Kirby's Return To Dream Land Deluxe: Pros & Cons

Note: I will be spoiling elements of this remake. Don't read further if you haven't played it!

Kirby's Return To Dream Land is one of my favorite games of all time. It was the first mainline Kirby game I've ever played, and until Forgotten Land came out, it was hands down my favorite in the series. So when the remake was announced, I was super excited, but still unsure if it was really going to live up to the high bar of the original for me. Now that I've had the change to play it, I can say for sure that it's a great remake... but I'm not fully sure if it replaces the original either. I've divided my thoughts on the remake into Pros & Cons:

Pros:

• Using the Star Allies engine, Kirby's movement is a bit snappier in this remake. He runs faster, and being able to use an analog stick means you don't have to double-tap left to run anymore.
• You have a dodge now! The original RtDL only had a block move, but the dodge in this remake really makes certain fights easier.
• I love how they modified the Super Inhale. You don't have to shake your remote to trigger it, but shaking triggers it faster. If you use motion controls, it takes less time to Super Inhale than in the original.
• Sand and Mecha are great new abilities with vast movesets. Sand is especially great for the sheer variety of moves and combos you can pull off.
• HAL was willing to slightly modify certain levels to accommodate the new abilities, and they're incorporated in ways that feel entirely natural. 
• The addition of Magolor Tickets give you more incentive to actually explore the stages beyond just the Energy Spheres.
• The lighting and environments are vastly improved over the original, and it's especially noticeable in those dark cave sections. Areas like Haldera Volcano blew me away with how much better they looked.
• The new Super Ability transformation animations are sick, I got some real magical girl anime vibes from them.
• I'm a fan of King Dedede's new design, it's very expressive especially in the minigames.
• Merry Magoland feels like it could've been a $20 E-Shop game, it's that robust. There's so much new details added to all the minigames, lots of unlockables, and the missions reward mastery. HAL totally could've made a full-on Kirby Party if they wanted to.
• Magolor Epilogue is hands down my new favorite post-game campaign. The level design is tight and inventive, the Ordeal Levels lead to some clever platforming challenges, leveling up Magolor is satisfying, the story is intriguing, the final boss is stellar, and the music slaps. Most of all, though, the addition of a combo system finally puts juggling to use and encourages you to really use your moveset to its fullest. I hope this is a mainstay in future Kirby games, it's a truly stellar addition that brings Magolor Epilogue from great to phenomenal.
• The Extra Mode is actually genuinely harder this time thanks to the new enemy placements and lack of healing items! I actually died here, like a lot!
• The True Arena now features the Magolor Epilogue bosses and an extra Magolor phase, and I'm all for it. Where the original games' was fairly easy by True Arena standards, this definitely ranks as one of the hardest True Arenas in the series.

Cons:

• Why does Helper Magolor exist? The Story Mode in RTDL Deluxe is already easier than the original, this just feels patronizing. At least there's the fun gag of Helper Magolor not being available during the final boss. Hmm, I wonder why?
• If you've played the original as much as I have, the less floaty controls can feel a bit hard to adjust to, especially during boss fights. That's not really a bad thing though, it's just a me thing.
• My biggest issue is that certain Energy Spheres were made way too easy to get. In the original game, there were some Energy Spheres that you had to retry the level for if you happened to lose the ability you needed for it. In this version, Copy Essences show up in the room they're needed. Personally, I liked the more punishing Energy Spheres, and the presence of Copy Essences makes it incredibly obvious how you're supposed to get them, whereas in the original, you needed to scout the level for the right enemy.
• This is pretty selfish but I don't like how they made the Flare Beam easier to control. Let everyone feel my suffering, damn it!
• They made it so that you were able to hold down the jump button to use the Stomper Boot rather than have to time the button presses to jump off enemies, once again mitigating the game's challenge for no reason.
• They kept the Hammer Flip nerf from Star Allies! Hammer was more powerful in base RTDL than in any other game in the series (except maybe Robobot), it's a shame it's not the same here.
• The amount of damage Mecha's laser deals feels disproportionate to the amount of effort it takes to pull it off.
• The weapon balancing in general feels way off, a fair amount of super powerful abilities (Ninja, Parasol, Tornado, Hammer of course) from the original just simply severely nerfed here.
  
• While the game generally looks a lot better, I do think some of the more surreal environments (4-5, Nutty Noon) benefited a bit more from the simplistic look of the original. That might just be nostalgia speaking, though.
• The lack of online in Merry Magoland is pretty disappointing.
• No Scope Shot is a shame. I like Kirby On The Draw well enough, but it's no replacement.
• The lack of the Dream Collection challenge stages was also a shame. They're built on the same engine as RTDL, they shouldn't have been that hard to implement, right?
• While I like the harder True Arena, I do kinda wish we still had the original as well just for posterity's sake.
• While I argue there can never be enough content in a game, it's hard not to feel exhausted by the end of RTDL Deluxe with just how much you have to do for 100%.

So overall, I do think RTDL Deluxe is a great remake. It improves on the original in a lot of ways, the moment-to-moment gameplay and visuals are overall better, and the new additions like Merry Magoland and Magolor Epilogue are fantastic. However, it's not a perfect remake. It feels like HAL went a bit too far fixing issues that weren't really problems in the original, and the sheer amount of content added makes certain elements being left out all the more baffling. But still, I admire the lengths HAL put into making this remake not feel just like a standard port. It's still Return To Dream Land, and while I'd say this remake is one-step-forward and one-step-back, that still averages out to it being almost on par with the original.

4.5/5 Stars