Kirby’s Return to Dreamland Deluxe Review: A Dreamlike Remake
Kirby is one of the most consistent Nintendo platformers out there. Even Star Allies, a game I’m not too fond of, is still decent when you consider all the extra modes and content it has. In short, you can pick up any mainline Kirby game and be guaranteed a good time.
But it wasn’t always like this. While Kirby is pretty consistent now, for a long time the series was very experimental. Each game changing up the structure, mechanics and even art style in wildly different ways. That still happens to an extent, but these days it’s mainly kept to spinoff titles. Back then it was for everything.
This meant that the games tended to vary in quality. You had greats like Adventure and Super Star, decent titles like Crystal Shards and Dream Land 2, to outright mediocre ones like Dream Land 3 and Amazing Mirror. It was all over the place. That is, until Return to Dreamland.
Released in 2011 for the Wii, this was the fourth attempt to make a home console Kirby game since Crystal Shards. The first, and most famous, was the 2005 E3 demo in development for GameCube, which was cancelled due to issues with programming the multiplayer.
Two other attempts were a game with a pop-up book art style and an attempt to bring the series to 3D. Neither of which met Hal Laboratories standards and were quietly shelved. Though the latter would be retried to great success much later. For more info, check out my Forgotten Land review.
Point is, there hadn’t been a proper entry on a home console in a long time. There was Epic Yarn, but that was a radically different type of game that wasn’t even meant to be a Kirby game at first. So Return to Dreamland was a big deal. Not only did it bring the series back to home consoles, but also brought back the classic Kirby gameplay style as well.
And now, 12 years after its initial release, we have Return to Dreamland Deluxe. A remake of the original with updated visuals and new content. But does this remake have enough new things justify its existence?
More to the point, does Return to Dreamland still hold up all these years later? I used to think Return to Dreamland was the best in the series, but that was before Triple Deluxe and Planet Robobot. Games which took what it built and made it even better. Is it still as good as I remember even after all that?
The answer to that is, too right it is. While I can no longer definitively call it the best given the sequels are better, Return to Dreamland is still a fantastic game in its own right. And the new stuff added in the remake helps make it the definitive version of the game.
It’s a peaceful day in Dreamland, until a mysterious star ship known as the Lor Starcutter crashes on the planet. Upon investigating, Kirby and his friends meet the ship’s captain Magolor, who reveals that his ship’s parts and Power Spheres have scattered across the planet. So, it’s up to Kirby and friends to get them back and allow Magolor to return home.
There isn’t much to the plot but like with most Kirby games there is some hidden lore snippets to give things some depth. It isn’t quite as interesting as later games, but there are some cool hints and throwbacks to previous games if you look hard enough.
This isn’t really a story driven game anyway. You play Kirby for the gameplay not the lore, as ridiculously wacky as that lore can be. That said, there is a decent twist at the end of the game that I won’t spoil. I know most of you probably know what it is, but I don’t want to give it away for those that don’t.
As for the gameplay it’s pretty much what you would expect. Copy Abilities, simple platforming and combat, collectables to find in every level. A lot of standard stuff but Return to Dreamland was the first game to establish the modern Kirby formula we know today.
Rather than try something radically different, it basically took a lot of the best elements from previous games and put them into one package. The Copy Ability system is like the one in Super-Star, finding collectables is similar to Crystal Shards albeit way better, even the structure and level design is almost identical to how it was in Kirby’s Adventure.
In a way the game kind of feels like the true sequel to Kirby’s Adventure we never got. Which is why in Europe it was originally named Kirby’s Adventure Wii. The game is structured almost identically to the NES classic, with 7 worlds to go through each with their own set of levels, even featuring similar hub worlds from which you access each stage.
Most levels are straight forward. It’s simply a matter of getting to the end, but there are optional areas and secrets to uncover that reward exploration. And while I wouldn’t call any of the levels great, they are consistently good throughout.
There aren’t any levels I would consider bad. Let’s be honest, sometimes a platforming level can be memorable for the wrong reasons. I love Donkey Kong Country for making every level distinct, but some of those levels piss me the fuck off. I remember them, but not fondly.
