Kirby's Dream Land (GB)

[Nz17]

Just completed Kirby's Dream Land for the Game Boy via the 3DS's eShop and like I suspected for all these years, it is an awesome game and a strong start to a long-lived series.

Back in the day I didn't own a Game Boy and felt abandoned by Nintendo Power when all of its coverage began to shift to the Game Boy and later the Super Nintendo. By that time it felt like Nintendo had all but surrendered interest in the console that made the company. Thankfully before it sent the NES out to sea Nintendo deemed it worthy of receiving Kirby's Adventure and I saw what made the GB game special... but of course in color and with Meta Knight and a save feature. :)

Like many of the Game Boy's early titles, this game is a quick game to finish and features only a small level set and no level select. However the five levels here are quite fun, fluid, and large by standards of the day, and each has many sections connected by doorways. Every one features a memorable boss fight at the end, whether you are fighting a giant tree, an eye in a lightning storm, Lolo and Lala's doppelgängers, a blimp with a cannon, or King Dedede himself. And if you want more of what's here, an Extra Game mode is available that remixes the original stages with more difficult enemies.

Unlike the later games, Kirby doesn't have his famous copy ability on display here. Instead he must utilize the rest of his abilities to stop the enemies. He can jump, he can fly, he can swim, he dive-bombs, he inhales blocks and enemies, and he spits them back at others as dangerous stars.

About the only other thing really missing is his pink color! And why you may ask? Because Nintendo of America didn't think Westerners would want to play as a pink puff ball. So NoA nixed the pink coloring on the game's cover art. But Kirby proved that though he's a little guy, he packs a mighty wallop, and we've seen his games released one after another ever since.

[old man]

HAL labs made some great games that Nintendo would later take credit for.

[kainemaxwell]

and Kirby for the NES is really fun also.

[Drixxel]

Kirby's Dream Land is a fun lil' game that's enjoyable to revisit once in awhile. Those sorts of easily digestible platformers definitely hold appeal from time to time.


HAL labs made some great games that Nintendo would later take credit for.

That sounds a little harsh, HAL may be a subsidiary of Nintendo but the HAL name has always been given proper developer credit. Aside from Kirby, is there any HAL property that Nintendo treats like 1st party?

[duo_r]

Does the 3DS allow different color shades to play in like a Super Gameboy?

[Drath]

I recently played through this as well. Even though it was quite easy, it was still enjoyable. I love how on the box cover he was white (instead of pink) because they didn't think it would sell in America/Europe if he was pink. There's also lots of glitches in the game as I later found out when researching for my site:
http://www.glitchgamer.com/kirbys-dream-land-gb

[Satoshi_Matrix]

Great to hear the 3DS is bringing classic GB games to new gamers who missed out on the classic system. I highly suggest you buy either a GBC or a GBA SP and start a real GB/GBC collection.

A little while ago I wrote a top 25 list of the best games to look for on the handheld. I own well over a hundred GameBoy games and this is what I consider the cream of the crop.

http://satoshimatrix.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/top-25-gameboygameboy-color-games/

[skaar]

Solid title, I remember I could play through this game in a single class. (<50 minutes) and still have a good time.

[BetaWolf47]

Having played Dream Land 2 first, I didn't care too much for the first one. It's just a slow platformer without the copy abilities and a linear level design. I'm sure I'd have liked it if I'd have played it before Dream Land 2 and Super Star.

[ccovell]

Aside from Kirby, is there any HAL property that Nintendo treats like 1st party?

Very minor, but 3-D Hot Rally on the FDS was originally promoted (, programmed?) and planned to be released by HAL, but then Mario characters were added and the game was released by Nintendo instead.

[skaar]

A huge part of the game for me was actually the upbeat catchy music. The gameplay was almost secondary.

[A Black Falcon]

Yeah, Kirby 1's a good game for sure. And yes, it's very short. However, for everyone saying it's easy... um, did you not wait through the credits or something? Use the code shown at the end of the game (or look it up online) and play the game again in Extra mode, which could have been called Hard Mode, and just try to easily beat it again... Kirby 1 in Hard Mode is one of the tougher Kirby games, really.

Plus, after you beat THAT (it'll take longer!), wait through the credits again and you're given a second code, for a special options menu with some neat stuff on it.


Still though, as good as it is I do think Kirby 2 is the better game, it's a much longer game and does have some challenge too, in that case from trying to get all of the Crystal Shards. Plus powers are fun. The first game's just so short, and Kirby doesn't really have powers either. Still, it's got good graphics, solid level designs, and is fun, and is a classic, so sure, it's a good game. But I do like the sequels even more.

