I remember when Kirby Tilt ‘n’ Tumble came out for the Game Boy Color a quarter century ago. I didn’t have a Game Boy Color at the time, so I couldn’t play it, and by the time I got a Game Boy Advance, the game either wouldn’t work on it or I’d simply forgotten it existed. I knew it was in the Game Boy catalog on Nintendo Switch Online, so I gave it a try not long ago, and it has aged considerably.

Luckily, the game works with Switch controllers that have motion controls, and I used a Pro Controller. You tilt the controller the way you would have tilted the old Game Boy Color, and technically it works, though I couldn’t tell you whether the Switch tilting is more accurate than the original hardware.

You basically tilt your way across a track-style stage, and it’s not easy to keep Kirby under control. At times he does what you want, and at other times he glides around like a pinball you have no say over.

I didn’t get to play a large portion of the game, but I did try the mini-game where Kirby shoots arrows, which also uses motion controls, and it felt very awkward. I suppose for the late ’90s it worked well enough.

Honestly, though, I just didn’t find this game worth my time. Kirby is one of my favorite Nintendo characters, but he’s had a lot of stinkers over the years, and this is definitely one of them. I also recall an idea for a sequel on either the Game Boy Advance or GameCube that never panned out, and in retrospect, I’m kind of glad it didn’t. I think even Nintendo may have wished they’d worked on something else, since there has never been a sequel to this game in any way, shape, or form, unlike Canvas Curse on the DS, which got a follow-up on the Wii U with Kirby and the Rainbow Curse.