Utterly beautiful in terms of presentation, music, and overall atmosphere. The gameplay is unfortunately not as fun as I'd like it to be. I wouldn't call it bad but the level design and gameplay are just considerably less engaging than most Kirby games. Animal Friends are a neat gimmick, and they're definitely a lot better executed here than they were in dream land 2, but still not nearly as fun as say, the full movesets that copy abilities sport in Super Star. Again, the best aspect has to be the presentation, the art style is simply phenomenal, it's one of the best looking games on the SNES. If you ask me though, pretty much everything this game tries to do is just done better in Kirby 64. Not a bad game, but not one of the series' better outings.

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

The only thing this game has going for it is its crayon aesthetic which really fits Kirby’s world well. But everything else makes this a slog. Kirby moves around stiff and slowly, there’s only a few copy abilities and they’re all not that great, same with the animal friends who sometimes feel more like a hindrance than a power-up. Levels are long, repetitive and annoying, and then getting the true ending requires solving vague tedious puzzles in each one. Just an overall dull Kirby game.

Kirby Series Ranked

One of the more visually unique looking Kirby games and, in my opinion, one of the best to play cooperatively!

It's extremely easy but, also really comfy, it's a game that wants you to have fun and nothing else!

I do think that Crystal Shards does a lot of what this game attempts to do but better, but this one's still unique enough to give a playthrough!

Kirby's Dream Land 3 es la tercera entrega en la trilogía de Kirby's Dream Land, y presenta probablemente el mejor apartado gráfico y artístico de Super Nintendo, junto con una banda sonora memorable, como es de costumbre en la saga de la bolita rosa.

Sin embargo, Dream Land 3 resultó demasiado lento para mí. El movimiento de Kirby en este juego es quizá el más lento de toda la saga, y esto solo puede remediarse a través del uso de alguno de los animales, que sirven de montura/powerup en la saga desde Dream Land 2. A diferencia de Dream Land 2, controlar únicamente a Kirby no resulta satisfactorio en este juego, y por ende no fui capaz de terminarlo -apenas finalicé el primer mundo-.

En otro momento me gustaría retomar Kirby's Dream Land 3, pero por ahora mi nota es 4.5/10.

Of Shinichi Shimomura's three directed Kirby titles, this is probably the one I think about least. It's not bad; far from it, it's a great, cozy little game. It's more that this one was less-readily available to me during my middle school years, when I got into Kirby. I eventually picked it up off Wii Virtual Console, but I'd already played Dream Land 2 and Kirby 64 ages before this one, and this consequently felt like half-and-half of what I liked from those games.

...in all but aesthetics, of course. Holy moly do I love how this game looks. That soft, colored pencil squigglevision is so unique to this game, and it seems to have come out of nowhere, too! Easily a contender for one of the best-looking games on the console, continuing Kirby's trend of releasing late and testing the system's graphical capabilities.

I'll also grant that this is the only of Shimomura's games to feature co-op. At the cost of one hit point, Gooey can split off from Kirby to function as a second player. Adapting Gooey into a second Kirby is a fun choice; I generally find him less interesting than the variety you get from Super Star's Helpers, but it's a fun expansion of a completely disposable character from the prequel, and the Helper system wouldn't really work with this game's limited movesets. And I mean, he's such a weird li'l goober, with his prehensile tongue and his being more explicitly a well-meaning cosmic horror.

The issue I have is imbalance in level design. The goal in each level is to earn a Heart Star, each piece of which is used to build up the Love Love Stick required for the Good Ending. To get each Heart Star, the player(s) must fulfill the "request" of a friendly NPC contextual to that level. The details are never specifically spelled out in-game, but they're usually easy to intuit - don't squish the flowers (or maybe do), clear the mini-game, bring a certain friend to the end of the stage, etc. I have some issues with these challenges themselves - some lack conveyance (you can sort-of step into the logic of MuchiMuchi wanting to be touched by ChuChu, but there's some assumptions that need to be made to get there), and some are just mean (I've played the game at least four times through, and I'm still always thrown by Chef Kawasaki's sound-based mini-game).