[Jorpho]

Yeah, without the extra mode the game really is much, much too short and easy to be worth whatever price it commands (and I'm sure it's substantial). I think it's the only game of its era that I beat the same day I started playing it.

With the extra mode, it's more acceptable, but sticking with Kirby's Adventure, Kirby Super Star, and Kirby and the Amazing Mirror (and maybe even Kirby 64) is the way to go. (Kirby's Dream Land 2 and 3 are pretty well done, but the slow, puzzle-based gameplay is a bit of a drag.)

[Gameguy]

Yeah, without the extra mode the game really is much, much too short and easy to be worth whatever price it commands (and I'm sure it's substantial).
A loose cart is worth around $5, I think it's worth that price. I've played through the game but haven't played through the hard mode yet, it is an enjoyable title for sure. The early Kirby games are all pretty good, I just didn't like that Tilt 'n' Tumble one for the GBC.

[DDCecil]

I actually figured out the 2nd hidden code by accident while waiting at a doctor's office one time. The game is really short, but it is fun.

Speaking of HAL/Nintendo, I would love to see Hal Bailman from Air Fortress as an assist trophy on the next Super Smash Bros. Flying around the screen shooting his Light Blaster and Crash Beam Bullets at your opponents...

[Drixxel]

Anyone dig the GB Kirby offshoots? Block Ball, Star Stacker, Pinball Land? I'm quite partial to Kirby's Pinball Land, myself. There's a decent variety to the tables, the table goals are challenging and reasonably skill based (without being too reliant on lucky shots) and the ball physics are definitely solid. HAL's take on video pinball got better every time they tried their hand at it.

[Aussie2B]

I still need to give the original a play myself. I haven't managed to come across a cheap copy just yet. Oddly enough, my introduction to Kirby was with the spin-offs. I had Pinball Land and Block Ball on Game Boy, and Dream Course on SNES. It wasn't until Super Star came out that I finally played a traditional Kirby. Actually, now that I think about it, I believe Super Star and Kirby 64 are still the only traditional Kirby games I've played.

[kupomogli]

First Kirby I've played was Kirby's Adventure. I didn't really enjoy Kirby's Dream Land much because it didn't have all the special powers and great level design that made Adventure so fun.

[skaar]

The Kirby "spin off" I sunk the most time into is Kirby's Dream Course. We'd play that game for a solid weekend without sleep back in the day.

[megasdkirby]

First Kirby I've played was Kirby's Adventure. I didn't really enjoy Kirby's Dream Land much because it didn't have all the special powers and great level design that made Adventure so fun.

Blasphemy! LOL

I liked Dreamland, though I found it a tad easy. But like Kupo stated, Adventure was much, MUCH better, thanks to it's length, depth, and difficulty.

Also loved the remake on the SNES and DS (SuperStar). Never understood why one level was taken out, though.

[kainemaxwell]

How are the Kirby SNES titles?

[Baloo]

I only own three Kirby games, and have played four, but of those I've really enjoyed the series actually.

I have Kirby's Adventure for NES and find that pretty fun, though I haven't delved into it really yet.

Have Kirby's Tilt N' Tumble, and while it's a little frustrating, it can be fun.

Kirby 64 isn't bad, remember almost beating it after renting it back in the day, own it now but also haven't gotten very far.

And I played Kirby's Super Star and LOVED it, still need to pick that one up.

[A Black Falcon]

Yeah, without the extra mode the game really is much, much too short and easy to be worth whatever price it commands (and I'm sure it's substantial). I think it's the only game of its era that I beat the same day I started playing it.
Substantial price? What? Isn't Kirby 1 a really cheap and common game? Cart only copies go for just a couple of dollars online...


With the extra mode, it's more acceptable, but sticking with Kirby's Adventure, Kirby Super Star, and Kirby and the Amazing Mirror (and maybe even Kirby 64) is the way to go. (Kirby's Dream Land 2 and 3 are pretty well done, but the slow, puzzle-based gameplay is a bit of a drag.)
Kirby 2 is still my favorite game in the series, it's got the best level designs and gameplay of the whole series... such an amazing game. Kirby 64, on the other hand, is the one I found the most disappointing, of the ones I've played; I really had high hopes for it, after Kirby 2 (I didn't have a NES or SNES then so I hadn't played those ones), but it was quite thoroughly underwhelming. Kirby feels really slow in that game, it's just glacially paced. It's also very easy, as expected, except the challenge -- going back to try to get the three crystal shards in every level -- is a complete pain. Some require getting a power in one level, not getting hit until you beat it, and then going to some other level and using the power at some point in that stage (again, without losing the power). Obviously, unless you use a guide to tell you what powers you need where, this is really annoying. I never finished getting all the shards, the game just wasn't fun enough.

