth table has three rows, and below it are the different keyboard options, the ability to go forward or go backward in the name, or end the name. The three keyboards represent different ways of writing, and can be changed by selecting the respective blue-colored symbol or by pressing L/R; あ is hiragana, ア is katakana, and A is Latin script and Latin digits. In the kana-based keyboards, the first three tables have five rows, with the third table having kana with dakuten (゛) and handakuten (゜) diacritics; the fourth table has smaller vowel kana, a sokuon (っ/ッ), smaller y kana used for yōon as well as a small "wa" kana also used in yōon, and various common symbols. In the Latin-based keyboard, the first two tables are four rows and have upper case letters and numbers, while the third and fourth tables have lowercase letters and symbols; the symbols are in the third table instead of the fourth table. "!" "?" "&" "_" and "-" are universal across all keyboards, with the dash being a chōonpu (ー) in kana-based keyboards; the Latin keyboard uniquely has the "♥︎" and "★" symbols. Pressing A enters the highlighted character on the keyboard and moves forward one space in the name, pressing B erases the highlighted letter in the name and moves backward one space in the name, and pressing Start ends the name; a name can only be four characters long.
あ | い | う | え | お | は | ひ | ふ | へ | ほ | が | ぎ | ぐ | げ | ご | ぁ | ぃ | ぅ | ぇ | ぉ | |||
か | き | く | け | こ | ま | み | む | め | も | ざ | じ | ず | ぜ | ぞ | っ | ゃ | ゅ | ょ | ゎ | |||
さ | し | す | せ | そ | ら | り | る | れ | ろ | だ | ぢ | づ | で | ど | ! | ? | & | _ | ー | |||
た | ち | つ | て | と | や | ゆ | よ | ば | び | ぶ | べ | ぼ | あ | ア | A | |||||||
な | に | ぬ | ね | の | わ | を | ん | ぱ | ぴ | ぷ | ぺ | ぽ | ← | → | END |
ア | イ | ウ | エ | オ | ハ | ヒ | フ | ヘ | ホ | ガ | ギ | グ | ゲ | ゴ | ァ | ィ | ゥ | ェ | ォ | |||
カ | キ | ク | ケ | コ | マ | ミ | ム | メ | モ | ザ | ジ | ズ | ゼ | ゾ | ッ | ャ | ュ | ョ | ヮ | |||
サ | シ | ス | セ | ソ | ラ | リ | ル | レ | ロ | ダ | ヂ | ヅ | デ | ド | ! | ? | & | _ | ー | |||
タ | チ | ツ | テ | ト | ヤ | ユ | ヨ | バ | ビ | ブ | ベ | ボ | あ | ア | A | |||||||
ナ | ニ | ヌ | ネ | ノ | ワ | ヲ | ン | パ | ピ | プ | ペ | ポ | ← | → | END |
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | i | j | |||
K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | k | l | m | n | o | p | q | r | s | t | |||
U | V | W | X | Y | Z | u | v | w | x | y | z | |||||||||||
0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | ! | ? | & | _ | ー | あ | ア | A | |||||
♥︎ | ★ | ← | → | END |
Rules (ルール)[]
Picking "Rules" takes the player to a tutorial where Kirby explains how the game works; what he says is similar to his explanations in Kirby's Star Stacker for the Game Boy. Kirby provides eleven different explanations, represented by blue tabs in a spiral notebook (with the current tab being colored yellow), that automatically progresses as Kirby talks and demonstrates. Pressing A or ↓ goes to the next explanation, pressing ↑ goes to the previous explanation, and pressing B goes back to the Menu.
- Hi!! I'll teach the rules for the game now!!
- Cooperate with Rick, Kine, and Coo to collect the ★'s!!
- Sandwich ★'s between like friends to stack the ★'s.
-
- For example, sandwich the ★ between Rick and Rick to stack the ★.
- Next, look at sandwiching between Kine and Kine!!
- There you go!! You stacked a ★.
- If you use two friends, you can stack a lot of ★'s all at once.
-
- If another friend is between, you won't collect the ★.
- Since Kine is between Rick and Rick, you won't collect it.
- Since Coo is between Kine and Kine, you won't collect this ★.
-
- When you can chain two or more ★'s together, "Bonus ★'s" will fall from the sky!!
- Once.
- Twice.
- There you go.
-
- Hereupon, use chain reactions to make lots of "Bonus ★'s" fall!
- Amazing!!
-
- If among like friends, Bonus ★'s will fall, and you can connect even more chains to get ★'s!
- On the second time, you can stack more ★'s.
- If falling Bonus ★'s fall between friends...
- Look at that, so many Bonus ★'s falling!!!
- It's beautiful, isn't it?
-
- With enough chains, lots of ★'s can be stacked.
- At times like this, well, well...
- Individually, if you set the friend here...
- Look, look! Stack lots of ★'s!
- My friend, keep going!!
