Kirby's Dream Land is a fun lil' game that's enjoyable to revisit once in awhile. Those sorts of easily digestible platformers definitely hold appeal from time to time.
That sounds a little harsh, HAL may be a subsidiary of Nintendo but the HAL name has always been given proper developer credit. Aside from Kirby, is there any HAL property that Nintendo treats like 1st party?Originally Posted by old man
Does the 3DS allow different color shades to play in like a Super Gameboy?
Great to hear the 3DS is bringing classic GB games to new gamers who missed out on the classic system. I highly suggest you buy either a GBC or a GBA SP and start a real GB/GBC collection.
A little while ago I wrote a top 25 list of the best games to look for on the handheld. I own well over a hundred GameBoy games and this is what I consider the cream of the crop.
http://satoshimatrix.wordpress.com/2...y-color-games/
check out my classic gaming review site: http://satoshimatrix.wordpress.com/
Solid title, I remember I could play through this game in a single class. (<50 minutes) and still have a good time.
<Sothy> its the internet <Sothy> who cares
Having played Dream Land 2 first, I didn't care too much for the first one. It's just a slow platformer without the copy abilities and a linear level design. I'm sure I'd have liked it if I'd have played it before Dream Land 2 and Super Star.
Selling gaming accessories. Click
No, it just has black-and-white and green-and-dark-green (to look like a traditional Game Boy).
(Story time, grab some popcorn.)
I've been playing Game Boy games since the beginning, but I never owned any "GB" until I got the Game Boy Advance in 2002. Reason being is that at first I really wanted a Game Boy when they were announced (Nintendo's marketing budget well at work!) but being from a poor family we couldn't get one then. Afterward my grandma took us to Germany where I was able to play Tetris and Super Mario Land on a German relative's Game Boy. This was back when the Game Boy was new and every kid wanted to play one. The German boys who owned it were already bored of the thing as those were the only games they had... though I think they owned a total of four, they had finished them or grown tired of them and couldn't find the others. Eventually they found Castlevania. But it was all new to me, so I was eager to play!
Well, I then found out why they stopped playing. The technology and games were dreadful! The thing was big and bulky and uncomfortable to hold for long with its size and the weight of the 4 AA batteries. The screen looked like blurry pea soup. The controls were too close together and hurt your hands after a while. And the games were clunky and stiff and didn't play a thing like their NES counterparts. As you might imagine, I wanted to play the Mario game most of all, but Mario Land is hardly like any other Super Mario Bros. game! It was difficult and un-fun so I stopped playing it. It's not a bad game, but it isn't like a good Miyamoto Mario. I'd compare it to the "shock" of playing JP Mario 2 after having only played the Western NES releases. I would keep going back to Mario Land after a round of Tetris, but it was just never worth it to keep playing for long. And with the dark screen and the bright summer sunshine and Tetris being Tetris, I could only play Tetris for so long.
I think I also played the first GB Castlevania at the time, and anyone who's played that knows it is nowhere near the caliber of the NES Castlevanias. It's not bad, it's just not smooth flowing and what I was expecting, particularly with the different jumping mechanic which caused a large number of unjustified deaths... I would always jump expecting the traditional Belmont movement through the air and instead get hit or miss and fall to my doom!
Flash forward to 1993, and I finally get a handheld game console that isn't a black-and-white Tiger LCD! But it's... the Game Gear? That was unexpected, as I had asked for a Game Boy. But the Target store clerk had talked my grandma into buying this instead, and from a technology standpoint it was hard to argue with. After the initial shock, I got over it and realized how cool this was. Could it be... that it was even cooler than a Game Boy? Yes it was! This was during SEGA's prime, and this was the brand-new, color, and hot off the line Game Gear that could play... Sonic The Hedgehog! OK, so I'd have to get that later as the Game Gear was packaged with Columns, and the other games I got that Christmas were Shinobi and Dragon Crystal and I believe Psychic World. But Columns, Physic World, and Shinobi were awesome, and Dragon Crystal kept me playing for hours. And the screen was as bright as a television. And you could watch television on the thing! Awesome! So no need for Game Boy then.
Several years of Game Gear joy go by, and sadly that chapter in SEGA's history ends. So the supply of games dries up and there's nothing new to play. But then in 1997 I get the Sony PlayStation and a whole new world of gaming opens for me!
However that's not the end of my tale of portable gaming. During the interim while I'm enjoying the PlayStation I help other people with their Game Boy purchases. My sister gets a Game Boy Color (Pikachu version) for Christmas alongside Pokemon Red, Blue, and Yellow from my aunt and uncle. Relatives want game recommendations for her new console and I recommend Mario Land 2, Zelda DX, Harvest Moon, and Metal Gear Solid: Ghost Babel. Predictably, she only really likes Pokemon and Harvest Moon. Zelda is "too difficult," MGS has "too much reading and is too confusing," and Mario Land 2 is good but "the bosses and last stages are too much."
