Story

After Kirby wakes up from his after-lunch nap without having any dreams, he goes to the Fountain of Dreams to investigate. There, he discovers King Dedede, who claims to have taken the Star Rod, the source of the Fountain of Dreams's power, and broken it into seven pieces, giving six pieces to his friends and keeping one himself.

Without dreams, all the inhabitants of Dream Land are becoming restless. Kirby decides to track down the pieces of the Star Rod and bring them back to the Fountain of Dreams, restoring everyone's dreams.

Gameplay

Like most other Kirby games, Kirby's Adventure is a platformer, or a side-scrolling game. Kirby has six hit points; this means Kirby can sustain up to six attacks from enemies before he dies and loses a life. If he loses all of his lives, the game is over. Enemies can damage Kirby simply on contact or by way of projectile attacks. Any non-boss enemy that makes direct contact with Kirby is automatically destroyed. While most enemy attacks deal one point of damage (out of six) to Kirby, some attacks, generally dealt by bosses or mini-bosses, can deal two points.

Kirby has a variety of attacks at his disposal, in addition to his basic walk, run, crouch, jump, and climbing maneuvers. Without any abilities, one of Kirby's primary means of attack is inhaling an enemy, and spitting it out at another one. The enemy can also be swallowed, although this generally does not affect Kirby in any way (unless it's a copy-able enemy). After jumping and pressing the jump button a second time in mid-air, Kirby inflates himself, enabling him to fly as long as he wants. When deflating himself, he exhales a puff of air which can be damaging to enemies. While crouching, Kirby can execute a slide kick. Kirby can swim in eight directions while in water and can stay underwater as long as he wants. While underwater,if he's not using a sword, hammer, or parasol ability he takes on a temporary power allowing him to squirt water at his foes, which are generally fish.

Acquired Abilities

Kirby's Adventure is the first Kirby game to include the ability for Kirby to utilize enemy powers by 'copying' them. The powers introduced in this game are present through all the sequels. Some abilities, in the form of powerups, return from Kirby's Dream Land such as the microphone and the star rod. If the enemy provides Kirby with an ability, the status bar picture changes from the normal picture of Kirby to a unique picture showing Kirby with that ability. Not all enemies will give Kirby an ability, however. Swallowing these creatures without abilities causes the "nothing" image to appear, showing an unhappy Kirby picture briefly on the status bar.

Kirby's abilities include fighting moves (Backdrop), projectile attacks (Cutter and Laser), area damage (Spark and Freeze), and wielded weapons (Sword and Parasol). There are also some unusual abilities where Kirby assumes a new shape such as Tornado, Wheel, and U.F.O. The abilities range in usefulness and power. The power Sleep, for example, is completely useless as it puts Kirby to sleep momentarily. Also, if Kirby sucks up two enemies (both having copy-able powers) at once, a roulette will start randomly selecting a power; this is called Mix. Oddly enough, if Kirby eats a certain combination of powered enemies and lets the Mix roulette alone until it stops, the power he gets will be the same every time he gets that same pair of enemies. For example, if he grabs a Waddle Doo (Beam) and a Sparky (Spark), the Mix roulette will definitely land on Hammer, giving him that power, while two Sparkies will earn the player the coveted U.F.O. ability. Keep in mind this will only happen if the player does not press anything until the roulette stops. Otherwise, the powerups will cycle through in order.

It is possible to choose a powerup at will, but it is very difficult. For example, a player may try to inhale two stars from the sun's beam during the boss run and attempt to pick UFO, making the rest of the boss fights trivial until reaching Meta-Knight.

Power Ups

Each level will generally contain one or more power-ups. These items, when picked up by Kirby, will have a certain positive effect on Kirby, depending on the powerup.

* Hyper - this lollipop provides Kirby with limited invulnerability, making him immune to all enemy attacks (however he will still die if he falls into a pit or gap).
* Soda Pop - refills two points of Kirby's vitality.
* Maximum Tomato - fully refills Kirby's vitality.
* 1-Up - gives Kirby an extra life when obtained. 1-Ups, as well as 2-Ups, 3-Ups, etc., also appear as rewards for clearing some minigames.

Minigames

Minigames can be found in each world, and are essentially distractions to earn the player points or extra lives. Minigames are played by entering doors, like regular levels (see Worlds below), but are barred shut after being played once (and thus cannot be played again). Some minigames can only be played after finding a secret switch inside a level. As the game progresses, the difficulty of the minigames increases significantly, each one being graded out of three stars (three being the most difficult).

