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Kirby's Return to Dream Land |OT| 6+ Years in the Making

C

cajunator

Banned
This game is just incredibly fun. Old school Kirby/Nintendo platforming joy. So many cute details, so much great music, and the art style works wonderfully for Kirby. the new powerup abilities are awesome as ever, and the ability to play co-op just puts the icing on it. BUY THIS FUCKING GAME IF YOU LIKE KIRBY.
 
R

Ranger X

Member
cajunator said:
This game is just incredibly fun. Old school Kirby/Nintendo platforming joy. So many cute details, so much great music, and the art style works wonderfully for Kirby. the new powerup abilities are awesome as ever, and the ability to play co-op just puts the icing on it. BUY THIS FUCKING GAME IF YOU LIKE KIRBY.
Click to expand...

if it indeed is as great as the trailer looks, I fucking need this game.
 
T

Teknoman

Member
cajunator said:
This game is just incredibly fun. Old school Kirby/Nintendo platforming joy. So many cute details, so much great music, and the art style works wonderfully for Kirby. the new powerup abilities are awesome as ever, and the ability to play co-op just puts the icing on it. BUY THIS FUCKING GAME IF YOU LIKE KIRBY.
Click to expand...

Bought.
 
C

Chet Rippo

Member
udivision said:
Did the fix the lack of defense problem?
Superstar Ninja couldn't take a hit.
Click to expand...
He doesn't really get any defensive abilites, but added sword attacks like a dashing slice and such add a little versatility. Then he also throws his kunai extremely fast.
Rock finally gets a good offensive move. holding up and attack does a rock fist punch attack. Makes it a lot better for fighting bosses.
 
C

cajunator

Banned
Generally, what I love about this game is that it makes you feel like a badass when you get the powerups. You are all like COME AT ME BROS. And they come at you. And then they FUCKING DIE.
 
F

Freezie KO

Banned
I'm really enjoying the game. Classic formula is in place, but the abilities are as good as they've ever been. I love the new Water power-up that allows you to surf through the levels and then cause waves to charge through enemies. It also allows you to float by spewing an endless spout of water towards the ground. The spear is a lot of fun as well.

The old favorites are in place, too. Ice can now encase you in a giant ball of ice to roll over people. Needle allows you to grow a giant vertical dunce cap to skewer enemies. And tornado is as broken as it always was. The new Super Powers are okay, but they sorta function like the giant mushroom in NSMB. They just allow Kirby to careen through a section of a level, causing mass destruction in your wake.

The levels are pretty good, often finding clever ways to add a semblance of challenge to the proceedings by adding moving spiked balls or boulders or having a scrolling level, various options that make Kirby's infinite flight and super-powered offense less invincible. I even died a couple times at the World 3 boss.

I only have two complaints. First, the run speed could indeed be quicker. It should be the same speed that you run when you get the Invincible Lollipop.

Second, finding the power gears isn't too hard, which is positive, since I'm not a fan of exploration. But... to get them, Kirby is often required to have a specific power-up at the time, which the game usually makes you aware of beforehand. The power-up requirements lead to having a few less options when running through the levels . For example, if I want to run through a whole section of the level as a ninja, I might have to give that up for fire since the game is basically telling me that I'll need fire to get the gear.

Other than that, this is classic Kirby at its finest. I was on the fence, since Mass Attack just came out, the holidays are coming up, and this looks very same-y. Glad I jumped in and bought it. It's a quality title for sure, and I haven't even tried the special challenges or

EX mode.
 
D

Dark Schala

Eloquent Princess
I've been playing this for quite a while today and I'm definitely having a lot of fun with it. It's Kirby as I remember it, with a few new power-ups. Tornado is pretty broken, but I guess that's the usual thing. I kind of think Kirby's running speed should be a bit faster (being able to turn into a speedy car in Epic Yarn and then coming back to the running speed in RtD is kind of disappointing... but when you get powerups and you can dash with them, that kind of makes up for it).

I agree with everyone saying the Water power-up is fun to use. It's nice to blast through a level with it.

I really like the level design too, encouraging the player to explore to find the gears. But sometimes some of the gears are inaccessible because you don't have the right power-up sometimes (though this is probably to encourage replayability).

A lot of the music is great so far too. I'm only at World 4, but I like a lot of what I've heard so far. I admit that I like the Epic Yarn artstyle a little more, but I really like the abundance of colour in Nintendo titles. Playing Return to Dreamland and looking at the level aesthetic is a pure joy for me.

Question: I did not pick up Mass Attack. Worth it? (ie: the real question is: how is it gameplay-wise and level design-wise?)
 
Y

Yuterald

Member
Dark Schala said:
I've been playing this for quite a while today and I'm definitely having a lot of fun with it. It's Kirby as I remember it, with a few new power-ups. Tornado is pretty broken, but I guess that's the usual thing. I kind of think Kirby's running speed should be a bit faster (being able to turn into a speedy car in Epic Yarn and then coming back to the running speed in RtD is kind of disappointing... but when you get powerups and you can dash with them, that kind of makes up for it).

