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Created by Masahiro Sakurai, the disgustingly cute, ever-ravenous Kirby is one of Nintendo’s most popular characters. Accordingly, I’m dedicating most of July to celebrating the pink puff-ball.

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Quick Facts:
Conceived as a new phase for the popular pink puffball, Kirby and the Forgotten Land sought to properly translate Kirby into 3D, dropping him into a user-friendly, semi-open world that expanded his scope and abilities. A best seller heralded as one of the best games in the series, Kirby and the Forgotten Land was later bolstered by an enhanced Nintendo Switch 2 remaster.

Gameplay and Power-Ups:
Kirby and the Forgotten Land is a fully 3D, quasi-open-world adventure in which the titular pink puffball and his friend, Bandana Waddle Dee, are sucked through a mysterious star-shaped vortex to the equally titular “Forgotten Land”. Players must guide Kirby (and Bandana Waddle Dee, if playing in co-op) across seven Levels, each with either five or six Stages, saving Waddle Dees, collecting Star Coins and Rare Stones, and battling the possessed Beast Pack. There are two control types to choose from, with minor differences between the two, and players can enable an auto-swallow function. For my playthrough, I jumped with A (tapping it to inflate and float around, though you eventually descend), inhaled by holding B, and performed a ground slide by pressing down on the left stick and A (though I had little use for this). You can either swallow enemies or spit them (and blocks) out as star projectiles with B and can reduce incoming damage by holding L or R to block. If you’ve swallowed an enemy and gained a copy ability, you can hold Y or press – to discard it and can utilise any restorative items you’ve bought by holding X. Kirby’s health is restored using various foods and drinks either found in Stages or bought from the Waddle Dee’s item shop in Waddle Dee Town, a semi-hub area accessed from the world map and Kirby also has a house here where you can rest to recover health. The Invincible Candy also returns to briefly make enemies and hazards a breeze, and you won’t have to worry about losing or gaining lives here. Still, failing costs you some Star Coins, so it’s not ideal (especially as you want to spend these upgrading Kirby’s copy abilities). As you rescue Waddle Dees, Waddle Dee Town expands, opening new establishments and areas that offer various mini games to earn additional Star Coins.

There are twelve copy abilities here. Though only Drill and Ranger are new, each has been tweaked compared to Kirby’s previous adventures and they can all be upgraded at the weapons shop (providing you have enough Star Coins, Rare Stones, and the right blueprints). Drill lets Kirby burrow underground and pop out to surprise enemies, while Ranger sees him fire a gun, holding down B to charge a shot that travels further and locks onto a target. Some of Kirby’s most recognisable copy abilities appear, such as Bomb (which sees you tossing bombs to blow up special blocks), Fire (which melts ice), Hammer (used to hit switches), and Ice (which thaws flaming blocks and allows Kirby to skate over lava). Cutter tosses a boomerang-like projectile and performs a melee combo, Needle sees you gather enemies and blocks and fling them as projectiles, Sword slices up those in your path, and Tornado blasts you across gaps and hazards for some extra height. Sleep is largely a hindrance, but all of these can be upgraded to make them more powerful. For example, “Dragon Fire” adds a flaming, dragon-like burst attack to your arsenal, “Masked Hammer” sees you dual-wield hammers that spew flaming tornados, “Meta Knight Sword” tosses an energy wave, and “Storm Tornado” fires lightning bolts. Each copy ability gets its own “Treasure Road” stage where you’re forced to use that copy ability to overcome a timed obstacle course, often involving tricky platforming and various combat scenarios, to earn a Rare Stone, with more unlocking as you clear Stages and upgrade copy abilities. While all of these are bestowed by certain enemies, Kirby sometimes comes across ability capsules (especially prior to a boss) and others are gained by defeating mid-bosses. As a general rule, if you see a certain enemy nearby, chances are you need their copy ability to rescue hidden Waddle Dees or access additional paths.

Kirby’s inherent swallowing ability is expanded upon here, allowing him to suck up certain objects and take on new “Mouthful” forms. These last for as long as you need, with the game prompting you to discard them when you’re done, and are used to solve simple puzzles. Car Mouth transforms you into a car, allowing you to dash with B and challenging you to race along narrow or crumbling roads and over ramps. Cone Mouth performs a drop attack to smash broken tiles and pipes or defeat Tortuildings, and Dome Mouth allows you to wriggle the left stick to pop off spheres and access goodies. The Light-Bulb Mouth lights up dark areas, powering consoles and attracting Ghost Gordos, Pipe Mouth sees you roll along and usually crash through cracked walls, and Scissor-Lift Mouth has you raise and avoid obstacles and reach higher areas. Storage Mouth has you wriggle the left stick to collapse walls, Vending Mouth has you blasting enemies and weak walls with a limited supply of canned drinks, and Water-Balloon Mouth transforms you into a massive, bulbous form that spits a limited supply of water to douse fires and clear toxic gunk. Arch Mouth sees you flying along a fixed path, dashing through rings and past falling obstacles to snag collectibles and hidden Waddle Dees, Coaster Mouth has you leaning left or right as you’re blasted along a high-speed rollercoaster track, and Ring Mouth lets you blast enemies and windmills with a puff of air and also propel boats. Mouthful abilities can’t be upgraded but you often switch between different ones to fill in shape holes in the environment, open new areas, or uncover hidden Waddle Dees. You can return to Waddle Town at any time from the world map to heal, play mini games (such as fishing and serving customers), or tackle various challenges at the colosseum. Here, you grab a copy ability and rematch the game’s mid-bosses and bosses, using a limited supply of healing items between rounds and earning goodies and even new copy abilities as you go. You can also replay any Stage or Treasure Round to find missing Waddle Dees or earn Rare Stones and extra Star Coins.

Thankfully (for me), Kirby and the Forgotten Land isn’t a sprawling, open-world adventure. Stages are larger than ever and allow for some exploration, generally by hitting bomb blocks or sparkling tiles or performing certain actions, but everything’s mostly nice and linear. You’ll hop to platforms, climb ladders, activate switches, travel to other areas of each Stage on Warp Stars, and enter doors to progress. Sometimes, you’re forced to battle waves of enemies or a mid-boss to progress; other times, you need a Mouthful ability. Your goal is to rescue every Waddle Dee in every Stage by clearing the Stage and completing missions, like eating certain foods, removing wanted posters, collecting five green gems, or bringing lost ducklings to their mother. You must race against a time limit with Car Mouth, take certain paths with Arch Mouth, activate all windmills with Ring Mouth, or shoot certain targets with Ranger. It pays to explore down alleyways or around the environment to locate hidden areas or Waddle Dees, especially as you can’t backtrack once you’ve progressed and you need a certain amount of Waddle Dees to challenge the Level boss. You can rescue additional Waddle Dees while fighting bosses, generally by beating them in time, using a certain copy ability, or avoiding damage. Other hazards include spike beds, bottomless pits, indestructible spiked Gorgos, massive cannons, falling meteors, lava pits, and rolling boulders. Temporary or moving platforms, the odd door maze, and conveyer belts also appear. Amusement park rides and animatronics must be avoided, slippery ice can cause you trouble, and powerful wind gusts and rapids will push you along. Interestingly, there are no underwater areas in Kirby and the Forgotten Land and no jaunts into the clouds, though you can uncover goodies by blasting away sand and light fuses to race into cannons and blast to new areas.

