Kirby's Return To Dream Land - Gameplay

Gameplay

Kirby's Return to Dream Land is a 2.5D side-scrolling platform game, controlled by holding the Wii Remote sideways. The main objective is to assist the alien Magolor, whose spaceship, the Lor Starcutter, has crash-landed on Pop Star. The player is tasked with collecting the scattered pieces of the spaceship, which are dispersed and hidden within the game's levels, each of which take place in various areas of the planet.

Kirby, the main protagonist, retains his signature ability to inhale indefinitely, allowing him to suck in nearby objects and enemies. The inhaled objects can either be propelled back out as projectiles or swallowed. Certain enemies, when swallowed, allow Kirby to extract their special qualities, giving Kirby access to a wide variety of different powers, called "copy abilities." Copy abilities are used to defeat stronger enemies and clear special environmental obstacles, though Kirby can only possess one copy ability at a time. Similar to Kirby Super Star, each copy ability has multiple forms of attack that are summoned depending on the player's button-presses. New powers introduced to this game are the Whip, which lets Kirby grab out of reach items, Water, which allows Kirby to cool fiery areas, and Leaf, which lets Kirby fire leaves. By shaking the Wii Remote whilst inhaling, Kirby can perform a Super Inhale, which allows him to swallow larger enemies and blocks or multiple small ones. The game introduces more powerful, though temporary copy abilities called "Super Abilities," which are able to destroy multiple enemies at once as well as parts of the environment. Throughout the game Kirby can collect food items which recover health and earn extra lives by collection 1UP items, or by collecting 100 stars. There are also various items Kirby can use, such as keys used to unlock hidden areas, a cannon which automatically fires, a trumpet that produces a protective barrier overhead and a large boot that lets Kirby hop across enemies and spiked areas (similar to the Kuribo's Shoe in Super Mario Bros. 3). At the end of each stage, a bonus game is played in which players time a button press to jump as high as possible to earn additional items.

The game features drop-in cooperative multiplayer for up to three individual players. These players can either play as a differently colored Kirby or as one of three unique characters; Meta Knight, King Dedede, and Waddle Dee. Each of these characters possess traits from multiple Copy Abilities, though only Kirbys are able to inhale enemies and use Copy Abilities. Players are able to ride on top of each other and share health items. Unlike most multiplayer games, all players share from a pool of lives, with each player requiring one life to enter the game. If one of the three additional players loses all of their health, they can spend an extra life to rejoin the game. However, if player one dies, gameplay resumes at the last checkpoint.

Throughout the game, players can seek out Energy Spheres used to power up the Lor Starcutter, which serves as the game's hubworld. Finding these spheres often requires keen exploration, wits or skill, or the use of a specific ability or item. There are also challenging warp areas that are found whilst using Super Abilities, requiring players to escape a fast approaching black void before facing off against a miniboss to earn additional Energy Spheres. Collecting enough of these spheres unlock Challenge Rooms, which test Kirby's mastery of a specific ability, Copy Ability Rooms, which let Kirby choose Copy Abilities, and two minigames; Ninja Dojo and Scope Shot. Ninja Dojo tasks players with shaking the Wii Remote to fire ninja stars at targets whilst Scope Shot tasks players with defeating a large robot within a time limit. Clearing the game unlocks Extra Mode, a more challenging remix of the main game, and The Arena, which sees players fighting all the bosses in a random order. Clearing the Extra Mode unlocks The True Arena, where players fight the harder versions of bosses and an extra boss character.