Cathartic Video Game Levels #5

I haven't done one of these in about two years, but I remembered one I thought would be fun.

Generally, I don't think older games provide a lot of catharsis for me. They tended to rely on quick reactions and precise control. Jump at just the right moment, with sufficient speed, or Mario dies, end of story. It's tense, unforgiving, and there wasn't a lot of variation in the gameplay. You run across the screen jumping on turtles and over pits early in the game and near the end. There a plenty of games like that out now (Singularity is always a first-person shooter, for example), but at least some of them try to mix things up, or provide story elements that make certain things personally satisfying. But older games can pull that off too.

Kirby's Adventure is my favorite NES game. Throughout, you'd run into a certain area, and there would be this guy with a shiny metal face mask. Nowadays, I think he's called Meta-Knight, but back then, I didn't know his name, if he had one. He'd sweep aside his cape and point his sword at Kirby, only to run off and leave me fighting their goon squads. They all carried different weapons, but none of them were powers Kirby could copy. So you were reliant on whatever powers you'd brought in, or on inhaling them, then spitting them back at their cohorts. Which means I never got the satisfaction of turning their abilities against them. This repeated itself several times

Finally, I reach the 6th level boss, and look who it is. Mr Sword and Cape. Again he brandishes his sword, but this time, another sword falls from the ceiling and lands before you. He waits. Until you pick up that sword, nothing's gonna happen, but once you do, he's coming for you. It isn't a fighting game, or a quick-time event where I have to hit the right button at the right moment to avoid Kirby being bisected. No counters or parries, just two characters jumping around, charging at each other and taking big swings with their swords. Kirby had three moves as I recall: A basic swing, a charge which would end in him sliding forward on his face, the sword held out in front of him, and a leaping attack where he would spin in midair, the sword whirling around him.

But the straightforward aspect was part of the fun. All the other boss fights you had to wait for them to stop moving so you could use whatever power you had, or wait for them to unleash an attack you could inhale and turn against them. None of that here. You have a sword, he has a sword, attack when you like, dodge as you like. And there was the whole build-up of him constantly making you fight his pitiful lackeys, so weak they didn't even have powers to steal. Even the Waddle Dee had powers to steal if they were carrying a parasol. Finally he's chosen to face you himself, and he's not using any tricks, not throwing cannon fodder at you to give himself a chance to recover. It's a fair fight (if you figure Kirby knew how to use a sword before he started this adventure). It makes it so terribly satisfying to cut him down to size.