Kirby and the Forgotten Land Review

When 3D started to become mainstream in gaming during the mid-nineties, few companies were as successful at it then Nintendo. Sure, other companies had great 3D titles as well but most of those were original games designed for 3D. When it came to transitioning older 2D series to 3D, it was a bit of a mixed bag. Some did well, others did poorly, and some were Bubsy 3D. Dear lord Bubsy 3D.

But Nintendo, they seemed to knock it out of the park each time. Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time were trailblazers of their genres, Metroid Prime innovated fps exploration and level design, Donkey Kong 64… ok that last one isn’t great, but even then I wouldn’t call it terrible.

Point is, Nintendo had mastered 3D better than most others. Whether it was F-Zero or Pilotwings, Mario Kart or Fire Emblem, most of Nintendo’s top franchises have made the jump to 3D and have been successful. Except for one.

Despite it being one of Nintendo’s most popular series, Kirby has never made the jump to 3D. Hell, Kid Icarus and Wario made the jump to 3D before Kirby did and they aren’t nearly as successful. But no, Kirby has mostly stuck to his 2D roots, aside from the occasional spin-off title.

Nothing wrong with that. The mainline Kirby games have been consistently excellent and you know what they say, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. The most recent string of games that started with Return to Dreamland were great, with Planet Robobot specifically being the best game in the series.

However, by with the release of Star Allies the formula was starting to get stale. Star Allies was still a good game, but it lacked that special spark the best in the series had. It was obvious the series needed to try something new.

And in honour of the series 30th anniversary, we got exactly that with Kirby and the Forgotten Land. Because this is the very first mainline Kirby game to be in 3D. The pink puffball finally took the jump. But the question is, was this worth the long wait or is it an experiment that proved why they hadn’t done it yet?

Kirby and The Forgotten Land begins like most other Kirby games do. Kirby is enjoying a peaceful day on Plane Popstar when a mysterious force attacks. In this case it’s a massive wormhole that sucks up both Kirby and all the Waddle Dees in Dream Land.

The wormhole ends up transporting Kirby to a mysterious land, a place of a long-abandoned civilisation where cities have been taken over by nature. He runs into the Waddle Dees being captured by a group called the Beast Pack, along with a strange little creature named Elfilin. The two agree to team up and rescue the Waddle Dees and find out what happened to this mysterious new world.

So yeah, it’s a pretty typical Kirby plot. Kirby has never been a story heavy series, for gods’ sake the plot of Squeak Squad was Kirby trying to get his cake back, and Forgotten Land is no exception. If you were expecting this game to delve into the rich Kirby lore, not kidding look it up, this isn’t it.

But I’m fine with that. I don’t play Kirby games for the story, and the lore being tucked away makes it more fun to figure out anyway. I do think that this is one of the better stories in the series. It follows a lot of the typical Kirby tropes, but it does change them up slightly which was nice to see.

But a lot of what makes the story interesting is the setting. The Forgotten Land itself is unique for this series. Rather than take place in mysterious far-off planets with fantastical creatures and bizarre landscapes, instead the setting is one closer to our own.

It’s got cities, shopping malls, theme-parks, factories, things you would see in the real world. But the world has been abandoned or forgotten as the name implies. These places are empty, with the only inhabitants being the various florae and faunae that were left behind.

This was a thriving civilisation but the people who made it are gone. They left it all behind and have let nature take hold. It creates an almost sombre atmosphere despite the light-hearted nature of the game. A lot of people have compared this game’s setting to the one in The Last of Us, and while Kirby and the Forgotten Land isn’t as bleak, it still has a similar vibe.

The setting itself really is the star of the show. A lot of the level themes are stuff you’ve seen in Kirby, grassy areas, ice worlds, volcanic areas, but they’re all done with the theme of a lost civilization. Instead of grassy plains, you have cities overgrown with plant life. Instead of ice caverns or mountains, you have an old town that’s frozen over.

It gives a lot of these old level tropes a fresh coat of paint. Planet Robobot did something similar with the settings being mechanised. I like it when games take traditional tropes but try to use them with a unifying theme. It’s what made Planet Robobot so good, and the same can be said for Forgotten World.

The highlight of the game for me was Wondaria Park. I already love theme park levels, and this is one of the best ones I’ve played. I love the little details here like the enemies lining up for the rides, it’s cute but also a little sad given how desolate the place is.

I also love the progression here. The first level starts at the entrance and you make your way through the various attractions in each of the following levels, before culminating in a level based on a night time parade. Other worlds have something similar, but Wondaria does it the best. Loved this part of the game.