I mean, I did like the power-combining aspect of the game, but in terms of gameplay, it was only okay. Oh, I disliked the dpad-only controls, too; other N64 2.5d platformers allow you to use the analog stick, which is what I always did. I found it pretty annoying that Kirby required you to use the dpad. However, the game is okay, and I did love the minigames; Hundred Yard Hop was a pretty addicting multiplayer minigame...

Oh, and I do have Kirby 3 for SNES now; in terms of gameplay, I'd say it's more like Kirby 64 than anything -- it's got that same very slow paced feel that the Game Boy games, or Kirby's Adventure, don't have. I haven't played that much of it though really... but the gameplay did make me think of 64. Playing Kirby 3, I can see where 64 came from. As for Adventure and Super Star, yes, they're great games, right up there with 2 for best in the series. But I would probably but Kirby 1 above 64 or 3. I do think it's kind of too bad that there wasn't a new Kirby handheld platformer between 1995's Kirby 2 and 2004's Kirby and the Amazing Mirror (the GBA remake of Kirby's Adventure excepted), the GB Kirby games had been amazing and it took HAL far too long to get Kirby back to handheld platformers.


A loose cart is worth around $5, I think it's worth that price. I've played through the game but haven't played through the hard mode yet, it is an enjoyable title for sure. The early Kirby games are all pretty good, I just didn't like that Tilt 'n' Tumble one for the GBC.
I liked Tilt 'n' Tumble, it was the first motion-sensor game I'd played much of (I had used the Microsoft Sidewinder pc gamepad with motion sensors in it once or twice, that handlebar one, but didn't actually own one myself), and I thought the concept was pretty cool. I would admit that it's a bit gimmicky -- the game is pretty easy on the face of it, and the main challenge just comes from how much harder it is to navigate with tilt sensors than it would be with the dpad -- but still, I liked the originality of the idea and the gameplay was fun. Obviously now the concept is much less original to say the least, but it's an okay early use of tilt technology, maybe the first tilt game on a console?

The best Kirby spinoff game, though, is Kirby Pinball. That game's just amazing, one of the best handheld pinball games ever. I spent so much time playing that game... the followup of sorts, Pokemon Pinball, is a pretty awful game in comparison with simplistic, boring tables, but Kirby Pinball is still amazing. Block Ball is great as well, and Star Stacker and Dream Course (the latter for SNES) as well... all three of those games are really good. There's a very late SNES version of Star Stacker that was only released in Japan, too, but the US GB version's pretty great. Air Ride's (GC) a bit more disappointing, I like the level designs but the lack of content (single player modes! There are none, really, apart from single race!) really is severe, and those controls only sort of were a good idea. It was quite a disappointing waste of some great track designs, for a game that I'd been looking forward to since like 1995...

Oh -- I would say that overall Dream Course is by far the hardest game in the whole Kirby franchise.

[Jorpho]

A loose cart is worth around $5, I think it's worth that price.o rly? I figured it would have been one of those games with abnormally high demand. How unexpected.


Kirby 2 is still my favorite game in the series, it's got the best level designs and gameplay of the whole series... such an amazing game. Kirby 64, on the other hand, is the one I found the most disappointing, of the ones I've played; I really had high hopes for it, after Kirby 2 (I didn't have a NES or SNES then so I hadn't played those ones), but it was quite thoroughly underwhelming. Kirby feels really slow in that game, it's just glacially paced. It's also very easy, as expected, except the challenge -- going back to try to get the three crystal shards in every level -- is a complete pain. Some require getting a power in one level, not getting hit until you beat it, and then going to some other level and using the power at some point in that stage (again, without losing the power). Obviously, unless you use a guide to tell you what powers you need where, this is really annoying. I never finished getting all the shards, the game just wasn't fun enough.I am entirely baffled that you can praise Kirby 2 in this fashion and then rag on Kirby 64, as I find your criticisms easily apply.

[Zing]

This game isn't even a "platformer", since you can just hover through every level without jumping or fighting. :D

In case you didn't read between the lines there, it bored me to death.

[Aussie2B]

Obviously, unless you use a guide to tell you what powers you need where, this is really annoying.

The majority of them are color-coded, so no guide is needed to determine the necessary power combination.

[j_factor]

How are the Kirby SNES titles?

Kirby Super Star is the best game in the series. Splitting it into different games was a brilliant move -- you can't say it's too short, yet it doesn't feel long and drawn out, and it also provides some variety as each game has its own feel. It is also a little on the more challenging side compared to some other Kirby games (although it's still not exactly difficult), and it's one of the more fast-paced entries in the series. Another great thing about it is that there are a larger number of different powers you can copy, and each power works in multiple ways (by dashing, holding a direction, etc.), which the game conveniently explains to you when you pause. The only thing it's lacking is the animal friends.

