Kirby and the Forgotten Land

Kirby, my old friend! Long time no see! I remember when I reviewed every game in Kirby's Dream Collection on the Wii. I didn’t know if I’d ever return to the franchise – but I heard about today’s game a lot, so it was on my wishlist when I got a Switch.

Something happened here, you just know it.
P.S. I got the screenshots from RetroArchive's playthrough.
Go check it out if you want to see the full game.

I have a soft spot for the pink puffball’s adventures, because they’re so much more than they appear. They’re generally easy if your only goal is to get to the “final boss” (big air quotes), but if you want to fight the real final boss, you’ll face challenges that are much tougher. And that also applies to story: Kirby games are the cutest damn things ever but past the cozy, cutesy tone of Dream Land, there are nightmares on the sidelines. And it’s weird, but I’ve grown so accustomed to it that I now play these games knowing the other shoe will drop. It’s so well-known that the trick for this franchise now is to think up a good twist.

And of course, Kirby and the Forgotten Land is no exception. Developed by HAL Laboratory and released on March 25th, 2022, this new game features the core cast of the series in yet another major adventure, Kirby front and center as always. This is, notably, the Star Warrior's first adventure fully in 3D. What’s going on this time, and what IS the Forgotten Land?

For the record, since the game is recent, have a spoiler alert; I reveal the whole story.

We’re not in Kansas Popstar anymore

It was a normal day on Popstar when a vortex opened, creating a windstorm. Enemies and Waddle Dees getting sucked in left and right. Kirby fails to escape and winds up in the vortex as well. Weird things happen in the space between worlds, and the puffball awakens on a beach. Always jolly and eager for everything, Kirby sets out to explore. He meets the local wildlife, and winds up in the middle of... a city???

Carby.
That is all.

While inhaling doglike creatures known as Awoofys in an empty store, Kirby accidentally sucks up a car and, since it’s too large for him, it just... gets stuck in his mouth, with his body molding over its form. This is the new mechanic, “Mouthful Mode”, where Kirby can “inhale” a huge item and gain temporary new skills. The car goes fast and rams into enemies, the traffic cone can smash the ground, the pipe can roll down hills and break through walls, the lightbulb can light up dark areas... When in that mode, Kirby can no longer use his current copy ability, and the next level portion is designed for your Mouthful form.

Boom! Bomb Kirby throwing explosives around!

Elfilin is adorable and I want a plushie of him!
(I'm still doing this! It has worked once, after all.)

Kirby reaches a place where he sees Awoofys capturing Waddle Dees into cages. Among them, there’s one small flying blue creature with a chipped ear that also gets captured, and we save him by defeating a few enemies. His name is Elfilin, and he is willing to help Kirby get back to his world. We can count on Bandana Waddle Dee, the only one not captured, to help as well. (All stages in this game can be completed in Co-Op with a second player, who uses the Waddle Dee.)

I wonder what those other requirements are.

A mega-mall? Dangit, we left our wallet on Popstar.

This creates a warp star that leads Kirby and Elfilin to the game’s worlds, starting with the first, Natural Plains, a city overtaken by greenery. We go through green cities and parks, vacation resorts, amusement parks, a snowy city, a desert land that doubles as a garbage dump, and a fiery industrial complex. Note how I used those words and not just “greenland”, “beach”, “snow mountain”, “desert” and “volcano”? This world permanently reminds us that it’s abandoned. Environmental storytelling at its finest. There’s another layer as the Beast Pack, the new enemies of this game and the world’s remaining inhabitants, are all based on real animals when compared to the fantastical creatures brought here from Popstar.

Gotta Rescue ’Em All

The power of friendship grows with each one rescued!

A mall so big, you can get lost in it. Oh, and just wait
till you've eaten four donuts.

Most worlds have 4 levels + a boss battle. Your task? Rescue Waddle Dees. Three are saved by beating the level, three to five more are in hidden cages, then more can be found by fulfilling extra requirements. As an example, in the first stage, bloom five tulips by walking on them, that's one saved. You need a number of Waddle Dees rescued in a world to unlock its boss stage, but if you’re like me and dutifully search every nook and cranny, you’ll have more Dees than necessary every time.

