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Kirby games typically fall into two main categories: traditional platformers and creative adventures. While traditional platformers form the backbone of the series, titles like "Kirby's Return to Dream Land," originally released on the Wii in 2011, stands out as a unique experience within the franchise.
The deluxe re-release for the Nintendo Switch builds on the foundation laid out by the original Wii game, introducing several enhancements and new features. While keeping the original gameplay, the Switch version has improved graphics, refined controls and additional content.
In Kirby's latest adventure, he and his friends embark on a journey across Planet Pop Star to assist a stranded alien named Magolor by locating the scattered parts of his spaceship, the Lor Starcutter. Throughout the game, the objective is to progress through each level, either by flying past enemies or engaging them in combat.
Kirby gains special abilities known as "Copy Abilities," along with powerful "Super Abilities" like Ultra Sword, by inhaling specific enemies. These abilities grant him unique moves, enabling him to overcome obstacles and solve puzzles: for example, abilities like Sword and Cutter enable Kirby to cut ropes and navigate through the levels.
Kirby's New Powers are out of this World
In the first few worlds of Kirby’s Return to Dreamland Deluxe, I found a slight lack of challenge, particularly with the Magolor help addition being enabled. This seemed to diminish the difficulty, making the early worlds feel relatively easy to complete.
One addition that caught my attention was the introduction of flashy super abilities. These moves allow Kirby to perform impressive moves, such as rolling enemies into massive snowballs, often starting within automated sections of the game. I found myself captivated by the inclusion of new powers, notably the Mecha power. These abilities injected a fresh sense of enjoyment and intrigue into the gameplay experience. Unlike the standard powers typically found in Kirby games, the Mecha power was a fresh power, adding a layer of diversity to this Kirby game.
Magolor Mode
The standout addition is the Magolor Epilogue, which sees Magolor trapped in an alternate dimension, where the goal is to reclaim his abilities to break free. In this side story, Magolor has the opportunity to acquire new powers and enhance his attributes by collecting "Magic Points," obtained through the heavily detailed levels and successful combo attacks on enemies. While shorter in duration compared to the Story Mode, the sheer satisfaction of utilising acquired skills to complete stages or triumph over increasingly challenging bosses, all while striving for the highest combo, makes this epilogue immensely rewarding.
Merry Magoland
Merry Magoland is a theme park filled with mini games that you play against the computer (or some minigames you play by yourself.) You can access these games on the ship of Magolor called Lor Starcutter as well, but the theme park has added prizes and challenges, for example, character masks from previous Kirby games and medals/missions to complete on each mini game.
The minigames are short, sweet and are quite simple for the most part. They range from classic Samurai Kirby being a duelling minigame where each player attempts to slice the other as quickly as possible when the prompt comes up. There’s also another minigame where you need to hit moving targets using star-shaped objects. The fun part of completing these minigames is being rewarded with new masks that you can wear in the main game which add another element of fun!
