Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Switch)

The Kirby series has been one of Nintendo’s most consistent both in quality and release regularity since it began in 1992, most years at least having a spin-off or remake. However, the pink power-stealing puffball’s adventures would venture into fighting games, puzzlers, and pinball, but only once did the platforming games venture into 3D movement and that was with the fairly short spin-off Kirby’s Blowout Blast. After 30 years though, Kirby and the Forgotten Land finally lets the adorable little hero truly embrace the Z-axis while ensuring the new range of motion also comes with a setting that’s fascinating to explore.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land begins with Kirby lounging around on Planet Popstar. But on this sunny day as the Waddle Dees play, a large rift opens in the sky, pulling in Kirby and those simple friendly folk into a different dimension to match his all new dimension of movement. The forgotten land appears to have once been a burgeoning urban metropolis, but whatever caused the inhabitants to leave left the place mostly in-tact, structures rusting over and breaking in parts but mostly the land was reclaimed rather cleanly by nature in a way that gives it a surprisingly bright air of approachability. Part of this might be because the land has become the domain of the Beast Pack, these animals ranging from cute to fierce and all of them seem interested in capturing the Waddle Dees. Kirby, as well as a Waddle Dee with a spear if you play it cooperatively with another player, set out to foil the Beast Pack’s efforts and return home, but they encounter a fairy-like mouse named Elfilin to help them out as well.

This new friend can speak normally so he can actually explain things you encounter and help establish the plot some although it is one that is mostly elaborated on only near the end as important reveals roll out rather quickly. Exploring this new world also does help show a land that was once filled with modern technology as you can find it even in unexpected areas. The game’s opening area leans pretty heavily into individual stages based on different urban environments, crossing rooftops and traveling through malls ensuring some variety before you head to new worlds like a beach area. Rather than abandoning the urban decay elements though, you can find yourself in flooded subways or find the remains of oil rigs within these still colorful and naturalistic spaces, this interesting mix helping Kirby and the Forgotten Land keep its setting in your mind before it starts returning to more clearly defined city spaces like the massive amusement park. The soundtrack provides a smart mix as well, knowing when to pump up the energy or foreboding sounds when the situation demands but still normally having a bubbly energy that matches the smiling hero’s eagerness to adventure forth into new lands.

Controlling Kirby in this new world comes easily as well, the game even pretty accommodating when it can tell you were trying to target a nearby enemy with an attack and adjusting you a bit if you would have been off in order to keep things fluid. Kirby’s old ability to inflate and fly about has received some interesting tweaks that mix convenience and limitation, the little guy able to float up into the air a bit higher than he can jump and he can hover over a small distance, but he’ll wear himself and lose altitude if maintained too long. This prevents you from circumventing little puzzles or challenges by flying too much, but also, if you drop off something and would fall down a pit, you are always able to float just enough to get back to land if needed so it won’t fail you when you need it most.

There are two main ways you’ll be engaging with the linear action levels of Kirby and the Forgotten Land, and the first is what the Kirby series is best known for. If Kirby inhales an enemy, they may be able to grant him a special ability, many having a use in level navigation and combat. The Ice power can freeze enemies so you can kick their frozen form into other foes, but it also makes Kirby ice skate so he can safely glide over lava and dangerous substances. Sword seems like it would be mostly good for battle, but there are points where you can slice ropes to make things drop. Abilities new to the series like Drill and Ranger keep up this mix, Drill letting Kirby move underground for a bit to get under barriers while Ranger’s gun can be used for harming enemies or shooting targets that trigger changes to the level. Bomb, Tornado, Needle, and more round out a sound set of abilities that mostly stand out from each other, but things get more interesting as each ability can be upgraded into something stronger and more flexible once you get to work on building Waddle Dee Town.

The friendly little fellows pulled over to the forgotten land with Kirby are hidden throughout levels and waiting at the end of each to be rescued, and once you’ve managed to save enough of them, they begin to build structures in a safe town that provides plenty of adventuring aid to Kirby. As new buildings are constructed when you hit certain thresholds, you’ll get Waddle Dees who will sell you helpful items you can carry into levels, minigames where you can earn the game’s currency star coins without having to find them in stages, and the upgrade shop where you can add new aspects to your copy abilities. While you’re encouraged to frequently swap between powers during a level and there are often sections that cater to one specifically, the upgrades will be available whenever you find the power, making the system incredibly helpful. Fire begins with a simple fire breath and tackle attack for example, but upgrade it and soon enemies are easy to ignite, your flames will linger on the ground, and you can even turn into a firebird to fly over gaps and harm things in the air. With the upgrade system, even the unwieldy Tornado ability starts to become something you’re excited to find in a level, its increased power making it a great way to tear through large groups. Bomb starts off unassuming, but soon you get the ability to chain them together into lingering explosions and even homing options, and even the jokey Sleep power’s upgrade will change it from a waste of time to a way to give Kirby a buff if you get in a safe nap. In fact, once you get to the really high level upgrades, some can make some of the game’s later content rather easy to handle. A Colosseum and some post-game stages might have put up stronger fights if these upgrades were more conservative, but the tougher parts at least still aren’t full cake walks and use of a dodge maneuver ends up pretty crucial to taking on the hard content as well. Earning the Rare Stones needed for upgrades also involves trips to Treasure Road, these small and sometimes hidden levels more like copy ability trials where you need to embrace them to their fullest with a timer to pressure you a bit to use their unique functions outside of combat skillfully.

