Kirby and the Forgotten Land

(available for Nintendo Switch only)

Kirby is celebrating its huge anniversary milestone by doing something that since its creation it has never done- a full 3D platformer! Whilst it’s not the first 3D Kirby game, (that would be Kirby Air Ride for the Gamecube) Kirby and the Forgotten Land looks to be one of the most ambitious Kirby games in years. Not only being the first time the game has become a 3D platformer, but looks to have implemented a lot of quality of life improvements that will warrant a new experience, something the series really needed, since to be honest it had kind of become a bit stale. Nothing against the previous Switch entries, such as Kirby Star Allies, but that did feel like it was a Kirby game that was playing it safe.

This new Kirby game does have a similar structure to a traditional Kirby game. This isn’t exactly like Super Mario Odyssey where you have vast open environments to explore. The levels are mostly linear with a few branching off pathways, each level containing tons of captured Waddle Dees to free to send back to the Waddle Dee Town, you’re guaranteed a minimum of three of them by the end of the level. The game in that sense is a lot similar to Super Mario Galaxy, though unlike Galaxy where you could only obtain one star at a time, in this game you can obtain all three Waddle Dees in one go.

So how does Kirby transition to 3D?

PROS

• Gameplay

The gameplay is excellent! The various collectible Waddle Dees certainly give you reasons to retry levels, and I did collect all 300 Waddle Dees for this playthrough, that being said, I would say do so, but only for the sense of completion, don’t expect a massive reward for collecting all of them. However, collecting as many as possible does expand the Waddle Dee Town which gives you a bunch of mini games for doing so. Other than that, there’s other collectibles in each level that also warrant replays, such as blueprints for upgrades to copy abilities (more on that later) as well as the collectible figurines. Though you might want to save your coins from each level, since with the exception for the first volume series, you can pick up all of them just by placing the coins in the dispenser machines. You will be able to finish volumes 2, 3, and 4 that way.

The levels do contain a large amount of Waddle Dees, usually between 10 or 11 but I came across a few with 9 early on. Another thing that makes level repeats worthwhile, is that the game doesn’t always repeat where they are or what you have to do to get some of them. The only thing that is guaranteed is that you get 3 for finishing the level and that there are 3, 4, or 5 in various hiding spots that usually require a bit of light exploration or puzzle solving. The rest are hidden behind extra challenges, these can result in things like removing wanted posters, finding a couple of secret passages, completing a certain challenge without falling into lava, reuniting a group of ducklings with their mum, etc. The variety is really quite good! What makes it more interesting is that you have to discover them for yourself, they are not revealed at the beginning of the level and you may end up figuring them out part way through- by which point you’ve only done a couple of tasks. For example, you might find out you need to remove a group of wanted posters, but by that point you may realise you missed one at the start of the level, meaning you’d have to replay it. If you discover a bunch of them but miss one at the end of the level, the completion of the level will actually reveal where the ones you missed were. The only ones that were guaranteed apart from completing the level and finding the hidden Waddle Dees were on the boss levels which all came with a beat the boss without taking damage achievement.

Not only was this a good incentive to replay levels, the gameplay itself was such fun it really warranted replaying. Kirby controls like a dream in this game, the team have done a brilliant job translating Kirby’s 2D moves to a 3D format, and all of the copy abilities came over very well also to improve combat. Trust me, as a platformer, this is one of the best ones in terms of gameplay and controls on the Switch.

The platforming challenges are so well designed without compromising Kirby’s accessibility that has given him the popular reputation. Even if you turn on the harder difficulty, this is not too hard of a game. I had it on the hard difficulty for most of the playthrough and I didn’t die too much at all, most of my deaths were during the boss fights. Most of Kirby’s moves are intact, you still have the floating jumps, the swallowing and blast back, and considering how many Kirby games I have played, it didn’t feel like a massive transition from 2D to 3D. This really does feel like a good job taking the 2D Kirby and changing it to a 3D perspective.