The environmental design is great. The use of 3D means they can do a lot with the camera which leads to some impressive looking shots. Some of the intro’s make the level so massive and foreboding. It can be a little intimidating, never thought I’d say that in regards to Kirby.

Each level also has a ton of detail that makes it feel more like an actual place. You look at something like, say, Super Mario 3D World where the levels have a very artificial look to them, the levels are very clearly levels and don’t pretend to be anything else.

In Kirby and the Forgotten Land, the levels feel more like actual places despite being designed as linear platforming courses. It finds the sweet spot between being gamey and making the world feel real.

And since this is a Kirby game everything is very bright and colourful. The environment may have a sombre undercurrent to it, but it feels very much like it belongs in the series. Kirby and his enemies are still cute and I liked a lot of the new enemy designs.

The new bosses are pretty great. The reoccurring sub-bosses like Bonkers got new “wild” redesigns to fit with the theme of the game similar to the mechanical designs they had in Planet Robobot and I think they did a good job with them. Hell I think the Bonkers design is the best he’s had.

The main bosses are also fantastic. The highlights for me were Clawroline, and given how much fan art she inspired she was a highlight for a lot of other people to, Tropical Wood for being the surfer dude brother of Whispy Woods, and Sillydillo who is easily my favourite for his wacky personality.

You can tell a lot about the characters personalities just from their animations. Like the Awoofy enemies, love that name by the way, are often seen taking a nap. Or how Sillydillo tries to attack you by dancing with dolls he made from scarp. It’s all very charming. Kirby even has little taunts like in Smash Bros that just add to his adorableness.

The only issue I have with the game from a visual perspective is performance. The game caps at 30fps and to its credit it manages to keep itself stable for the most part, I only noticed it dipping when things got things got too hectic which was very rare.

The main problem is that when things are at a distance the frame rate is noticeably lower than it is normally. You know how in Mario 64 the polygon count for Mario drops when he’s far away, same thing here only the animation gets choppier. Is it a major issue that affects gameplay? No, but it is a noticeable dip that can be very distracting.

But if that’s my only complaint about the visuals, well that just shows you how good this game looks. And I can say the same for the music and audio. Kirby games always have pretty good music and Forgotten Land is no exception. Only now everything is fully orchestrated, so it sounds a lot nicer.

That being said, I don’t find the music to be as catchy or memorable as previous games soundtracks. Admittedly that might be because I’ve played those more, but not a lot of it stood out to me. Though I will say the main theme of the game “running wild” is great. It even has vocals, which is a first for this series.

But the music is still good. it’s all well done and well composed. I just need to give it more of a listen to fully gather my thoughts on it. Sound effects are also well done, but cutscenes have a distinct lack of them. Most cutscenes are done in-game, but a couple of them are pre-rendered and they don’t have sound effects. I know other games in the series do this, but it just seems jarring here.

When it comes to playing Forgotten Land, well, it plays like you would expect from a game in the series. You still run through levels, gain copy abilities from enemies, and search for secrets and collectables, only now it’s in 3D.

Structurally speaking it isn’t all that removed from previous Kirby games, and I’m ok with that. When it comes to reinventing video games often a developer changes so much that the game becomes unrecognisable to what came before. It doesn’t always lead to a bad game, but it can be hard to get used to if you’re a long-time fan.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land finds a good balance between being familiar and adding new elements to shake up the gameplay. As for how Kirby tackles 3D, I think he does it admirably. Levels are still linear obstacle courses, but the more open design does lead to a larger emphasis on exploration.

There’s a lot more secrets and hidden areas to find and a lot of it can be easy to miss if you’re not paying attention. They’re also a lot of optional challenges you can miss if you just book it to the exit. The game wants you to take your time and look around to find everything. It avoids the problem some 3D renditions have where it becomes easy to just run past and ignore everything, looking at you Mega Man X7.

As for what you’ll find as you explore, I’ll get to that later. For now, let’s talk about Kirby’s move-set. If you’ve played a Kirby game before then you’ll be happy to know that Kirby can do anything he could do in previous games. It is basically a 3D version of his classic kit, he still has the slide, the hover, the suck, it’s all here.

The only major difference is the hover has a limit to how high it can go, and Kirby will get tired if he hovers for too long. If you’ve played Kirby 64 it’ll feel like how it did there. Overall, this is how I would expect Kirby to control in 3D.

And the controls themselves are great. It isn’t as smooth or free flowing as a 3D Mario title, but for the type of game it is it works very well. Movement is snappy and response, the jumping feels good, it’s a good control scheme.

But what about the Copy Abilities, the trademark of the series. I think they translated to 3D very well. A lot of the moves were brought over with only a couple of changes. Some moves that wouldn’t work in 3D are gone but they got new moves to compensate, Hammer lost its ground spin attack but gained a 3-hit combo attack for example.

