PixlBit

As Nintendo’s poster child for all things cute and cuddly, Kirby came from humble beginnings. By the early ‘90s, most of the more popular platformers like Super Mario Bros. and Mega Man were well along in their sequels and had grown in length and complexity. Long-time developer HAL Laboratory decided to make a game that was super simple, brief, and would appeal specifically to the novice players out there.

Originally, they created Kirby as a placeholder character until they could come up with something better. However in the end, they loved Kirby so much that they decided to just name the game after him and in 1992 HAL released Kirby’s Dream Land on the Game Boy-- of the most important games of their career.

Like everything else about this game, the motivation for Kirby is fairly simple. Things go awry when King Dedede gluttonously steals all the food in Dream Land. He's also taken the sparkling stars that the townsfolk used for gathering more food. So Kirby, being the brave puffball that he is, journeys to Mt. Dedede to face-off with the King.

As his main defense, Kirby inhales his enemies. You can swallow them or spit them out and destroy other enemies or obstacles in his way. When I first played this many moons ago, I was always impressed by the vast variety of what Kirby could consume. He can capture just about everything from small winged creatures to bear-like animals that are quite noticeably bigger than he is.

With the exception of a few enemy types, Kirby can basically vacuum anything that isn’t bolted down. He could also inflate and fly in order to reach higher platforms or to keep from falling to his death. When you’re done taking to the air, you can have Kirby puff out an air pellet which can also be used as ammo against other enemies as well.

Chiefly, the game relies on the interesting dynamic of using your foes against themselves. This is most noticeable during boss battles. Since most can’t be harmed by shooting air pellets at them, you have to watch their attack patterns and see what objects or projectiles you can throw back at them. This is where the genius of the game’s design shows through.

There’s no heavy reliance on weapons or brute strength to get the job done, yet Kirby’s abilities are still fun to use, albeit limited. Of course, as the series went on, he was given greater powers and all that, but it’s nice to reflect on the great work of simplicity and enjoyment that went into the start of Kirby’s universe. The game being developed for the Game Boy was perfect for what HAL Laboratory had in mind.

The world of Dream Land really lives up to the name. As you go through its five levels, you can’t help but feel like you’re in a dreamscape of some sort. Each stage has a short intro showing Kirby interacting with the environment around him. The entire game is decorated with strangely adorable creatures that really bring the game to life.

The same can be said for the audio quality as well. The music was nicely crafted to go along with the visual theme. Melodious tunes are all throughout the different locales that Kirby will venture through. It’s quite impressive to hear the Game Boy’s sound capabilities being put to good use here. I mean sure, there were other games on the handheld that had just as much quality put into it, but the soundtrack for Kirby’s Dream Land, much like the gameplay portion, stands out completely on its own apart from any other platformers that existed at the time. It simply can’t be compared.

If the game is a bit too easy for your taste, there is an “extra” mode that can be unlocked at the title screen. Things take a dramatically different turn when you see that those cutesy little baddies aren’t so cute anymore with their improved attack patterns. Just getting through the first stage can be a job in itself if you’re not ready for what lay ahead. In fact, I can barely make it to Castle Lololo in Stage two without losing all my lives. I have yet to make past that point in extra mode. So if you prefer to take the more difficult path to Mt. Dedede, you can rest assured that you’ll get what you’ve asking for.

Kirby’s Dream Land is a very likable game with its simplistic style and adorable main character. His abilities were unique to anything that existed previously and set a nice foundation for HAL Laboratory to build on and perfect. Admittedly, most people today are probably more accustomed to the later Kirby titles which expanded his set of abilities. So this first entry in the series may be a little too simplistic for some tastes. Even so, the original concept, gameplay mechanics, sounds, and overall enjoyability added up to make Kirby’s Dream Land one of the most iconic video games on the most iconic handheld system in history.

While HAL Laboratory is recognized for the creation of the Kirby series, it was the guidance of the late Satoru Iwata that contributed to a large part of its success. From a gamelay perspective, it was Iwata that conceived the idea to make a game that would appeal to beginners and experienced players alike, and also be accessible and easy to play to completion. It was thanks to his simple approach and down-to-earth ideas that Kirby’s Dream Land mushroomed into the venerable, much-loved series it continues to be with no end in sight.

While Iwata will be dearly missed by the Nintendo community, at least we can still enjoy the legacy he’s left behind. And what a legacy it is!