SpoonySage
N3DS Community Ghost Gym Leader
For the past 20 years, Kirby has been entertaining audiences of all ages with his innocence, charm, ease of play, and ability to wear cool hats. Throughout his career, Nintendo has made strives to balance the gaming market with Kirby so that newcomers can enjoy platforming and older fans can enjoy the experience as a helper. To this day, Kirby games are great for when I want to simply unwind and immerse myself in a childlike state of excitement as I puff my way through Dream Land.
In Kirby’s Dream Collection, in memory of Super Star, you get 8 games in 1 (well, if you include the History of Kirby as a game). The game includes Virtual Console-esque versions of Kirby’s Dream Land, Kirby’s Adventure, Kirby’s Dream Land 2, Kirby Super Star, Kirby’s Dream Land 3, and Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. Also included is a brief History of Kirby and a Challenge Mode based on his most recent adventure, Return to Dream Land.
Gameplay/Mechanics
Within the main menu, you will have access to all of the games in the collection, which contain their original control schemes (as long as you are playing with the classic controller). However you decide to control the games though, keep in mind that the game WILL give you controller directions based on the original method, so you may want to be swapping around controls if you are like me and play a bit of each game at a time. Particularly interesting was playing the Challenge Mode where I would change my controller based on what power was given, as I was tired of figuring out the controls on my own when the screen would only give one set of instructions.
Another annoying aspect of gameplay/mechanics was how the very act of switching games was left the same as Virtual Console; i.e. you have to hit the Home button and then reset the disc to exit an older title. Entering different games is easy enough though, and can even be done from the History timeline should you decide on a whim that a certain game sounds like fun at the moment.
Even with the slight annoyances, when you find a play-style and game that you want, then you can enjoy them just as well as the originals.
Graphics
Graphically, not much has changed here. Each game retains its original graphics and the added content uses the same textures and art style as Return to Dream Land. Older games are given a boarder to fit the screen without stretching and the timeline has excellent portrayals of each game with box art you can turn around and zoom in on as you please.
Strike a pose.
Music/Sound
As with graphics, the music here is mostly the same as the original games. I enjoyed the ending credits (which are played when you beat the new Challenge Mode), but otherwise very little stood out musically to me.
Replayability
Replayability is a hard thing to qualitate when discussing something you are already playing for the second or third time. Nonetheless, if you have NOT played any of these games, then you should know that levels all contain multiple paths and have different modes worth revisiting for completionist data. And even after you have, Kirby games are highly entertaining to speed run as you can beat them within a single sitting if you know what you are doing.
The Challenge Mode also has several reasons for replaying. Your score will earn you a bronze, silver, or gold medal, and your accumulated score across all levels will earn your data a trophy reflecting your abilities. They even included the practice rooms from Return to Dream Land for you to hone your skills when you decide to replay the levels. So even if you have played all the original games a few times, you will find a decent amount of content in this game.
Isn't this a screenshot from Return to Dream Land? Yes. But the Challenge level in Dream Collection looks pretty much the same.
Multiplayer
Sadly, multiplayer only exists within the games where that was an option. None of the new Challenge Levels have multiplayer, even though Return to Dream Land did include multiplayer challenges.
Extras
Here is where the Dream Collection really shines. Within the game itself, you will find several fun extras like videos of gameplay from every Kirby game, as well as a bit of the animated tv show. Honestly, I find the timeline these are in to be a really fun random thing to add in, as they include fun facts about the years each Kirby title was released in. You will also find bundled with the disc are an art book and soundtrack. The art book is one of my favorites yet as it includes not just a full listing of games with concept art and commentary on each, but also has trivia for hardcore Kirby fans and some of the print media advertising. For example, I did not understand the odd box art for the Dream Collection until reading in the art book that the Japanese version of Super Star was done in a limited wooden box that they wanted to recapture with this special collector’s bundle.
Lollipop and tomato facts are very important to Kirby.
The CD is also one of Nintendo’s better efforts as it has 2-3 songs from 16 (of the 21) different Kirby games as well as 3 original tracks to make up a respectable play list of 45 tracks. While each song is still fairly brief, you still get to hear the main melody repeat a few times, so it isn’t noticeably short. Compared to the Mario All-Stars CD or even the Ocarina of Time 3D Soundtrack, you will find this plays much better for easy listening with no interruptions like when the others included sound effects or incomplete ocarina songs.
Rating
While I love everything this game includes, it is hard not to notice all the things it does NOT include. The new Challenge Mode are barely different from Return to Dream Land’s levels (the main additions being the races), so nothing about this game is new at all. Still, if you do not already own these great Kirby games, you can’t beat the price for this collection. Also, the added value of the amazing art book and CD make a fair argument on behalf of the game.
All of the games here are worth owning. My score is from a collector’s perspective and mostly based on how I already own copies of most of these and I think most Nintendo fans would as well. Even if it is old content, you will find your money’s worth of content in this title.
Final Score 7.5/10
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