Kirby has a habit of having his games released late in a console's life. Though he got Kirby Super Star beforehand, Kirby's Dream Land 3 for the SNES was very late to the system. It arrived in 1997, well into the Nintendo 64 era. As such, the game got poor sales, not even reaching half a million. Of the critics and fans that played it, the game got fairly mixed reception. Some fans loved it, others didn't.
But Dream Land 3 lovers,
they really did love the game; in one of Nintendo Power's polls of the
most-wanted Virtual Console games, fans placed Kirby's Dream Land 3 as
the 5th most wanted title. Although it took a while, Dream Land 3 was released
on the Virtual Console recently. Now like I said, you may or may not like
the game, but I happen to be one of the people who love it.
Storyline: 7.8/10
Kirby is hanging out with his best friend Gooey, a friendly blob of Dark Matter, just fishing and minding their own business. Fresh from Kirby's Dream Land 2, however, the ominous Dark Matter falls from the sky in a comet-like form. It begins splitting into many little blobs that scatter across Dream Land. The main form of Dark Matter transforms into a huge, spherical being with 5 tentacles. These tentacles begin to enshroud the countries of Dream Land - Ripple Field, Sand Canyon, Cloudy Park, and Iceberg are all covered under Dark Matter's evil influence. Grass Land, where Kirby and Gooey are, seems to remain pure. Knowing what a big threat Dark Matter is to Pop Star, Kirby and Gooey head out to banish the mysterious entity. Dark Matter is too powerful for just the 2 of them though, so Kirby calls upon his friends to help him out - It's Rick, Kine, Coo, Pitch, Chuchu, Nago, Gooey, and Kirby against the forces of Dark Matter.
Despite my interest in Dark
Matter, the story doesn't quite get into that impressive 8/10 range. I've
heard plenty of "It's a peaceful day when something bad suddenly happens"
stories here and there, and of course, it's a sort of clichéd. I
mean, I'm not a big fan of storylines, but these do get old after a while.
Plus, the story is kind of hard to figure out - The intro movie of the
game only shows wordless comic strips to show you what’s happening. You
can get the basic idea that Dark Matter is invading, but some of the things
in the above paragraph I simply had to theorize.
Gameplay: 8.5/10
A little step back for the Kirby series - Kirby Super Star introduced gameplay that was much more fresh, but Kirby's Dream Land 3 is pretty much an upgrade of Dream Land 2's gameplay. Kirby once again is back to his 8 basic abilities - Fire, Ice, Stone, Parasol, and so on. Though as you proceed through the stage, you will find rooms with various Animal Friends in them. This friends system works similarly to Dream Land 2's, but there's just one difference: It's much, much better.
Well before I start comparing this to Dream Land 2's Animal Friends system, I'll just cover the system itself first. Now there are the 3 returning Animal Friends from the last chapter in the Dream Land saga: Rick the hamster, Coo the owl, and Kine the fish. Now, 3 new ones were added: Pitch the bird, Chuchu the octopus, and Nago the Japanese Bobtail (or in simpler terms, cat.) By pressing X, you can have one of these Animal Friends tagteam with you. The main purpose this serves is for ability variety. As an example, if you have Ice and you team up with Rick, the ability you get will be Kirby and Rick turning into an enemy-freezing snowman. That particular ability is one of my personal favorites, but don't expect an upgrade every time you get an Animal Friend; some of them will only worsen the ability... Unless you choose Pitch, that is. Really, Pitch is a killer, and few would deny that.
Aside from abilities, Animal Friends have other talents as well. Rick can jump off walls and doesn't slide around on ice. Kine is a master swimmer and can even swim against strong currents. Coo is a speedy air-dweller that can fly against strong winds, in a similar manner to Kine. Pitch has no notable talents, but his great Copy Ability improvements surely make up for that. Chuchu can stick to ceilings and make Kirby fly farther. And last, Nago can perform a triple jump. Many of these abilities are needed to get to exclusive areas in the game. Oh, and then there's Gooey - he can be summoned at any time at the cost of 2 of Kirby's life pellets. He functions just like Kirby, and can even be controlled by a second player.