So I end up playing the final stages and bosses of the game for her so she can see the game's ending and I realize how much better than Mario Land 1 this game is. I made a mental note to get the game for myself later as she wanted the GBC back to play Pokemon.
Skip ahead to 2002 and SEGA goes belly-up, abandoning the hardware biz and going third-party developer. And it is announced that Sonic's first new game on non-SEGA hardware is to be Sonic Advance. So having waited until now to get a GBA I buy a platinum one and get Sonic Advance for this momentous occasion.
Knowing that there were plenty of past GB and GBC games which I missed out on, I go and try to find out which ones I should buy. But my small town's meager selection of remaining game stock for those handheld consoles consists of only a small group of titles. Therefore I buy a copy of Shantae and a used, cart-only copy of R-Type DX.
These are great fun (and R-Type as always is greatly difficult), but they can't hold a candle to the graphic prowess and audio fidelity of the GBA games. So I don't spend too much time seeking out classic GB/GBC games at this time.
Then the time arrives to upgrade to a lighted GBA. But my mom, who loved playing puzzle games years ago on the Game Gear, has nothing to play anymore as the Game Gear's power inlet got too finicky to play years back. So I decided that instead, as she deserved a new game to play, to get her a used GBA SP from the pawn shop along with some great puzzlers and ports of her old favorites.
Still later I have to pass up on the Micro. Then the DS. Finally the DS Lite is released and I buy a white one. But there's no compatibility with GB and GBC games. And now, I have a 3DS that's limited to what Nintendo approves for re-release. But without the ability to play the original classics on these newer pieces of hardware nor a lighted GBA, I have never had a large window of time, comfortable hardware, or the availability of a large lot of used games to choose from to build up a sizable collection. So thus I usually skip purchasing any of those games and my classic Game Boy collection stays small.
But last year at Anime Banzai I did pick up a copy of Donkey Kong Country returns for the Game Boy Color, and that counts for something, right?
I recently played through this as well. Even though it was quite easy, it was still enjoyable. I love how on the box cover he was white (instead of pink) because they didn't think it would sell in America/Europe if he was pink. There's also lots of glitches in the game as I later found out when researching for my site:
http://www.glitchgamer.com/kirbys-dream-land-gb
Very minor, but 3-D Hot Rally on the FDS was originally promoted (, programmed?) and planned to be released by HAL, but then Mario characters were added and the game was released by Nintendo instead.
A huge part of the game for me was actually the upbeat catchy music. The gameplay was almost secondary.
<Sothy> its the internet <Sothy> who cares
Yeah, Kirby 1's a good game for sure. And yes, it's very short. However, for everyone saying it's easy... um, did you not wait through the credits or something? Use the code shown at the end of the game (or look it up online) and play the game again in Extra mode, which could have been called Hard Mode, and just try to easily beat it again... Kirby 1 in Hard Mode is one of the tougher Kirby games, really.
Plus, after you beat THAT (it'll take longer!), wait through the credits again and you're given a second code, for a special options menu with some neat stuff on it.
Still though, as good as it is I do think Kirby 2 is the better game, it's a much longer game and does have some challenge too, in that case from trying to get all of the Crystal Shards. Plus powers are fun. The first game's just so short, and Kirby doesn't really have powers either. Still, it's got good graphics, solid level designs, and is fun, and is a classic, so sure, it's a good game. But I do like the sequels even more.
Last edited by A Black Falcon; 07-30-2011 at 02:22 PM.
Yeah, without the extra mode the game really is much, much too short and easy to be worth whatever price it commands (and I'm sure it's substantial). I think it's the only game of its era that I beat the same day I started playing it.
With the extra mode, it's more acceptable, but sticking with Kirby's Adventure, Kirby Super Star, and Kirby and the Amazing Mirror (and maybe even Kirby 64) is the way to go. (Kirby's Dream Land 2 and 3 are pretty well done, but the slow, puzzle-based gameplay is a bit of a drag.)
"There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge." --Bertrand Russel (attributed)
A loose cart is worth around $5, I think it's worth that price. I've played through the game but haven't played through the hard mode yet, it is an enjoyable title for sure. The early Kirby games are all pretty good, I just didn't like that Tilt 'n' Tumble one for the GBC.
o rly? I figured it would have been one of those games with abnormally high demand. How unexpected.
I am entirely baffled that you can praise Kirby 2 in this fashion and then rag on Kirby 64, as I find your criticisms easily apply.
"There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge." --Bertrand Russel (attributed)
Anyone dig the GB Kirby offshoots? Block Ball, Star Stacker, Pinball Land? I'm quite partial to Kirby's Pinball Land, myself. There's a decent variety to the tables, the table goals are challenging and reasonably skill based (without being too reliant on lucky shots) and the ball physics are definitely solid. HAL's take on video pinball got better every time they tried their hand at it.
I still need to give the original a play myself. I haven't managed to come across a cheap copy just yet. Oddly enough, my introduction to Kirby was with the spin-offs. I had Pinball Land and Block Ball on Game Boy, and Dream Course on SNES. It wasn't until Super Star came out that I finally played a traditional Kirby. Actually, now that I think about it, I believe Super Star and Kirby 64 are still the only traditional Kirby games I've played.
