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Everybody loves Kirby.
From the old-school crew who’ve loved the franchise’s games ever since Kirby’s Dream Land came out for the GameBoy in 1992, to the angry players calling Kirby “overpowered” in Super Smash Bros, we all have a soft spot for the pink blob in our hearts.
Whether you’ve already gone through Kirby’s entire roster or yearn for Kirby’s Adventure’s simple 16-bit days – ROM hacks are your best bet to re-connect with the living vacuum cleaner.
Kirby hacks are, oddly, not that common… but I’ve found some amazing ones you’re sure to enjoy.
This hack changes the game’s control scheme to resemble the one in Kirby’s Adventure on the NES. That means Y inhales enemies and uses attacks, B is used for jumping and gliding, and A spawns your partner to fight alongside you.
It’s a simple tweak that makes the game considerably more comfortable – especially for those of us who love the original Kirby’s Adventure.
As I mentioned before, Kirby ROM hacks aren’t the most common kind. That means even smaller hacks deserve to make it into the ranking, just like Vegetable Valley Nightmare.
This Kirby’s Adventure hack consists of a single massive level with greater difficulty than the vanilla game. It’s actually every Vegetable Valley level stitched together, without any extra lives or checkpoints.
The UFO secret was also removed to keep players from cheesing the level with the corresponding power.
People in the West generally love Halloween. Which explains why so many spooky hacks bear the Autumn festivity’s name.
Kirby’s Halloween Adventure is chiefly an aesthetic hack using custom assets to make enemies in the game more spooky. Their copied abilities have also been adjusted for a scarier experience.
Levels also feature new layouts, and the color palette for the whole game has been modified to fit the ghouls and other horrors awaiting Kirby.
Overall, it’s an exciting hack with an entertaining concept that’s perfect for playing in late October.
This ranking considers any ROM hack featuring Kirby as a valid entry… so even a modification of the original Super Mario Bros. 2 can make it into the list!
Instead of expanding the original Kirby’s Adventure, this hack builds a sequel on SMB2’s engine. To achieve a convincing effect, everything has been recolored (mostly pink), and Kirby is the new playable character, replacing Mario.
While you can’t fly or use Kirby’s copy ability, power-ups are waiting for you that give the pink blob a serious fighting chance against the game’s many enemies.
Regrettably, the hack never made it past three levels – but they’re three damn good ones.
Especially when you consider that it’s technically a sports game.
A great way to spice things up once you know the levels by heart is to try Kirby’s Dank Course, with eight new stages and a special “post-game” one. Clear them all, and you can consider the game finished.
Level design is pretty impressive, and it’s especially exciting because this ROM hack is nothing like the vanilla game.
There’s nothing really “Dank” about this hack, and it’s missing a bit of polish. But it’s really an incredible hack to try out nonetheless.
I always try to prioritize finished hacks in my rankings, but sometimes, quality beats completion by a long shot.
This hack of Kirby Super Star Ultra only covers the Dynablade and Spring Breeze levels, but it does wonders with them. There are more enemies, more creative and challenging platforming, and exciting events.
This hack goes a long way to making KSSU a more difficult and ultimately rewarding experience, and it’s a shame it was never finished.
The original Kirby’s Dream Land was a fantastic game with excellent level design and a charming art-style.
Regrettably, the first GameBoy didn’t support color – making Kirby a gray blob rather than a pink one.
This wonderful hack re-colorizes everything in the game, upgrading it to a GameBoy Color game. For a character like Kirby, whose games usually feature a carnival of colors, this is a pretty significant improvement.
Despite some very minor visual bugs, this is the ultimate way to play KDL.
Finding this fabled hack was as challenging an experience as any Kaizo-level ROM, but it was worth it.
It’s called Puresabe Kirby’s Adventure in honor of its creator, and it’s a massive conversion of the game’s levels to be much more treacherous and often maze-like in their layout.
Despite how hard it is to find, people still widely recommend it, and it’s considered one of the genuinely great Kirby’s Adventure ROM hacks.
If you think your Kirby skills are up to the task, I guarantee this hack won’t disappoint.
Don’t get too excited, Jojo fans – this hack has nothing to do with Pillar Men, Hamon, or Stands.
The “bizarre” part of the title refers to the unusual way you need to traverse these levels.
Kirby has been stripped of his flying ability, meaning you’ll have to make the journey on foot. This makes platforming considerably more challenging.
Abilities that let you move around faster or jump higher are incredibly important, and you’ll need to be pretty creative with them if you have any hope to finish this game.
The enemies are also deviously placed, so watch out for that.
There’s nothing a dedicated fandom can’t achieve given enough time. And Grump’s Dream Course is the incredibly fun proof of that.
This hack began development shortly after Danny from the Game Grumps expressed interest in playing DLC for Kirby’s Dream Course. This was heard by the development team like a request, and they got down to work.
The result is a massive roster of 152 entirely new boards to play in, including a couple with Kaizo-level difficulty. Something for absolutely everyone.
Even if you don’t try it out yourself, you can always watch the Game Grumps play it on their Youtube channel.
Nelson Chitty is a Venezuelan expat living in Argentina. He’s a writer and translator passionate about history and foreign cultures. His ideal weekend is spent between leisurely playing games of Civilization VI and looking for the next seinen anime to marathon.
