A remake of an NES classic that certainly meets all expectations.
Released December 2, 2002
Only for the Game Boy Advance
Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land is a Game Boy Advance remake of the classic NES game "Kirby's Adventure", which was a big hit back in the day. This game does an excellent job of bringing back the enjoyable stages that we know and love while enhancing the Kirby graphics and music to create a classic game and one of Kirby's most memorable adventures yet.
The game starts off with King DeDeDe removing the Star Rod from the Fountain of Dreams, making it so nobody in Dream Land can dream anymore. Kirby immediately takes action and goes through several different worlds to find the king, place the Star Rod where it belongs, and restore peace to his home. He has to run through all sorts of dangerous worlds in between, relying only on his ability to swallow his enemies as he embarks on his long journey. The game's plot doesn't go into a huge amount of detail, and overall, that's really the way it should be. In a classic-style platformer like Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land, a detailed plot is not particularly necessary and would interfere with the game experience more than it would satisfy the player.
Nintendo and HAL Laboratories have done a great job at taking the 8-bit graphics of Kirby's Adventure and transforming them into bright and colorful environments that make full use of the Game Boy Advance's capabilities. There are no graphical glitches or any problems to be found as you play the game, and the graphics of Nightmare in Dream Land are excellent to this day and serve as a standard for all of the portable Kirby games to come. The sound in this game is also well done, with the usual lullaby-like music that plays throughout the adventure being very fitting for the mood for the game. There are great sound effects that go well with the music and have very good sound quality. You can even go to the sound test menu outside of the game and play certain tunes and effects whenever you want to hear them, a very nice feature for the game.
If you've played any of the other Kirby titles, you are probably familiar with the unique system of "Copy Abilities" that enables you to swallow your enemies and use their attacks to your advantage. There are many different types of Copy Abilities to use, some of them being more useful than others depending on the situation. There are 7 different worlds to play in throughout this game, not including the last world in which you fight the final boss, and each of these worlds are unique in level design. All of them are well made, and you'll have a blast as you run through the levels, swallowing your enemies and defeating all of the bosses in between. When it comes to the game's lasting appeal, Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land doesn't have too much to offer. The game feels like it's over too quickly, and other than mini-games, this title does not have too much to keep a player occupied after beating the main portion of the game. Not too many extras are present here, but the game still is worth keeping for the sake of having a good platformer ready for whenever you feel the need for one.
Overall, "Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land" is a highly enjoyable gameplay experience, and all of those looking for a good Kirby game will certainly have their wish granted here. Although "Kirby's Adventure" fans back in the day may not find a huge amount of new things here (although I really can't say, since I haven't played the original NES title), all other platformer and Kirby fans alike will most likely have fun throughout this experience, and I recommend this title to all of these people.
Breakdown by category:
Plot: 6/10
Graphics: 8.5/10
Sound: 8/10
Gameplay: 8.5/10
Lasting appeal: 5/10
Overall score: 8.0