• Graphics

I wouldn’t say that Kirby is a graphical powerhouse, I will say that the art style looks fantastic. A smart decision was made to not go to the typical dreamland setting of the 2D games, to really give a sense of this new perspective they’ve chosen an overgrown, post-apocalyptic setting. Not to the extent where it feels like a Mad Max movie, the new setting does feel like it works for this series and doesn’t feel out of place. It feels like an abandoned world rather than a destroyed one.

The game has a few different themed environments this time around, there’s everything from a carnival to an ice world, a desert world, so your typical Kirby worlds are still there, and they pop out with some brilliant colour palettes as well. The team did a brilliant job making the levels feel distinct from one another, something I noticed was starting to disappear from the 2D games. What’s more, I think the game actually looks great when you play on a big TV as well as handheld. I have a Switch OLED and the game is really great playing on an OLED screen, the colours pop so much and it’s a beautiful looking game as a result.

I really can’t fault it in the graphics department, the art style is great and it’s graphically one of the better-looking games on the switch. As for the framerate, it works pretty well. It is locked at 30 frames per second but the game is built around it, so you won’t notice that so much.

• Copy abilities and mouthful mode

The copy abilities are nothing new in this game, but what is new is that you can find blueprints for upgrades, which you will have to pay for in the Waddle Dee Town. The upgrades can be switched in and out due to your tastes, but you really probably should be sticking with the final stage version of each of these, since the abilities do get better each time. A couple of new abilities have been added, most of them are the same as previous games but with the upgrades they do get a major boost in effectivity, so it really is worth going out of your way to get them.

Some of my new favourites are the Dragon Fire and Space Ranger ability, both of which made mincemeat of some of the bosses.

But the thing that has made the biggest splash since its announcement is Mouthful Mode, where Kirby swallows objects way larger than himself to take control of them, including things like cars, vending machines, traffic cones, and a few extras that haven’t been shown off in demos that I won’t spoil.

One of the things that surprised me the most was that I thought mouthful mode would be way more situational and only show up a few times, but it was a lot more widespread than I was expecting. You certainly can’t use it all the time, and they are capped to certain areas, but they are much more of an overall presence in the game than I expected. It’s certainly the most distinctive part of this game and it’s so much fun! I’m so glad these abilities weren’t so restricted because they are some of the best parts of the game. I won’t give away too much but my favourite part was the Lightbulb Kirby which added some extra vigilance to platform challenges.

Between these features, they all add to the gameplay which has allowed this game to stand out from other games in the series, which I think need to be incorporated in future games also.

• Level design

While the levels are linear, there are so many secrets to find in each level. It doesn’t feel like this is a team that has just started making 3D games, it feels like they’ve been making 3D Kirby games for years. Simple aspects like how the camera is positioned adds extra dimension to these levels. While it’s easy to go from Point A to Point B, it really encourages you to explore every aspect of the environment to get those Waddle Dees. As a result, this game has some of the best level design I’ve seen in years- it’s really well thought out. It’s one of those things you have to see to believe!

• Mini games

The mini games aren’t too distracting since they are completely optional in the Waddle Dee Town, but they are a nice distraction between levels! I particularly enjoyed the fishing game, as well as the fast-food joint game and the coliseum was a nice challenge, too. But if I had to point out a negative, I wasn’t a fan of the bull roll mini game. It functioned well in handheld mode but when I played it docked the gyro of the pro controller, it did not work as well as I would have liked, and I ended up failing more than succeeding this way as a result.

You don’t really need to do these mini games, but I would suggest giving them a go at least once.

• Soundtrack

It can’t be understated how much I really liked Kirby’s soundtrack in this game. There are some excellent song pieces here. One of the things I found interesting was that there weren’t too many remixes of old songs in the series, the team behind the music have really given this game its own identity. A couple of songs are used a few times repeatedly, but they’re really good so you won’t be too upset by that.