Presentation:
I feel like I say this every time, but Kirby has never looked better than in Kirby and the Forgotten Land. While his idle animations are limited to him simply swinging his arms and looking around, you can use the directional pad to perform additional taunts, which change when you have a Mouthful ability. Kirby changes form with each copy and Mouthful ability, gaining additional accessories and changing shape in often amusing ways, and will squeal in pain when hit. After taking enough damage (sometimes just one hit), Kirby loses his copy ability and must swallow it to regain it, and he performs his adorable victory dance upon completing Levels and defeating bosses. Although Kirby doesn’t talk, he conveys emotion through facial expressions and body language and the pixie-like Elfilin acts las his voice during cutscenes. It’s fun seeing Waddle Dee Town expand as you rescue its inhabitants, with them building new buildings and offering additional mini games and support, and there are many interactable areas on the world map to uncover new Treasure Roads or hidden Star Coins. You can chat with Waddle Dees here for hints and lore and defeated bosses like Clawroline and King Dedede also show up with extra quests or blueprints. The story is so simple that it requires basically no dialogue and is delivered through the best cutscenes the series has ever seen, which take full advantage of the Nintendo Switch to finally bring Kirby’s colourful whimsy to life in glorious 3D. The soundtrack is equally laudable, featuring remixes of many classic Kirby tunes and new songs (or ambient sound) that fit each area. The game follows a simple mission-like structure, presenting Stages each with a handful of areas and objectives and various hidden areas. It’s fun replaying Stages to track down missing Waddle Dees, sometimes using new or upgraded copy abilities, and the game makes it really easy to see which collectibles you’re missing and allowing you to quickly jump to incomplete Stages from the user friendly (if a tad bland) world map.

Surprisingly, Kirby and the Forgotten Land provides some new environments, ones that are familiar but unique enough to stand out from previous games. You start in “Natural Plains”, which is a once-bustling cityscape overrun by nature. You’ll encounter roads, buildings, and skyscrapers reclaimed by nature and venture into the abandoned, maze-like Alivel Mall, where restaurants and other businesses stand as forgotten as the once-impressing towering structures. “Everbay Coast” starts as a beautiful, tropical island with dazzling water and transitions to an oil rig-like area full of platforms suspended over water and ends in an abandoned waterworks full of fast-flowing water. “Wondaria Remains” was one of the most visually striking areas for me as it’s a neon-drenched fairground full of hazardous rides, space-theme animatronics, an overall circus aesthetic, and even a dark, jump scare-ladened haunted house. “Winter Horns” features a snowed-in city that’s reminiscent of Victorian London and sees you hopping across snowy rooftops and frigid winds blow you about, battling across an icy bridge, and hopping to floating ice platforms amidst a buried village and infrastructure. You even venture into a flash-frozen underground rail station, traversing ice-covered subway trains and jumping about on shipping containers. “Originull Wasteland” is a desert environment beset by a sandstorm, which has buried various mining equipment and ships. The sand dunes are awash with skeletons, debris, toxic gunk, and collapsing girders that you bypass to navigate through a rocky canyon and revisit the Alivel Mall from the opposite side, which is buried under sand. “Redgar Forbidden Lands” is easily the most hazardous Level as it’s essentially an active volcano, with lava and magma all around and meteors raining overhead that destroy the environment. This Level also leads to a churning, bustling power plant full of conveyer belts, crushing presses, and spiked walls and is a far greater threat that the final area, “Lab Discovera”, a futuristic complex that houses the final boss. Every area is remixed both visually and in terms of gameplay mechanics to provide a tougher challenge in the “Isolated Isles: Forgo Dreams” post-game, where darkness and danger permeate the gimmicks of each Level and are mashed together into truncated challenges.

Enemies and Bosses:
Long-time Kirby players will undoubtedly recognise many of the enemies here. Enemies are mostly incredibly basic, either standing still or hovering about, and are easily dispatched or swallowed for copy abilities. Some respawn if you need their copy ability for an upcoming section and you sometimes fight waves of them, but they’re very little threat. Blade Knight, Bronto Burt, Cappy, and Chilly all return, with the former and the latter bestowing two of the best copy abilities, alongside Bomber (which must be destroyed before it explodes), Glunk (which spits projectiles), and Poppy Bros. Jr. (whose bombs are great for clearing paths). Scarfy, Shotzo, Sir Kibble, and Totenga also pop up, with Sir Kibble bestowing the ever-useful Cutter ability and Scarfy aggressively chasing you. Some of the new enemies are noticeably larger than others, such as the sea lion-like Balloon-Meister (who tosses explosive beach balls and bestows the Bomb copy ability), ravenous Gnawcodiles (who swim about and try to devour you), and the Tortuilding and their Big Red variants (giant snapping turtles with buildings on their backs that require the Cone Mouth to smash). The Big Kabus (jumping stone heads), charging Buffahorns, and viper-like Sssnackers are also bigger almost act as mini-mid-bosses. Otherwise, Awoofys charge you, sharpshooting Bernards take shots from afar and hide behind cover, Corori roll snowballs at you, Digguh burrow into the ground to burst up beneath you, hedgehog-like Jabhogs become largely impervious with their spines out, and Rabiroos bound across the environment to try and squash you. It’s not long before combinations of these enemies crop up alongside giant cannons, spike beds, and other hazards, and they’re often called in to support mid-bosses and regular bosses too (which is good, as you can spit them as projectiles if you’ve lost your copy ability).

There are four mid-bosses you’ll encounter numerous times and in various combinations (sometimes one-on-one, sometimes two-on-one or more!) Each has a “pinch” mode, just like the bosses, and defeating them allows you to absorb their special ability (usually necessary for the next section of the Level). Fleurina is the only brand-new mid-boss here, being a large swan who spins around to conjure a damaging twister, chases you while spinning in mid-air, and sends three tornados spinning across the arena. The ape-like Bonkers returns as “Wild Bonkers”, still wielding his giant mallet, which he uses to try and squash you or spins like a dervish. He also uses it to smack giant, explosive rocks at you and performs a jumping, spinning slam to create shockwaves. “Wild Edge” is a variant of Gigant Edge, being a massive, armoured foe with a sword who often hides behind a giant shield, forcing you to attack from behind. Wild Edge attacks with a flurry of sword swipes, charges from across the arena, and gets stunned when you hit his behind. Mister Frosty also gets a “Wild” variant, one who throws massive snowballs, tackles you, and will grab you and chew on you if you’re not careful. Wild Frosty’s snowballs soon leave trials of icicles and he tries to belly flop onto you. All mid-bosses and regular bosses, also receive a “Phantom” variant that’s more aggressive and is fought again in the Waddle Dee Town colosseum. This is also where you battle Meta Knight, Kirby’s enigmatic rival who randomly flies around, quickly slashes with his sword, fires sword beams, and unleashes a powerful charged shot. It’s worth fighting and beating him to upgrade the Sword ability and as this is good practice for the post-game’s final boss.

As mentioned, each boss can be beaten in different ways to rescue additional Waddle Dees, which can make them more difficult, much like challenging them with inferior copy abilities. Your first challenge is Gorimondo, a massive ape who squeezes the life out of you if he grabs you, swats you with his big ol’ paws, pulls rocks from the ground to toss, and spins around. Whispy Woods’ tropical cousin, Tropic Woods, is a large but stationary boss who spits puffs of air, drops exploding coconuts, and protects itself with barriers (which also form mazes). Its roots also twist all around the arena, it blows you back, and its “Phantom” variant produces a huge cloud that’s tricky to avoid. Clawroline posed a problem for me as she’s much quicker, dashes in with quick claw swipes, pounces on Kirby, and jumps to the nearby poles to fling her talons and dive bomb you. She also disappears and attacks at random places, and her “Phantom” variant flings an X-shaped energy wave. King Dedede is fought twice in the main game, becoming more aggressive each time. King Dedede swings his giant mallet, tries to butt stomp you (producing shockwaves), performs his running dive attack, spins about with his hammer, and eventually utilises a nearby pillar. In the “Redgar Forbidden Lands”, he has two mallets that produce flaming tornados and leave lava puddles, charges about like a boar, tries to inhale you, and leaps up to hurl fireballs. Sillydillo can be a pain without a ranged attack as it tries to lock you in a little cage, rolls at you with his massive hit box, and tries to pummel you with its little puppet-thing. Penultimate boss Leongar an also be challenging as he’s quite fast considering his size, and very aggressive. He swipes with his claws, drags them across the floor before performing a flaming uppercut, and creates shockwaves with an axehandle smash. When possessed by Fecto Forgo, Leongar gains armour, sends out X- or V-shaped energy waves, crawls across the floor trying to eat you, and blasts a massive laser from his mouth!