Kirby's Dream Land 3 felt like a step back. The animal friends are back (and there's more of them), but there are much fewer powers again. It's also a bit slower, although it's not as bad as Kirby 64 in this regard. It's easier in terms of direct action, but it does have some puzzle-based challenge. Still good, but not as good as Super Star.

Kirby's Dream Course isn't too great. It's basically Marble Madness meets billiards. On a series of obstacle courses, you have to hit all the targets and sink Kirby through the hole. Instead of moving Kirby around, you take turns aiming and shooting. It has its fans.

Kirby Star Stacker (Japan only) is a pretty basic puzzle game. Match the animals to each other and they'll disappear along with any star blocks that separate them. It's alright, but it's not exactly a top tier puzzle game. I'd much rather play Tetris... or Columns, or Klax, or Puyo Puyo, or Bust A Move, or Tetris Attack, or Baku Baku, or Magical Drop, or Puzzle Fighter, etc.

[A Black Falcon]

I am entirely baffled that you can praise Kirby 2 in this fashion and then rag on Kirby 64, as I find your criticisms easily apply.
How so? Kirby 2 doesn't play much at all like Kirby 3 or 64... I mean, beyond that they're both Kirby games of course. It doesn't have those games' slow pace, and the gameplay is somewhat different as well.


The majority of them are color-coded, so no guide is needed to determine the necessary power combination.
I often had a hard time knowing exactly what each color referred to though, sometimes I had to try multiple things before I could figure out which one it meant... so, use a guide to know what power to use. Also, some of the shards were hidden fairly well. As I said though, before finishing the task of getting them all I stopped playing the game because it just wasn't fun enough to play for that long. As far as 2d/2.5d N64 platformers go I liked Goemon's Great Adventure a lot more than Kirby 64.

[Aussie2B]

Well, Goemon's Great Adventure is magnificent, so it's tough competition. :) I really liked Kirby 64, though. I even took the time to do every last little thing, like completing the enemy card collection and beating boss rush mode. It would probably make my top 10 N64 games.

[j_factor]

Kirby 64 just about put me to sleep. I have no idea how anyone can enjoy that game.

[kupomogli]

Kirby Super Star is the best game in the series.

This is highly debatable. Even though Kirby had more attacks on Super Star, the game played much slower and had a far worse level design than Adventure in my opinion. It's still a great game, just not nearly as good as Adventure.

[Nz17]

Does the 3DS allow different color shades to play in like a Super Gameboy?

No, it just has black-and-white and green-and-dark-green (to look like a traditional Game Boy).


Great to hear the 3DS is bringing classic GB games to new gamers who missed out on the classic system. I highly suggest you buy either a GBC or a GBA SP and start a real GB/GBC collection.

(Story time, grab some popcorn.)

I've been playing Game Boy games since the beginning, but I never owned any "GB" until I got the Game Boy Advance in 2002. Reason being is that at first I really wanted a Game Boy when they were announced (Nintendo's marketing budget well at work!) but being from a poor family we couldn't get one then. Afterward my grandma took us to Germany where I was able to play Tetris and Super Mario Land on a German relative's Game Boy. This was back when the Game Boy was new and every kid wanted to play one. The German boys who owned it were already bored of the thing as those were the only games they had... though I think they owned a total of four, they had finished them or grown tired of them and couldn't find the others. Eventually they found Castlevania. But it was all new to me, so I was eager to play!

Well, I then found out why they stopped playing. The technology and games were dreadful! The thing was big and bulky and uncomfortable to hold for long with its size and the weight of the 4 AA batteries. The screen looked like blurry pea soup. The controls were too close together and hurt your hands after a while. And the games were clunky and stiff and didn't play a thing like their NES counterparts. As you might imagine, I wanted to play the Mario game most of all, but Mario Land is hardly like any other Super Mario Bros. game! It was difficult and un-fun so I stopped playing it. It's not a bad game, but it isn't like a good Miyamoto Mario. I'd compare it to the "shock" of playing JP Mario 2 after having only played the Western NES releases. I would keep going back to Mario Land after a round of Tetris, but it was just never worth it to keep playing for long. And with the dark screen and the bright summer sunshine and Tetris being Tetris, I could only play Tetris for so long.

