"Kirby's Epic Yarn has neither Kirby's copy powers nor infinite float," went the Internet argument—or, at least, that's the paraphrasing after being filtered through the ravages of memory. It's a classic case of franchise expectations, a topic I've written on before; the thinking is that it simply cannot be a Kirby game if it does not feature these sorts of things.
The personal gauntlet thrown down, I began to think about what makes a Kirby game. I did not have the luxury of a rich history to draw on in this case—the first Kirby game I actually owned was Kirby 64. Since then, I'd gone through Kirby's Adventure via angrily-renamed Nightmare in Dream Land on the GBA, and both Super Star Ultra and Canvas Curse (widely acclaimed and significantly non-traditional as far as Kirby games go) on the DS. All of these games featured Kirby's now-famous copy power. My quest to look back into the pink blob's history brought me back to a title I'd only cursorily poked at before, but now decided to play in full.
That title was the original Sakurai creation, Kirby's Dream Land for the Game Boy. In it I found the genesis for a lot of what we've come to know as "Kirby," from the aforementioned infinite float to iconic bosses and familiar themes. Kirby's first outing saw him spring forth with inhalation and exhalation powers, but one key thing was not yet present: those darned copy powers. And, yet... the game holds up extremely well, even today.
You have actually played a version of Dream Land if you've played Super Star or its DS remake, Super Star Ultra; the game's very first mode, Spring Breeze is a remake of Dream Land... minus a few bits. That said, there are a lot of interesting things in Dream Land that didn't make it to Spring Breeze. Some are faint echoes of what would come later; others were just totally randomly interesting things that would never be seen again.
But before I go there: one thing that absolutely has survived intact through the years is Kirby's unique feel. From his breezily relaxed pace to his ability to puff up and float freely up and around dangers, Kirby feels just as good to control in this game as he has continued to throughout the years. (I should add, actually, that I think Super Star lost a little bit of this wonderful feel in some spots. Not because Kirby changed, mind, but because his landscape did, cramming the soaring pink guy into tiny spaces, leaving him without the ability to dance through the air. It hurts him a bit, and gives Super Star the sole point I can isolate as negative.)
The trip through Dream Land starts simply enough, with appearances from Poppy Bros. and Whispy Woods. Of course, inhaling that bomb won't make you Bomb Kirby; it merely gives you ammunition to fire back. Dream Land gets a lot of mileage out of this simple mechanic; in other Kirby games, being limited to spitting back what you just sucked up feels more like punishment for sucking, and not in a good way; being forced to fight without those copy powers lets the wind out of the sails.
But sucking in and expelling air and enemies is not the be-all and end-all of what Kirby can do. A little further in, we start to uncover some interesting bits and pieces, starting with an unassuming microphone.
This microphone marks one of several Kirby powerups you'll encounter in Dream Land; they're a bit more traditional in their "here it is, come get it"-ness vs. the copy powers Kirby gets from digesting his enemies. You're probably already familiar with what happens with Mike Kirby, with Kirby issuing a screen-clearing blast on command; inhaling this lone microphone does the same thing.
There are also a curious assortment of question-mark blocks, which are activated when Kirby runs into them. Some have powerups inside, others seem to just be duds. Is there more to them than meets the eye? Possibly, but I honestly didn't sit there pummeling random blocks long enough to find out.
On the way to see more of the things that make Dream Land unique, though, we need to visit two that are more familiar. The Lololo/Lalala boss fight makes its original appearance here. I think it's particularly worth noting because it's really the only time in all of Dream Land that Kirby feels really constrained, with the single-tile-high floors and limited spaces in which to jump. That said, it taught me to do something I never really bothered to do much in any other Kirby games: inhale a projectile and then tap down to drop through a floor. I had been conditioned to always just use d-pad down to swallow, but I learned in this fight that if you're standing on a droppable floor when you press down, you'll fall through instead, mouth-load undigested.
Moving through water is a little different, too. If you're used to Kirby being able to fight back while underwater, you'll need to be a little more deft here, as swimming-Kirby can't spit a stream of water at his enemies in Dream Land, turning water travel into less of a "blast your way through" and more of a "navigate carefully" thing.
And now we get back to what impressed me the most about Dream Land. This little leaf powerup right here gives Kirby infinite infinite float via what is probably the worst case of gas any video game character has ever had; swallowing it lets him keep floating while repeatedly exhaling. It only appears twice (much like other power-ups), but it's used to great effect to transform the platformer into—wait for it—a shmup. A basic one, sure, but a shmup nonetheless. (It's true that this battle is revisited in spirit in Kirby Super Star Ultra, though with Kirby flying his starship, it just isn't the same. This way was much cooler.)
There's one more powerup, not pictured here, which is what can really only be a plate of spicy curry. Kirby gains the ability to exhale fire for a limited time after swallowing this, predictably enough. It's fun, but pales in comparison to Shmup Kirby.
More familiarity awaits the Dream Land player as he goes on, now. Scarfies—those dudes who look innocent enough until you try to inhale them, then OH MY GOD THEY'RE EVIL AND COMING AT ME—make appearances, and of course there's a fight against Kracko, who has the goodheartedness to toss Waddle Doos at you to fire back at him, since you have no other way to take him on. I hope you like fighting Kracko, by the way, because you'll be doing it again before the game's over!
