Kirby is one of Nintendo’s most beloved mascots, but in my opinion his first game wasn’t all that hot. It’s interesting to note that this is one of the few popular characters that the house of Mario originally created on the Game Boy. For his second outing Nintendo made the mistake of choosing the NES. Normally this would have been a smart idea, but Kirby’s Adventure was released in 1993 which was a few years past the system’s prime. Nintendo then returned to the Game Boy for a direct sequel to the first title. Despite the naming convention Kirby’s Dream Land 2 is actually more of a continuation of Kirby’s Adventure than anything else, but some of the new ideas incorporated here really elevate this one to a new level. This is easily one of the best titles released on the Game Boy. It’s just unfortunate that it was released when next generation home consoles were all the buzz because this is a game that is not often brought up.
The story follows pretty much the same formula as any other Kirby title. A giant penguin named King Dedede is trying to take over Dream Land, and it’s up to the pink puff ball to stop him. This time around Kirby has some animal friends to help out, but I’ll get to that later. Dream Land 2 plays in a very similar fashion to Adventure. This is a side scrolling platform game with an emphasis on action elements. As Kirby you enter and complete levels by working your way in a linear fashion to the end. The stages are divided into several different worlds (based off of different themes) and at the end of all of these you’re tasked with facing off against a boss. The game follows this formula all the way to the encounter with the king penguin. Kirby lacks the ability to jump on his foes head and instead deals with foes in a more creative fashion. He can suck up some objects and spit them out at opponents, or he can eat enemies and absorb their power. This by now was his trademark skill, but it’s not quite as interesting as it was in Kirby’s Adventure in my opinion. This is because some of my favorite powers are missing here. The sword in particular is gone.
Fortunately this is not a big deal because of the introduction of animal helpers. These basically function as power-ups, and Kirby rides them after rescuing them and they have their own life bar that when depleted is the end of your partnership. There are three animal helpers which include a fish named Kline who can move swiftly in the water but struggled on dry land, an owl named Coo that is even more adept at flying than Kirby, and the most bizarre which is a giant hamster named Rick. What makes these guys so interesting is the fact that while riding them they put a new twist on on the powers that Kirby currently has equipped. Sometimes the animal helpers completely change the function of these abilities, and these essentially this triples the number of powers at your disposal in this adventure. The added changes to maneuverability these creatures bring makes them more distinct, and are a big part of what makes this title more than just a cookie cutter sequel to Kirby’s Adventure. It keeps the Dream Land sub-series distinct.
The level design here is stellar. The developers crafted each stage intricately and mix up conventions constantly which keep things refreshing. Introducing the animal helpers goes a long way to making each stage distinct. Some areas are more horizontal and others are vertical which makes for a nice change of pace. The first few stages are as usual mind numbing and simple, but things get more interesting fast. Unfortunately the game is very easy by platformer standards. Kirby has a large life bar and recovery items appear on a frequent basis. Should you die there’s never any real concern because 1ups are also quite common. What I do like about this sequel is the fact that it presents some of the more difficult boss encounters in the series. They aren’t particularly challenging when compared to those in something like Mario or Sonic, but they’re a greater threat than in Kirby’s Adventure. My biggest problem is that this title is just too short over all. It takes just a few hours until you’ve seen everything this one has to offer. That must have been a tall order for a full priced Game Boy game back at the time of release, but now it’s acceptable.
Kirby’s Dream Land 2 is a very good looking Game Boy title. The whimsical art style is highly memorable, and this title is a nice continuation of it. The characters are by far the most impressive part because they feature a nice level of detail and animate wonderfully. Even the bigger sprites (such as Kirby’s animal friends) look really nice, and the number of different animations for the power-ups are quite impressive. The backgrounds are also fairly detailed, but some background objects are blown up and therefore look very pixelated at times. The super game boy support is minimal in this title and in typical fashion features only a very limited color palette, but it’s still a decent inclusion. Overall this game is really nice graphically. The soundtrack is also quite good. It uses the same style as the previous released, and some of the music have been ripped straight from the other titles, but it’s still as memorable as ever. It’s a little lazy to this effect, but overall I’m happy with what the composers were able to get out of the limited sound hardware.
While I wasn’t a fan of the original Kirby’s Dream Land 2 does a great job of expanding the mechanics of this franchise. What’s more is the fact that the developers have managed to make this one distinct from Kirby’s Adventure despite maintaining the best aspects of it. Kirby’s Dream Land 2 is definitely one of the best platforming games not only on the Game Boy, but on any system that’s ever been released.
