Block Lazner

As mentioned in one of our previous entries

(this entry to be exact: http://silentsanctummanga.blogspot.com/2015/10/astral-dreadnought.html).

Our desire to play a certain game called:

led us to download a Game Boy emulator(which was this one)

which later on led us to download even more games via freeroms.com. One such game to complete this nostalgia trip was called Kirby's Block Ball.

This was how the game would look sans the Super Game Boy Borders.

Yep, it's a lot less distracting to play this way, I guess...

Hence the rest of our review shall be done within this manner.

Developed by HAL Laboratories.

We first encountered this said game back when it was packaged together with one of our bootlegged multicarts.

Yeah, that's right kiddos! Games DID came out in nifty lil' cartridges

and we were required to buy newer ones every so often. The option of legally digitally downloading any games never really existed up until the current gen. consoles. So cherish/ponder on that, you millenial babies, you!

And if the winking Kirby from the very animated title screen couldn't convince you as to how fun the succeeding game would be then I don't know what will.

Like most of the more famous Nintendo titles, it is self-aware of it's own difficulty level.

Hence the game offers a more than efficient save system.

Clearing your save file is as amusing as the title screen itself.

Having Kirby swallow up a bomb,

then having him spit it out at the desired billboard is as fun to do as it is fun to watch.

Now on to the game itself.

In a nutshell, it plays a lot like a more cartoony version of Atari's Breakout.

BUT the comparison falls short because KBB offers a minimum of two and a maximum of four simultaneous paddles,

crazy power-ups,

end stage boss battles,

bonus stages (two of which we were unable to unlock),

dancing Kirbies,

and of course,PARADES!

The objective of each world was to obtain a high score hence allowing you to collect a flag later on.

And trust us, you'd wanna get a flag upon completion of each stage.
And why is that?

You'd figure it out later on.

Every 4th level or so, you are offered the benefit of preparing for the imminent boss battle at level 5.

Stock up on as many Star Blocks as possible, for you are gonna need it!

Star blocks are bricks with star shaped patterns on them.

There are approximately 20+ blocks at a given time. The sole purpose

of these blocks are to barricade/cushion Kirby crash/ landing to the various spikes on the walls.

Following a very common gamer logic, being nailed to any of these spikes would undeniably result in instant death (not unless you are equipped with a power-up).

But then again, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure....So that's that!

By default, you are allowed to bounce Kirby off in any of the four paddles. This particular attack is immediately made available as early as the first world and is actually a necessary attack to master when breaking certain blocks during the earlier stages. The first body altering power-up comes in at the third level.

These power-up varies in range and overall effectiveness but you would usually be able to finish any given world with or without these power-ups so really, it simply boils down to personal taste/ preferences.

The power-ups are as follow:

Hmmm, STONES and NEEDLES...if I didn't know any better, it looks as if this game is subliminally encouraging kids to do drugs. But moving right along with the last power-up which was THIS one:

There is nothing more satisfying crushing your enemies,

see them driven before you 

and hearing the lamentations of their women.

Now, there are three other power-ups that weren't featured within this documentation but mainly due to the fact that you really don't have any control as to when and how these items get activated. It's one of those luck of the draw type of power-ups so t'would be best not to confuse them with actual attacks that could help you complete the game. Although the Bomb icon is indeed necessary for clearing certain stages. The Splitting Kirbies and Randomizer icon proves to be useless (aka "THAT WEAPON" in gamer lingo) most especially in the latter portions of the game.

The last boss is affectionately referred to as Brobo. But despite having a name like that, he definitely isn't your BRO...bo!

After which a fitting ending for completing a difficult task is but expected.

But what's this? 

You are then treated to a bad ending. And that's a bad thing!

AWWW HELL NAWWW!

Instead of contemplating and questioning your life's existence, let's backtrack a little....

We did mention a little something about getting all 10 flags from the 10 worlds you just competed in.

Turns out this really daunting task was necessary for you to unlock the 11th stage which is the REAL final battle. Now, we're no Kirby expert and all but we do know that  King Dedede had to be in this game. He's practically in all of them.

The game is gracious enough to let you travel back to a previous world hence letting you hoist some of the more elusive flags you might have missed.

Afterwhich a final path does open up in the overwold map and you are then able to face off with King Dedede.

And with that in mind, LET'S KILL THE KING!

The king's stage is a cheap one. With two additional levels. Making it a whopping 7 levels as opposed to the usual 5. Star blocks were then scattered in each levels of the stage so good luck finding all of them.

The boss battle itself was a little bit off a let down.

Even when armed with a bazooka,

the king was no match to our  Kirby's burning attacks!

This it folks, the true Good Ending of the game:

Kirby then continues to splash around the fountain as the credits roll by.

 

 God bless their souls....

The game freezes like that for quite some time. But don't turn off your Game Boy just yet.

Wait for it....wait for it....

 

The button allows to cycle back to the title screen hence allowing you to play the game once more. How convenient! But seriously who'd wanna do that? What are you a glutton for punishment?