Released in 2022, this is the first time Kirby has an adventure in 3D (unless you count Kirby Air Ride).

And you can see how big of an event that is. Since the beginning, everything feels huge and intense like you are in the biggest challenge Kirby has ever faced, with many new enemies, abilities, and areas to explore. It is more similar to Kirby Planet Robobot than Triple Deluxe, which is a compliment, as the former is one of the franchise's more original and interesting games.

As always, there is a new gimmick, the Mouthful Mode, where Kirby combines with an object to gain temporal abilities. This is used throughout the entire game and the level design takes full advantage of it, with obstacles and secrets that need to be good at using forms such as the ring mouth and the cone mouth, to name a few. This is easily one of my favorite gimmicks of the franchise, much better than the hypernova or the super abilities, and I'd say it's even more interesting to use than the Robobot Armor.

There is also lots of side content in case you get bored of the normal levels, like the fishing minigame, the classic arena, a minigame that uses the same controls as Tilt n' Tumble, the treasure road, which are small challenges where you have to use specific abilities or forms, and much more.

This is a great way of adding the classic minigames that most Kirby games have, but in this case, they feel like a part of the main adventure instead of optional modes you only play because it is needed to get 100% completion. Also, most of them give you money or rare stones that are necessary if you want to improve your abilities, so there is an incentive to do them even if you don't care about doing a 100% run.

Finally, the story is pretty interesting and deep if you take the time to read the description of the figurines you can get through the levels and the vending machines, which is the equivalent of reading the boss descriptions in Star Allies and Planet Robobot. So I recommend reading them if you want to understand what happened to the forgotten land and why there are so many ruins.

In conclusion, Kirby and the Forgotten Land is an amazing game and a very-needed innovation for a franchise that was feeling stale after so many games that repeated the same formula over and over, so I'd recommend it to anybody who wants to play a good 3D platformer, even if they aren't a fan of Kirby.

Kirby is one of those game franchises that people never seem to just "like" -- the fans always seem to absolutely love the games to death. And curiously, not just some games -- but all of them. (Perhaps I just keep running into the most vocal segments of the fanbase...) At any rate, I've attempted to play lots of Kirby games over the years, but I almost always bounce off of them quickly. They're generally simple, easy, slow, and... boring. The level designs leave a lot to be desired, at the very least. And though I'm not against cute stuff in games, the style for Kirby tends to feel too cutesy-shmootsy for me, in a way I personally don't vibe with. So the only Kirby game I finished before this one was the SNES entry Super Star, and mostly because I played co-op with a friend. (Review: it was fine, I guess. 3/5 with a friend, 2/5 alone.)

So now here's Kirby and the Forgotten Land, or Kirby: Automata as I called it. The deceptively friendly-looking puffball creature goes to a post-apocalyptic world, and must devour all the cute animals. (Because they're evil? Or they're good actually, and it's Kirby who's evil. Who can say for sure?) This time the game is a 3D platformer instead of a 2D one, and dare I say, that makes all the difference apparently for me and the Kirbster. Think more Mario 3D World instead of Mario Odyssey though. (Or for an even better comparison, Sackboy's Big Adventure.) The levels here are still a bit bland, but there's much more variety in what to do, with little objectives to accomplish, collectibles to find, and even some clever shake-ups in styles of play thanks to the "Mouthful Mode." Sometimes Kirby will become a car, or a boat, or a vending machine (to shoot soda cans), or a stairway (to place in the right spot for some light puzzle-solving). I guess this is the other aspect of the game that makes all the difference for me and the Kirbster. My favorite was the giant water balloon Kirby, which was also generally for light puzzle-solving, but was also very funny to watch flounder about.

All in all this is still a simple, easy, and slow game -- but this time, it wasn't boring. I learned pretty quick to not bother shooting for 100% completion, and just enjoyed myself through all the breezy levels. There is post-game content -- most of which is still easy -- but it gives just enough of something extra to do that made the game feel worth a playthrough, and then to stick around a tad longer.

