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.

Quick Facts:
Return to Dream Land initially began as a GameCube title and quasi-sequel to Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (HAL Laboratory, 2000), before development stalled and shifted to the Nintendo Wii. Widely praised for its fun gameplay and colourful visuals, the game was remade (with additional abilities and modes) for the Nintendo Switch in 2023 to similarly positive reviews.

Gameplay and Power-Ups:
Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe is a 2.5D action platformer for up to four players, though your single player game is sadly limited to the titular pink puffball. This adventure sees Kirby and his friends journeying to five initial levels (called “Worlds”) with up to six Stages each (including a dedicated boss stage) to help the mysterious magician Magolor repair his ship, the Lor Starcutter. Once done, Magolor takes Kirby and the others to his home world, Halcandra, to challenge the final two, far tougher Worlds and battle the true final boss. Players enter Worlds and Stages via a world map, hopping between each on a Warp Star and entering Stages through doors like previous 2D Kirby titles, with each Stage unlocking as you progress. All of Kirby’s usual abilities return, with the game offering two control setups. I chose “Type A”, which maps Kirby’s swallow and attacks to B and his jump and indefinite float to A. Players can perform a slide attack by pressing down and A, press down after swallowing an enemy to acquire their abilities, and hold Y to discard an ability (which is also forced from you if you take too much damage). Kirby gets special items that are mapped to X, allowing him to restore health or switch abilities on the fly, and players can hold any shoulder trigger to guard against attacks. You can dash by double-tapping left or right, grab food and drink to replenish your health, and collect either 1-ups or 100 coloured Point Stars for extra lives. The Invincible Candy also returns to make you temporarily invulnerable and four new items make their debut: the balloon bomb (which inflates and threatens to explode the longer you hold it), candle (which lights up dark caves), the Prism Shield (which protects against falling enemies and hazards), and the Stomper Boot (which lets you safely pass over spikes and bounce off enemies and hazards).

Kirby has a new ability here: the Super Inhale, executed by holding B, which sucks up giant enemies or blocks and spits out a massive projectile that’s perfect for clearing a path when being chased by a Dimension Wall in the optional Dimension Rift areas. Kirby also gains limited, but extremely powerful, Super Abilities by defeating or consuming super enemies. These obliterate any enemies and even destroy the environment and hazards and are essential for accessing the Dimension Rifts, obstacle courses where you’re chased by an energy wall and must rely only on Kirby’s basic abilities (until you reach the resident Sphere Doomer/s). You must wiggle the left stick to charge the Grand Hammer and smash blocks or shunt power lines into position, tap B to plough through enemies and obstacles with Snow Bowl, and occasionally wiggle the left stick to deliver a killing blow with Ultra Sword. Kirby also acquires three new copy abilities not present in the original game. Mecha is easily one of the best as it gifts you a little mecha suit to fire mortars, a single or charged beam, drop mines, rush in with a flaming punch, and greatly boosts your flight. Festival sees Kirby perform a dance to turn enemies into Point Stars while Sand is one of the most useful against bosses as you can rapidly kick up sand and damage enemies with a twister-like sandstorm. Classic abilities like the Cutter, Stone, and Sword all return, with added combos and functions (such as holding up to charge a sword beam). Fire lights fuses and melts ice blocks, while Ice and Water douse flaming blocks and the latter slows you to surf over lava. Spark protects you with an electrical shield and summons lightning bolts, Beam sees you attack with a magic wand that passes through blocks, and Bomb blows up certain blocks to clear a path. You can wall jump and toss kunai with Ninja, attack underwater with Spear, and clear away all enemies with Mike. Sleep is generally placed to mess up your run as it forces Kirby to take a nap, while Whip lets you snag items through blocks and Hammer smashes certain switches. Additionally, Energy Spheres will unlock rooms on the Lor Starcutter to switch abilities between Stages.

Kirby’s adventure is littered with familiar platforming challenges, from moving and temporary platforms, to outrunning boulders, dodging giant cannons in the foreground and background, and being blasted along by wind or rushing water. Sometimes, Kirby must illuminate dark caves or utilise an Invisibility Stone to become intangible; others, he must carry keys to doors for goodies, stunting his ability to fight back. Kirby must grab or hit switches to progress, sometimes needing copy or Super Ability to pass through barriers or doors, and utilises ladders, doors, and floating platforms to progress. Lava bursts from the floor, Kirby slips on ice, spiked walls, ceilings, and floor increase as you progress, and there are many crushing hazards to avoid. Kirby must also watch out for giant mallets, conveyer belts, and avoid the many bottomless pits, though players can earn additional Point Stars by tapping A at the right time in the Goal Game after every Stage. You utilise automated and manual cannons to blast about, sometimes timing button presses to avoid being crushed, swim in waterfalls and pass through walls to reach goodies, and race enemies to acquire their key before they fall off the level. You’ll float or Hi-Jump up narrow shafts, descend with Parasol or on a lift, avoid spiked pistons and duck under platforms when the ceiling drops, and reshape the environment with levers. “White Wafers” sees you dodging spiked wheels and rolling ice balls and tossing Balloon Bombs to movable blocks, and has a door maze inside a frozen palace. Flaming balls float about and slowly rain like meteors in “Dangerous Dinner”, “Nutty Noon” has you scaling a tower inside and out, and “Another Dimension” offers a sidescrolling shooter-‘em-up section where you spit or charge fireballs, dash through narrow gaps, and blast enemies after allying with Landia, a multi-headed dragon.