But the real problem with this design is that it's overly-centralizing. In the first level, for example, the challenge is to avoid squishing Tulips. That's straightforward enough, but the Tulips only show up in one of the level's four-five rooms. This makes the remaining rooms superfluous in the context of the challenge, and thus often feel like wasted space, depending on what the challenge is. If I botch Tamasan's mini-game, why should I continue playing out the level, knowing the outcome is a forgone conclusion? Not as significant if you're only interested in playing to credits, I suppose, but for completion, it's a little funny.

You can make a similar argument in Shimomura's other two Kirby games, but I don't really feel it as much there. Since there's only one Rainbow Drop per world in Dream Land 2, I don't feel like the world design must focus around it, more that it's an embedded secret that exists as a complement to that world's overall design. Kirby 64 has three Crystal Shards per level, so no one shard centralizes a given level's focus; besides, each level's theming is strong enough to suggest its own purpose independent of the overarching game's goals. When I'm playing Shiver Star Stage 2 in Kirby 64, the level is clearly about Kirby and friends traveling over a mountain through a cloudy passage; the placement of the Crystal Shards within it are irrelevant because the level's theming justifies it. When I'm playing Cloudy Park Stage 2 in Dream Land 3, the level is clearly about satisfying the chicken; the visual theming of the level is irrelevant, so long as I'm keeping an eye out for any chicken-related interactions.

I'm drilling into this a lot, but I should make it clear that I still think Dream Land 3 is a pretty solid game. Like I said, it's short and cozy enough that I've beaten it four times, more than most other games I've played. Heck, I superfluously bought it on Wii U when I already had it in my Wii's Virtual Console, just because. It's a good game! Not a special highlight of what I like about the series, but comfortably good and nice for a periodic revisit.

Plus, there are a bunch of shout-outs to everything from the Super Scope to Shin Onigashima, to say nothing about how bloody violent the final fights are. Lots to love here.

It’s weird seeing people say that Kirby’s Dream Land 2 is better than 3 here because god damn that isn’t my experience at all. Maybe it’s that I have more nostalgic attachment to 3 due to actually having owned it as a kid, but between the increased screen real estate and the extra buddies including my actual favorites make me like this one a lot more! Sorry original three i love you guys but Pitch is my bestie, have you ever tried out the powers that let you essentially turn him into a rotating death ball circling Kirby if you launch it correctly with like fire and cutter. And parasol. Like he’s so good. You can do this with Rick and cutter too but I love the little green bird so much.

It is interesting to look at from a historical perspective, though. I feel like in the SNES era there’s kind of a neat divergence how the gameplay ideas surrounding copy abilities evolve between Super Star and Dream Lands 2 and 3. Both philosophies have a balance of combat use versus use in puzzle solving! Super Star’s definitely more weighted towards combat, with copy abilities having some use in finding secret areas but having various combat inputs that feel a little more like they’re geared towards picking your favorite character in a fighting game or beat-em-up. Meanwhile, Dream Land 2 and 3 are more about making sure you find the right combination of ability and animal buddy to solve the level’s puzzle, with the combat applications of each combo ranging from honestly kind of broken to a real pain in the ass. I don’t really blame people for preferring Super Star’s brand of things, since I too prefer Super Star’s approach, but I think it’s kind of neat to have two different styles in the same series. I think eventually the games hit a better balance between the two approaches, and I’m curious to get to Kirby 64 to see how it fits into things as the third entry of the Dark Matter trilogy, as I actually managed to 100% that one as a kid and I’m curious to see how it lives up to my memories.

I do have a soft spot for the Dark Matter games due to the presence of extremely cute little guy animal buddies and Friends Who Need Your Help In Stages in combination with the buckwild final boss (WHY IS IT FIRING BLOOD AT ME. WHY IS IT LIKE THIS. WHAT THE FUCK). The puzzles can be a little annoying and/or obtuse but I do kinda like the vibes around them, you know? You get to meet a cute little guy at the end of the stage and make them happy, and if they look sad you’re motivated to make them happy…! Or they’re a cameo from a completely different series. Of course I wanna help Samus with the Metroids! (Even though when I was a little bitty baby child I had no idea what the hell was going on there because I didn’t touch Metroid for ages). And really, the game looks absolutely gorgeous, with its soft crayon-looking graphics and its cute designs. The music is great too, of course! It’s Kirby!