I agree with everyone saying the Water power-up is fun to use. It's nice to blast through a level with it.

I really like the level design too, encouraging the player to explore to find the gears. But sometimes some of the gears are inaccessible because you don't have the right power-up sometimes (though this is probably to encourage replayability).

A lot of the music is great so far too. I'm only at World 4, but I like a lot of what I've heard so far. I admit that I like the Epic Yarn artstyle a little more, but I really like the abundance of colour in Nintendo titles. Playing Return to Dreamland and looking at the level aesthetic is a pure joy for me.

Question: I did not pick up Mass Attack. Worth it? (ie: the real question is: how is it gameplay-wise and level design-wise?)
Click to expand...

Mass Attack is really good. It plays more like a spiritual successor to Canvas Curse. It's entirely stylus based. It might not look like a traditional Kirby game, but it definitely feels like one. Gameplay-wise, it almost feels like a 2D Pikmin. You start the game with 1 Kirby and you can earn up to 10 total Kirbys by eating more food. The more Kirby's you have the more dangerous a stage becomes and there are achievement-like goals for finishing stages without taking damage/losing a Kirby. It's definitely the most challenging Kirby game I've played, especially if you are going for 100% game completion.

There are a ton of levels too, about 50 of them. It's really satisfying to group up on enemies with 10 Kirbys. There are also gimmicks and objects in the stages that require a certain amount of Kirbys to activate. Basically, the level design is varied and the overall game just feels unique. It's an incredibly refreshing experience. I was so surprised Hal Laboratory could still create a Kirby game that feels quite unlike anything before it.
 
T

Tyeforce

Member
I've been playing this game all day. So good. What I love most about the game is how it plays and feels exactly the same as the 2D sprite-based Kirby platformers. I just can't believe how faithful the 3D models are to the original sprites. They managed to capture all the charm of the old games, right down to the animations and sound effects. Experiencing Kirby's world in 3D for the first time (Crystal Shards and Air Ride don't count) is just so awesome...yet so familiar!

Also, I haven't been keeping up with this thread, so this might be old news, but... Has anyone else stumbled upon
the secret HAL room in level 6-5
? I just now found it...what a nostalgia bomb!
 
D

Dark Schala

Eloquent Princess
Yuterald said:
Mass Attack is really good. It plays more like a spiritual successor to Canvas Curse. It's entirely stylus based. It might not look like a traditional Kirby game, but it definitely feels like one. Gameplay-wise, it almost feels like a 2D Pikmin. You start the game with 1 Kirby and you can earn up to 10 total Kirbys by eating more food. The more Kirby's you have the more dangerous a stage becomes and there are achievement-like goals for finishing stages without taking damage/losing a Kirby. It's definitely the most challenging Kirby game I've played, especially if you are going for 100% game completion.

There are a ton of levels too, about 50 of them. It's really satisfying to group up on enemies with 10 Kirbys. There are also gimmicks and objects in the stages that require a certain amount of Kirbys to activate. Basically, the level design is varied and the overall game just feels unique. It's an incredibly refreshing experience. I was so surprised Hal Laboratory could still create a Kirby game that feels quite unlike anything before it.
Click to expand...
Thanks a lot for the thorough impressions! I especially like the bolded. I might pick it up soon or ask for it at the end of the year since it sounds great. :)
 
Boss Doggie

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
Also, I take it playable Waddle Dee has no multi jump compared to Kirby, Dedede and Metaknight?
 
W

Watch Da Birdie

I buy cakes for myself on my birthday it's not weird lots of people do it I bet
On the last level of World 3, and I love the fact I still haven't seen all the abilities yet...

Still have Ninja, Wing, and Fighter left, plus Mike, and for the Super Abilities the Hammer one

Haven't run into any trouble yet...Level 3-3 was the first time I had to replay a level for a gear, and only because it was a trial-and-error puzzle and there was no way to die and restart the room.
 
S

Seik

Banned
Going to buy it tomorrow as soon as I get up! I need this fucking game, IN MAH VEINS!

Good old school Kirby action at its best, those videos hyped me up!
 
G

Green Mamba

Member
Ookami-kun said:
Also, I take it playable Waddle Dee has no multi jump compared to Kirby, Dedede and Metaknight?
Click to expand...
He does. He just kind of jumps repeatedly, so no need to exhale to stop flying like Kirby and King Dedede.
 
T

The Lamp

Member
Is the game fun to play by yourself or does its strength lie in multiplayer? I really want this game but my friends are too "dudebro" to want to play this (literally they were like "that looks dumb, be a man and play Gears") so I'd probably have to play this by myself 8C
 
H

Hylian7

Member
The Lamp said:
Is the game fun to play by yourself or does its strength lie in multiplayer? I really want this game but my friends are too "dudebro" to want to play this (literally they were like "that looks dumb, be a man and play Gears") so I'd probably have to play this by myself 8C
Click to expand...
Yes, it's still a lot of fun even by yourself. It's kind of like how New Super Mario Bros. Wii was awesome both solo and multiplayer.
 
