Kirby Tilt 'n Tumble

Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble involves less thumb action than most Gameboy games, as Kirby is moved around simply by tilting the entire device backwards, forwards or from side to side. Flip him in the air by tilting up quickly - it's fun to watch!. There's a (simple) story too. King Dedede stole all the stars from Dreamland and it's up to Kirby to get them back into the sky.

This involves moving through 8 territories, each with 4 sublevels. There's a secret star hidden somewhere in each of them. Terrain types include water, ice, cloud, quicksand and castle. Kirby bounces off bumpers, and avoids or jumps on enemies like Blinkbats and Blockbots. He travels through the air on clouds and uses rafts on water (jumping on and off can be a tricky timing problem). There are different types of holes - roll Kirby into them and then launch him out again in specific directions. It's easy to discover lots of tricks like this, though it sometimes takes trial and error. There are also a variety of power-ups (I liked the ability to knock out enemies with a song) and they can be switched around by flipping Kirby till you get the one you want.

Although there is a small puzzle element, this game mostly has the feel of the old wooden Labyrinth game, where you control the tilt of a floating board with knobs on the sides to move a marble through a maze, avoiding the holes. I found this GBC version just as addictive, with Kirby as the large pink marble. Don't tilt at the wrong time or you'll send him off an edge into the abyss, drown him, or puncture him on a spike. Finding a blue star gets access to one of 5 additional mini-games, all demanding tilting skills. For example, Burst A Balloon uses tilting to aim at target balloons floating up the screen.

My kids (11 and 12) enjoyed this game at first, then found it repetitive, and stopped before completing all the levels. I had fun with it and suspect they will return to play again. Like the similar wooden game, Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble is one that the entire family can enjoy, its simple controls making it accessible for younger kids (probably 6 and up), and just as entertaining for their elders.