Nintendo has been full of surprises today, one of the biggest being a radical renenvisioning of the Kirby franchise with their new title Kirby's Epic Yarn. During his brief intro of the mystery game, Reggie was making more bad “yarn” and “spin” puns than usual, leaving the crowd wondering if Crochet Today! Magazine had somehow infiltrated the teleprompt. Fortunately Kirby's Epic Yarn’s arts and crafts style quickly explained away the bad jokes.
Above: Kirbydodges this ADORABLE dragon's tongue
The Epic Yarn video showed Kirby as a small pink outline, apparently made from yarn, blasting through a 2-D side scrolling level attacking enemies with some sort of yarn whip. The video then showcased Kirby in multiple different forms including a UFO and an extremely powerful looking robot. While the shocking new art style is a big change, the gameplay looks like classic Kirby, with some additional Wii commands included.
Above: The LBP influence is there, but it's still classic Nintendo
From the gameplay we saw, it’s unclear how heavily the Wiimote is integrated, or if the Classic Controller can be used. Either way, this gorgeous take on Kirby, looks like classic Nintendo platforming at its best, and the creative art style definitely plays to the Wii’s graphical strong points. Nintendo may not have the most powerful graphics in the industry, but they certainly have some of the best art direction, even if it does owe Little Big Planet a thank you card.
Jun 15, 2010