You never get with Kirby. There aren’t any that wow you, but or are there any that aggravate. Every level is a satisfying experience and that’s not an easy thing to accomplish. I will say though that the early stages are a little flat, but once you get to world 3, which in fairness doesn’t take long, things start to pick up and get really good.
There isn’t much variety in the levels. They don’t have many unique set pieces gimmicks that help stand out, but Kirby always handled level variety differently. It got its variety from the different Copy Abilities.
I’m going to assume most of you already know about how Copy Abilities work. It is, after all, the core mechanic of the series. But just in case you don’t, the Copy Ability system allows Kirby to absorb the powers of the enemies he eats.
In his normal state, Kirby can suck up enemies and blocks and shoot them like a projectile. But certain types of enemies will give him a new form. For example, eating an enemy that spit fire will give him a fire form, or eating an enemy with a sword will let Kirby use a sword, you get the idea.
The game gives you plenty of opportunities to switch powers. Sometimes giving you multiple options to choose from. So, if you ever get bored with one ability you can swap to a new one. And because each ability plays differently the game can still shake things up even if the levels themselves don’t.
Best part is that it’s all up to you on when you switch. While there are certain sections clearly designed with certain abilities in mind, there’s nothing stopping you from sticking to the ability you already have if you enjoy using it. The only time you need to swap is when going for the collectables, and even that’s optional.
As I said earlier, the abilities are handled like they were in Super Star. Each one has a bunch of different moves to pull off depending on things like whether it’s done in the air or dashing or using certain directional inputs. It still baffles me how it took them that long to return to Super-Star’s system considering it’s regarded as the best in the series, but even so it was great seeing it return after so long.
All the different moves give each of them a lot of depth. Return to Dreamland even added a bunch of new moves, some of which remained exclusive to it like the fire spin. It’s a lot of fun and rewarding learning all the ins and outs of each ability.
There’s even some hidden tech to learn too. Some moves will make Kirby invincible for a short time and learning when to use those to avoid damage while dealing damage in return is immensely satisfying. Part of the fun of Kirby games is learning how to use Copy Abilities as efficiently as possible.
The actual line-up of abilities is pretty solid. You’ve got big mainstays like Sword, Fire, Ice, Cutter, Hammer and Bomb, fan favourites like Ninja, Fighter and Wing, and then you have ones like Hi-jump which is weird to see return at all.
It’s a nice, varied selection of abilities from across the series. But while there are plenty of classics, Return to Dreamland also introduced new abilities in the form of Leaf, Water, Spear and Whip. These were great additions to the line-up and have since made appearances in later Kirby games.
There were 23 copy abilities in the original game. Though considering one of those is Sleep it might as well be 22. However, Deluxe adds in 3 new abilities for a grand total of 26. The first is Festival returning from Star Allies, and I honestly don’t know why.
It’s a screen nuke and there are already 2 of those with Mike and Crash, so I really don’t see why it was added over something like Staff or Artist. I’d have even taken Spider quite frankly. I get that it’s a celebration, given this was probably made for the 30th anniversary last year, but it’s still a lame addition.
The other 2 are brand new abilities, Sand and Mecha. Sand is kind of typical for an elemental ability, but it has some good utility with its grab ability and being able to become invincible by ducking into sand and counter attacking. Plus, you can make sandcastles, and that’s always fun.
Mecha though is fantastic. One of my new favourite abilities of all time. It has great range with its blasters, its damage output is a great, it has a dash attack, bombs that have lightning properties, and it can hover. It has everything I could want out of a Copy Ability. It’s pretty powerful once you learn it.
While I clearly like Mecha more, I think both new abilities are great additions. I would love to see them return in future games. Hell, if we ever get a Planet Robobot remake, Mecha is a no brainer for it.
I’d say overall that the abilities are well balanced. While some can break the game like Fighter and Mecha, those are also harder to learn. Simpler abilities like Fire, Bomb and Cutter may not be as intricate, but they are just as effective. There isn’t one ability I would say is overpowered, though certain moves can be pretty OP.
