Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land + Amazing Mirror GBA Review

This week, since I'm low on suggestions and I want to encourage people to give suggestions via comments, I'm going to just pick a franchise myself. In this case, it's Kirby, everyone's favorite pink marshmallow vacuum! For those who aren't familiar with Kirby, he or she is an adorable pink marshmallow-looking thing that sucks up enemies like a vacuum and copies their abilities. Swallow a ninja, you get a sword to carry around. Swallow a guy with a hammer, you get your own hammer to swing around. It's well known in the gaming community and by Nintendo fans as being a series of very easy games, usually best for kids who want to get into video games. It's also, quite like Kirby, changing and evolving, presenting new and innovative games as well as games that more so celebrate Kirby's early days. Some games, like Kirby Mass Attack for the DS or Kirby Air Ride for the GameCube, take Kirby into new and weird directions, whereas games like Kirby Triple Deluxe for the 3DS or Kirby's Return To Dream Land for the Wii are less innovative and more similar to past entries. That's why, to celebrate and show just how split in half the Kirby series feels, I will review two Kirby games. Lord help us all.


Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land:

This a Kirby game that, admittedly, is more my speed. It's like the other Kirby games, but I'm okay with that. It at least is a fun overall experience. Here are my in-depth thoughts.

First thing, controls are solid. Controls are rarely a problem with Nintendo games, so it's no surprise when I tell you that this game controls perfectly. Different commands are laid out with the best possible buttons, and Kirby moves around at just the right speed. Gameplay is also great. Kirby's copy abilities are awesome and in this game, you have the freedom to experiment with the different abilities, something the game also encourages often. Something I really wish there was more of would be copy abilities like "Sleep" that act more as a detriment than an advantage. To clarify, the "Sleep" ability makes Kirby just fall asleep mid-game, leaving you completely out in the open and vulnerable for 10 seconds. It's one of my favorites, because unlike other abilities that you can use to just zoom through levels with ease, this one actually makes the game more difficult. 

Speaking of difficulty, this game's story mode is really easy, which I guess is supposed to be a standard for most games in the Kirby series, but it's still irritating. Because the levels are relatively long and really easy, the story mode feels really, really tedious. There is a mode you unlock after beating the story mode that has you fight all of the bosses in the game with only one life. This mode is ridiculously hard, which feels weird after playing such a pushover of a game. Aside from that, there's a few side mini-games that feel like they're taken straight out of Mario Party and they're just okay.

Now, is this a game you should come back to after one playthrough? In my opinion, yes, but only because of the Boss Battle mode. It forces you to think critically about the way you play and it is also so incredibly difficult, but not because of unresponsive controls or bad design. If you die, it's your own fault, and since you have only one life I suggest you think carefully about how you approach each boss. Overall, this is a great Kirby game.

Kirby and the Amazing Mirror:

Now, if you like Kirby games that introduce new ideas or do unexpected things, this is the game for you. Do like the Metroid game? This game is right up your alley.

Since controls are basically the same as before, I'll skip to gameplay. In this game, you have to travel around, find new areas and pathways, and locate all of the hidden shards of the Amazing Mirror. And instead of one Kirby--there's four! You play as the regular Kirby, but every other Kirby is traveling in a different area while you play, and at any point you can call all of them to your area so that they can help you. It's definitely a great idea, and the game itself is fun, but there's one big problem that hinders the whole experience: The world in this game is way too big! You either get lost because you find a whole bunch of unexplored areas all at once, or you get bored because you've already looked everywhere and you can't find anything new. To this day I still have yet to beat the game because whenever I pick it up, I get frustrated by the lack of things to do. Again, it's a great idea, I just wish it was executed differently.

Difficulty wise, for reasons stated literally just a few lines ago, this game is very hard. It, too, also has useless mini-games that are really just distractions. They're really easy, and I'm not sure if there's some kind of special mode you unlock after completing THIS game's story mode, and if there is, I'm not going to be playing it anytime soon.

Overall, the game is pretty good. In some areas, it feels a lot more polished than the other game and abilities like "Sword" and 'Fighter" are given a bit more depth and control to make them more fun to use. However, this type of game just wasn't for me. I admit that its concepts, ideas, and some of its executions are very good, but the fact that it gets increasingly harder to find new, branching paths the further you progress is just tiresome. Sorry, but I'm gonna stick with Nightmare in Dream Land.

Hey guys, this review took me forever to finish but if you enjoyed it, let me know in the comments, and please suggest a Nintendo franchise for me to cover next week if you can. It would really mean a lot to know that people are reading these things, and it would really be helpful to have an idea of what those people want me to talk about. See ya next week!