Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe review: The perfect example of a remaster done right

Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe is a fantastic platformer and a perfect example of how to properly remaster an old classic to make it playable and enjoyable for a new generation of players. The original Kirby's Return to Dream Land was released in 2011 for Nintendo Wii. Despite being critically acclaimed at the time of its release, the game wasn't much of a smash hit as Nintendo's other premium IPs.

However, I'm delighted that Nintendo and HAL Laboratory took the initiative to remaster the game for the Nintendo Switch, allowing players like me, who skipped out on playing the original, to delve into what can be considered one of the best platformers available on Nintendo's home consoles.

Being a fan of classic puzzle platformers, Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe is right up my alley, with its tight platforming, robust level design, fantastic soundtrack, and unique art style. The remaster also comes with plenty of new additions, from the apparent graphical uplift to some key additions to the gameplay and even a new game mode.

Given that this is my very first Kirby game with no previous experience with the 2011 original, I'm not sure how the remaster stacks against the original. However, I am sure that Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe is a fantastic puzzle-platformer that kept me engrossed with its gameplay for hours.

The immaculate art style and stellar presentation of Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe

One thing that I find to be consistent in most Nintendo first-party exclusives is the attention and care the developers put into making the game pleasing to look at. Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe is no exception to this rule. I adore the art style of the game, with vibrant colors filling the environment and levels of the game, simplistic yet captivating characters, and a wide array of effects that pop up on the screen whenever Kirby gets a power-up.

Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe features massively overhauled graphics, complete with much more vibrant colors (Image via Nintendo)

Much like in the classic 2D Super Mario games, the levels in Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe offer a wide array of biomes for players to explore, from ancient castles to deserts and even a fair few underwater sections. One of the biggest roadblocks any puzzle platformer has to overcome is making the levels captivating in terms of gameplay and presentation, which is something that Kirby's Return to Dream Land excels in.

Apart from its clean art style, the game also features an amazing original soundtrack, perfectly complementing its levels and different biomes. I really liked the melancholy music played during the underground and castle sections of the game, which perfectly conveys the sense of mystery that comes with these levels.

The fantastic art style of Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe (Image via Nintendo)

Despite being a remaster of a decade-old title, developer HAL Laboratories has put a lot of care and passion into ensuring they deliver a classic Kirby experience with a modern coat of paint without straying too far away from the original's core esthetics. The presentation of Kirby's Return to Dream Land is spot on and something that is rarely seen done right in most video game remasters.

The superb gameplay and level design of Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe

Given that it's a Kirby game, Kirby's Dream Land Deluxe features little about an actual "story." Whatever narrative the game has, it's purely meant to drive the gameplay system. This isn't a negative, though, since this is something I like about most Nintendo games. From Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild to Super Mario Odyssey, some of the best games from Nintendo feature only surface-level stories that serve no purpose but to drive the gameplay.

The game does not waste any time on expository dialog or lengthy cutscenes. Instead, it immediately gives players control of the pink puffball, Kirby, right after a short intro that can also be skipped. The game's primary plot revolves around Kirby and pals rescuing an intergalactic traveler named Magolar, who crash lands on Planet Popstar.

To get the Magolar back on his way into space, players need to collect missing pieces from his spacecraft scattered across different biomes. It's a simple premise, but one that is very effective and reason enough to drive the game's linear, albeit massively replayable, levels. As Kirby, players go through these levels in search of the missing pieces, facing multiple enemies and bosses.

There are a total of 8 different biomes for players to explore. Although the game can feel short, clocking in at around 8-9 hours for an average playthrough, it is highly replayable, with optional secrets to find, power-ups to collect, and multiple ways to go up against the bosses. The controls are very intuitive, and despite Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe being my very first Kirby game, I immediately got to grips with the game's controls within minutes.

The general gameplay premise revolves around players going through levels defeating enemies and bosses using Kirby's signature ability to gain the abilities of the creatures it consumes. Despite the rather grim overtone of the game, where the main protagonist essentially devours everything that exists between it and its objective, the colorful and lighthearted esthetics make everything seem normal and fun.

That being said, I really liked Kirby's "ability stealing" abilities and how the game allows players to creatively use every other power-up to navigate the levels efficiently and even create new paths around certain levels. I wasn't expecting to get this much enjoyment out of a Kirby game, but I was surprised at how fun the game was and how engaging the gameplay turned out to be.

Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe is also playable in co-op with up to three other players, making it a fine contender for one of the best party games on the Nintendo Switch, alongside classics such as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

There's another game mode apart from the primary story campaign levels, called the Merry Magoland, which houses multiple fun minigames themed around amusement park rides and games. Games like Ninja Dojo, Samurai Kirby 100, Egg Catcher, and my favorite, Booming Blasters, are part of the Merry Magoland game mode.

Completing challenges and games in Merry Magoland allows players to unlock various in-game rewards, such as character masks for Kirby. These minigames are a hard sell and aren't anything exciting, in my opinion, but bundled with the already stellar campaign mode, making for a fun extra to spend a couple of hours in after completing all the base game levels. Additionally, the Merry Magoland is playable in both online and local co-op.

Few shortcomings

Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe is easily one of the most polished AAA releases I have played in 2023, and that says a lot since, within the first few months of this year, we've had many big releases, from Dead Space Remake to Hogwarts Legacy to Nintendo's very own Fire Emblem Engage. However, most of these titles were released in an underwhelming state, with multiple performance and technical issues plaguing the experience, especially for PC players.

Kirby's signature power-ups in the game (Image via Nintendo)

Having played through a vast majority of this year's releases and seeing the lack of polish and care that goes into making them enjoyable for the end-user has made me hesitant to try out games on release. However, at the same time, games like Kirby's Return to Dream Land come out with absolutely no performance issues or game-breaking bugs to speak of, which somewhat restores my faith in modern gaming.

Yes, Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe is a relatively small game, and a remaster of a decade-old game. However, still, I have seen a fair few developers, even on the Nintendo Switch, fail to deliver a playable experience. Only last year, Game Freak released Pokemon Scarlet and Violet for the Nintendo Switch, which was borderline unplayable for many players on release due to performance issues and bugs.

Although the boss fights lack challenge, they can be pretty fun regardless (Image via Nintendo)

Fortunately, Kirby's Return to Dream Land is a joy to play on the Nintendo Switch, both in handheld and docked modes, and has no gameplay or performance-related issues. However, I do have one gripe with the game: the lack of any form of challenge, whether in the platforming sections or the boss fights. The boss fights are laughably easy and are nothing more than a pushover that never felt like the "end of the level" challenge I expect in most puzzle-platforming games.

While I don't expect Kirby's boss fights to match the difficulty of a Team Ninja or From Software souls-like game, I expect some form of resistance from something with a name over its health bar and is presented as the final challenge before concluding a level. Platforming does not fare any better either, with enemies being easy to dispatch and the levels being quite bland and lacking any challenge seen in most Nintendo-exclusive platformers.

In Conclusion

Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe is a fantastic puzzle platformer with much heart. The game is a mashup of classic 2D platformers with a fresh and modern coat of paint. Despite being the ninth mainline entry in the Kirby series, Return to Dream Land is one of the best for newcomers due to its intuitive controls, slick visuals, and fun gameplay.

Although the game lacks any challenge, the stellar gameplay loop of going through levels, collecting power-ups, and using them on enemies while trying to find and collect missing pieces necessary to rebuild a spacecraft never gets tiring. Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe is a fantastic game and a perfect example of how developers should remaster a video game.