- Game starts when an alien named Magolor crashes his ship 'Lor Starcutter?' on Pop Star planet
- the pieces end up getting spread throughout Dream Land
- Kirby offers to help find the pieces
- play as Kirby, Meta Knight, Waddle Dee and King Dedede
- visit forests, beaches, caves and deserts
- action on land, in the sea, in the air and in other dimensions
- levels are grouped into various worlds
- each world offers up a ship part when you beat a boss
- level names like Cookie Country and Rasin Ruins
- worlds are accessible via a map screen
- also visit the ship via the map screen to talk with Magolor
- the ship also offers the Copy Ability Challenge Rooms
- new copy abilities like Leaf (surrounds Kirby with leaves) and Whip (lasso enemies)
- Water copy ability lets you surf waves and pound enemies with liquid pillars
- you can also use Water to lift up Kirby
- pressing the attack button with different directions offers up different attacks
- they attacks also change if you're running, jumping or standing
- possess only one copy ability at a time
- certain power-ups like health that can only be accessed with certain weapons
- Super Abilities power up Kirby to the max
- Monster Flame is a Super Ability that summons a giant fire monster to burn a path of destruction
- Flare Beam generates a ball of energy that can be moved around the screen
- Ultra Sword uses wide razor-sharp swings of a sword
- use Super Abilities to clear paths and open up new areas
- Kirby is the only one that can copy abilities and use Super Abilities
- Waddle Dee can attack from a distance and fly
- King Dedede uses his hammer and is slower than the other characters
- no puzzles that require another person to access
- hop on the back of co-op players to let them carry you
- characters can stack on-top of each other
- Meta Knight can fly through areas with other characters on his back
- attack as a team by holding A and releasing at the same time
- the player at the bottom of the stack determines the attack
- players who grab more health than they need can share that extra health by hugging each other
- jump in/out co-op that allows you to change your character whenever you want
- player 1 is always pink Kirby
- camera stays centered on Kirby
- if teammates get left off screen, they are immediately put back by Kirby's side
- can play as 4 Kirbys, but cannot play as multiples of other characters
- 7 Copy Ability Challenge Rooms
- these doors are unlocked by collecting a certain required amount of energy spheres in the main game
- medals are awarded based on how well you do
- be fast, kill all of the room's enemies, search for all coins and don't take any damage to get a gold medal
- each Copy Ability has different collision, grab and pushback properties that are necessary in this mode
- additional modes that Nintendo is keeping secret
