I've enjoyed doing those Mega Man deep dives so much that I wanted to branch out into delving into some of my other favorite series, and one in particular is Kirby, my favorite video game series of all time. Kirby is a series that just doesn't get fully analyzed much on a game design level, so I wanted to change that and really pick apart what makes these games work so well for me. So, let's start with the first game in the series, Kirby's Dream Land.
Introduction
- Kirby's Dream Land keeps things simple in terms of story. King Dedede stole all the fruit in Dream Land and Kirby has to get it back, but right from the start, the execution is so filled with charm.
- The main title screen is impressively busy, with the screen being flooded with dancing Kirbies doing a variety of different animations. And once you get into the game, you're immediately greeted with one of Kirby's classic pre-stage cutscenes.
Green Greens
- Like with many first entries, Kirby's movement hasn't been fully nailed yet, but it's almost there. Sakurai's games tend to give Kirby this really fast, snappy, and almost weightless feeling movement. In DL1 specifically, it can almost feel like Kirby is gliding on the ground at times.
- The early Kirby games also made it so that you have to tap up to start floating rather than tapping A twice like in the later games. It's something I'm able to get used to, but I've never really been a fan of this control method personally since it can be easy to accidentally activate the flight.
- Speaking of flight, I've seen a lot of criticism towards this move since it basically means you can fly over all the obstacles and avoid every pitfall. And while the latter point is mostly true... why would you fly over all the obstacles? Flying in these games is slow and limiting, and in this game in particular, Kirby's hitbox grows which only makes him more vulnerable. Flight in Kirby is a lifeline, but these games do a lot to discourage you from using it all the time.
- That being said, some of the animation work for Kirby is already really good. The impact frame for whenever Kirby hits the ground is a particular highlight, as is the falling animation for whenever Kirby drops from a tall height. I particularly like the latter because being a fall means Kirby can hop onto enemies without taking damage himself, giving the moveset just a bit of extra depth.
- And of course, I can't go without mentioning Kirby's most iconic ability, the suck. It already works great, it feels super intuitive especially with that great sound design.
- In this game, Kirby doesn't have copy abilities or even the slide, so his only method of defeating enemies is using others are projectiles. In some ways, this makes the game easier since you don't have to worry about more intricate combat. In other ways, this can make the game harder since your resources for attacking is a bit more limited, and dealing damage solely relies on your ability to line up shots. I'm glad the copy abilities were added in Adventure, but for the purposes of Dream Land 1 specifically, this simplified combat system works well enough.
- Okay, now that we're done with the controls, let's actually talk about Green Greens. The first area of Green Greens is pretty much your standard tutorial. You start the game and immediately you're faced with two Waddle Dees lined up perfectly together. Then, you get a small jump and soon after a tall wall to fly over you, showing you how to gain height. After that, you find a door which tells you to go in, leading to two health recovering items, letting you know that this game has a bunch of secrets for you to find. The area ends with the game's first pitfall to amp up the stakes, and a swarm of all the enemies you've met so far before putting you on a warp star path to the rest of the level. As far as tutorials goes, this area isn't ground-breaking at all but it does its job well.
- The warp star is fun too, a very nice bit of spectacle for whenever it shows up. And in Green Greens, it takes you to a fairly simple fight against a Poppy Bro as a final test to make sure you're ready for the rest of the game.
- The next section of Green Greens is a fairly standard forest area, though it does introduce the Star Blocks which you can use as projectiles if you need to. However, the third section changes things up in a nice way by putting you in a vertical section where you have to climb a tree from the inside. This is an incredibly iconic bit in Dream Land and would continue to be replicated in many Kirby games after it.
- Something I like about these early Kirby games is that it feels like the enemies have this really natural movement to them. Waddle Dees often run around at different speeds, birds hop and flap their wings even when you're not in sight, and it feels like the world around is still active even off-screen.
- Ending off the shortest level in the game is the easiest boss fight in the game. Whispy Woods is an iconic boss for his great design and silly premise, though his first fight isn't much more than him dropping apples on your head. He does try to blow gusts of air at you occassionally, but most of these can be dodged by just staying on the ground. That being said, I do really like the build-up of falling back down the tree before confronting him.