With that said I do get a lot of the criticisms. Kirby’s definitely pretty slow in this one, and maaan the boss fights are just kinda bad. Copy abilities are definitely better to use in boss fights than in 2, and if you don’t bring one good luck waiting around for the boss’s RNG to use the attack that will give you ammunition to shoot at them. If you don’t hit them that time, you’ve gotta wait a real long time sometimes…

And you’re not allowed to pause during boss fights for some reason? Is that something for original hardware or an NSO emulation thing? I can’t imagine it being the latter but I absolutely cannot understand why that is something the devs would make, like, an actual game mechanic. Is it a difficulty thing? Is it because it’s not on a mobile console like the Gameboy so you should do your boss fight when you have time? Dudes this is a game for babies. What if your mom calls you down to dinner while you’re in the middle of a boss fight. Are you just supposed to take the L. Genuinely baffling. Even so, while this didn’t live up to how much I loved it as a kid, I still really liked actually getting to 100% it, so I can’t say I’m too terribly disappointed.

On most accounts, Dream Land 3 is a better version of Dream Land 2. The story is nearly identical but is now presented on a wider scale, there are more new animal friends (plus a single new copy ability lol) which means more new ability combos, the coloring book art style is absolutely adorable, most of the collectables aren't a pain in the ass to get this time, and the final boss is even better and more existentially horrifying than before!

Where Dream Land 3 falters however, like Dream Land 2, is still the level design. Don't get me wrong, it's nowhere NEAR as obnoxious as Dream Land 2's level design, but now its morso just kinda bland. As of writing this review I've already forgotten most of the levels, they've already left my head like rain off of an umbrella. Not to mention this might be the stiffest controlling Kirby game to date. I very much do NOT like how this game controls which is rare for this series. Really ironic how Dream Land 1 is still my favorite of the Dream Land trilogy despite having the least amount of content. It's also the one I have the least amount of problems with so what does that say

Every animal Buddy here is amazing. In many ways they are their own games. They change the feel and affect what puzzles you get. Their moves and properties are slightly different and then get modified by Kirby’s powers. It’s great and the biggest boon to this game. The minute I realized using rock with Nago the cat is drumming me and using rock with Rick is rolling? It changes your play style and that moment to moment gameplay change is what I love. Especially when you can carry powers in new levels from previous ones with previous animals not found in the new level. I wasn’t good enough to do that all the time but it was always a sense of success when that happened. Seriously can we just praise that using pitch is literally Kirby using him like a remote control ?!?! Gosh is this design work charming as hell.

I will admit , that the levels themselves feel not too memorable. Well let me rephrase the locals in the first 2.5 worlds aren’t anything I will remember but I will remember the objectives. See the additional piece that Kirby Dreamland 3 has is hidden objectives. At the end of each stage there is a person or item that will reward you if you did the hidden objective. It feels so rewarding if you did it by accident or just based on the level select icon you could figure it out. But admittedly so, it’s very esoteric. It gives them replay value , and you start playing with the eye open to look for moments or things that seem fishy. I like this more than collectibles (I mean you get a collectible but it’s not the same). Instead you feel like you are solving a puzzle than just being extremely skilled. I will say puzzles as worlds evolved felt more and more confusing, and I didn’t feel compelled to do 100%, but I can also see a small itch to try.

The detriment to this game has a lot to do with speed. Kirby is slow, and at first I felt that the critique that the game being slow was bad was unwarranted, I am starting to understand why they exist. In world 1&2 going T the speed/pace of Kirby movement is actually something that synergizes with the puzzle elements of the levels. I would go slowly and just kinda look for opportunities with the expectation that the game won’t be challenging in just completion. Instead going for 100% would be challenging . This worked until levels 3 and beyond. Certain obstacles to just finish the level without the puzzle required nimble platforming skills, and that felt like it was working against how Kirby moved. The animal buddies help increase the pace but sometimes feel like interruptions to certain platforming challenges . This Interference vibe persists with how I began to feel with the copy abilities by . The copy abilities outside of 2 of them really slow you down and the animal buddies open it up but in later portions of the game with more challenging platforming or more tricky enemy placement, it feels like going solo no power was not just viable but more flexible and rewarding.

