Kirby's Dream Land

Kirby’s Dream Land, originally in development as Twinkle Popo, is the first game in the Kirby series. It was created when Masahiro Sakurai and fellow developers grew attached to Kirby, a character who was originally used as a dummy in place of more advanced and detailed characters.

Ironically, Kirby’s gameplay wound up being something pretty unique at the time, and helped his game stand apart from other platformers. Like other games in the series, Kirby can inhale enemies. Unlike other games in the series, he cannot copy their powers. The game relied entirely on the inhale and spit mechanic to combat foes and solve (admittedly few) environmental puzzles. This probably sounds a little off-putting to fans of the other games, and I was skeptical of how well it would hold up, too. Fortunately, thanks to some clever bosses and presentation, it works just fine.

Although seemingly far removed from its sequels, Dream Land has everything that makes people think of Kirby as Kirby. From bubbly music, Waddle Dees and Waddle Doos, and a friendly and cute atmosphere, it’s all here, just a little less colorful and complex.

Swallowing and spitting enemies feels precise and satisfying, and the stages, while re-made in later Kirby games to satisfactory ends, were clearly made for traversal by a hero without copy abilities. The game is built around using his inhalation attack in as many ways as it can. Admittedly, it could get old, had the game been longer, but five short stages and some creative (and classic) bosses keep the game interesting long enough for the final showdown against DeDeDe.

There aren’t really too many downsides to Kirby’s original outing, except maybe in the slightly unrealized world itself, but considering the Game Boy’s graphical limitations, that’s easily forgivable.