I think I also played the first GB Castlevania at the time, and anyone who's played that knows it is nowhere near the caliber of the NES Castlevanias. It's not bad, it's just not smooth flowing and what I was expecting, particularly with the different jumping mechanic which caused a large number of unjustified deaths... I would always jump expecting the traditional Belmont movement through the air and instead get hit or miss and fall to my doom!

Flash forward to 1993, and I finally get a handheld game console that isn't a black-and-white Tiger LCD! But it's... the Game Gear? That was unexpected, as I had asked for a Game Boy. But the Target store clerk had talked my grandma into buying this instead, and from a technology standpoint it was hard to argue with. After the initial shock, I got over it and realized how cool this was. Could it be... that it was even cooler than a Game Boy? Yes it was! This was during SEGA's prime, and this was the brand-new, color, and hot off the line Game Gear that could play... Sonic The Hedgehog! OK, so I'd have to get that later as the Game Gear was packaged with Columns, and the other games I got that Christmas were Shinobi and Dragon Crystal and I believe Psychic World. But Columns, Physic World, and Shinobi were awesome, and Dragon Crystal kept me playing for hours. And the screen was as bright as a television. And you could watch television on the thing! Awesome! So no need for Game Boy then.

Several years of Game Gear joy go by, and sadly that chapter in SEGA's history ends. So the supply of games dries up and there's nothing new to play. But then in 1997 I get the Sony PlayStation and a whole new world of gaming opens for me!

However that's not the end of my tale of portable gaming. During the interim while I'm enjoying the PlayStation I help other people with their Game Boy purchases. My sister gets a Game Boy Color (Pikachu version) for Christmas alongside Pokemon Red, Blue, and Yellow from my aunt and uncle. Relatives want game recommendations for her new console and I recommend Mario Land 2, Zelda DX, Harvest Moon, and Metal Gear Solid: Ghost Babel. Predictably, she only really likes Pokemon and Harvest Moon. Zelda is "too difficult," MGS has "too much reading and is too confusing," and Mario Land 2 is good but "the bosses and last stages are too much."

So I end up playing the final stages and bosses of the game for her so she can see the game's ending and I realize how much better than Mario Land 1 this game is. I made a mental note to get the game for myself later as she wanted the GBC back to play Pokemon.

Skip ahead to 2002 and SEGA goes belly-up, abandoning the hardware biz and going third-party developer. And it is announced that Sonic's first new game on non-SEGA hardware is to be Sonic Advance. So having waited until now to get a GBA I buy a platinum one and get Sonic Advance for this momentous occasion.

Knowing that there were plenty of past GB and GBC games which I missed out on, I go and try to find out which ones I should buy. But my small town's meager selection of remaining game stock for those handheld consoles consists of only a small group of titles. Therefore I buy a copy of Shantae and a used, cart-only copy of R-Type DX.

These are great fun (and R-Type as always is greatly difficult), but they can't hold a candle to the graphic prowess and audio fidelity of the GBA games. So I don't spend too much time seeking out classic GB/GBC games at this time.

Then the time arrives to upgrade to a lighted GBA. But my mom, who loved playing puzzle games years ago on the Game Gear, has nothing to play anymore as the Game Gear's power inlet got too finicky to play years back. So I decided that instead, as she deserved a new game to play, to get her a used GBA SP from the pawn shop along with some great puzzlers and ports of her old favorites.

Still later I have to pass up on the Micro. Then the DS. Finally the DS Lite is released and I buy a white one. But there's no compatibility with GB and GBC games. And now, I have a 3DS that's limited to what Nintendo approves for re-release. But without the ability to play the original classics on these newer pieces of hardware nor a lighted GBA, I have never had a large window of time, comfortable hardware, or the availability of a large lot of used games to choose from to build up a sizable collection. So thus I usually skip purchasing any of those games and my classic Game Boy collection stays small.

But last year at Anime Banzai I did pick up a copy of Donkey Kong Country returns for the Game Boy Color, and that counts for something, right? :)

[Aussie2B]

Kirby 64 just about put me to sleep. I have no idea how anyone can enjoy that game.

This from the guy that recommends garbage platformers like Chuck Rock and Wonder Dog. :P

Anyway, because it's a really solid platformer with tight controls, creative stages, and fun moves? Not to mention great graphics and music.

[JSoup]

I'm in the 'Kirby 64 was boring' camp. I tried really hard to like it, but I just couldn't get into it. Not really sure why, honestly, just didn't click with me.

Kirby's Dream Land, however, is an amazing game that everyone should play at least once.

[A Black Falcon]

This from the guy that recommends garbage platformers like Chuck Rock and Wonder Dog. :P

Anyway, because it's a really solid platformer with tight controls, creative stages, and fun moves? Not to mention great graphics and music.

