In honor of Kirby's Epic Yarn being released later this year, I thought I'd go and rank all of the Kirby games that I've owned and played. Interestingly enough, it seems that the games have generally "declined" (the list basically goes from 1st released to latest released).
UPDATED to include Kirby's Epic Yarn.
The GBA remake of Kirby's Adventure comes in as my favorite Kirby game. One thing that stands out to me is the "classic Kirby" feel that this game gives me. When I think of Kirby music, I mainly think of tunes from this game. What really makes this game special though is the awesome 4-player co-op mode. Up to 4 players can link together via the GBA link cable and play through the main game together (where all of them will make progress).
Second on the list is Kirby Air Ride, the "racing" Kirby game released for the Gamecube. While the game certainly has its issues, Kirby Air Ride's City Trial mode is too much fun to pass up (perhaps second only to the Super Smash Bros. series). However, like Super Smash Bros., you really need more than one player to make the most out of this game.
The second GBA Kirby game comes in third. This game has much in common with Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland. However, it falls short on a couple of fronts. First, the 4-player co-op mode only saves on the file of one player, not all four. Second, the game has a pretty confusing map system for navigating between levels.
Kirby's Epic Yarn was a surprise release, at least in terms of still being a fairly traditional Kirby platformer and having a unique art style. The game lacks the traditional Kirby transformations of sucking up enemies to gain powers, but the game still has various enjoyable transformations. The game was a blast to play, and the amazing art style and co-op play are huge bonuses. The only real downsides to this game are that it is fairly short and east.
Kirby: Canvas Curse isn't quite the same as a traditional Kirby game, but it isn't something completely different like Kirby Air Ride. Kirby: Canvas Curse was an early Nintendo DS game that made excellent use of the stylus. The game featured some neat music and level designs. Despite being very frustrating compared to most Kirby games, this game is still very good while being very memorable and unique. Unfortunately, there isn't a co-op mode, but that would have made the game very tricky.
Squeak Squad is a pretty typical Kirby game. The level designs are pretty close to traditional Kirby, and the game also features some pretty cool powers (along with the ability to "mix" powers in Kirby's stomach). The game is pretty easy, and it's lack of any co-op mode really hurts the game.
The remake of Kirby Super Star finishes off the list. While still a very solid game, it is pretty short and doesn't leave the same feeling of satisfaction that other Kirby games do. Most of this is probably due to the fact that the game is essentially several shorter games compiled into one. Still, the game has some neat aspects about it (such as "revenge" enemy designs). There is also a 2-player "helper" co-op mode, something that I appreciated a lot after the gap with the previous 2 Kirby DS games.
