castlewars: 6.9/10
A Kirby level probably has been done before, but here the Kirby idea has been used to make a level like the Mario-based regular contest levels in SMBX contests. The idea of using Kirby graphics is quite interesting, and a whole level appears to have been built out of this, and a lot of the enemies are used really effectively, such as the SMB2 bomb-like enemies which explode upon contact, but there is one area in which they just rain down on the player and it's hard to avoid them, so the level becomes unfairly difficult. This is also the case in some areas, but different enemies clog up the screen and make the level hard. Even so, the tilesets and powerups are unique and used very well, and so was the boss battle, which was quite interesting in the idea of stars being fired at the player and the use of an invisible Mother Brain attached to underused NPCs, so the same idea can be reused twice, but still it was pulled off very well. However, there wasn't much exploration or special gimmicks that made the level stand out and it was just following a path to the boss, and stomping the enemies. A special gimmick might have made this level better.
Chad: 8.8/10
This is without a doubt the best Kirby level I've ever seen done in SMBX! Fantastic job with all of the graphics and the Kirby atmosphere, as they look breathtaking! I really enjoyed the attention to detail in how specifically the level was designed around its difficulty, with great strategic enemy and item placements in all areas. All of the jumps and evasions felt specifically planned. The bosses are really tricky, but excellently done, and putting the checkpoint before them is certainly generous (in a good way). However, I do wish the bosses had a little more evasion room, and that the Bronto Burts and Shotzos were slowed down. They're tough enough on their own even without all of the careful movement you have to do around most other obstacles. I also found the Bomber generators in the area with all the Gordos to be excessively frequent given that it's really easy to jump on them by mistake, and you don't warn about jumping on the Bombers even though you do about Scarfies (some of which are nearly required to jump on closer to the boss).
Firespike33: 7/10
Dread indeed. This level is HARD. That isn’t a bad thing, though. It had a Kirby theme which you don’t see too often. It was fun and had good (but hard) enemy placement and was mostly linear, though sometimes you had to go out of your way to get to a power-up. Sometimes all the enemies felt impossible to dodge, but with a boost from FTL Rockmen music I got to the boss. He was pretty hard until I got a good strategy: stay near the top, then kite him down while shooting stars. The second boss was actually easier for me. Anyway, a challenging and fun level.
Quill: 8/10
This level was really cool! It was generally fun to play, although it was sometimes difficult identifying what enemies replaced what, but that's probably because I've never played Kirby. Overall, it had some great level design. The boss sections were silly, I wasn't exactly sure what was going on but things eventually died with that awesome Star Rod at my disposal.