Hah, yeah, Kirby 64 is kind of boring, but it's better than games like those two for sure.


I'm in the 'Kirby 64 was boring' camp. I tried really hard to like it, but I just couldn't get into it. Not really sure why, honestly, just didn't click with me.

Kirby's Dream Land, however, is an amazing game that everyone should play at least once.
True, but I'd say that Kirby 1, 2, and Adventure are all must-play titles really... Super Star (or Super Star Ultra) too perhaps, and for the spinoffs Pinball, Dream Course, Block Ball, and Canvass Curse should be played for sure. Kirby and the Amazing Mirror and Kirby's Epic Yarn are solid games as well, for the newer platformers. But I probably do like the 8-bit ones best, both for nostalgia and gameplay reasons...


This is highly debatable. Even though Kirby had more attacks on Super Star, the game played much slower and had a far worse level design than Adventure in my opinion. It's still a great game, just not nearly as good as Adventure.
True, but I like Kirby 2 just as much as Adventure... :)

[Jorpho]

How so? Kirby 2 doesn't play much at all like Kirby 3 or 64... I mean, beyond that they're both Kirby games of course. It doesn't have those games' slow pace, and the gameplay is somewhat different as well.
Kirby 2 is still my favorite game in the series, it's got the best level designs and gameplay of the whole series... such an amazing game. Kirby 64, on the other hand, is the one I found the most disappointing, of the ones I've played; I really had high hopes for it, after Kirby 2 (I didn't have a NES or SNES then so I hadn't played those ones), but it was quite thoroughly underwhelming. Kirby feels really slow in that game, it's just glacially paced. It's also very easy, as expected, except the challenge -- going back to try to get the three crystal shards in every level -- is a complete pain. Some require getting a power in one level, not getting hit until you beat it, and then going to some other level and using the power at some point in that stage (again, without losing the power). Obviously, unless you use a guide to tell you what powers you need where, this is really annoying. I never finished getting all the shards, the game just wasn't fun enough.I don't see how you can call Kirby 2 anything but slow-paced. And while it doesn't have three crystal shards in every level, the challenge of tracking down the one special rainbow drop in each level is just as tedious and involves just as much trial and error, says I.

(Really, one of my biggest criticisms of Kirby 2 was the misguided decision to use a particular musical theme for each animal friend. Some of the worlds actually have pretty nice music, but you're pretty much stuck listening to the same three themes over and over again.)


But last year at Anime Banzai I did pick up a copy of Donkey Kong Country returns for the Game Boy Color, and that counts for something, right? :)(Psst, only the Wii game was called Donkey Kong Country Returns. Let's not confuse things.)

[A Black Falcon]

I don't see how you can call Kirby 2 anything but slow-paced. And while it doesn't have three crystal shards in every level, the challenge of tracking down the one special rainbow drop in each level is just as tedious and involves just as much trial and error, says I.
Kirby 2 has the same exact pace as Kirby 1, or Kirby's Adventure pretty much... there's a real difference between those games and Kirby 3 or 64.

As for shards, Kirby 2 has one rainbow drop per WORLD, not per level. As in, there are only seven in the whole game. And only the last two are actually hard to get. Now, those last two are quite tricky to get and do require going in with specific powers, playing well, etc, but still, it's only two stages. It's not so bad, I didn't mind, it adds some challenge in an otherwise not too hard game. Kirby 64, though, just goes overboard with it. Three shards in every single level? That's kind of annoying.

... I must admit though, if it's a game I really like, I am more likely to go back and do the extra collecting... but on the other hand, sometimes I really liked a game and then didn't. Like, Jet Force Gemini was great, but I never got all of the Tribals because it was just too much of a pain. But on the other hand, I actually did get every single golden bananna in Donkey Kong 64... I loved that game though. Still like it. I eventually got all the tickets in Goemon's Great Adventure, too... but as I said, I liked that game quite a bit more than Kirby 64.


(Really, one of my biggest criticisms of Kirby 2 was the misguided decision to use a particular musical theme for each animal friend. Some of the worlds actually have pretty nice music, but you're pretty much stuck listening to the same three themes over and over again.)
I'd forgotten it did that, but nor can I ever remember that bothering me.


(Psst, only the Wii game was called Donkey Kong Country Returns. Let's not confuse things.)
The GBC port of DKC is pretty good, though. I played it earlier this year, I was definitely pleasantly surprised at how good it is... great visuals for the platform and the gameplay's there.

[Bloodreign]

I found both GB Kirby's Dream Land for cheap, like them both. First game is a little on the vanilla side as the second one added in the copy ability, but the first one is good for a nice littler romp. Kirby's Adventure on NES was the icing on the cake, one level is even monochrome just like the GB versions, sweet touch there.

