Kirby’s Dream Land 3 Review

For the last ten years, Kirby’s Dream Land 3 and I have kept passing each other by, with no more than mere glances in the other’s direction before ultimately going our separate ways.  Whether in the form of a physical SNES cartridge or a quick download vie the Wii U Virtual Console, I have had multiple opportunities to play the game, but have always chosen to spend my money on the highly praised Kirby Super Star instead.  Finally, with the release of the SNES collection provided by the Switch Online service, I hadn’t any reason to ignore this game any longer.  And now, in this post, I answer the question: do I regret taking so long to play this game?  Well…yes and no.

Top Songs from Kirby’s Return to Dream Land

Here are my top songs from “Kirby’s Return to Dream Land”.  A lot of music from “Kirby” games is cute and happy, and all of it has a distinct style.  Despite it being a cute game, there is actually a lot of good music.  (Watch out, though.  This does spoil the final boss.  Sorry.)  I included links to youtube rather than the actual videos because I don’t want loading my blog to take longer.

            10. “Rainy Area” is a nice, happy song.  I believe it’s in world 3, the ocean world.  It’s just very pleasant to listen to.  I feel quite cheery when I hear it.

            9. “Grape Garden” is a very peaceful song that plays in world 5, the cloud world.

            8. “Engine Area” is played in world 6, the machine world.  It has an odd sound, but I like it.  My favorite part is 0:47-1:09.

            7. “Dark Area” is played in the last regular level of the game and also during part of a very important cut scene near the end….  It kind of has a mysterious sound to it.

            6. “Boss Battle” is played during regular boss battles.  It goes very well with a battle.

            5. “Vs. Magolor Soul” is played during part of the final boss.  (Sorry for the spoiler.)  I especially like the beginning of the song.  The music is appropriately epic.

            4. “Machine Area” is played in world 6.  I like the sound that’s kind of in the background, especially at the beginning.  This music makes you feel like you’re somewhere rather dangerous.

            3. “Cloudy Area” is a lovely song played in cloudy parts of world 5, and it really feels like you’re up in the clouds.  I really like 0:19-0:32.

            2. “Another Dimension” is played as you head for the final battle.  I love this music.  It gives the feeling of rushing to do something important, in this case, save the world.

            1. “Castle Area” is played in world 5, and I thought it was a fun song.  Not much to say.  It’s just a nice song to listen to.

Ducky Area

I Didn’t Know Kirby Left Dream Land

But, he apparently returned there in the game I recently beat, “Kirby’s Return toDreamLand”.  It took me just under two weeks, and I got 100%.  Normally, I am not a fan of cutesy games, but I still like “Kirby” games.  And in my defense, “Kirby” games are classics, so it makes it okay.

            Like usual, our pink puffball hero Kirby can inhale enemies and eat them to get their abilities.  These abilities include things like Sword Kirby, Cutter Kirby (he’s not emo…), and Beam Kirby.  You can actually do quite a bit of things with these abilities.  There are different moves based on if you run while attacking, stay still, hold buttons, or attack in combination with another button.  The series has actually not really changed much over the years.  It’s still played with a control pad.  It’s still a side-scroller.  But, that’s fine.  I like it just the way it is.  In this game, Kirby also sometimes gets super strong abilities for a limited time.  (This might be new, but I’m not sure.  I missed a decent amount of the games.)

            Anyway, there’s never much of a story in “Kirby” games, but this time, Kirby’s helping Magolor get back the pieces of his damaged ship.  You collect big pieces of the ship when you beat a boss battle, and there are 120 energy spheres scattered throughout the levels, as well.  When you collect these energy spheres, you open doors on Magolor’s ship that lead to copy abilities, a couple mini games, and these challenges where you use one copy ability and try to get as many points in this area while reaching the goal in time.  Finding the energy spheres is pretty easy.  I found them all without much trouble.  I think this game might be even easier than the other ones.

            Once you beat the game, The Arena opens up, where you have to beat a whole bunch of bosses and mini bosses in a row.  I didn’t try super hard, so I didn’t get super far.  I didn’t feel like it.  They also act like there’s another game once you beat it, but it looks the same as the main game, so I didn’t do much with it.  Maybe next time I play I’ll check it out.  Once I beat the game, I got really lazy.

            You can also apparently play the game with other people, and they can play as King Dedede, Meta Knight, and Waddle Dee.  It annoys me that it seems I can’t play as them if I play alone.  What are antisocial gamers to do?

            Last of all, I love that “Kirby” games are cute and simple, and the story doesn’t seem like much, and yet they sometimes have a twist at the end.  I really like the ending in this game.  Most interesting part of the story.  Only interesting part of the story.

Kirby’s Return to Duck Land