Fans of Nintendo’s pink puffball mascot kicked off 2022 with the release of Kirby and the Forgotten Land. Main line Kirby games in the 3DS era were often followed by spin-offs that expanded on various subgames, such as: Dedede’s Drum Dash Deluxe or Kirby’s Blowout Blast. Most secondary activities in Forgotten Land were diegetic — Kirby plays Tilt-and-Roll or goes fishing in Waddle Dee Town — so it seemed less likely that HAL Laboratory would follow with a related spin-off. Kirby’s dream buffet shows that the studio is more than willing to experiment.
While Dream buffet matches parent Kirby rate like Dream course or Flight in the sense that the character ends up in an unprecedented situation, it keeps the spirit of HAL’s 3DS releases. Shortly after Kirby’s Return to Dreamland in 2011, the series celebrated its 20th anniversary with Kirby’s Dream Collection on Wii, and subsequent titles such as Triple Deluxe, Planet Robotand Star allies contained more nostalgic elements. Forgotten Land sets Kirby on an all-original adventure, but Dream buffet benefits from much of the same nostalgic, archival power as its predecessors.
Kirby’s steady self-reflection
Outside of a celebratory concert featuring Kirby’s voice actress Makiko Ohmoto, there hasn’t been much fanfare for the series’ 30th anniversary — which is a shame considering how robust Kirby’s Dream Collection was a decade earlier. It featured six games updated for the then-modern hardware, as well as a soundtrack spanning the entire series up to that point, a museum of art and videos, as well as episodes of the anime. Kirby: Right back at Ya!
Future releases clearly carried elements of that celebration. Although just about every Kirby game has a version of Whispy Woods, more unique bosses appeared in remixed forms. Triple Deluxe‘s Paintra look like Canvas Curse‘s Drawcia, for example, and Star alliesBoss Void Termina refers to items such as the Master Crown from Return to dreamland. Secret endgame content offered even more, such as Dark Meta Knight from Great mirror appear in Planet Robot‘s Dededetour! mode.
Collectibles from these titles, however, carried a lot of weight. Triple Deluxe has 256 keychains based on pixel sprites from previous games (including a few unique sprites for characters like Yin-Yarn from Epic yarn), and Planet Robot‘s stickers served a similar purpose with official illustrations. Kirby Star Allies on Switch took it a step further thanks to the post-launch support of “Dream Friends” by adding playable allies and antagonists from previous games.
How Kirby’s Dream Buffet embodies this spirit
Kirby’s dream buffet is a direct spin-off. A short cinematic intro shows Kirby shrunk by the Dream Fork, but there’s no dark mystery behind this item as you’d expect from main items like Forgotten Land. It only serves as an excuse to plop a series of customizable Kirby avatars into huge culinary obstacle courses in abstract spaces – an aesthetic many have compared to Mediatonic’s. Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout.
Players can participate in local or online competitions to collect the most strawberries in three modes in a Grand Prix format: races, mini-games (such as defeating most enemies) and a “battle royale” where you defeat opponents with one of the eight ‘Copy Food’ skills of the game. Achievements in each round contribute to a growing Gourmet Rank, with 135 levels of rewards to unlock.
The game is arguably scarce, even at the $15 price tag, but Kirby’s dream buffet makes up for this with references lovingly sprinkled everywhere. The aforementioned rewards include new music tracks with remixes from across the series and costumes based on characters like Meta Knight, Adaleine or Taranza. There are also 256 character treats that serve a similar purpose to key chains and stickers, but can be set as the starting platform or placed around the main menu and freerolling practice mode – where players will find further references to Kirby‘s Switch catalog and serial staples like a candy Whispy Woods.
although Dream buffet‘s frenetic gameplay should appeal to any group of friends interested in Mario Kart and Mario party-esque shenanigans, it’s clear HAL hopes the spinoff will appeal to longtime fans. There are even unlockable bonus music tracks when Switch saves appear for games like Star allies, Forgotten Landand Super Kirby Clash. In an industry often averse to conservation efforts, it’s good to see Kirby with its long history in mind with so many releases.
Kirby’s dream buffet is now available on Nintendo Switch.
0 Comments