It is astounding how much of an improvement Kirby's Dream Land is to its prequel. DL1 is a perfectly serviceable platformer, but 2 has so much more identity. The introduction of copy abilities alone does a lot to make Kirby's gameplay much more interesting. With copy abilities, I found myself considering what would be best to carry forward to other parts of the game, giving a lot more moment to moment decision making that simply wasn't present in the more reactive gameplay of 1.
Alongside copies, the level design has also largely improved. There are still some levels that lack identity, but there are more memorable moments on offer here. Levels like the maze filled with crumbling cloud blocks was a real highlight. However, where 2's levels reach a more iconic high, it also has its mean moments. One standout level is an autoscroller where you have to guess what path is correct, and if you are wrong you die. As far as I could tell, there was no pattern to discerning the "correct" path. Autoscrollers in general were responsible for a decent amount of unfair moments in this game, though sometimes it gave levels a bit of spice.
I like the star life system. While lives aren't all that meaningful if you just want to beat the game since you can use as many continues as you want, for those dedicated to a 1 credit clear they add a lot to the levels. Stars are sometimes used as rewards for explorative players or for holding onto upgrades past a difficult section.
The animal buddies are fun too. They're the best example of how much cuter this game looks than its predecessor. It's very pretty. Mechanically, the animal friends are fun and combining them with copy abilities gave me some interesting experimentation. The bird is easily the best, where as the fish was a lot more situational. Holding onto them as long as possible was a fun challenge.
Bosses in this game were generally better too. The ice block guy was trivially easy, but everyone else felt like they posed a threat while also not being overly tedious to fight. The Dedede fight is quite similar to the first game, but a few changes make it a lot less of a waiting game, and it is instead a bloodbath. I probably died the most at Dedede than I did anywhere else. That being said, his anger causing him to throw out more stars that are riskier to collect is an inspired change that I appreciate after the boring drawn out fight of the first game.
Overall, these changes cumulatively create a much more engaging and memorable experience than its predecessor.
Alongside copies, the level design has also largely improved. There are still some levels that lack identity, but there are more memorable moments on offer here. Levels like the maze filled with crumbling cloud blocks was a real highlight. However, where 2's levels reach a more iconic high, it also has its mean moments. One standout level is an autoscroller where you have to guess what path is correct, and if you are wrong you die. As far as I could tell, there was no pattern to discerning the "correct" path. Autoscrollers in general were responsible for a decent amount of unfair moments in this game, though sometimes it gave levels a bit of spice.
I like the star life system. While lives aren't all that meaningful if you just want to beat the game since you can use as many continues as you want, for those dedicated to a 1 credit clear they add a lot to the levels. Stars are sometimes used as rewards for explorative players or for holding onto upgrades past a difficult section.
The animal buddies are fun too. They're the best example of how much cuter this game looks than its predecessor. It's very pretty. Mechanically, the animal friends are fun and combining them with copy abilities gave me some interesting experimentation. The bird is easily the best, where as the fish was a lot more situational. Holding onto them as long as possible was a fun challenge.
Bosses in this game were generally better too. The ice block guy was trivially easy, but everyone else felt like they posed a threat while also not being overly tedious to fight. The Dedede fight is quite similar to the first game, but a few changes make it a lot less of a waiting game, and it is instead a bloodbath. I probably died the most at Dedede than I did anywhere else. That being said, his anger causing him to throw out more stars that are riskier to collect is an inspired change that I appreciate after the boring drawn out fight of the first game.
Overall, these changes cumulatively create a much more engaging and memorable experience than its predecessor.