Kirby: Canvas Curse is one of those DS games that actually makes the touchscreen feel essential—not just a gimmick. Instead of jumping, you draw rainbow lines to bounce Kirby around like a pink pinball, guiding him through these weirdly beautiful levels full of floating platforms and enemies. At first, I kept messing up the angles and sending him flying off-screen, but once you get the hang of it, there’s something weirdly satisfying about sketching a perfect curve to launch him into a secret area.

The art style holds up surprisingly well, too—everything’s got this soft, painted look that makes the world feel alive. And yeah, it’s still Kirby, so you’ll suck up enemies for powers, but even those get twisted by the drawing mechanic. Drawing a loop to make Fire Kirby blaze through a path of enemies never gets old. It’s one of those games where you’ll catch yourself grinning at how clever some of the level designs are.

If you’ve got a DS lying around (or an emulator), this one’s worth digging up just to see how creative Nintendo got with the hardware. It’s short but packed with little surprises.