The Nintendo Wii is one of the biggest video game consoles in history, featuring several classics titles such as ‘Super Smash Bros. Brawl,’ ‘Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword,’ and ‘Kirby’s Return to Dreamland.’ The game was a smashing success, beloved by many fans of the franchise and being a must play for the Wii. Twelve years later, fans were delighted to hear that the beloved title was getting a remake. But does the game still hold up? Or is it just another Switch port? Well, let’s find out.
To start off, the game’s visual change is very noticeable and exceptionally beautiful. Each character sports a brighter color scheme, an outline over each character and a newer character model. Apart from King Dedede, the characters look fantastic. The levels and backgrounds look great, with a lot more color and detail than before, and the music sounds more or less the same with a few subtle changes.
The gameplay is exactly the same as the Wii version and the controls work perfectly on any controller, regardless of how you play. It may sound like there isn’t a lot of change here, but the game itself is still
extremely fun to play, you can feel the memories you had when you and your friends played this game for the first time.
‘Return to Dreamland Deluxe’ actually has some newer content for players. The first new addition is called, “Merry Magoland,” where your friendly alien from space creates an amusement park for Kirby and his
friends to play minigames. Almost every minigame in this section is taken from a previous game, from Egg Catcher to Magolor’s Tome Tracker, the minigames are all fun for everyone. Each minigame is
provided with its own set of missions. By completing missions or playing minigames, you can unlock stamps in the stamp rally to unlock prizes and items. One of the prizes you can get are masks that you and
your friends can wear throughout the main story and any extra content. This mode is a lot of fun with multiplayer and has so much to do, even if you’re playing by yourself.
The second mode comes in the form of an epilogue called, “The interdimensional Traveler.” The game mode is unlocked once you defeat the game in the main mode, as the story takes place after the
events of the final boss. The story is set on Magolor losing all his powers and trying to find his way out of an unknown world. Throughout the journey, we can upgrade Magolor’s powers, strength, speed, and defense to return his powers through energy orbs throughout the individual levels. Gameplay wise, Magolor controls
similarly to how he did in ‘Kirby Star Allies’ with a few minor changes here and there. The bosses are just a more powerful redesign of bosses already in the game, except for the final boss, and the additional music is good. This mode feels like it should add more to Magolor’s origin rather than just where he ends up next, but it misses the opportunity to flesh out his origin story. Aside from that, this story mode is enjoyable and really brings out a lot more to this character than we could expect.
‘Kirby’s Return to Dreamland Deluxe’ brings in a fully fleshed out remake of the classic Wii game. It takes the twelve-year-old game and does more than just bring it to the Switch, it is a fantastic recreation with new modes and additions that change the game from where it once was. If there is one thing to say about this game, it’s that it is incredibly fun and enjoyable. With this being the fourth Kirby remake, it manages to strike gold yet again and creates a game that will live with Kirby fans once more. This game is a must play if you haven’t already or if you haven’t played the original, it’s highly recommended.
