''Kirby's Star Stacker'' is a 1997

puzzle video game Puzzle video games make up a broad genre of video games that emphasize puzzle solving. The types of puzzles can test problem-solving skills, including logic, pattern recognition, Sequence, sequence solving, Spatial ability, spatial recognition, ...

developed by

HAL Laboratory formerly shortened as HALKEN, is a Japanese video game developer based in Chiyoda, Tokyo. It was founded on February 21, 1980 by Mitsuhiro Ikeda. The company started out developing games for home computers of the era, but has since establishe ...

and published by

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...

for the

Game Boy The is a handheld game console developed by Nintendo, launched in the Japanese home market on April 21, 1989, followed by North America later that year and other territories from 1990 onwards. Following the success of the Game & Watch single-ga ...

. It is a spin-off of the ''Kirby'' series with gameplay akin to the ''Puzzle League'' series. It was released for the

Nintendo Classics Nintendo Classics is a line of Video game console emulator, emulated retro games distributed by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch family of systems and Nintendo Switch 2. Subscribers of the Nintendo Switch Online service have access to games for ...

service for the

Nintendo Switch The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...

in May 2025. It received a

remake A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same s ...

for the

Super Famicom The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in No ...

in Japan.

Gameplay

''Kirby's Star Stacker'' is similar in many respects to other falling block

s that were around at the time of its release, most notably ''Soldam''. The goal of the game is to earn as many stars possible by matching pairs of blocks (also referred to as friends in-game) that fall from the top of the play area. There are three types of blocks, all based on Kirby's friends from ''

Kirby's Dream Land 2 ''Kirby's Dream Land 2'' is a 1995 action game, action-platformer, platform game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy video game console, handheld video game console. It was released in Japan on March 21, 1995, ...

'': Rick the hamster, Coo the owl, and Kine the fish. Stars are scored by sandwiching the stars between two matching blocks. When stars are scored, they disappear from the play area along with the pair of blocks enclosing them. The game is lost when the falling blocks reach the top of the play area (middle rows only), so it is critical to eliminate as many blocks as possible by scoring stars. There are four

game modes In tabletop games and video games, game mechanics define how a game works for players. Game mechanics are the rules or ludemes that govern and guide player actions, as well as the game's response to them. A rule is an instruction on how to play, wh ...

in ''Star Stacker''. *Round Clear - this is the main game, split into five difficulty modes (Normal, Hard, Very Hard, Super Hard, and Insane), each with a certain number of rounds. Rounds are cleared by eliminating a set number of stars. Each stage takes on a theme, such as a forest or outer space. When each round is cleared, the player is rewarded with special artwork using the themes of each stage. *VS - the

multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

mode, which requires two cartridges of the game, one for each player. *Challenge - an endless mode. The object is to eliminate as many stars as possible before the stack of blocks reaches the top of the screen; a hand raises up the set of blocks, introducing a new row. Like Round Clear, in-game artwork is awarded depending on the number of stars collected, often encouraging the player to try harder next time (until the final picture is received). *Time Attack - eliminate as many stars as possible in three minutes. There is a

high score In video games, score refers to an abstract quantity associated with a player or team. Score is usually measured in the abstract unit of points, and events in the game can raise or lower the score of different parties. Most games with score ...

table for the Challenge and Time Attack modes, showing the top three scores for each mode.

''Kirby no Kirakira Kids''

''Kirby no Kirakira Kids'' (カービィのきらきらきっず - ''Kirby's Sparkling Kids''), also commonly referred to as ''Kirby's Super Star Stacker'', is a

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

released in 1998 for the

; ROMs for the game were distributed via the

Nintendo Power ''Nintendo Power'' was a video game news and strategy magazine from Nintendo of America, first published in July/August 1988 as Nintendo's official print magazine for North America. The magazine's publication was initially done monthly by Ninte ...

flash RAM service, before the game was given a standard cartridge release a year later on June 25, 1999. ''Kirby no Kirakira Kids'' is an SNES remake of ''Kirby's Star Stacker'' with nearly identical gameplay. The point of the game is to remove falling star blocks by placing matching animal friends (Rick, Coo, and Kine) at either end. One of the primary enhancements is story mode, in which Kirby faces several opponents from other Kirby games (mostly from ''Kirby Super Star''). The game's title is exactly the same as the Japanese title of the Game Boy version of ''Kirby's Star Stacker''. There were plans to release the game overseas, but they were halted after Nintendo of America stopped shipping SNES games in 1997, leaving the game Japan-exclusive. This version was released on the

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...

Virtual Console The Virtual Console was a line of downloadable retro video games for Nintendo's Wii and Wii U home video game consoles and the Nintendo 3DS family of handheld systems. The Virtual Console lineup consisted of titles originally released on pa ...

in Japan on January 5, 2010, on the

service on July 21, 2022, in Japan, and on September 6, 2023, for the first time in the West under the ''Game Boy'' game's western title.

Notes

References

External links

* {{Portal bar, Video games, 1990s 1997 video games Falling block puzzle games Game Boy games HAL Laboratory games Japan-exclusive video games Kirby (series) video games Multiplayer and single-player video games Nintendo Classics games Puzzle video games Super Nintendo Entertainment System games Video games developed in Japan Video games scored by Hirokazu Ando Video games scored by Jun Ishikawa Virtual Console games Virtual Console games for Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console games for Wii Virtual Console games for Wii U