Once Leongar is defeated, you battle the parasite that possessed him, Fecto Forgo, in a tough multi-phase battle. First, Fecto Forgo chases you down a narrow corridor, forcing you to spit projectiles at it (or utilise copy ability projectiles), before absorbing Elfilin and becoming more formidable. In this form, it flies about out of reach tossing energy daggers, divebombing and swiping with its spear, charging across the floor with the weapon, raining energy daggers, and creating multiple shockwaves using portals. It also conjures a meteor shower with an explosive finale, duplicates itself to produce more shockwaves, regenerates its health (!), and increases in speed and aggression. Eventually, Kirby must use Dome Mouth to free Elfilin and then chase down Fecto Elfilis using the Big-Rig Mouthful, jumping between pathways with A, dashing through debris with B, and mashing buttons to finish it off. Tougher, more aggressive “Phantom” variants of all bosses are fought in the “Isolated Isles: Forgo Dreams” post-game, which ends with you battling Forgo Leon (who adds lightning and fire effects to his attacks) and Morpho Knight, a hyperaggressive variant of Meta Knight. The Masked Hammer ability and a Maxim Tomato are recommended for both as Morpho Knight teleports around, rapidly swipes with his sword, produces flaming waves that cover the entire arena, messes up the camera and your controls with a sound wave attack, and produces flaming lines with his sword. His swords get bigger as he takes damage, widening their effect, and he produces flaming columns that spin around and can be as tricky to avoid as he is to hit. Fighting through the colosseum’s “Ultimate Cup Z” sees you battle the super-powerful Chaos Elfilis, a bizarre, half-angelic dimensional being with various forms who duplicates itself, attacks with a spear and energy waves, utilises portals, fires a homing laser, regenerates health, and hurls asteroids and energy orbs.

Additional Features:
There are 300 Waddle Dees to rescue in the main game, which can be played on either “Spring Breeze” (“Easy”) or “Wild (“Normal”) mode, with “Wild” giving you less health and tougher enemies but offering more Star Coins. You can hold up to 999 Rare Stones, which are used alongside Star Coins and the twenty-four blueprints (generally hidden in Stages) to upgrade the copy abilities. You’ll also find Gotcha Capsules in every Stage, often as well hidden as Waddle Dees and blueprints, or obtain them using Gotha Capsule machines in Waddle Dee Town. These gift figurines of the game’s characters, enemies, bosses, and obstacles, and collecting them all adds to your total completion percentage. Rescuing Waddle Dees expands Waddle Dee Town, allowing you to rest at Kirby’s house, watch the game’s cutscenes at the cinema, listen to the soundtrack (as performed by the Deely Dees), and redeem Present Codes at the Waddle Dee-liveries post office. You can also tackle the colosseum and various mini games and extra Star Coins, battling all the game’s bosses (and some additional ones), matching customer orders, pressing buttons to fish for goodies, and playing “Tilt-and-Roll Kirby” using the Nintendo Switch’s motion controls. There are also fifty-six Treasure Road challenges to find and best for Rare Stones (though you’ll need all upgraded copy abilities to access them) and you can also utilise amiibos to unlock additional rewards, like food, items, and Star Coins.

Clearing the main story unlocks the “Isolated Isles: Forgo Dreams” post-game, where Clawroline tasks you with tackling seven tougher, truncated versions of the main worlds, with visual changes, remixed hazards and enemies, and far more aggressive “Phantom” versions of bosses. Players must collect pieces of Leon’s soul, with around fifty found in each Stage and 250 of the 300 required to access the final area, “Forgo Land”, and battle Morpho Knight. I quite liked this extra challenge, which added a dark, bleak hue to previously colourful and vibrant environments, though it can be frustrating to miss pieces of Leon’s soul as you must replay the entire stage (including battling the “Phantom” boss) to regain it. If you’re playing the Nintendo Switch 2 version, you can also play through the “Star-Crossed World”, which sees a crystal-encrusted meteor shower create new, remixed versions of the existing Levels. Players collect Starry Coins, EX figures, and rescue Starrys rather than Waddle Dees. There’s also an extra cup added to the colosseum, the “Past Adventures” section has been expanded, alongside various visual changes and upgrades. Crystal variants of many enemies and the mid-bosses populate these worlds, which also offer three new Mouthful abilities: Gear Mouth (to cling to surfaces), Sign Mouth (to slide down slopes and spin attack), and Spring Mouth (to spring higher and ground pound). Kirby has numerous encounters with a new mid-boss in this mode too, Galactal, a crystalline entity that launches meteors, creates shockwaves that spawn crystal spikes, and bursts from the ground. Naturally, there’s a new, even tougher final boss, Genwel Meteonelfilis, who resembles the Fecto Elfilis fight but utilises crystals and is far more aggressive. It emerges from shadows, leaves crystal shards with every attack, emits waves of crystals and rains them down, create clones, and even slams part of a building into the arena!

Final Thoughts:
I was incredibly hesitant heading into Kirby and the Forgotten Land because I thought it was a sprawling open-world adventure, one with a daunting overworld, a laundry list of objectives, and a bunch of collectibles. I was therefore relieved beyond measure to find it’s a linear, level-based adventure very much akin to Kirby’s previous outings, with players tackling each area in sequential order. It was enough for me to have Waddle Dee Town be a central hub that could be expanded, to have fairly large Stages to play through, and to be able to upgrade Kirby’s copy abilities. Visually, Kirby and the Forgotten Land may very well be the best-looking Kirby game ever. Everything is so luscious and vibrant, and everything is so colourful and alive. Crucially, while many areas and gimmicks are recognisable to long-time franchise fans, this was the first time playing a Kirby sequel that I felt the developers were trying something new with the environments. The Mouthful abilities helped with this and added an additional layer of fun to the gameplay and puzzle solving, but the returning copy abilities were also utilised extremely well, and I felt a sense of becoming stronger with each upgrade. It’s very enjoyable dipping in and out of Stages to hunt down any Waddle Dees you’ve missed, as well as challenging the colosseum and post-game content, which felt like a fair difficulty spike after clearing the main game. I would’ve liked to see more from the mini games and the option to play as other characters (or at least transform into them with upgrades), but this was everything I’ve ever wanted from a 3D Kirby title. There’s enough here to keep you busy for a few hours and enough additional content and collectibles to come back for, making this perhaps the best Kirby game I’ve ever played.

My Rating:

Fantastic

Do you agree that Kirby and the Forgotten Land is one of his best adventures? Were you disappointed or relieved that it wasn’t an open-world game? Which of the Mouthful abilities was your favourite and did you ever upgrade all the copy abilities? Did you ever find all he Waddle Dees and clear the post-game? If you played the Nintendo Switch 2 version, would you say that it’s superior? Which Kirby videogame is your favourite? Comment below to share your thoughts on Kirby and the Forgotten Land and donate to my Ko-Fi for more reviews like this.

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Created by Masahiro Sakurai, the disgustingly cute, ever-ravenous Kirby is one of Nintendo’s most popular characters. Accordingly, I’m dedicating most of July to celebrating the pink puff-ball.

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Quick Facts:
Kirby’s Dream Land (HAL Laboratory, 1992) was HAL Laboratory’s most successful release at the time thanks to its simple gameplay. Kirby further cemented his name with the highly praised NES classic, Kirby’s Adventure (ibid, 1993), and Kirby’s Dream Land 2 (ibid, 1994) sold over a million units. Bolstered by the critical and commercial success of Kirby Super Star (ibid, 1996), HAL Laboratory continued the Dream Land series with this pastel-coloured adventure, which, despite a mixed reputation, seems to be widely regarded as a fun but disappointingly average title.

