The lost fangames of Kirby’s Rainbow Resort
Because I’ve already gotten a headstart on being a very wordy bastard, Some games I played in 2020 is up, though unfinished, as you might expect. Check back in four months and I might have some shockingly tepid takes on Persona 3! Though it’s likely I’ll have more to say about Croc 2. You know what I’m like.
And of course, Scans & Bits updated with the last missing episode of Crash Bandicoot Dance Jump Daibouken, some more CoroCoro Sonic, and also links to more scanning and translation efforts, as well more MEGA uploads of Fami2Comic and Dengeki Nintendo. My scanner’s currently on the fritz, so I can’t tackle the stacks of magazines I still need to scan in full. If there is a hell, that is absolutely not among the list of tortures, but darn it, I’m upset.
I assumed my internet connection was just being dodgy, but it seems longtime ClassicGaming-era fansite Kirby’s Rainbow Resort has finally shuttered this year. There’s still a gateway page, but almost all of the pages have vanished — not even replaced with a 404 error, but simply blank white pages! The forums are still accessible, though largely abandoned and plagued with PHP and MySQL errors… yet some of the site’s oldest pages are still alive, strangely.
Among them the absolutely adorable map of Pop Star, an old April Fools frontpage, manual scans for Kirby 64, and, of course, a relic of the interminably old fangames page that I legit never knew ever got replaced until someone told me. Chucking “site:kirbysrainbowresort.net” into any search engine will show you what’s still available, though I’d suggest you backup what you can in the event it goes down. What’s curious is that it only seems to be the pages that have vanished; if you can find direct links to any images or files, they’re still working. The fanart gallery itself might be broken beyond repair, but all the images are still there…!
Unwarranted tangent: years ago I once considered updating Random Hoo Haas to something more advanced than hypertext markup language, but seeing so many sites go down the shitter not even because of disinterest or greater callings, but because corralling the database code to cooperate with the server was too much hassle… that sucks, dude. CSS is as fancy as I want to get. If I can’t view my entire site offline via my local copies then I want no part of it. Having to replace my loving-crafted tables with <div>s to accommodate mobile screens is an overdue accessibility feature but also a personal affront. Random Hoo Haas will remain HTML for life, and I say that as an assurance and a threat.
I never kept up with KRR but it’s depressing to know there’s nearly two decades of content on the site, now lost because of a server update. I’m not qualified enough to perform a eulogy for it, though I’d absolutely love to see someone properly mourn for all the stuff I missed out. Instead I’ll just talk about the fangames, since that’s what I’m qualified for, apparently. Their links are (mostly) still active, and the database helpfully states it has 33 games in it, with at least 28 of them are confirmed as working, so let’s run through them all for posterity!
[UPDATED APRIL 2021] Found links for all but one of the missing games! Ta to @fan_of_smbx for the heads-up.
Some GameMaker games will crash on boot in Windows 7 or higher, and will need terminated from the Task Manager. Running its .EXE through “GM_Convert_Game” should patch it into working order.
Astaroids
Asteroids with Kirby. Adequate, but sadly not a great demonstration of screen-wrapping.
[KRR] [Archive.org]
Breakout
An in-browser game coded in Java, which I’ve yet to be convinced is anything but shorthand for “good luck getting this to run!” There’s a .class file still available, if that’s any use to anyone.
[Archive.org]
Bump ‘N’ Battle Demo
A bizarre twist on Breakout where the goal isn’t to break blocks, but to bounce Kirby to the goal warp. I don’t really get it, but points for creativity…?
[KRR] [Archive.org]
Candy Cane Frenzy
A mini-game somewhat in the vein of 3D World Runner, where you pick up food items and avoid bashing into trees or enemies. Putting GameMaker’s sprite-scaling capabilities to use!
[KRR] [Archive.org]
Dream Land Dash
A four-level romp where the goal is to complete the stages as quickly as possible, grabbing good to add seconds to the time limit. Features hand-drawn graphics in addition to some wonky new mechanics.