MIXED

• Boss fights

The boss fights are fine in this game and some do elevate themselves, but some can be really annoying. I’m looking at you, Sillydillo. It was a real challenge to get the Waddle Dee in your boss fight for not taking any damage!

The boss fights aren’t particularly tough apart from the Sillydillo and the final boss, I didn’t die to any of the others too often. Most of them weren’t too difficult to get the no damage Waddle Dee. They also really range in quality. The gorilla you fight at the beginning, for example, is remarkably uneventful and unchallenging… But then you get some excellent ones down the line.

I’m kind of bored of the fact that all Kirby games have some sort of fight with a giant tree, but hey, it’s tradition at this point. The way that they do it in this game is really excellent, I thought they did a brilliant job of changing the formula to fit the 3D perspective, and as a result, the move set is kind of interesting.

The only thing I’d say as a massive complaint for some of the boss fights is that they have some cheap attacks at times, and they can be kind of annoying.

CONS

• Art style in the post-game

Obviously, there is a post-game, most Kirby games in the past few years have a post-game so I’m not spoiling that. Without giving away why I think like this, I think that my previous compliments to the art style and the graphics are void from this part of the game. I did find most of the post-game rather forced, and this part also has a lot of repeated stuff in it. It’s certainly one of the most challenging aspects of the game, but once I did the bare minimum for this, I only wanted to get all of the Waddle Dees and take a break from all of it afterwards. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing really wrong with the post-game, but apart from the final boss of it, it’s not as eventful as I would have liked, but it did at least keep the game going for a bit longer and more of this gameplay is a plus for me.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land isn’t just one of the best games to release this year so far, it’s also one of the best Kirby games in the series to date! It does have a few cheap boss fights and the post-game isn’t as good as I’d like it to be, but I really enjoyed my time with it. This is a great platformer with some lovely challenges, and I really enjoyed my time playing each and every level. This is a joy to play, and I really think this is one of the best platformers you can get on the Switch, up there with things like Mario Odyssey. If this is what direction the Kirby team is taking, then I’m completely on board for it. This is now without a doubt the best game in the Kirby franchise.

Final Score 9.5/10

And now Reece’s review

My experience with Kirby and the Forgotten Land is that I have completed the post-game 100% and have gotten all the Copy Abilities upgraded to their final forms, the only things I haven’t done was finish the final colosseum cup and collect every figurine from the Gacha machines.

I played the entirety of the game using my Switch OLED, so performance may not reflect what occurs on the standard Switch or Switch Lite.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land is the latest platformer game in the long running Kirby franchise that recently celebrated its 30th anniversary, It is developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo. It is also the first full platformer game that is in a 3D world, since all previous Kirby mainline games have been 2D only.

Pro:

3D control.

Kirby feels extremely fluid in Forgotten Land and I never had any issues controlling him as the controls are very simplistic and not very complicated.

This is shown in the fact that for multiplayer that you can play as Kirby just using a single Joy-Con and not lose access to any buttons or abilities.

Graphics.

Kirby has always had a fantastic art style in the older games with adorable animals all the way to more eldritch style abominations, and in Forgotten Lands they have definitely continued with this trend.

Even the animated cutscenes look like they are from the PlayStation 5 as they are all extremely polished, and it really makes me wish Nintendo would release an animated Kirby film in the future.

All the creatures feel vibrant and distinct to help set them apart from the usual residents of Dream Land, with most of the minor enemies looking like they could be Pokémon especially with one of the first enemies with the “Awoofy” and this continues till the end of the game with new enemies being introduced.

Copy Abilities.

12 Copy Abilities are in the game with 2 brand new ones (Drill and Ranger), and while there are less Copy Abilities than previous Kirby games the new “Mouthful Mode” mechanic definitely makes up for it.

The Copy Abilities all feel great to control, and each Copy Ability can also be upgraded with the use of Blueprints found in the level and the Rare Stones which are found at the end of the Treasure Road challenges and parts of the hub town.

