Super Kirby 3D World.
Despite being one of Nintendo's most recognizable characters, Kirby hasn't had the same care and attention to its franchise in the same way Nintendo has rolled out the big budget red carpet for the likes of Mario or The Legend of Zelda. We've had a few decent games in the series, some memorable, some incredibly forgettable, but very little innovation when it comes on what to expect year in and year out for the little pink wonder. With Forgotten Land, Kirby finally gets his due, and while it's not quite as open of a world as the reveal trailer initially hinted at it, it's leaps and bounds above any Kirby game thus far and stands as one of Nintendo's all time best platformers.
Forgotten Land takes the adorable Kirby into a whole new world, with gameplay largely akin to the likes of Super Mario 3D World more so than the full 3D blockbuster that was Mario Odyssey. Regardless, this format works extremely well, and each location is packed full of hidden areas and secrets that a full 3D camera would have likely exposed. Each location is typically themed from lava filled caverns, beachside resorts, to winter themed wonderlands. While most levels are lacking in challenge, they succeed in crafting enjoyable experiences, especially for a Kirby game, that will please both young and old alike.
While a solid portion of the game is rather simple, with only minimal challenge, you can select Wild Mode to increase that challenge and even earn more Star Coins as a result. I played the entire game through this mode and found the last few bosses to really test me in ways the rest of the game, and subsequently the franchise, often don’t. I can totally see someone swap it back to the Spring Breeze default difficulty at some points throughout the game, especially during the final boss as it can be quite challenging, and doing so, will give you considerably more health during this intense encounter.
Completing each level, as well as exploring the open space each world entails, will have you unlocking time-focused challenge trials that focus on a certain weapon ability, which also in some ways works as a type of tutorial for how to get the most out of each unique weapon ability. In fact, I learned more about certain abilities here than anywhere else in the game. As you complete these challenges, you'll earn Rare Stones used to level up those abilities, provided you find that abilities hidden blueprint, making them more elaborate and vastly more powerful with each advancement.
As Kirby wakes up on a deserted beach, in a strange new world, after being sucked into a vortex, they encounter Elfilin, a teal colored flying mouse-like creature. Elfilin explains to Kirby that they tried to fight back against the evil creatures that have imprisoned the Waddle Dee's from Kirby's world, and the two then join forces to set them free. As you explore each location, you'll encounter these imprisoned Waddle Dee's, housed in cages hidden around each level or at its completion. In fact, some are hidden unless you complete certain objectives, such as reuniting lost ducks with their mother, defeating bosses with a specific ability, or finding a set number of specific food in a level. These objectives are unknown to you until you either complete them or have a bonus one revealed at the end of the level.
As you free the Waddle Dee's from captivity, the small village of Waddle Dee will grow, a hub location that Kirby will return to between worlds. It is here where you'll use discovered blueprints to upgrade your abilities, which cost those Rare Stones and the Star Coins you'll find by completing levels and a taking in a few activities. As you amass a certain number of Waddle Dee's, you unlock a café mini-game where Kirby will prepare food for hungry Waddle Dee's, to a game reminiscent of the Kirby: Tilt and Tumble series. There is also a coliseum where you can take on increasingly challenging encounters, before finally squaring off against, well.. I think any Kirby fan will be able to guess who that might be.
Building up Waddle Dee village will give you plenty of things to do and discover. During each level, you'll collect little Amiibo-like toys, similar to those found in the Super Smash Bros. series. You can also find more of these through little capsule toy machines that unlock as you progress, to a total of four different machines, at least with what I’ve unlocked so far. You can also visit the post office to enter in Present Codes to earn rewards, as well as buy items to boost your health, attack, or speed, not to mention taking in a little bit of fishing as well or seeing the Waddle Dees perform some of the game's incredible music. Kirby also has a house where a good night's rest will return them to full health, as well as offer a cute little scene of Kirby getting some shut eye. The one where he falls off the bed gets me everytime.
When it comes to the type of combat known to the series, Kirby has a pretty substantial array of abilities that he will earn by sucking in various creatures, who sport those abilities themselves. One of the new abilities is the Ranger ability, which oddly enough, gives Kirby a gun, complete with a manual aim function. Otherwise, you’ll be wielding a hammer, spewing fire, spinning blades, bombs, ice and wind powers, to rolling around, digging underground, welding a classic sword, and more. Abilities start out simple, but the upgrades will see changes to how certain things work, such as the bomb Kirby throws eventually sporting wheels and homing in on the closest enemy.
Each ability brings with it different ways to not only engage in combat, but also to interact with certain elements of the environment, often to trigger a secret door or some other method to discover new paths to take. Abilities are normally spaced out and enemies are put in locations where a swap is usually hinted at with some interactive element placed up ahead. During boss encounters, if you are lacking an ability or have been hit so hard you’ve had your current one knocked away from you, you can suck up stars that will occasionally show up and spit them out at them, causing decent enough damage for how frequent you’ll see them.
