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| title | date | score | howlongtobeat_id | howlongtobeat_hrs | game_name | game_genre | game_release_year | game_developer | tags | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kirby's Dream Land 2 | 2023-04-14T18:00:00+02:00 | 5 | 5078 | 2.6 | Kirby's Dream Land 2 | 2D Platformer | 1995 | HAL Laboratory |
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In March 1995, the previously white now turned pink sucking fluff ball named Kirby dreamed up a much improved Land installment for the Game Boy: Kirby's Dream Land 2. It would be the third Kirby Game Boy game, but the second mainline game since 1993's Kirby's Pinball Land is one of the many spin-offs.
In-between the Dream Land releases, the most important other entry is the NES console one titled Kirby's Adventure, where the copy ability was conceived by Kirby's father Masahiro Sakurai as a way to improve the replay value and up the challenge. The home console entry gave Kirby some much-needed color and increased the sprite size compared to the original. All these changes would transfer back to Kirby's Dream Land 2---except for the pink tones that will require some imagination on the monochrome Nintendo handheld. Two other home console spin-offs appeared before Dream Land 2: Kirby's Avalanche/Ghost Trap (a boring Puyo Puyo repackaging) and Kirby's Dream Course (a strange golf incarnation).
The basic gameplay hasn't changed: suck up enemies, press down to copy their ability if desired as in the NES game, fly and/or jump, collect food to replenish health, and make your way to the door with the three stars that signifies the exit of a stage.
But stopping here would do Kirby's Dream Land 2 a great disservice: everything its predecessor did, Dream Land 2 does much, much better, of course partially thanks to the gameplay mechanics conveniently adopted from the NES release. The game is four times as long and doesn't simply have five stages, but seven worlds (called "levels" in the game) divided into five to seven different stages each. Once unlocked, you can freely travel between the worlds to fetch a copy ability to your liking.
If you want to unlock the true ending, you'll need to take advantage of this: each world hides a rainbow droplet in a secret room behind a wall that can only be broken with a specific copy ability. As a kid, I remember collecting a few of these in the first worlds as they're easy to spot and grab, but I never truly understood the "bad" ending: when defeating king Dedede, after the credits roll, it states "the end... ?". Another hint: in the credits, all enemies reappear with their name tag, including the bosses, and one is hidden in shadows labeled with another question mark.
Perhaps the most exciting addition to this Kirby installment is the introduction of his furry friends: Rick the hamster, Coo the owl, and Kine the sunfish. They act as an extra buffer and grant extra abilities, on top of the regular copy ones. For example, if you have the boomerang ability and pair up with Coo, he'll throw out three feathers at enemies, greatly extending the spread/range of the attack. Also, Coo can fly against the wind, just like Kine can swim faster and against certain streams. The ability I especially loved was electricity paired with Kine, which suddenly spits out exploding light bulbs that also light up dark environments, enabling you to spot hidden rooms!
It's a lot of fun to discover new copy ability + animal companion combinations. When Rick turns into stone, he becomes a giant stone wheel Kirby mounts, rolling off slopes very fast, killing everything in their path1. It's clear that once again a lot of love was put into this game, and it's amazing to see it all fits in a tiny GB cart! Even better, the cart comes with Super Game Boy (SGB) compatibility which does give Dream Land 2 a dab of color and adds a few nice custom borders and even a few additional sound effects:
Kirby's Dream Land 2 is indeed a dream for Kirby or Game Boy fans, and the game has rightfully received a lot of critical acclaim. Nintendo Power lists it as the 10th best GB(C) game ever, although the initial score was a bit less heartwarming: 3.25/5. The game eventually sold a million copies, which thankfully was enough for the team at HAL to consider more (handheld) 2D Kirby mainline and spinoff installments. Too bad currently the game is a bit stuck in limbo, as the 3DS Virtual Console shop is closed, and it only was re-released as part of the Wii's Kirby's Dream Collection. If you're lucky, a loose GB cart will set you back for about €20.
It's sad to see the Game Boy Color neglected as Kirby's Dream Land 3 was released in 1997 for the SNES, and we won't be seeing any mobile platforming Kirby activity until 2002's Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land on the Game Boy Advance, a re-release of Kirby's Adventure for the NES. That's a seven year gap! Until then, only spin-offs such as Kirby's Block Ball and Tilt 'n Rumble (which are both surprisingly entertaining) are drip-fed to us to keep us busy.
At least that's better than no Kirby at all.
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So that's where the Gustavo and his mouse-can-turn-into-ball partner influence in the recent Wario tribute Pizza Tower came from! ↩︎