Castle Lololo
- Castle Lololo has one of the funnier opening cutscenes with Kirby sneezing the stars out of the sky, and the music is a step-up as well. It's a bit more serious and militaristic, but it still has that upbeat and energetic Kirby sound to it.
- The stage starts with a really funny gag. You spawn in outside the titular castle and can see a Broom Hatter sweeping a balcony above you. If you take too long to get moving though, the Broom Hatter will fall off the balcony and hit you.
- Upon entering Castle Lololo, you're immediately greeted with the game's first power-up, the screen-clearing microphone. There's even a bunch of passive enemies to test it out on. Dream Land compensates for its lack of copy abilities with these temporary power-ups you can use, something the series wouldn't really bring back until Return To Dream Land.
- This first room also introduces multiple doors, one of which taking you to the next part of the level, and the other taking you to the roof where you can find some health items. Once again, Kirby's Dream Land is rewarding you for taking the time to explore.
- The next main room introduces yet another power-up, the Bomb, and it's a pretty underrated one at that. When Kirby spits out a bomb, it will fly forward and take out every enemy in its path, and it feels ridiculously satisfying to use.
- One thing I like about Castle Lololo is that nearly every room tosses something new at you. The next one is a weird screen-looping room with a bunch of Mario-inspired enemies like masks that home in on you (SMB2) and question mark blocks with Jack In The Boxes that pop out of them. And once again, there's multiple doors to enter. One takes you right to the warp star, and the other takes you through an underwater side path that leads you to an invincibility lollipop.
- That being said, the underwater controls in Dream Land 1 aren't great. Kirby isn't able to inhale underwater, nor can he blow bubbles like in later games, so he's just kind of defenseless.
- And to continue the negativity, I don't love the Lololo and Lalala fights. The reference to the Adventures Of Lolo is charming, but having to chase after bosses that pop in and out of different entrances was never something I found particularly fun. And unfortunately, this is a trope that many Kirby games will continue to use.
- A side room in the second half of Castle Lololo introduces yet another powerup, the Chili. This powerup lets you shoot hot fireballs at enemies at a constant rate, and you even get a spinning circle of ghosts to try it out on.
- Castle Lololo ends with a light pick-a-door challenge, which serves as a pretty fitting final challenge in what's easily the most mazelike stage in the game. It's a real shame this stage never got carried over into Super Star's Spring Breeze mode because it really is quite fun.
Float Islands
- Something I love about the opening cutscenes is that it feels like they're timed so that the background melody starts right when Kirby spawns into the game. And speaking of music, Float Islands has easily my favorite track in the game, it's just so upbeat and melodic.
- Right from the get-go, Float Islands tosses more dangerous enemies and hazards at you. Waddle Doos that shoot out large beams, explosive coconuts that fall from the palm trees, and Shotzos that shoot out cannonballs from under the water. The first room also has a pretty fun flying-only segment where you have to dodge squids that are hopping out of the water.
- The second part of Float Islands is a cave section, which I've always liked. This area introduces teleporting Kabus who are a bit trickier to deal with than the other enemies you've met so far, along with spikes that line the ceilings and floors forcing you to fly a bit more carefully. This area also shows that some secret doors may even be hidden behind Star Blocks, amping up the exploration factor even more.
- The third area is another visual setpiece I like quite a lot, with you hopping onto a pirate ship and using a Chili to wreck havoc on all the enemies on board (just a shame that, once again, it's not in Super Star!). Despite only having five levels, each stage in Kirby's Dream Land 1 feels quite dynamic and varied on their own.
- The warp star sequences have mostly been pretty standard so far, but Kirby getting lodged into a whale's blowhole and being launched into the sky is a very fun visual.
- And of course, Float Islands ends with the best boss fight in the game, a shmup battle against an evil airship named Kabula. There isn't too much I can say about this fight that hasn't already been said. It's a fun surprise, a welcome change of pace, a solid difficulty jump, and a strong introduction to Kirby's trend of introducing shmup elements.