There are 12 copy abilities overall, which is a step down from the 25 powers previous games had. It is a little disappointing, but I understand why they did this. This is the first time, outside spin-offs anyway, that the copy abilities have appeared in 3D. They probably wanted to focus on a smaller arsenal to make sure they worked well in the new format.

Plus, there are 2 ways the game makes up for this. The first is Kirby’s new ability, Mouthful Mode. This is the big new gimmick like the Hyper Nova and the Robobot armour. Kirby will run into object he can suck up and wrap his entire body around it, letting him become things like a car, a traffic cone that can pierce the earth, a ring that can blow gusts of wind or even a light bulb to light up dark places.

Mouthful Mode is a fun gimmick. The different forms offer plenty variety, and each is spread out just enough that they don’t become too repetitive or wear out their welcome. And while it doesn’t quite reach the peaks of other gimmicks, Robobot Armour still reigns supreme, it is still a nice addition. Even if it does lead to some cursed imagery.

The second way the game makes up for having fewer Copy Abilities is through the evolutions. Every Coby Ability has various forms it can evolve into that change how it plays. The Sword ability can be evolved into the Gigant Sword where he gets a giant sword and a spiky shield as an example.

These evolved forms are a great addition. I loved unlocking them and seeing how each of the powers would change. This is something I would love to see come back in future games.

In order to unlock these evolved forms, you’ll need to find blueprints and take them to the weapon shop in Waddle Dee Town, the main hub area. After that you can purchase the evolutions with Star Coins and Rare Stones.

Star Coins are not hard to get. They are everywhere and you’ll likely have a massive surplus of them by the end. Rare Stones are… rarer, think that went without saying really. These can only be obtained by performing certain tasks, bust most of them you’ll get by completing Treasure Road levels. These are mini challenges where you’re tasked to use a specific Copy Ability or Mouthful Mode. Complete them and you’ll get a Rare Stone.

The Treasure Road levels are, ok. They aren’t bad and do have decent variety, but they do wear out their welcome by the end given how many of them there are, and they aren’t as fun as previous challenge stages. I liked the ones from Return to Dreamland a lot more than these.

So, while the number of Copy Abilities is smaller than previous games, the evolved forms do make up for that. And if you count the individual forms as their own Copy Ability, it technically has 30+ powers. That’s actually more than the last few games.

A lot of the Copy Abilities are standard for the series. Sword, Hammer, Bomb, Fire, Ice, Cutter, the stuff you would expect. You also have Needle and Tornado, which are nice to see come back as they don’t get enough love. I even think the two are the best they’ve ever been, its always nice seeing underused powers get an upgrade.

As far as new abilities go, we have Drill and Ranger. Drill let’s Kirby burrow underground to dig up secrets and pass under certain obstacles, while Ranger gives Kirby a gun that lets him snipe enemies from a distance and hit certain switches he couldn’t normally reach. Of the two I like Ranger the most. Drill isn’t bad, but it’s more useful in exploration than it is in combat. Still, both are fine additions to Kirby’s arsenal.

The Copy Abilities are a lot of fun in this game. They did a great job of translating them to 3D. the only one I didn’t like much was Bomb, but I’ve never cared for Bomb anyway. The base Copy Abilities are fun on their own, but the evolved forms are even better. Some of the late game abilities are really overpowered, and I kind of love it.

Not that you really need to evolve them. Kirby and the Forgotten Land is a very easy game. If you’re just getting to the end of the stage, you should have no problem at all. Even on Wild Mode, which is essentially the hard mode, I never died once in the main story mode unless it was intentional.

Even if you do die you won’t lose much. Checkpoints are frequent enough that you won’t get sent back far. All you really lose is some Star Coins since lives are no longer a thing, which is good since lives are an outdated concept. And even when Kirby had lives, they were so plentiful they served no practical purpose. So really, nothing much has really changed there.

Even the Treasure Road levels aren’t that hard, the only challenge in them comes from getting the target times. Which can be tough but are completely optional and don’t count towards completion. All you really get from them are a smattering of Star Coins and bragging rights. It’s not really worth it.

But here’s the thing, this is expected. Kirby games are supposed to be easy. Since it’s inception the series was designed as a super beginner friendly platformer. Plus, the levels are well designed so the game never becomes boring. There are plenty of set-pieces and the game has a decent amount of variety to keep things interesting.

That isn’t to say there is no challenge, but it doesn’t come from getting to the end of the level. No the main challenge comes from trying to get all of the collectables.

There are figurines which take the place of the other little collectibles from past games, like the stickers from Planet Robobot. They’re fun to collect and you can get some fun lore snippets out of them. You can find these in the levels, but you can also buy them from Gacha machines in Waddle Dee Town.