That's right: before you're able to get the food back from Dedede, you will engage in the time-honored tradition of the boss rush! This is actually pretty cool, because you get to do the Shmup Kirby part again—but there are also a set of short gauntlets to run through before each boss. Each concludes with a bizarre "touch your Kirby doppelganger to explode the enemies on the screen including the spiky Gordo in front of the boss door," which I absolutely do not get, but it makes for some amusing screenshot opportunities.
Once you've taken down all four bosses, again, it's on to the King.
Dedede might just seem more involved here than I ever remember him being because I don't crash into his ring sporting the latest insta-kill power, but true or not, there it is. I actually died in this battle first time. I was kind of shocked, because Dream Land, like most Kirby titles after it, isn't a hard game—merely a ridiculously fun one. But once you learn his patterns and not to get trapped in the corner by him, Dedede goes down and you get to...
...the end credits. Thank you, director and chief designer Masa Sakurai! (Where have I heard that name...?) It's not Zelda by S. Miyahon, but it's a nice set of 8-bit credits nonetheless, with a delightful closing animation sequence.
But wait, don't go! There's more!
I hope I'm not spoiling anything here, but—having gone in blind—I was pleased to find out there's a friggin' Dream Land Master Quest up in this thing. As of press time, I haven't yet taken it on, though I did stick my head in to find, in addition to the previously-languid after having done a morning of doing espresso shots, some brand new enemies! They included a cupcake throwing blobs of frosting at me at a ludicrous rate and some dopey-looking gigantic black bugs buzzing around. This Dream Land looks a bit more like the real Nightmare. If Kirby is indeed angry, this might be why.
The handful of hours I spent playing Dream Land proved to me that Dream Land is really a fantastically creative and fun (though very short!) game, even in 2010. (If you're intrigued, you can seek out a copy that'll play on your old GB or GBA if you want to check it out for yourself, or wait and see if appears on 3DS' download service.) It proves to me that you don't need to have every last one of a franchise's checklist elements to make a great game; sometimes, it's even beneficial to not have them around, to make room for other interesting elements.
Epic Yarn doesn't have copy powers, either—but it had a great feel to it, much the series has had since Dream Land, when I played the demo at E3. Kirby still did a wide variety of transformations both context-sensitive and action-invoked that he drew on, spicing up the already delightful level design. Of course, I can't say right now whether it's going to be a fantastic game—that's a judgment that needs to be left for a complete playthrough—but one thing's for sure: Dream Land proves to me that we need not judge it on its lack of adherence to franchise expectations.
Though, I would love for it to have a bonus quest...
The personal gauntlet thrown down, I began to think about what makes a Kirby game. I did not have the luxury of a rich history to draw on in this case—the first Kirby game I actually owned was Kirby 64. Since then, I'd gone through Kirby's Adventure via angrily-renamed Nightmare in Dream Land on the GBA, and both Super Star Ultra and Canvas Curse (widely acclaimed and significantly non-traditional as far as Kirby games go) on the DS. All of these games featured Kirby's now-famous copy power. My quest to look back into the pink blob's history brought me back to a title I'd only cursorily poked at before, but now decided to play in full.
That title was the original Sakurai creation, Kirby's Dream Land for the Game Boy. In it I found the genesis for a lot of what we've come to know as "Kirby," from the aforementioned infinite float to iconic bosses and familiar themes. Kirby's first outing saw him spring forth with inhalation and exhalation powers, but one key thing was not yet present: those darned copy powers. And, yet... the game holds up extremely well, even today.
You have actually played a version of Dream Land if you've played Super Star or its DS remake, Super Star Ultra; the game's very first mode, Spring Breeze is a remake of Dream Land... minus a few bits. That said, there are a lot of interesting things in Dream Land that didn't make it to Spring Breeze. Some are faint echoes of what would come later; others were just totally randomly interesting things that would never be seen again.
But before I go there: one thing that absolutely has survived intact through the years is Kirby's unique feel. From his breezily relaxed pace to his ability to puff up and float freely up and around dangers, Kirby feels just as good to control in this game as he has continued to throughout the years. (I should add, actually, that I think Super Star lost a little bit of this wonderful feel in some spots. Not because Kirby changed, mind, but because his landscape did, cramming the soaring pink guy into tiny spaces, leaving him without the ability to dance through the air. It hurts him a bit, and gives Super Star the sole point I can isolate as negative.)
The trip through Dream Land starts simply enough, with appearances from Poppy Bros. and Whispy Woods. Of course, inhaling that bomb won't make you Bomb Kirby; it merely gives you ammunition to fire back. Dream Land gets a lot of mileage out of this simple mechanic; in other Kirby games, being limited to spitting back what you just sucked up feels more like punishment for sucking, and not in a good way; being forced to fight without those copy powers lets the wind out of the sails.
But sucking in and expelling air and enemies is not the be-all and end-all of what Kirby can do. A little further in, we start to uncover some interesting bits and pieces, starting with an unassuming microphone.
