Kirby's Star Stacker (Game Boy)

Kirby's Star Stacker North American box artJapanese box art Box art for Kirby's Star Stacker from various regions Details Developer(s) HAL Laboratory Publisher(s) Nintendo Release date(s) Game Boy: January 25, 1997 April 7, 1997 October 20, 1997 October 20, 1997 Virtual Console (3DS): May 23, 2012 August 30, 2012 January 17, 2013 Platform(s) Game Boy, Virtual Console (3DS) Supported languages Japanese, American English Rating(s) ESRB: / PEGI: CERO:

Game chronology ← Kirby Super Star Kirby's Dream Land 3 →

On affiliated sites StrategyWiki Walkthrough

This article is about the version on Game Boy. For the Super Famicom version, see Kirby's Star Stacker (Super Famicom).

Kirby's Star Stacker is a puzzle game and a Kirby spinoff released on the Game Boy in 1997. Playing similarly to Dr. Mario, this game tasks the player to line up stars in a grid between Kirby's Animal Friends to "stack them" and remove them from the board, in order to prevent them from overflowing the board and forcing a loss.

Kirby's Star Stacker is compatible with the Super Game Boy, which gives the game a wider range of colors and also adds a special border around the screen, much like Kirby's Dream Land 2. Kirby's Star Stacker was later ported to the Nintendo 3DS's Virtual Console in 2011 for Japan, 2012 in Australia and Europe, and lastly 2013 in North America. The game also received a Japan-exclusive remake on the Super Famicom, also known as Kirby's Star Stacker.

Gameplay

“

Kirby needs to stack the Stars. With three close friends, Rick, Kine, and Coo, you can help!

”

— Kirby's Star Stacker Instruction Booklet (North American print), page 2

Gameplay screenshot from Round Clear mode (Super Game Boy).

The game is a puzzle game in the basic style of Tetris. Domino-like groups of two connected blocks, which can be controlled with the directional pad and turned with the A and B buttons, fall from the top of the playing field one by one, eventually landing at the bottom of the field or on top of other blocks. Once the blocks have landed, the domino breaks up, and each block is individually affected by gravity. Six types of blocks exist in the game: three Friend Blocks are based on the Animal Friends from Kirby's Dream Land 2 (Rick the Hamster, Kine the Sunfish and Coo the Owl), Star Blocks, Bomb Blocks, and Hard Blocks. The goal is to score stars by placing one or more Star Blocks between two matching Friend Blocks, which will then cause both the Friend and Star Blocks to disappear, adding to the score total on the right-hand side. Hard Blocks and Bomb Blocks can likewise be sandwiched between Friends, the former transforming into Star Blocks, and the latter destroying the row of blocks they are on when this is done.

In order to achieve greater numbers of star points, Chains have to be utilized; if destroying a group of blocks leads to a chain reaction of other groups being destroyed, this counts as a Chain. Every Chain that is achieved causes a group of stars to fall into gaps between blocks and be added to the star point counter, their number starting at two but increasing with each Chain, up to a maximum of twelve. If these stars end up sandwiched between Friend Blocks when they land, they turn into Star Blocks, causing another group of blocks to be destroyed and the combo to continue; stars that land in positions where it would not be beneficial for them to transform into blocks simply disappear.

Apart from the blocks that fall from above slowly piling up unless destroyed, King Dedede regularly pounds the ground with his fist and causes a new row of blocks to appear at the bottom and push the already existing blocks upwards; the frequency of this depends on the difficulty level. The game continues until the game mode's victory requirement is met or the two columns in the middle of the screen have reached the top, the latter preventing new dominoes from appearing and causing a Game Over.

Controls

←↑→↓ - Switch the falling blocks, Speed up the falling blocks, Move the falling blocks to the left or right

A - Rotate the falling blocks to the right

B - Rotate the falling blocks to the left

Modes

Gameplay of Challenge mode (on the Super Game Boy).

In the game there are 4 modes:

• Round Clear - This is the main game, divided into five difficulties (Normal, Hard, Very Hard, Super Hard and Insane, with Insane needing to be unlocked); each difficulty having its own number of rounds. To complete each round, a set number of Stars must be stacked. Each difficulty has its own theme, ranging from a forest to a mountain range to outer space. When a round is completed, the player is then rewarded with special artwork based on the theme of the difficulty and depicting Kirby and his friends. This mode pits Kirby against King Dedede, who taunts Kirby with an opening line at the start of each difficulty.

