Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land

"Kirby 's first adventure on the GBA is a good one."

Introduction
To some it may seem like HAL and Nintendo are ignoring our pink hero, Kirby. With the decision to only include one character from the franchise in Super Smash Bros.Melee and the decision to strip Kirby from Tilt 'n Tumble 2 and change the name of the game. One might think Kirby is going the way of the Ice climbers, Balloon Fight and Earthbound. Then came the announcement of a new Kirby game for the Gameboy Advance. This game wasn't as new as first predicted though; it turned out to be a remake of the NES classic, Kirby's Adventure. A damn good remake at that, may I add? Kirby fans got a taste of the glorious past while first time Kirby players either influenced by adds, others or the Kirby show on Fox got to experience the greatness that is Kirby. So how does Kirby fare against the latest hit Gameboy Advance titles? Read on.

Gameplay

Main Game
Kirby’s Adventure was the first game to give Kirby the unique ability to copy his enemies’ powers and ever since then it’s been the thing most people know Kirby for. The latest GBA game includes this element for all of you who haven’t figured it out yet. Kirby must make his way through the stages by sucking in enemies and then spitting them at other enemies or swallowing the enemies and possibly acquiring an ability depending on the enemy. Our pink hero then can use this ability until he takes damage or only once depending on the ability. Different enemies give out different abilities and some are harder to find then others such as UFO compared to sword. This unique style of gameplay makes all Kirby games enjoyable including this one. One thing I’d like to point out however is the lack of moves from an ability. Most abilities only have one move attached to them with few exceptions such as UFO. By pressing the attack button you can usually only do one thing unlike in Super Star where you could do numerous things with one ability. Kirby also has the ability to fly by sucking in air and until he spits it back out he will remain in the air. You might think that this would cause the game to become too easy but this is far from the truth. There are lots of airborne enemies and objects in the air so Kirby having the ability to fly just adds to the experience. If Kirby loses all his health, you lose a life and if you run out of lives it’s game over. You can use health items to recover health or get the candy, which makes you invinsible. The life meter is just the right size. During the main adventure you will enter stages, subgames, arena challenges, museums and boss stages through the doors in the overworld. The arena challenges let you take on a mini boss and if you win you’ll be rewarded with a maximum tomato to restore your health. The museums let you acquire a specific ability if you want before going into a stage. The latest Kirby game is near perfect in almost every aspect of the main game and will be enjoyed by many old and new Kirby players. A concern I have though is that you lose an ability after only one hit when in other Kirby games it depended on the seriousness of the hit but it isn’t a big problem.
Main Game Score: 9.4

Subgames
Another part of the Gameboy Advance Kirby experience these can be found in doors throughout the adventure or you could simply select subgames on the main menu. More commonly known as minigames, there are three subgames at first. They are Quick Draw, Bomb Rally and Air Grind. Quick Draw is basically the same as Samurai Kirby from Superstar, you have to press any button as fast as you can when you see a “!” on the screen. If you press it too early or too late you lose. This game may provide you a bit of a challenge but it isn’t really fun and extremely repetitive through all three levels of it. Bomb Rally is based on hitting a bomb to other Kirby’s with a frying pan hoping it doesn’t explode on you. It’s fun to an extent but also very frustrating at points. Then there’s Air Grind. You race against three other Kirby’s on warpstars that glide along a rail. First one to the finish is the winner. You hold the A button to move and let go of it for a short period of time when the rail changes color so you don’t spin around and slow down. This is by far the finest subgame out of the original three. The subgames add to the experience but aren’t really what you’ll want to be doing most while playing this game.
Subgame Score: 7.5

Multiplayer
Hook up a couple Gameboy Advance’s and play Kirby with a couple of friends. Everyone is a Kirby of a different color as you make it through the main game or play some of the subgames. It’s the greatness of the main game except played together with more than one person. Perfectly crafted multiplayer makes the main adventure twice as fun and the subgames three times as fun. HAL did a good job on this one.
Multiplayer Score: 10

Overall Gameplay Score: 9.5

Graphics
Bright colorful and cheerful graphics await you in Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland. Is this a bad thing? No, this is an excellent thing. The remake improves on the original Kirby’s Adventure graphics superbly. The enemies are well designed and maneuver around the screen well. Kirby’s movements flow well and free of any errors such as standing in mid-air or an arm going through a wall. The platforms are set up perfectly and the levels are well designed with minimal graphical error. The backgrounds are surprisingly very good for a platform game as they are very well designed and detailed greatly. The menus’ are a little dull but this doesn’t come close to denying the great graphics on Kirby’s first Gameboy Advance adventure.
Graphics: 9.8

Sound
Remember classic Kirby music? Well it’s back! Wait a minute; it never left. The point is that this game has great music that goes well with what’s going on in the adventure. Different levels have different music so you won’t be hearing the same thing over and over again until your ears explode. The sound in the game is also superb, as when Kirby hits something or uses an ability, you’ll hear what you expect to hear. Overall the music is great in almost all the levels and the sounds are always great.
Sound Score: 9.9

Control
If you’re using a Gameboy Advance, which you should be, you should have no to minimal problem with controlling Kirby. The A button easily allows you to jump and fly which is an essential part of the game as I had mentioned before. It’s also used for swimming but that isn’t too important. The B button is your primary attacking button as it allows you to Inhale and Exhale enemies as well as use any ability you have acquired. You acquire an ability by inhaling an enemy and then swallowing it by pressing down on the control pad. Some other things Kirby can do are, slide, dash and duck and all take close to no time at all to get used to. If you want to throw away an ability simply press the select button, the R or L button might have been a better choice for this though. The start button pauses the game. Solid control that can be learnt quickly plays it’s part well in Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland.
Control Score: 9.9

Lasting Appeal
The main adventure won’t take you long at all too complete but you’ll still have a great time playing it and will play it more than once. That’s not all, you have to get 100% and you don’t do that by just completing the main adventure although this won’t take too long. This game doesn’t last that long but you can still always play with some friends for more Kirby action. Probably the only part of this game that isn’t near perfect is it’s lasting appeal.
Lasting Appeal Score: 7.1

Difficulty
Yawn | Very Easy | Easy | Normal | Hard | Very Hard | Near Impossible |
The main adventure isn’t that hard and completing the game fully doesn’t require too much effort like in most Kirby games. The hardest part of the game, I won’t mention to you for spoiler reasons though. It’s not very hard but it’s a great Kirby experience.

Overall
Although the first Kirby adventure on the Gameboy Advance was a remake of a classic NES title, you should go pick it up. I’ll be worth the cash for new and old Kirby players alike. Besides, how many things are better than a portable version of one of the best Kirby games ever?
Overall Score: 9.4

Score Recap

Gameplay Overall: 9.5
Main Game: 9.4
Subgames: 7.5
Multiplayer: 10
Graphics: 9.8
Sound: 9.9
Control: 9.9
Lasting Appeal: 7.1
Overall Score: 9.4

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/01/03, Updated 04/18/03