game sound dokumentation

Kirby’s Dream Land 2 is the third game in the main Kirby series, and is a direct sequel to Kirby’s Dream Land. It notably introduced three of Kirby’s Animal Friends: Rick, Coo and Kine. Like in the original Kirby’s Dream land, Kirby’s Dream Land 2 is a traditional side-scrolling platformer. The player can walk, jump, swim and fly, as well as use Kirby’s trademark inhaling ability to suck in weak opponents. Swallowing certain enemies allows Kirby to copy their abilities, with his current ability displayed in the bottom-right corner. Kirby cannot use inhale while possessing an ability and must discard it using select. He will also lose the ability when taking damage. You can, however, inhale the star that appears when the ability is lost to recover the skill. Defeating enemies and inhaling star blocks add to the players score, which is displayed at the bottom of the screen, but does not influence Gameplay. Touching something harmful will reduce Kirby’s health, and if it is fully reduced, he loses a life and is forced to restart the scene. If all lives are lost, he is forced to restart from the last save. The game is divided into seven levels in the form of Islands, reachable by warp star. Each island is divided into different stages. Once all numbered stages are completed, the Boss stage will open. Every Island also contains a ‘Rainbow drop’ which must be gained using a copy ability. However, since you can return to Islands at any time, you can collect these at will. However you must collect all of them to fight the final boss.

Playthrough 100% Non-Commentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zstm37Clc5M

The rainbows that connect the Rainbow Islands of Dreamland have been stolen by Dark Matter, who wants to turn the land into a dark world. Kirby and his Friends must find the Rainbow Drops on each Island and defeat the possessed King Dedede and his henchmen, and finally defeat Dark Matter.

Every Area, that is Every Island, and every level select within these Islands Has a soundtrack, as well as Bonus Areas, Bosses and Special Characters, like Animal Companions and the Final Boss, which has Two forms and therefore two themes.

If Kirby Is riding one of his Animal Companions, their theme will overwrite the level music.

Soundtrack	Sample
The Rainbow Islands
Grass Land (Map)
Grass Land (Stage)
Big Forest (Map)
Big Forest (Stage)
Ripple Field (Map)
Ripple Field (Stage)
Ice Berg (Map)
Ice Berg (Stage)
Red Canyon (Map)
Red Canyon (Stage)
Cloudy Park (Map)
Cloudy Park (Stage)
Dark Castle (Map)
Dark Castle (Stage)
Kine the Fish
Rick the Hamster
Coo the Owl
It's Boss Time!
Bonus Round
Rainbow Drop Chamber
King Dedede
The Emergence of Evil
Duel in the Darkened Sky
Dark Matter
Wielder of the Rainbow Sword

3.2.1 Feedback

Kirby’s Dream Land 2 has 94 Feedback sound Bites, not including Music. In order to facilitate playing and give proper Feedback on actions performed, almost any action the player takes has a sound: Jumping, Landing, Landing from high up, Inhaling, Exhaling, Picking up Items, Damage, Entering a Door, Copy Ability etc.

3.2.2 Simulation (Physicalizing) and Attention Focusing

Since Kirby is a GameBoy Advance Game, it makes good use of the limited but relatively unrealistic 8-Bit sound font, primarily using Sound effects like a ‘boing’ or ‘sparkle’ for jumping and receiving items respectively, in order to give the player adequate feedback for their in game actions. The Game banks on the Sounds themselves being recognizable and thus associated with the performed actions, rather then realism. One could argue realism would ruin the suspension of disbelief, and thus the immersion, as one doesn't really expect a physically accurate sound byte from a cute 2D Game.

The Player doesn't have much Interface interaction, apart from a Pause Screen, Title Screen and File Selection.

Kirby's Dreamland 2 Primarily uses Sound as a supportive feature, the Game could be played entierly without sound, as there are no puzzles requiring it. Most Sounds accompany an animations, such as a victory dance, Kirby tumbling or a Game Over Screen (Which is slightly more melancholic than the rest of the Soundtrack).

Despite not having a high Sound Quality, most Sound Effects in Kirby are very unique and Identifiable. there are, however, still quite a lot of Sound Effects that sound the same, like item pickups and damage indicators. I would presume though, that over all Kirby would very much be playable based on sound alone.

The Sound of Kirby’s Dream Land 2 mainly consists of the Level Map and Scene Soundtracks, Boss themes and Title and End Music. Additionally, every action has a Feedback noise as well as any special condition or Interface such as Game over, Pause Menu or Title Screen, in order to adequately communicate the Game States to the player. Inside also has specific level music, though this is where the large similarities pretty much stop.

Whereas Kirby has short Feedback Soundbites for every action, Inside has a realistic and timely Feedback simulation, that is the only noises heard are footsteps, sounds you make when landing, climbing, starting machinery etc. Furthermore, Inside has no UI music, so the pause and end screens are functionally silent. So, when new music starts, it is immediately clear to the player that they have advanced a level and consequently the communication with the player is almost all narrative.

Both Games Tend to have a hard cut from Soundtrack to Soundtrack, but whereas this is very obvious in Kirby, Inside hides this well with its relatively nondescript Soundtrack, as well as clever use of Soundscape, which is wholly absent from Kirby’s Dream Land 2. In addition to this, both games make use of atmospheric music to convey the games mood, whereas Inside is melancholic and dark, using long and low sounds, Kirby is upbeat and chipper, using high pitched and happy music.

Though Kirby Also has some more melancholic music, for example when Kirby dies and the game is over, it is still overall relatively upbeat and isn’t that emotionally gripping. This is in contrast to death in Inside, which is incredibly unsettling on account of the music being completely absent and only the player characters dying whimpers being audible, before the screen fades to black. Furthermore, Inside makes good use of emotional Sounds, displaying the Player Characters inner emotions through audible panic attacks or a racing heartbeat, making the game very emotionally gripping.

The Difference in Sound can partially be put down to generational differences, As Kirby’s Dream Land 2 had to make use of the limited Gameboy Sound Chip, and Inside has a whole array of capabilities, such as synthesizers filters, and real life objects such as a human skull, making the sound more realistic. However, a lot of the differences must be put down to atmosphere differences, because Kirby’s Dream Land 2 is intended to be light-hearted fun, whereas Inside is supposed to be emotionally gripping and unsettling.