First of all, this is my very first "Switch" game. Before diving into the world of Switch, I was looking for a game with relatively simple gameplay, something that wouldn’t stress me out, where I could just sit back and enjoy the console experience. Being someone who’s used to Xbox and PlayStation controllers, Nintendo’s control scheme was entirely new to me. I mention this because I believe Kirby and the Forgotten Land is one of the most accessible games on Nintendo Switch. Even someone who’s never played a console game before could easily enjoy this. Does this simplicity make the game bad? Absolutely not!

Each level features creative design, and the gameplay keeps evolving by unlocking new abilities that make things feel fresh. This really keeps it from becoming boring, and instead, you find yourself wondering, “What will I unlock next?” or “What kind of level will I play this time?” I’d like to focus more on the "art design" than the graphics. It’s simply incredible! Combining a post-apocalyptic theme with a character that’s cute as a button might sound strange, but here, it’s been executed perfectly. The only negative aspect I’d mention is the repetitive boss fights. For a game that’s relatively short, facing the same boss battles repeatedly isn’t very appealing.

Nearly every popular Nintendo IP has had their 3D debut. Mario back in 1996, Zelda back in 1998, Metroid in 2002, Pokémon had their 3D debut in the mainline series nearly a decade ago. While those series had fun delving into 3D, Kirby was always dipping his toes into it. We had a 2.5D game with Kirby 64 and that's been the case for mainline Kirby games post-Return to Dream Land. Much, much later, we had a tease of Kirby moving around in a 3D environment with Kirby 3D Rumble, a subgame in Kirby: Planet Robobot. Star Allies had an overworld that was 3D. And here we are. It's 2022 and we finally have a 3D mainline Kirby game. What's even better is that it is really good. Kirby and the Forgotten Land is the refresher that the series needed after 3 2.5D games came out every 2 years.

As a 3D debut, Kirby and the Forgotten Land plays like a 2D game in a 3D environment, much like Super Mario 3D World. It doesn't prove much of a reason to have a new plane gameplay wise, but it does use the 3D to the strength of its environments.

There was an implication of a post-apocalyptic world in Kirby 64 where Shiver Star is actually Earth covered in snow and taken over by technology, theorized to be the result of the Haltmann Works Company from Planet Robobot taking it over. Kirby and the Forgotten Land pushes that postapocalyptic undertone even further here, but even then, it's still a jovial world to run through. The contrast between a once lived in, run down world once lived in by an ancient civilization is now one where animals inhabit in works for a Kirby game. (Could it be the scientific clan of the ancients that lived there? Could the ancients be human since we see voice lines in languages from Earth?)

With a new plane comes a new way of forming level design. As I said before, it feels like Super Mario 3D World in its linear level design, but the way you approach it feels more laid back. There is no time limit, and some Waddle Dees are found by you understanding the rules of the level design. Sometimes, you can find a crevice that subtly takes you somewhere else.

Kirby games were always known for their cuteness and charm. But I'd argue we haven't had a game oozing with such this much since Kirby's Epic Yarn back in 2010. Kirby and the Forgotten Land is the best we've had in a while when it comes to charm. The levels gives the players some moments of silence where there is no threat. That's where cute little details are sprinkled in to make the player smile. And by details, I mean the game is REALLY detailed. You can hit Waddle Dees in Waddle Dee Town, you can say hi to them and they say hi back. Awoofies form a line for a ride. They could be sitting at a table filled with food. The minigames aren't as replayable as others as some are one and dones, but they provide more of that Kirby charm than others do.

No cutting in line!

A change to the formula is now that copy abilities can be upgraded and they range from incremental to substantial differences to amazingly fun and OP. The hammer was my favorite copy ability in all of Kirby, but the upgraded Swords overtook it in this game. As a compromise, the amount of copy abilities and moves has been cut down to better give a feel for the 3D landscape. There are 12 abilities now, but some are interactible with the bosses. The bosses are not as mindblowingly ingenius as Metroid Dread, but the abilities do ask for the player to experiment. Like the ice ability for example. If you fully freeze a boss, you can take down half of a boss's HP. Use fire and they will be damaged overtime.