Kirby's Dream Land 2 had a pretty bad Animal Friends system. First, there wasn't much variety and most of them made Kirby more prone to bottomless pits due to a lack of flight. Dream Land 3 has more characters that allow Kirby to fly, and even so, the land-dwellers have improved jumps. Dream Land 2's friends each had themes that would play when you teamed up with them, which ultimately blocked out all other music in the game. 3, it's got none of those... What else can I say? Third, Dream Land 2's helpers could only be found after beating a mini-boss. Dream Land 3 stores the helpers in various rooms scattered all around the levels. Last up, in Dream Land 2, when you wanted to abandon your partner, they would just ride away on a Warp Star. In Dream Land 3, when you abandon your partner, they just patiently stay where they are until you need to use them again. There you have it - Kirby's Dream Land 3 improves the Animal Friends system in pretty much every way possible.
Now allow me to give you
an analysis on Pitch - He's awesome. Despite some other good selections,
all animal buddies fall beneath the tiny, stick-like legs of Pitch. In
fact, I'm a Pitch fanboy. This is not so much because this pudgy, green-and-white
bird is quite adorable, but if you need to make any Copy Ability awesome,
just add Pitch. He makes such a simple effect on the Copy Ability, and
yet it ends up so much better. Ice - an ability that involves breathing
out chilly blasts of air - is quite a good example. Although Pitch only
increases its range, somehow the ability ends up a WHOLE lot better. And
if you think that's the best that the Pitchster can offer, just try combining
him with Cutter. But just as Pitch gets the advantage over the rest of
the friends, others are unusually weak and/or a nuisance. Coo, even though
he can fly very quickly, worsens a fair deal of Copy Abilities. Sure he
makes Cutter and Spark okay, but just look at how bad he makes all the
rest of the abilities. And Pitch idolizes this guy? Bah. And so long as
Pitch takes a liking to unhelpful friends, he might as well turn towards
Chuchu. Don't get me wrong, she can make some Copy Abilities like Cutter
or Parasol quite good, but I hate how she worsens Kirby's ability to fly.
She rides around on Kirby's head, so that makes his flight time very short
and limited.
Graphics: 8.9/10
Probably the most recognizable feature in the whole game. Kirby's Dream Land 3 is one of those graphically innovative games; it features a style that looks crayon-drawn. Kiddie as it is, Nintendo fans naturally gain a resistance to childish games. And somehow if you haven't acquired that, the graphics still look great. Backgrounds don't have as much of a prominent style, but, as always, they have greater detail. A particular background that takes place in volcano levels looks really cool, and definitely unique... But then again, what doesn't look like that in the game?
Kirby's Dream Land 3 is
one of the games that uses something called an SA-1 chip, which has the
primary use of loading game data at a faster rate. This improves the frame
rate, but it does something even cooler than that - In some levels, there
will be some cool special effects that owe thanks to the SA-1 chip. As
an example, in level 1-2, petals will be flying around in front of Kirby,
the enemies, and anything else on the screen. Not to a point where it's
annoying, but rather very cool looking. If blended with a good, animated
background, then it can make for an even better appearance.
Music and Sound Effects: 8.5/10
This soundtrack has both an advantage and a disadvantage. The advantage is that, unlike most Kirby games, Dream Land 3 doesn't just consist of recycled music from past Kirby games. The downfall is that there just isn't much variety. Don't get me wrong, there's a fair bit of music pieces in this game, it's just that some of them... well, it's sort of hard to describe... they sound like just the exact same notes, just rearranged. Many of the themes in Grass Land do sound quite similar to each other - happy, cute, and upbeat. And even though it's a Kirby game, most games in said franchise usually have a few depressing or mysterious themes to them. Though I suppose the final boss theme could be considered quite epic and noble, and the final level of Sand Canyon is especially cryptic.
It may also be cool to note
that a lot of Kirby 64's music came from Kirby's Dream Land 3, sometimes
remixed for the better, sometimes for the worse. Let me just say that Kirby
64's remix of Dark Tower doesn't do the original one much justice- Dark
Tower is the final level in the game, by the way. Dream Land 3's 1-1 music
was used on Kirby 64's river stage, and ended up being beautifully remixed.
Kirby 64 is not the only sequel to borrow music from this game; in fact
it's one of the main resources for recycled Kirby music. If you've played
Kirby Canvas Curse or Squeak Squad and don't end up recognizing a single
track from the game, accept my pity; your faulty memory must be such a
trouble to you.
