MAAAAAAAN....
This game is better than Dream Land 1 & 2....
This game has an awesome artstyle.....This game has Hamster Rick and some more friends....But man.....

THIS GAME IS FOR LITTLE TWERPS!
The abilities???? I'm bored!
This game is BORING. I wanted it to end!
I made it end.

I know this might be an unpopular opinion but I am going to out right say it. This is not only my favorite game in the Dark Matter Trilogy, it is also my favorite Kirby game in the entire series.

This game genuinely has a lot to love in it. The music is ambient and beautiful, the Art direction is amazing. The abilities and animal friends are fun. This game just really has a lot going for it. I think its a bit hypocritical of people to rag on this game but praise Kirby 64 because in a lot of ways, this game and kirby 64 are incredibly similar in their design choices.

Also, the true final boss of this game is an absolute blast thought too many spoilers, even if you find the objectives to get there annoying, its completely worth it to 100% this game.

Does this game get a recommendation from me? Absolutely.

The main complaint towards this game is it's very clunky controls that feels like you're tossing a cinder block around rather than controlling Kirby. And to all the haters out there who say this, you have a good point.

However I can't help myself to be one of the few people who loves this game's slower pace. KDL3 is responsible for shaping my aesthetic sensibilities, I'm a sucker for anything with the crayon look. Since the game is slow, I have the opportunity to take in how gorgeous it looks and that never gets old. Couple that with the music and I find myself returning to this game to get lost in it's world and occasionally gather inspiration for doing art.

Yes the level designs are meh, yes the puzzles are cryptic, yes the gameplay is slow but I could not care less. It isn't even about that for me. I love getting engrossed in the presentation of KDL3, it's a visual and audio pleasure. Getting to explore it's world through a gamepad is just an added bonus.

This game genuinely holds up to modern Kirby titles, especially the 2D ones. There aren't many abilities, but that is made up for by the 6 animal companions you can find and ride in different levels, which all give each power ability a new, unique spin. The levels are hit or miss, but the ones that hit truly hit. The bosses are a joy, and BOY that final boss is really fun. The controls are okay, not perfect, but still a really nice and obvious improvement over Dream Land 1&2. This game EXCELS when it comes to the personality of the characters though. Not only are the creatures unique and fun (they even get upset/sad when you choose other creatures over them, it's heartbreaking), but the side characters and enemies you encounter along the way are SO cute and fun. You can just feel the love the team poured into every crevice of this wonderful game.

No Maglor though 0/10

Possibly the weakest Kirby game I've played? Movement in this game just feels so choppy and stilted. Like, there's no momentum or flow. I thought maybe I was just misremembering the movement in other games, but I turned on Super Star and it played just fine. So then I thought maybe this was just them getting used to the SNES hardware, but no, this was released literally after Super Star in 1997. There's not really any excuse for that tbh. On top of how poor the control is, the ability pool is so sparse. They try to balance this out by giving you the companion characters which all interact in different ways with each ability, but like, the control is bad, so they aren't really fun to use. I dunno, this game is just rough. It's fun at times, but I genuinely have no clue how they could mess up the movement of literally Kirby of all things. 2/6

This came out in 1997 while I was playing Star Fox 64. While you were figuring out that there was a Z button under the N64 controller that would make Mario backflip, Kirby was studying the blade. As a result this is just probably the best looking and sounding SNES game but I don't think anyone played it. We just played Kirby 64 which heavily borrows from it.

At this point, Kirby's Dream Land 2 was kinda the weakest link in the series and 3 is the first Kirby sequel to sit back and say 'let's just make that exact thing but way better.' You've got more animal pals, more abilities, more combinations, better little puzzles with actual hints, and so on.