This microphone marks one of several Kirby powerups you'll encounter in Dream Land; they're a bit more traditional in their "here it is, come get it"-ness vs. the copy powers Kirby gets from digesting his enemies. You're probably already familiar with what happens with Mike Kirby, with Kirby issuing a screen-clearing blast on command; inhaling this lone microphone does the same thing.
There are also a curious assortment of question-mark blocks, which are activated when Kirby runs into them. Some have powerups inside, others seem to just be duds. Is there more to them than meets the eye? Possibly, but I honestly didn't sit there pummeling random blocks long enough to find out.
On the way to see more of the things that make Dream Land unique, though, we need to visit two that are more familiar. The Lololo/Lalala boss fight makes its original appearance here. I think it's particularly worth noting because it's really the only time in all of Dream Land that Kirby feels really constrained, with the single-tile-high floors and limited spaces in which to jump. That said, it taught me to do something I never really bothered to do much in any other Kirby games: inhale a projectile and then tap down to drop through a floor. I had been conditioned to always just use d-pad down to swallow, but I learned in this fight that if you're standing on a droppable floor when you press down, you'll fall through instead, mouth-load undigested.
Moving through water is a little different, too. If you're used to Kirby being able to fight back while underwater, you'll need to be a little more deft here, as swimming-Kirby can't spit a stream of water at his enemies in Dream Land, turning water travel into less of a "blast your way through" and more of a "navigate carefully" thing.
And now we get back to what impressed me the most about Dream Land. This little leaf powerup right here gives Kirby infinite infinite float via what is probably the worst case of gas any video game character has ever had; swallowing it lets him keep floating while repeatedly exhaling. It only appears twice (much like other power-ups), but it's used to great effect to transform the platformer into—wait for it—a shmup. A basic one, sure, but a shmup nonetheless. (It's true that this battle is revisited in spirit in Kirby Super Star Ultra, though with Kirby flying his starship, it just isn't the same. This way was much cooler.)
There's one more powerup, not pictured here, which is what can really only be a plate of spicy curry. Kirby gains the ability to exhale fire for a limited time after swallowing this, predictably enough. It's fun, but pales in comparison to Shmup Kirby.
More familiarity awaits the Dream Land player as he goes on, now. Scarfies—those dudes who look innocent enough until you try to inhale them, then OH MY GOD THEY'RE EVIL AND COMING AT ME—make appearances, and of course there's a fight against Kracko, who has the goodheartedness to toss Waddle Doos at you to fire back at him, since you have no other way to take him on. I hope you like fighting Kracko, by the way, because you'll be doing it again before the game's over!
That's right: before you're able to get the food back from Dedede, you will engage in the time-honored tradition of the boss rush! This is actually pretty cool, because you get to do the Shmup Kirby part again—but there are also a set of short gauntlets to run through before each boss. Each concludes with a bizarre "touch your Kirby doppelganger to explode the enemies on the screen including the spiky Gordo in front of the boss door," which I absolutely do not get, but it makes for some amusing screenshot opportunities.
Once you've taken down all four bosses, again, it's on to the King.
Dedede might just seem more involved here than I ever remember him being because I don't crash into his ring sporting the latest insta-kill power, but true or not, there it is. I actually died in this battle first time. I was kind of shocked, because Dream Land, like most Kirby titles after it, isn't a hard game—merely a ridiculously fun one. But once you learn his patterns and not to get trapped in the corner by him, Dedede goes down and you get to...
...the end credits. Thank you, director and chief designer Masa Sakurai! (Where have I heard that name...?) It's not Zelda by S. Miyahon, but it's a nice set of 8-bit credits nonetheless, with a delightful closing animation sequence.
But wait, don't go! There's more!
I hope I'm not spoiling anything here, but—having gone in blind—I was pleased to find out there's a friggin' Dream Land Master Quest up in this thing. As of press time, I haven't yet taken it on, though I did stick my head in to find, in addition to the previously-languid after having done a morning of doing espresso shots, some brand new enemies! They included a cupcake throwing blobs of frosting at me at a ludicrous rate and some dopey-looking gigantic black bugs buzzing around. This Dream Land looks a bit more like the real Nightmare. If Kirby is indeed angry, this might be why.
The handful of hours I spent playing Dream Land proved to me that Dream Land is really a fantastically creative and fun (though very short!) game, even in 2010. (If you're intrigued, you can seek out a copy that'll play on your old GB or GBA if you want to check it out for yourself, or wait and see if appears on 3DS' download service.) It proves to me that you don't need to have every last one of a franchise's checklist elements to make a great game; sometimes, it's even beneficial to not have them around, to make room for other interesting elements.
Epic Yarn doesn't have copy powers, either—but it had a great feel to it, much the series has had since Dream Land, when I played the demo at E3. Kirby still did a wide variety of transformations both context-sensitive and action-invoked that he drew on, spicing up the already delightful level design. Of course, I can't say right now whether it's going to be a fantastic game—that's a judgment that needs to be left for a complete playthrough—but one thing's for sure: Dream Land proves to me that we need not judge it on its lack of adherence to franchise expectations.
Though, I would love for it to have a bonus quest...