Software:Kirby's Star Stacker

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Kirby's Star Stacker
North American cover art
Developer(s)HAL Laboratory
Publisher(s)Nintendo
Director(s)Hitoshi Yamagami
Producer(s)Hiroaki Suga
Composer(s)Hirokazu Ando (GB, SNES)
Jun Ishikawa (SNES)
SeriesKirby
Platform(s)Game Boy, Super Famicom
ReleaseGame Boy
  • JP: January 25, 1997
  • NA: July 14, 1997
  • EU: October 25, 1997
[1]
Super Famicom[2]
  • JP: February 1, 1998
Genre(s)Puzzle
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Kirby's Star Stacker[lower-alpha 1] is a 1997 puzzle video game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy.

It received a remake for the Super Famicom in Japan.

Gameplay

Kirby's Star Stacker is similar in many respects to other falling block puzzle games that were around at the time of its release, most notably Soldam. The goal of the game is to earn as many stars possible by matching pairs of blocks (also referred to as friends in-game) that fall from the top of the play area. There are three types of blocks, all based on Kirby's friends from Kirby's Dream Land 2: Rick the hamster, Coo the owl, and Kine the fish. Stars are scored by sandwiching the stars between two matching blocks. When stars are scored, they disappear from the play area along with the pair of blocks enclosing them. The game is lost when the falling blocks reach the top of the play area (middle rows only), so it is critical to eliminate as many blocks as possible by scoring stars.

Gameplay modes

There are four game modes in Star Stacker.

  • Round Clear - this is the main game, split into five difficulty modes (Normal, Hard, Very Hard, Super Hard, and Insane), each with a certain number of rounds. Rounds are cleared by eliminating a set number of stars. Each stage takes on a theme, such as a forest or outer space. When each round is cleared, the player is rewarded with special artwork using the themes of each stage.
  • VS - the multiplayer mode, which requires two cartridges of the game, one for each player.
  • Challenge - an endless mode. The object is to eliminate as many stars as possible before the stack of blocks reaches the top of the screen; a hand raises up the set of blocks, introducing a new row. Like Round Clear, in-game artwork is awarded depending on the number of stars collected, often encouraging the player to try harder next time (until the final picture is received).
  • Time Attack - eliminate as many stars as possible in three minutes.

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

Kirby no Kirakira Kizzu

Kirby no Kirakira Kizzu (カービィのきらきら きっず - Kirby's Sparkling Kids), also commonly referred to as Kirby's Super Star Stacker, is a video game released in 1998 for the Super Famicom; ROMs for the game were distributed via the Nintendo Power flash RAM service, before the game was given a standard cartridge release a year later. Kirby no Kirakira Kizzu is an SNES remake of Kirby's Star Stacker with nearly identical gameplay. The point of the game is to remove falling star blocks by placing matching animal friends (Rick, Coo, and Kine) at either end. One of the primary enhancements is story mode, in which Kirby faces several opponents from other Kirby games (mostly from Kirby Super Star). The game's title is exactly the same as the Japanese title of the Game Boy version of Kirby's Star Stacker. There were plans to release the game overseas, but they were halted after Nintendo of America stopped shipping SNES games in 1997, leaving the game Japan-exclusive.

This version was released on the Wii Virtual Console in Japan on January 5, 2010, and on the Nintendo Switch Online service on July 21, 2022 in Japan, and on September 6, 2023 for the first time in the West under the Game Boy game's western title.[3]

Notes

  1. ↑ Known in Japan as Kirby's Sparkling Kids (カービィのきらきらきっず, Kābī no Kirakira Kizzu)

References

  1. ↑ "Kirby's Star Stacker". Nintendo. https://www.nintendo.co.jp/n02/dmg/akcj/index.html. 
  2. ↑ "Kirby's Star Stacker Release Information for Game Boy". GameFAQs. http://www.gamefaqs.com/gameboy/564876-kirbys-star-stacker/data. 
  3. ↑ Gittins, Sam (6 September 2023). "New Nintendo titles added to Nintendo Switch Online September 2023". https://www.n-europe.com/news/new-nintendo-titles-added-to-nintendo-switch-online-september-2023/. 
  • MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.[1] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".[2] This lengthy approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.[17]

See also

  • IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sheehan, Gavin (2023-02-22). "Atari Relaunches The Fully Rebuilt & Optimized MobyGames Website". https://bleedingcool.com/games/atari-relaunches-the-fully-rebuilt-optimized-mobygames-website/. 
  2. ↑ Litchfield, Ted (2021-11-26). "Zombie company Atari to devour MobyGames". https://www.pcgamer.com/zombie-company-atari-to-devour-mobygames/. 
  3. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1. 
  4. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Miller, Stanley A. (2003-04-22). "People's choice awards honor favorite Web sites". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 
  6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Plunkett, Luke (2022-03-10). "Atari Buys MobyGames For $1.5 Million". https://kotaku.com/mobygames-retro-credits-database-imdb-atari-freyholtz-b-1848638521. 
  8. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/report-mobygames-acquired-by-gamefly-media. 
  9. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (December 31, 2013). "MobyGames purchased from GameFly, improvements planned". http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261414/mobygames-purchased-from-gamefly-improvements-planned. 
  10. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/game-dev-database-mobygames-getting-some-tlc-under-new-owner. 
  11. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". November 24, 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames. 
  12. ↑ Rousseau, Jeffrey (2022-03-09). "Atari purchases Moby Games". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/atari-purchases-moby-games. 
  13. ↑ "Atari Completes MobyGames Acquisition, Details Plans for the Site's Continued Support". March 8, 2022. https://www.atari.com/atari-completes-mobygames-acquisition-details-plans-for-the-sites-continued-support/. 
  14. ↑ "Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million" (in en-GB). 2022-03-09. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/atari-has-acquired-game-database-mobygames-for-1-5-million/. 
  15. ↑ Stanton, Rich (2022-03-10). "Atari buys videogame database MobyGames for $1.5 million". https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-buys-videogame-database-mobygames-for-dollar15-million/. 
  16. ↑ Harris, John (2024-03-09). "MobyGames Offering “Pro” Membership". https://setsideb.com/mobygames-offering-pro-membership/. 
  17. ↑ "MobyGames on Patreon". http://www.patreon.com/mobygames. 
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