Presentation:
Return to Dream Land Deluxe is an absolute joy to look at. Everything about the game pops with vibrant colours and sickeningly cute visuals, with Kirby swinging his arms when idle, adopting new forms with each copy ability, and even donning masks after meeting certain conditions. The game greatly benefits from the polish of modern hardware to iron out the rough edges of Kirby 64 and expand the environments, with the backgrounds being full of little details like raging volcanoes, blizzards, rainbows, and floating islands. The foreground also impresses as plants gift Point Stars or health items as you pass and can be interacted with in different ways, from cutting ropes to lower platforms to destroying cliffsides and plugging volcanoes with your Super Ability. Kirby looks squishier than ever, crying when hit or dying and performing his little victory dance after defeating a boss, and the game wisely uses the in-game graphics and speech bubbles to tell its story. This is peppered with some storybook-like moments to show Magolor’s plight and eventual heel turn, though the story largely takes a backseat, as you’d expect from a Kirby game. The music is suitably jaunty and whimsical, but nothing really struck me as particularly memorable. I did like the ominous atmosphere in the Dimensional Rifts, which take place in a swirling, cosmic void and constantly have you on edge as the Dimensional Wall threatens to crush you. The game also performs extremely well, with no noticeable slowdown even with all the colourful enemies and massive hazards respawning and filling the screen. While the world map is a bit basic, it’s fairly lively as a Waddle Dee appears to provide wares and you’re often asked to jump, fly, or swim about to access each Stage. There are some fun effects with the Super Abilities, too, like enemies smashing into the screen, and little touches like Waddle Dees swinging on ropes, Halcandra Dees on treadmills or conveyer belts, and ancient ruins and giant mini bosses spawning to gift copy abilities you need to access hidden doors or goodies.

Return to Dream Land Deluxe sticks very closely to the usual Kirby playbook when it comes to its Worlds, emphasising vibrant, cartoonish environments and whimsical, fantastical locations rather than complicating Kirby’s tried-and-tested gameplay. Thus, players explore the plains and treetops of “Cookie Country”, hopping about inside giant tree trunks and to wooden platforms above a dense forest, explore desert ruins and ancient pyramids in “Raisin Ruins”, marvelling at the sand geysers and running from rolling boulders, and explore coral caves in “Onion Ocean”, a tropical beach littered with dangerous palm trees and piers and featuring a calypso soundtrack. “White Wafers” sees you slipping about on ice as snow falls and an aurora borealis glitters overhead, with you traversing a frigid mountaintop and ice palace, while “Nutty Noon” is a series of floating islands high in the sky that includes fluffy cloud platforms, wind currents, and a gigantic stone tower. Halcandra offers the game’s toughest Worlds and most unique visuals, with “Egg Engines” being a massive, hazardous factory full of conveyor belts, crushing hazards, giant mallets and cannons, and pistons. “Dangerous Dinner” sees you traversing an active volcano, dodging lava plumes, magma balls, and surfing over lava as cinders waft on the breeze. “Another Dimension” and the finale see you traversing a surreal, cosmic environment much like the Dimensional Rift areas, one full of flaming hot, crushing obstacles, meteors, and gigantic crystalline balls that fill the screen and a hypnotic intergalactic kaleidoscope looms in the background. Some Worlds have more Stages than others to help ease you into the challenge, some offer more rewards than others, and some mix and match gimmicks from other areas, especially at the end when the game throws everything at you. It never feels cheap or unfair, though, as the game is very generous with health and lives, though you must be on your toes in the endgame as things can get very hectic, especially in the Dimensional Rift areas where you’re given less time to make jumps or clear a path.