Substantial price? What? Isn't Kirby 1 a really cheap and common game? Cart only copies go for just a couple of dollars online...
Kirby 2 is still my favorite game in the series, it's got the best level designs and gameplay of the whole series... such an amazing game. Kirby 64, on the other hand, is the one I found the most disappointing, of the ones I've played; I really had high hopes for it, after Kirby 2 (I didn't have a NES or SNES then so I hadn't played those ones), but it was quite thoroughly underwhelming. Kirby feels really slow in that game, it's just glacially paced. It's also very easy, as expected, except the challenge -- going back to try to get the three crystal shards in every level -- is a complete pain. Some require getting a power in one level, not getting hit until you beat it, and then going to some other level and using the power at some point in that stage (again, without losing the power). Obviously, unless you use a guide to tell you what powers you need where, this is really annoying. I never finished getting all the shards, the game just wasn't fun enough.With the extra mode, it's more acceptable, but sticking with Kirby's Adventure, Kirby Super Star, and Kirby and the Amazing Mirror (and maybe even Kirby 64) is the way to go. (Kirby's Dream Land 2 and 3 are pretty well done, but the slow, puzzle-based gameplay is a bit of a drag.)
I mean, I did like the power-combining aspect of the game, but in terms of gameplay, it was only okay. Oh, I disliked the dpad-only controls, too; other N64 2.5d platformers allow you to use the analog stick, which is what I always did. I found it pretty annoying that Kirby required you to use the dpad. However, the game is okay, and I did love the minigames; Hundred Yard Hop was a pretty addicting multiplayer minigame...
Oh, and I do have Kirby 3 for SNES now; in terms of gameplay, I'd say it's more like Kirby 64 than anything -- it's got that same very slow paced feel that the Game Boy games, or Kirby's Adventure, don't have. I haven't played that much of it though really... but the gameplay did make me think of 64. Playing Kirby 3, I can see where 64 came from. As for Adventure and Super Star, yes, they're great games, right up there with 2 for best in the series. But I would probably but Kirby 1 above 64 or 3. I do think it's kind of too bad that there wasn't a new Kirby handheld platformer between 1995's Kirby 2 and 2004's Kirby and the Amazing Mirror (the GBA remake of Kirby's Adventure excepted), the GB Kirby games had been amazing and it took HAL far too long to get Kirby back to handheld platformers.
I liked Tilt 'n' Tumble, it was the first motion-sensor game I'd played much of (I had used the Microsoft Sidewinder pc gamepad with motion sensors in it once or twice, that handlebar one, but didn't actually own one myself), and I thought the concept was pretty cool. I would admit that it's a bit gimmicky -- the game is pretty easy on the face of it, and the main challenge just comes from how much harder it is to navigate with tilt sensors than it would be with the dpad -- but still, I liked the originality of the idea and the gameplay was fun. Obviously now the concept is much less original to say the least, but it's an okay early use of tilt technology, maybe the first tilt game on a console?
The best Kirby spinoff game, though, is Kirby Pinball. That game's just amazing, one of the best handheld pinball games ever. I spent so much time playing that game... the followup of sorts, Pokemon Pinball, is a pretty awful game in comparison with simplistic, boring tables, but Kirby Pinball is still amazing. Block Ball is great as well, and Star Stacker and Dream Course (the latter for SNES) as well... all three of those games are really good. There's a very late SNES version of Star Stacker that was only released in Japan, too, but the US GB version's pretty great. Air Ride's (GC) a bit more disappointing, I like the level designs but the lack of content (single player modes! There are none, really, apart from single race!) really is severe, and those controls only sort of were a good idea. It was quite a disappointing waste of some great track designs, for a game that I'd been looking forward to since like 1995...
Oh -- I would say that overall Dream Course is by far the hardest game in the whole Kirby franchise.
The majority of them are color-coded, so no guide is needed to determine the necessary power combination.
I don't see how you can call Kirby 2 anything but slow-paced. And while it doesn't have three crystal shards in every level, the challenge of tracking down the one special rainbow drop in each level is just as tedious and involves just as much trial and error, says I.
(Really, one of my biggest criticisms of Kirby 2 was the misguided decision to use a particular musical theme for each animal friend. Some of the worlds actually have pretty nice music, but you're pretty much stuck listening to the same three themes over and over again.)
(Psst, only the Wii game was called Donkey Kong Country Returns. Let's not confuse things.)But last year at Anime Banzai I did pick up a copy of Donkey Kong Country returns for the Game Boy Color, and that counts for something, right?
"There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge." --Bertrand Russel (attributed)
I actually figured out the 2nd hidden code by accident while waiting at a doctor's office one time. The game is really short, but it is fun.
Speaking of HAL/Nintendo, I would love to see Hal Bailman from Air Fortress as an assist trophy on the next Super Smash Bros. Flying around the screen shooting his Light Blaster and Crash Beam Bullets at your opponents...
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