Kirby's Dream Land

"Good For Kirby's First Outing"

Kirby's Dream Land is a great game for the Game Boy. In fact, it was my first Game Boy Game. It is an excellent platformer with great gameplay, a catchy sound track, and somewhat decent graphics. The bosses were very memorable (i.e. the one for the first level [spoiler alert: a tree]). This review will be an upbeat one for one of the original Game Boy's finest stars.

Kirby's Dream Land is a platformer starring a marshmallow type guy, Kirby. The premise is that Kirby can suck up enemies and spit them out (in this version, his first outing, he cannot take the form of his enemies) at other enemies. He can also suck air in and float to get to higher places. This is Kirby's first game and he has become one of Nintendo's premiere mascots.

Graphics/Visuals

This is a first-gen Game Boy title. There's not much you can expect. It has large (for the Game Boy's screen) characters, and well its not colorful (obviously), but the shades of gray are done well. Kudos to HAL/ Nintendo for making great use of the Game Boy's limited hardware. Overall, they did a decent job

8/10

Sound Effects

The sound effects in this game are quite possibly, the best for the Game Boy! When Kirby jumps and lands it makes a great bouncy sound. When he swallows a microphone and spits it out, it makes a very good sound, like a yell. Basically this has some of the best Game Boy Sound Effects.

10/10

Music

The Music in this game was of quite good quality. It did have one flaw, though. This flaws plagues just about all Nintendo games. Its too, cute! However, this game is a kid's type game, so it could be excused. Some songs like the boss songs are good. Overall, a good job

9/10

Challenge

Well, I would hate to say this, but this game is EASY! However, back in the early days of the Game Boy, when I was really young, I thought it was pretty hard. I was thrilled that I beat it. Now as I came back to it I realize how easy it was. It's a pushover. The last boss was terribly simple. I guess this is the game's darkest con, the simplicity of it.

3/10

Gameplay

In a word, great. However, it has its flaws. It does a good job at regular jumping. Sucking up guys is done well, too. When you fly, however the play gets a little sluggish, but it's not too bad. Likewise with the second boss, who is on levels and they are kind of hard to get through. Not bad though.

8/10

Overall

Kirby's Dream Land is a great game. It is an excellent pick up if you haven't played any of Kirby's other outings. It was a pretty popular game, so you are bound to know someone who has it.

8/10

PROS
-Great SFX
-Good Quality Music (for a Game Boy)
-Kirby is a puffball

CONS
-Sluggish Floating/Flying Control
-Cutesy Music
-EASY, Way too easy!

Thank you for reading this review. Hopefully you would like Kirby's Dream Land as much as I did.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/21/03, Updated 04/21/03