Enemies and Bosses:
Unsurprisingly, most of Kirby’s long-time enemies return in this gorgeous adventure. Waddle Dees and Waddle Doos wander about firing beams from their eyes or floating on parasols but also have giant armoured variants and stitched together puppets that spew three of them upon defeat, alongside a super variant that holds the Flare Beam. Shotzos continue to fill the screen with cannonballs, Bronto Burts flitter about in the sky, Broom Hatters sweep the floor, and Sir Kibbles swing their swords in a slashing combo. Chillys emit a freezing blast, Knuckle Joes unleash a flurry of punches, Poppy Bros. Jrs toss bombs, and Sparkys try to fry you. Tootlebams attack with confetti, sentient swords and bows often protect Point Stars and 1-ups, Mumbies and Scarfys relentlessly pursue you, Barracu and large, voracious enemies burst from walls, lava, and water to chomp down on you, and Mechamechs hover about firing mortars or a charged beam. Owlgufs toss razor-sharp feathers, Hot Heads breathe fire, Crabys attack from the seabed by extending their claws, Comos descend on spindly webs, and Babuts drain your health bar. Giant variations of some enemies often block your path but they’re easily swallowed and turned into massive projectiles, and the super variants didn’t seem to be any tougher than their regular versions, though they do yield Super Abilities to get you into Dimensional Rifts. Enemies constantly respawn as you move offscreen so you can backtrack for different copy abilities, if necessary. They also sometimes drop health items and swarm in groups, either falling from above after you destroy a bomb block, littering the narrow tunnels as you run from boulders, or floating up as you descend in an elevator.

A whole bunch of brand-new mini bosses offer a mid-Stage challenge and yield a copy ability to access optional areas. Bonkers is the sole returning mini boss and once again wields a massive hammer that he twirls around and swings in between slowly leaping about, tossing explosive coconuts, and charging across the arena. His super variant follows the same pattern but gifts the Grand Hammer upon defeat, but attacks much faster. Dubior is a UFO-like enemy that teleports about, fires a lightning bolt, spawns miniature copies, fires electrical orbs, and rushes at high speed. Gigant Edge is a heavily armoured knight who hides behind a massive shield and swings a huge sword that can emit a shockwave projectile. Kibble Blade is similarly armoured but attacks with a large boomerang-like projectile that curves upwards, rams into you, tosses his boomerang from mid-air, and tricks you by throwing it in the opposite direction. King Doo is a gigantic Waddle Doo who fires a beam whip from his massive eye, charges up a beam projectile, and fires it while jumping about, too. Moundo simply tries to crush you by leaping up, riding a whirlwind, and twirling across the frozen floor to shrug off your attacks. Like their smaller cousins, the Water Galboros spit water in an arc and a spray and slide about on a water wave, alongside firing simultaneous water projectiles. You sometimes fight two mini bosses at once, which can be quite a challenge, and eventually decimate them with Ultra Sword in the endgame. The Sphere Doomers are the most persistent mini boss, however, as at least one is fought in every Dimensional Rift area. These bat-like creatures fly and dart about, conjure energy balls, fly in like a missile from the background, and charge across the screen. Battling them is made tougher by increasing environmental hazards, such as pits, water, and lava, though the Sand ability made short work of them in my experience.

There are also six all-new bosses, with only Whispy Woods returning from previous games, though all have a “pinch” mode where they get faster and stronger and are made much tougher when battling their “EX” variants in the game’s harder “Extra” mode. As ever, Whispy Woods drops apples or enemies from its leaves and spits cloud puffs, but it can also inhale and eat you and spawn spiked roots. The genie-like Mister Dooter mainly attacks by tossing skulls or bombs or by trying to crush you with a butt stomp. Mr. Dooter also leaps higher using a tornado and bounces about on low health and boasts a flaming punch combo. Fat Puffer can pose quite a challenge as it barrels around as a massive rolling ball that’s difficult to avoid and tries to squash you, spits out water blobs and largely harmless enemies, and causes stalactites to rain from the cave ceiling. It can also fire a massive water geyser and doubles in size after losing half its health. The ape-like Goriath is a tricky target to hit as it leaps between walls, tosses snowballs from above, throws punches using its stretchy arms, and blasts out a spread of fireballs. It also attacks the ground to drop you to lower levels, ricochets about in a rage, and dive bombs at you as you’re busy avoiding its spiked projectiles. You eventually battle the Grand Doomer, a far larger version that also attacks with energy spheres. The Grand Doomer can teleport, fly out from one of four dimensional rifts, and bite down on you from a puddle. It also fires homing shots and fires a rapid slew of spheres from one side to the other before encasing itself in armour, forcing you to swallow a super enemy and chip away at its shield with Ultra Sword.