There is also great variety in the Copy Abilities with not much overlap as each one can do a variety of moves with each ability having several attacks e.g. Fire has its standard fire breathing attack but also a jump attack that turns Kirby into a fiery comet as you fly forward to crash into anything in your way.

It also helps replay ability for the levels by using different Copy Abilities to see how you can get through a level differently using the different Abilities and plus different abilities can help complete the secret missions for the levels.

Mouthful Mode.

The new big mechanic that many players will recognise from the trailers is the “Mouthful Mode” in which Kirby attempts to swallow items that are too big for him and instead partly envelopes them to use to expand his combat and exploration abilities.

There are 14 forms for the players to discover during the game, and combined with the 12 Copy Abilities adds up to give players a lot of variety and the new Mouthful Mode forms interact with levels in a larger way than the normal Copy Abilities e.g. Car Mouth or Ring Mouth Kirby.

One of my favourites is the new “Car Mouth” Kirby where he partially inhaled a car and this allows the player to speed around using boosts and are able to quickly navigate more track styled courses. It is similar to the old Wheel ability from previous Kirby games but Car Mouth has even more utility as the game is no longer constrained to a 2D plane.

Music.

Forgotten Lands continues of the tradition of having one of the best Nintendo soundtracks for its games, as it’s not just the boss fights that have great songs but also the normal background songs for the levels that are mostly atmospheric.

As now it even has its own Anime styled opening song after you clear the tutorial, which plays quite often normally during climatic moments and over the credits but is probably my favourite main theme in a Kirby and would highly recommend people listen to it in full.

Then when you beat the main story then you can unlock a band in the main hub, so you can relisten to all songs when you are back and in-between levels and the band can be upgraded to play more songs and perform on a grander stage.

Levels.

There is a great variety in the worlds (and therefore the levels within the worlds) as across 6 main worlds during the story mode. It sees Kirby travel across different locales from standard grassy plains and cities in “Natural Plains” at the beginning of the game until the late game areas that consist of a volcanic landscape.

The level layouts are more similar to Super Mario 3D World but they work great for Kirby and are adapted to his new abilities to allow a greater degree of exploration than 3D World did.

Within these worlds there normally at least 4 levels followed by a boss fight level, but the levels are very vast in scope and due to the 3D element added have much more verticality and are packed with collectibles and content for players to discover. Plus unlike 3D World levels and other Kirby games, the levels here are more based on real life locations like Kirby can explore a shopping centre or an amusement park and not just random floating platforms like 3D World had.

So while the amount of levels is low they definitely take longer to complete than multiple 2D levels from previous Kirby games.

Collectibles.

During the main story the player is tasked with rescuing 300 Waddle Dee’s which the player can find by clearing a level and then getting extra Waddle Dee’s by completing secret missions during the levels.

The player also gets access to several Gacha machines during your playthrough that become accessible during the main hub that you can return to at any time. There are 4 machines in total and each has a large stock of figurines for the player to get, and while the player can find them randomly in levels through organic play they are can try their luck at the Gacha machines and using the in-game currency they pick up.

So when the story is over then the player can keep playing to try and collect all the Waddle Dee’s and all the figurines as the main collectibles, and if you don’t look up a guide then some of these Waddle Dee’s can be very tricky to find and really test the observational skills of players to pay attention to the environment and see if anything looks out of place or interactable to find the secrets of each level.

Main hub.

The main hub for this game is Waddle Dee Town, and as the player rescues more of them then the town gets more developed and new shops become available for the player.

One of the most important buildings gets unlocked at the end of the first world is the Weapon’s Shop. This allows Kirby to swap his current Copy Ability for any other one that he has already unlocked from the main game. Then when the player has new blueprint and a Rare Stone then talking to the blacksmith will upgrade that ability into a more powerful version, so I would always recommend returning to the Weapon’s Shop whenever you return to town or before going into a level.

The first one being Kirby’s house that allows the player to enter and display their figurines from the gacha machines as well as a bed that the player can sleep in to fully restore Kirby’s health outside of the levels for free.

