Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe

Back in 2011, Kirby's Return to Dream Land released for the Nintendo Wii. After many years, the pink ball was brought back to his platforming roots. Now, over a decade later, we're returning to the return to Dream Land, in the latest entry in a sizeable list of Nintendo remakes for the Switch. But, the question remains whether Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe can live up to the precedent set by its predecessor.

If you've played the original Kirby's Return to Dream Land, probably the first thing you'll notice when you load into the Deluxe version is the brilliantly updated visuals. Every environment, character model, and effect exude that familiar, cutesy Kirby charm, while showing a vast improvement from the original game. There are some vibrant and even breath-taking moments in Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe, such as when you load into Merry Magoland for the first time and see an alien wizard's take on Disneyworld. Nothing ever borders on the realistic, nor should it in Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe, but the impressive nature of the game's visuals lie in just how much it can look like a playable Kirby animated movie, complete with that cartoonish cuteness that makes it near impossible to not find the round pink fella adorable. A personal favourite visual element was Kirby's idle animation, where he just swings his arms like he's not got a care in the world.

Something that hasn't shown too much of a difference from the 2011 title is the gameplay in Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe, and this is for the best. The game is a much more traditional platformer than Kirby's most recent adventure, Kirby and the Forgotten Lands. The stages are based around the sucking mechanic, where Kirby can grab enemies, destroy obstacles, and gain special Copy Abilities. Among the many power-ups, there are classics like Cutter, Fighter, and Fire, but a few new Copy Abilities have been added in too, like Mecha, which proved to be an easy favourite thanks to its flying capability as well as its numerous ranged options. If you're teaming up with some friends in co-op, unfortunately the player who's taking control of Kirby will be the only one who can gain these Copy Abilities, but King Dedede, Meta Knight, and Bandana Waddle Dee all have their own uses as well. Dedede's hammer can be used to slam down stakes into the ground, Meta Knight's sword can cut vines, and you'll be able to reach targets from a greater distance with Bandana Waddle Dee's spear. Whether you're playing purely solo or want to go through the entire game with friends, Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe proves to be an incredibly fun experience when running through the game's main story. The premise of Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe has you collect spaceship parts after the aforementioned alien wizard Magalor crash lands on planet Pop Star. Alongside defeating a series of bosses to grab the different parts, you can also collect a few energy spheres in every stage, which offer a great level of replayability if you're going to collect them all.

While Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe's gameplay is incredibly fun, it also proves to be very easy. You're likely not going to be expecting FromSoftware levels of toughness when you pick up a Kirby title, but in Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe the difficulty - or lack thereof - is blatantly obvious. In the bosses especially, it is far too easy to just sit in a corner and blast their health bars into oblivion. But, for those who do want a more difficult experience, there is the Extra Mode which essentially acts as a New Game+ and can be accessed once you've finished the main story.

Besides beating the main story and the Extra mode, there are a lot of things to do in Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe. You can take on Mario Party-esque minigames of Merry Magoland, or run through bosses in Arena mode. This is a good thing for Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe, as without these extra options, the game would be incredibly short. Again, most of the content we see in the secondary modes for Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe did appear in the original game, with some exceptions. This does make for a title packed with content, but not necessarily anything incredibly new or exciting.

If you're looking for the short answer to whether Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe is a fitting remake of the 2011 platformer, then that answer is yes. Completely overhauling the largely unimpressive visuals of the first game, the appearance of the remake fits perfectly in with the better-looking titles of the Nintendo Switch's modern era. There are some minor problems, like simple boss fights, and perhaps not enough new content to really get your fill, but these small complaints are by no means enough to weigh down the latest adventure from the pink ball. Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe is a delight of a remake that bumps into some of the similar issues of its predecessor, but still manages to be an incredibly engaging and charming platformer all the same.