Kirby's Return to Dreamland didn't set the world on fire when it was released on Wii in 2011. The gentle, kid-friendly platformer was a moderate success, garnering generally positive reviews and modest sales but otherwise passing without much notice. In the wake of the stellar Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Return to Dreamland Deluxe for Nintendo Switch is giving the game a second chance. And while it still isn't as surprising as some other Kirby outings, during a recent hands-on session I found the co-op game shaping up to be a perfectly pleasant old-school platformer--and with a sizable addition to boot.
As the name suggests, Kirby's Return to Dreamland is a return to his roots for the pink puffball. Even in the Wii era, he had become known as a flexible figure prone to experimentation, as in the unique path-drawing gameplay of Kirby: Canvas Curse or a novel art style in Kirby's Epic Yarn. Return to Dreamland is classic Kirby platforming, which means forgiving, floaty jumps, and enemies that are more adorable than aggressive. The visuals have been touched up for this Switch release, making the colors more vibrant and giving the characters a sharp black outline to make them look like paper cutouts.
The twist of Return to Dreamland is you can also play as three of Kirby's companions: Meta Knight, King Dedede, and Bandana Waddle Dee. Each comes with their own playstyle and move set, but only Kirby can use copy abilities. Since the stages and enemies are built around copy abilities, Kirby defaults into a party leader role, so it's best to bring a Kirby or two along in the character select screen.
To that end, Kirby has two new copy abilities in Return to Dreamland Deluxe: a Mecha suit he gains from gobbling robotic enemies, and a Sand ability. I didn't see the Sand ability for myself during my play session, but I did watch a partner Kirby player tinker with the Mecha suit, which was appropriately ridiculous. It's essentially Kirby as a Gundam, complete with a missile launcher and a massive energy beam ultra-attack. I couldn't help but laugh at the sheer audacity of the design. I was playing as Meta Knight at the time, and found his more action-focused sword-swinging attacks to be remarkably similar to how he feels in Smash Bros., but as applied to a platformer.
The major new addition to Return to Dreamland Deluxe is a separate campaign starring Magolor, a character from the main story who crash-landed on Planet Popstar and sought help from Kirby and his friends. The alien wizard has lost all of his powers, opening up a new set of platforming stages for you to traverse as you gather upgrade materials to bring him back to his full potential. Like the main story, this is cooperative for up to four players, with multiple Magolors appearing in different colored robes.
Magolor has his own wispy style of movement that's reminiscent of the other Kirby gang but uniquely his, with a primary attack that releases a short-wave spark in front of him. What surprised me about this Magolor campaign is how expansive it looked. Though we didn't see how many stages it consisted of or how long it would last, we did get a brief look at Magolor's upgrade tree. There were several different abilities to unlock with various tiers, suggesting plenty of room for progression. The small spark primary attack, for example, became noticeably larger after just one upgrade, which suggests that Magolor will become quite a powerhouse once you max out all of his abilities. The presentation of the upgrade menu was simple and easy to grasp for younger players--like the rest of Kirby--but Magolor's tool set looks surprisingly robust. And after purchasing an upgraded ability, it was immediately usable for all four players.
Magolor is also the proprietor and host of Return to Dreamland Deluxe's other big new offering, Merry Magoland. This is a new addition to the game, but oddly, it feels the most like it would have been at home in the original Wii release. Over the course of its lifespan the Wii had dozens if not hundreds of minigame collections, some of them modeled after carnival attractions, and that's essentially what Merry Magoland is. The carnival managed by Magolor brings back several minigames from past Kirby games along with a couple of new ones, all within a theme park setting.
We played a short shooting gallery game, Kirby Super Star Ultra's Kirby on the Draw, which used the Joy-Con controllers to aim a cursor on-screen, similar to a Wii remote. These games are simplistic diversions if you're looking for a change of pace, but it's hard to see how they would amount to much more than that. You can spend your hard-earned credits on goofy masks to wear into the platforming stages, though, which is a nice touch of personalization.
Kirby's Return to Dreamland Deluxe feels like a revival of his greatest hits, from an enhanced return of a sweet co-op platforming adventure to a collection of mini-games from across the Kirby franchise. Magolor's campaign appears to be the most sizable new addition, but altogether it looks like a nicely nostalgic return for Kirby.
