Kirby's Dream Land 3

Kirby's Dream Land 3
North American box art
Developer(s)	HAL Laboratory
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Director(s)	Shinichi Shimomura
Producer(s)	Hiroaki Suga
Artist(s)	Tetsuya Notoya
Composer(s)	Jun Ishikawa
Series	Kirby
Platforms	Super Nintendo
Release date(s)
Genre(s)	Platforming
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Kirby's Dream Land 3, known as Hoshi no Kirby 3 (星のカービィ3, Hoshi no Kābī Surī, lit. "Kirby of the Stars 3") in Japan, is the fifth platformer video game starring Kirby. Specifically, it is the third game under the Kirby's Dream Land name. Although the first two games were largely unrelated, Dream Land 3 features many similar characters to Dream Land 2. Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards was the sequel to this game.

Kirby's Dream Land 3 was the last game published by Nintendo for the Super NES in North America. Problems with the game's PAL conversion prevented it from being released in Europe and Australia for many years; it was finally released for the Virtual Console in those regions in the form of an import from North America on July 24, 2009 for the Wii and on July 25, 2013 for the Wii U. The game was re-released on the Virtual Console in North America on January 5, 2009 for the Wii and on May 8, 2013 for the Wii U and in Japan on April 28, 2009 for the Wii and on May 8, 2013 for the Wii U. It was also included along with 5 other Kirby games in the Wii collection for Kirby's 20th anniversary, Kirby's Dream Collection.

Plot

After the events of Kirby's Dream Land 2, Kirby and Gooey are on a fishing trip, when all of a sudden, Dark Matter appears and shatters the planet's rings. He then proceeds to possess various Dream-Landers, including King Dedede. Kirby and Gooey then team up with Rick, Coo, and Kine, as well as new characters Pitch, ChuChu, and Nago. They collect all the Heart-Stars to create the "Love-Love Stick" and defeat Dark Matter and it's leader: Zero.

Gameplay

The game's platforming mechanics are very similar to most other Kirby games, as is Kirby's skillset. Kirby is able to jump, duck, slide, fly (by inflating himself), as well as perform his signature move: inhaling enemies. When Kirby inhales an enemy, it can be spit back out as a projectile, or swallowed. Normally this has no effect on Kirby, although specific enemies grant Kirby copy abilities, a staple of the Kirby games. Copy abilities replace Kirby's standard inhaling move with a special attack, depending on the enemy Kirby ate. For example, swallowing a fire-based enemy allows Kirby to become a fireball.

Zero is the game's secret and true final boss; defeating him is key in achieving the best ending. Zero takes the form of a giant white blob with one red eye, and is responsible for leading the Dark Matter invasion of Dreamland. Zero is famous for being a rare example of graphic violence in a first-party Nintendo game - Zero fights Kirby by opening cuts on his sclera and shooting blood out of the cuts at him. When his health is drastically weakened, his eye tears out of his head/body, with blood flying everywhere as it does so. The ruined body, complete with a vicious gash to its front from where the eye burst out trails away, and the second phase of the fight begins, which involves Zero ramming Kirby to injure him. Although he is eventually defeated, Zero reappears in Kirby 64 as 'Zero Two'.

Kirby's allies

At any time during play, Kirby can summon Gooey—a blue, long-tongued blob first seen in Dream Land 2. Doing so costs Kirby two hit points. When controlled by the computer or also a second human player, Gooey's abilities are similar to Kirby's: He can swallow enemies using his long tongue, then either spit them out or copy their abilities to a limited extent. Kirby can also inhale Gooey and swallow him, reclaiming his two hit points.

In addition to Gooey, Kirby can team up with any one of his six other friends, three of which were introduced in the previous game in the series. This friend mechanic allows Kirby to be ridden, carried or rolled, enabling new team-based abilities, as well as variations of Kirby's copy abilities.

Visuals

Kirby's Dream Land 3 uses a mode of the SNES termed "pseudo high-resolution" (which allows for color blending between two adjacent pixels) to blend dithered sprites.

The cartridge also takes advantage of SA-1 technology to process game data at a faster rate, which was necessary for the large number of bitmaps and special effects used by faster releases.

Reception

Reception
Review scores Publication Score AllGame IGN 7.0/10 Nintendo Power 6.5/10

Kirby's Dream Land 3 received mixed to positive reception from both critics and fans. IGN gave Dream Land 3 a fairly positive review of the Virtual Console re-release, "It's not Super Star. But once you get past that, you can appreciate Dream Land 3 for what it is -- a direct, numbered follow-up to the series that started on the Game Boy."

External links

• Kirby's Dream Land 3 Profile - Nintendo (Archive)
• Kirby's Dream Land 3 at MobyGames
• Kirby's Dream Land 3 at IGN