Kirby and the Rainbow Curse rolls onto the Wii U today

Nintendo’s latest Kirby adventure is a clay-tastic affair.

“Kirby and the Rainbow Cursekicks off another absolutely stellar lineup of Wii U games for this year,” said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “In the first half of the year alone, Wii U owners will be able to adventure with Kirby, party down with Mario and his friends in Mario Party 10, build levels in the Nintendo eShop-exclusive Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars and experience Nintendo’s newest IP with the action-packed Splatoon.”

It is a pretty solid lineup for the Big N this first half of 2015, and Kirby looks like it just might be a winner. The game, which plays out exactly like the 3DS’ Kirby and the Canvas Curse, allows gamers to draw on the GamePad to guide a rolley-polley Kirby through his fantasy world.

The biggest difference here is that, while the action might be similar to that handheld title, the look definitely isn’t. Much in the same vein as the upcoming Yoshi’s Wooly World (which has a woolen, knitted look), Kirby and the Rainbow Curse has a very different visual feel. The entire game is made to look like both the characters and the world they inhabit are crafted out of clay.

From what we’ve seen so far, the claymation look really sets the game apart from just about anything out there on the Wii U, or anywhere else for that matter. Kirby also lacks his usual ‘mimic’ abilities here and instead can morph into vehicles like submarines, tanks, and rockets. He’s a blob of all trades that Kirby.

Kirby and the Rainbow Curse is available right now for the Wii U both digitally and as a boxed game, and is compatible with the Meta Knight Amiibo which “gives Kirby a mask that lets him use a fast dash that blasts right through weaker enemies”, the King DeDeDe Amiibo that “outfits Kirby with a hat that grants him six health bars instead of the normal four”, and (‘natch) the Kirby Amiibo which’ll give gamers “an unlimited Star Dash within a stage, which usually can only be activated by collecting 100 stars”.