Watch Da Birdie
I buy cakes for myself on my birthday it's not weird lots of people do it I bet
With every series, there is that game, or games, that overshadow everything else and whenever a company wishes to draw upon classic nostalgia for a new title or representation in a spin-off or cameo, they pick and choose from that game. Zelda usually digs into LTTP or Ocarina, Mario goes with stuff from either Mario 1 or, recently, Mario 3, Pokemon uses RBY, Donkey Kong goes with Donkey Kong Country, and Kirby goes with Super Star.
Don't get me wrong, Super Star is a great game. Arguably the best mainline Kirby out there, and I'd even suggest Sakurai's true magnum-opus. It introduced many popular elements like the Hat-based Power System, and its influence can be felt in basically all future Kirby titles, as well as being the greatest influence when it comes to Kirby in Smash, alongside Kirby's Adventure. Return to Dreamland and Triple Deluxe take after it the most. But while I'd like to see more occurrences of Mario paying homage to Mario Bros. USA, Zelda paying homage to Zelda II or Link's Awakening, and Donkey Kong homaging Donkey Kong Country 3, I would love Kirby to start giving some love towards the Dream Land "Trilogy".
The Dream Land "Trilogy" includes Dream Land 2, Dream Land 3, and 64, the trio of games of developed by Shinichi Shimomura and focus around Kirby's fight with Dark Matter. Many elements of these games though have been basically dumped, especially the characters that originated in them---one explanation I've seen is due to Shimomura himself, a real mystery it seems. For whatever reason, he left Nintendo after 64, one rumor I saw said he became a landscaper, another said he died, and it seems HAL wished to retire many of his creations alongside him. The Animal Friends, the main three, got a cameo in Triple Deluxe, but that's pretty much it, Gooey, Adeleine, and Dark Matter have all basically vanished. It's a shame. Does anyone know the truth behind Shimomura?
Anyway, these are the basic elements of the Dream Land Trilogy I'd love to see return:
1. Style
Kirby Dream Land 3 and 64 were really the last mainline Kirby games with an innovative look to them, an adorable pastel style. While I love the look of Epic-Yarn, and the upcoming Rainbow Curse, the mainline Kirby games Return to Dreamland and Triple Deluxe have sort of stagnated, a bit like the New Super Mario Bros. series has. Don't get me wrong, they have a solid look to them, and aren't bad, but they don't feel that distinct. I'd love to see them play around with the look of the next Kirby, and going a "crayon drawing look", like imagine that all the characters are 3D models but their coloring and lines are like they were scribbled in with crayon, and perhaps stutter like it's a flip-book, would be amazing.
Gameplay wise, the Dream Land Trilogy I felt had a really interesting pace---Kirby moved much slower than he does in Super Star and later games, and the camera was zoomed out more for more wide-open areas, and because of that I found them to be much harder. Especially Dream Land 3, without the wide array of skills of each power, and no block, you really have to take things more slowly. You can't quite rush into things, and many powers leave Kirby wide open after using them due to ending lag, such as the Fire Power. I died quite often when I replayed it, and some of the challenges---often requiring you to get through a level without dying or else lose the power or Animal Friend you need to beat it---were way more difficult than the stuff in the newer games. I want a return to that slower, almost "puzzle" element of the Dream Land games. Haven't played 64 in a while, though, but I recall it being a bit quicker.
2. Power System + Animal Friends
The greatest addition to the Kirby Series in Super Star was what I like to call the "Variable Power System", i.e. powers now had a wide away of abilities, almost like a little fighting game. This was quite different from past Kirby games, and Dream Land 3 and 64, where the powers on their own just had on attack. However, those games had an interesting element of "mix powers", being able to combine powers in a variety of ways, Dream Land 3 had the Animal Friends, while 64 had the Combo Powers. I'd love to see those return to mix things up, as opposed to simply having a bunch of super-strong powers like Returns and Triple Deluxe, as it opens up more chances to experiment. In Returns and Triple Deluxe, most of the time I end up just finding a power, and sticking with it, because most of them are so versatile you only need one. But I think limiting the abilities of the powers, and having a clever mechanic where each power is weak on its own, but you can combine them with another power or a character, is a bit more fun and whimsical.
