Kirby Ball 64 Screenshot of gameplay fromKirby Ball 64, showingKirby Ball racing against a clock along a tiled surface. Details Developer(s) HAL Laboratory Publisher(s) Nintendo Date(s) announced/showcased Shoshinkai 1995 Platform(s) Nintendo 64

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This article is about the canceledNintendo 64 game. For Kirby as a ball in general, seeKirby Ball.

Kirby Ball 64^{[Japanese title]} was an unreleasedKirby game and most likely a planned sequel toKirby's Dream Course (known as『カービィボウル』,Kirby Ball, in Japanese). Official demonstrations translated the game's name asKirby Bowl 64, with "bowl" being the more conventional translation of「ボウル」. It was the first known 3DKirby game to be in development and originally meant to be a launch title forNintendo 64. The game's development began in 1995 after the release ofKirby's Dream Course, and was first announced and offered as a playable demo at theShoshinkai trade show in November 1995, alongsideSuper Mario 64 (then known asUltra Mario), at which pointKirby Ball 64 was estimated to be 20% complete.^[1] Although several release date estimates had been given in various magazines, such as April or June 1996, the game would eventually be scrapped and reworked intoKirby's Air Ride by June of the same year.

Controls[edit]

The game was designed to take advantage of the Nintendo 64 controller's new analog stick. The stick was used to gather momentum and choose direction, while the B button made Kirby jump.

Gameplay[edit]

Early prototypes of the game as shown at Shoshinkai 1995 featured two gameplay modes, both revolving around attaining a high-score before the time limit runs out: a "bash-'em-up"multiplayer mode where the goal was to knock other players out of an arena, and a single player 3D polygon airboard high-score competition against a clock.

In the former mode,Kirby Balls are placed inside a bowl-shaped arena that pulses up and down throughout the match, making it harder to keep Kirbys on the stage. The players move their Kirbys by rolling and jumping, in order to knock each other off the platform and score points, and whoever attains the most when the timer runs out is the winner. A largeMaxim Tomato sometimes pops out around the middle that makes the Ball Kirby that touches it temporarily grow in size and mass.

The second mode provided the player with two options: to play as either Kirby in his ball form or Kirby on an air-board.^[2] The mode presents the player with a straightforward race against a time limit over a procedurally generated flat checkered terrain, under arches, down and up the slopes, performing various aerial stunts to gain speed and collect as manypoint stars for score before the time runs out.Wheelie andKabu were shown as enemies in the prototype footage.

Prioritizing the concept of airboard racing, this prototype was retooled intoKirby's Air Ride and no longer featured Kirby's ball form in the racing mode, while the knock-out multiplayer mode was nowhere to be seen in newer footage of later prototypes.

Trivia[edit]

• Though never outright stated by the developers, some concepts ofKirby Ball 64 were later used inKirby's Dream Buffet, particularly the four-player battle mode and the Maxim Tomato's effects in said mode being implemented into thestrawberries, albeit with permanent effects that increase depending on how many are collected and decrease depending on how many are lost.

Gallery[edit]

• 
  Artwork of Kirby on hisKirby Ball 64 airboard
• 
  Kirby skating up an undulated slope
• 
  Kirby hovering on top of a slope
• 
  Kirby in ball form about to collect apoint star under a white arch

Videos[edit]

Names in other languages[edit]

External links[edit]

• A collection of magazine scans aboutKirby Ball 64 andKirby's Air Ride from Nintendo64EVER
• Kirby Bowl 64/Air Ride 64 Footage Compilation on Internet Archive
• Kirby's Air Ride (including Kirby Ball 64) on Unseen64

See also[edit]

• Kirby's Air Ride (Nintendo 64)

References

• Canceled games
• Games on Nintendo 64

• Articles with titles from non-English languages
• Articles which list Japanese names