Look, the levels are fun and all that but this is a game about one thing: being really cute. It's cute as hell pals. Kirby can turn an owl into a little feather duster. You can ride a witch's broom around with a little pink blob (not Kirby it's a different pink blob) and you know. You KNOW if this appeals to you. Just pause the game and look at that picture. Look at all the little pals! Holy shit it's cute

This was another game I really wanted to play as a kid, and now I've finally gotten around to it. And I gotta say, what a wonderful game.
It's got a great art style and it feels unique in the pantheon of kirby games. The levels are fun, and I like all the copy abilities they have in this one, though at the same time it's surprised which ones that I thought were classic were nowhere to be seen. I really enjoyed the animal companions, though I prefer some over others. And while I enjoyed most of the puzzles to get the hearts, some felt more tedious, and the mini-games were sometimes more annoying than they should've. That aside though, the bosses were really fun, especially the final boss. I really need to play more Kirby games, I've enjoyed the all so far.

kirby's dreamland 3. let's be honest.
i do really miss the puzzle-solving aspect of kirby games. the relegation of these features to mere 1-ups or collectible is just not enough. where the previous entry, kirby's dreamland 2, had more demanding and frankly ridiculous puzzles to solve, dreamland 3 here makes it more intuitive in finding out what you have to do. the puzzles follow a similar structure from world-to-world, and whenever you're in an important place the game is sure to make a little chime sound to tell you "hey, puzzle here!"
it's great, and i love solving puzzles with my abilities to help the little characters in this game. it's fun!
if they were to bring these puzzle elements into future games with the same combat mechanics we have now, i feel like 100%-ing kirby games would be 10x more fun.

let's not forget to talk about the music and design choice. i love to look at this game, and i love to listen to this game. it's soft, but it certainly knows how to look foreboding when it needs to be. i love it!

it's not your standard kirby game, but it's fun if you look at it with your head tilted. just give it a try!

Kirby continues his trend of gracing consoles while they're just about dead, with a very visually/technically impressive SNES release

too bad the level design is kinda weak and the 100% completion requirements are at their worst here

fun mechanics and music though

Games don't have to be hard in order to be enjoyable or memorable; if anything, at my age, I really appreciate when I can just relax and have a simple, short, yet compelling adventure such as this one.

Controls are tight and responsive; power-ups are downgraded compared to Super Star in terms of versatility, but to compensate for this, each and every one has different variations depending on which companion you choose. The addition of puzzles was also a welcomed new feature, and some of them were actually quite clever despite the game obviously aiming for a younger audience. The graphics are beautiful; they look like they were drawn with a crayon, giving its visuals a very unique style that no other Kirby game has. As for level design, I don't think they were as "flat" as some people say; they are very simple and straight-forward, but there are tons of secrets to be found, and the games offer a nice variety, especially if you aim for 100% completion.

7/10. I would definitely spend a whole night going through it again.

This game is....boring.

Level design is uninspired. The abilities are basic. And there's.....a snoozy vibe idk how to explain it.

Its technically pretty SNES standards. But Superstar had so much more energy I just can't bother.

Its nothing offensive by any means but I'm sure there's better uses of your time

I'm honestly kinda sad this game got forgotten. It makes sense, being an SNES title that released after the N64. However, I personally love it.

A big part of it for me is how stupidly cozy this game is for a Kirby game. The art direction has a childish charm to it while staying professional in look. The music is good, by no means amazing, but fits the mood to a T, and Kirby alongside the game's animal helpers and side characters are all very expressive, even if there's little shown of them (i.e. The heart star characters in each stage).

I never cared about the limited copy ability variety. I liked the animal helper system, and it brings both movement variety and ability variety. Going from 30 or so copy abilities in Superstar and most other games to just 8 never bothered me.

Heart stars are pretty cool. Some requests were better than others. I hated the memory games for example, but loved having to play through stages with a certain animal helper, especially for Sand Canyon 5 and Cloud Park 5, where those levels seemed designed for Chu Chu and Rick's respective abilities.

The levels were nowhere near as bland as I had heard people say they were. A lot of them have long, flat sections that you can float over, but the same goes for most Kirby games. Maybe it's the fact that level-specific gimmicks are really subdued, which I can completely understand. However, the level design outside of a couple levels was way better than I expected.

The bosses were actually really fun and put up quite the fight (outside of Whispy Woods of course). They weren't particularly hard, but they were engaging.

If I have one complaint about this game, it's that it moves slowly. You have a dash that goes pretty quickly, but I used it repeatedly and learned the hard way to not rush this game.

9/10 - A cozy and fun experience that made me smile. However, you move a bit too slow.