Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. News

Quickness is key in ‘Kirby’s Blowout Blast’, launching July 6 on the 3DS eShop

Steven Petite
By
カービィのすいこみ大作戦 紹介映像
Nintendo has announced that Kirby’s Blowout Blast launches on July 6 on the Nintendo 3DS eShop. Kirby’s Blowout Blast, an expanded version of the Kirby: Planet Robobot minigame “Kirby 3D Rumble,” was originally unveiled in April. You can watch the release trailer above, although it’s only available in Japanese at this time.
カービィのすいこみ大作戦 紹介映像

In Blowout Blast, players must try to complete stages as fast as possible, all the while racking up points from inhaling foes with Kirby’s classic ability. The 3DS eShop exclusive will feature more than 25 3D stages. The stages will be longer than they were in Kirby 3D Rumble, and Blowout Blast adds boss fights against classic foes such as King Dedede and Kracko Jr.

While the objective is clear — complete stages as quickly as possible while accumulating a high score — you can choose to go about it in a few different ways. If you inhale multiple enemies in a row, you can earn a Blaster Bullet, which has the power to decimate strings of enemies like Waddle Dees. Your point total can also rise by shooting enemies in succession without missing. Pinpoint accuracy multiplies your score. But you can also choose to just collect coins while scurrying to the finish line, avoiding enemies and potentially saving time in the process. Regardless of which path you take, your goal is to achieve bronze, silver, or gold star grades in each stage. If you perform well, you’ll unlock EX challenge stages.

Recommended Videos

Kirby Blowout Blast will have Amiibo support. You can use any Kirby series Amiibo to build a statue in the game’s plaza that will play new tunes.

Related

The game currently doesn’t have a price tag, but considering it’s an eShop exclusive, it will likely be available for a bargain.

Blowout Blast will be the second standalone title to be born out of Kirby: Planet Robobot. Team Kirby Clash Deluxe, an expanded version of the Team Kirby Clash mini-game, launched in April as a free to start 3DS eShop exclusive. The 3DS will also receive a Kirby multiplayer action game this holiday to round out the pink puff’s 25th anniversary celebration.

At E3 2017, Nintendo also unveiled Kirby’s debut Switch adventure, launching in 2018. A title has not been set, but from the reveal trailer we know that it will feature classic Kirby platforming with an emphasis on co-op.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Steven Petite
Steven Petite
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Steven is a writer from Northeast Ohio currently based in Louisiana. He writes about video games and books, and consumes…
The 25 best Nintendo 3DS games
Nintendo 3DS close-up.

If you're looking for the best Nintendo 3DS games, there's no shortage of titles to choose from, thanks to the console's long life cycle.

The 3DS has enjoyed several updates over the years, but each was compatible with its predecessor, and that translates to a large and diverse library. It's getting increasingly tough to find a 3DS, especially since Nintendo has officially discontinued the console and no longer supports it to focus on releasing Switch games. Even so, the legacy of the 3DS lives on with a long list of excellent, pocket-sized adventures. Here are our favorite ones.

Read more
Nintendo’s eShop closures are a necessary, but messy move
A Nintendo Wii U gamepad flat on a table.

Nintendo last week announced its intentions to shut down the Wii U and 3DS eShops, the systems' digital storefronts, in March 2023. This decision was disappointing for hardcore fans who stuck with Nintendo during that rocky era and extremely worrying as many of the games available on the platforms won't be preserved.
More significant Wii U games and a handful of 3DS titles were ported to Switch, but many titles are still stuck on those systems and can’t be ported. Once the digital storefront shutdowns, digital-only titles will be gone forever, and physical copies of these titles will get more expensive and harder to experience. Fans and game preservationists have not been pleased by this decision, with the Video Game History Foundation giving the most candid response.
https://twitter.com/GameHistoryOrg/status/1494398068346654720
Following this announcement, Digital Trends spoke to an industry analyst and game preservationists to get a better idea of what exactly caused Nintendo to shut down these stores and to learn how it could do a better job at preserving its legacy.
Why is Nintendo shutting down the 3DS and Wii eShops?
Officially, Nintendo’s FAQ on the eShop closures says “this is part of the natural life cycle for any product line as it becomes less used by consumers over time." The answer doesn’t get into specifics and might confuse those still playing games on the system or fans of games only available on Wii U or 3DS. Omdia Principal Analyst Matthew Bailey explains Nintendo’s user base argument in more detail, highlighting the massive gap between the number of people playing the Switch as opposed to the Wii U.
“While Omdia expects the number of Switch consoles in active use to exceed 90 million on a global basis this year, the Wii U’s global active installed base will drop under one million in 2022,” he explains. “Even when you include the more enduring 3DS family of consoles into the equation, the Switch still comfortably accounts for over 90% of Nintendo’s total active console install base.”
If one is going off just the numbers, it’s sensible that Nintendo would want to focus on the majority of its players. Bailey admits that “Switch users are already reaping the benefits of Nintendo’s singular first-party development focus on one platform.” Still, one might argue that Nintendo should just let the eShops remain up even if it isn’t actively updating or maintaining them.

Unfortunately, Nintendo doesn’t see that as possible due to cost and security issues. Game Over Thrity, a Twitter user with over 20 years of experience working on IT projects and infrastructure, shed some light on what might have influenced Nintendo’s decision-making in a thread.
“As these systems age, they require patches, security, special contracts, updates, and personnel that know how they were built (and maintained),” his Twitter thread explains. “As time goes on, there are security holes, servers, code, infrastructure, etc., that can’t be brought up to modern standards. It becomes a constant struggle between maintaining legacy systems, paying people to do so, and trying to keep up with global regulations. It’s not cheap by any means. They can’t just ‘leave the lights on’ and stop supporting them. What if someone hacked the payment processor?”
With every passing year, the Wii U and 3DS eShops likely became more expensive to maintain and an increased security risk for the video game publisher. Instead of investing the time and resources into pleasing a smaller amount of players, the easier option is to turn everything off entirely. While he isn’t affiliated with Nintendo, Game Over Thirty’s assessment aligns with what we’ve heard from Nintendo and Omdia.
"The Wii U’s global active installed base will drop under one million in 2022."

Read more
Nintendo is ending Wii U and 3DS eShop service
nintendo shuts down wiiu 3ds eshop

Nintendo has announced the end of its eShop service for the Wii U console and 3DS handheld. The eShop will stay live on those devices until late March 2023, after which players will no longer be able to purchase games or download eShop apps and services for those devices.

After the closure, players will still be able to redownload games and DLC that they already own, use online play, and download software updates.

Read more