Gameplay and Power-Ups:
Kirby’s Dream Land 3 is a 2D, action-orientated sidescrolling adventure that essentially acts as 16-bit remake or expansion of Kirby’s handheld adventures, specifically Kirby’s Dream Land 2. Accordingly, it mirrors many of the Game Boy titles’ mechanics, features, locations, and enemies, though is noticeably expanded to include five levels, each with six stages and a dedicated boss battle, with a secret sixth level unlocked by collecting all thirty Heart Stars to assemble the Love-Love Stick. Though a SNES title, Kirby’s Dream Land 3 continues to keep the controls simple and simplifies them from the Game Boy titles as you no longer need to hold up on the directional pad (D-pad) to inflate and fly. Instead, you simply tap B to either jump or flap Kirby’s stubby arms and bypass most enemies and obstacles (though they are more airborne hazards than ever here, so watch out!) You hold Y to inhale nearby blocks or enemies, either spitting them out with Y (which also doubles as a water spurt when submerged) or pressing down and Y to swallow the enemy and potentially gain a new ability, ditching it with –. You can now defeat enemies by jumping on them, slide by pressing down and A (though this doesn’t seem to hurt enemies), run by double-tapping a direction on the D-pad, and swim with B. X spawns Gooey, who has his own health bar and also devours and spits out enemies to aid you, though you’ll lose a block of health if he’s defeated. On the SNES original, a second player could control Gooey for some co-operative two-player action, but I’m not sure if the Nintendo Switch Online version supports this. You again restore Kirby’s health with Energy Drinks and Maxim Tomatoes, gain temporary invincibility with rare candies, and collect 1-ups or collect Star Pieces for extra lives. Star Pieces are now hidden all over and you need thirty of the buggers for an extra life, so be sure to look everywhere.

While Gooey helps quite a lot and even acts as a projectile in a pinch, you obviously primarily rely on Kirby’s copy abilities, of which only two are new (and the Love-Love Stick is only in the secret final level). Burning sees you become a fireball for a short burst and melts ice blocks, Cleaning kicks up dust to attack enemies, Cutter launches a boomerang-like projectile, and Ice sees you freeze enemies into ice blocks you can hit into others. Needle sees spines burst from Kirby (great for breaking blocks beneath you), Parasol adds a short-range melee attack to your arsenal, Stone sees you crush enemies and blocks from above, and Spark emits electrical sparks that frazzle nearby enemies. You can only use one copy ability at a time and lose it if you take damage, but they can again be combined with Kirby’s animal buddies for additional attacks. You partner with a buddy when visiting special areas, pressing X to mount or dismount them, and each has different abilities. Coo the Owl, Kine the Sunfish, and Rick the Hamster all return from Kirby’s Dream Land 2, with Coo allowing you to fly indefinitely, Kine making swimming a breeze, and Rick still keeping you from slipping on ice. Newcomers ChuChu the Octopus, Nago the Cat, and Pitch the Bird see you stick to ceilings to bypass spikes and other obstacles, gain a triple jump (somewhat redundant since Kirby can fly), and offer constant flight (despite Kirby’s weight). When you have a copy ability, Nago breathes fire, Pitch attacks like a rocket, Kine gets covered in spikes, and Rick transforms into a rolling boulder. Rick also tosses Kirby, Coo fires three icicle projectiles, Kine spits fireballs and energy waves, Nago pogos around on a parasol, ChuChu flies on a broom, and Pitch darts ahead like a lance. There are a bunch of different combinations and you’re constantly given the chance to switch your buddy, with it often being necessary to have a specific buddy and/or copy ability to access hidden areas or earn Heart Stars.

Kirby’s Dream Land 3 retains the same gameplay mechanics as its predecessors, tasking players with exploring colourful, largely linear levels, using doors to switch to new areas, destroying star blocks to reach side paths, and occasionally racing against a scrolling screen that kills on contact. Sometimes these force you up or down narrow shafts, while other times you must swim through tight tunnels or outrun boulders (hopping to or dropping down to safety as required), but both are perilous as the screen’s quite fast. Green gelatinous blobs blast you through blocks, water jets speed you through underwater caverns, some blocks crumble beneath you, and you’re occasionally tasked with a looping door maze. Spikes occasionally jab you or fall from above, snow and sand shifts you towards bottomless pits, spiked Gordos float everywhere, and lava threatens to scorch your toes. Wind currents boost you up or push you along at speed, enemies sometimes spring to life from chalk drawings, and raging snowstorms push you back and screw up your platforming without the right friend on hand. Kirby’s Dream Land 3 offers one mini game per level where you can earn a Heart Star. These see you matching which Gordo was thrown, picking the right pot that hides an Elieel, correctly guessing how many coloured Gordos appeared, and matching the sounds they make. These mini games can be tricky as they speed up as you progress, though the rewind feature largely negates this. Each level ends with a jumping game where you press B at just the right moment to jump on goodies, and every level has a non-playable character (NPC) to help for a Heart Star. You must make sure not to crush certain flowers, collect pieces of Professor Hector’s Robotic Operating Buddy (R.O.B.), flash freeze and destroy Metroids, use Needle to burst a balloon and rescue Piyo, bring Kine to Mine, Rick to Pick, and Naga to Shiro, and rescue Goku (not that one) for Chao (not that one, either). There’s no in-game direction for what you need to do and which abilities or friends you need, so there’s a lot of trial and error and replaying without a guide and is can be frustrating as you must help every NPC to see the true ending.

Presentation:
Kirby’s Dream Land 3 takes advantage of the SNES’s superior processing power and colour palette (at least, compared to the Game Boy) to present a super vibrant, pastel-coloured adventure somewhat akin to Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island (Nintendo EAD, 1995). While Kirby still lacks idle animations (beyond swaying his arms and blinking), he pops far better than on the Game Boy thanks to the pastel colour palette. He yelps when hit, comically squishes and inflates, still performs his adorable victory dance, and noticeably changes form depending on with copy ability or animal friend he’s using. These see him whip out a parasol, turn into a rock, sweep with a broom, jump into Kine’s mouth, and be rolled along by Nago. The game’s bookended by some partially animated comic book panels that show the gist of the super simple story, and each level is introduced with a short cutscene showing Kirby with his buddies. Unfortunately, the world map from Kirby’s Dream Land 2 has been replaced with a storybook-like image that charts your progress across. The in-game action is also needlessly obscured by the large heads-up display, which shows a lot of relevant information but eats into the screen space. The music is just as jaunty as ever, with the SNES continuing to offer chirpy remixes of Kirby’s 8-bit themes, though it was a bit disappointing to see every location from Kirby’s Dream Land 2 recycled. Sure, they look and often play very differently, but it didn’t help the game stand out and contributed heavily to me seeing this as more of a 16-bit remake than a true sequel. Little graphical touches do help, however, such as clouds rushing by, the water rippling, snow moving and even burying you, and flowers pulsating or rotating as you explore. Foreground elements occasionally obscure the screen and there are some instances of parallax scrolling, but Kirby’s Dream Land 3 largely keeps things very safe with its linear, often barren paths and simple level layouts. At least, until you’re search for NPCs to help for Heart Stars, then you must often seek out the right copy ability or animal buddy to find new paths or progress.

