In the Game, King Dedede has stolen the five Sparkling Stars and hid them inside his castle which he hides inside of Blockworld, a floating archipelago full of blocks. Kirby must Be the Ball to move through the blocks and destroy the ones needed to get through the isles and get to Dedede's Castle in the center.
This game has the following tropes:
- American Kirby Is Hardcore: Subverted. Kirby has two appearances on the game's box. He is smiling in the main image but in the game's logo, he has a fighting look on his face.
- Bad Ending: Occurs if Kirby does not break the border of the ten main stages to unlock the eleventh stage.
- Be the Ball: Kirby, quite naturally!
- Border-Occupying Decorations: The game features a custom Super Game Boy border depicting King Dedede and Kirby's Spark, Burning, Needle, and Stone abilities against a lavender checkerboard.
- Boss Arena: The very top of all of the game's stages is a boss battle.
- Breaking Out: This game is a Breakout-style game with Kirby as the ball.
- Excuse Plot: King Dedede has stolen the Sparkling Stars that keep the world at peace. Kirby flies up to save them.
- Minigame: The game has four minigames that can be accessed if Kirby finds a Warp Star on each stage that allows him to warp to an alternate arena where the game takes place.
- Multiple Endings: The game has two endings depending on whether or not Kirby clears the Border Line of every stage by getting the required number of points to unlock the 11th stage of the game.
