Kirby's Return to Dream
Land Deluxe Review

Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe (2011) is a running, jumping and fighting game where you explore and fight monsters as Nintendo's famous Kirby, who inhales enemies to gain their abilities. Alone, or with up to three other people, you explore lush and varied worlds. A remake of the 2011 Wii game, Kirby's Return to Dream Land, it adds to the original by introducing a new ability for Kirby and extra mini-games.

When a strange ship crash lands on Planet Popstar, you meet the alien Magolor and set out on an adventure to help him repair his vessel and return home. On your quest, which takes you across verdant plains, arid deserts and mechanical cityscapes, you encounter plenty of enemies you inhale to gain powers, then use attacks to fight other enemies and progress.

Gameplay is the traditional Kirby affair, where you explore 2-dimensional stages, jumping and gliding over hazards and collecting coins and food that restores your health. To attack, you need to inhale an enemy, which grants you their abilities which you then use to take down other foes. Along with the traditional powers, this remake adds a new one - the Mecha copy ability, which allows you to shoot enemies from afar or punch them up close. You can play the whole game with three other people, and extra mini-games, some new to the Deluxe game, offer plenty of extra hours of lighthearted competitive fun. Extra-hard challenge levels offer up a different challenge to more experienced players.

The result is a game that's fun and exciting for both young and old children due to its simple and lighthearted gameplay, with added levels and minigames offering an extra challenge and competition.

There are lots of different Kirby games that have been released since the original:

• Kirby's Dream Land (1992) Game Boy and 3DS Virtual Console.
• Kirby's Adventure (1993) Nintendo Entertainment System, Wii Virtual Console, 3DS, Wii U Virtual Console and Switch.
• Kirby's Pinball Land (1993) Game Boy and 3DS Virtual Console.
• Kirby's Dream Course (1994) Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Wii Virtual Console and Wii U Virtual Console.
• Kirby's Avalanche (Kirby Ghost Trap in some regions) (1995) Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Wii Virtual Console.
• Kirby's Dream Land 2 (1995) Game Boy and 3DS Virtual Console.
• Kirby's Block Ball (1995) Game Boy and 3DS Virtual Console.
• Kirby no Omochabako (Japan Only) (1996) Super Famicom Stellaview.
• Kirby Super Star (1996) Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Wii Virtual Console and Wii U Virtual Console.
• Kirby's Star Stacker (1997) Game Boy, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Wii Virtual Console and 3DS Virtual Console.
• Kirby's Dream Land 3 (1998) Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Wii Virtual Console, Wii U Virtual Console and Switch.
• Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble (2000) Game Boy Colour.
• Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (2000) Nintendo 64 and Wii Virtual Console.
• Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land (2002) Game Boy Advance and Wii U Virtual Console.
• Kirby Air Ride (2003) GameCube.
• Kirby and the Amazing Mirror (2004) Game Boy Advance, 3DS Virtual Console and Wii U Virtual Console.
• Kirby: Canvas Curse (Kirby: Power Paintbrush in Europe) (2005) DS.
• Kirby: Squeak Squad (Kirby: Mouse Attack in Europe) (2006) DS.
• Kirby: Super Star Ultra (2008) DS.
• Kirby's Epic Yarn (2010) Wii.
• Kirby: Mass Attack (2011) DS.
• Kirby's Return to Dream Land (Kirby's Adventure Wii in Europe) (2011) Wii.
• Kirby's Dream Collection (2012) Wii.
• Kirby: Triple Deluxe (2014) 3DS.
• Kirby Fighters Deluxe (2014) 3DS.
• Dedede's Drum Dash Deluxe (2014) 3DS.
• Kirby and the Rainbow Curse (Kirby and the Rainbow Paintbrush in Europe) (2015) Wii U.
• Kirby: Planet Robobot (2016) 3DS.
• Team Kirby Clash Deluxe (2017) 3DS.
• Kirby Battle Royale (2017) 3DS.
• Kirby's Blowout Blast (2017) 3DS.
• Kirby Star Allies (2018) Switch.
• Super Kirby Clash (2019) Switch
• Kirby's Extra Epic Yarn (2019) 3DS.
• Kirby Fighters 2 Switch.
• Kirby and the Forgotten Land (2022) Switch.
• Kirby's Dream Buffet (2022) Switch.
• Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe (2023) Switch.

Our examiner, Ben Kendall, first checked Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe 14 months ago. It was re-examined by Andy Robertson and updated 5 months ago.