More useful shops open up later including a café which allows you to buy food items that you can take into the levels and use it to recover health or a level game shop that allows you to buy temporary stat buffs in that increase your Health, Attack power or movement speed.

Mini-games also get unlocked as you rescue more Waddle Dee’s with my favourite being the Fishing pond mini-game but other mini-games include working at the café serving food or using motion controls to do a ball puzzle by rotating the Switch itself. These are fun breaks from the main game and I would recommend players to try them as you can unlock figurines by completing the highest difficulty levels for these mini-games.

When more story progress is made by defeating bosses then new facilities will open like the Colosseum allowing the player to rematch previous bosses in for extra coins and Rare Stones and the further into the game more cups are unlocked with the final cup being unlocked after completing the post-game.

Treasure Roads.

As players rescue more Waddle Dee’s Treasure Roads get unlocked and these are very short challenges that focus around one Copy ability and act as more of a time trial to finish the challenge as quickly as you can.

For beating each Treasure Road then the player is guaranteed to get at least one Rare Stone, so I recommend players complete them all to get enough Rare Stones to upgrade every Copy Ability.

These are a small fun distraction from the main game as they are only short as they last from between 30 seconds to 300 seconds, so they don’t take long to finish and help teach the player how to get the most out of their Copy Abilities.

Post game.

After the player has finished the main story and got through the credits then a picture frame lingers on a picture of a certain spot in Waddle Dee Town. Then if the player goes there then the post-game begins where the player can now journey through 6 more world’s that are only 1 level long, but each level contains truncated versions of all levels and the boss fight into 1 long level with a greatly increased difficulty.

A new set of collectibles are also contained in these levels and if they player collects 250 of them out of 300, then the final boss gets unlocked in 7th world and the true ending becomes available when this boss is beaten.

So if the player finds the main story too easy then I would recommend trying to complete the post-game as the bosses there have much more health, deal more damage and have more moves than the main story bosses and can give the player a real challenge.

Multiplayer.

A fun feature is the ability to have local co-op with a 2nd player joining and takes control of “Bandana Waddle Dee” and while he can’t use Copy abilities the other player has access to a unique spear weapon that increases in damage to match the level of the Copy ability that Kirby currently has.

This feature is how I would recommend parents play the game with younger players since the game is not too challenging for the main story but can help children get into the world of gaming and move on to more difficult games.

Con:

Frame rate.

While the game looks great it is locked to 30fps during normal gameplay, and I found that during combat this could drop when more particle effects happened.

The biggest showcase of the poor frame rate though is for background enemies that are further away from Kirby, as they movement cycle slows down the further away they are and becomes very choppy and easily below 10fps which just isn’t a good look for the game.

To help this I would of suggested having the enemies pop-in when Kirby is closer to them but disguise it by a smoke cloud effect to hide them spawning in, or just lower the level of detail on the character models to save processing power as they are still fully rendered in at a distance.

It is also jarring going from the menu back into gameplay as all the menu’s operate at 60fps, so they are very fluid and snappy to use but then when you unpause it goes back to 30fps for the main gameplay.

No voice acting in cutscenes.

While Kirby and the Forgotten Land does not have many cutscenes due to the limited plot. There are large sections of Kirby talking with NPC’s or his travelling companion for the game where the plot and text is told through static text boxes that becomes more of a chore to get through.

This becomes even more apparent as in the final main story level there is suddenly an A.I speaking English over a speaker system that gives a long speech and serves as cramming all the lore into the final section as is a tonal whiplash since the rest of the game is silent.

Ranger cursor movement.

The only problem I have with a Copy Ability is using the new Ranger form and when trying to move the cursor to change where Kirby shoots I find the cursor very sluggish to move and not very responsive.

This came to ahead as one of the secret mission involves using Ranger in a fast paced small arena and you have to then hit something high up before you take damage, so I found myself struggling to do this and I wish there was an option to increase the sensitivity for the cursor movement to alleviate this problem.