* Quick-Draw - Cowboy themed gunfight, similar to Wild Gunman. The objective is to shoot the enemy before being shot, by pressing the A button after a randomly timed signal. Shooting before the signal results in a penalty, after three penalties the player is disqualified. There are a total of 5 stages, which increase in difficulty (requiring quicker reactions). The more stages passed, the more points/lives accumulated. The final opponent is King Dedede, and if passed successfully, results in Kirby drawing out a cannon and blasting him away, earning three extra lives.
* Crane - Similar to the Toy Crane Machines, popular at arcades. The A button is held down and the crane moves to the right, and when let go, the crane lowers at that point and potentially grabs either a small or large Kirby replica. The small toy is easier to pick up and earns one life, whereas the large toy is considerably more difficult, although worth two lives. The higher the difficulty, the quicker the crane moves.
* Egg Catcher - King Dedede throws eggs and bombs at Kirby. Timing is required to open Kirby's mouth at the right intervals, if a bomb is swallowed then the game ends immediately and the player receives no bonuses. At the end of a successful game, the eggs are tallied, and lives are awarded accordingly.
* Arena - Kirby fights one of the minibosses scattered throughout the levels; after winning Kirby is given a Maximum Tomato and is able to gain their ability. Losing results in one life lost. Each arena is unique, starring a different miniboss and thus offering a different prize.

In Game Areas

The game takes place in Dream Land across seven different worlds. Each world contains six levels, a boss, and assorted mini games. Exceptions to the six level per world rule are the first world, which only has four levels, and the second world, which only has five levels. The levels are accessed through small doors on the overworld screen. When Kirby first enters a world only the first level door and the entrance door to the world can be seen. New areas in the world screen are revealed as levels are beaten.

Every world, in addition to levels and mini-games, houses a Museum. In each museum, there are one or two stationary enemies standing on pedestals; these enemies do not attack Kirby. Any enemy that appears in a museum has a copy ability; Kirby is free to inhale any enemy in a museum in order to use its respective copy ability.

Each world (with the exception of the last two) are named for some type of food. The first seven worlds begin with a letter corresponding to a colour of the rainbow, in reverse order (violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, red). The different worlds (as well as their respective bosses) are as follows:

* Vegetable Valley - Whispy Woods, the boss of this world, is a large tree. It attacks Kirby by dropping apples and puffing air.
* Ice Cream Island (Icecream Island in the original Japanese version) - Paint Roller jumps between four easels, drawing pictures which spring to life and attack.
* Butter Building - Mr. Shine and Mr. Bright (personifications of the sun and moon, respectively) take turns attacking Kirby. One of them will fight on the ground, and one will fight in the sky, covering his partner with aerial attacks. They frequently trade places mid-fight.
* Grape Garden - Kracko, a spiky cloud with a large eye. It drops high jump creatures and shoots lightning.
* Yogurt Yard - Heavy Mole, a drilling machine which Kirby must chase (or be caught at the left side of the screen and die) and attack with projectiles.
* Orange Ocean - Meta Knight, Kirby's eternal rival wields a sword similar to Kirby but has more advance attack techniques.
* Rainbow Resort - King Dedede, the self-proclaimed ruler of Dream Land. He is a large penguin with attacks very similar to Kirby.
* Fountain of Dreams - The final battleground. This is not actually a world, but merely the last area. Nightmare is the true evil in Dream Land, and Kirby must use the power of the Star Rod to defeat it.

Every boss (including every miniboss, which appear in various levels) can be cleared without copy abilities, as they all throw projectiles of some sort. Kirby must launch these attacks back at the enemy who sent them, or use a copy ability (if he has one; some bosses will even throw Kirby copy-able enemies).

After clearing the main game 100% (with all levels, minigames, and secrets cleared/unlocked), Extra Mode is unlocked. In Extra Mode, Kirby only has half as much health, and the game cannot be saved. The game's sound test is unlocked if Extra Mode is cleared.

Bonus Levels

After clearing each level, Kirby is dropped into a bonus level. He drops onto a platform which briefly dips downward, and then launches him up. The object for the player is to press A at the platform's maximum descent, which will launch Kirby up as high as possible. Seven tiers of clouds are above the platform; reaching the topmost tier will award Kirby with an extra life, while levels 2-6 will just award him points and the seventh gives nothing except the tip to "Push A!".

In Vegetable Valley and Ice Cream Island the mini-games and museums are unlocked by beating the levels. On Butter Building and subsequent worlds, if the door to the level changes white then the level is finished; if it remains brown then there is a secret switch left somewhere in the level. Most switches are in concealed rooms; generally Kirby needs a specific copy ability found in that level to get in, or he needs to travel off the beaten path of that area a little. Kirby's Adventure is 100% complete when every secret switch is found, in addition to beating every level.

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