Kirby’s Dream Land 2, released for the GameBoy in 1995, is representative of Kirby’s humble beginnings, and it’s actually the very first Kirby game that I have ever played. All in all, it was a general improvement over its two predecessors, Kirby’s Dream Land (GameBoy) and Kirby’s Adventure (NES), but it  was still able to maintain the traditional platforming mechanics that made Kirby as popular as it is today.

Like the rest of the Kirby series, Kirby’s Dream Land 2 is a very basic game in terms of gameplay. You jump, inhale baddies, and collect items – not exactly rocket science. But, I think part of Kirby’s charm is this pure simplicity of its mechanics. Of course, the series’s claim to fame is Kirby’s staple copy ability (absent from the first Dream Land game) and was further enhanced by the inclusion of some animal buddies. This game marked the first appearance for Rick the hamster, Coo the owl, and Kine the sunfish. In addition to providing unique modes of transportation for Kirby, these animal compatriots also offered different variations on Kirby’s copy abilities. For example, Kine’s Spark ability lets him fire off light bulb torpedoes, while Stone allows Rick to roll around! Unfortunately, this game, as well as much of the series, suffers from a general lack of difficulty. The only things remotely hard about this game were some of the bosses (particularly Dark Matter) and collecting the pieces of the Rainbow Bridge (in order to get 100% and challenge Dark Matter).

Beating down Bronto Burts with some help from Coo the owl.

The graphics were very nice, with a varied amount of animation frames for each power and enemy. Given the limitations of the system, the developers were still able to add some detail to the backgrounds, such as the shading effect on trees. With each world came a distinctive change in scenery, such as the staple grassy plain to the obligatory ice world. A huge plus that this game has is the amount of unique enemies that prowl around each stage, especially compared to a game like Super Mario Bros. (NES), which essentially only has like three different enemy species. What has always really stood out for me, though, is the music. The tunes changed stylistically to fit each world, and when each animal friend tagged along, you got to rock out to a special theme for each one! The high-spirited, effervescent music that often accompanies each game is really just one of the many great qualities that defines the Kirby series.

One of the main objectives of these video game retrospectives is to describe what series were like back when they were starting to get the ball rolling, so that I can show how they were able to obtain the fame that have today. For the Kirby series, Kirby’s Dream Land 2 is when it really hit its stride, opening up the way for future successes such as Kirby Super Star (SNES), Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (N64), and Kirby‘s Epic Yarn (Wii).

Cons:

• On the whole, a very easy game that will likely pose no real challenge to seasoned gamers.
• Can be rather short, on the scale of a couple of hours to beat 100%.

Pros:

• The addition of animal partners adds a extra fun level of gameplay, changing up how Kirby travels and attacks.
• Stellar soundtrack, including remixes of tracks from the first game as well as original tracks – particularly the animal themes!

B.W.