PixlBit

Hello Everybody! My new portfolio website is finally live - www.justinmatkowski.com *cough shameless plug*, so I will have a lot more time to spend here at Pixlbit! So for my first blog in awhile, I thought I'd focus on the game I feel I'm best at. I would argue that every gamer has one definitive go-to title; one game that, like a trusty revolver in the Old West, we are confident enough in that we would weigh in our chips against all challengers. While mulling over this question in my head of what my "go to" game is, I instantly knew my answer for the question “what game would I consider myself the best at?” and the answer is Kirby’s Dream Course for Super Nintendo.

Often there are strong emotional circumstances connecting us to the period in which we first discover a much-loved game, not unlike a favorite album (which for me would be ‘Disintegration’ by The Cure, but that is a different conversation for a different topic). A close family member had just lost a life-long battle with Type 1 Diabetes, and even though my mom was dealing with the unimaginable pain of abruptly losing a sibling, she set aside her own sadness and decided to buy me a game to cheer me up a little (in my best Rick Grimes voice inpersonation “Mom’s are good like that”).  I had rented Kirby’s Dream Course several times and had a blast with it, so I knew as soon as I saw it sitting there, apparently waiting on the shelf at Electronics Boutique that my mind had been made up before I even walked in the door.

Today, a game is rarely considered complete if it lacks post-campaign extras, unlockable content, and a robust multiplayer mode. However, back in the mid 90’s extra or supporting content (especially in abundance) was a rare novelty indeed. The Kirby franchise is one that pioneered the idea of rewarding players with extra content for completing various in game challenges or secret objectives. I still remember the thrill of unlocking the sound room and Kirby’s dance gallery, and when I discovered by achieving a silver medal for all 8 courses that I had unlocked an additional 8 more, I may have sharted in excitement, just a tiddly bit. The rewarding nature of Kirby’s Dream Course, along with a great multi-player mode and the solid, highly enjoyable mechanics of the game made the juice well worth the squeeze and only encouraged me to keep playing and refining my skill.

 

Many years after initially unlocking every bit of extra content and achieving gold metals on all 16 courses, Kirby’s Dream Course still gets a complete play through from me at least once a year; I am continually inspired by some of the truly mind-blowing playthroughs and hole-in-one videos found on Youtube, such as the one featured above. To this day, my appreciation for this game continues to grow - in the contemporary gaming landscape, where so many titles are chasing Hollywood’s tail with big action set pieces that seem more concerned with pulling off massive explosions than creating an interactive experience that is fundamentally solid, I can’t help but love a classic title that is so thoroughly (and proudly) a video game. It forces you to develop timing, eye-hand coordination, planning, and skill. It drops your little, pink self into its vibrant and challenging world and says “Take a shot. Take any shot you want, but make it count.”

What game do you feel you are best at? Is it your favorite game, or just one that you are a badass while you play? Sound off in the comments below, and thanks for reading!