[Archive.org]
Dream Land Java Project
A selection of mini-games played in your browser, or they would if Java weren’t an enigma to me. The individual game pages still exist, but I’ve no idea if they’re compatible with modern browsers anymore.
[Archive.org]
Dreamland Races
Not a racing game, but instead one of those get-the-coins dodge-the-enemies sort of affairs. Dirt simple, but looks pleasant enough.
[KRR] [Archive.org]
Fighter Kirby Rush
A single-screen mini-game where you use Fighter abilities to clobber harmless Waddle Dees while avoiding bombs. Shoot for the high score! Obscenely simple, yet still manages to make one of the moves non-functional as far as I can tell.
[KRR] [Archive.org]
Fighter Kirby Rush 2: Fighter’s Challenge
The exact same game only instead of fighting for high score you play through different stages… which seem to just be short-term goals like “beat 10 Waddle Dees”. There appear to be four boss stages and I can’t tell what you’re meant to do in any of them. Neat concept, but the execution leaves something to be desired…!
[KRR] [Archive.org]
Fort Valiance
A tower defence game of sorts! Whack incoming bombs with your sword, with several limited-use special moves that can be replenished by eating candy. Features a variety of prose endings, and even a special mini-game for reaching a high score of 70, apparently.
[KRR] [Archive.org]
Gourmet Grab
Run through looping levels and eat all the food in the time limit. Features 4 stages.
[KRR] [Archive.org]
Gourmet Grab 2
More of the same, only on bigger, more unwieldy stages. Features graphics from Nightmare in Dreamland, as well as the option to play as Meta Knight or the slightly inexplicable Sonic-Kirby.
[KRR] [Archive.org]
Invasion of King Dedede
A side-scrolling shoot-em-up that has you gunning down Scarfys and other ill-fitting graphics. Seriously tricky and also features some tiresome load times every time you die.
[KRR] [Archive.org]
Kirby’s Breakout Quest
It’s plain ol’ Breakout with Kirby as the ball! No abilities or anything, just set dressing. Also features lots of dialogue and story, apparently, though the first stage was too sluggish for me to stick with it. Credit where it’s due for having a serviceable ball-and-paddle engine though: the ball speeds up, it bounces differently depending on where it hits the paddle… Clickteam’s default engine was never that charitable!
[KRR] [Archive.org]
Kirby’s Breakout Quest 2: Virtual Dilemma
I honestly can’t tell the difference, besides the different story.
[KRR] [Archive.org]
Kirby Canvas Project
A demo programmed in HTML5, so you can play it quite happily in browsers circa 2020. It might be a different story in a few years time…!
[KRR] [Archive.org]
Kirby Egg Catcher
A cute little Flash game recreating the mini-game exclusive to Kirby’s Adventure: hold Space to open Kirby’s mouth and eat incoming eggs, but stop before you suck up a bomb! Being Flash it’s probably not long for this world, but it plays fine in Media Player Classic.
[KRR] [Archive.org]
Kirby Game Example for N00bs and Pros
A GameMaker engine test released as a standalone game, for some reason. Replicates Kirby’s flying, suction and ability-stealing features to some extent, though the graphics are too similar to tell the difference between your various states. A cute early-days attempt, though even the HTML5 stuff is closer to home than this.
[KRR] [Archive.org]
Kirby the Fighters
An extremely dodgy fighting game that changes resolution every five seconds. Basically a clone of the author’s previous Sonic the Fighters remake, only it’s Kirby sprites on top of conspicuous Sonic backdrops. I recorded it for YouTube.
[Archive.org]
Kirby Games
GONE! Not listed in the PHP database, a leftover from an old iteration of the site. The original version of the game, seemingly with much simpler presentation and features… and no working download! How different is it from the remake? It is a mystery…!
[n/a]
Kirby Games… Remake!
