Day 23: Kirby's Return to Dreamland
Kirby's Return to Dreamland, proof that the usual format of most handheld Kirby games can work just as well on a console.
The story begins with Kirby, King Dedede, Meta Knight, and Bandana Waddle Dee enjoying their day when they spot a starship falling out of the sky. They check out the crash site and meet a strange alien called Magolor. Magolor tells Kirby and company that his starship, the Lor Starcutter, is missing a few of its parts and 120 Energy Spheres. So out of the kindness of their hards, Kirby and company must search Dreamland and surrounding areas on Planet Popstar to search for these items so Magolor can go back home to his home on Halcandra…which you can later visit and find a new villain in the form of Landia…who upon beating causes Magolor to take its crown and become a surprise twist villain who you have to chase down in a 2D shooting style level before one of the best final bosses in the franchise's history!
Yeah, compared to most other Kirby games I've played, the story gets a little bit off the rails and that can be all thanks to Magolor. When we first meet him, he's a friendly alien who Kirby is happy to help, so when this twist comes…I was legitimately surprised. It's not every Kirby game where there's a twist quite like this. Every other Kirby character is basically the same though, but you know what they say, "If it ain't broke don't fix it."
The levels are all colorful and fun to go through, as to be expected from a Kirby game, and I really like how industrial/mountainous Halcandra is. It's a nice change of pace from the green fields and blue waters of Dreamland and Popstar. Even the shooter section near the end of the game is fun and stage where the final battle takes place is amazing to look at.
The Lor Starcutter is also an interesting area as it not only serves a small hub area, but you can also take on Challenge Stages, gain access to modes like Ninja Dojo and Scope Shot, and a training area for you to train with certain Copy Abilities. Speaking of which let's talk about them for a bit because there's a lot of them to go over.
Among returning favorites like Sword, Tornado, Hammer, etc., Return to Dreamland also gives us Leaf Kirby, Water Kirby, Whip Kirby, and Spear Kirby, making the gameplay more engaging and giving you more ways to take out enemies.
On top of your usual copy abilities, Kirby's Return to Dreamland introduces Super Copy Abilities, which are basically super attacks used to take out obstacles and enemies, and they are flashy as hell. Kirby can either wield a giant sword, wield a giant hammer, launch a dragon shaped fire blast, turn into a giant snowball and roll over everything, or control a giant ball of energy. Making it to the end of a stage with these Super Copy Abilities gives you access to special stages where you can take on Sphere Doomers for more Energy Spheres. after a brief platforming challenge that puts your skills with the game to the test. On
On the subject of Energy Spheres, most of them are well hidden in each level and some of them require skills with certain copy abilities or Kirby's overall abilities. It's just really fun to search each level for them.
Like I said, King Dedede, Meta Knight, and Bandana Waddle Dee join in on the fun, naturally making this a fun co-op game. But these three characters are vastly different from Kirby. King Dedede is essentially Hammer Kirby, Meta Knight is a combination of Sword and Wing Kirby, and Bandana Waddle Dee is Spear Kirby.
Add in a nice soundtrack, very fun boss battles, and franchise staples like The Arena and True Arena, and we have in my opinion Kirby's best console game and my second favorite game in the series overall.
Not bad for what was originally supposed to be a Gamecube Game…No seriously, Kirby's Return to Dreamland was in a development hell of, like, 11 years before finally getting released in late 2011 for the Wii. I guess good things really do come to those who wait.