In “Egg Engines”, players battle the Metal General, a shark-like robot that rapidly attacks with a  cyber-katana, fires electrical darts, and spins its laser blade like a propeller. The Metal General also spits homing missiles or a massive rocket, which it also flies to attack from the background or from above, briefly covering the arena with flames. The Metal General also drops mines, spawns minions, and tries to dive bomb you, making it a formidable boss. Initially positioned as the main antagonist, Landia is a multi-headed dragon who hovers above and spits fireballs, dive bombs, and whips up a damaging wind. He also performs a tail whip attack, breathes fire, and sends fireballs across the ground. Eventually, he splits into four dragons who each spit fireballs down at you and conjure a criss-cross energy beam that can be difficult to avoid. They also play volleyball with their fireballs and eventually reform, but the Sand ability should decimate them before that happens. Landia then aids you against the Lor Starcutter, which rapidly fires single and spread shots, sends blades at you, launches energy sphere charges, and fires a massive energy cannon, later spinning around to increase the danger, though your charged shot will make short work of it. Magolor then takes the spotlight as the final boss in a two-stage battle that sees your health carry over between phases. In the first phase, Magolor teleports about, launches destructible orbs, conjures spikes, and throws fireballs from the background. He also creates a star-shaped black hole that you must avoid being sucked into or else you’ll be pummelled, fills the screen with a massive energy blast, and protects himself with armour, forcing you to use various Super Abilities to finish the phase. In his final form, Magolor is even more aggressive, conjuring rifts, spikes, a faster and greater spread of orbs, blasting between two portals, and eventually attacking with bastardised versions of Super Abilities.

Additional Features:
There are 120 gear-shaped Energy Spheres to collect, with two awarded each time to defeat a Sphere Doomer, some hidden behind special doors and challenges, and others requiring precision platforming, exploration, or Super Abilities to find. These unlock rooms on the Lor Starcutter where you can freely pick from any copy ability, tackle timed challenges for each copy ability, or play mini games. The ability challenges see you racing to the exit collecting coins for points, being awarded a bonus for each enemy you kill and losing points when you take a hit, all to gain a gold, silver, or bronze medal and add to your overall completion percentage. The mini games are modelled after Kirby Super Star (HAL Laboratory, 1996) and see you timing button presses to attack enemies in “Samauri Kirby”, cracking the planet’s core in “Crackity Hack”, and playing in a shooting range, catching eggs, or colouring lines on a checkerboard to drop enemies to their doom. These games are also played in Merry Magoland, a theme park environment eventually populated by bosses and other NPCs and where the Stamp Tickets you collect in each Stage award items to use and masks to wear. As you progress, you’ll unlock music to listen to and cutscenes to watch; you can also read up on some of Kirby’s past adventures. A boss gauntlet is also unlocked, which sees you battle each boss in consecutive fights with limited health-restoring items and copy abilities offered between rounds.

Clearing the game unlocks “Extra” mode, which halves your health and the value of Point Stars, and presents a much more challenging version of the main story. In this mode, enemies and hazards are tougher and bosses gain new aggressive “EX” versions that sport new colour palettes and have new forms, such as the Metal General linking up with the HR-D3 mech suit. Clearing the main story also unlocks “Magolor Epilogue: The Interdimensional Traveler”, an additional, post-game story where you guide Magolor across twenty remixed stages within the fragmented Another Dimension to regain his magical powers. Unlike Kirby, Magolor cannot inhale, float, or copy enemy abilities. Instead, he briefly levitates with A, fires Magic Spheres with B (eventually charging a longer, stronger beam and his powerful Magolor Cannon), and drops bombs with down and B. Magolor must defeat enemies, building combos for Magic Orbs, which upgrade his abilities. New ones are also unlocked, allowing Magolor to spawn spikes, pass through certain walls, extend his health bar and attack range, and unleash more powerful attacks to clear away enemies and obstacles. Magolor quests for five Fruit Fragments, which are earned by defeating remixed versions of some of the main game’s bosses. Mr. Dooter now sports electrical attacks and can teleport using his magician’s hat, Fat Puffer becomes Fiery Puffer and attacks using flames rather than water, Goriath becomes Hydriath and adds splash damage to his attacks, flinging bubbles rather than fireballs and dropping water rather than rocks, and Magolor battles a flock of Raging Doomers who swoop about and leave behind explosive clouds. Eventually, Magolor battles the Crowned Doomer in a tricky two-phase battle that sees it launching electrical spheres, firing a laser beam barrage, dropping bombs, attacking from portals, and even summoning Raging Doomers! Once it’s beaten, Magolor battles the Master Crown, a gigantic, sentient tree that fires its roots through portals, spawns large explosive apples, fires a sweeping laser from its eye, summons minions, and comes crashing into the area before finally being defeated with the Ultra Sword.