Since each level has six different areas to explore, there’s quite a bit of visual variety on offer, though the sheer number of stages can be daunting (four and a fifth boss stage would’ve been enough) and reducing the stage count might’ve meant including a penultimate castle stage. Like Kirby’s Dream Land 2, things start with “Grass Land”, a colourful grassy and woodland area that introduces the basic gameplay mechanics. At times, the area veers into bizarre visuals like Fantasy Zone (SEGA, 1986), especially once it mixes in mosaic patterns with the treetops and mountainous backgrounds. “Ripple Field” is, again, a tropical themed area largely full of beach-like areas with palm trees and underwater tunnels filled with jet streams and narrow caverns. Day turns to dusk as you progress, you venture into coral caves and an ancient palace and eventually reach stone grey cliffs. This segues nicely into “Sand Canyon”, an arid desert populated by dinosaurs and (strangely) snowmen and featuring a trippy pyramid-like temple, vast mountains, narrow tunnels where boulders chase you, and crumbling sand blocks. “Cloudy Park” is, naturally, a cloud-based location where you float on wind currents, paddle through water, battle both the autoscroll and obscuring foreground clouds, and venture into a palace of mesh and pillars. “Iceberg” sees you either struggling through deep snow, battling snowstorms, or slipping on ice. Snow falls around you, gleaming ice constructs obscure enemies, Kirby’s chased by avalanches, and you end up inside King Dedede’s fortified stronghold where a gauntlet of mini bosses awaits. The final area, “Hyper Zone”, is a surreal void where you indefinitely float to battle Dark Matter’s many forms and players see different endings depending on if they’ve beaten this final challenge or not. While there are some fun elements in each location, like chalk pictures coming to life, shifting ground, and enemies masquerading as background elements, it’s all a mishmash of gimmicks from previous Kirby games. This results in some ill-fitting choices, like volcanic areas in “Sand Canyon”, though I guess these allow every area to have some variety. Kirby’s Dream Land 3 may play a lot slower than its predecessors, but it performs extremely well, with no slowdown or sprite flicker no matter how many enemies fill the screen.

Enemies and Bosses:
Basically all of Kirby’s previous enemies return here, each performing exactly as before. All are defeated in one hit and will respawn if you venture offscreen, and many bestow copy abilities when swallowed. Devouring Broom Hatters or the witch-like Kekes gifts you Cleaning, for example, while Sir Kibble grants Cutter and Chilly grants Ice. You’ll eventually encounter many armour-clad Bukisets, each wielding different abilities depending on the situation, allowing you to quickly change abilities if required. Waddle Dees return, still wandering about and lacking their eye beam attack, and now paddling about in adorable life rafts or riding Nruffs. Babuts still drain your health with their bite, Poppy Bros. Jr.s still ride apples and bombs, and Mumbies float after you. Pterodactyl-like Pterans fill the skies, often while fire-spewing Galbos wait below, Scarfys and Propellers pursue you on sight, and ravenous, shark-like Acro Jr. wait in some waters. Cloud-like Louds float above dropping rain, caveman-like Dogon’s reflect your projectiles, mole-like Doka shovel dirt in your face, and hungry Pactos wait offscreen to cobble you whole. Similarly, Peloo may emerge from the background to grab you with its sticky tongue, Apolo often spin around platforms or pillars, and Yaban leap up and fire arrows at you. Sasuke float from above, Mopooe emerge from the snow and Oro from the ground or ceilings (often right near a door), and Nidoo disguise themselves as doors. Tick thrust a needle up as you pass over them, cannons (and larger cannonballs) fire potshots, skull-wearing Gabon toss bones, and spider-like Mariels emerge from the darkness and doorways to catch you off-guard.

Although you no longer need to battle mini bosses to rescue Kirby’s animal friends, you may have to battle them to acquire Heart Stars and you must endure a gauntlet of them in the final area of “Iceberg”. Three mini bosses return from Kirby’s Dream Land 2. Blocky hops about the small arena and charges at you, leaving behind rocks you must dodge and then spit at it if you don’t have a copy ability. Captain Stitch floats around and fires its spines at you, leaving its core vulnerable for a few seconds so you can attack. Jumper Shoot flies about, often spinning like a propeller, and again throws its sandal at you. Boboo is a large walking flame who charges across the arena, Haboki is a sentient broom who boasts a similar attack, and Yuki is a malicious pile of snow who slithers about, collides with the walls, and tosses its head (or multiple heads) as projectiles. When battling the mini bosses in the last stage of “Iceberg”, it’s advised that you inhale the defeated mini boss to acquire their ability to snag goodies in the area prior to the next battle. A few familiar bosses also return, though with additional phases. Wispy Woods uproots and chases you, for example, while the Ice Dragon, Sweet Stuff, Mister Shine and Mister Bright, and Kracko are all summoned by Ado’s drawings. The Ice Dragon throws an ice cube along the ground, whips with its tail, and has freezing breath; Sweet Stuff produces electrical sparks and tosses starfish; Mr. Shine and Mr. Bright drop fireballs and/or energy waves; and Kracko surrounds itself with minions and chases you with a lightning bolt. Ado’s drawings are a far cry from the real deals, however, and they’re notably much easier to defeat than in Kirby’s Dream Land 2.

The giant shark Acro initially slides across the ground and into the cavern walls to cause rocks to fall then, after enough hits, the battle moves underwater. You must dodge the Acro Jrs., anchors, and skulls it spits and the rocks that continue to fall and attack with your waterspout or copy ability, but don’t get too close as you’ll take damage from its large hit box. Raccoon and fox duo Pon and Con are fought in “Sand Canyon”, with them simply wandering or hopping back and forth across different platforms while flanked by their disposable minions. They’ll toss bombs and each have their own health bar, but this is a simple matter or switching to the right platform and attacking each as they approach. After besting his mini boss gauntlet, you’ll encounter King Dedede atop his castle in what starts as a repeat of Kirby’s Dream Land 2. As ever, King Dedede attacks with his giant mallet, a theatrical ground pound, and by sucking you up and spitting you out. After enough hits, Dark Matter emerges from King Dedede, restores his health, and puppets him about. In this phase, Dark Matter emits homing blobs of dark energy and, most disturbingly, transforms into a ravenous mouth that tries to eat you! Defeat the possessed King Dedede after collecting all thirty Heart Stars and you can tackle Dark Matter in the warped “Hyper Zone”. This time, you battle Dark Matter’s true form (a dark, disembodied eye) while constantly flying about. You must swing the Love-Love Stick to attack Dark Matter, chipping off its smaller pieces and avoiding its lancing black lightning. Upon defeat, Dark Matter gives way to Zero, a massive white eye that takes up a lot of screen space, fires a barrage of smaller Dark Matter eyes alongside red energy blasts, and attacks from the background with red explosions. Once this is defeated, the red inner core goes nuts, flying erratically about the scream but easily being finished in a few hits compared to its bulbous, spongy first form.

Additional Features:
You get three saves files in Kirby’s Dream Land 3, which each tracking your completion percentage. This is based on how many Heart Stars you’ve collected and how many levels you’ve cleared, so you’ll need to consult a guide and jump back in to replay any previous areas to find those missing Heart Stars. This means replaying every single level, often in specific ways, which is a hell of a chore compared to Kirby’s Dream Land 2, though it’s the only way to battle the true final bosses. Luckily, the Nintendo Switch Online also offers an “SP Version” with all Heart Stars collected, allowing you to quickly jump into the “Hyper Zone” if, like me, you haven’t got the time or patience to get the Heart Stars legitimately. Finishing the game this way unlocks a bunch of additional extras, including the ability to watch every cutscene and level introduction and listen to the game’s soundtrack. You can also play remixed versions of the goal-jumping mini game with whichever animal friend you desire, tackle every Heart Star mini game at will in the “Super NES M65” mode, and take on the “Boss Butch!” boss rush mode without the aid of any copy abilities, healing items, or even Gooey! These extra games also count towards your completion percentage so you must master each of them to hit 100% (or, again, just play the “SP Version”). Finally, of course, the Nintendo Switch Online version includes save states and a rewind feature to mitigate much of the game’s difficulty.

