Kirby’s Return to Dream Land from the Wii is back in glorious HD on Nintendo Switch, and since I love Kirby, I had to try it out. The game improves the graphics, adds new copy abilities, and even a huge new area called Merry Magoland, while also retaining everything from the original game. So, putting that all together, here’s my review of Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe. If you’ve never played the original or deluxe game, mild spoilers are ahead.
First off, Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe looks wonderful. Where the Wii title was a bit more pixelated, the characters and setting here look cleaned up very nicely with all the character models being their current models, most notable with King Dedede. Kirby’s Return to Dream Land is a stunning game to look at with so many unique environments, and the Switch version makes them look even better. I’m not going to lie, this game is one of the prettiest I’ve seen on Switch.
Onto the gameplay. It feels so much better to play this game with a Switch Pro controller compared to a Wii remote. The controls felt very fluent and polished, like Kirby & the Forgotten Land but 2D. I never had a problem with the controls – except maybe for a run button, which I searches the control settings and never found one. I feel like there should be a run button, but maybe that’s just me.
Next is the new stuff. We’ll start with the new copy abilities. First is Sand, which lets Kirby make big attacks with piles of sand to ward off enemies. It felt a little confusing at first to understand its many different uses, and I never had much fun with the ability. The other new ability is Mecha, which throws Kirby: Planet Robobot right in Return to Dream Land. Mecha gives Kirby the ability to fire blasts or fireballs and dropping an explosive that electrifies whatever it hits. The ability also lets you fly with a jet pack instead of floating, which I felt was easier to move around in midair, thus making Mecha the better copy ability than Sand.
The last big new thing I’ll discuss is Merry Magoland, a place home to many subgames from across the Kirby series, along with 2 brand new ones. Merry Magoland was an neat inclusion to the deluxe package, but I didn’t find it to be very unique and the experience was the same as just playing subgames in other Kirby titles. I wish the game went more in-depth with the idea of the theme park.
Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe was an enjoyable way of revisited a classic Kirby game. It has lots of new content and well-enhanced graphics. Overall, I thouroughly enjoyed the deluxe game and give it a 5.2/6 on the Ryan Meter.