Kirby's Dream Land 2 Review by: luigi25 - 8.8/10
My Review for Kirby's Dreamland 2
Kirby's Dreamland 2 was released for the original Nintendo Gameboy in the spring of 1995. It is the third game of the Kirby trilogy and is very similar in layout to the previous game (Kirby's Adventure) on the NES. This game introduces the animal buddies as well as the return of Kirby's copy abilities from before. In some ways, Kirby's Dreamland 2 feels like a port of Kirby's Adventure. Many of the sprites and backgrounds look the same. The soundtrack is different, and the gameplay is more involved. King Dedede returns but is possessed by an evil spirit. I'm not all that familiar with this game, but it is one worth discussing.
Graphics 6/10: Like I mentioned before, Dreamland 2 is almost like a port of Kirby's Adventure. The sprites and backgrounds are pretty much identical to those in that game, but they don't look as good. Overall, I feel like this is kind of an ugly looking game. The life just isn't there. It isn't like the previous Kirby games. I can't really describe it, but the backgrounds just don't look that good to me. This game looks like a port instead of something original. Everything looks like a dumbed down version of Kirby's Adventure and Kirby's Dreamland.
Music 9/10: The music for Kirby's Dreamland 2 isn't that bad. About all the tracks are new and exclusive to this game. There are very few that are ported over from the other two Kirby games. I like the soundtrack in this one. I'd say it's about as good as the music in the first Gameboy Kirby game but not quite. Most tracks sound great, but there are a few that aren't so great and even some that have been ported over from the other games. This soundtrack is a good soundtrack, but it isn't perfect. Although, it does have some great Kirby music in it especially towards the end of the game.
Gameplay 10/10: Some of the copy abilities from Kirby's Adventure make a return for Kirby's Dreamland 2. The ones that make a comeback are: Fire, the Fireball, the Cutter, the Stone, the Parasol, the Spark, and the Needle. Kirby can also ride 3 animal buddies in this game as well. These include: The Hamster, Owl, and Fish. When Kirby is riding one of these animals, he can take further damage from enemies before he loses the animal and returns to his regular form with still 6 bars of health. Kirby's copy abilities are also altered with these animals, which makes it easier to progress through the game and reach bonus areas.
There may still be some other copy abilities I forgot about, but those are the main ones that I remember from this game. Similar to the previous game on NES, there are a total of 7 different areas each with their own overworld map. There is a Rainbow Drop randomly hidden in one of the levels of each world. These Rainbow Drops are necessary for unlocking the final boss, getting the proper ending, and achieving 100% completion.
Also, after defeating the boss of each area, the player can re-enter this stage to play a star-catching mini-game. The boss throws stars at you to catch, but they also throw objects too that you must avoid. If you fail to collect all the stars or get hit by one of the objects, the game will end with no option to try again until you complete another level. The star mini-game is also necessary for getting 100%. It isn't necessary to win the star-catching games in order to unlock the final boss. You just have to collect all the Rainbow Drops. However, this boss fight has two parts, the part with Dark Matter and another part with a Giant Eyeball. The part with the Eyeball is really hard to avoid taking damage on, and Kirby also has defeat him under a certain amount of time or he'll start taking damage out of nowhere and die!
Kirby's Dreamland 2 is a fun game to play because of how it is split up into 7 different worlds. This is something that can be said about most platformers. The mechanics of this game also make it worth playing. Not only can Kirby float over large gaps, but the copy abilities make a return. There aren't as many in this Kirby game, but he can also ride animal buddies too. Getting the good ending is very hard to do, but it is worth trying. It's there as a pretty cool extra that is playable and can be done. KD2 is designed pretty well. It isn't hard and provides extra challenge for experienced players while still being a casual game for beginners. Overall, it has as good of gameplay as any other video game.
Story 10/10: The plot of Kirby's Dreamland 2 is pretty interesting this time around. The Rainbow Bridge has been destroyed by Dark Matter who has also possessed King Dedede. Kirby sets out with his animal friends to defeat King Dedede and restore peace to Dreamland. If you collect all 7 Rainbow Drops, Kirby performs an exorcism on King Dedede and releases Dark Matter and the Giant Eyeball. Kirby defeats both and restores the Rainbow Bridge in the proper ending. The storyline is pretty easy to understand unlike in Kirby's Adventure. It is also a more thought out plot instead of the one from the first Kirby's Dreamland.
Kirby has to do quite a lot in this game. He has become a big hero to the people of Dreamland. This time, Kirby has a pretty difficult quest. In Kirby's Adventure, he had a similar objective, but it was hard to understand how he got to that point. Here, the plot is easier to follow and pretty cool. Nintendo did a good job with this game's storyline. It's pretty creative and well developed.
Content 9/10: Kirby's Dreamland 2 is broken up into 7 different areas: Grass Land, Big Forest, Ripple Field, Iceberg, Red Canyon, Cloudy Park, and Dark Castle. This game takes between 1 and 1/2 to 2 hours to complete. The star-catching mini-games and the Rainbow drops also add more to the gameplay experience, but playing all of this extra content doesn't unlock anything new. You just get a better ending. This is a game with a fair amount of depth. It isn't a long game, but it still takes up a good bit of time.
Difficulty 5/10: In Kirby's Dreamland 2, Kirby has the same amount of health points like he had in the previous two games. However, I feel like this game is more generous with extra lives which is a good thing. The boss fights are more involved. They probably take even more patience than what they did in Kirby's Adventure. Once you learn their pattern, they're not hard. The game in general isn't very hard. As long as you keep playing it, you'll beat it. Kirby does take a lot of damage, but I still didn't find myself losing many lives. Even if I did, I didn't have to go back very far.
This is another game that doesn't become long or tedious with the exception of some of the bosses. You usually keep moving. KD2 does feel harder than Kirby's Adventure because of the longer boss fights especially the one with Dedede. The control isn't that good either but never becomes much of a problem with all the health bars. This is only a hard game for those trying to get 100%. That is a real pain but not necessary. Beating this game is fairly easy, but it does have its difficult parts. It is a game with mixed difficulty but nothing all that terrible.
Overall 8.8/10: So far, this is the best Kirby game I have played. The graphics aren't as good as those in the previous games. They must have ported a lot over from those two instead of doing something new. Nintendo and Hal Laboratory did do something new with the soundtrack which helps things. Once you get past these minor issues, Kirby's Dreamland 2 is just as good a game as any other. It has plenty of content and extra challenge to it which I like. I also like the introduction of the animal buddies. This is another good game for the original black and white Gameboy.
Graphics
6 Sound
9 Addictive
10 Depth
9 Story
10 Difficulty
5