Final Thoughts:
I had a lot of fun with Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe, which beautifully translates the best of Kirby’s 2D adventures into a colourful and enjoyable 2.5D romp. The game was endlessly enjoyable to play, offering colourful visuals and a bunch of super fun copy abilities to keep you busy, with the Super Abilities added a bit of extra oompf to the gameplay and offering an optional challenge for completionists. While it would’ve been nice to see the Worlds deviate from the usual Kirby formula, the sheer variety on offer more than made up for it as there’s a lot to see and do between the various game modes and mini games. I imagine the game is a lot of fun in co-op, and was disappointed that I couldn’t play as Meta Knight, but this didn’t drag the experience down for me. Bosses were big and progressively challenging and the game had a picture-perfect difficulty curve, gradually increasing the challenge as you progress to the endgame and offering a harder mode to those who’ve mastered the base game. I really enjoyed Magolor’s epilogue, too, which offered a unique twist on the usual Kirby gameplay and nicely remixed the bosses. I’d go as far as to say that this is the best Kirby game I’ve played so far; it’s so adorably charming and a joy to pick up and play in short bursts. I was perfectly happy to go back and search for missing Energy Spheres to unlock new mini games and masks, enjoyed testing myself in “The Arena”, and went out of my way to challenge every aspect of Magolor’s epilogue to fully power him up ahead of the final boss. Honestly, I think the only things that hold this back are the reliance eon a traditional life system and not letting you play as other characters outside of co-op. Otherwise, Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe is a beautiful, whimsical adventure that was a pleasure to experience and I’d highly recommend to Kirby fans old and new.

My Rating:

Great Stuff

Did you also enjoy Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe? Which of the new modes and features was your favourite compared to the Nintendo Wii version? Were you also disappointed that you were restricted to Kirby in solo mode? Which of the bosses and Super Abilities was your favourite and did you ever find all the Energy Spheres? Did you enjoy Magolor’s epilogue and ever clear the “Extra” mode? Which Kirby videogame is your favourite? Comment below with your thoughts on Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe and support me on Ko-Fi for more reviews like this.

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.

Quick Facts:
By 2004, Kirby had more than made a name for himself as a Nintendo staple thanks to a string of fun, colourful platformers and spin-off adventures across multiple generations. Kirby & The Amazing Mirror saw him tackle the “Metroidvania” subgenre alongside co-operative multiplayer for what’s said to be one of the franchise’s more under-rated entries.

Gameplay and Power-Ups:
Kirby & The Amazing Mirror is a 2D action/platformer with a heavy emphasis on backtracking, alternative paths, and exploration in which up to four players control different coloured Kirbys and explore the “Mirror World”. When the malevolent Dark Mind invades the Mirror World and creates evil reflections, a dark doppelgänger of Meta Knight splits Kirby into four, dumping them in the Central Circle hub world and tasking them with exploring nine colourful worlds using mirrors. The game is meant to be played in co-op, with your friends exploring different paths and then alerting you to the correct path or notable goodies, such as the Area Map that turns exploration from a largely directionless guessing game to a more linear and more enjoyable experience. All of Kirby’s traditional moves and abilities return here, with players holding B or X to inhale blocks or enemies and spit them out, jumping with A (or tapping A to inflate and fly indefinitely), and performing a downward slide by pressing down and B. When in the air, you press B to expel an air puff or press B when underwater to attack with a water spurt (which replaces any copy abilities Kirby has until he exits the water). Once you’ve inhaled an enemy, you press down to swallow them and gain their powers until you either take damage or press – to ditch the copy ability in favour of another. Kirby replenishes his health with food scattered all around and gains extra lives from 1-ups, with players rushing about on a Warp Star upon reaching a goal to stock up on these goodies. Pressing + provides a quick explanation of whatever copy ability you have and allows you to view the map of the current area, if available, to plot out a route towards Warp Stars, goals, and the level boss.

There are twenty-six copy abilities, six of which are new. Returning copy abilities include the ever-useful Sword and Cutter (allowing you to rapidly slash enemies and toss a boomerang-like projectile, respectively), Stone and Bomb (allowing you to crush and blow-up enemies and blocks), and Hammer and Ice (necessary to smash wooden blocks and access other paths or freeze enemies, respectively). You’ll need Burning or Fire to light fuses and blast off in certain cannons or break through special blocks, the new Mini ability to pass through tiny gaps (at the cost of having a stunted jump and no flight), and can cook any nearby enemies into food and 1-ups using the Cook ability or destroy them all with the one-use Crash. Cupid lets you fly faster and shoot (and charge) arrows, Magic bestows a random copy ability or power-up, and Missile transforms you into a heavy-duty missile to destroy metal blocks. By far the best copy ability is Smash, which gifts Kirby his moveset form Super Smash Bros. (HAL Laboratory, 1999) and combines multiple copy abilities into one so you can rapidly punch, perform the Final Cutter, turn to stone, swing your hammer, and perform a mid-air cartwheel. This was my go-to ability until the endgame, where you gain the Almighty Sword that has you charge a sword beam and perform thrusts and spinning charges. Kirby also becomes temporarily invincible with a special candy and can call his allies for aid using the Right Trigger (or exit the level by holding the Left trigger). You’ll need batteries for your cell phone to do this, but the other Kirbys also gain copy abilities from their adventure and can help with puzzles or to decimate mini- and main bosses alike. Thankfully, I never experienced a section of the game that required the other Kirbys; they can help with timed door switches, but you can also just move your ass faster to do the same thing. I assume the game’s quite fun in multiplayer with each player exploring different routes, but it’s not a requirement as you can either guess your warp to the Area Map or shortcut switch or boss or use online maps to find your way (which I’d highly recommend).