And they will be working to turn the hub into a respectable little village. Your first unlock is a movie theater; after which, you find new stuff built depending on the number you've rescued, with the final unlock at 180. A few of them are just minigames, but some of the more notable places include:

-A café serving health-restoring items;

-A house for Kirby;

-A weapons shop where you can pick a Copy Ability, or upgrade them using Rare Stones;

-A post office with free gifts;

-A Colosseum where you re-fight the bosses from the game, a staple of the franchise;

-And an item shop where you can buy items to boost your speed, attack power, or base HP.

One, fire. Two, volcano fire. Three, phantasmal fire.

This list highlights the other collectibles here. The first is the Rare Stones. The main (but not the only) way to gather these is to complete the Treasure Roads scattered across the map of stages. Each one involves a time trial using a specific copy ability (often an upgraded version) or Mouthful transformation. You can’t play a Treasure Road if you haven’t unlocked the ability (or upgrade) for it. Some Treasure Roads are also hidden on the map, forcing you to explore points of interest to find them.

Finally, Capsules containing figurines can be found hidden within levels, but you can also obtain them by paying Star Coins into Gotcha Machines found in the Village. You unlock more Machines and Series of figurines the further you are into the game, and some figurines are locked behind achievements.

The Secret of the Beast Pack

This being a platformer, plot isn’t a point of worry until the last stretches. Even most bosses, despite being leaders of the Beast Pack, aren't that relevant; the only one with a true level of importance is Clawroline, the third boss and...

Eyeshadow, hourglass figure... If someone told me a Kirby game would have a character designed that way, I'd have laughed at them.

"I'mma smash dat dere Kirbeh with a hammah!"
Some things never change, no matter the dimension.

The next boss is none other than King Dedede, whose design has gone back to his look from The Crystal Shards. The penguin king has been brainwashed and is fought twice, first at the end of world 4, Winter Horns. When that fight ends, Dedede captures Elfilin for the Pack, and Kirby must rescue his friend.

The King returns as Forgo Dedede at the end of world 6, the industrial complex known as the Redgar Forbidden Lands. Losing this fight breaks him out of his trance. The battle takes place near an elevator to Lab Discovera, where the secrets are waiting. The Beast Pack attacks while the group runs to the elevator, and Dedede sacrifices himself, staying behind while saving a Waddle Dee.

Kirby and the Dees climb up the floors while a recording plays, as though they were tourists. It feeels so out of place with what we know of the Kirby series, a running theme so far. The voice speaks of an “ultimate life form” (great, now a Shadow-alike?), kept in this science facility. The creature dubbed ID-F86 landed in this world to conquer it, but its inhabitants captured it, conducted tests on it, and learned to harness its ability to create portals between worlds. However, after 30 years of tests on the creature, a warp incident caused a fragment of it to split off.

We'll worry about the ultimate life form in the tube
later, there's a big scary lion to deal with first.

In the lab, we see the creature in a stasis tube, and Leongar, a lion and the king of the Pack, waiting. He explains that this world’s inhabitants used the portals to leave to a “dream world” (a vague enough statement to create wild theories!). Leongar intends to reunite the halves so his Beast Pack, left behind, can also leave the Forgotten Land. The missing half is Elfilin, the entity’s compassion and kindness that grew a body of its own. But before doing this, Leongar opts to get rid of Kirby first.

Final boss? Nowhere close.

Fecto

That's creepy enough to be the final boss, right? ...Ha!

Yipes! Too close for comfort!

Leongar is defeated, but he was mind-controlled by the incomplete creature the whole time. It breaks out and assimilates the Beast Pack, turning into a freaky blob, Fecto Forgo, which Kirby battles as he flees the facility. The creature assimilates Elfilin and stabilizes into its true form, Fecto Elfilis. It’s a tough fight where it uses an arsenal of impressive attacks. When it’s almost defeated, we free Elfilin from its body, but Fecto retaliates by opening a portal to crash Popstar into the Forgotten Land. Kirby one-ups that by sucking up a truck in Mouthful Mode and running Fecto Elfilis over with it. Making roadkill out of a goddamn God.

F*** YEEEEEEEAAAAAHHHHH

It’s amazing.

