Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe review

Kirby, who has a place in our memories with his pink puff look, has started to appear in the platform genre since the Nintendo GameBoy era. It continues to appear today, so much so that we recently reviewed Kirby and the Forgotten Land. The series, which started to turn to mini-games like pinball and tetris over time, announced a game exclusive to the Gamecube console for the end of 2005, but the development was later abandoned and this game was released to the next Nintendo console, the Wii, under the name “Return to Dream Land” in 2011.

Switch exclusive game Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe review

Today too, Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe review We see the remake, which is also the subject of our article, as a special game for Nintendo Switch.

What about the story?

To talk about the beginning of our adventure, Kirby and his friends witness the crash of the Lor Starcutter spaceship passing through the portal one day, an alien lying unconscious on the ground when they enter in panic! Of course, as soon as the alien wakes up, he controls the spaceship, but sees that the ship’s five important building blocks have disappeared, and there is no 120 energy orbs on top of it.

While sighing at this, Kirby regrets his situation and asks for help with his friends, so our adventure of sending our lovely alien Magolor to his home planet begins. The story of the game is such that it can attract everyone, big or small, to this kind of game. Personally, I can say that it brought out the benevolent personality in me. And also, “Is he going to go after he finds it? Can’t pay? What will happen to this alien?” Then you will be able to continue the game with curiosity.

Are we returning to the land of dreams?

When we think of the first game of the series, “Kirby’s Dreamland”, it is not difficult to guess the message given. It is obvious that it is meant to say, “We include our traditional elements from the first game”. Okay, you say traditional items, nostalgia or something, what are they? We’re dealing with a 2.5D side-scrolling platform game, just the retro components!

In the story part, we mentioned that five parts of the spaceship are missing, each of these parts is at a different level. Of course, the levels also have four-five sections within themselves. Again, as in typical retro games, when one of these levels and chapters is completed, the next one opens. There are eight levels in total. “But five levels to five parts, right? Where did the three episodes come from?” If you haven’t played the old game, here’s a surprise.

Let’s kill the enemies that appear in front of us in the chapters, not just for the sake of it. Again, we can collect 120 energy spheres that I mentioned in the story part, and there are stars, health-boosting foods, and lives that function as points like in old games. Speaking of health, our health consists of a two-stage health bar.

It has been a game that has its essence in terms of gameplay, and the abilities of the character can be considered as good examples for this. While Kirby’s first ability is to inhale and devour his enemies, then throw them back as stars, dealing damage this way, he can also duplicate some of his enemies’ abilities when he swallows them.

He can blow ice like a snowman when he swallows it, or he can reveal area-damaging spines like a hedgehog when he swallows it. Of course, there is also the fact that he floats in the sky by holding his breath on top of each other. While the music is a bit more of a retro-modern mix, the sound effects can take you back to your childhood.

If you are looking for a game to play with your relatives, it is perfect.

The game can be played co-op with up to four people. If you ask me, this is the most important thing that makes the game enjoyable and worth buying. Just like this, sitting at home with nephews, cousins, friends, at least I got this energy while playing. Played with my niece as I own a pair of joy-cons. I’m sure it would be even more fun if we were four people.

There is no online co-op support, by the way. Speaking of playing with our relatives, let me talk about other characters: King Dedede, Meta Knight and Bandana Waddle Dee. These characters can’t copy abilities like Kirby, but they have their own unique weapons.

Bandana with ninja abilities, Waddle Dee’s spear, King Dedede’s sledgehammer, Meta Knight’s sword can make a good team. But anyone on the team can be Kirby if desired. There may be bad competition in grabbing talent, but it’s me saying.

So far everything looks the same as the 2011 version, what are the differences of this “Deluxe” version?

While the graphics of the game from 2011 weren’t bad at all, you can see it improve when you put it side by side with its remake. I wouldn’t say there are huge differences. In addition, the increase in depth, the detailing of designs, and the disappearance of pixelization draw attention.

As for the difficulty part, there is no difficulty level in the game, but there is a feature coming in this remake: Assistant Magolor Mode! If we turn this mod on, Magolor helps us when we are in a difficult situation. For example, we encountered the boss and you are at the last of our health bar. Magolor will try to catch up and throw food in our heads to increase our ability or health.

Apart from that, when we fall from somewhere, Magolor takes us in his arms and leaves us in a safe place. If you ask if this mode is necessary, my answer is “yes” if you are going to play as a family, but if you are going to play alone as an adult, you may not need it. The game is too easy without this mod, this includes bosses at the end of the chapter.