I'm you, but stronger!

And for my next trick, watch me as I make a large portion of this boss's health disappear! ZA WARUDO!

For a 3D debut, not everything lands. There is a lack of variety in the mid-bosses. KatFL has the least amount of mid-bosses since Kirby's Dream Land, the first game in the series on the original Game Boy, with only 4 mid-bosses. I have some ideas for bosses in a 3D environment like Kibble Blade, maybe some Galboros, maybe a Ranger boss with simple and charge attacks. They're repeated so many times through out the game with little to no variation until we get a little bit in the post-game.

I talked about this a lot, but as a Kirby completionist, this was one of my least favorite games in the series to complete. I feel that the pacing of 100% is worse here than in previous Kirby games. I do not like how Waddle Dees are saved through menial challenges like stand on top of a train or eat 3 kinds of ice cream. If you don't know what 2 challenges are by the end of the level, only one of them is revealed for you to know, where in something like Planet Robobot or Star Allies, you know what you're looking for. I feel like there isn't much of a reason to keep these mysterious since the tasks arent that interesting to do. The one hit challenges for bosses are just artificial difficulty. I did not like these challenges. The worst challenge is doing it against the 5th boss since the last phase is RNG, one of the attacks has a large hitbox, and they're faster than Kirby. There is no retry button for normal levels, but there are for challenge levels. If I take damage or miss something from a previous room, I have to exit the stage, go back into it, and do it all over again. Nevertheless, I still 100% completed the game and I had fun.

If I were to ask for a few more QoL changes, I want the movelist in the pause menu back. The only way to see what you can do with your moves is by going to Waddle Dee's shop. I want to fast travel to certain areas within a level so I can do what I need to fill out what I missed.

What really sweetened my taste and made me feel generous was the post game. It did away with my problem with the main game. Now you collect collectibles that you know you need to find. What's better is that there is a pop-up message that tells you that you did everything you could in that area so you don't have to keep wasting time making sure you did everything. It's a short world to go through, but the reward is worth it with a fanservice moment that got me into the lore of Kirby. (Morpho Knight is now canon.)

I'm feeling generous towards this game. The end-game was the thing that carried the game for me and this game is what got me into the lore. The fear factor was what I wanted out of this game. To me, this is the game that represents Kirby on the Switch in a way that Super Mario Odyssey represents THE Mario game on the Switch and Breath of the Wild represents Zelda om the Switch. It's my favorite game since Planet Robobot and one of my top 5 or even top 3 Kirby games. It's got me interested in what HAL will be doing next.

aggressively sleeping

P.S. Stop redesigning King Dedede. We already had peak Dedede with Kirby: Right Back At Ya!

Kirby makes a bold jump to 3D in one of the last big Nintendo platformers to do so, but still keeps it fresh and exciting even in 2022.

In this game, Kirby is sucked into a vortex to an abandoned world called the New World, where evil beasts are kidnapping Waddle Dees. Teaming up with a mysterious creature named Elfilin, Kirby swallows foes and saves Waddle Dees on the path to victory.

Fundamentally this contains a lot of similar aspects to previous Kirby games, where Kirby can swallow air and enemies, float, slide, and copy enemy abilities. Given that this is in the 3D plane there's more variation in movement, allowing for more ways to hide secrets and creating tough 3D boss battles that has the player focusing on Kirby's skillset more than ever before. Copy abilities are exciting in this version with the ability to upgrade them into powerful new versions but another form has Kirby swallowing large objects to take on unique challenges. Pipes, arches, cars, cones, etc - Kirby gives them his own personality and it's strange and adorable to behold.

Given that this is a game for people new to platformers, there are plenty of things to help give Kirby the extra advantage. Co-op, items to increase stats, and plenty of food keep this from becoming too difficult of a main game adventure, but at the edges are surprisingly tough boss fights and timed bonuses for special stages that help teach players the more important skills for copy abilities and combat. Veterans will breeze through the initial parts (while still having fun collecting secrets!) and find boss rushes at the end that will have them surviving by the skin of their teeth. It's a difficulty curve that welcomes everyone and rewards those who persevere.