Conclusion:

This is definitely of my favourite Kirby games and is now only 2nd just behind Planet Robobot on the Nintendo 3DS.

I would highly recommend this game to younger players or for parents who want to play a multiplayer game with children due to the low difficulty of the game until the post-game.

If Kirby continues with more 3D games in the future then I can’t wait to see how they improve on this game as HAL Laboratory did an amazing job on the first full 3D Kirby game.

Score: 9.0

And finally, Elliot’s review

I’m pretty sure that at this point we all know who Kirby is. First created by Masahiro Sakurai and HAL Laboratories in the early 90’s, the series has since become beloved by Nintendo fans. Which makes it all the more surprising that the Kirby series has only had 2D side scrollers and has never had one that was fully 3D. That is until the September 2021 Nintendo Direct when we finally got the announcement that we were finally getting that with Kirby: The Forgotten Land. The game was released on the 25th March 2022 for the Nintendo Switch.

One day on Planet Popstar, Kirby’s wandering around with a big smile on his face, when all of the sudden a dark vortex appears in the sky and starts sucking up the denizens of Dreamland. Kirby awakens to find himself in a completely new world and learns that the Waddle Dees that ended up there are being kidnapped by a group of beasts. With the help of his new friend Elfilin, they set off to explore this new world and rescue the Waddle Dees. Like a Metroid game, the story doesn’t really have much of a presence in this game, it’s more just a reason for the new setting. Not that I’m complaining about that, when the story does show up it’s still a lot of fun and a story doesn’t need to be constantly there to be fun.

The presentation is pretty much what you’d expect from any Kirby game. The world is very colourful and upbeat, with each separate area looking very different from one another. It does an amazing job at combining the urban setting that the world takes with the light tone that Kirby’s well known for. The music is also very good, the music is very upbeat and peppy, with a number of tracks being surprisingly action heavy and epic, to the point where it almost felt like I was playing a different game, and it still fits with the game. If there’s anything I’m not a big fan of with the presentation, it’s the cutscenes. While they are entertaining and do a good job on developing the story – despite there being no dialog – in a good number of them there is an apparent lack of sound effects. I’m not sure if it’s a problem with audio mixing or if there just wasn’t any to begin with, but it’s really distracting and takes you out of it somewhat. 

The game is a 3D platformer, where you go through small linear stages to reach the end, while doing optional mini objectives along the way. As said before, this is Kirby’s first dive into 3D, which considering how well the game plays in its new dimension you probably wouldn’t believe. The move sets and gameplay that you would normally play in a 2D environment has translated really well really well in the shift and works surprisingly really well. The level design gives you the room to be able to use all of Kirby’s abilities and to experiment with new ones you likely haven’t used before. 

Of course, Kirby’s usual abilities have returned from previous games. The main one being the ability to float, allowing yourself to elongate the time spent in the air with the sacrifice of reduced speed. Once again making the platforming easier for newcomers to platformers, while still ensuring that it doesn’t lessen the challenge too much. 

Also from previous games is Kirby’s Copy Abilities. Kirby has the ability to swallow enemies, afterwards you’ll either spit them out and launch them as a ranged attack, or you’ll absorb their ability and be able to use them for yourself. These range from melee ones like Sword and Hammer to ranged ones like Bomb or Ranger, even ones that will do a small AOE attack like Tornado or Needle. Though that is majorly over-simplifying it, all of these are incredibly unique from one another, and while I obviously had my favourites, I never found myself disliking any of them. 

What makes these power-ups different from other games is that you can actually upgrade them. Within certain stages, you’ll find items called blueprints, once found you’ll have unlocked the means to upgrade whatever ability the blueprint allows. Though that’s not all you’ll need, it’ll also cost coins that you’ll find naturally as you play and Rare Stones. These are mostly found in mini stages that will unlock once you finish the stage or will be hidden on the level select called Treasure Roads. These challenges will require you to use a certain Copy Ability or Mouthful Mode (more on that later) to beat the level, reach the end and collect the Rare Stone. They also have an optional target time that you have to finish the level in, these times require near perfection from you in order to be completed. I often found myself spending a good hour trying to achieve these times, and considering the reward for getting them is a meagre ten coins, I really don’t think it’s worth it. 