But the main collectable are the captured Waddle Dees. Every level has a bunch of these to find and you’ll need a certain amount of them to reach the boss of each world. You’ll get 3 Waddle Dees simply by beating each level. You’ll find 3-5 other Waddle Dees hidden in the stage, usually requiring you to solve a simple puzzle or platforming challenge.

But every level also has 3 other Waddle Dees that can only be obtained by completing specific missions. These can range from eating a certain type of food, finding a secret area or removing wanted posters. Every level has its own missions and while some repeat, they don’t repeat enough to become repetitive. Dream Land 3 this isn’t, thank God.

In a way the missions are akin to the mission structure of a traditional 3D platformer. For Kirby’s first 3D platformer, it’s nice seeing them take inspiration from a wider spectrum of the genre. You’ve got levels like 3D World with a hint of the mission structure of Mario 64.

There’s one catch to this, the game doesn’t tell you what the missions are. They only get revealed after you’ve already done or by finishing the level, and even then it will only reveal them one at a time.

If your thorough enough, you should be able to beat most of these missions on your first time through a level. They aren’t too difficult to figure out. But there are going to be times where a mission can be easy to miss and your forced to play it again.

This issue is most noticeable in boss fights, which also have their own missions. Most of the boss missions are consistent, they all require you to beat them in a certain time and without taking a hit, so you at least have a clue on some of the stuff you need to do.

But some of them will need you to beat a boss with a specific ability or without using a move. And since you won’t know what those are your first time through, it basically guarantees you’ll be replaying the bosses unless you do it by accident.

I don’t like being forced to replay levels like this. There are speed boosting items which you can purchase to make it a little easier, but I still prefer being able to complete a level in one shot. I hate backtracking, I just want to move on.

Despite this I do enjoy the missions. They add a little extra spice to each level, often requiring you to go out of your way and explore the level thoroughly to complete. And while the boss missions did force me to replay them, they did add a little extra challenge.

As for the boss fights themselves, they’re pretty good. Not too difficult, but they had fun patterns to learn, and since you can’t rely on invincible moves, since they don’t exist here, you do need to learn the pattern to avoid their attacks. You can’t rely on cheap strategies here. It makes them some of the more interesting bosses in the series.

One thing I didn’t like was that some of the bosses can be damage sponges. It can cause the fights to drag a little bit. Especially the final boss who can take a while to take down. That said, the final boss was pretty damn awesome. I won’t go into detail because of spoilers, but it was a suitably epic final encounter.

As you collect more and more Waddle Dees, they will slowly start to rebuild Waddle Dee Town. As it gets bigger, you’ll unlock new facilities and mini-games. The mini-games aren’t as in-depth as some of the ones from previous games, but they are a fun little distraction. I liked the fishing game in particular, if only because the image of Kirby fishing is adorable.

Waddle Dee Town itself is a cute little hub and I love seeing it grow as the game progresses. Seeing all the little Waddle Dees jus chilling and enjoying life is just the cutest thing you’ll ever see. Kirby games are always cute, but this is on a whole other level.

Kirby and The Forgotten Land is a decently lengthy game. The main story should take roughly 10 hours to finish, longer if you try to go for everything. I have seen some players complete the game in 7 hours, so your time for completion may differ depending on how fast a player you are.

Regardless, this makes Forgotten Land one of the longer games in the series. And that’s not going into the postgame stuff. I won’t go into specifics because of spoilers, but there’s plenty to do once you’ve beaten the main campaign. And if the lack of challenge in the main story was disappointing, the post-game stuff should make up for that.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land is a fantastic Kirby game and a great reinvention for the series. it takes the series in a new direction while keeping things familiar. It’s still the same Kirby we know and love just in 3D.

How does it compare to the rest of the series? Well it isn’t quite on Planet Robobot’s level, but I’d say it’s about on par with Triple Deluxe if not better. So it ranks very high on the series totem pole and considering Kirby games are some of the most consistently good platform games on the market that is very high praise.

It is a bit on the easy side, but that makes it perfect for younger gamers or people who just want something to chill out with. It even has 2 player co-op, making it a perfect game to play with your kids or younger siblings. If you’re after a nice simple platformer, or you just played Elden Ring and are looking for a good palette cleanser, then Kirby and the Forgotten Land is well worth a look.

If anything, this game makes me excited for what the next Kirby game could be. Now that they’ve shown they can handle 3D they can go even bigger for the next one. I’d love to see how they would handle abilities like Fighter and Ninja in 3D. Whatever the future brings, it’s certainly looking bright. Happy 30th anniversary Kirby.