Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe

Genre: Platformer

Players: 1-4 Co-Op / Competitive (Local)

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Review:

Kirby’s Return to Dream Land is a family-friendly Platformer originally released on Wii in 2011 and then brought to Nintendo Switch in 2023 in a “Deluxe” version that remakes the visuals of the Wii game, remasters the sound, and adds in a considerable amount of extra content.

For the visuals, while this game remains faithful to the colorful look of the original game, many of the assets have been completely remade, and everything now features a crystal-clear resolution (sorry, I don’t have confirmed numbers for this), and has framerates that are mostly 60FPS with occasional dips down to 50FPS (thanks to ContraNetwork for the numbers). Mostly this looks great, but some of the stylistic changes may not appeal to everyone. Characters now have cel-shaded borders around them, making everything look more cartoony, and some characters have seen drastic changes to their character models, including Kirby himself and especially King Dedede. Overall, I think the change is a positive one, but not everyone is likely to be onboard with this. Meanwhile, the sound here is still great, but hasn’t received the same extensive overhaul, being simply remastered from what was in the original release.

The core gameplay in this game has remained mostly intact. Kirby’s Return to Dream Land was a straightforward but overall strong entry in the Kirby franchise, with the main gimmicks being a “super inhale ability players can do by holding Kirby’s normal inhale for a short moment (ditching the original game’s Wii remote shaking, which I doubt many will miss) as well as occasional “super abilities” you can obtain for a brief period of time, which temporary ultra-powerful version of a copy ability they can use to shred apart parts of the landscape. All of this is a bit gimmicky, but it still makes for a fun change of pace in what is overall an excellent Platformer. I should note that as with most Kirby games, Return to Dream Land is particularly easy, but players looking for a challenge will always have the option of tackling the game’s “Extra” mode after completion, which halves players’ health and adds new enemies and obstacles.

Other changes here include two new copy abilities (mecha and sand), the new minigames Magolor’s Tome Trackers and Booming Blasters replacing the Wii version’s minigame Scope Shot, the dedicated minigame mode Merry Magoland, a new extra-easy feature “Helper Magolor”, new challenge stages, new Amiibo functionality (it just gives you a few minor in-game items), and new collectables.

However, probably the biggest new feature added to this release is the Magolor Epilogue mode, which is only unlocked after completing the main game. This game mode, which will only take a few hours to complete, has players controlling the character Magolor, who not only plays significantly different from Kirby, but who also has a move set that players will work to upgrade as they see fit over the course of this adventure.

Personally, I found Magolor Epilogue to be one of the best parts of Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe, with some really fantastic level design and some creative gameplay. However, it’s not without its downsides. First, yeah, just a few hours of play time is pretty short, and I wish this game mode were longer. Also, a lot of the presentation elements here are regurgitated, not just copying elements of Return to Dream Land, but with later levels of Magolor Epilogue featuring visuals that just seem to be the same as earlier levels but with a different color. I feel like this game mode could have been a huge new addition to this game if it were expanded on and given more visual variety.

There is one other element I should address here, and that is this game’s multiplayer, which is excellent. Not only does the game’s single-player mode feature excellent, seamless drop-in/drop-out local multiplayer, but the collection of minigames here is pretty fun too. My only complaint here is that the only way to play this game in multiplayer is locally – there’s no wireless or online play here.

Despite all of my complaints, Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe is an outstanding family-friendly Platformer, and this release takes one of the best games in the series and makes it even better. There’s some really excellent new content here as well (most notably the Magolor Epilogue), with some fantastic multiplayer play. I’m just somewhat disappointed that the additions to this game all seem to be a tad lacking in some way, or at the very least could have been much better than they are.

If this were a budget-priced release, I would still say this is an absolute must-buy. But for a $60 release of a game that came out over a decade ago, I feel like it would be easier to justify that price if the new content didn’t have so many imperfections. If you enjoy family-friendly multiplayer Platformers, and if you haven’t played the original game, this is still a game you should absolutely buy, but for players who already got the original game, it’s hard to justify shelling out another $60 for this release.

tl;dr – Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe is a re-release of a family-friendly Platformer that was originally released on the Wii. Multiple elements have been remade or expanded on here, including redone visuals, expanded features, and a really enjoyable new “Magolor Epilogue”. This combines with the original game’s excellent gameplay and great multiplayer to make for a truly excellent game. Unfortunately, the added content here doesn’t quite seem to justify the $60 price tag for a game that’s over a decade old, but if you’re a Platformer fan who never played the original, consider this a must-have.

Grade: A-

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2023 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Best Platformer, Best Port/Remake, Best Game for Kids and Casual Players

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