Lastly, Ado is amazing. The final boss battles are challenging and memorable. This is a neat game with neat ideas with a stronger second half. However the nitpicks pile up and I can’t sense whether or not doing this again will be satiating , and 100% is not my thing.

o primeiro jogo "mid" do kirby até agora
não sou muito fã do estilo desse diretor ngl, muita fase autoscroller, amigos animais e dedede possuído pelo capeta pela SEGUNDA VEZ SEGUIDA na qual só fazendo 100% pra lutar com o Dark Matter (DE NOVO).

Mas eu seria maluco de chamar esse jogo de ruim, os gráficos são PERFEITOS, a estética de giz de cera é muito boa, a música é awesome, e em geral é divertido sim.
E principalmente, muito menos arrastado que o Dream Land 2.

*Note: The Japanese version was played for this review, Japanese names for stuff like Kirby game titles will be used.

You ever play something and just enjoy it but it has enough problems that you sometimes feel iffy about replaying it? Hoshi no Kirby 3 is one of those games. I always saw it as a good game but I always found it to be one of the weaker Kirby games. Though I like to try to think clearly and see what I can find in games. I wanna see if my feelings with them can change. I thought about giving it a try with this title and see if it’s a great game or still just a game with too many flaws.

Hoshi no Kirby 3 is about saving the residents of Dream Land from their struggles all while clearing 5 worlds (yes I know they’re called levels, it sounds dumb saying levels) with 6 stages and a boss in each one. Kirby can do about what he could also do in Super Deluxe except guarding since health bars aren’t a thing in this. It’s back to health points but now each one holds 2 meaning you can take up to 10 hits on a full bar which is nice. You can also press A to take two off to summon Gooey who is basically a clone of Kirby for the 2nd player. Just don’t use him for the AI as he’s atrocious.

Speed in this game is rather odd. You actually move really fast on the ground during a dash. It can actually make the camera have to force you further back if Kirby almost starts outpacing the screen. His flying however is bad, it’s probably the one bad area about his controls because it just feels stiff and you fall like a rock when you shoot out an air puff. I honestly find it more satisfying to just run and jump for platforming. Kirby can also slide still which isn’t a bad option because it’s easily spammable and while it won’t kill enemies in one hit, it’s still a good movement option to get past them. One tech I also wanna give out is what I call dash jump attack tech. Some abilities can benefit where you run and then press jump and attack immediately after giving you a good leap forward and can give some moves good potential if you experiment.

Level design in this game is quite the interesting one. There’s a lot of gimmicks here with a wide variety of new enemies. One thing I noticed a lot with it is I swear the game loves to put rooms where you go back and forth in them. IDK if that makes sense but there’s a lot of left and right turning. Some levels have horizontal design in mind while some like to have you going vertically. I wouldn’t really say there’s levels I ever dread going to but I do think the 2nd world is a little too focused on water giving you a lot of time to Kine. There’s also stuff like sand that will slow you down and even avalanches that will try to cover your vision in the autoscroller. Oh yeah that’s something brought back from the 2nd game, autoscrollers. Honestly not a fan of them but those are never really my favorite kinds of levels anyway. There’s a lot of neat moments I remember like enemies looking like drawings and coming to life, an enemy that breaks blocks to let you progress, moments that’ll have you using multiple abilities in a room, and using some nice terrain like trees to get through the levels. Levels aren’t perfect but it’s still pretty fun.