With the monster seemingly destroyed, Kirby realizes he’s back on Popstar. However, it’s still bringing Kirby’s planet onto the Forgotten Land, and Elfilin sacrifices himself to close the portal. Tear-jerking? Only for a few seconds. He turns out to be fine.

Well, that was quick.

Still looks like Wondaria to me.

Elfilin has learned to open portals on his own, and we return to the Forgotten Land. In the Village, we meet Clawroline, the Queen of the Beast Pack and Leongar’s wife. See? Told ya she was important. Her husband, who got assimilated, didn’t return when Fecto Elfilis was defeated. He’s trapped in Fecto Elfilis' mind world. Leon's soul is split into 300 fragments, and it’s up to Kirby to gather them all. Isolated Isles: Forgo Dreams is the final world. Its six stages are made of bits and pieces of the stages of the previous worlds, all topped with a battle against a tougher, Phantom version of each world’s boss.

And this still looks like the Redgar complex.

Morpho, stop crashing these parties! It's the second time!

This extends to Leongar himself, now a vessel for Fecto Forgo’ soul, who must be defeated again. After Leongar is beaten, a butterfly appears and lands on the lion, before morphing into a Kirby-like creature called Morpho Knight. Oh, and what a damn tough fight. When Morpho is beaten, its spirit is absorbed by the remnants of Fecto Forgo, which then goes away. Kirby, and the whole Beast Pack, restore Leongar’s soul, saving the guy. Roll credits.

And of course, this battle is at the end of a whole gauntlet,
so you're pretty beat up when you reach him. Have fun!

The end? Ha! Ha ha ha. You don’t know Kirby games, do you? Beating this boss and getting all 300 soul fragments unlocks The Ultimate Cup Z at the Colosseum, the final boss rush, at the end of which awaits the this-time-it’s-true final boss, Chaos Elfilis. Sheesh! Including a fight against its Soul Form. When it’s defeated and its threat is gone, its remnants of goodness are reabsorbed by Elfilin, and it’s complete again – Halves reunited, the good side in control.

Final thoughts

All the hallmarks of a Kirby game, executed brilliantly even with the additional dimension. Without a doubt, a successful entrance into 3D proper for the series. When I told friends I was playing this game for a review, I was told to savor it. They were right; going through these six (seven?) worlds was great, and uncovering the game’s secrets truly paid off.

Some Mouthful Modes are wacky, but they add nice
diversity in gameplay.

The levels are linear, in that you can easily go from beginning to end if that’s all you’re looking for, and the path is clear, but there are tons of hidden areas and secrets. Small platformer puzzles here and there, rarely requiring specific copy abilities. You quickly figure out that your best course of action is to explore every corner. Of course you should search everywhere; for all you know, there may be a Waddle Dee there, or some thing that completes another level achievement, or maybe there’s a Rare Stone or a capsule.

As I said: So much cuteness!

Excuse me while I fight Impromptu Swan Lake over here...

This game is friggin’ gorgeous and adorable in every possible way. Packing this much cuteness in a single work should be illegal. The environments are a treat to see as we visit them, with so much detail. Major props for the environmental narrative never being forgotten about, either. Not just showing a world that feels like it was once lived in by an advanced species, but also featuring only the “normal” animals left behind as the enemies. And, par for the course in a Kirby game, the soundtrack is great. Heck, the new characters are also great, not just Elfilin, but everyone in the Beast Pack, up to and including the big bad, Fecto Elfilis... which looks just cute enough that fans keep forgetting he's a sociopathic, galactic conqueror that will throw a planet at your head.

There's so much I haven't been able to show, let me just tell
you, the game looks so nice it's fun to even just watch it.
But it's also a ton of fun to play, so I recommend it.

There are two difficulty modes available: Spring-Breeze, which is easier, and Wild, which is tougher as Kirby has less health. No lives, the system used this time being reminiscent of Super Mario Odyssey where losing all your HP only causes a loss of Star Coins. I didn’t feel the game was that tough early on, but it ramps up considerably in the last stretches. There’s a ton to do, be it finding every collectible, completing every Treasure Road, upgrading every copy ability to the fullest, clearing the Colosseum and beating every mini-game in Waddle Dee Village. Phew.

All in all, an excellent game, and if you love the Kirby franchise and you’ve been sleeping on it – wait no more, you should get it. Worth your money, worth your time.