Originally released on SNES, February 1, 1995
Wii Points: 800 ($8)
Review it yourself

HAL Laboratory was working on a game called Special Tee Shot in 1993, which, after a mid-development reworking, eventually became Kirby's Dream Course. If this story reminds you of the birth of Christ, you are not alone: Kirby's Dream Course is a miracle of game design. It is not only the best golf game ever made, but also one of the greatest puzzle games ever made, if only because it so successfully combines the two.

The idea is simple enough. Players must propel Kirby through eight courses of isometric golf, with eight holes apiece for a total of 64 levels. Each stage consists of a simple, semi-3D plane, in which several stationary enemies wait patiently for Kirby to make contact. Using a shot meter and pre-adjustment aiming scheme, Kirby must wipe the board clean of enemies, either by rolling along the ground putter-style, or by popping into the air for lob shots. After the penultimate enemy is destroyed, the final enemy is transformed into the cup, which then becomes the final goal. This sounds a lot more complex than it really is.

Every time Kirby tees off, he loses a health tomato--every time he hits an enemy, he gains one. With four tomatoes--or strokes--to spare, you've got a limited amount of leeway, but with enemies aplenty, you can hang on to a single tomato if you can down a steady stream of bad guys. Levels pass quickly, one way or another, and deaths are rare. The emphasis is on creative approaches and skillful shots. There is little frustration to be found in Kirby's Dream Course.

Rather than a golf course, what the player really faces is a giant puzzle to solve. With unlimited time available, the first shot is crucial--after all, most holes (if not all of them) can be completed with a single shot, even though it may seem impossible at first. Using a combination of wall-bouncing trajectories, shot placement, special abilities, and course variables, getting Kirby through each enemy becomes an exercise in forethought and reflex. Even if you know how a shot must be made--bounce off of a wall, hit the warp pad, emerge on the other side of the level, hit the one enemy, use the jump ability and careen down into the hole--the whole attempt is ruined if your shot isn't at the right speed.

Dream Course gives you a wide range of control over each attempt. Both ground and lob shots can be curved, and top and back-spin can be applied. Of course, this is a Kirby game, so special abilities come into play. Without any powers, the player can try to use a quick Kirby "pulse" ability, which amplifies a bounce if timed correctly. Difficult to describe, what it amounts to is cheating. Rather than praying for the ball to keep bouncing toward the hole, the player can use these timed pulses to get a little more distance out of the shot. Ever watched a golf ball sail toward the cup and fall short by an inch? Kirby don't play that.

Traditional Kirby powers also factor into the gameplay. Killing a rock enemy gives you the ability to turn Kirby into a rock at any time during a shot, dropping him straight down into the hole. The umbrella power lets Kirby float safely down from a long height, with the player directing him left or right as he drops. Like the pulsation, these powers often have to be used at the correct time, which adds a fantastic element of suspense.

As always, the levels become progressively harder, with air vents, rotating floor tiles, sand traps, warp pads, and more crazy obstacles through which to weave Kirby. There is also a multiplayer mode, in which two players shoot to outscore eachother on the same level--sometimes by sabotaging the other with an intentional attack, like Jack Nicklaus walking up to Arnold Palmer's ball and drop-kicking it across the fairway.

There isn't much more to say about Dream Course--except that you have to buy it. It's the first Virtual Console review that I feel compelled to push on the masses, confident that it has gone unnoticed by most. For $8, you're getting a deep, enjoyable, challenging puzzle game, with a great action component. It's really that good.

Go back to Carlos Bergfeld's appraisal of Paper Mario.