The biggest new addition to this game (outside of the 3D) is Mouthful Mode. In some levels you’ll find objects from our own world that you’ll be able to swallow, by doing so you’ll gain new abilities depending on what object you absorb. The most well-known one is Car Mouth Kirby, but there are plenty more than that. For example, there’s Vending Mouth Kirby that will shoot soda cans allowing you to deal heavy damage to enemies and break seemingly unbreakable objects, or there’s Stairs Mouth Kirby which is more used for puzzles and will let you squash enemies by flopping onto your side. There are even some that will have you enter small on rails sections. The only one of these that I’m not a fan of is Water-Balloon Mouth Kirby, but that’s mostly just because it’s difficult to aim with it. Aside from that though I really like this new addition.

The main collectable that you’ll find throughout the game is the Waddle Dees. As mentioned in the story section, the Waddle Dees have been captured that it’s your job to find them. You’ll collect three of them just by beating the level, but to go along with that, you’ll find a handful of them hidden within each stage, some you’ll likely just stumble upon as you run through the level while others you may have to go out of your way for, though they’re not that difficult to find. The other way you’ll collect them is by completing a number of mini objectives within each level. Some require you to find a certain number of a particular kind of food or to defeat a mini-boss is a certain power-up, while others are much more difficult and may require a few goes until you get it. These objectives will remain hidden the first time you go through, though with each run through of the level, a new objective that you haven’t completed yet will be revealed to you. While I would prefer if you were just able to unlock them all the first time through, it gives way to replay ability and encourages experimentation, so it’s not too much of a problem. 

Also able to collect are the Gotcha Capsules. These little capsules contain a figurine of characters, enemies and bosses that you would have encountered up to that point. You can collect these from finding them in levels, collecting them from the Gotcha Machines or by completing mini games. Surprisingly, these aren’t as difficult to gather as you might think, duplicates aren’t as common as you would believe it to be, and if you have the funds you’ll be able to collect all of them just by spending at the Gotcha Machines.

As you play through the game, you’ll likely find yourself frequently returning to the small hub area Waddle Dee Town. This tiny section of the world is probably one of my favourite parts of the game. Here you’ll be able to do and collect things to give you a bit of an edge in the rest of the game, like equipping a power-up that you’ve unlocked of your choice from the Weapon’s shop, or giving yourself a useful healing item from the Cafe. This place will start off small at first, but will expand as you collect more Waddle Dees, unlocking not only more shops, but also more mini-games and challenges for you to do. I honestly cannot state how much fun it is seeing this tiny town expand into something to really help you. 

Finally let’s talk about the bosses. This game has a surprisingly decent number of bosses, and while I can’t say they’re spectacular, they’re all a lot of fun. You have room to be able to fight them with whatever Copy Ability you want and they’re a decent challenge. And I just have to mention the last boss of the main game, because holy hell that boss is amazing, I’d argue that the game is worth beating just to fight it. 

So despite all the praise I’ve been giving it, why do I not feel as excited about this game as I feel like I should. Honestly, while I did find this game a lot of fun, I also found myself getting a bit tired of it after only a couple of hours. Having to go back through each mission because I’ve missed a Waddle Dee or trying and failing over and over to get the target time in the Treasure Road stages just left me winded somewhat quickly. I know it’s partly my own fault for stubbornly trying to get 100% completion, but it still left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth.

I admit that I haven’t played much of Kirby, but if the other games in this series are as good as this one, then it’s a decision that I very much regret. Despite not having the best time playing through some of the completion requirements, I still had a ton of fun with Kirby: The Forgotten Land and very much encourage anyone who’s interested to give it a go. If you’re a fan of platformers or are just looking for a simple fun game to wind down with, then this is a game that I highly recommend. 

8.9/10