[j_factor]

This from the guy that recommends garbage platformers like Chuck Rock and Wonder Dog. :P

Both of those games are better than Kirby 64 IMO. Not because they're great, but because Kirby 64 is dull rubbish.


This is highly debatable. Even though Kirby had more attacks on Super Star, the game played much slower and had a far worse level design than Adventure in my opinion. It's still a great game, just not nearly as good as Adventure.

Adventure is great too. Level design is debatable, but I don't see how Super Star is slower.

[BetaWolf47]

Kirby 64 had the distinction of being possibly the only 2.5D platformer on the system. It didn't pull it off too well, either. When I rented it, I had to force myself through it. It's slow, short, and unbalanced.

The 3D graphics detracted from it. They couldn't hold a candle to games like Banjo-Tooie and other games that were fully 3D. They also made it seem that much more ridiculous that you couldn't walk around a column in front of you that couldn't be more than two feet in diameter.

Half of the fun in Kirby games was pummeling the crap out of your enemies. Kirby Super Star and Kirby's Adventure made that a blast. Comboing someone with Fighter Kirby or Cutter Kirby is really satisfying. In this game, they made defeating enemies seem like a chore due to how bland the hits felt.

The other half of the fun, being the platforming, was boring too. Kirby moved super slow, and the level design is just boring. Most of the game is super easy, yet some parts are impossibly hard. It's amazing how the game can transform from an easy island level to an impossible whale boss.

Super Smash Bros. was a great game; Kirby 64 was not. What happened with HAL in between these two games?

[JSoup]

True, but I'd say that Kirby 1, 2, and Adventure are all must-play titles really... Super Star (or Super Star Ultra) too perhaps, and for the spinoffs Pinball, Dream Course, Block Ball, and Canvass Curse should be played for sure. Kirby and the Amazing Mirror and Kirby's Epic Yarn are solid games as well, for the newer platformers.

Oh, I agree. Kirby 1, 2 and Adventure are all amazing games in their own right. Super Star is one of the best Kirby games hands down, with Ultra being an excellent version in it's own right. I remember really liking the OST for Pinball and Block Ball. Dream Course and Canvass Curse I've yet to have a chance to play.

Amazing Mirror, Nightmare in Dreamland and Squeak Squad were all disappointments in my eyes.


Super Smash Bros. was a great game; Kirby 64 was not. What happened with HAL in between these two games?

Whatever it was, it was probably the same thing that happened in between Kirby Super Star and Kirby's Dreamland 3.

[Aussie2B]

Kirby 64 had the distinction of being possibly the only 2.5D platformer on the system.

It's not. There's Goemon's Great Adventure, Tarzan, Mischief Makers if you count what little 3D it uses, probably more.

I'm really surprised to see so much Kirby 64 hate. The game was overall very well-received and still is held in high regard. It's a little less well-known compared to other N64 platformers, especially for one published by Nintendo, but I'd chalk that up to how late of a release it was. Honestly, I'd rather play Kirby 64 than many of the bigger name platformers on N64. Like I just recently played Banjo-Kazooie for the first time (my first time with Kirby 64 was about two years ago, so I'm not going off of nostalgia before anyone suggests), and I definitely prefer Kirby 64. It's a bit too easy (but that's nothing unusual for a Kirby game) and it's a bit slower than some other Kirby titles (but it's comparable, if not faster, than many, many other platformers that are highly respected, like much of the Castlevania series), but other than those issues, I really can't come up with many complaints about it.

From what I've seen of it in action, Dream Land 3 looks like a really nice game too, but I can easily see how if someone disliked one, they'd dislike the other, considering that Kirby 64 is basically a re-envisioning of the game.

[Jorpho]

Wasn't Kirby 64 stuck in development hell for a very long time?

[BetaWolf47]

Ironically, nostalgia is what made me hate Kirby 64 so much. I was expecting it to match Kirby Super Star. It still boggles my mind that no other Kirby game has used the same powerup system as that (press a direction + attack to pull off a different move). Combining powerups is the only thing Kirby 64 has for it. Cutter + Bomb is seriously awesome.

Didn't know Goemon's Great Adventure and Tarzan were 2.5D. Mischief Makers doesn't really count any more than Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin for DS.


Wasn't Kirby 64 stuck in development hell for a very long time?
I don't think so. It was only announced the year Super Smash Bros. came out. You might be thinking of Kirby's Air Ride, which was originally announced during the early N64 days and not released until 2003 for GameCube. Or, perhaps, the upcoming 2.5D Kirby game for Wii, which was supposed to come out for Gamecube?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LN2LZcgj8N8

Woah, that game looks sweet!

