Kirby Fighters 2 is a bit like what you’d get if you took Super Smash Bros and only themed it around everyone’s favorite pink puffball.  It took me about 15 minutes to play through the game’s demo, during which only Story Mode was available to me.  I was able to choose from three Kirby abilities (Bomb, Sword, and Staff) and one ally, Bandana Waddle Dee, though the full game also includes 14 additional Kirby abilities (many of which I recognized and some of which were new to me), along with Gooey, Magolor, King Dedede, and Meta Knight.

Choosing Staff Kirby (as I was less familiar with it and wanted to try something new) and my required Waddle Dee ally, I began working my way up the first five levels of the Buddy Fighters Tower.  The first four floors involved Super Smash Bros-style battles against other Kirbies, set in different locations in the Kirby universe.  Whereas Smash Bros has two attack buttons (one for special attacks and one for regular attacks), which allow for different moves when combined with tilting the control stick, Kirby Fighters has one attack button, though tilting the control stick still changes what kind of attack you will do.  Kirby can also grab and throw enemies, float, and use a shield, along with utilizing various items, as well.

Basically that was a long way of reiterating that this game is really just Super Smash Bros, but only with Kirby.

After each floor, I was able to choose different upgrades, such as those that would increase my health or attack power.  And had I not been playing a mere demo, I would have been able to level up my Fighter Rank, as well.  Once I reached floor five, my Waddle Dee ally and I fought two Whispy Woods in the form of Twin Woods, and my time with the demo came to an end.  The whole experience was fun enough, although quite easy and ultimately just a bit…disappointing.

I’ll be completely honest here.  I’m not totally sure why this game exists.  Super Smash Bros Ultimate is already an excellent fighting game on the Switch, and it includes Kirby, King Dedede, and Meta Knight, along with tons more playable characters from a wide variety of other franchises.  And although many of Kirby’s classic moves aren’t accounted for here (like they are in Kirby Fighters 2), Kirby can still eat all of the other playable characters in order to gain new abilities exclusive to Smash Bros.  So if they were going to make a dedicated Kirby fighting game, I feel like they should have taken a similar approach as Hyrule Warriors (which had 29 unique playable characters in the Definitive Edition) and had a far greater variety of Kirby characters from across the pink puffball’s last 30 years of games.  Instead, we get a whopping 17 variations on the title character and only five additional non-Kirby characters!

From what I’ve read online, people do seem to like the game, but I can’t say I have any desire to buy it for myself when I already own the aforementioned Super Smash Bros Ultimate, which has oodles more playable characters and features.  With that said, Kirby Fighters 2 is available for just $19.99, so if you’re a really big Kirby fan, this game is certainly a more affordable option when compared to the alternative, which sells for $59.99.