As for plot, Kirby is an adorable puffball surrounded by a land of mystery. The darker edges have always made Kirby's narratives more interesting, and this abandoned world has a few on them lying in wait. While not totally explained outright, there's lore contained in a bunch of collectible gachas that slowly peel back the edges and help the end bits make a little more sense. This mystery helps to make Kirby's journey more compelling than just rescuing his friends.

As for aesthetics, Kirby gets by with some of the catchiest music since his Game Boy and NES days. An excellent theme song (with lyrics to boot!) helps to form the backbone of the soundtrack, but the orchestra is pitch perfect for every flavor of area Kirby finds himself in, whether it's concrete beaches, fiery power plants, icy bridges, or amusement parks. The graphics are also just as gorgeous and colorful as ever, with lush forests and oceans overgrowing mundane tech to create one of the coziest post-apocalyptic settings I've seen. The latter parts of the game also play with colors and hues to give that cosmic edge near the end.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land is an excellent game for anyone to hop onto, whether you're new to platformers, helping a little one get into games, or want to revisit Kirby like an old friend and help him take down some tough foes. Or if you just want to watch him sleep like I do! It's adorable!

Kirby and the Forgotten Land is my new favorite Kirby game. There are a lot of small reasons it tops its predecessors for me: Its difficulty climb feels more deliberate and gradual, its collectibles feel more attainable and less frustrating to miss, and there's more incentive to explore each of its dynamic power-ups. But more than anything, the move to three dimensions just feels right. I'm reminded of how I felt the first time I played Super Mario 3D Land and World... if these classic 2-D mechanics work this well in three dimensions, what took them so long to make this game?

That's not to say the game is perfect. The mixture of approachable platforming and surprisingly deep boss battles is a series staple that I find rewarding to overcome, but I still can't decide if I really like it or if it's an itchy sweater I put on once a year. And the addition of retries to certain rails sections begs the question of why you can't go back through a doorway to a previous area. But these are minor nitpicks: This was a joy for me from start to finish, possibly my favorite first-party Nintendo release since Super Mario Odyssey.

2022 is going to be the year of Elden Ring. I think most people in gaming circles won't disagree with that. The Dark Souls like epic has captured most gamers time this year. However, I think Kirby and the Forgotten Land is the perfect palate cleanser for Elden Ring, and I think it will be one of the best releases in 2022, even if it ends up nowhere close to the legendary status that likely will be (rightfully) earned by Elden Ring.

Kirby is a strange IP for Nintendo. Kirby's Adventure for the NES was one of the best games on that console, and yet, after that release, the series never seemed to find that same groove. It's not that Kirby games aren't fun, they are fun, but most of the games felt like compilations of mini games, and nothing that truly took advantage of all the potential that cute, pink puffy guy had.

Forgotten Land is NOT Super Mario Odyssey, but with Kirby. I think that was the perception most people had of this game, and I will tell you right away that's not this game at all. Instead, I think of it as a 3-D version of the NES title, with some elements of Super Mario 3-D World thrown in, but truly it stands on its own in many ways.

The graphics are beautiful. This game is proof that with a little TLC, you can still produce gorgeous games for the Nintendo Switch, despite its ever aging hardware. The game keeps a solid frame rate throughout, and there were very few noticeable drops or problems in that area of the game.

The sheer variety of the game is what I like best about it. You have your standard levels, where you can complete tasks to rescue Waddle Dees. These levels include secrets that are fun to explore. Then you have the challenge levels, where you are asked to complete a level using one of your abilities before time expires. Then you have boss fights, which honestly are not too challenging, and finally you have loads of mini games that you can play in Waddle Dee Town. Fishing, an overcook like restaurant game, a labyrinth style puzzle game, and the battle arena.

