Kirby's Dream Course came out on SNES in 1994, made by HAL (I believe they did all the other Kirby games, too). This game is very different from the typical Kirby games in that this is not a platformer. It's more accurate to state this is a golfing video game, but Kirby style. Instead of hitting the ball with a club off a tee, you're deciding how much power Kirby should propel himself, at what angle, with what degree of spin, and will he be jumping at all? All right, I realize this sounds complicated, but it's more intuitive than I may make it seem, even if the learning curve is slightly tougher for beginners of this specific Kirby game. Also, it's really fun.

Graphics: 8
Each course is basically 3D design to give the player a good view of the entire course (no need for angle/camera view rotations, etc.). Some courses will feature villain characters who have attacks. Most of the graphical work is in the form of these sprites. Some of the cooler moments are when you use special moves with Kirby. Personally, I like the graphics displayed when Kirby uses his Fireball or Tornado attacks. Otherwise, nothing too complicated or severely minimal in terms of the aesthetics.

Sound: 9
A lot of tracks heard on Kirby's Dream Course are new and unique although I'm not the most familiar with the entirety of the Kirby series. As such, a lot of the most prominent Kirby tunes are not featured in this game. I was sort of hoping to hear Green Greens or Gourmet Race somewhere here, but alas it wasn't found. Sorry if that spoiled it for you! On the other hand, diversity in music is always a good thing.
In any case, I felt the music really fit in with the theme of a course, or specific level contained within.

Addictiveness: 8
Not many people I know have heard of this game, and even fewer have played it for a significant period of time. Personally, I did find this game pretty addictive. Each course in this game features 8 levels/holes. You are awarded medals depending on how well you do (gold/silver/bronze) in your overall score of the 8 levels. Getting a gold medal can be very difficult, particularly for certain courses. The addictiveness kicked in and tempted my inner perfectionist, as I strove to get all gold when I played this game in my youth (and let it be known, I got the golds!). Among the others I knew who played this game, some shared in my desire to get all gold and also found this game addictive. Others had different goals, and because mastering every course wasn't a priority, they didn't find the game addictive. That probably saved them fewer headaches! So here it is, I give this category an 8, but depending on your personality or perception of the game, give or take a point.

Story: 5
Story? Since it's a Kirby game, you can already safely assume King Dedede did a thing, and Kirby has to stop him. Well lo and behold, that is the case in Kirby's Dream Course! To be honest, nothing in terms of story is ever elaborated. There is no segment of dialogue or illustrations signifying some chronology of events and so forth. Before each course, there's a little animation to show the player what kinds of enemies to expect. it also features Kirby jumping around or using a special move- think of it more like a skit. Kirby's Dream Course really is all about the gameplay.

Depth: 9
I like to think of Kirby's Dream Course as easy to learn, hard to master. The mechanics involving the use of spin/rotation may be enough to turn some players away, but fortunately, advanced mechanics are not required to get through the game. You will need to utilize these attributes to get gold medals, and many hole-in-ones, though.

GAME DEscriptION:
There are 8 courses, and each course has 8 levels. Kirby must destroy each regular enemy on the map (as opposed to villain characters like Wispy Woods, Kracko, etc.). All you have to do is touch the enemy and they're destroyed. For doing this, kirby gets one unit of energy per enemy destroyed. Kirby uses 1 energy per shot and if he runs out of energy, he loses a life. When only one enemy remains on the map, it becomes the hole. Sink Kirby in the hole, and you get to move onto the next level. Worthy of mention, some enemies give Kirby a special move. A special move can be performed once per move... so after you line up your shot and Kirby is now moving, you can use a move. Some moves are meant to destroy the villain characters, while others increase Kirby's mobility. In addition to special moves, you can make Kirby pulsate, which helps him move farther, and is especially useful for making him bounce off of walls/barriers with more force/recoil. There are all sorts of features on the map that can assist or hurt Kirby in his endeavor to play golf. It's up to you to discover the tricks of each course, and advance closer to King Dedede so you can destroy him, and prevent him from... existing? As I've hinted in the earlier section, don't worry too much about the 'story' part.

In essence, I've given Depth a 9 because I've spent hours achieving gold medals in all the courses. Doing this also unlocks some other things. I won't go into details here, but you'll spend hours in each course, as well as even more hours with the unlockable stuff so check it out! Two player mode features 4 courses of 8 levels each. I enjoyed 2 player mode for this game, and I think you will too provided you're not of hyper-competitive personality.

Difficulty: 7
Getting through each course is really not too difficult, maybe except for the last one, but you don't want to just survive each course do you? I chose to conquer each course in the quest for gold. The difficulty comes from that objective; let me know which course you thought was hardest to master =)
Otherwise, Kirby's Dream Course is a fairly easy game that will take you for a fun ride.

Overall: 7.7
Kirby's Dream Course is a golfing game featuring our favorite pink ball of fun & air, probably his vacationing interlude from all those adventures. At the basic level, this game is easy to pick up and play. The learning curve may get a little inclined when trying to explore some of the more advanced mechanics of Kirby-style golf, necessary to master each course. While some courses may give you a headache in trying to get the lowest number of shots possible, this game is actually really fun, and is meant to be played in pieces (play a course, put it down, pick it up later and repeat). If you're looking for a Kirby game that fits in the series of Kirby's Dreamland/Adventure/Super-Star, you're in the wrong place! This game is all about playing golf with/as Kirby and changing up the usual pace of the other platformer games. This game provides its own unique challenges throughout its levels, and I definitely recommend giving Kirby's Dream Course a shot.
Enjoy!

G789 : Great review. I used to own this (along with Kirby's Avalanche the puzzle game).Each of your sections were nicely detailed. I found it pretty hard, but I don't play a lot of golf games.

Thanks for the feedback =)
I also grew up with Kirby's Avalanche alongside this game. I do love puzzle games in general, and found Avalanche to be pretty fun, but in terms of puzzle games, I got more mileage out of Tetris Attack.