But normal Copy Abilities aren’t all you’ll be using to get through stages. Within certain levels are Super Abilities. Hyper charged versions of regular abilities that are flashier and much more devastating.
These essentially let you run through levels, cutting, burning, or smashing your way through enemies and obstacles with reckless abandon. It’s basically just one big set-piece where your let loose to run amok and it’s exhilarating. It can be a bit one note just ploughing through everything, but they’re used sparingly enough to prevent them from getting stale.
Once you get a Super Ability the main goal is to use it to find a dimensional rift that takes you to a unique side area before it runs out. Most you’ll find just by using the ability at the right spot, but others require a bit more timing and/or have a slight puzzle element to them.
The rifts themselves are chase sequences against a strange dimensional wall that will crush you if you’re not fast enough. At the end is a brief mini-boss which rewards you with Energy Spheres which are the main collectible of the game.
Outside of the rifts, you can find Energy Spheres in levels either by finding them in a hidden spot, or by solving a puzzle using either a copy ability or an item. These are things that Kirby can carry that have different effects like a key that opens a door or a bomb that explode after a short time.
Kirby cannot hover while holding them, so there’s some trickier platforming involved when these are in play. They change the pace a little which is appreciated. Also, one of them is literally just Kuribo’s Shoe from Mario 3. I’m not complaining about that, I just think it’s weird Kirby brought it back before Mario did.
The Energy Spheres are not required to beat the game. Unlike later entries where the collectables are needed for progression, here they’re entirely optional. If you just want to beat the main story, all you need to do is get to the end of each level, so don’t worry too much about them.
That said, it is worth going for these. Not only because it adds a little extra challenge, but also because you are rewarded for doing so. Finding Energy Spheres will unlock rooms within the Lor Starcutter like Copy Ability training rooms, sub-games which I’ll cover in more detail later, and challenge rooms.
These are short time trials that test your skills with a single Copy Ability, or the items in the case of the final one. You are going to need to learn the ins and outs of the copy ability if you want to get a good score and get the gold medal. And you’re really going to need to push yourself if you want the platinum medal.
I really like the challenge rooms. They really do feel like a true test on how well you know each copy ability. They also act as semi-tutorials on how to best use the abilities, even featuring tips you can read if you need a little extra help.
Trying to get a high score can be addicting, and the abilities chosen provide a nice variety of challenges to complete. Al 7 challenges from the original are here, with two new ones for the Sand and Mecha abilities.
Sadly, the challenge rooms exclusive to the Kirby Anniversary Collection are not here which is a bit a shame. I can’t complain too much about that since it was probably asking too much for those anyway. I just want to get the chance to play those someday.
The challenge rooms are the biggest challenge you’ll get out of Return to Dreamland. Like most Kirby games it isn’t very difficult. Kirby games are always meant to be super accessible to newcomers. So the low difficulty is intentional.
This might be a problem for some, but it really shouldn’t be. It’s forgiving with the number of lives and health items it gives you, but there is depth to the gameplay to prevent things from becoming boring. It is easy, but not braindead.
However, if you do somehow find the game too difficult, there is a Magolor helper option to make things a little easier. I personally never used it, but I can see how it could be helpful for really young players. Pre-schoolers and the like.
And if that’s not enough, you can always call on your friends for some 4-player co-op. This was one of the big selling points of the game back in the day. Mainly because Nintendo was trying to push co-op in every platformer they made back then. Even if it didn’t really work for it.
Thankfully Kirby has a good track record when it comes to this stuff. Because it doesn’t require platforming, it’s possible to play with other friends who aren’t as skilled and still have them keep up. Even then there are things you can do in co-op that can help people who may be a little slower like catching a piggy back ride.
There are even some techniques that can only be done in co-op. And while you all share a life pool, the game gives you so many that it’s really not an issue. This is one of the few platformers I’ve seen that not only does co-op well but benefits from it.
