Kirby's Dream Land (GB, 1992)
Where it all started. Short, but fun!
Nostalgia Factor: Medium. I’m a massive Kirby dweeb.
Difficulty: Easy. Most people breeze through this game on their first try.
This is where it all started! Masahiro Sakurai, the creator of Kirby and the Super Smash Bros games, first introduced us to the puffy pink warrior in Kirby’s Dream Land. Oddly enough, Kirby’s design was originally intended to be a placeholder for another character named Popopo, but Sakurai thought the round placeholder design was a better fit for the character he had in mind. Shigeru Miyamoto once stated that the name “Kirby” was chosen in honor of a lawyer named John Kirby who represented Nintendo in an important lawsuit.
Sakurai always envisioned Kirby as being pink in color, though Miyamoto favored the color yellow. Apparently, the final color either wasn’t finalized or hadn’t been communicated clearly to the North American team, which needed to release the game in NA, so they portrayed Kirby as he appears on screen – white like a ghost!
It’s difficult for me to review Game Boy action games, since I came late to the Game Boy party and had a strong preference for RPGs like Pokemon. But, that being said, Kirby’s Dream Land is fun! It’s surprisingly smooth and well programmed. Sakurai’s genius can be seen straight from the get go. There’s no copy abilities in this one, but Kirby’s classic inhale exhale gameplay and flying feel just right.
My first Kirby game was Kirby Super Star for the SNES, so it’s hard to go “backwards”, but I really enjoyed seeing all of the longstanding characters, enemies, bosses, worlds, gameplay mechanics, and Ishikawa’s legendary melodies that came from this little gem.
There’s virtually no in-game story except for some brief cutscenes at the end. However, as was common in days of olde, you can read some story context from the game manual (pictured below).
Most Game Boy games were very short due to the limited cartridge space and the added expense of including a save battery. Most games were designed to be played on the go in short bursts. However, Kirby’s Dream Land is very very short. I blasted through it in about 35 minutes. Many can breeze through the game in less than 25 minutes.
In spite of the short length, it's a solid Game Boy game. I recommend that fans of the Kirby series spend a mere half and hour experiencing the release that started it all.