Animal friends are back and now there’s three more. First I should talk about Rick’s changes. Rick is once again given the best mobility on ground terrain but was given a nerf to inhale by making complete garbage. Seriously, why is it not just the one from 2? But that’s okay because he can now do wall kicks on walls which is pretty neat. If you’re wondering why only talk about Rick well it’s because Coo and Kine play about the same excelling at air and ocean respectively. Nago, Chuchu, and Pitch are the new ones in town. Nago is a great jumper with a triple jump in tow and since some Animal Friends can jump on enemies, he’s good for speedy times. Chuchu can grab things with her tentacles including the ceiling to climb on. She can also jump lots but they get weaker and weaker until you gain 0 height from them. Kirby seems to like her a lot too so they’ll make a great duo for fighting enemies. Pitch is very similar to Kirby in movement just without a slide and air puff projectile. What he excels in is his good variety of abilities that can be very helpful for Kirby. (at least that’s what some sources say.) This game does a pretty good job of balancing them for the most part even if I’ll forever like Nago the most you can’t stop me! With them all here, it gives you more opportunities to experiment with abilities and how you’ll go through levels. Speaking of abilities…

All of the abilities from Hoshi no Kirby 2 are back along with a whole new ability named Clean. Clean uses a variety of cleaning appliances depending on the character being used. Once again using different Animal friends will give you different results so try to experiment with them all if possible! While it’s not all balanced, it’s impressive just how many combinations there are and some are pretty fun to use like Spark Coo, Ice Chuchu, Cutter Pitch, and many more. It should be noted abilities are also divided into three different damage values. Abilities can do either 16, 32, 48, or 64 damage so do some research if you need to. They also really hated Kine because they nerfed a couple of his abilities from 2 like Ice and Spark. Why must you do this to my boy? Personally I always like abilities that can keep the pace going. Here’s a fun fact for you, did you know Parasol Kirby can guard by holding down. Use that knowledge along with dash jump attack tech and it’s a pretty fun time. Also Needle Rick still is atrocious like what the hell HAL? What were you thinking with this??

Heart Stars are the new collectibles and they are found in every stage. Different objectives vary on the stage you are. The first ones require you to help flowers whether they involve not stepping on them, getting dust off of them, or killing them because the mushrooms are awful people!! The second ones require doing a unique objective stuff like using Parasol Kine next to the resident to cheer them up, helping a baby chick off a balloon, or freezing metroids to help Samus. The third ones will have you go into a room to play a minigame with the resident and you must win at it three times to get the Heart Star. The fourth ones have a mini boss you’ll need to fight and usually you’ll find a character that needs help and all you need to do is touch them. The fifth ones require you to bring a specific Animal Friend with you and it should be obvious which one you’ll need if you look at their portrait. The last ones are interesting. The odd number worlds require you to find items for the person in need. The even number worlds require you to help Picross puzzles form blocks that resemble their shape. Also yes they are a Picross reference, I had to double check. You’ll collect the Heart Star at the end of each stage before you do your jumping bonus game to get stars, health, or 1-ups by timing. Overall these are fun and are a nice way to vary the challenge and they are loads better than collecting the Rainbow Drops from 2. Though it should be noted this will always vary from person to person as there can be frustrations. I always hated the Kawasaki one because if you fail it, you have to keep doing a slow boring autoscroller to get back. I also know many who despise 3-6 but personally it isn’t too bad for me nowadays now I know how to get all of the Robot parts.

Now we have the bosses which are actually pretty nice in this game. The first two Whispy Woods and Acro try to change things up by having a 2nd phase in their fights. Pon and Con are like the Nruff and Nelly fight but are slightly more challenging due to stuff like bombs being in the way. My favorite fight has to be against the human painter Ado because you get to refight all of the bosses from Hoshi no Kirby 2 that aren’t bosses here but as weaker drawings. It’s a really cool fight and I love Ado’s attempt at a fight only to be defeated in one hit. Finally there’s Dedede and he’s once again corrupted by Dark Matter but without enough persistence he will be down and then the game ends here if you fail to get every Heart Star. It feels kind of bitter as you’ll not only lack to see who worked on the game but you never made everyone happy and Dark Matter will continue to take over…how sad. Though if you did get them all, all of the happy residents and guests you helped will give you a new ability called the Love Love Stick and you got one more job. Go fight Dark Matter in the Hyper Zone! The fight is in his territory and it plays very similar to the Nightmare Orb fight in the Famicom game. It’ll be tough but it’s fun. Once he’s down, it’s not over! That’s right you now need to fight Zero, the real final boss. He’s big, he’s scary and he means business. He has the most health out of any boss and he even shoots…blood? Is it blood? IDK. Once you beat him, his eye pops out of his body and out of huge desperation you’ll have to shoot him or whack him as he chases you. After enough hits, he’s down and Popstar is saved. Kirby and some of the residents celebrate with Ado drawing cute pictures of everyone including the planet Popstar which has new rings thanks to the defeat of Zero, you can actually see them before his explosive death. Sadly they retconned this in 64 so that’s unfortunate. At least you made everyone happy and saved the day which is always lovely.