Kirby also has a dodge roll, and this wasn’t apparent to me until I had heard on a podcast that they needed to use said dodge roll in one of the later boss encounters. Dodging is done by hold the right trigger and then flicking the left stick. It can feel a tad sticky, but has a lot of invincibility frames to pull off some last second dodges. And that boss fight? Yah, it totally trivializes the entire fight. Apart from straight combat, it can often be the best tool you’ll be able to rely on.
Apart from Kirby's core combat abilities, the big gimmick in Forgotten Land is Mouthful Mode, a phrase that caught the internet by storm when the game was first announced. While Kirby can swallow enemies both big and small, it’s another thing entirely to see Kirby attempt this with a car, a vending machine, or a flight of stairs. Nonetheless, these are some of the ways in which Kirby will use this newfound ability, from taking part in a few races, using a part of an arch to take flight in a few flying sections, to swallowing a traffic cone and using the tip to puncture cracks in pipes or the rock formation around a giant turtle.
Mouthful Mode is pure simple fun. It’s remarkably charming, and the vehicle based systems work extremely well, especially the game’s anime style opening that features car Kirby just coasting down the highway to a stellar song that fits the tone and charm this game exudes constantly. Honestly, I had a smile on my face the entire time. Mouthful Mode, at its core, allows Kirby to largely solve puzzles or act as a traversal system more so than used in combat. You can attack in some forms, such as shooting out cans as a vending machine, or rolling into enemies as a huge pipe, but apart from their singular use for the moment, they don’t branch out away from their singular purpose and are often blocked with a ladder or a platform that forces you to exhale whatever it is that Kirby has in his mouth at the moment and leave it behind. I would love to see this mechanic in a more freeform way where there is more options and experimentation because honestly, there is something here that begs to be explored.
My entire time with Kirby and the Forgotten Land has been on the Switch OLED, and this game sores. It’s incredibly colorful, and is without question the best Kirby has ever looked or felt to play. I noticed some pop up in all of two scenes, and the final encounter of the story did suffer from a few seconds of slow down that while didn’t get me hit, nearly did. Nintendo has that particular look when it comes to Kirby and while this game certainly brings elements to it that make for an engaging experience, it doesn’t try to reinvent the Kirby look, apart from some color choices used in the post-game content.
If you hit the credits of Kirby and the Forgotten Land, you may assume that you are done with the title apart from maybe going back and trying to hit the record times for each of the challenge rifts, but you’d be wrong. There is a ton left to do including a whole secondary storyline that takes off from the game’s incredible ending, honestly, I was in a range of emotions during that whole final cutscene. The post-game content can feel a bit been-there-done-that, but overall, it is still super engaging and kept me playing, which considering how fun this game is, was great to see.
Now, Forgotten Land is not all sunshine and rainbows, even though I still highly recommend it. There are some UI elements I am not too crazy on as some prompts have unskippable animations to go through before you can close out the prompt and get back to playing, but I feel that has also been a very Nintendo thing in the past. My biggest gripe; however, is that you’ll fight a lot of the same mini-bosses well over a dozen times each. The story bosses themselves are fun, and you’ll fight them again to, and I don’t just mean in the coliseum either. I think those bosses are fine, but every time those mini-bosses would show up, sometimes having you fight multiple of them at once, I sighed, loud. It’s a shame considering how every other part of this whole game is top shelf and these repeated encounters just suck the wind out of the sails every time they show up.
Despite the simple nature of Kirby and the Forgotten Land, there is a way to make it a tad bit easier and that is via its co-op mode. After you complete the first mission, you’ll eventually be able to have Bandana Waddle Dee join Kirby via same screen co-op. While it would have been great to see online support for this, currently it is only supported locally. Waddle Dee can only jump, and not float, and attacks with a spear. Since he lacks the same abilities of Kirby, you don’t get the fun ability variety or the mouthful mode, and because of this, some things cannot be enjoyed in co-op. I get that you likely don’t want two Kirby’s occupying the same adventure, but it does make the game far less fun for the joining player.
Kirby and The Forgotten Land shines incredibly bright despite any small issues it has during its roughly 12-15 hour length. The Mouthful mode mechanic can feel somewhat limiting, but a few examples work extremely well and enhance the experience greatly. Kirby games have had a very well known charm to them, and Forgotten Land leans heavy into it, giving you several cute and adorable moments every few minutes. There are some small annoyances here and there and a co-op mode that feels incredibly lacking for the second player, but overall, Kirby is here doing what Kirby does best, being cute, inhaling an army of innocent animals, and going on a grand adventure.
Developer - HAL Laboratory. Publisher - Nintendo. Released - March 25th, 2022. Available On - Nintendo Switch. Rated - (E 10+) Cartoon Violence.
Platform Reviewed - Nintendo Switch OLED. Review Access - Kirby and the Forgotten Land was purchased by the reviewer.