With GoodFeel's newest game Princess Peach Showtime having just released, I thought this would be a good time to revisit my favorite game of theirs, and one of my favorite games in its respective franchise: Kirby's Epic Yarn. In a lot of ways, it's a very influential game for me, it really broke my previously conceived notions of what a game could even be.
Let's get this out of the way first. Kirby's Epic Yarn was my first Kirby game, and frankly one of the first games I owned that wasn't in the Mario, LEGO, or Wii series. Considering that Kirby is my favorite video game series and the series that shaped my tastes in video games more than any other, that alone should really say a lot about this game's impact on me. Epic Yarn was a game that looked and felt unlike any other game I've played up to that point too. It didn't even bother trying to emulate real life, instead it crafted an entire world out of yarn and knitting material. The music wasn't the soaring orchestral scores or upbeat pop I was used to, it was almost all played by a soft, tender piano. At the time, and especially as a kid, Kirby's Epic Yarn felt so fresh, so unusually artistic. It captured my attention in a way no other game had back then.
I really can't talk about Kirby's Epic Yarn without starting with that presentation. As I mentioned, Epic Yarn is designed to look like it's entirely made out of yarn, and GoodFeel really committed with that vision. All the levels are stitched together with visible seams, and all the characters move with some remarkably fluid rope physics. Everything feels so tactile and comfortable, and there's so many little details like how Kirby can pop behind the curtains that make up the background, or how the knitting style itself varies depending on the world. The incredible soundtrack by Tomoya Tomita also really helps to give Epic Yarn such a comforting and cozy atmosphere through primarily using the piano for most of its tracks (as a piano kid myself, I actually wanted to learn how to play some of these). There's something so touching and soulful about Epic Yarn's OST, tracks like Big-Bean Vine, Mushroom Run, Melody Town, and Frosty Wheel just hit so hard. That's not to say there also weren't some more energetic or intense tracks though, and they perfectly balance heightening the stakes while keeping the cozy energy intact, like Lava Landing, Vs Squashini, and Outer Rings. But of course, I can't go without mentioning all of the phenomenal remixes of classic Kirby themes that populate the last world. Ripple Star - Map, Butter Building, and Boarding The Halberd in particular stand up as my absolute favorite versions of their respective tracks.
Kirby's Epic Yarn has a fairly silly plot about Kirby teaming up with a blue-looking Kirby named Prince Fluff to stop a wizard named Yin-Yarn who turned the entire world into yarn. It's got none of the wild lore or hidden creepiness that the series would eventually become to be known for, but I'd say it more than makes up for that with some of the funniest cutscenes in video game history. Like with Kirby 64, there's cutscenes in between each world and they're all narrated in the most sincere, serious voice. So you get ridiculous lines like "This grass feels like pants" or "Only I can be mean to my Waddle Dees" or "Kirby! Forgive me! I blame the yarn" delivered completely straight. Even as a kid, my friends and I got a serious kick out of these cutscenes, and quoted them constantly. It's all in good fun though, the lighthearted atmosphere and abundance of puns in the script give off the vibe that GoodFeel was absolutely in on the joke, and it helps make Epic Yarn feel even more comfy and likable of a game.
The yarn aesthetic isn't just for show though, it informs every aspect of Epic Yarn including the gameplay. Since Kirby has turned into yarn, most of his new moveset is built around the fact that he can't swallow enemies anymore... but he can twist his yarn-like body around to transform. So now, Kirby can jump by turning into a spring, dash by turning into a little car, and use his arm as a lasso to unravel enemies and even parts of the scenery. I have no idea what kind of black magic physics model GoodFeel used to make Kirby shift between these forms so fluidly, but it makes for one of the best-feeling platformers I've ever played, to the point where I eventually became interested in speedrunning it because of how good jumping in and out of the car form felt. There's also quite a few larger transformations that pop up every once in a while that turn Kirby into more limited forms like a giant tank, a dolphin, a UFO, and a rocket. Barring the train transformation (playing Canvas Curse with a shaky Wii pointer does not a fun stage make), most of these larger transformations are a ton of fun to use and break up the pace well without distracting from the base gameplay or dragging on too long. Special props go to the dolphin for just how fluid and fun it feels to swim around, making for some of my favorite underwater levels in all of gaming.
The level design is pretty fantastic too, all of them are varied and fun to mess around in. The yarn theming manages to take even the most basic world biomes like grass and lava and make it way more interesting, and that's before getting into the weirder worlds like Toy Land, Space Land, and the final world Dream Land being entirely made up of yarnified versions of classic Kirby stages. But I don't think anything tops Snow Land for me, a stage so drenched in blissful Christmas cheer that it single-handedly made Kirby's Epic Yarn my go-to Holiday game. I mean, just listen to that music. The bosses are also quite fun too. From the Halloween-y game show host Squashini, to the multi-phase battle with the kraken Capamari, to fun rematches against Dedede and Meta Knight, to a frenetic final boss fight with Yin-Yarn. Apparently, Yin Yarn's boss theme was a carry-over track from Kirby GCN and thus sounds far more like standard Kirby compared to the rest of the game, but it fits pretty well as Kirby's last stand in this game.
That being said, I'd be remiss not to mention Epic Yarn's most divisive element. You can't die, you only lose beads upon getting hit or falling into a pit. As I've said countless times before, this doesn't affect me in the slightest. I don't need challenge for a game to engage me, and Epic Yarn's strong presentation already more than makes up for it. But on top of that, Epic Yarn has some of the most rewarding 100% a game could have. Each level has three chests to find and a medal for how many beads you get. These levels are often filled to the brim with hidden nooks and crannies that can earn you beads, and carefully combing through an entire stage while also trying to get hit as little as possible to hang onto your beads is very fun and can be genuinely tough at times. There's also 100 mini challenges you can take on the side which can also get quite difficult and precise later on, so Epic Yarn definitely has challenge for those willing to go for it. There's also pretty fun couch co-op multiplayer, and the ability to customize Kirby's room however you want, which helps to round Epic Yarn up into a complete package.
Overall, I adore Kirby's Epic Yarn on every level. It was such a fantastic introduction to the Kirby series. It's a tight and polished platformer with fluid movement, inventive level design, and rewarding completion, but it also has some of the freshest and most unique art direction of its time that feeds into and improves on every other aspect of the game. It's one of the comfiest video games ever made, and a game I'm always happy to revisit come December.
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