Kirby's Dream Course

aka: Kirby Bouru, Special Tee Shot
Moby ID: 12674
SNES Specs
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Description official descriptions

Kirby's Dream Course is a mini-golf game featuring the pink blob Kirby. After his adventures in Dream Land Kirby himself becomes the ball, and you must guide him around each hole using the sort of bar system that you see in most golf games. Where this game differs, however, is in the fact that you need to eliminate all on-screen enemies before you can guide Kirby into the hole and complete it. As per usual in golf games, the more strokes it takes you to complete the whole, the lower your score - so make sure you aim Kirby just right!

You'll find eight courses and a total of sixty-four holes in the game, not including the final showdown with King Dedede, as well as an action-packed two-player mode.

Spellings

  • カービィボウル - Japanese spelling

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Credits (SNES version)

34 People (24 developers, 10 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 76% (based on 19 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.1 out of 5 (based on 23 ratings with 1 reviews)

A cross-genre game with truly innovative gameplay and great replay value

The Good
Kirby's dream course offers a level of mathematical strategy that is generally reserved for challenging puzzle games. One must plan well in advance, accounting not just for shot levels and spin, but also how the special abilities gained from the 'enemies' will come into play. The game's capacity for befuddling your expectations is almost limitless. At the same time, the game incorporates traditional video game challenges, each shot involving precise timing, and several abilities, like 'tornado,' involve steering an unwieldy Kirby. The result is an extremely deep game that tends to draw its players in from the very beginning. 'Beating' the game completely takes a lot of time, as one has to get a 'gold' medal on each course to unlock a whole other 1st player adventure. That aside, the two-player mode offers an endless avenue of entertainment.

The Bad
The aesthetics of the game are, like all Kirby games, childish and cartoony. This probably puts off a lot of people who have built up an aversion to such things since childhood. The style also can wear thing after hours of gameplay - yes, Dream Course can easily draw one in for hours. Just give it a try.

However, one should not underestimate the game's capacity to make its players laugh. The design very much influences how funny it is when you launch yourself after using the 'tornado' ability into a kracko, or when you 'fire' your opponent in two player.

There is little to critique about the gameplay. If one plays long enough, one can find a way to ace almost every hole in the game, at which point, one merely has to get the timings right. However, acquiring such knowledge takes a very long time, and even after completely beating the one player mode, the two player mode continues to offer a good time.

The Bottom Line
Kirby's Dream Course is a mesh between a Kirby game, where one fights his way through levels, acquiring powerups by defeating different enemies - and a golf game, where one times moving bars to determine the strength and trajectory of a shot. The two concepts are combined by Kirby using himself as the 'golf ball,' and propelling himself at a layout of stationary enemies on a given 'hole.'

In two player mode, two Kirbys compete to get the most enemies and to get in the hole first. Whoever gets in the whole first, gets to start the next hole, a considerable advantage. The two players can also use the abilities gained from the enemies against each other, generally with hilarious/aggravating consequences.

Kirby's Dream Course is a game from a classic console that has lost very little of its original appeal over the years. The level of strategy and geometric reasoning required to master it far eclipses many games being created today. It is a classic arcade experience, with a static, faux 3D perspective, but it is also a solid mental challenge. The best video games ever made tend to be immediately intoxicating and very simply fun to play - while also being deep enough for the player, once experienced, to play for many hours. Kirby's Dream Course is definitely such an experience and is too often overlooked in the halls of fame of gaming aficionados.

SNES · by Feem (30) · 2008

Trivia

Development

Originally the game was not intended to be a Kirby title. It was planned as Special Tee Shot, a simple miniature golfing game. Midway through development, however, the developers retooled it with elements from Kirby's universe. Special Tee Shot was released, some time later, on the Satellaview add-on, only in Japan of course.

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by caffeinedreamer.

New Nintendo 3DS, Wii U added by Michael Cassidy. Nintendo Switch added by Kam1Kaz3NL77. Wii added by gamewarrior.

Additional contributors: Apogee IV, Opipeuter, monkeyislandgirl, gamewarrior, samsam12, Patrick Bregger.

Game added April 3, 2004. Last modified August 17, 2023.