What makes Return to Dreamland co-op even more interesting is that the other players can play as one of Kirby’s friends. Meta Knight, King Dedede, and Bandanna Waddle Dee are all selectable for player 2-4, though a recolour of Kirby is also an option.
Their move sets are not the same as in the original. Now they’re taken from Star Allies which helps make them more distinct. And if you’re gutted that you can’t play the other characters solo, there is a way to do so in another mode. So you can play as them, just not in the main story.
Now I didn’t get to play co-op for this review, but I remember it being pretty fun back in the day. This game is still first and foremost a single player game, the co-op is really just a bonus.
That about covers the main story mode. While it doesn’t quite reach the heights of later games in the series, it’s still a solid campaign with decent level design, fun copy abilities, and some really entertaining and fun boss fights. And like most Kirby games, it has a fun end game that gets super crazy.
Admittedly it can be easy to see Return to Dreamland as a little vanilla. It doesn’t have anything super unique that makes it stands out. But at the same time, the whole point was to be a return to form.
Of course it’s going to feel very by the book. It was the first mainline Kirby platformer on consoles in 11 years. Fans weren’t looking for a reinvention, they just wanted a classic style Kirby Adventure.
If any thing it’s a testament to the innate core appeal of the series that even here, in arguably it’s most base vanilla state, the Kirby formula still outclasses most major 2D platformers on the market. Compare this to New Super Mario Bros U and it isn’t even close. Return to Dreamland is far more inventive with its mechanics and level designs.
But that only covers the main story mode, what about the rest of the game. Because it wouldn’t be a Kirby game if it didn’t have extra modes. Return to Dreamland being no exception, literally. As in there is a literal Extra Mode of the game.
Extra Mode is basically the hard mode of the game, well by Kirby standards any way. You have less health, healing items are less frequent, levels have been slightly tweaked, the bosses are much harder, along with some other surprises.
I actually like Extra Mode more than the normal Story Mode. I like the added challenge it brings, though I wish it changed the levels up a bit more. There isn’t much of a difference outside of maybe a new enemy popping up where there wasn’t one before and some enemies having different sizes. I still like it, but they could have done more with it.
Then there’s the Arena. A boss rush where you select a power and fight all the games bosses in a random order with a limited selection of health items. It’s a tried and tested Kirby mode and it’s just as fun here as ever.
Then there’s the final challenge, the True Arena. And when I say challenge, I mean it. The True Arena is the ultimate test for any Kirby fan. Less healing items, harder bosses, extra bosses added in. If you felt the game was too easy, the True Arena is here for you. It’s a pain, but I love it all the same.
And that is everything that is in Return to Dreamland. That is to say the original game that came out in 2011. Now let’s shift gears a bit and talk about the Deluxe side of the package. I already went over some changes, but there’s still more to cover. I haven’t even talked about the visuals yet.
The original Return to Dreamland was already a great looking game by Wii standards. Vibrant colours, bouncy animations and some very impressive backdrops made up for the Wii’s lack of horsepower.
Deluxe keeps all of this while also improving the graphical fidelity. It’s a gorgeous looking remake that improves on everything in the original. More vibrant colours, better lighting, better texture work, even the backgrounds seem to have been given a lot more depth to them.
And it does all of this while also running at 60 FPS, making it the only Kirby platformer on Switch to do so. I’m still mad at you for failing that Star Allies.
But while the new visual fidelity is impressive, what stook out to me were all the new details added. Stuff like the new transformation sequences for Super Abilities, or some of the new facial expressions in the animation, even some details in the Stone transformations. The little touches they didn’t need to add but did anyway. Those are the things that show how much love went into this.
There is, however, one aspect of the visuals that has proven to be divisive. Something that some of you will likely find off putting. I am of course talking about King Dedede’s new design. I get it, it’s not the one from the original it’s his Forgotten Land design, but I think this is his best one so if you don’t like it, you can get out.
I’m joking of course. The actual thing dividing people are the outlines around the characters. A lot of people think they look ugly and make the characters stand out a little too much. Speaking personally, I don’t mind them at all. I actually like that they give them a bit of a comic book style look. If anything, it looks like the last remnant of that pop-up book styled game I mentioned earlier.
