Kirby's Star Stacker Box art forKirby's Star Stacker from various regions Details Developer(s) HAL Laboratory Publisher(s) Nintendo Release date(s) Game Boy: January 25, 1997 April 7, 1997 August 28, 1997 October 20, 1997 Virtual Console (3DS): May 23, 2012 August 30, 2012 January 17, 2013 Nintendo Switch Online: May 22, 2025[1] May 23, 2025 May 23, 2025 May 23, 2025 May 23, 2025 May 23, 2025 Platform(s) Game Boy Nintendo 3DS(Virtual Console) Nintendo Switch(Game Boy -Nintendo Switch Online) Supported languages Japanese, American English Rating(s) ESRB: / PEGI: CERO:

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This article is about the version on Game Boy. For the Super Famicom version, seeKirby's Star Stacker (Super Famicom).

Kirby's Star Stacker is a puzzle game and aKirby spinoff released on theGame Boy in 1997. Playing similarly toDr. Mario, this game tasks the player to line upstars in a grid betweenKirby'sAnimal Friends to "stack them" and remove them from the board, in order to prevent them from overflowing the board and forcing a loss.

Kirby's Star Stacker is compatible with the Super Game Boy, which gives the game a wider range of colors and also adds a special border around the screen, much likeKirby's Dream Land 2.Kirby's Star Stacker was later ported to theNintendo 3DS's Virtual Console in 2011 for Japan, 2012 in Australia and Europe, and lastly 2013 in North America. It was ported again on theNintendo Switch Online service on May 23, 2025. The game also received a Japan-exclusive remake on theSuper Famicom, also known asKirby's Star Stacker.

Gameplay[edit]

The game is a puzzle game in the basic style ofTetris. Domino-like groups of two connected blocks, which can be controlled with the directional pad and turned with the A and B buttons, fall from the top of the playing field one by one, eventually landing at the bottom of the field or on top of other blocks. Once the blocks have landed, the domino breaks up, and each block is individually affected by gravity. Six types of blocks exist in the game: three Friend Blocks are based on theAnimal Friends fromKirby's Dream Land 2 (Rick,Kine andCoo),Star Blocks,Bomb Blocks, andHard Blocks. The goal is to score stars by placing one or more Star Blocks between two matching Friend Blocks, which will then cause both the Friend and Star Blocks to disappear, adding to the score total on the right-hand side. Hard Blocks and Bomb Blocks can likewise be sandwiched between Friends, the former transforming into Star Blocks, and the latter destroying the row of blocks they are on when this is done.

In order to achieve greater numbers of star points, Chains have to be utilized; if destroying a group of blocks leads to a chain reaction of other groups being destroyed, this counts as a Chain. Every Chain that is achieved causes a group of stars to fall into gaps between blocks and be added to the star point counter, their number starting at two but increasing with each Chain, up to a maximum of twelve. If these stars end up sandwiched between Friend Blocks when they land, they turn into Star Blocks, causing another group of blocks to be destroyed and the combo to continue; stars that land in positions where it would not be beneficial for them to transform into blocks simply disappear.

Apart from the blocks that fall from above slowly piling up unless destroyed,King Dedede regularly pounds the ground with his fist and causes a new row of blocks to appear at the bottom and push the already existing blocks upwards; the frequency of this depends on the difficulty level. The game continues until the game mode's victory requirement is met or the two columns in the middle of the screen have reached the top, the latter preventing new dominoes from appearing and causing aGame Over.

Controls[edit]

←↑→↓ - Switch the falling blocks, Speed up the falling blocks, Move the falling blocks to the left or right

A - Rotate the falling blocks to the right

B - Rotate the falling blocks to the left

Modes[edit]

In the game there are 4 modes:

• Round Clear - This is the main game, divided into five difficulties (Normal, Hard, Very Hard, Super Hard and Insane, with Insane needing to be unlocked); each difficulty having its own number of rounds. To complete each round, a set number of Stars must be stacked. Each difficulty has its own theme, ranging from a forest to a mountain range to outer space. When a round is completed, the player is then rewarded with special artwork based on the theme of the difficulty, depicting Kirby and his friends. This mode pits Kirby againstKing Dedede, who taunts Kirby with an opening line after a difficulty is selected.

• Time Attack - As many Stars as possible must be stacked within a 3-minute time limit. Like in Round Clear, there are five difficulties: Normal, Hard, Very Hard, Super Hard and Insane. Insane is unlocked by stacking 100 stars or more in one of the lower difficulties.Tick-Tock Jr. appears in place of King Dedede in this game mode. Once the time limit runs out, the player is given a brief message and a star of varying size depending on how well they did, with the last message with the biggest star being shown if 150 or more stars are stacked.

• Challenge - An endless mode in which the objective is to gain as many stars as possible before the middle stack of blocks touches the top of the screen; Dedede's hand lifts up the set of blocks, introducing a new row. Like in the other modes, the player can choose between the five difficulties: Normal, Hard, Very Hard, Super Hard, and Insane, with Insane being unlocked by stacking 1000 stars or more in any of the lower difficulties. Similarly to Round Clear, the player is rewarded with one of four pieces of in-game artwork depending on the number of Stars collected (starting from 50 stars onward) in order to encourage trying harder next time until the final picture is received.Mr. Star appears in place of King Dedede in this game mode.

