Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe

Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe is a main-series Kirby game for the Nintendo Switch. It is a remake of the Wii game Kirby’s Return to Dream Land. The game was announced on September 13th, 2022 and released on February 24th, 2023 worldwide. It features the same story and gameplay as the original, but with new additions such as new Copy Abilities (namely the brand new Mecha and Sand abilities and the returning Festival ability from Kirby Star Allies), a revamped collection of Sub-Games housed in the new location Merry Magoland (an amusement park run by Magolor that acts as a separate mode in the game).

A new Extra Mode that features Magolor as the main character called Magolor Epilogue: The Interdimensional Traveler, in which Magolor must recover his lost powers. While Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe features nearly the exact same side-scrolling 2.5-D gameplay as the original, the graphics have been given an overhaul, giving all the characters strong outlines and increasing the detail and contrast. In addition, the characters (most notably King Dedede), enemies, and objects have been updated to their modern looks. Super Abilities have also been refined with faster gameplay and more visual flair.

On top of this, several gameplay and control style tweaks, sound changes, and other small additions overall transform the experience when compared to the original game. The game reportedly sold almost 1.82 million units as of June 2023, and is very likely to have surpassed the sales of the original Wii game of 1.93 million. Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe features the same story as the original game in its Main Mode. In it, Kirby, King Dedede, Meta Knight, and Bandana Waddle Dee have their merry peaceful day in Dream Land interrupted when Magolor comes crashing in from Another Dimension on his ship – the Lor Starcutter – which flies into pieces that scatter all around the world of Popstar.

Kirby, kind soul that he is, agrees to help the stranger Magolor get his ship parts back, so he and his friends go adventuring across the land to recover them, having to fight off certain powerful opponents to get the larger pieces. Once the Lor is back together again, its grateful captain thanks Kirby and his friends by taking them on a cruise to his “homeworld” Halcandra, where they are subsequently attacked by a ferocious four-headed dragon named Landia. Magolor urges Kirby to go and defeat the dragon for him, so he does so, knocking the dragon’s crown off his highest head in the process.

Magolor then shows up and takes this crown, placing it on his head and transforming into a big menacing apparition. Magolor reveals that he had actually tricked Kirby into defeating Landia so he could take this artifact for his own, and declares that he will now use its power to take over the universe, starting with Popstar. To stop him, Landia teams up with Kirby and his friends to chase Magolor into Another Dimension and they defeat him in the end, shattering the crown and banishing Magolor to parts unknown. Kirby and friends are subsequently taken home by Landia and the Lor before the dimension collapses in on them, resolving the conflict.

Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe introduces a new extra story in the form of Magolor Epilogue: The Interdimensional Traveler. Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe features the same core gameplay of the original, though with many adjustments and touch-ups following innovations introduced by games such as Kirby: Triple Deluxe, Kirby Star Allies, and even Kirby and the Forgotten Land. At heart, the gameplay still closely matches up with the classic formula established all the way back in Kirby’s Adventure.

As Kirby and his friends move through largely linear stages, using various abilities and attacks to deal with the enemies that litter the landscape, with the goal being to reach the door at the end to clear the stage or to defeat the boss at the end of each level. To assist in this endeavor, Kirby and friends can make use of various items that appear in the stages, such as the Crackler, Stomper Boot, and Prism Shield, as well as picking up food items to recover health and Point Stars to gain extra lives. The most notable breaks in regular gameplay are the sections in stages that make use of the powerful Super Abilities, which are used to clear obstacles and open rifts to Another Dimension for an extra challenge just before the end of certain stages.