Kirby: Canvas Curse

When Nintendo got its hands on a console with two displays and a stylus, it asked itself how to use the pen differently than as a mere pointer. Kirby: Canvas Curse, released in 2005, was one of the first and most elegant answers. Here you don't control the pink hero directly, but instead draw with the pen the paths along which he rolls like a helpless little ball.

The premise is delightful: the evil witch Drawcia turns the world into a painting and robs Kirby of his legs. The player must therefore help him by drawing rainbow lines on the touchscreen that serve as ramps, bridges, and protective walls. Tapping Kirby sends him rolling; tapping an enemy stuns it. The whole game plays out purely with the pen, without a single button for movement, which makes it a textbook example of design tailored to the hardware.

Across the levels Kirby swallows enemies and gains their abilities, from fire-breathing to turning into stone, so the heart of the classic series remains here. But drawing the paths adds a wholly new layer of puzzle and dexterity: a limited amount of ink forces you to plan your moves, save lines for key jumps, and improvise when a chasm or trap appears in front of Kirby.

Visually the game leans on a painterly motif, with richly colored backgrounds resembling canvas and brush strokes all around. Reviewers praised how naturally the touch controls play and how inventively the whole concept is developed all the way to the boss fights. Canvas Curse joined the titles that showed skeptics that the stylus isn't just a marketing gimmick but a tool for entirely new gaming ideas.

Within Nintendo it was an important proof that even an established brand like Kirby can bear a radical experiment with controls. The studio HAL Laboratory later followed up on this idea with further titles featuring a drawing mechanic. For DS owners Canvas Curse remains one of the games for which the console essentially existed, namely to do things that weren't possible elsewhere.

Why play: An inventive platformer controlled solely by drawing with the pen, tailored directly to the DS touchscreen. Proof that Kirby can endure even a bold experiment.