-
- But,
- Sometimes, ★'s or friends appear from below, so be careful!!
-
- Get caught on a center column and the game is over.
- Well then, everyone good luck!!
- Bye bye!!
Records (きろく)[]
Picking "Records" takes the player to the View Records (きろくをみる) screen. Underneath are two options, left to right:
- Individual (こじん): Shows records for a registered name. On the left side are high scores for Challenge Game (チャレンジゲーム) and Time Attack (タイムアタック), as well as percentage completion of Round Clear (ラウンドクレア). On the right side is a time record for Story Mode (おはなしモード) and a counter for wins (勝) and losses (敗) for VS Mode (VS モード).
- Game (ゲーム): Shows records for all registered names. Each game has its own tab; Challenge Game (チャレンジゲーム) and Time Attack (タイムアタック) have the top five scores, Round Clear (ラウンドクレア) has the top five completion percentages, Story Mode (おはなしモード) has the top five times, and VS Mode (VS モード) lists the individual win (O) and loss (X) records of each registered player against every other registered player.
Challenge Game (チャレンジゲーム), Story Mode (おはなしモード), and Time Attack (タイムアタック) have five preset high scores. The top five scores are based on characters that appear in the game, and their relative standings are consistent.
Most of the names are written with hiragana, the default keyboard option; Kirby's name is written in katakana instead, which is typical for writing his name in Japanese. While Mr. Star's name is written in Japanese using hiragana and sometimes kanji, Rick's, Kine's, and Coo's names are typically written in Japanese with katakana.
Bosses[]
In Story, every boss excluding Gryll yields a star piece. Kirby must beat each boss in order to progress, much like in platforming Kirby titles. If the player beats each boss without using a continue, a "Perfect Star" is obtained; the player must obtain all Perfect Stars in order to fight Gryll.
Music[]
Main article: Kirby's Star Stacker/Music |
Transcript[]
Main article: Kirby's Star Stacker (Super Famicom)/Transcript |
Related Quotes[]
“ | Everyone's favorite caroming creampuff is back for more classic puzzle fun!
In the tradition of classic puzzle games like Tetris, Kirby's Super Star Stacker challenges you to manipulate pairs of falling objects to clear away as many stars as you can. Kirby's old friends -- Kine the Sunfish, Coo the Owl and Rick the Hamster -- are on hand to make sure you don't get starstruck! Of course, the more you play, the faster the objects fall, and the more rows of new objects spring up from the bottom of the screen. Your goal is to sandwich falling Stars between matching Animal Friend Blocks (Kine the Sunfish, Coo the Owl and Rick the Hamster). As a pair of falling blocks drops, you can move it side to side and rotate it. You can also blow up a row of blocks with a Bomb block. Super Star Stacker also features a Hard Block, which magically transforms into a Star when sandwiched between two Friends blocks. You'll then have to sandwich the Star again to clear it away. You can also square off a friend in Star Stacker's two-player simultaneous mode! Endless intriguing puzzle action will keep you playing Kirby's Super Star Stacker for hours!” |
— Description • Kirby's Super Star Stacker sneak peak website[4] |
“ | Join Kirby as he stacks the falling stars with help from his friends! Watch out for King Dedede. He is out to stop you! With a few quick moves and some well-timed strategy, you can quickly outwit him and move on to the next challenging level with a little help from Rick, Kine, and Coo, who look like a hamster, fish, and owl, respectively. Blocks rain down from above while whole lines appear from below with relentless regularity. Simply sandwich the stars between Kirby's pals, and you'll soon be on your way to earning a high score in pure puzzle fun!” |
— Details • Super Nintendo Entertainment System - Nintendo Switch Online |
Trivia[]
- Kirby's Star Stacker was intended for international release, but the SNES's lifespan ended in North America and Europe before the game could be localized in either region.[6] The standard cartridge release of the game also came out in the exact year of the SNES's discontinuation in North America, further compounding its isolation. It eventually got a release for Nintendo Switch Online in September 2023, making it the first time the game saw an overseas release, however, it retains its original Japanese language.
- If the player scores high enough in Challenge Mode, Kine is shown drinking out of a long-necked bottle in a tavern or club (the label says 「海水」 which means "seawater"). This may be one of the few alcohol references in the Kirby series, alongside the illustrations for Mix in Kirby's Adventure and Kirby Super Star. This same scene implies Kirby is drunkenly singing karaoke.
- This is currently the only Kirby remake to have the exact same Japanese name as its original game.
- This was the final game by HAL Laboratory to use their older HALKEN logo during the opening title sequence, instead of the HAL Laboratory or HAL Corporation logos that had since become standardized in the company's other releases. This may have been in recognition of the fact that it was HAL's last Kirby game on Super Famicom. However, it would not be their final Super Famicom release, which was the boxed cartridge version of Metal Slader Glory: Director's Cut, in November 2000.