• VS - A multiplayer mode for two players via the Game Link Cable. Player 1 controls Kirby, Player 2 controlsWaddle Dee. The winner is decided when the other player receives a Game Over. This mode is inaccessible in the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console version due to its inability to emulate the Game Link Cable.

There is also a high score table for Challenge, and Time Attack mode, showing the top 3 scores for each.

Nintendo eShop description[edit]

Original Release Date: April 1997

Join Kirby as he stacks the falling stars with help from his friends, Rick the Hamster, Kine the Sunfish, and Coo the Owl. Watch out for King Dedede. He is out to stop you! With a few quick moves and some well-timed strategy, you can quickly outwit him and move on to the next challenging level.

Kirby's Star Stacker features pure puzzle fun for everyone. From above, blocks rain down constantly. From below, whole lines appear with unrelenting clock-like regularity. Simply sandwich the stars between Kirby's pals and you'll soon be on your way to the high score.

(This description was reused for the game on the My Nintendo Store.)^[2]

Nintendo Switch Online description[edit]

Join Kirby as he stacks the falling stars with help from his friends: Rick, Kine, and Coo, who look like a hamster, sunfish, and owl respectively. Watch out for King Dedede—he's out to stop you! But with a few quick moves and a well-timed strategy, you can outwit him and move on to the next challenging level.

Kirby's Star Stacker features pure puzzle fun for everyone. From above, blocks rain down constantly. From below, whole lines appear with unrelenting clock-like regularity. Sandwich the stars between Kirby's pals and you'll be on your way to a high score.

Trivia[edit]

• Notably, the Super Game Boy border for this game changes its design once the player has completed the game. This is the only game in theKirby series to have its Super Game Boy border behave this way.

Gallery[edit]

Artwork[edit]

• 
  Japanese logo
• 
  Key artwork
• 
  Kirby riding aWarp Star
• 
  Kirby summoning a star
• 
  Kirby holding aStar Block
• 
  Kirby sleeping
• 
  Kirby covering his head in fear
• 
  Rick Block
• 
  Kine Block
• 
  Coo Block
• 
  Star Block
• 
  Bomb Block
• 
  Hard Block

Sprites[edit]

• 
  Kirby
• 
  King Dedede
• 
  Mr. Star
• 
  Tick-Tock Jr.
• 
  Tick-Tock Jr. (asleep)
• 
  Tick-Tock Jr. (angered)

Screenshots[edit]

• 
  Intro
• 
  Title screen (Game Boy)
• 
  Alternate title screen (Game Boy)
• 
  Title screen (Super Game Boy)
• 
  Alternate title screen (Super Game Boy)
• 
  Mode select screen (Super Game Boy)
• 
  Records table (Game Boy)
• 
  Stage clear screen (Super Game Boy)
• 
  Gameplay in the Time Attack mode (Game Boy)
• 
  Gameplay in the Challenge Mode (Game Boy)
• 
  Kirby takes a nap while waiting for the game to resume. (Game Boy)
• 
  TheKirby Dance (Game Boy)
• 
  The game over screen (Game Boy)

Clear illustrations[edit]

• 
  Clear illustration for Round Clear Normal difficulty
• 
  Clear illustration for Round Clear Hard difficulty
• 
  Clear illustration for Round Clear Very Hard difficulty
• 
  Clear illustration for Round Clear Super Hard difficulty
• 
  Clear illustration for Round Clear Insane difficulty
• 
  The first illustration from Challenge mode
• 
  The second illustration from Challenge mode
• 
  The third illustration from Challenge mode

Other[edit]

• 
  Win screen for Kirby in the international versions' VS mode
• 
  Lose screen for Kirby in the VS mode
• 
  Win screen for Waddle Dee in the VS mode
• 
  Lose screen for Waddle Dee in the VS mode
• 
  Super Game Boy border
• 
  Super Game Boy border afterfully completing the game

Audio[edit]

• https://wikirby.com/wiki/File:KStStGB_Hard.mp3
  Hard
• https://wikirby.com/wiki/File:Insane_-_Kirby%27s_Star_Stacker.mp3
  Insane
• https://wikirby.com/wiki/File:KSSGB_Kirby_Dance.mp3
  Kirby Dance
• https://wikirby.com/wiki/File:KSSGB_Game_Over.mp3
  Game Over

Names in other languages[edit]

External links[edit]

• Official Japanese site (archived from the Wayback Machine)
• Kirby's Star Stacker on Kirby Informer
• English manual (external archive)

References

• Good pages
• Spin-off games
• Games on Game Boy
• Kirby's Star Stacker (Game Boy)

• Pages using Tabber parser tag
• Articles which list Japanese names
• Articles which list Chinese names
• Articles which list Dutch names
• Articles which list French names
• Articles which list German names
• Articles which list Italian names
• Articles which list Korean names
• Articles which list Portuguese names
• Articles which list Russian names
• Articles which list Spanish names