[review wip]

Kirby's Dream Land 3's the last hurrah for the SNES, but also one of the most 'different' Kirby games in terms of physics, lore and so on. It is infact a sequel to Kirby's Dream Land 2 which directly takes elements from there.
The first thing that got me surprised as i started playing this game is that Kirby's controls and physics are slightly redone for this entry, despite that, however, this title lives up to be one of the most significant entries in the series which lived on the legacy of the Kirby villains, often depicted as creepy eye beings invading Dream Land while hiding themselves in the dark.

One of my favorite Kirby games. The almost doodle-looking art style is timeless. The music is peak "cheery happy Kirby OST". I love the new characters and designs like Gooey, Pon/Con, and the more cutesy design ethos to them. The Heart Star system is interesting in concept but executed in a slightly confusing way. There's no way to track them, the requirements are not telegraphed well, and a lot of them are very finicky. Even though the copy abilities were reeled back and simplified from Kirby Super Star, I still love the variety that the Animal Buddies bring to make up for it. Overall, it doesn't have the best gameplay but the cozy vibes are at their peak with this entry and make it an enjoyable romp

This game is considered a sort of swan swung for the super nintendo, and does it deserve to be that game?

Sorta, and i will explain why

So, obviously, the artstyle is amazing... shocking i know. In fact, i think its succeed his artbook aesthetic so well that it outshine other stylised game on the snes like yoshi island : the game is just super pleasing to look at...and its the only place where the game isnt outshine by the two main kirby game between it: superstar and 64

Yeah, lets get this out of the way: to me, this game is so close of 64 in a lot of aspect that it could almost be considered like a sorta kirby 63, if that make sense. Im just saying that:

They share a lot of the soundtrack (64 did it better tho)
They share a same antagonist
They share some level idea (the pyramide for instance)
They share a ton of copy ability
They both have a combining ability system in some way
They both ignore the change superstar made on the core gameplay

But what they dont share on the other hand is how they handle level design : 64 is loaded with memorable level due to their theme, gimmick or just, by how fun the level design just was...dreamland 3, on the other hand...doesnt have that much memorable level? I mean, i feel like i star to remember one or two level after the fourth World...yax. legit, the only two things dreamland 3 has over 64 is the fact that i prefer juuuuuust a little bit how kirby play, but i like both so it doesnt change much, and the companion, but, and its a unpopular opinion, i know, but i dont like playing as them that much? Like, conceptually, they are good, and the fact that you can combo them with copy ability to have new one are good, but, other than the cat one, i feel like the control are kinda sluggish with all the other. Plus, i dont like most of the combo they have with copy ability so thats a other point against it. Btw, the copy ability in this game are probably my least favorite in all the kirby game i played so far: adventure had more, superstar also had more too, and they felt incredible to use AND they had entire moveset each, 64 had the combining mecanic, forgotten land had more, had the moveset and a upgrade system, and even dream course, a game that i really dont like, had a very cool way to handle the copy ability

Finally, 64 and this game share something else : terrible collectable, but they are actively worse here, because at least, in 64, they were easy to understand, and you could have most of them in your first run, but here? Each level had one star to collect, and most of them are painfull and easy to miss
...their only value are the cameo from other game...i mean hell, the only of the gems i liked was the one where you had to kill Metroid, because i love metroid, its a really good franchise, except when its not i guess

Anyway, this game is still really fun, but it has A LOT holding back for being actually great

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.

"It's not Super Star. But once you get past that, you can appreciate Dream Land 3 for what it is" - Gandhi

The third and final game of the Dream Land trilogy that just couldn't push the franchise forward like Super Star. Dream Land 3 is a game I kept seeing images of online and kept thinking "Wow this game looks adorable" and then realized how nobody talked about this game outside of its art style, guess the reason was pretty simple... it's just a very boring Kirby game that plays exactly like Kirby's Dream Land 2 and just ignores everything that Super Star did. It's not a terrible game by any means it just does nothing unique and it's similar to the Final Fantasy 7 and 8 situation where 7 just raises the bar so high that you know the sequel just won't be able to make the franchise rise to a new peak once again. So yeah, this is no Super Star 2 but it's excused by the prettiest art style in the entire Super Nintendo library this game looks stellar and if you are here you probably know about that since it's the only thing that drives people into playing it.

The main gimmick in this game is the new secret task that you need to do in each stage to satisfy some character at the end of each stage and doing those are necessary for the true ending, guess what? They suck ass it's not fun so I just didn't bother and looked up the true ending online, if you want people to bother with collectibles you must make them fun just like in Kirby's Return to Dream Land these were fun to collect.
There are 6 stages per world and they all are fine in a Kirby standard but god they all feel the same, it's like trying to remember New Super Mario Bros Wii stages, you can't! They all just do the "Snow world, Grass world, Water world, ..." and it's just sad to see after how unique Super Star was.

Should you play this game? It's a basic as basic can get Kirby game and it's not too long so why not, just don't expect another Super Star.

Pros: I love the new animal friends in this game, Nago the cat, ChuChu the octopus, and Pitch the bird. Each bring along new movement options and fun copy ability combinations. They're joined by the original three animal friends from Kirby's Dream Land 2, along with more copy abilities to shake things up further. Another friend joins the fun as this game's co-op partner, Gooey! Essentially a second Kirby, he can steal powers and ride animals all the same. He's a funny little guy. The game also has a nice crayon visual aesthetic, perhaps inspired by Yoshi's Island, it's quite nice! Was cool to see SNES squeak this one out on the last year of its life.

Cons: Sigh... It's a big step backwards after Kirby Super Star. It's slower paced in general, the movement isn't smooth either, and each copy ability goes back to the Kirby Adventure/Dream Land 2 method of one attack per ability, and no fun hats either... Also back to far fewer abilties... Yeah yeah, KDL2 ran by these same rules, but after Super Star, it was hard to go back. And the new copy ability "clean" is... it's cleaning... c'mon... Sure it has some neat animal combinations, like the Kiki's Delivery Service inspired broomstick flying move with Chuchu, but eh, it's not very cool on its own. But this game is perfectly playable, it's just not very exciting. I'm also not really into this game's gimmick of each stage having its own "mission" of sorts, where you're confronted with a little jingle at the start of some rooms, and you either succeed in accomplishing the objective, or fail, and then by the end of the stage, you get your reward or not. And if you fail, ugh... You have to replay the stage again, and I just don't really dig it, y'know? It's not very fun. Aside from some neat cameos like Samus, this isn't the form of gameplay I want out of Kirby.

What it means to me: Look, I love the animal friends, that's what puts this game on my list of favs, they're great, they're wonderful, and they have some really fun moves. It's what makes me like this game more than Kirby 64 even, which didn't have them, but still had the slow plodding gameplay from this game (yeah, I like the animals more than I like copy ability mixing, which, again, you only had one move per copy ability... still a step backwards there too...). Played this game back when it came out, and liked what I could out of it, but didn't love it.

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.