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 him Animal Companions, their theme will overwrite the level music.

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.