Particularly, I'd love to see the Animal Friends return. That was my favorite part of Dream Land 3, and there were some interesting stages where in order to get 100%, you had to beat a large part of the level with a certain Animal Friend, often working against them, such as one level with the slow and weak jumper Rick which was filled with pits. Nintendo is really letting their Animal Friends go to waste, only Epona, Yoshi and Rambi get an ounce of respect, but all the other ones are dead. Pine! Squitter! Moosh! Come back!
3. Gooey!
I'm a bit tired of King DeDeDe and Meta Knight now, and I'd love to see Kirby's old buddy Gooey return. Having another character that can copy like Kirby, that isn't just a recolored Kirby, is something the series is really missing nowadays, and the interesting way Gooey was incorporated in Dream Land 3 was really fun, where the Gooey player could both help and hinder Kirby by taking away his health, but could be eaten to recover. I'd probably make Gooey a bit more distinct, like perhaps his version of the neutral copy powers could be slightly different, but overall, I just find him to be adorable! You know, looking at a poll I found, apparently the most popular request for Kirby during the development of Smash Bros. Melee in Japan was Gooey! It's a shame ultimately that Melee became his last appearance ever as a simple Trophy, and since then he's been forgotten. Come back, Gooey! On another note, a part of Gooey's character that was never fleshed out was him being part of Dark Matter. I think that'd be an interesting angle to explore in a new game.
4. Ado/Adeleine
The painter friend in Kirby Dream Land 3 and 64, is another character that sadly disappeared, the only real human presence in Kirby. Some say they're different characters (people think Ado's a guy, Adeleine's a girl), while others think "Ado" was merely a shortening of Adeleine's Japanese spelling, Adoreenu. Anyway, bring back the "human painter" character, probably a support character. You know, both Canvas Curse and Rainbow Curse would be the perfect time to bring her back, I mean, she fits so well! But if she appeared in a mainline Kirby game, I imagine she'd fill the support role she did in 64, although maybe you could use the stylus to increase her role, like in some levels giving her the ability to draw pathways for Kirby and Gooey to traverse.
5. Clean
Why the heck hasn't the coolest power returned?
Don't get me wrong, Super Star is a great game. Arguably the best mainline Kirby out there, and I'd even suggest Sakurai's true magnum-opus. It introduced many popular elements like the Hat-based Power System, and its influence can be felt in basically all future Kirby titles, as well as being the greatest influence when it comes to Kirby in Smash, alongside Kirby's Adventure. Return to Dreamland and Triple Deluxe take after it the most. But while I'd like to see more occurrences of Mario paying homage to Mario Bros. USA, Zelda paying homage to Zelda II or Link's Awakening, and Donkey Kong homaging Donkey Kong Country 3, I would love Kirby to start giving some love towards the Dream Land "Trilogy".
The Dream Land "Trilogy" includes Dream Land 2, Dream Land 3, and 64, the trio of games of developed by Shinichi Shimomura and focus around Kirby's fight with Dark Matter. Many elements of these games though have been basically dumped, especially the characters that originated in them---one explanation I've seen is due to Shimomura himself, a real mystery it seems. For whatever reason, he left Nintendo after 64, one rumor I saw said he became a landscaper, another said he died, and it seems HAL wished to retire many of his creations alongside him. The Animal Friends, the main three, got a cameo in Triple Deluxe, but that's pretty much it, Gooey, Adeleine, and Dark Matter have all basically vanished. It's a shame. Does anyone know the truth behind Shimomura?
Anyway, these are the basic elements of the Dream Land Trilogy I'd love to see return:
1. Style
Kirby Dream Land 3 and 64 were really the last mainline Kirby games with an innovative look to them, an adorable pastel style. While I love the look of Epic-Yarn, and the upcoming Rainbow Curse, the mainline Kirby games Return to Dreamland and Triple Deluxe have sort of stagnated, a bit like the New Super Mario Bros. series has. Don't get me wrong, they have a solid look to them, and aren't bad, but they don't feel that distinct. I'd love to see them play around with the look of the next Kirby, and going a "crayon drawing look", like imagine that all the characters are 3D models but their coloring and lines are like they were scribbled in with crayon, and perhaps stutter like it's a flip-book, would be amazing.
