I have one more retro game from Switch Online's March update, and it's one I'm a bit overdue on playing. BACKGROUND:
I've already played Kirby's Dream Land 3 long ago when it was first made available on SNES Online in 2019, and I've somewhat recently talked about the original Kirby when GB Online was first launched. I'm clearly missing one in the middle, and it's finally here! SUMMARY: In what has become Kirby tradition, a bigger bad (in this case, Dark Matter) has possessed King Dedede in an attempt to conquer Dream Land. It's up to Kirby to stop this nonsense, but this time, he's not doing it alone. For the most part, this is your standard Kirby game (a straightforward 2D platformer where you can hover and inhale your way to the end of a level). Unlike the original Kirby, the titular character has access to Copy Abilities this time around, though there aren't many of them in this particular game (something that persisted in the third game). It's here that the animal buddy mechanic (which I was introduced to in the third game) was introduced. You can only run into three of them in this game (Rick the hamster, Coo the owl, and Kine the fish), and the gimmick where Copy Abilities change properties depending on your animal companion is also introduced here. As I said in Kirby's Dream Land 3, this mechanic kind of makes up for the fact that there aren't that many Copy Abilities to begin with. Most Kirby games aren't too difficult, and while this one isn't much of an exception overall, I will give this game credit for having more thought-out sequences with tricky enemy placement, red herring paths, and sequences that are pretty rough if you simply take what animal companion the game gives you (fish-on-land sections are hell on earth). On the flip side, managing to stick with Coo trivializes most levels thanks to his ability to fly freely. A lot of the enemies I encountered are Kirby staples, but there were more than a few that I don't think I've seen anywhere else or as often throughout the history of the series. A good example of this was Mr. Shine and Mr. Bright; they might be in some of the Kirby games I haven't played, but I've only encountered them in a spinoff (Kirby's Dream Course). Though most levels are linear, there are a fair number of secret areas you can run into. Some of these secret areas feature a special collectible, and collecting them all will unlock the game's true ending (a battle with Dark Matter). This was a thing in the third game as well, and it was nice to see that they did it here first. VERDICT: There's not much I can say about Kirby's Dream Land 2 since I played 3 first, but I can appreciate how it set the stage for what the third game ended up being. I had a chill time overall (as is tradition in Kirby games), I had fun with the animal buddy/Copy Ability gimmick, and I was pleasantly surprised by some of the craftier level designs. That said, I can't say the game stuck in my memory as much as other entries I've played before, largely because it's a pretty short experience unless you go for the true ending. I would recommend playing Kirby's Dream Land 3 over this if you're going in specifically to experience the animal buddy mechanic, as the third game has more animals to experiment with. That said, there's nothing inherently wrong with this game, and I think it'll serve you just fine if you want a pleasant 2D platforming romp. - end -
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June 2024
Derryck
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