Length and Difficulty: 6.1/10
As a fan of both Mario and Kirby, I've grown used to easy games, and have grown to prefer them more than hard games. Perhaps that's why I gave this a 6; most people would classify the game as insultingly easy, among the 5 or 4 range. My ever-increasing tolerance for simplicity makes me lenient on easy games, and rather harsh on hard ones. To the point, yes, Kirby's Dream Land 3 is a fairly easy game, one of Kirby's more intense offerings, but still easy. My biggest complaint is about the length, a quality that I consider far more important than difficulty. Though each world has 6 levels and a Boss to it, there are only 5 worlds. This results in a somewhat disappointing 30 levels. Don't get me wrong, the levels are quite clever, but I just want more of that.
The difficulty is above-par
by Kirby standards. Despite the fact that Kirby has a whopping 10 life
pellets, the game provides more enemies and hazards than the average Kirby
fan is used to. Scrolling stages in particular can be quite troublesome
- just look at 5-2; you have to walk in deep snow that impairs your running,
and the stage scrolls as a gathering of view-blocking storm clouds gradually
enshroud the screen. The hardest level in the game? I'd say so. The boss
of Cloudy Park can also be a pain if you're not armed with the right ability.
Replay Value: 8/10
At the end of each level, you'll notice a depressed character just sitting there while cool music plays. These troubled people are holders of the Heart Stars, when these artifacts are all fused together, they make a weapon worthy of challenging Dark Matter. They don't give these Heart Stars up very easily, though - you'll have to have done some kind of good deed for them earlier in the level. As an example, a certain level contains Samus Aran as the Heart Star wielder. In the level, some Metroids appear as enemies, and you have to freeze them all. After doing this, when you meet Samus at the end of the level, she'll give you the Heart Star she has. One of the more common occurrences is the encounter of one that is related to one of your animal buddies - a girlfriend, a mother, etc. To get their Heart Star, you need to bring them the one that they desire a visit from. This can be more challenging than it looks. Rick's girlfriend, Pick, awaits at the end of a level containing many bottomless pits and hills. This forces you to take advantage of Rick's various abilities in order to get to Pick without dying.
When you collect all of
the Heart Stars, your reward is quite glamorous - a battle with the true
final boss of the game. When it comes to sidequests, you can never go wrong
with an optional boss, especially when it's one that's as cool as this.
After beating it you, of course, gain access to the Boss Ross mode. Although
Boss Rush modes are becoming sort of stale, there are even more modes that
you can unlock afterwards. It's just too bad that after you beat all of
these modes, thus beating the game 100%, your reward is a new mode that
really doesn't have much use. All that's left after that is trying to discover
all the different Copy Abilities combinations you can make with your various
friends. Though if you played Kirby's Dream Land 2, half the fun of that
is taken away.
Fun Factor!: 8.8/10
With platformers being a very exhausted genre and the lack of new Kirby games, Dream Land 3 feels oh-so refreshing. Yes, I know it's not a new Kirby game, but it got such a small audience when it first came out. Most people haven't played this, which gives them a greater chance of experiencing a cure for the disease known as Kirby Withdrawal. While I enjoyed the game immensely, continue to keep in mind the mixed reaction this game received from fans. It appears to have been criticized for its departure from Kirby Super Star's gameplay and somewhat dull level design... You people just can't appreciate an awesome 3-6 these days!
Though most people don't
find graphics an important part of a game, I just really had a good time
playing with these unique visuals. Childish as they are, they still add
upon my previous point of mental refreshment. That's one of the things
that Kirby's Dream Land 3 beats Super Star in; I mean, it was an awesome
game, but truly kind of a boring to look at. Dream Land 3's graphics, while
a few people might not like them, are at least very new.
Overall: 87/100
Though the end product was a tad sloppy, it's apparent that, although very late to the SNES market, HAL took their precious time with this game. It's clear now why this title was so demanded for a Virtual Console release. If Nintendo can just quiet down those Majora's Mask fans, our Virtual Console library would be just about good to go. Anyhow, even though I said you may or like this game, there is something that may indicate if you'll like it or not: the game is where a lot of Kirby 64's elements and characters came from, and Kirby 64 is a much more widely played game. If you liked said game, give Dream Land 3 a chance - whether you end up disappointed or not, it's still a decent game at the very least. Just don't get your expectations up TOO high.
| If you would like to send some feedback
to the author of this submission, please complete this form.
What's your name?
What's your Email address?
How do you rate this submission?
Does this submission belong in Little
Lemmy's Land?
Would you like to see more from this author? Comments and suggestions:
|
