By Connor Fleck
Nintendo has begun to release remastered versions of video games from the Wii. One such game is Kirby’s “Return to Dream Land Deluxe” for the Nintendo Switch. Many Wii owners remember this game from their childhood and I for one was incredibly excited to see this coming back.
For those who haven’t played, here is a quick recap of the beginning. Kirby, King Dedede, Bandana Waddle Dee, and Metaknight are enjoying a day on Planet Pop Star when all of a sudden a rift is opened in the sky where a ship is crash landing. Kirby and the others go to explore the crashed ship. Upon entering the ship they find somebody unconscious on the floor. This person’s name is Magalor. He asked for assistance from Kirby and his friends to help find the missing parts of his ship, the Lor Starcutter, and so the adventure begins.
Since the remastered version was released on the Switch, the game incorporated some new changes. Some characters’ designs changed along with the graphics of the game. I didn’t notice a huge change in the graphics at first, but after playing the game more, I could really tell the difference.
Overall, King Dedede had the most drastic change. On the Wii, he had larger facial features, but on the Switch, he looked reminiscent of how he looked in Kirby’s Forgotten land. Personally, I like the change because his new narrowed eyes and frown fit his arrogant personality.
Two new copy abilities were added to the game along with the addition of another from a different game. The two new abilities the characters have are Mecha and Sand. Mecha and Sand are fun to use, but they felt a little weird to use for the first time because they had more moves than Kirby’s other abilities. The Festival ability debuted in “Kirby Star Allies” and is a one-time use ability that takes out every enemy on the screen while Kirby and his friends dance with confetti flying in the background.
Another change was the mini-games. On the Wii, the mini-games were found on the lower decks of the ship. The only way to unlock these mini-games was to find gears from levels in the story. This feature still exists, but if you don’t want to collect gears you can visit Merry Magoland. Merry Magoland is a Magalor-theme park that has 10 mini-games. Only two of these games are from the original game on the Wii. “Kirby on the draw” was originally “Scope Shot,” but they re-skinned it to make it western-themed.
The crowd favorite from the Wii is “Ninja Dojo.” This was initially hard because I was so used to the input lag from the Wii that oftentimes, I threw my shuriken too early. I wasn’t really a fan of the “Kirby on the Draw” game. Its main flaw was that it didn’t know where the television was, although you center the joy-con by pointing it at the TV.
The mini-games also give you quests to earn experience points on a track that gives you rewards. Upon reaching the end of each page you are rewarded with masks. These masks can be equipped and worn by each of the characters. These masks are also able to be worn in the story mode. There were many different masks from characters shown throughout the series. The masks feel like it takes life away from Kirby and his friends because you can no longer see them blink or make faces.
Once you beat the game you are given two different game modes, The Arena and Magalor’s Epilogue. In The Arena, you are given the choice of any ability from the game and you fight every boss and mini-boss the game has thrown at you. Once you die you’ve lost and must retry, but you can heal in between some of the matches. Be careful however because you only receive a certain amount of healing items so once you use up everything you’ll run out for good.
The final addition to the remaster was Magalor’s Epilogue. I really enjoyed the epilogue because it was very different from your average Kirby game. I am a big fan of platformers, but most platformers have less of an advantage over gravity. Kirby can just fly however far he wants, but Mario and Donkey Kong jump and then fall with no double jumps. In the epilogue, you play as Magalor and that’s how you get around at first, but as you progress and take out enemies you gain points that can be used to increase numerous categories such as the strength of attacks, health, and speed.
In all, I think this game has improved since its original version on the Wii. I really enjoyed every aspect of this game and it brought back similar feelings from when I played it as a child. Even though there were many additions it still felt like the Kirby game I fell in love with as a child.
The Plaid Press 