Traditional 2D platformers have made a comeback of late, most noticably in the Super Mario Brothers series recently released on the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DSi. Many older style games are being given new facelifts, and the public are enjoying the return to the old school consoles. Rather than tirelessly pump out sequels, Nintendo has chosen to remaster and redesign the originals to make them compatible with newer consoles – and has done this to tremendous effect. A new game is now being released that will further showcase Nintendo’s dedication to keeping the old games alive on its DS and DSi platforms.
Ivy the Kiwi is a newborn kiwi chick that spends the game searching for her mother across various levels. The current demo version of the game consists of five levels but the final game will have over a hundred. Obstacles need to be avoided and enemies are also scattered throughout the stages Ivy must pass through. What is interesting about this game, however, is the unique gameplay. You do not actually control Ivy, but draw vines in the screen that determines the path Ivy will use. You can use these vines to block other paths and stop enemies in their tracks. They can even be used like a rubber band to propel Ivy through several enemies at once! Searching for older games in this mold takes us back an awful long way, where Kirby’s Canvas Curse seems to be the only game of note to adopt this rarely used format.
The other significant part of the game that is unique is the graphics. The game is told in a classic story-book style, in a world of deliberately dull and muted colors where the predominant tones are shades of brown and the occasional red. The only other game I can remember that had colors like this were select stages of a very old Yoshi’s Island. It gives the game an incredibly retrospective and attractive feel, and is fantastic to play through.
Because of all of the above, gameplay on the demo version is highly addictive and is likely to attract gamers to go back for more. Ivy the Kiwi officially debuts on the Nintendo DS and DSi consoles this fall, and will be compatible on DSi compatible cards such as the R4i SDHC, the M3i Zero, iEDGE and Acekard 2i cards.