Final Thoughts:
I was strangely disappointed by Kirby’s Dream Land 3 in ways I honestly didn’t expect. While the game looks and sounds great, utilising cartoonish visuals brought to life by fun pastel colours and a colouring-book aesthetic, it feels very slow and sluggish at times. Not because of slowdown or hardware issues, either; this is purely down to the game engine and physics. This oddly makes the game feel slower than Kirby’s Dream Land 2, even with Kirby’s new dash ability. It doesn’t help that Kirby’s Dream Land 3 revisits the same locations as the last game and recycles the same copy abilities, adding basically nothing to Kirby’s repertoire beyond the additional attacks and abilities afforded by his animal friends. Even these were a disappointment, though, as they were just out in the open to partner with and sometimes felt like a handicap to Kirby’s momentum (except when using Kine in water). While, yes, each area is vastly different from Kirby’s Dream Land 2 and contains a lot of variety thanks to the six-stage structure, this approach makes for a laborious gameplay experience, one further compounded by you being forced to replay levels to acquire Heart Stars. I did enjoy the added variety and challenge offered by these, but a little direction about what to do would’ve been appreciated as I never felt excited about replaying a stage. I did like the mini game sections and the new bosses, but Kirby’s Dream Land 3 recycles so much from the last game that it’s difficult to get too excited about facing the returning bosses, even with their slight tweaks. Gooey was a fun addition, but probably more enjoyable with a friend to play alongside, and there are some fun extra modes on offer. However, at the end of the day, Kirby’s Dream Land 3 is just a 16-bit recycling of the portable games, which is technically great, and it’d probably be better to skip the previous 8-bit titles and jump straight to this one. However, there’s little about it to help it stand alone or outshine Kirby Super Star, so I couldn’t help but be let down by how Kirby’s Dream Land 3 turned out.

My Rating:

Pretty Good

Did Kirby’s Dream Land 3 have a place in your SNES library back in the day? Which of the new animal friends was your favourite? Were you disappointed that so much of the game was repeated from Kirby’s Dream Land 2? Do you agree that this was a disappointment compared to what came before? Did you ever collect all the Heart Stars and clear the boss rush? Which Kirby videogame is your favourite? Whatever your thoughts on Kirby’s Dream Land 3, leave them in the comments and go support me on Ko-Fi if you liked this review.

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Created by Masahiro Sakurai, the disgustingly cute, ever-ravenous Kirby is one of Nintendo’s most popular characters. Accordingly, I’m dedicating most of July to celebrating the pink puff-ball.

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Quick Facts:
Masahiro Sakurai helmed Kirby’s proper 16-bit debut on Nintendo’s industry-changing SNES. Beginning development on the NES, Kirby Super Star was created with three goals in mind: co-op play, expanded attacks, and an omnibus format. The legendary Shigeru Miyamoto requested the addition of two-player co-op and Sakurai was inspired by the ground-breaking graphics of Donkey Kong Country (Rare, 1994). Kirby Super Star was widely praised as one of the best in the franchise and was later remade for the Nintendo DS in 2008, to equally rave reviews.

Gameplay and Power-Ups:
Kirby Super Star is an eight-in-one collection of mini games and bite-sized adventures where players control perhaps gaming’s cutest videogame character and fly about devouring both enemies and food. Those who’ve never played a Kirby videogame before are in luck as each of Kirby Super Star’s game modes offers an optional tutorial, where players are either told their objective or follow onscreen prompts (against the backdrop of a stage play) to perform Kirby’s signature actions. While each game plays a little different, Kirby’s controls and abilities remain largely consistent, meaning you jump with B (tapping the button to inflate like a balloon and fly across stages), inhale enemies or blocks and spit them out with Y, swim by tapping B, and fire a water spurt when underwater with Y. You make Kirby dash by tapping left or right on the directional pad (D-pad), perform a sliding kick by pressing down and B, and block by holding either that Left or Right triggers. Kirby has way more options to restore his health as stages are littered with foods, from the recurring Maxim Tomatoes to puddings and sweets, alongside 1-ups, though these are sometimes hidden behind star blocks or uncovered by lighting fuses or destroy bomb blocks. Kirby still climbs ladders, uses doors, blasts to new areas on Warp Stars, and drops through certain platforms by pressing down on the D-pad. You must still avoid bottomless pits, spikes, and flaming or electrical hazards as you explore each colourful game mode. Players also still swallow enemies with Y and then press down to copy their abilities. By pausing with +, you can review the assortment of attacks afforded by each ability, with Kirby sporting various new moves and combos. Although Kirby’s animal friends don’t appear, you can press A to ditch your currently equipped copy ability and spawn a friendly enemy to help until their health depletes.

Players can feed this “Helper” to boost their health and even transform them into other enemies by tossing them other copy abilities or having them touch another baddie; a second player can also control the Helper for some two-player co-op action. There are nineteen Helpers to choose from and twenty-four copy abilities, with twelve returning from previous games, a random selection appearing if you swallow two viable enemies at once, and two special, one-use copy abilities appearing in certain game modes. Returning copy abilities include the Beam, Cutter, and Hammer, with the limited use Mike still destroying all nearby enemies, Fire still lighting fuses, and Ice still turning enemies into ice cubes. New abilities see you tossing Poppy Bros. Jr.’s bombs, cooking nearby enemies to produce food, swinging a yo-yo, and blasting around on a jet pack. The developers wisely combined some copy abilities from Kirby’s Adventure (ibid, 1993) into one by incorporating different moves, meaning Backdrop and Throw are combined into Suplex, Fire and Fireball into Fire, and Freeze and Ice into Ice. Kirby can become a ninja and toss shuriken, throw vaguely familiar martial arts moves with Fighter, deal damage with flapping and thrown feathers, and activate special switches with Hammer. He can also hop onto a Wheelie Helper to chase down Meta Knight and blast enemies in a sidescrolling shooter with Starship, dish out rapid sword combos, and crush enemies with Stone. Helpers sport the same attacks as the enemies you fight and are super helpful against bosses, though they can be a bit mindless and can get hurt very quickly. You can always use A to turn them back into an item so you can spit them out, though, and many games feature the option to either select a new copy ability or change your Helper into something more useful.

Initially, only four game modes are available (alongside two sub-games), with each carrying different difficulty ratings and retaining Kirby’s abilities across them all. Long-time Kirby players will immediately recognise “Spring Breeze” as a truncated remake of Kirby’s Dream Land (HAL Laboratory, 1992), reducing the Game Boy title to five levels and having you battle 16-bit redesigns of each boss. Consequently, there are no mini games in this mode and each level is noticeably shorter than on the handheld. You can still fly amongst the clouds, enter doors, swim through caverns, and must avoid spikes and pits but this is literally a breeze with Kirby’s expanded copy abilities and Helpers. “Dyna Blade” is similar, featuring only five levels, but utilises a world map (where mini bosses sometimes appear) and hidden areas to mix things up. These are mostly discovered by destroying star blocks or hitting switches and reach 1-ups, additional copy abilities, or rare candies that make you and your Helper briefly invincible. Each level ends with a goal mini game where you time a button press to be shot by a cannon, cannons blast you about in levels (with you either racing into the right ones or timing button presses to crash through walls), and you also encounter an autoscrolling section on your way to battle Dyna Bird. “The Great Cave Offensive” is a “Metroidvania” adventure where you explore caves and other areas for treasure, which is generally inside chests but is also found behind blocks and such. Sometimes they must be grabbed before they fall down pits or into lava, sometimes you need to dash through doors before they close, and sometimes they’re in hidden areas. You can view your collection with X and earn more points the more of the sixty treasures you find, saving your progress in special rooms and using mine carts to reach new areas. Completing “Dyna Blade” unlocks “Revenge of Meta Knight”, a seven-chapter race to bring down Meta Knight’s Halberd battleship. Each chapter has a time limit, with you restarting the chapter if you fail, and sees Kirby exploring remixed areas, fighting against or being pushed along by raging winds, dodging cannonballs, navigating claustrophobic air vents, and destroying the wings and defences of the Halberd, besting Meta Knight’s loquacious lieutenants as you go.

