Kirby Ball 64

Kirby Ball 64
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Details
Developer(s)	HAL Laboratory
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Date(s) announced/showcased	Shoshinkai 1995
Platform(s)	Nintendo 64

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Kirby Ball 64^{[Japanese title]} (カービィボウル64), mistranslated as Kirby Bowl 64 in some publications, was an unreleased Kirby game and most likely a planned sequel to Kirby's Dream Course, which is known as カービィボウル (Kirby Ball) in Japanese. It was the first known 3D Kirby series game to be in development and originally meant to be a launch title for Nintendo 64. The game's development began in 1995 after the release of Kirby's Dream Course, and was first announced and offered as a playable demo at the Shoshinkai trade show in November 1995, alongside Super Mario 64 (then known as Ultra Mario), at which point it was estimatedly 20% complete.^[1] Although several release date estimates have been given in various magazines, such as April or June 1996, the game has been effectively reworked into and resurfaced as Kirby's Air Ride by June of the same year.

Controls

The game was designed to take advantage of the system's new analog stick. The stick is used to gather momentum and choose direction, while the B button makes Kirby jump.

Gameplay

Early prototypes of the game as shown at Shoshinkai 1995 featured two gameplay modes, both revolving around attaining a high-score before the time limit runs out: a "bash-'em-up" multiplayer mode where the goal was to knock other players out of an arena, and a singleplayer 3D polygon airboard high-score competition against a clock.

In the former mode, Ball Kirbys are placed inside a bowl-shaped arena that pulses up and down throughout the match, making it harder to keep Kirbys on the stage. The players move their Kirbys by rolling and jumping, in order to knock each other off the platform and score points, and whoever attains the most when the timer runs out is the winner. A large Maxim Tomato sometimes pops out around the middle that makes the Ball Kirby that touches it temporarily grow in size and weight.

The second mode also involves the Ball Kirby form but primarily features Kirby racing on an air-board. The mode presents the player with a straightforward race against a time limit over a procedurally generated flat checkered terrain, under arches, down and up the slopes, performing various aerial stunts to gain speed and collect as many point stars for score before the time runs out. Wheelie and Kabu were shown as enemies in the prototype footage.

Prioritizing the concept of airboard racing, this prototype was retooled into Kirby's Air Ride and no longer featured Kirby's ball form in the racing mode, while the knock-out multiplayer mode was nowhere to be seen in newer footage of later prototypes.

Gallery

Kirby in the Ball form, with a red flag, some point stars, an arch to go under and trees onwards
Kirby performing an aerial stunt with his airboard, with some clouds and ice-topped volcanoes blurred-out in background
Kirby skating upwards an undulated slope
Kirby hovering on top of a slope
Kirby in the ball form about to collect a point star under an arch construction