While not the highest ranking celebrity on Nintendo's books, Kirby, the ambiguous pink blob has nevertheless appeared in some classic games since his creation in 1992. From his debut, Kirby's Dream Land on the GameBoy, via his uncharacteristically violent behaviour in Super Smash Bros Melee on the Wii, to the fantastic Kirby: Canvas Curse on the DS, the best Kirby games are colourful, imaginative, and above all, plenty of fun.

For his solo debut on the Wii, creator Masahiro Sakurai has created a bold new look for Kirby in Epic Yarn. As the punning title implies, the game has a refreshingly simple aesthetic, with Kirby's 2D pastel world made up entirely of cloth and pieces of string, like Paper Mario remade with fuzzy felt. Kirby himself is made up of a few woven lengths of pink wool, and it's a look that suits him perfectly.

In fact, sitting down to play Kirby Epic Yarn at Nintendo's demonstration day, I suddenly realised how few games can immediately raise a smile. Most games, or the biggest selling ones, at least, are about as joyous as a clenched fist, and about as colourful as a forgotten car park. And on a drizzly, typically British summer day, the preview demo of Kirby Epic Yarn came as a delightfully unexpected ray of sunshine.

Holding the Wii remote sideways, you guide Kirby across a traditional platform landscape, using the character's new whip-like string attack to dispatch enemies. And while the game looks like child's play, the range of moves Kirby has at his disposal is imaginatively varied. He can transform into a little car for high-speed sprints through stages, change into a lead weight to smash through blocks, navigate water as a submarine, and float through air with the aid of a parachute.

Further surprises are unlocked by interacting with the levels themselves. Kirby's string attack can latch onto background objects, allowing him to pull aside little patches of cloth to reveal bonuses, undo zips to expose hidden platforms, and swing back and forth from buttons.

At certain points, Kirby can wriggle through holes in the backdrop, appearing as a little lump in the fabric. Tugging at strings causes entire sections of the level to pinch together like a frayed table cloth, an effect that's guaranteed to raise a childish grin of appreciation.

Part of the joy of Epic Yarn, in fact, comes from exploring its carefully wrought 2D world. The Wii may be a technically diminutive platform, but developer HAL Laboratory has crafted a game that works around the console's limitations with an engaging flourish. Epic Yarn lacks the 3D bombast of Team Ninja's Metroid: Other M (another big game at Nintendo's demo day), but it's by far the most inventive.

Add a second player into the mix, and Epic Yarn is better still. Players can use each other as projectiles, and in one stand-out sequence, operate a gigantic Kirby-shaped tank together, with one player controlling its movement and the other firing rockets.

The preview I played culminated in a boss battle that was as thrilling as it was laugh-out-loud funny: Kirby is assaulted by a vast dragon (made of string, naturally) that has to be defeated by grabbing hold of its lolling tongue. Do so, and the beast collapses in a whirl of coloured cotton. It's the cutest God Of War fight you'll ever see, and the perfect conclusion to what could prove to be one of the best 2D platformers of recent years.

There are some question marks over its difficulty level (I played the game for several minutes and barely took a hit), but there's no doubt at all that it's the most promising game on Nintendo's roster of forthcoming games for the Wii, and I can't wait to find out what the rest of Epic Yarn has in store.

Just look at the launch trailer that debuted at E3 in June. I defy you not to be reeled in...

Kirby Epic Yarn is scheduled for release this autumn for the Nintendo Wii.