Treasure Road will also have a few tests for the other way Kirby and the Forgotten Land spices up its level navigation. The second common shake-up in this adventure arises from Mouthful Mode, a strange element of traveling through the rift to this new land being Kirby can’t quite swallow everything he tries to inhale. When Kirby tries to inhale things like a car, vending machine, or set of stairs, he’ll instead wrap his pink mouth around it and now be able to control it. While copy powers sometimes get a portion or side area where their use is encouraged, Mouthful Mode is often a necessity for clearing a level as its portions change up the gameplay a fair bit. Driving through a space smashing things up with the car or firing soda cans as the vending machine to clear a path are satisfying little shifts in action, and seeing what Kirby might become next is a fun novelty since it’s not always straightforward. Playing as stairs doesn’t sound exciting but it can lead to some puzzles on how to even move around a tight space, and some objects like a metal arch will surprise you by revealing that they actually turn Kirby into a glider when he tries to eat them so you get a brief flying section. The first half of the game does a great job on rolling these out gradually, reincorporating them with some tougher challenges down the line, but they do lose a little steam as you get to the later worlds mainly because new ones stop being introduced. It is still entertaining to transport them into next contexts, but it does diminish the sense of wonder in the later sections since you’re not finding new creative ways to play compared the early worlds.

Mouthful Mode and copy abilities do add a richness to every level though thanks to the Mission system. While most levels in Kirby and the Forgotten Land have entertaining concepts, they are designed for players of many skill levels to clear them. However, if you want to find hidden goodies like captured Waddle Dees, power upgrade blueprints, and more, you do need to be more perceptive and engage with the levels more intimately. The missions for each level are kept hidden when you first try them though, only revealing themselves when you start to trigger their conditions or after clearing the stage. You only get told one of a stage’s three or four hidden missions when you clear it though, although there are a few trends that make stumbling across them naturally a bit easier. The game’s big boss battles often ask you to clear them without getting damaged or while using a certain copy ability, normal levels will usually ask you to poke at something unusual you find like knocking down snow sculptures or scaring off sea birds, and some are as simple as eating a certain type of food. Whether they’re more involved like the little challenges that usually lead to finding a hidden Waddle Dee or as easy as standing in a certain place to appreciate the view, they do ask you to consider each level more closely as well as your choice in copy ability. Kirby and the Forgotten Land is much richer experience if you try engage with every part of it, save the unfortunate choice to have collectible figures of the game’s characters be a bit random so you can’t really pursue it in the way you can clear goals that require skills or smarts to achieve.

THE VERDICT: Kirby struts into the third dimension confidently and with a burst of creativity, Kirby and the Forgotten Land providing an enticing setting with plenty of reasons to more closely consider how you explore its stages. Missions add new goals that make more use of the copy abilities and Mouthful Mode than regular progression, and both of those means of fighting and navigating stages are put through their paces well. The rewards for being thorough perhaps simplify some of the tougher content a bit much and the game dials back the novelty in its later stages, but stages still come through with entertaining spaces that put Kirby’s wide range of options to good use.

And so, I give Kirby and the Forgotten Land for Nintendo Switch…

A GREAT rating. Areas like Treasure Road and ideas like the Mission Mode already ensured most every copy power and Mouthful Mode item would be explored well so it is a tiny bit deflating when you hit the point where the game is through introducing new abilities for Kirby to utilize, but these powers aren’t so shallow that returning to them would be a drag. Instead, the game can crank up the requests it makes of the player or lay out stages that start pushing back against you a bit more, things like a racing circuit with the car having some pretty tight timers to encourage you to think more about how the power is being utilized. The choice of setting certainly invigorates segments of the game as well, the designs rarely settling into anything plain or well-worn as even a thematic world tries to consider how a natural setting like a desert can intersect with modern architecture. If there was one space that maybe needed better balancing it would be just how powerful Kirby’s upgraded copy abilities can get, some turning boss rematches at places like the Colosseum into battles that last just a few seconds. Already the upgrades made simply using them very satisfying so such a leap in power wasn’t absolutely required, but it also may just be part of helping the younger players have a power trip if they did put in the work needed to get the benefits of the best upgrades.

More importantly than anything else, Kirby and the Forgotten Land isn’t just putting forth a singular idea and hoping that will be enough to set it apart from its predecessors. It has a setting unique for the series, it is a big step for the pink puffball into 3D navigation, and Mouthful Mode provides more focused level sections while normal copy powers are flexible and now even able to grow into more powerful forms. Kirby and the Forgotten Land comes forth with a powerful burst of imagination that makes this an unforgettable adventure for the familiar hero.