Bubbly Clouds
- Bubbly Clouds further amps up the stakes by increasing the amount of pitfalls by quite the large margin, and the enemies get a lot more aggressive. Scarfies in this game make a pretty large explosion if you hit them, so you have to be really careful when trying to take them out, even in Normal Mode.
- Early on in the stage, you enter another screen-wrap area that I didn't even realize used the screen-wrap until just now. Maybe it's just me but between the cloudy visuals and the staircase like level design, this section feels pretty Kid Icarus-inspired. Considering the Mario references, I wouldn't be surprised if it was the case.
- Kracko Jr is a bit of a tricky mini-boss, with a pretty unconventional movement pattern, but once you get it down, he's not too bad. I like how he sets the stage for the stage's proper boss fight.
- The next part of this stage brings back the Mint Breath that you used to fight Kabula with, and lets you use it to dig through a huge wall of Star Blocks. In Super Star, this is gone, so you kinda just have to tediously dig through the Star Blocks with your copy abilities which isn't anywhere near as fun.
- This second half of Bubbly Clouds is where the art direction of Kirby's Dream Land really shines. The starry sky, the detailed architecture, the comforting music, it all makes for a really, well, dreamlike atmosphere that I always love. I especially like that one room with the shooting stars, it's a very cool visual.
- The final room before the boss is one final vertical climb, but it's mostly known for housing the best secret area in the game. If you fly to the moon and press Up, you will enter a secret room filled with health recovery items and 1-Ups. The visuals of being in a long fall as the starry night sky changes back to day is really memorable too.
- As for the boss fight with Kracko, it's pretty solid, definitely one of the better fights in the game even if it's sandwiched between Kabula and King Dedede. The fact that he has multiple attacks that he can cycle through at seemingly random means he can catch you off guard if you not careful. I also just love Kracko as a character and how he has this massive grudge against Kirby that's lasted the entire series.
Mt Dedede
- Mt Dedede starts with the best opening cutscene of the bunch, a pretty awesome opening as Kirby flies through the stars on his warpstar before crashing right into Dedede's hallway. It feels very action-packed, even if I prefer the Super Star version where Kirby takes out some enemies on the way in.
- That being said, as far as the actual level of Mt Dedede, this version blows out the Super Star version by a mile. While Spring Breeze's Mt Dedede is just a simple hallway before the final boss, this Mt Dedede has you visit short areas based on all four prior levels before facing off against the bosses in rematches, so it really feels like a proper final level.
- That being said, there isn't too much I can really say about these sectioned-off areas. Green Greens has a pretty neat flying section where you have to float just above a pitfall, Float Islands including both the pirate ship and a small cave is nice, and Bubbly Clouds being a long drop that actually lets you make use of the "falling" mechanic is really fun, but most of these areas are incredibly short and over quick.
- Although, what's up with the Kirby Clones in these areas? What are they doing here? Why do you need to collect them to fight the boss? Seriously, I'm a longtime fan of these games and I still don't know what they're here for.
- King Dedede's final encounter in Kirby's Dream Land is actually really good. Nowadays, Kirby has fought King Dedede so many times and faced off against so many eldtrich monstrosities, that this final boss feels a bit quaint, but it works really well in the context of this game. King Dedede has far and away the biggest health bar of any boss at 10, and he has four different attacks he can cycle between at random. The boxing ring setting is also a really fun touch.
- The final cutscene of Kirby using the sparkling stars to inflate himself enough to carry Dedede's entire castle off its mountain and sprinkle food across Dream Land manages to expertly toe the line between being really goofy and genuinely triumphant and cathartic, aided by the fantastic ending music.
Extra Mode
- But of course, that's not it. After beating the game, you're given a code you can use to try out Hard Mode, and this is where the real meat of the game comes in. While pretty much every Kirby game from here on out has some sort of an Extra Mode, the one in Kirby's Dream Land still stands as one of the hardest. Enemies are more unpredictable and deal double damage, and the bosses have more complex movesets.