Even if you don’t like them though, it’s not a huge dealbreaker since you kind of stop noticing them after a while. They don’t stand out enough to be that annoying.
So visually speaking it’s a great remake. Despite some aspects being divisive. Audio wise, it’s about the same as the original. The music has been remixed slightly, but nothing sounds drastically different from the original.
I do like the new end of level jingle though, but it was the only music change that stood out to me. Everything else is about on par with the Wii version. Which is fine because the original soundtrack was great to begin with.
But let’s get into the meat of things. Let’s talk about the new modes that were added into Deluxe, of which there are 2, Merry Magoland and Magolor Epilogue. Let’s talk about Merry Magoland first since it is the most substantial of the new additions.
Kirby games are known for having sub-games. Smaller mini games you could play either as a distraction or in some cases to get extra lives. Well Merry Magoland is all about those sub-games. It’s a mode where you and 3 other people can compete in one of 10 different sub-games.
Yes, 10 whole sub-games. I’m pretty sure that this is the most amount of sub-games in any Kirby game. And the best part, 8 of the 10 subgames are returning from across the series history. You’ve got Egg Catcher from Adventure, Smash Ride from Squeak Squad, Crackity Hack from Amazing Mirror, Samurai Kirby from Super Star, the GOAT that is Checkerboard Chase and more.
As for the other 2 sub-games, those are brand new. There’s Magolor’s Tome Trackers where you try to get books before your opponents, and Booming Blasters where you try to blast opponents with a bazooka, last man standing wins. I like both of these a lot, though they lean more into the multiplayer side of things.
That’s one downside to Merry Magoland, it’s very clearly focused on multiplayer. It is more of a party mode than anything else. Which is fine, except there’s no online multiplayer. Unless you have friends around you can’t play it as it was intended. There is an online battle royale version of Samurai Kirby, but that’s all you get.
It’s a shame too because these are good multiplayer games. And given how important co-op was to the original release, having a full-scale party mode just makes logical sense as an additional mode. But once again Nintendo fails to add online in something that would benefit from it.
That said, I can’t complain too much. Having 10 sub-games is nothing to scoff at, and that is way more than the 2 you got in the original. Though sadly only Ninja Dojo returns from the original. Scope Shot was removed, probably because it was designed with the Wiimote in mind, and you can’t replicate that properly even with gyro controls.
Also, there is a single player component. Merry Magoland has 100 missions to do across the sub-games. Doing these, as well as simply playing the games and finding tickets in the main story, rewards you with stamps. Get enough stamps and you’ll be rewarded with items to help in the main game, and masks.
The masks are really cool. They’re all based on characters from across the series history. From memorable big bads, to some of Kirby’s friends. Some will even change the voices to the one of the character the mask represents.
They’re like the key chains in Triple Deluxe, the exist to basically reference past Kirby games and I’m totally down for that. Between these and the sub-games, Merry Magoland isn’t lacking in fan service.
You can even wear these in the main story if you want. Most of these are unlocked with stamps, but others require other means to do so. Mostly just by defeating bosses.
The masks are purely cosmetic, for the most part. While I was writing this review, I discovered that if you use the Kine mask underwater, your bubble shot becomes stronger. I don’t know if any other masks have effects on gameplay, but that’s a cool little detail regardless.
Now when I first heard of the missions, I was initially worried that these would be a tiring pain in the ass, and I was partially correct. Most of the missions aren’t that bad to complete. Just requiring you to beat all the difficulties or play with a certain mask on. Nothing too bad.
Some, on the other hand, can be a wee bit frustrating. I especially got annoyed with trying to get 18 points on hard in Tome Trackers, that one really irked me. Thing is though, most of these can be cheesed.
If you have extra controllers, and why wouldn’t you, you can just add extra players and play on you own without the CPU which makes beating missions a cakewalk. Unless specified, you don’t need to battle the computer. There’s nothing stopping you from adding 3 extra players and playing it on your own.
