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2011’s Kirby’s Return to Dream Land is another classic Nintendo game given the deluxe treatment on the Nintendo Switch that, in addition to its small improvements and mostly solid new features, still holds up over 11 years later!
A Feast Of Familiar Fun
Kirby and the gang must travel around Planet Pop Star to help an alien castaway, Magolor, find the scattered pieces of his spaceship, the Lor Starcutter. The aim of the game is to reach the goal of each level while either flying past enemies or fighting them on the ground. Kirby gains super powers called “Copy Abilities” (and “Super Abilities” such as Ultra Sword) by inhaling certain enemies, giving him distinct moves to use and allowing him to solve puzzles (For example, Sword and Cutter allow you to cut ropes). It’s the same fun gameplay style of Kirby we all know and love!
The co-op implementation when playing Kirby's Return To Dream land is a lot of fun! Just like in the original, three extra players can play as Kirby’s friends (King Dedede, Meta Knight, and Bandana Dee) or different-coloured Kirbys. Having more players is useful for fighting bosses and solving puzzles and it unlocks new team-based moves, like healing other players by touching them after eating food. It would have been more challenging if they increased the health of the bosses when in the multiplayer mode, but that’s the only real issue with this feature.
The early stages are incredibly linear and insubstantial, with the Super Abilities requiring very little input and the bosses having extremely basic patterns, especially in multiplayer. All this is fine, but this does mean it takes a couple of hours for the game to really get interesting. When it does, however, it becomes one of the best 2D Kirby games there is. Each visually appealing world has its own unique personality and gets more creative in setting and level design as the game goes on. The puzzles in the later stages increasingly require the use of copy abilities and items and the bosses become even more challenging and memorable.
The stages have a solid amount of replayability too, as there are a total of 120 Energy Spheres that can be collected throughout the stages by solving puzzles or finding dimensional portals using your Super Abilities. Collecting a certain number of the Spheres even unlocks additional content such as challenges and minigames, which is a great reward for players who want a break from the main story.
Even though the game’s difficulty starts as a breeze (as Kirby games usually are), it eventually increases to a more comfortable difficulty where skill is required to finish levels. If you want even more challenge, though, you can play timed copy ability challenges in the Lor Starcutter, where you collect coins and defeat enemies to get the highest rank possible.
Kirby's Triple Deluxe Features
While the simple gameplay is almost identical to the original, the remaster not only upscales the graphics but gives us a new unique and colourful art style that feels right at home for the series and certainly surpasses the original. Additionally, the Super Abilities have brand-new animations, and little details such as enemies crashing into the screen when attacked by them really enhance the powerful feeling of these abilities. It’s also cool that a couple of copy abilities, such as Rock Kirby, have been tweaked to include new visual references to the more recent Kirby games like Star Allies and Forgotten Land.
All copy abilities from the original version return, with two brand-new exclusive copy abilities being added to this remaster. Sand Kirby is a cute concept and is fun to use, though most of the moves feel a bit too similar to other copy abilities. In comparison, Mecha Kirby is the best copy ability in the game, with a much cooler Japanese-style design and a unique move set comprising long-range lasers, electric bombs, and an infinite jet booster.
If you’re a beginner at Kirby games, there’s a toggleable assist feature in Kirby's Return To Dream land called “Helper Magolor Mode”, which helps new players in their adventure and lowers the difficulty of the game for them. Magolor provides additional health bars, saves players from falling in pits, and summons healing items and copy abilities for players. What a nice guy!
Welcome To Merry-ish Magoland
One of the biggest new features in the remaster is something I have mixed feelings about. Merry Magoland has 12 Minigames that can all be played by up to four players, most of them being classics from older games like Super Star’s Samurai Kirby and Ninja Dojo from the original Wii version of the game.
The minigames themselves are all fine, some being a lot of fun like Smash Ride and Booming Blasters. The problem is that, when compared to the main game, they wear out their welcome quickly and aren’t engaging enough for replayability. In fact, the 100 side missions are the only incentives to replay the minigames, and some are incredibly difficult when playing solo, so take care, completionists!
There’s also the online minigame, Samurai Kirby 100, which pits Kirby against 99 other Kirbys from around the world based on their reaction time. Although it’s a great challenge of reflexes, the lack of online multiplayer for any of the other minigames seems like a major missed opportunity. It’s especially disappointing since Switch ports of games like Super Mario 3D World already have online multiplayer modes.
Players can unlock wearable masks of other characters from the Kirby series, some that even change their voices, and they’re really cute references to Kirby’s history. These, along with healing items, can be unlocked in the Stamp Rally after collecting enough stamps by playing minigames or finding stamps in levels. The souvenir shop allows you to equip these items, which can be accessed in the plaza and in hub worlds, making it more convenient.
Adventures Beyond The Stars
The Wii version’s Arena and “Extra Mode” of Kirby's Return To Dream land return for this remaster. As is tradition in Kirby games, “The Arena” lets you fight every Story Mode boss. Extra Mode, on the other hand, plays exactly like the Story Mode, except players have less HP and harder versions of bosses with unique move sets and patterns. These make for incredibly challenging experiences that really put you and your friends’ skills to the test.
However, the best original new feature is the Magolor Epilogue, where Magolor is trapped in another dimension and needs to regain his powers in order to escape. Throughout his adventure, Magolor can gain new powers and increase his stats using “Magic Points”, which can be collected in the uniquely designed levels and after combo attacks on enemies. This epilogue is much shorter than the Story Mode, but the immense satisfaction of using your skills to finish stages or beating even more challenging bosses while achieving the highest possible combo makes it all worth it.
My only issue with these modes is that the latter two modes should have been available from the start, instead of having to be unlocked by finishing Story Mode. Though it’s a great reward for new players and narratively makes sense for the Magolor Epilogue, it would be a little tedious for veteran players to unlock them by playing a game they’ve most likely already experienced.
Final Verdict
Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe has the same exciting co-op gameplay as the Wii original, but its visual updates and brand-new modes and features, though varied in quality, make the whole package worth revisiting. Whether you’re a newcomer who wants to play with friends or a long-time fan who loves Magolor, this cute magical adventure is the game for you!