The much more common version of the game, boasting graphics from Kirby’s Fun Pak. Includes a slow-going Breakout clone, a dodge-the-meteors game, a shoot-em-up boss fight, and an entire platform game hidden away that’s also stupidly, brutally difficult. It’s ambitious, but also hella torturous, with instant-deaths abounds and absolutely no checkpoints. I’m not even sure if it can be finished without hacking…! I played it on YouTube years ago: [PART 1] [PART 2]
[KRR] [Archive.org]
Kirby Killer
A Newgrounds-esque shooting gallery with sprites of Kirby. This game is old enough to drink and drive.
[KRR] [Archive.org]
Kirby and Meta-Knight’s Sky Action
A single-screen shoot-em-up for 1 or 2 players. Blast baddies for the high score.
[KRR] [Archive.org]
Kirby’s Minigame Madness
A demo with only Concentration available. It’s a really slick looking version of Concentration! Perhaps the nicest Concentration has ever looked in a Clickteam creation! … but it’s still just Concentration.
[KRR] [Archive.org]
Kirby’s Star Shot
Another side-scrolling shmup. Looks nicer than the others, at least!
[KRR] [Archive.org]
Kirby Virtual Pet
A charming if ill-fated attempt at creating a Chao Garden for Kirby. You can click anywhere to spawn a ball for Kirby to kick around… and as far as I can tell, that’s all he can do. The FAQ doesn’t actually explain how to tend to things like hunger.
[KRR] [Archive.org]
Kirby Warrior’s RPG
An old-as-balls RPG Maker take on Kirby fanfic, with Kirby and a variety of OCs doing RPG things. Still supported after all these years, with Revasser.net your one-stop-shop for all things related to the series, including a Let’s Play and more. Kirby’s Rainbow Resort also linked to Kirby Warrior’s RPG II and Kirby Warrior’s RPG II: Dream Edition, which you can also find there.
[Revasser.net] [Archive.org]
Kirby on Zebes
A simple little platformer made in The Games Factory, pitting Kirby against various sprites from Super Metroid. Credited to “Intel Outside”, actually Emma Essex, who’s also posted the game on itch.io along with its previously-unreleased remake. I played them both on YouTube!
[KRR] [Archive.org] [itch.io]
Meta-Knight’s Dream Land
Not another Java game! Once again, if you know what you’re doing there’s still a .class file available, but my browser wants nothing to do with it.
[Archive.org]
Metarena
A single-screen arena where you slice incoming green things until you die. Features a whole bunch of limited-use special moves, including the ability to replenish your health, but I don’t see myself sticking with it unless the combat improves…!
[KRR] [Archive.org]
PW Rush (Ver. 3)
A side-scrolling shmup demo where you play as Lololo, with access to three shot types reminiscent of items from Adventures of Lolo. Features lovely custom-made hi-res graphics and interesting shot mechanics, but heck if I can make heads or tails of it without a readme!
[KRR] [Archive.org]
Save Kirby
Slide Meta Knight along the bottom of the screen collecting everything that drops, and avoiding Waddle Dees.
[KRR] [Archive.org]
I can’t exactly vouch for how many of these are worth checking out, but if nothing else it’s nifty to see how folks conceptualised their fangames at a time when tools weren’t easily capable of copying the core facets of a Kirby game. This is the kind of stuff that’s increasingly irrelevant except to folks scrounging for cheap YouTube content, sadly, but whatever helps document it in some capacity…!
Speaking of cheap YouTube content (and hamfisted shills), if you don’t follow my crap tweets and stodgy YouTube, then you might not know I’m dumping videos up there every Friday, typically of dodgy fangames, but sometimes dodgy non-fan games too. I’ve long meant to build a hub for them on the site as well, to provide download links, hints and tips, and whatever else seems appropriate for spotlighting that kind of thing. We can probably expect that right around the time the inexplicable Wario’s Woods shrine isn’t a pile of unfinished pages. What did I plan for that thing anyway…?
