Pink power: Two Kirby games to hit Wii U Virtual Console this week

By Danny Cowan Published July 27, 2016

Nintendo’s pink puffball Kirby is back with a pair of digital Wii U Virtual Console releases this week in North America — Kirby’s Epic Yarn and Kirby Mass Attack.

Each game puts a unique spin on Kirby’s traditional side-scrolling platformer gameplay, and fans can pick up both titles from the eShop starting Thursday for a total of $30.

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Kirby’s Epic Yarn, released for the original Nintendo Wii in 2010, features a unique art style that makes on-screen characters appear as though they’re made of yarn and wool. Epic Yarn‘s aesthetic carries over into its gameplay, as players can expect to tear their way through the game’s fabric-like levels using Kirby’s array of enemy-absorbing powers.

Epic Yarn also offers a two-player co-op mode, allowing users to team up with a friend to tackle the game’s challenges as series newcomer Prince Fluff. In addition to dozens of included levels, Epic Yarn also offers a selection of minigames and tons of collectible items that can be used to furnish an in-game apartment.

Fans of Epic Yarn may also want to check out Yoshi’s Woolly World, a Wii U-exclusive starring Mario’s dinosaur pal, Yoshi. While Kirby eventually saw his own Wii U adventure in the 2015 touchscreen-driven spinoff Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, the console has yet to host a traditional Kirby platformer outside of the Virtual Console realm.

Also arriving in the eShop this week is Kirby Mass Attack, a 2D adventure in which players control up to 10 Kirby characters at once. Similar to Nintendo’s Pikmin series, Kirby Mass Attack challenges players to traverse tricky level layouts while keeping their army of Kirbies alive throughout.

Kirby Mass Attack is one of only a handful of legacy Nintendo DS games that are available for play on the Wii U Virtual Console. Other classic Nintendo DS games that were recently revived for the Wii U Virtual Console include Brain Age, Mario Kart DS, New Super Mario Bros, and Kirby Squeak Squad.

Kirby’s Epic Yarn will be available for $20 and Kirby Mass Attack for $10 when the Wii U eShop updates Thursday.

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