Finishing “Revenge of Meta Knight” and “The Great Cave Offensive” unlocks the longest and most taxing game, “Milky Way Wishes”, in which you can’t inhale enemies but can grab copy abilities from “deluxe pedestals” and freely switch between them using the D-pad. Players must visit each of the eight worlds, gaining copy abilities to bypass obstacles (frozen lakes, spike pits, an assortment of mini bosses, etc) and retrieve stars. This involves a lot of exploration and backtracking, mainly through door mazes and experimenting with copy abilities, and culminates in a sidescrolling shooter. You can also take on the “Gourmet Race” (either alone or with a friend), which sees Kirby racing against King Dedede in either a three-lap grand prix or individual races. There are no enemies so you’re better off tapping dash, taking shortcuts, and using boost pads to blast ahead since you must not only beat King Dedede to the checkpoints and finish but also eat more food than him along the way. There are also two sub-games, with “Samurai Kirby” essentially a reskin of Kirby’s Adventure’s “Draw” mini game and “Megaton Punch” mimicking Mortal Kombat’s (Midway, 1992) “Test Your Might” bonus round. In “Samurai Kirby”, you must press any button at the right time to get the drop on your foe across five rounds while “Megaton Punch” sees you pressing a button when the power gauge is at its peak, when the aiming reticules are aligned, and when the pendulum swings in the middle to deliver crushing blows to Planet Pop Star. These sub-games come with three different difficulty levels and are largely featured as distractions from the main game as they don’t count towards your 100% completion goal. As ever, enemies constantly respawn, though water and flaming hazards will damage them. There are some instances of vertical traversal or where you’re forced to go to the left, though I didn’t notice icy areas being slippery. Spikes occasionally cover walls, ceilings, and floors or spring up when you go for pick-ups and there are loads of bomb blocks scattered about, some of which hide flaming blocks or bottomless pits.

Presentation:
When I think of classic Kirby, Kirby Super Star is what comes to mind. This is peak Kirby, to me, thanks to its gorgeous, colourful visuals, stellar performance (there’s no slowdown or sprite flickering here), and jaunty soundtrack. All your favourite Kirby tunes are back and better than ever, adding pep and vigour to vibrant areas and casting an ominous cloud over the more serious “Revenge of Meta Knight”. Even the game’s tutorials are whimsical and amusing, and the game includes Mode 7 sprite rotating and enlarging to give bosses an extra edge. Many backgrounds and partially animated cutscenes feature what look like digitised, pre-rendered graphics, giving a greater sense of depth and colour, with some adopting a plasticine aesthetic and others almost a pop-up book look. Kirby has never looked better in 2D than here, being as squishy and adorable as ever but showcasing more emotion than in 8-bit. Not only does the heads-up display (HUD) still comically display any danger he’s in, but Kirby bursts into flames when scorched and changes colour and adopts attire and weapons to suit his copy abilities. This sees him strap on a jetpack, don a jester’s hat. Scream into different microphones, wield a paintbrush and yo-yo, and even wear goggles and use a snorkel when swimming! In recreating Kirby’s Dream Land, “Spring Breeze” offers 16-bit versions of each level’s introduction sequence and also revises the ending, even bolstering King Dedede’s arena with animated spectators (alongside cameos from the Super Mario (Various, 1985 to present) franchise). Each game mode includes a tutorial, introduction, and ending, with Kirby caring for Dyna Blade’s chicks, performing a victory dance with his Helper, flying over forests as your treasures are tallied up, and riding into the sunset after downing the Halberd. “Revenge of Meta Knight” sees Meta Knight’s allies scrambling to muster their forces and defences against Kirby, text boxes peppering the action as you destroy the battleship bit by bit, with the Halberd looming in the background of some levels and Dyna Bird even coming to assist you. It’s a nice touch considering the game’s just a collection of sub-games but really adds to the immersion as there’s a sense of reward each time you play.

While many of the games share familiar thematic areas (forests, caverns, castle, and such), each presents them in different ways (even the HUD changes). “Gourmet Race” has you racing past various locations, for example, in a straight race, though the path often splits into upper and lower paths and is peppered by obstacles and pits. “Revenge of Meta Night” gives returning areas a gloomy aesthetic by presenting them at dusk and having you battle around the windswept exterior and bustling, steampunk-esque interior of the Halberd. “Samurai Kirby” may be set in a single area, but the blood-red sunset, anime visuals, and amusing outfits and weapons used by the competitors make it stand out, almost as much as the braying crowd in “Megaton Punch”. “Spring Breeze” recreates Kirby’s Dream Land with a far more detailed, cartoony 16-bit redesign. You still hop to tropical islands and explore palaces in the clouds, though elements of “Castle Lololo” have been merged with “Float Islands” and “Mount Dedede” is simply a showdown with King Dedede in a boxing ring. “The Great Cave Offensive” offers not just caves and caverns, but crystal mines, wooded areas under thick leaves, an ancient castle, and a beautiful palace garden, each with hidden doorways and areas to loot more treasure. “Dyna Blade” starts in the vibrant “Peanut Plains” and sees you explore the grounds and interior of the ornate “Mallow Castle” and eventually scale “Candy Mountain”, where massive mountains peek from the clouds in the background. By far the greatest visual variety is found in “Milky Way Wishes”, which includes seasonal gimmicks, flooded caves, volcanic areas full of mine carts, and a jaunt through the starship-like innards of the Galactic Nova.  

Enemies and Bosses:
Kirby Super Star sees the 16-bit debut of many of the pink puffball’s most recognisable enemies, though it’s mostly split on how many provide copy abilities and most of them are noticeably durable (largely to justify spawning a Helper or show off Kirby’s new attacks). Waddle Dee and Waddle Doo return, with the latter gifting Beam or Parasol, as are Blippers, the ever-annoying Gordos and Shotzos, and Bronto Burts, who fill the skies when you’re flying over platforming sections. While the sunflowers look cute, they’re actually carnivorous plants, the bear-like Grizzos ram into you on sight, Gator’s pounce with their sharp teeth, and Magical Sweepers float around firing a spread of projectiles. Blade Knights slash with their swords, ninja-like Bio Sparks can toss you even if you’re blocking, and Bombers walk around and explode to damage everything in sight. Poppy Bros. Jr.s return, sometimes balancing on apples and tossing either bombs or boomerang-like projectiles, as do the explosive Scarfys (who now adopt a more sinister visage when chasing you) and snowman-like Chillys, who freeze you with their icy aura. Plasma Wisps float about firing needle-like projectiles, Wheelies race across the ground, Knuckle Joes rush in to pummel you, and Birdons flap overhead shooting their feathers or dive-bombing you. Be sure to keep your distance or quickly attack whenever you see a Tac as these mischievous thieves will either steal your currently equipped copy ability or make off with your Helper, sentient microphones wander about spitting harmful musical notes, and you’ll be left completely vulnerable if you swallow a Noddy as they briefly put you to sleep. Enemies appear across most game modes, quickly being mixed and matched to add additional variety and copy abilities and even getting a palette swap in some games, though it can occasionally be difficult to make out who is an enemy and who is your Helper if you’re not paying full attention.