Gameplay wise, the Dream Land Trilogy I felt had a really interesting pace---Kirby moved much slower than he does in Super Star and later games, and the camera was zoomed out more for more wide-open areas, and because of that I found them to be much harder. Especially Dream Land 3, without the wide array of skills of each power, and no block, you really have to take things more slowly. You can't quite rush into things, and many powers leave Kirby wide open after using them due to ending lag, such as the Fire Power. I died quite often when I replayed it, and some of the challenges---often requiring you to get through a level without dying or else lose the power or Animal Friend you need to beat it---were way more difficult than the stuff in the newer games. I want a return to that slower, almost "puzzle" element of the Dream Land games. Haven't played 64 in a while, though, but I recall it being a bit quicker.
2. Power System + Animal Friends
The greatest addition to the Kirby Series in Super Star was what I like to call the "Variable Power System", i.e. powers now had a wide away of abilities, almost like a little fighting game. This was quite different from past Kirby games, and Dream Land 3 and 64, where the powers on their own just had on attack. However, those games had an interesting element of "mix powers", being able to combine powers in a variety of ways, Dream Land 3 had the Animal Friends, while 64 had the Combo Powers. I'd love to see those return to mix things up, as opposed to simply having a bunch of super-strong powers like Returns and Triple Deluxe, as it opens up more chances to experiment. In Returns and Triple Deluxe, most of the time I end up just finding a power, and sticking with it, because most of them are so versatile you only need one. But I think limiting the abilities of the powers, and having a clever mechanic where each power is weak on its own, but you can combine them with another power or a character, is a bit more fun and whimsical.
Particularly, I'd love to see the Animal Friends return. That was my favorite part of Dream Land 3, and there were some interesting stages where in order to get 100%, you had to beat a large part of the level with a certain Animal Friend, often working against them, such as one level with the slow and weak jumper Rick which was filled with pits. Nintendo is really letting their Animal Friends go to waste, only Epona, Yoshi and Rambi get an ounce of respect, but all the other ones are dead. Pine! Squitter! Moosh! Come back!
3. Gooey!
I'm a bit tired of King DeDeDe and Meta Knight now, and I'd love to see Kirby's old buddy Gooey return. Having another character that can copy like Kirby, that isn't just a recolored Kirby, is something the series is really missing nowadays, and the interesting way Gooey was incorporated in Dream Land 3 was really fun, where the Gooey player could both help and hinder Kirby by taking away his health, but could be eaten to recover. I'd probably make Gooey a bit more distinct, like perhaps his version of the neutral copy powers could be slightly different, but overall, I just find him to be adorable! You know, looking at a poll I found, apparently the most popular request for Kirby during the development of Smash Bros. Melee in Japan was Gooey! It's a shame ultimately that Melee became his last appearance ever as a simple Trophy, and since then he's been forgotten. Come back, Gooey! On another note, a part of Gooey's character that was never fleshed out was him being part of Dark Matter. I think that'd be an interesting angle to explore in a new game.
4. Ado/Adeleine
The painter friend in Kirby Dream Land 3 and 64, is another character that sadly disappeared, the only real human presence in Kirby. Some say they're different characters (people think Ado's a guy, Adeleine's a girl), while others think "Ado" was merely a shortening of Adeleine's Japanese spelling, Adoreenu. Anyway, bring back the "human painter" character, probably a support character. You know, both Canvas Curse and Rainbow Curse would be the perfect time to bring her back, I mean, she fits so well! But if she appeared in a mainline Kirby game, I imagine she'd fill the support role she did in 64, although maybe you could use the stylus to increase her role, like in some levels giving her the ability to draw pathways for Kirby and Gooey to traverse.
5. Clean
Why the heck hasn't the coolest power returned?
