Kind of a mixed bag for me, which is disappointing to say. For most of the game, I was enjoying myself a lot, but it got really soured towards the end.

I'll start positively by saying that I think this game is a great deal better than the first Kirby's Dream Land, though the bar was kinda low on that one. Hard to do worse than a game with no copy abilities. The abilities in Dream Land 2 are pretty basic, but they really shine with the addition of the animal partners. Rick, Kine, and especially Coo are really fun to use, and I love that they all have their own interactions with each power. Moving around with Kirby alone isn't anything special so it's great that they all provide a different mode of mobility too.

The first couple worlds are kind of a breeze, and I don't really mind that, it was a good time. Later on things got a lot less fun. Every world has a rainbow drop that you have to collect in order to unlock the true final boss, and the way some of these are hidden is nightmarish. Most of them require you to bring in a partner/ability from another level which is just annoying, and actually being able to hold on to both until you reach where you need to be is way easier said than done. And they're hidden behind such specific routes that I don't know how you're ever supposed to find some of them without a guide. The ones for worlds 4 and 6 were easily the worst.

And then you get to the endgame. World 7 is mostly just quick levels with a boss at the end, but 7-6 is unbelievably bullshit. Autoscroller with branching paths where you have to blindly choose the right one or else you die, it's seriously awful. And for your troubles getting through everything else, you get to fight Dedede and Dark Matter which are two of the slowest boss fights I've ever experienced. It's not too hard to catch on to their patterns after a bit of trial and error, but the issue is that the sword you get for Dark Matter does almost no damage. The only way to actually consistently hurt him is to wait until he uses a specific attack to hit back at him, and it can take ages to actually finish him off. And you'll probably die a lot, so it only gets worse.

I'm sad that this game ended so badly because I really did like the beginning and a lot of what it was going for. It's still pretty good for GameBoy standards, but I think it can comfortably be skipped.

It's so impressive that they managed to pack a full 7-world Kirby platformer with copy abilities on the Game Boy. Plus, the three animal characters each add three different variations to every copy ability too! In addition to all the great sprite animation that this series is known for, this might be the most impressive and modern-looking Game Boy game I've played.

With that said, the level design is kind of brainless and doesn't have much variation or a difficulty curve. Each level just feels the same as the last, and it gets very monotonous. This really made it hard to get through the whole game. Also, despite how impressed I am with it, I am not a huge fan of the animal mechanic, as I prefer modern Kirby's method of having copy abilities with complex movesets, rather than mixing ability combos that you can only find in certain levels. I can appreciate the unique concept though. And this game also started that whole "true final boss is locked behind some bullshit collectibles" trend, and that's the worst thing any Kirby game has done. I'm not gonna suffer through that and neither should you.

I still enjoyed this game enough. It's undoubtedly my favourite of the Dream Land trilogy, since 1 barely qualifies as a full game and 3 added nothing to the formula while doubling down on this game's flaws. In comparison, 2 is quite innovative and technologically impressive. Still, don't be surprised if this whole trilogy ends up as the bottom 3 on my hypothetical Kirby ranking.

Ohh right, this is the game with the naked woman. 5 stars

A very short and sweet introduction to the Kirby series. Kirby's Dream Land is nothing mind-blowing, but it's a simple and enjoyable way to kill a lunch break's worth of time nonetheless. The sprite work and animation give the game a hearty dose of charm and character, and the moment-to-moment gameplay, while very simplistic, is generally satisfying enough to carry the experience despite the very low difficulty. And while it may be incredibly short (you're looking at half an hour, tops), it at the very least does a good job at not overstaying its welcome. A very pleasant time all around.