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Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland

When Kirby’s first outing on the Game Boy Advance was first shown as a few brief snippets of video at E3, most were led to believe the game would be a completely new title. Only upon playing the completed version of the game did it become apparent that Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland is actually a re-make of the NES classic Kirby’s Adventure, albeit a very extensive remake.

Just about everything in the game has been completely redone, from the graphics and animation to the sound and music, and even the mini-games are all-new. Everything has been changed so drastically (for the better), that the game is hardly recognizable, although a quick comparison of the basic level design confirms that with all that’s changed, Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland is still very much a remake.

For those unfamiliar with the series (for shame!), the very first Kirby game was released long ago for the original Game Boy. An inventive take on the platformer genre, Kirby had unlimited flying capabilities and his main method of attack was to “inhale” his enemies and spit them back out. The first sequel, Kirby’s Adventure, introduced Kirby’s ability to “copy” abilities from enemies he swallows. Kirby’s Adventure had roughly 20 of these unique abilities, adding an incredible amount of variety to the game and also incorporated into a few of the game’s puzzles, as specific abilities are required to reach certain areas. Many claim Kirby’s Adventure is the best in the series (though I personally prefer Kirby Super Star), but in any case, the game is certainly a classic, and Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland brings it up to modern-day standards, and then some.

Perhaps the first thing people will notice about Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland is that it has some of the most impressive graphics ever to grace the Game Boy Advance, perhaps the most impressive to ever grace a 2D game. The graphics now have a jaw-droppingly beautiful hand-painted look like that seen in Legend of Mana and Golden Sun.

The lush, beautiful environments are complimented by extraordinarily fluid animation in all of the game’s characters, particularly Kirby. Like in Kirby Super Star and later titles, Kirby has a number of different hats and outfits he gets when he copies enemies’ abilities, and each has its own unique animations, from the wind whipping in Kirby’s tornado hat to the plumes of dust Kirby kicks up when he starts running. One could complain that the graphics are a bit cartoony, but only if they were looking for something to complain about as the series has always been cartoony.

The sound has also been improved, though not to the same extent. Mostly, the soundtrack has just been given a bit more depth, though it still sounds a bit on the simplistic side. The sound effects have also been improved, and Kirby now has many of the voice clips he had in Kirby Superstar and later games. Again, there’s nothing here as drastically impressive as the leaps made in the graphics, but it is an improvement nevertheless.

In addition to aesthetic changes, enemy placement is slightly different in some areas, and a few other gameplay changes have been made, most notably the minigames. Although the old games like the crane and egg-catching games are gone, in their place are several new ones, such as the “Quick draw” from Kirby Super Star, a bomb-tossing game kind of similar to hot potato, and a racing game that has Kirby grinding a rainbow.

Each of these mini-games can be played with up to four players with just one copy of the game. And if each player has their own copy of the game, the entire game can be played in multiplayer mode, with up to four players cooperating to complete the game. This is certainly a welcome change from the original, which had no multiplayer support whatsoever.

Unfortunately, even with these additions and a few hidden extras, the Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land is still far too short. To be fair, the game has numerous extra modes unlockable upon completing the game and finding 100% of the hidden areas, which helps to extend the length a bit. But even if the game weren’t too short, it would still be far too easy. Kirby has six health points to expend before he loses a life, and when he does, he’ll re-appear fairly close to where he died. And with extra lives so easy to learn, players will find even the toughest levels will be easily completed with just a bit of persistence.

These are all problems Kirby’s Adventure had back in the original NES release, and it’s understandable that HAL chose not to change the game too drastically. And in the end, what changes have been made to the game range from good to outright incredible, and it’s hard to complain when a classic title is remade in a way that doesn’t just bring it up to today’s standards, but far above them. The end result is that Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land may not be a perfect game, but it is quite possibly the best remake ever created.

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Tags: Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland

Posted by Jake McNeill on Aug 6th, 2003 and is filed under GBA Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.

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