
Kirby Battle Royale (Nintendo 3DS, 2018, Party/Arena Fighting) If that doesn’t sound enjoyable, well, there’s nothing else here on offer, but Fighters Deluxe also cost all of $6.99, so it’s not as if you were shelling out for a full retail release to get this. The single-player mode sees you attempting to battle things out as quickly and point-scoringly as possible in order to achieve top rank with each copy ability, and across four difficulties (Easy, Normal, Hard, and Very Hard). Your friends don’t need a copy of the game themselves, even, as they can download temporary data to allow them to play with or against you. In Fighters Deluxe, you can play multiplayer and brawl it out with a few computer-controlled alternate-colored Kirbys, or you can fight against (or pair up with) friends using the 3DS’ local networking features.

The only real issues with Fighters Deluxe - which is a full-fledged digital enhancement of the sub-game Kirby Fighters that’s found in Kirby: Triple Deluxe - is that it received a superior sequel that dealt with the complaints about a lack of depth in this one, that in turn rendered the “original” kind of pointless.


It succeeds at its goal of being a Smash Bros.-like experience, except instead of picking characters from a multiverse including representation from an array of Nintendo franchises and publishing friendlies like Bandai Namco and Square, you have a whole bunch of different copy ability-equipped Kirbys to choose from. Kirby Fighters Deluxe might come in last in the spin-off rankings, but it’s not a bad game by any means.