There’s some small bonus modes you can do to get true 100%. The first one is just doing all the minigames in a row. The second one has you doing the bonus game and having to make sure you keep collecting smileys and wow it’s really hard. Finally there’s the Boss Butch mode where you have to fight every boss in a row in one life, no health refills, no abilities or Animal Friends, and not even Gooey! This can be pretty tough so do your best!!

My god that presentation. It’s such a beauty. There’s so many cool effects and tricks done to make things look good it’s incredible. The style too is just drop dead gorgeous. This is a top 10 Super Famicom game for me graphically. I can’t think of a single thing wrong with the graphics.
There’s so many awesome views, I love the fuzzy like movement on stuff like the game’s logo, All of the environments just fit perfectly. This also fits in line with the excellent sprite art. I always loved how the Famicom guest characters are colored like they’re from their actual games. I always liked the reference to Nintendo 64 on the Boss Butch screen. I could go on and on about just how much the game gets it right. Truly a grand achievement for the Super Famicom. The OST is also filled with many excellent tracks and even stuff like the sound effects sound really good and memorable. I know that sounds weird but it just works perfectly for me. While Super Deluxe had a better OST, this one isn’t a slouch and shouldn’t be slept on. Really this whole section I just wanna gush more about the game here. But I’ll refrain so I’m not here all night.

In the end, Hoshi no Kirby 3 is a very good game. There’s a lot to love about the game and for such a late release, it’s impressive just how well crafted the game is. I think I appreciate the game more now than I used to, while it has issues and there are many Kirby games I’d rather play, this is still a very fun game. I understand why this game is one of the weaker games reception wise, I think just analyzing the game through and through, there’s a lot here that just makes me smile. HAL really just nailed it and made a much better sequel compared to 2 having some questionable design choices. Nowadays the game can be played on NSO if you have one of those for your Switch. Sadly the US version of this game is hard to find a copy for your SNES due to its poor sales. The game used to be on Wii and Wii U VC but has sadly gone down before this review was made which hurts to see. It should be noted it was also featured in the Kirby Collection on the Wii. I also wanna point out a couple of graphics were changed in later releases to prevent seizures like the Dark Matter fight in the Boss Butch mode. If you have yet to play this wonderful game then give it a shot! You might like it but it also might take a couple of playthroughs to get you coming back for more. The game’s legacy may have never shined but its brilliance will always shine on as an almost closing farewell to the Super Famicom. Thank you HAL for this lovely game. I’m glad I could walk out enjoying the game more even if it’s not perfect. Time to go lie down out at night and enjoy the starry sky outside.

END

best of the dreamland games by far. incredibly charming and cute artstyle - probbaly the most charming ive seen on the SNES. better than even yoshis island imo. requires getting all heart star collectibles to reach final boss but these arent too hard to get and dont require tedious backtracking like in DL2. There's also a nice variety in how you obtain these collectibles. In DL2 the rainbow drops were gathered by using specific copy abilities to get into a secret area. This is the case for some of the heart stars in DL3 but others are obtained by playing minigames or manipulating certain objects in the level that the game subtly hints at. Animal friends steal the show. The new ones are a welcome addition and add even more variety to kirbys moveset. The animal friend copy abilities have also been tweaked since DL2 and are generally a lot more useful now. They also have some of the most adorable character designs I’ve ever seen in a game. I wanted to try out every copy ability / animal friend combo just to see what it would look like / how cute it would be. The animal friends also react to Kirby leaving them in really cute and hilarious ways. This ranges from Rick (the hamster) looking mildly annoyed to Kine (the sun fish) literally crying which melts my heart every time I see it. perfect difficulty for a Kirby game too