• Time Attack - As many Stars as possible must be stacked within a 3-minute time limit. Like in Round Clear, there are five difficulties: Normal, Hard, Very Hard, Super Hard and Insane. Insane is unlocked by stacking 100 stars or more in one of the lower difficulties. Tick-Tock Jr. appears in place of King Dedede in this game mode.

• Challenge - An endless mode in which the objective is to gain as many stars as possible before the middle stack of blocks touches the top of the screen; Dedede's hand lifts up the set of blocks, introducing a new row. Like in the other modes, the player can choose between the five difficulties Normal, Hard, Very Hard, Super Hard and Insane, with Insane being unlocked by stacking 1000 stars or more in one of the lower difficulties. Similarly to Round Clear, the player is rewarded with in-game artwork depending on the number of Stars collected, in order to encourage trying harder next time until the final picture is received. Mr. Star appears in place of King Dedede in this game mode.

• VS - A multiplayer mode for two players via the Game Link Cable. Player 1 controls Kirby, Player 2 controls Waddle Dee. The winner is decided when the other player receives a Game Over. This mode is inaccessible in the Virtual Console version due to its inability to emulate the Game Link Cable.

There is also a high score table for Challenge, and Time Attack mode, showing the top 3 scores for each.

Nintendo eShop description

Original Release Date: April 1997

Join Kirby as he stacks the falling stars with help from his friends, Rick the Hamster, Kine the Sunfish, and Coo the Owl. Watch out for King Dedede. He is out to stop you! With a few quick moves and some well-timed strategy, you can quickly outwit him and move on to the next challenging level.

Kirby's Star Stacker features pure puzzle fun for everyone. From above, blocks rain down constantly. From below, whole lines appear with unrelenting clock-like regularity. Simply sandwich the stars between Kirby's pals and you'll soon be on your way to the high score.

(This description was reused for the game on the My Nintendo Store.)

Trivia

• Notably, the Super Game Boy border for this game changes its design once the player has completed the game. This is the only game in the Kirby series to have its Super Game Boy border behave this way.

Gallery

Artwork

• 

  Japanese logo

• 

  Key artwork

• 

  Kirby riding a Warp Star

• 

  Kirby looking up at a star

• 

  Kirby holding a Star Block

• 

  Kirby sleeping

• 

  Kirby covering his head in fear

• 

  Rick Block

• 

  Kine Block

• 

  Coo Block

Sprites

• 

  Kirby

• 

  King Dedede

• 

  Mr. Star

• 

  Tick-Tock Jr.

• 

  Tick-Tock Jr. (asleep)

• 

  Tick-Tock Jr. (angered)

Screenshots

• 

  Intro

• 

  Title screen (Game Boy)

• 

  Alternate title screen (Game Boy)

• 

  Title screen (Super Game Boy)

• 

  Alternate title screen (Super Game Boy)

• 

  Mode select screen (Super Game Boy)

• 

  Records table (Game Boy)

• 

  Stage clear screen (Super Game Boy)

• 

  Gameplay in the Time Attack mode (Game Boy)

• 

  Gameplay in the Challenge Mode (Game Boy)

• 

  Kirby takes a nap while waiting for the game to resume. (Game Boy)

• 

  The Kirby Dance (Game Boy)

• 

  The game over screen (Game Boy)

Clear illustrations

• 

  Clear illustration for Round Clear Normal difficulty

• 

  Clear illustration for Round Clear Hard difficulty

• 

  Clear illustration for Round Clear Very Hard difficulty

• 

  Clear illustration for Round Clear Super Hard difficulty

• 

  Clear illustration for Round Clear Insane difficulty

• 

  An illustration from Challenge mode

• 

  An illustration from Challenge mode

• 

  An illustration from Challenge mode

Other

• 

  Win screen for Kirby in the international versions' VS mode

• 

  Lose screen for Kirby in the VS mode

• 

  Win screen for Waddle Dee in the VS mode

• 

  Lose screen for Waddle Dee in the VS mode

• 

  Super Game Boy border

• 

  Super Game Boy border after completing the game

Audio

• Hard

• Insane

• Kirby Dance

• Game Over

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	カービィのきらきらきっず Kābyi no Kirakira Kizzu	Kirby's Sparkling Kids
Chinese	Kirby's Star Stacker	-
Dutch	Kirby's Star Stacker	-
French	Kirby's Star Stacker	-
German	Kirby's Star Stacker	-
Italian	Kirby's Star Stacker	-
Korean	Kirby's Star Stacker	-
Portuguese	Kirby's Star Stacker	-
Spanish	Kirby's Star Stacker	-

External links

• Official Japanese site (archived from the Wayback Machine)
• Kirby's Star Stacker on Kirby Informer
• English manual (external archive)