Is this cheap? Absolutely, but I ain’t complaining. With this in mind the only missions that bug me now are the ones that require you to play sub-games multiple times to complete and even those don’t take that long.
So the missions, not that difficult. And even the ones that are can be cheesed, for the most part. After you beat these missions, there are 20 extra hard missions to do, but these aren’t required for 100% completion, and thank God because they are a goddamn nightmare. I’ll take the True Arena 1000 times over before attempting these.
Merry Magoland is a fine addition. It’s not something I can see myself going back to often, but there’s nothing wrong with it. I’m just glad completing it isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. But while I liked Merry Magoland, it isn’t my favourite of the new modes.
Magolor Epilogue, in my opinion, is far more enjoyable. If the name didn’t give it away, this takes place after the main story and follows Magolor’s journey through an alternate dimension to regain his powers.
It’s kind of neat because it explains a weird plot hole in the continuity. Yeah, they actually tried to clean up the lore a little bit without making things overly convoluted as a result. A rare find.
The mode itself follows the tradition of Kirby games having alternate modes where you play as other characters, namely Dedede Tour and Meta Knightmare. However, Magolor Epilogue is a little different from those. For starters, all the levels are brand new.
See, previous modes like this all had you go through the same levels you went through in the main story but with slight tweaks, as well as fighting harder versions of the bosses. But since Extra Mode already exists, that would be a little redundant. So Magolor Epilogue has entirely new levels, though you still fight harder versions of the bosses, though they are different from the ones in Extra Mode and the final one is brand new.
But one other reason the levels are new is because it isn’t a time attack. See Dedede Tour and Meta Knightmare, especially Meta Knightmare, were designed for speed runs. The whole point of those was to try to get through the whole game as fast as possible.
But Magolor Epilogue is a score attack. The goal in each stage is to collect enough magic points by picking them up in the level or by getting big combos. You then use those points to upgrade Magalor’s abilities to make getting bigger scores a lot easier.
It’s sort of like the Kirby version of a Character-Action game. Even down to having an end stage ranking depending on the number of points you get. And honestly, it works really well. It takes the idea behind the challenge stages of trying to get a good ranking and expands upon it.
Magolor also has a decent move-set with a lot of upgrades. So many in fact that I ended up not getting them all by the end. Not because I didn’t want to, but because I ended up getting platinum rank on my first try in most of the levels. So I didn’t have much of a reason to replay them.
I really liked Magolor Epilogue. Getting those high combo’s is very satisfying, the bosses are fun, especially the final one, and while Magolor isn’t my favourite character to control, Meta Knight is still the GOAT, he is at least an interesting character to play as.
My only issue with it is that it’s a little short. You only get 4 worlds and 20+ levels to do. That doesn’t sound so bad, but levels don’t take long to beat, with most being 10 minutes long at most. There is some replay value in getting the platinum ranks in each level, but if you’re anything like me you’ll probably get them first time.
But really if my main complaint is that there isn’t more of it, then that kind of shows how little there is to complain about. Bottom line, it’s a fun mode and the best addition to Deluxe. And yes, you can play it in co-op, which just the cherry on the cake.
And that is everything Kirby’s Return to Dreamland Deluxe. As you can tell, there is a lot of content to play. If you want to beat everything, you’re looking at a 13 hour adventure. Which to me is the perfect length. There’s a lot to do but nothing is too long it outstays it’s welcome.
So, is Return to Dreamland Deluxe worth it? Yes, it is. It’s still a great Kirby game all these years later. The main campaign is still fun, there’s still a good amount of extra content with the Deluxe version adding even more, and everything being playable in co-op makes it even better.
If you haven’t played it before it’s worth checking out, and even if you have played it before, the Deluxe version adds enough new content that it’s worth revisiting. I would easily recommend it to those looking for a good 2D Kirby platformer on Switch.
I’m just glad Kirby’s track record of excellence remains intact. Hopefully this isn’t the last remake we see either. An HD version of Triple Deluxe and Robobot would be amazing. Hell, they could even give the Amazing Mirror another shot. Lord knows that game could use an update.