Many recognisable and recurring mini bosses plague Kirby’s Super Star, acting as mid-game obstacles and gifting special copy abilities upon defeat. The brutish Bonkers still swings his massive hammer and tosses explosive coconuts, though you one in “The Great Cave Offensive” places you in an arena with a bomb block that must be avoided or you’ll both perish! Bugzzy is as annoying as ever, charging with its pincer-like mouth and either repeatedly slamming you into the ground or swoop from above, Mister Frosty and Poppy Bros. Sr. both toss ice cubes and bombs, respectively, though I found Mr. Frosty a complete pushover with the right copy abilities and you sometimes fight two Poppy Bros. Sr.’s at once! Meta Knight’s goons plague you throughout “Revenge of Meta Knight” attacking in at least twos (though they share a health bar) and often fought in gauntlets. These guys teleport in and swing axes, toss tridents, wielding a mace, or spin a javelin like helicopter blades but, even with their numbers, they’re a joke compared to Kirby’s Adventure and easily decimated with copy abilities like Cutter. Kracko Jr. also returns in “Bubbly Clouds”, swooping around and dropping either bombs or Waddle Dees, though it’s barely a nuisance. Iron Mom and Jukid round out the new mini bosses, with the former being an armoured fighter who throws long-range punches or pounds the ground and the latter being a martial artist who launches fireballs or tries to grab you. You’ll also fight the Heavy Lobster a couple of times in “Revenge of Meta Knight”. Though the first fight is cut short by Kirby being blasted off the Halberd, the second sees you being chased through an autoscroller full of blocks and then battling it as it rockets across the ground, attacks with its pincers, and takes shots at you.

“Spring Breeze” presents 16-bit versions of every boss from Kirby’s Dream Land except Kabula. Whispy Woods looks better than ever, still attacking with puffs of air and by raining apples, and you even fight two at once in “Revenge of Meta Knight” for an added challenge.  Lololo and Lalala are easier than ever thanks to the increased screen size making it much easier to hop between each level and attack them from behind as they pass and even Kracko is somewhat easier thanks to Kirby’s copy abilities. Kracko’s still got a large hit box, though, and fires a spiralling eye beam and deals damage by raining on you. King Dedede is as predictable as ever, still diving, swinging his mallet, trying to splat you with his butt, and looking to inhale you, though he proves quite spritely in “Gourmet Race”. Likewise, your final showdown with Meta Knight echoes Kirby’s Adventure, with him offering you a sword for a fair fight and attacking with a flurry of stabs, a downward thrust, and a spinning attack. He also sports a tornado spin, an energy wave, drops plasma balls, and swoops at you as you race to escape the crashing Halberd. To reach him, you must destroy the Halberd’s massive twin cannon and central reactor, with the former attacking with cannonballs and an extendable hand and being attacked in stages and the latter only being damaged by tricking the nearby laser turret into blasting its shield. Upon scaling “Candy Mountain”, Kirby and his helper battle the mechanical bird Dyna Blade, who sports an extendable neck and squeezes you with its talons. Mode 7 also allows Dyna Blade to attack from the background, a feature mirrored by the monstrous Fatty Whale. This massive, pipe-sucking foe causes rocks to rain from above and kicks up a huge wave from the background, causing damage by sheer size alone (much like Dyna Bird).

“The Great Cave Offensive” may boast the quirkiest and most interesting bosses. The elusive Chameleo Arm, for example, camouflages itself, tries to eat you, and spits paintballs (which you can swallow to get the powerful, single-use Paint copy ability). Wham Bam Rock emerges from the shadows and attacks with his disembodied, rocky hands, looking to crush you, squeeze you, and flick you about. He also causes rocks to fall (which you can use as ammo) and tries to punch you, though his vulnerable face is a largely stationary target. However, it’s the Computer Virus who is the most amusing boss of “The Great Cave Offensive”, in my opinion. This battle is as a parody of turn-based role-playing games and sees dialogue boxes comment upon the attacks and strategies. The boss shifts between three forms (five in the unlockable “Arena”), beginning as the unassuming Slime, transitioning to a marionette, and ending with a witch who uses elemental attacks to burn or freeze you. In “The Arena”, it also becomes a knight and a daunting red dragon that causes blades to rain across the screen, powers up its attacks at the cost of a turn, and flaps its wings to send you flying. “Milky Way Wishes” concludes with you blasting through the Galactic Nova, destroying its defences and attacking the pillars protecting its nucleus. You must destroy these on your first pass or you’re forced back through the stage, which makes it harder to hit your target. Succeed and Kirby battles the bizarre, jester-like creature Marx against a cosmic backdrop. Marx teleports about dropping seeds that sprout into thorned vines, energy balls that freeze you, and eventually summoning a devastating black hole that you must frantically fly away from to avoid. However, as you can freely cycle through every copy ability, it’s not too troublesome to avoid Marx’s attacks and deal damage, especially in this version of the game.

Additional Features:
Indeed, the Nintendo Switch Online’s save states and rewinds are super useful in Kirby Super Star, allowing you to easily rewind to undo any mistakes, though it’s the “SP Version” that’s most helpful. This lets you play a 100% complete save file, skipping over the tedium of “Milky Way Wishes” to tackle Marx without issue. If you’re playing legitimately, however, you must complete the six main game modes (not including the sub-games). This means besting each level of “Spring Breeze” and “Revenge of Meta Knight” and outpace King Dedede in “Gourmet Race” each time, neither of which are too difficult. However, “Dyna Blade” hides two big switches needed for an additional 2% (1% per switch) and you must locate all sixty treasures in “The Great Cave Offensive” and clear every planet in “Milky Way Wishes”, obtaining each Copy Essence Deluxe and defeating the final bosses. Completing this unlocks “The Arena”, which is essentially a boss rush mode that sees you battle every boss in succession, replenishing your health and choosing new copy abilities after each, and unlocking the game’s sound test once you succeed. If you’re playing the Nintendo DS remake, there are a few changes, such as the sub-games needing to be unlocked, three new sub-games, and four new game modes (including one where you play as Meta Knight).

Final Thoughts:
I’ve played Kirby Super Star before, mainly on emulators and a little bit on the SNES Mini, but this is the first time I’ve sat down and played through the entire thing. Still, when I think of Kirby, this is the game I think of. Despite being a collection of disparate game modes with no singular narrative, this may very well be the best Kirby videogame of his classic era. Everything looks, sounds and plays incredibly well, with the visuals really popping and giving everything a vibrant, cartoony look that adds to Kirby’s adorable, whimsical charm. I loved seeing Kirby change colour and appearance with each copy ability, and spawning a Helper to fight alongside, with the system adding a fair bit of strategy as you don’t want to get cut short with a lesser copy ability against certain bosses. Each area oozes charm, with the game beautifully mixing pre-rendered graphics with cartoonish sprites and interesting colour palettes to deliver a visual treat. I especially enjoyed the little tutorials and introductions, and the bite-sized 16-bit do-over of Kirby’s Dream Land. I think “Revenge of Meta Knight” was my favourite game mode as I’m a big fan of the brooding anti-hero and I liked the sense of danger added in the aesthetics, the environment, and the ticking clock. “Spring Breeze” was a close second, beautifully recreating Kirby’s first outing but in truncated fashion, while “Dyna Blade” added a bit more in its world map and remixed aeras. “The Great Cave Offensive” was a fun chance to explore in new ways, though those who like searching high and low will probably get more out of it. The same is true for “Milky Way Wishes”, which I found largely tedious due to the backtracking and trial and error required. Luckily, the “SP Version” eases these issues, allowing you to experience everything the game has to offer…and there’s a fair bit here, especially if you have a friend to play with. I’d wager the Nintendo DS version is even better thanks to the superior hardware and additional game modes, but Kirby Super Star is still well worth your time for his masterfully it adapts and expands upon Kirby’s core mechanics and how beautifully it brings his quirky world to life.

My Rating:

Great Stuff

Did you own Kirby Super Star on the SNES or did you first experience it on the Nintendo DS? Were you a fan of the colourful visuals and quirky sprites? What did you think to the new Helper gimmick and which game was your favourite? Did you ever find all the treasures and battle Max? Which of the many bosses was your favourite and did you ever best “The Arena”? Is this your favourite Kirby videogame? Share your memories of Kirby Super Star below and support me on Ko-Fi to recommend other Kirby videogames for me to review.