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The Kirby game no one ever talks about

Kirby’s Dream Land 3 was released for the SNES in 1997 (one of the last games to come out for the console), and as such, it was overlooked (the N64 had been out for more than a year). But that’s not all. For whatever reason, this game never seems to get any recognition. Perhaps that’s because it’s a mediocre Kirby game when compared to great ones like Kirby Super Star and Kirby’s Dream Land 2. But it’s also not a bad game. Let’s dig into it and see for ourselves.

The story has Dark Matter coming to Dream Land (again) and corrupting its citizens (turning some into boss characters that Kirby will fight). Kirby, along with his six animal friends, must save everyone and defeat Dark Matter. The game is quite short, comprised of five worlds (six levels per world). The crayon-drawn art-style here is simply adorable.

Kirby can inhale enemies and get their powers, but this time he won’t change appearance. That’s because the big gameplay hook here is the friends. You see, each friend will have a unique attack depending on the ability Kirby has. This means that there is a wide range of different abilities for each power-up. It’s really neat to try everyone out just to see what they will do. The six friends include three from Dream Land 2 (Coo the owl, Kine the sunfish, and Rick the hamster), as well as three new friends: Nago the cat, Pitch the bird, and Chuchu the octopus. Every level will give you opportunities to enter a room and choose which friend you want. When you’ve selected, the other friends will look either disappointed or angry (which is pretty funny).

The unique attacks from the friends is easily the best part of the game. Some attacks are better than others, of course, such as Coo’s downward lightning strike (spark), Nago’s fire wave (fire), and Pitch’s boomerang (cutter). In addition, each friend can be helpful outside of attacks. Rick can jump up walls, Coo can fly, Nago has a triple jump, Chuchu can stick to ceilings, and if you’re in a swimming level, you will want to use Kine. It’s so fun to switch between friends and try different abilities, and the truth is, 99% of the time, you’ll have a friend with Kirby. This also means that there are fewer abilities in the game. You’ll notice that several from Super Star are absent, such as Bomb, Yo-yo, and Fighter.

While the friend system is great, the level design…not so much. Some levels are simply boring, going from left to right attacking enemies, going in doors, and then doing the same thing. Rarely is there something interesting that caused me to say, “that’s cool.” Sometimes there was a gimmick to cover the boringness, such as one level that has clouds flying in front to obscure your view as you move forward and attack enemies. This is really disappointing, especially when compared to Super Star, which tied a compelling narrative to its levels to do interesting things (Meta Knight’s Revenge) and even gave a sort of Metroidvania (Great Cave Offensive). It seems that the developers were happy with the friend system, and so they didn’t focus as much on good level design.

At the same time, the levels look great. This game is very bright and colorful, and often the backgrounds are unique and interesting. Each level has an objective. Sometimes this is to get to the end with a specific friend to reunite them with a lost friend (for example, a girl fish for Kine, or a girl cat for Nago). But at other times you have to find a specific thing or character within a level, and if you don’t, the character at the end will look sad. This is the completionist aspect of the game, and if you don’t succeed with enough of these, you can’t see the true ending.

As with most Kirby games, this game has some Nintendo cameos. One level has you searching for ROB so you can reunite him with the professor (can’t remember his name). But the best one has to be the level in which you find a room of metroids. This one is really cool because the level is designed to look like Norfair. At the end of the level, Samus is standing there in her varia suit hoping you brought her the metroid. It’s so awesome! Also, a second player can jump in at any time to control Gooey, a blue blob with a long tongue. He can mimick enemies’ abilities to some degree, although it would have been really cool if he could have ridden an animal friend too (using all the same abilities as Kirby).

The six bosses are pretty fun. You’ll fight familiar bosses like Whispy Woods and King Dedede, plus others such as Acro the killer whale and Ado the painter girl. Having the right friend and ability is key to defeating the bosses. Finally, the music for this game is not bad, although there are only a couple songs that I really like. Most the songs are forgettable, especially when compared to soundtracks of other Kirby games. But all the familiar sounds and jingles are here, making any Kirby fan feel at home.

                             Why hasn't this crossover happened yet???

Final Verdict: 4 Stars—Recommended

Dream Land 3 is a good game, although not nearly as good as Super Star. The game is short, and there are no alternative modes (like minigames), which is disappointing. The level design is the biggest problem here, making the game a bit boring at times. Still, with fun bosses and colorful levels, the overall package is not bad, and I would recommend that you give it a try. It’s a shame it’s overlooked so much, but I think that’s because it’s a mediocre Kirby game. What do you think the reason is? Thanks for reading!