Canvas Curse was one of Nintendo DS’s first original, high-profile titles, giving it a special place in many Nintendo gamers’ hearts as the game that established how to make a good touch screen game. The Wii U sequel to Canvas Curse, Rainbow Curse, appears to be a fairly straightforward sequel, based on the demo on display at E3.

Like in Canvas Curse for the DS, I found the controls in the Rainbow Curse to be enjoyable but somewhat cumbersome. Kirby rolls forward in a ball at a mild pace, and you influence his movements primarily by tapping him—resulting in a dash forward—and by drawing lines. When Kirby touches a line he is roughly parallel to at the point of contact, he will travel along the line in the direction you drew it, allowing him to traverse up and down the fairly open introductory level’s rooms. If the line is roughly perpendicular, it will act as a barrier and Kirby will change directions. Unfortunately, a sloppy or stray line, such as one not quite straight enough or that curves near the end, can result in Kirby going off in an unexpected direction from which you must recover; such erroneous lines, which remain for a set period of time, then tend to get in your way while trying to recover. This core mechanic provides both difficulty and charm—whether this is fun or frustrating will vary from level to level and player to player.

The E3 2014 Kirby demo featured three levels, all with fairly distinct gameplay. The first was an introductory stage, where players could get used to the game’s mechanics and explore fairly wide-open rooms. But even this level had its challenges: treasures to collect were tucked away behind false walls and hidden doorways. For example, one treasure chest was in a bonus room only unlocked by touching all of the nearby flowers. Other obstacles included boulders that could only be destroyed by collecting a large star, and then touching Kirby for a few seconds while standing still to build up energy for a special dash move. The second level was mostly underwater. In this game Kirby is slightly buoyant, and will slowly float upward unless pushed down by lines in his way, effectively inverting the touch controls (you must draw mostly above him instead of below him). The water level also had strong currents, usually forcing Kirby in a winding path you must nagivate to snag collectibles by frantically drawing lines. In the final stage on display, Kirby was transformed into a slow-moving tank, and the player was asked to touch waves enemies for Kirby to shoot down, while also navigating around some simple obstacles by drawing lines for the tank to ride on. One subtlety in this level was that Kirby’s projectiles would explode wherever the screen was touched—merely touching in a direction was not sufficient. I found controlling the tank to be more tedious than Kirby’s normal form, slightly reminiscent of the bad Landmaster tank level in Star Fox 64 (Titania), but this may have simply been due to my unfamiliarity with the controls.

One thing I was disappointed in was the lack of traditional Kirby-style power-ups in the demo. Power-ups like Fireball/Burning and Wheel had a lesser presence in Canvas Curse, as I recall, and it would have been nice to see them more prominently displayed in this demo.

While the demo has its problems, I certainly had fun with it. Wii U owners and fans of Canvas Curse shouldn’t be disappointed.