All the usual Kirby gimmicks are still here. You’ll explore underwater caves, castles in the clouds, and slip about on icy platforms. Rapids rush you along through water, wind currents blast you upwards or along, and spikes are dotted all over some environments (often hiding beneath crumbling blocks!) Platforms get smaller and smaller as you progress and, though you can circumvent this with Kirby’s flight, you must still watch out for airborne enemies. Flame bursts spew from volcanos alongside painful lava, electrical currents threaten to fry you, and you’re tasked with hopping or flying up narrow shafts dodging enemies, falling down shafts and avoiding spikes or bottomless pits, and exploring corridors full of mirrored doors. These are designed to confuse you, especially if you don’t have the Area Map, something only exacerbated by the hidden doors and alternative paths that lead to near-useless end goals or Warp Stars to new areas. Sometimes, you must press switches to open doors; often, you’re destroying bomb blocks to open new paths; and you also time cannon shots to fly through walls or past corridors of spikes. Sometimes, you must activate levers to create shortcuts, and multiple other shortcuts can be spawned, which you’ll need when you inevitably return to find the boss or a route to a new level. Kirby & The Amazing Mirror is played all topsy-turvy, with each level containing multiple routes, exits, or Warp Stars to others so you never play through an entire level from beginning to end. You can (and should) make the game more linear by finding the Area Maps but, even then, you must backtrack through the same areas, defeating respawning enemies as you go, to access new paths (occasionally by using different copy abilities). You’ll be searching all around for these exits, which are sometimes hidden behind special obstacles, behind regular blocks, or even inside the skittish Mirra enemies.

Presentation:
Graphically, Kirby & The Amazing Mirror is a fantastic companion piece to Kirby Super Star (HAL Laboratory, 1996), with Kirby’s sprites and copy ability accessories all largely based on that title. The four Kirby concept is apparent from the start where they rush the company logos while being chased by a gaggle of enemies and their functionality is somewhat similar to the buddy mechanic in Kirby Super Star (Kirby even feeds them to replenish their health), though they’re far less prominent when you’re playing solo. It is fun coming across them as you explore and helping them out of jams, but it’s probably far more enjoyable playing with friends. Kirby doesn’t have much of an idle pose, but he dons special hats and gains extra weapons from his copy abilities, and you can find spray cans to customise his colour, and he still performs his adorable victory dance upon beating bosses. Kirby also yelps in pain like in Super Smash Bros., gets roasted and electrocuted, and automatically dons goggles and a snorkel in water. Oddly, I didn’t notice much of a story here beyond a brief, in-game cinematic of Meta Knight’s encounter with the Mirror World and some basic text at the end. That’s not unexpected from a Kirby title but there weren’t any large sprite portraits or static images to tell the story until the final screen. King Dedede and Kirby’s other allies are also missing, and the game limits you to one hub world, where multiple mirrored doorways lead to each level. Jaunty tunes and playful beats are the order of the day here, though I didn’t notice many remixed tracks or much memorable music. The game has a nice, clean heads-up display, though, which helpfully displays your copy ability and comically reacts when you take damage or die.

