Super Kiwi 64 in the test - nostalgia for the hollow tooth
What adventures await us?
© Siactro / Diplodocus Games
I usually start my tests with an insight into the story, which Super Kiwi 64 doesn't have, however. The game begins immediately with control of the eponymous Kiwi, which resides on a small overworld. Starting from this, you can access the eight available levels in any order and familiarize yourself directly with the abilities of the winged character. You collect smaller gears, which are the counterpart to the coins from Super Mario 64 or the notes from Banjo Kazooie. If there are enough of them, they will make a kind of ruby appear. You can collect six of these gems per level, which in turn roughly symbolizes the stars from Mario's Nintendo 64 times.
To collect all the objects, you can jump, slide and you also have a beak attack, which can even get you stuck in many objects. The whole thing is reminiscent of the abilities of Mario in Super Mario Odyssey when he takes control of a pooch. Stuck in the wall, you can jump sideways or up and reach higher levels or overcome chasms with another beak attack. The whole thing works very precisely, so that you always have full control.
The levels themselves are quite varied, although they cannot convince with much depth. All collectible objects come into your possession almost automatically, since the positioning of the gears in particular repeatedly dictates paths that lead you to all the treasures. The tasks are also kept very simple overall and range from flying through golden rings to activating switches. Creativity or even challenges are completely neglected and even fiery obstacles and roaming enemies pose no danger, so I completed my first run without even being hit once.
Although there are a few secrets to discover, you'll be through with everything in about two hours - there's really no replay value. There are a few surprises waiting for you if you have played through the game carefully and 100 percent, but these are not exciting enough to do more rounds with the Kiwi. The actually nice look of the forest or lava worlds, which should let the player reminisce, doesn't help either. Rather, this really backfires, since the start screen already looks less nostalgic, but rather leaves an impression of blurring and unclean technology. It's a real shame as the simple and very accessible gameplay was a nice experience. Overall, however, the title falls far short of its potential, although a price of around three euros is quite reasonable.
