Pleasant Surprise

Quite some time ago, before the Internet and before I had a subscription to Nintendo Power, whenever a game would come out I would have no knowledge of it doing so until I would see it in an ad. These ads would always be placed in order to get you out there (or have your parents get out there) and get the freaking game. The first time it happened was with "Kirby's Dream Land" for the original Game Boy, which became the first game I ever bought with my very own money.

Several years later, I was reading a magazine days before my birthday, and was delighted to see that Kirby's Dream Land 2 had come out! Indeed, several Kirby games had come out in the interim, but for some reason I didn't take any notice of them at the time. With Kirby's Dream Land 2, however, I went from having no knowledge of this thing existing to wanting it more than anything in the world. Unfortunately, this was the last time I would feel this... or so I thought.

More Kirby games came out, and I bought most of them, but having a subscription to Nintendo Power and, later, the Internet allowed a quick burst of excitement which simmered with the long wait involved each time. There were no longer any surprises in life. At least, no good surprises. Everything is now heralded months before it comes out, as if it was a king leaving a foreign battleground. By the time the king has finally arrived at his castle, everyone is sort of unexcited. Thus is life. You get hit with girlfriends dumping you and surprise expenses, but never any fun surprises. And then, salvation!

Or, at least, an e-mail. I went into my Hotmail account and saw that Nintendo had sent me a message with the subject line: "What's super, tuff, and pink all over?"

I have not picked up a gaming magazine in months, or more than perused a gaming website for just as long. So I had no idea what to think when I saw that subject line, thinking maybe there was some Kirby thing on the Wii Virtual Console. I opened up the e-mail, however...

Kirby Super-Star Ultra. For the Nintendo DS. Release date: September 22nd.

There are some good surprises left in the world, it seems. You just have to know where not to look.