- Green Greens sets the tone immediately by having its Waddle Dees jump over you if you try to inhale them, though most of the rest of the stage isn't too different outside of the more erratic enemies. Whispy Woods on the other hand is the real skill check, with faster and more erratic wind gusts, and the fact that he now drops Gordos along with the apples. Gordos in the Extra Mode take off half your health so avoided them is an absolute MUST.
- Castle Lololo starts with the aforementioned Broom Hatter immediately launching itself at you, before continuing the trend of making enemy patterns more difficult, with a notable highlight here are the new skull enemies who you can't even inhale. The solo Lololo fight is made way harder as he shoots out a Gordo immediately after shooting out the block so you have way less time to hit him, but the actual boss fight isn't that much more difficult, Lololo & Lalala are just a bit faster.
- Float Islands just has some really devious enemy placement. One section in the original stage had you run past a bunch of explosive coconuts that drop onto you, but the Extra Mode adds a bunch of enemies right at the end of this path that you need to jump over. And in the cave, if you hug the right wall while flying up, you'll be hit by a coconut you probably couldn't see coming. Aside from that, the squids move faster, the Shotzos shoot way faster and more frequently, and the cave has more Gordos for you to dodge.
- And then there's Kabula. She moves faster, shoots faster, is overall more aggressive, and her bullets hover around making them even harder to dodge. Kabula EX is probably the hardest fight in the entire game, and it's awesome.
- Out of all the stages in Extra Mode, Bubbly Clouds is the hardest. This stage gave me so much grief as a kid, you have no idea. First off, the parasols. Bubbly Clouds had a bunch of enemies that dropped down with parasols before letting them go if you hit them or if they touched the ground. In the Normal Game, this is cute. In the Extra Game, once let go of, those parasols will immediately shift to homing in on you, and they move fast.
- Beyond that, though, the Sir Kibbles have been replaced with enemies that toss two cutters in a row, that aforementioned Star Block maze now houses Gordos that home in your on, the secret room is now flooded with Gordos to dodge, and worst of all, the shooting stars now damage you. More than in any other stage, Bubbly Clouds EX makes you feel like everything and every one is out to get you, including the developers themselves. It breaks all your preconceived notions about Kirby's Dream Land and conditions you to not trust anything.
- As for the bosses, Kracko Jr is now absolutely brutal. His pattern is way more complex and erratic, and he moves absurdly fast making him another solid candidate for hardest fight in the game. Kracko, on the other hand... well... he's kinda easier. If you stay in the corner and jump when he dashes towards you, Kracko will not be able to hit you. Kracko EX has the most cheesable attack pattern in the game, which is a bit of a disappointment.
- Mt Dedede is probably the least changed level of the bunch, beyond all the enemies and bosses being substituted with their Extra Mode counterparts. Even King Dedede is left pretty much unchanged outside of making him faster, though that's probably for the best. Dedede was tough enough as he is, especially with your lower defense.
- So, I never sat through the post-credits cutscenes after each mode and I assume no one else did either because I have never heard anyone talk about the Extra Mode's ending. King Dedede falls on his face once again, but this time, Kirby runs up to Dedede and tries to comfort him. Dedede gets up in tears and rejects Kirby's help, solemnly walking away. All this time I thought Adventure was what laid the groundwork for Dedede's character arc, but it was here the whole time!
- As a reward for beating Extra Mode, Kirby's Dream Land will give you yet another code to unlock a Config Mode, which lets you tweak your health and life count, along with viewing a cute sound test. Even in its first, very short game, the Kirby series is implementing side content, optional modes, and unlockables.
Conclusion
Overall, Kirby's Dream Land is a solid first game in the series. Its short length and lack of copy abilities seem to put a lot of people off and it is true that it's nowhere near as substantial as later entries, but it's still an immaculately-designed little platformer in its own right that doesn't waste a single second of its runtime. It's brisk, it's replayable, it's charming, and if you go for the Extra Mode, it can be deceptively challenging.
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