W

Why would you do that?

Member
Wow, I just found the best ability/weapon in the game. With it, I just beat the (something in nearly every Kirby game)
boss rush
on my very first try! The weapon is
the electricity. Shake the Wii Remote to charge up electricity. It doesn't matter if you're standing, flying or whatever. While you're charged. you will pretty much have a constant electric field around you that hurts enemies. Release your charge in an attack to deal tremendous damage to enemies, even if they're on the other side of the screen. Then you can quickly charge again. If the enemy's in the air, no problem. You have an attack that can easily hurt airborne enemies.
 
H

Hylian7

Member
Why would you do that? said:
Wow, I just found the best ability/weapon in the game. With it, I just beat the (something in nearly every Kirby game)
boss rush
on my very first try! The weapon is
the electricity. Shake the Wii Remote to charge up electricity. It doesn't matter if you're standing, flying or whatever. While you're charged. you will pretty much have a constant electric field around you that hurts enemies. Release your charge in an attack to deal tremendous damage to enemies, even if they're on the other side of the screen. Then you can quickly charge again. If the enemy's in the air, no problem. You have an attack that can easily hurt airborne enemies.
Click to expand...
You can also charge it by hitting any direction on the D-pad, that's what all the "tick" noises you hear when you shake the Wiimote are. This ability was in Kirby Super Star, although it had even less functionality than it does in this game.
 
W

Why would you do that?

Member
Hylian7 said:
You can also charge it by hitting any direction on the D-pad, that's what all the "tick" noises you hear when you shake the Wiimote are. This ability was in Kirby Super Star, although it had even less functionality than it does in this game.
Click to expand...
Shaking's much faster, though. Plus, you can walk/move around normally while shaking (which is part of why the ability's so good in this game).

Did not know you could do that in Super Star, though.
 
W

Why would you do that?

Member
CoffeeJanitor said:
Do the attacks all have mini unskippable cutscenes?
Click to expand...
The special abilities that show up once every few levels that you only possess for a short time... Those are the only ones with unskippable attack cutscenes. But 1) personally, I thought it'd be annoying, but those abilities show up so rarely that it ends up being more "cool" than "annoying" IMO. Plus, you won't ever use those abilities 1 on 1 with small enemies, so it's gratifying destroying 4-6 enemies in one hit. 2) the first time you do an attack, the cutscene is much longer than each subsequent attack.
 
C

cajunator

Banned
I left this game at my parents house so my little brother can play it a bit and I miss it already.
Maybe I'll buy another copy lol.
 
T

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
Kirby's "hiya!" when doing super moves is sooooooooo cute. Want this game so bad. :(
 
Boss Doggie

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
I still can't unhear Ridley theme in pre-boss battle =/

Green Mamba said:
He does. He just kind of jumps repeatedly, so no need to exhale to stop flying like Kirby and King Dedede.
Click to expand...

Ahh so it's sorta like MK then.
 
Z

zigg

Member
Friend brought this over this week, I expected to kind of not like it based on how much I hated playing it 4P at E3... but it turned out to be pretty good after all. It's no Mass Attack, but it's a nice, well-designed throwback to KA.

I probably still won't buy it anytime soon—it's not too high up on my list—but I did end up liking it a bunch more than I thought I would. Biggest issue was a constant feeling of being left behind because it was so hard to keep up with a Kirby with certain powerups.

Why would you do that? said:
personally, I thought it'd be annoying, but those abilities show up so rarely that it ends up being more "cool" than "annoying" IMO
Click to expand...

Some—not all—are substantially annoying in MP if you're not the one with the Super Saiyan Kirby power. Taps into the "left behind" thing mentioned above.
 
A

AlexMeloche

Member
Just received the game (with Epic Yarn). Can't wait to have some times to try it.
Which means sometimes around the holidays, ughh.
 
W

Watch Da Birdie

I buy cakes for myself on my birthday it's not weird lots of people do it I bet
When you're Fighter Kirby, you can pull off a quick-fire Hadoken by doing the QCF motion. :0

I love that. :)
 
F

Freezie KO

Banned
I'm gonna go ahead and say that this game has the best level design of any Kirby game. The ways the levels are constructed really make you tackle them in ways you would've just been able to use sheer force to get through in prior Kirby games.

Some levels inhibit your ability to use flight, such as a very clever level that requires you to hold onto ropes rather than get swept away by the wind. Other levels use scrolling or rolling spiked boulders to dictate the pace that you can tackle each obstacle as they cross your path.

Some of the black & white levels are really clever in that, much like the FLUDD-less levels in Mario Sunshine, they take away your superpowers. One, in particular, in World 5 makes you rely on Kirby's primary offense to spit out items, something that has been neglected since Kirby got his Mega Man-esque ability to steal powers.

That's not to say any of these are brutally difficult. But I do feel that this is the first Kirby game where the levels are completely aware of what Kirby is and is not capable of doing, requiring the players to maneuver in unique ways beyond flight and brute force.
 
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