[Rob2600]

There's Goemon's Great Adventure, Tarzan, Mischief Makers if you count what little 3D it uses, probably more.

Yoshi's Story and Paper Mario, as well.


Didn't know Goemon's Great Adventure and Tarzan were 2.5D. Mischief Makers doesn't really count

Why not? Several levels feature polygon-based backgrounds and other levels feature gameplay on the Z-axis. I definitely consider Mischief Makers 2.5D.

[MarioMania]

That suck's you can't chose your color like if you play it on the Game Boy Color

[Aussie2B]

Does Yoshi's Story use any 3D in its levels?

And Paper Mario isn't a platformer.

[A Black Falcon]

Wasn't Kirby 64 stuck in development hell for a very long time?

Yes it was. All HAL N64 games were, they had a hard time dealing with the transition to 3d. And that's why the only things they managed to release for the system were Kirby 64 and SSB, both 2.5d.


It's not. There's Goemon's Great Adventure, Tarzan, Mischief Makers if you count what little 3D it uses, probably more.
Donald Duck: Goin' Quackers is partially 2.5d as well, and also Tigger's Honey Hunt is 2.5d.

As for 2d platformers, I think Yoshi's Story is pretty much it, unless the game is actually 2.5d. I think of it as 2d, but I'd guess it is probably actually made with flat polygons... I don't know exactly how to count it. 2d, probably.

In my opinion, GGA is the best of the bunch by a sizable margin. Kirby, Mischief Makers, and Tarzan would be following it, maybe in that order. Those other two are really easy (the latter for obvious reasons). As for Yoshi's Story, it's an okay game too.

Oh, in GGA, only the levels are 2.5d -- towns have depth (still side-view, but you can move in and out of the screen, not sure what you call that). But all actual levels are 2.5d.


I'm really surprised to see so much Kirby 64 hate. The game was overall very well-received and still is held in high regard. It's a little less well-known compared to other N64 platformers, especially for one published by Nintendo, but I'd chalk that up to how late of a release it was. Honestly, I'd rather play Kirby 64 than many of the bigger name platformers on N64. Like I just recently played Banjo-Kazooie for the first time (my first time with Kirby 64 was about two years ago, so I'm not going off of nostalgia before anyone suggests), and I definitely prefer Kirby 64. It's a bit too easy (but that's nothing unusual for a Kirby game) and it's a bit slower than some other Kirby titles (but it's comparable, if not faster, than many, many other platformers that are highly respected, like much of the Castlevania series), but other than those issues, I really can't come up with many complaints about it.
Kirby 64 vs B-K? Hmm, I'm not sure... I'm weird, DK64 is my favorite of Rare's 3d platformers. That one I definitely like better than Kirby 64. The other three Rare N64 3d platformers are good too though, so maybe I'd put them above Kirby 64... I'm not certain though.


From what I've seen of it in action, Dream Land 3 looks like a really nice game too, but I can easily see how if someone disliked one, they'd dislike the other, considering that Kirby 64 is basically a re-envisioning of the game.
Yeah, they really are quite similar.


Ironically, nostalgia is what made me hate Kirby 64 so much. I was expecting it to match Kirby Super Star. It still boggles my mind that no other Kirby game has used the same powerup system as that (press a direction + attack to pull off a different move). Combining powerups is the only thing Kirby 64 has for it. Cutter + Bomb is seriously awesome.
Yeah, probably similar for me... I was expecting it to be as good as Kirby 2, and be better than GGA too; I mean, it's a Nintendo platformer, and Kirby too! And it just wasn't even close to being either of those things. Disappointing.


Yoshi's Story and Paper Mario, as well.
Paper Mario is neither a platformer nor 2.5d.

[Leo_A]

Yoshi's Story and Paper Mario, as well.

Paper Mario isn't a platformer. (Edit - Should've finished the thread first, someone beat me to it).

[BetaWolf47]

Paper Mario isn't a platformer. (Edit - Should've finished the thread first, someone beat me to it).

Also Yoshi's Story isn't 2.5D. It's straight 2D.

[JSoup]

Also Yoshi's Story isn't 2.5D. It's straight 2D.

Doesn't it have 3D models and all that?

[Leo_A]

I would consider Yoshi's Story as 2.5D. The characters and items are constructed of polygons and the camera perspective is typical of games that are considered 2.5D.

The level environments and such don't appear to be constructed of 3D polygons, but they often aren't in games that are widely considered as 2.5D platformers.

[OldSkoolBrian]

I loved Kirbys Dreamland.. I don't play it much anymore but every once in awhile my 5 year old plays it.