The Central Circle hub world resembles a heavenly paradise in fluffy yellow clouds and leads to the nine main levels and the final area once you collect the Mirror Shards and repair the Dimension Mirror. While some recognisable tropes are present and level layouts don’t differ much from previous Kirby titles (beyond the multiple paths and mirrored doorways), Kirby & The Amazing Mirror largely offers new themed levels to play through for a change. Rainbow Route is a fairly traditional forest stage with some flooded caverns, tree-like platforms and routes, and a thick, beautiful thicket of trees in the background. Moonlight Mansion twists this aesthetic into a crooked, haunted forest with a dishevelled graveyard and the ominous, titular mansion in the background, the inside is overgrown and dilapidated, featuring stone corridors, stained glass windows, and furniture blocking your path. Cabbage Cavern is a purple and lilac cave of vines, underwater areas full of rushing water, and narrow passageways barred by explosive blocks. Mustard Mountain opts for a volcano aesthetic. There’s lava everywhere, the ground erupts in flames, and lava pours like waterfalls, making for a notably perilous landscape. Carrot Castle reminded me of Castle Lololo as it’s a sprawling, ornate palace against a gorgeous sunset and includes a dingy dungeon, exterior areas where Moonlight Mansion looms in the background, and large, opulent windows. Olive Ocean recalled Float Islands with its beach aesthetic, palm trees, and abundance of water and underwater coral caves alongside waterfalls and rapids that rush you through flooded tunnels. Peppermint Palace is the ice-themed stage full of glittering crystal and ice blocks, a glowing aurora borealis, slanted paths, and a frigid cliffside where one false move sees you slipping into the abyss. Radish Ruins opts for an Aztec pyramid aesthetic, an enlarged garden, and cold stone chambers sporting spikes. Candy Constellation is a large mechanical facility out in the sprawling galaxy, with stars and a planet looming in the background, Gordo-infested tunnels, and a fun gimmick where water is suspended in zero gravity. The finale transports you to the distorted Mirror World, where aspects of each level are smashed together between boss arenas fought against a swirling vortex.

Enemies and Bosses:
Many of Kirby’s most recognisable enemies naturally make a return in Kirby & The Amazing Mirror, with many bestowing you with Kirby’s signature copy abilities. Waddle Dees wander around largely harmlessly or float from above on parasols while Waddle Doos fire their eye beam in an arc, nigh-invincible Gorgos and Shotzos dog your progress in narrow corridors or open areas, Bronto Burts flitter in the air, and Sir Kibbles toss Cutter boomerangs from afar. Rockys threaten to roll or crush you, UFOs erratically fly around taking shots at you, Wheelies race across the ground to ram into you, and Twisters transform into tornadoes and fly around the screen. Bang-Bang is a missile-like newcomer who wander about before blasting into the sky, Battys are bizarre bat-like creatures that roots on ceilings before swooping at you, Blockins disguise themselves as regular star blocks for a surprise attack, and the mole-like Boxins rush you with their boxer jabs. Chips are strange, fox-like creatures who hop about and relentlessly chase you, Cupies flutter around firing arrows, Droopys and Leaps steal your copy ability or transform into a more aggressive form, and seedling-like Foleys hover overheard and drop bombs. The large, stoney Golem spring to life when you pass by, spherical mechanical laser-firing Metal Guardians and big, giant variants and Waddle Dees and Rockys lurk as tertiary bosses, much like the sword-swinging Heavy Knights, while frog-like Jacks hide in cannons and Pranks will humiliate you on contact. Soaraars fly about, Snooters try to eat you, and Shadow Kirby often pops up boasting similar copy abilities and dropping random power-ups upon defeat.

Similarly, eight mini bosses appear, each bestowing a particularly powerful copy ability upon defeat. Batafire is a large bat that resembles a fireball and flies back and forth, swoops from one side of the arena to another, or floats in the middle and spews fireballs. It’s quite a large sprite so it can be difficult to dodge, much like Bombar, an adorable anthropomorphic jet fighter who spirals across the screen and swoops at you while winds whip past. Bombar also fires homing missiles and drops a bombardment of warheads, which can be inhaled for the Missile and Bomb copy abilities. Box Boxer and Phan Phan were two of the more aggravating mini bosses for me. Both wander back and forth, rushing you with a charging punch or rolling tackle, and toss projectiles but are particularly frustrating as they tend to snatch you out of the air or off the ground and toss you. Boxy is a ravenous gift box who hops back and forth trying to bite you and spits out bombs, enemies, and the odd power-up, Bonkers returns to swing his trademark hammer and now tosses explosive coconuts, and the mischievous Mr. Frosty also returns to devour you or toss ice cubes. Master Hand also appears as a mini boss, granting the Smash copy ability when inhaled, and mirrors his Super Smash Bros. counterpart by pounding the ground with his fist, punching, squeezing you, and firing finger bullets. Master Hand teams with Crazy Hand in Candy Constellation for a two-on-one fight, with the two performing a clap and other tandem attacks to keep you on your toes. Long-time Kirby players my recognise King Golem, who’s basically a reskinned Whispy Woods and attacks in the same way, dropping rocks and Gordos rather than apples and spawning Golems from his mouth rather than air puffs. Kracko also returns in Mustard Mountain and still sprouts spikes, chases you with lightning, and douses you with a rainstorm.