The music of the game is great. Like I stated in an earlier post, the theme song in Waddle Dee Town sounds like the theme from "Perfect Strangers", and overall I thought the music conveyed the mood of the game well.

Kirby's abilities in this game can be upgraded, which is cool, but I wish we had a few more to choose from. The ones available are all great, but just a few different ones would have been nice.

The big mouth mode was cool at first, but I grew tired of it by the end of the game. The challenges the game presents while being in this mode are fair at first, but towards the end of the game, they get very frustrating. In fact, of this entire relatively easy, breezy game, those parts were the hardest, and a little unfair.

The game takes about 15 hours to complete. There are post game missions that could tack on an additional 2-3 hours.

Overall, this is a very fun game. No, it's not up there with the best Switch titles of all time, but it's definitely one of the better titles for the console, and one of the best games for 2022.

I find it funny that certain reviewers like Polygon gave it a negative review. Like, what were you expecting?

Played the Switch 2 version. I could've started from my completed save, but I hadn't played it since it had come out and wanted to experience it all again front-to-back. So glad I did! HAL labs knows whats up.

The new Star-Crossed World content is dispenesed as you complete each world, complementing the difficulty progression nicely with shifting revisions of base game stages. Though only a couple per world, these stages are some of the best in a game already full of a near-perfect set of levels. Each of these levels has the game firing on all cylinders on gameplay, and visually they have a beautiful crystalline look reminiscent of the Fountain of Dreams.

Even with the benefits of meaningful new content and a silky-smooth 60fps, Kirby and the Forgotten Land already sat comfortably with the best 3D platformers, playing like a crash course of the greatest hits of the genre. Not to mention possibly the best argument for using an auto-camera in a 3D platformer—from leading to the player to the next objective to subtly hinting at a secret, each shift of the camera is purposeful and deliberate. Kind of every aspect of this game is purposeful and deliberate. It's wonderful! It's Kirby!

If my username is any indication, I used to consider myself a big fan of the Kirby series. I say used to because I kind of stopped playing somewhere in the 3DS era after Triple Deluxe came out. That was a solid game but I struggled to get over just how slow a lot of the movement felt. That's how Kirby games have felt ever since they transitioned to 3D visuals it seems. They lack the breakneck speed I loved in the GBA era entries.

Forgotten Land doesn't do much to fix this but it does serve up a heaping helping of crazy fun. The level design here is very enjoyable, with a decent amount of branches and secrets hidden just off the beaten path. Each level has specific goals you need to complete if you want to truly 100% them, much like the stars back on Super Mario 64. Though the levels tend to be more linear overall. By the time I reached the end of the game it did start to feel a little stale but only just.

This game features a somewhat cut down roster of copy abilities for Kirby to utilize compared to some of the older games, but includes the ability to "evolve" each of them into stronger forms, which helps them stay fresh throughout the game. In some cases, it also turned abilities I never liked even in the older games such as Tornado into new favorites.

In addition to traditional copy abilities this game features "Mouthful Mode" where Kirby basically wraps his mouth (so essentially his entire body) around various industrial objects like lightbulbs and cars, taking control of them to progress through some sections of levels. They remind me a lot of the Cappy mind control shenanigans from Super Mario Odyssey. Nearly all of these transformations are fun and add some extra flavor to the game's puzzles. The game is very aware of how absurd many of these look and showcases them in all their silly glory both in the actual gameplay as well as in cutscenes.

The story is standard Kirby fare, not really much new to see here. The bosses have a lot of personality and are great for the most part. That said, the aforementioned slow movement made some of them feel like a bit of a slog to fight. This was very pronounced in the final boss fight for me, where I felt that the boss was simply moving too fast and not giving me enough openings to attack with certain copy abilities. I felt like I was being forced to use the abilities that made Kirby move faster in order to get decent chunks of damage in in between dodging.

If you've felt that recent Kirby games are kind of hit or miss, I'd recommend giving this a look. It's a very fun game, though it still suffers from some of the issues that have plagued the series for a while now.