for a total of 34 out of 40. 1UP.com called it "genuinely excellent", saying that "it's a welcome reinvention of gaming's most overplayed genre" and later concluded that Canvas Curse is "the DS's first great game". The stylus gameplay has also been noted, with IGN hailing it as "incredibly innovative", GameSpy saying it is "quite rewarding", and GameSpot calling it "a satisfying part of the gameplay." Official Nintendo Magazine ranked it the 96th best game available on Nintendo platforms. On the other hand, Plays editor disagreed, noting that "it's innovative... but for me, that's not enough." The New York Times gave it a very favorable review and called it "tremendous fun". The Sydney Morning Herald gave it four stars out of five, saying that "Kirby's use of touch-screen technology provides a fresh and engaging game." However, Detroit Free Press gave it three stars out of four, stating that "there is some nice innovation, such as levels that are completely black until Kirby bumps into lanterns that put off light. And as we all know, in dark places like this, it's good to have a friend." Kirby: Canvas Curse was the third best-selling game in Japan during its week of release at 75,365 units sold. Famitsu annual sales for the region show the game sold 276,418 copies by the end of 2005. According to NPD Group, the game sold just under 80,000 copies in North America during the month of June 2005. The following month, it was the top-selling DS game in the region at 50,000 copies. Notes References External links Official site 2005 video games Video games about curses HAL Laboratory games Kirby (series) platform games Nintendo DS games Video games developed in Japan Video games about magic Video games about witchcraft Video games about shapeshifting Virtual Console games Virtual Console games for Wii U Video games scored by Jun Ishikawa Video games scored by Tadashi Ikegami Video games produced by Kensuke Tanabe