Since it is in the family game category, I find its convenience reasonable. Only maybe the boss parts could be a bit challenging, because I had the opportunity to pass many encounters with just one shot in a row. In addition, the level is already that easy, and when you play co-op on top of it, this level gets even easier.

One of the things that comes with the Deluxe is Merry Magoland Park. As you can imagine, this is the part of the game that is left out of the main scenario and reserved for fun. Here, there are competitive mini-games that you can play with four people with your relatives, and if the number of people is insufficient, artificial intelligence comes to your rescue. Although I think that the number of mini-games could be high, I have to say that they are trying to put all kinds of games.

In one mini-game, they try to throw each other off the track, in the other, the one who finds the picture in the image first wins. So all kinds! Also, if you know Kirby’s old games, you may find some of them familiar, I’m personally happy to see Crackity Hack with new generation graphics. By the way, even if there is no one to play, mini-games are very enjoyable against three artificial intelligences, and unlike the main scenario, there is a difficulty level.

In Merry Magolor Park, there is not only a mini-game, but also masks that you can wear cosmetically. It is possible to earn these sometimes from mini-games and sometimes as you level up in the main scenario. Also, let me tell you that this place will be shaped according to the course of the main scenario, this was one of the details that I liked.

One of the outstanding innovations of Deluxe is the “Magolor Epilogue” section that opens when the game is over. In this episode, we play with a Magolor who has lost his powers and is trying to regain them. As we defeat our enemies, we can collect magic orbs, and in this way, we can get one step closer to regaining our former power by using the orbs we gained in the magic abilities section.

If you want, you can play this part again in co-op with four players, namely Megolor, who is trying to get his four talents back!

You said magic orbs and you said energy orbs, what was that?

Energy spheres are one of the elements that make the game playable again, but it is worth mentioning that they are also in the 2011 game. You can get these orbs sometimes in the boss fight and sometimes from relatively hard-to-find places in the game. The spheres in question open some doors in Lor, that is, in the spaceship. Behind these doors are rooms where you can challenge time and try your skills.

New game, new abilities

Let’s go back to the abilities part. The enemy design is too much for such a nostalgic platform game. For those unfamiliar with Kirby games, I mentioned at the beginning of the article that Kirby can copy the abilities of his enemies. Then it becomes clear: the more enemies, the more abilities.

While abilities can sometimes do area damage, sometimes you can be ranged or make melee attacks. In addition, some abilities can turn into different attacks with the arrow keys, and there are even combos when you press the attack button repeatedly. In fact, one of the things you will have the most fun with is the temporary super abilities.

Sometimes you will have a giant sword, other times you will be a giant snowball. Sounds fun doesn’t it? Of course, I leave it up to you to discover them. There are two abilities included in the game with Deluxe: Sand and Mecha. While you create sandstorms in Sand Kirby, you transform into a Transformers in Mecha Kirby. I can even say that Mecha is my favourite.

I really like the flying animation. We can ignite our rockets and ascend, we can throw bombs when we attack with the down arrow key while in the air, we have a straight attack, we have a forward attack, we have an air attack. In short, it was awesome. I should also mention that you can buy items during the level transitions, you can buy attack items as well as health.

If you haven’t played the old version of 2011, I can say that you will love the space designs. Each level has its own unique design. While Onion Ocean comes up with a tropical theme, we see a snowy scene in White Wafers. It’s not limited to that though.

While Kirby clings to that famous star, you can sometimes be tossed left and right by the direction of the wind, and sometimes you can barely see in front of you even with a candle in the dark. You can even find mysterious star-shaped portals and open the door to “challenges”. Without forgetting, the challenges may be the parts you find the most enjoyable in the main scenario, because as I said, the game is already easy. It can become relatively more enjoyable when you add a little time to it.

Both on the track and while leaning in front of the monitor

I have experienced the game both as a handheld console and with a monitor via the dock. Either way, it was an enjoyable and hassle-free experience. I can’t say that it is very eye catching on the small screen, so it is suitable for handheld play.

Conclusion

This remake, called Deluxe, has been quite versatile. They added new things to the scenario, mini-games, something cosmetically, gameplay skills, and a polish to the graphics… It wasn’t bad at all!

I will say that if you have a Nintendo Switch and are looking for games to play with your kids and nephews, consider this. Although, I think if you are single and miss retro games, you can also consider it. Of course, if you don’t like games with easy difficulty levels, first of all demo I suggest you try it.