Moley randomly pops from the ground or ceiling and tosses rocks, bombs, burning oil drums, and more if you give him the chance and shunts you with his nose, forcing you to quickly anticipate where he’ll be and attacking when you can. The intimidating armoured robot Mega Titan is completely invulnerable and floats about firing its four fists at you. You must force for the Mega Titan into the electric traps located on either side of the arena, though it can be tricky without the right copy abilities and, even then, you must dodge its many rocket-powered fists. Gobbler was somewhat similar to Acro as it leaps from the water to bite you, spawns three shark-like Snappers to distract you, and charges at you to swallow you, though Smash or Stone can near-instantly defeat him. Wiz rushes about a slippery arena and tosses enemies and projectiles from its magician’s hat, being invulnerable when doing so but an open target otherwise. Dark Meta Knight is fought twice, though both battles are fundamentally the same and his attacks largely mirror the regular Meta Knight. Dark Meta Knight performs sword thrusts in many directions, a leaping sword slash, defends against your attacks with his blade, and performs a drill-like charge. He also unleashes a sword beam, often at rapid speeds, in the second fight. One you assemble the Dimension Mirror, you battle Dark Mind in six phases, three of which are largely the same but get progressively difficult. Dark Mind teleports about and fires a flurry of star-like projectiles while mirrors protect him, exploding with splash damage if destroyed. Dark Mind’s movements and attacks become increasingly erratic and the arena changes to sport water and slippery ice, but the Almighty Sword easily decimates him when you land a hit. After four rounds, Dark Mind transforms into a gigantic, glaring eye and fires ricocheting lasers between its mirrors, spawns some enemies to distract you, fires massive beams, attacks with its mirrors and is noticeably more durable. You then hop on a Warp Star for a top-down shooter to finish it, blasting its projectiles, avoiding its tackle, and pummelling it even as the credits roll.

Additional Features:
There are many different paths and goals to reach in each level in Kirby & The Amazing Mirror. While it’s not necessary to find them all (you really just need to find the Area Maps and defeat the bosses), doing so brings your save file closer to 100% completion. They also bring you to treasure chests containing helpful items that extend your life bar and unlock new tracks in the sound test or colours for Kirby, with these being tracked form the main menu. Alongside three save files and multiple languages, Kirby & The Amazing Mirror boasts three mini games that see you compete against your friends to crack the world like in Kirby Super Star, eat the most food, or ride waves in a surfing race. Reaching 100% completion unlocks the “Boss Endurance” mode where you randomly fight all the mini bosses and main bosses, including a powered-up Waddle Dee and the multiple Dark Mind fights (with no rest areas for this latter challenge). This version of the game also comes with the usual rewind and save state features to help lower the frustration of all the backtracking, and you can even play the European version where Kirby doesn’t look like he wants to kill you!

Final Thoughts:
I was quite excited to play Kirby & The Amazing Mirror, expecting it to be much of the same colourful fun of Kirby’s 16-bit heyday and was stunned to discover it’s a more sprawling, exploration-based adventure. I was a little lost and frustrated to start with as I randomly travelled from one level to the next with no end in sight, even when I reached the Warp Star goals and defeated bosses, and was confused when the other Kirbys buggered off on their own offscreen adventure and barely factored into the gameplay or puzzle-solving. Once I got my head out of my ass and realised there’s a map screen, the game became much more enjoyable as I sought out the Area Maps and then went right to the boss to force the game into a more linear adventure. There was still a fair bit of backtracking and exploring as you can’t just progress from one level to the next and must unlock the doors and shortcuts, but this made things more manageable. Once I acquired the Smash copy ability, I never looked back and mostly coasted through the game, which was a very vivid and adorable experience with some fun bosses and moments, but which didn’t do too much to mix up the Kirby formula. I almost wonder if the game should’ve forced a co-op mode, making it unplayable for solo gamers or encouraging you to summon or even control the other Kirbys to solve puzzles. Instead, we get a regular Kirby adventure that’s artificially extended and made more challenging by presenting the action in a non-linear fashion, which is more annoying than enjoyable. I would’ve liked to see more screen time for Shadow Kirby and Dark Meta Knight, more puzzles linked to the multiple Kirbys, and some new copy abilities to make things interesting. It was a decent and colourful, whimsical adventure that surprisingly made me think more than I expected, but I think it would’ve worked better as a straightforward amalgamation of Kirby’s previous 2D adventures.

My Rating:

Pretty Good

Was Kirby & The Amazing Mirror in your Game Boy Advance collection? Did you ever play the game in co-op and, if so, how was it compared to playing solo? Were you also disappointed by the emphasis on backtracking and exploration or did you like the attempt at something new? Which of Kirby’s six new copy abilities was your favourite? Did you ever 100% the entire game and which Kirby videogame is your favourite? Use the comments to share your thoughts on Kirby & The Amazing Mirror and support me on Ko-Fi for more reviews like this.