Kirby's Return to Dream Land (Wii, 2011)

A new era of Kirby games under Shinya Kumazaki.

Nostalgia: High. I’m a massive Kirby dweeb.
Difficulty: Easy. The “extra” mode adds a bit more challenge.

This game is a breath of fresh air for Kirby fans. My initial impression upon first booting up this game was "this is what Kirby 64 should've been." This is Shinya Kumazaki’s first new Kirby title as Game Director (he also directed the DS remake of Kirby Super Star). The Amazing Mirror and Squeak Squad both felt like ports of the incredible Kirby Super Star engine, so Return to Dreamland did feel like somewhat of a departure from that perfected feel. However, the pace and speed of the gameplay still feels like a proper Kirby game.

Kirby is once again able to "dash and slash" his way through levels quickly if desired, which is great. Return to Dream Land is a bit different, but good. Most of the copy abilities have full move sets, which is an excellent return to form. Some of the new abilities are really well designed, water and leaf in particular. The new held items (keys, cannon, sax shield, boot, etc.) add some nice variety to the gameplay, as well as the super-charged ability modes which function almost like a mini-game.

I played the Wii version using the Dolphin emulator's 1080p upscaling, which looked very nice. Some of the 3D-ish backgrounds had some very nice elements to them. I particularly enjoyed the final boss sequence, which surprised me with multiple phases. The return of four player co-op with Meta Knight, King Dedede, and Bandana Waddle Dee is most welcome. Squeak Squad’s lack of proper co-op was disappointing, especially after The Amazing Mirror first introduced four player co-op.

As is standard for Kirby games, the game lacks significant challenge. Apparently, the "extra" mode adds a little boost to difficulty, but I didn't play much of it. Also standard for Kirby games, this game is fairly short. I knocked through it in about 7 hours. I recently learned that this game was originally supposed to be released on GameCube in 2005, but they had issues with the multiplayer programming. They scrapped three initial prototypes of the game before finally proceeding with the 2011 Wii release. Some of the scrapped elements were later used in Star Allies.

The soundtrack is a highlight. This is the first mainline Kirby title since Kirby’s Adventure (NES, 1993) which lists Hirokazu Ando as the primary composer. He’s done an excellent job reworking Jun Ishikawa’s timeless Kirby melodies while crafting a new repertoire for a new age of Kirby games. Ando’s sound is lush, orchestral, but still lively and bouncy.

There’s lots of new talent here with Return to Dream Land, but the franchise is in good hands. Kumazaki, Ando, and the rest of the HAL team of made a great Kirby game.