Not only was this the first Kirby game to ever keep my interest for more than an hour, it was so good that I 100%ed it!

Kirby and the Forgotten Land is a delight. As someone who had spent very little time with Kirby in the past, it felt like someone added the Cappy mechanic (called Mouthful Mode here) from Super Mario Odyssey to levels from Super Mario 3D World. It's not open 3D levels like many of us thought when the game was first revealed, but these are some of the most enjoyable little linear levels I've played in ages. The world itself is such a lovely place to be, and the characters are obscenely adorable. The Spring Breeze difficulty is perfect for kids, and Wild Mode keeps things interesting enough for experienced players.

There's a surprising amount of challenge here! Rare Stones and Waddle Dees are hidden in each level, with some being quite tricky to find. Colosseum boss rush events can be legitimately hard, I actually had to drop my difficulty level down to Spring Breeze to beat the final one. The hardest difficulty of the Kirby Tilt 'n' Roll puzzles took me over an hour to complete. If you just want to roll credits, very few collectables or challenges are required, but I was able to 100% the game in just over 25 hours.

This is bizarre to me, but for the first time in my life I actually want to go back and try other Kirby games. They really got me this time!

This was my first Kirby game and what a beautiful game it was. I cannot find any faults with this game, which is saying alot as I ripped up Chicory, BOTW, and other fan favorites. Everyone should play this game immediately! I was worried it would feel like SM:Odyssey, Isn't Kirby stealing abilities the same thing as cappy?, though it share the same DNA, its a distinctive enough game. Lets dive in!

🎮 Platform: Switch OLED
⌚ Time to finish - 30h ( 5H+ of this was trying to beat some really hard 100% challenges, which you can probably reduce if you follow my trophy tips below)
🏆Trophy completion - 100% - I did everything this game had to offer. Some things were difficult and i had to repeat some fights, challenges, multiple times, but each time i felt i was getting better and closer to the goal. The only real issue is the 100% requirements is unclear in game. I had to look it up outside to figure out what I needed for 100%. Tip: You do not need to beat the proposed clear time for 100%, you just need to finish the trail before the level timer ends. I will share other tips later.

🤬Difficulty - Nintendo is a master at letting you go through the game at a difficulty that is right for you. I heard many people say the game is easy. Sure the main story is easy, just like every nintendo game. But go for 100% and tell me the game is still easy. :) The Z cup boss gauntlet challenge is no joke, or the don't get hit boss challenges. These took me a while especially the z cup boss gauntlet. I finally gave up after 3+ hours of grinding this challenge and looked up tips online and then played for another 45 mins using the tips and finally beat it. It was satisfying to finally beat it. There was another particularly difficulty one where you can't get hit by 2 yetis. That took a couple hours too until I looked up a solution.

🌄Graphics – Absolutely beautiful. On par with super mario odyssey which is an amazing looking switch game. Characters are smooth, colors are vibrant. The stages and worlds are all very different. I loved it. I couldn't ask for more.

🌦 Atmosphere/Music – Amazing score. They did a great job making a post apolocyptic world vibrant. Nothing stood out apart from the typical charm of nintendo world you come to expect.

📚 Main Story / Characters – As usual a weak main story. But I am not here for that. Since I never played any other kirby games everything was new. I am not sure why the main boss showed up, and it seemed the boss was pretty damn powerful without waddledees so why did they steal it? A lengthy epilogue was weak in story as well. Who knows who cares. It gave me a chance to play more kirby.

🤺 Combat – General combat is not hard but its fun!!!! I loved all the powers, and upgrading them and seeing what they do at each of the 2-3 different upgrades you can get it. Though I gravitated towards ice, fire, hammers i enjoyed experimenting with them all. There are a few clunky ones like tornado, which don't always go where you want it to go when you need precision so I didn't use those as much. The real test of your skill is the 0 damage boss battles and the arenas. Super fun to learn boss patterns and figure out how to counter them. This is not a skill that comes naturally to me so I am still learning.

The final bosses are really really cool. They are dangerous, annoying, challenging, and creative in their abilities. Very very well designed bosses. Each one is different! Though some are easier than others I never felt they recycled anything in the numerous main bosses that you fight.

🧭 Side Activities / Exploration – Absolutely do them! Even if you aren't going to 100% the game, the time trails are great because they will reintroduce you to an ability and create a level focus just around that ability. Because the abilities are so fun to use, i enjoyed levels focused just around these abilities. Some of them are hard. and unless you grind you won't hit the clear time, they are really hard to it, but again not needed for 100%. Sometimes hidden paths lead to an entire sub level! Do everything in this game. Nothing felt cheap, everything was fun!

🚗 Movement/Physics – Excellent. No issues at all. Dodge is going to be crucial for a-lot of harder boss battles and 0 damage runs.

📣 Voice acting – Minimal to none. Kirby squeals.

🥇 Best thing about the game - The game is just fun and creative. Every level is different. The powers are fun, everything this game has is fun. They really nailed it. I cannot find one issue with it, where even in SMB: Odysseys in 100% the game i found issues with certain stars and repetitiveness.

👎 Worst thing about the game - None apart from if you care, no real good 100% requirements tracker in game.

💡Final Thoughts:
Nintendo is a master and 1st party games that nail what their audience is looking for. This nailed it! The levels are fun, they aren't too linear. Its somewhere between your traditional SMB levels mixed with something open like Psychonauts/A Hat in time. This game is a pure pleasure to play and one of the best switch games/games I ever played!


🏆🏆🏆 Trophy Tips 🏆🏆🏆 ( Spoilers obviously, may trivialize some game play):
🏆 use the bomb ability to kill the 2 yetis without taking damage. You need to keep the bomb ability all the way till this boss and not use it anywhere else in the level.
🏆 If you are having trouble, to win the z cup, upgrade your hammers with damage boost, stack attack and speed. Watch some speed run tips on how to kill these bosses fast. The longer a boss stays alive the more dangerous it is.
🏆 not all collectibles are gotten from collecting capsules. Some of them are for doing in game activities, and the waddle-dee gives you a reward of that figure. Look them up if you feel like you keep getting duplicates and can't seem to complete your collection.
🏆 The fastest way to farm money is the 1st colosseum cup, which also gives you a star, which you can grade for a collectible.
🏆 I calculated about a 35-40% chance of getting dupes when using the vending machine for collectibles, so if you think you need 1000 gold, you probably need 1400 gold to complete the set.
🏆 for free 200second boosts, use the sleep ability multiple times when you are in the ability selection hut in waddledee town.

Kirby never clicked with me. The cute, slow, and easy yet boring gameplay, just never grabbed me. That is until now.

Nintendo has been on a roll with their IP, and I’ve been jumping into franchises that I had zero interest in. Kirby is the newest installment in that trend, and I can legitimately say that this is 100% Nintendo fun. This actually may make me give Pokemon: Arceus a chance ….

One of the things I appreciate about Nintendo is their commitment to co-op experiences. I played the entirety of this game with my 7 year old and we had a blast. He would play as Kirby and I as the spear wielding, bandana wearing waddle dee. The co-op is really well done with the focus remaining on Kirby, if the waddle dee gets too far, he will teleport back to Kirby’s location, which thankfully, due to the linearity of the levels, is never a real issue. Player 2 is also able to revive himself and health is able to be shared between players with a high five. This makes the whole co-op experience a great way to play with your kids.

I wont lie, I was having so much fun that even after my son went to bed, I would go back to previous levels and collect all the missing waddle dee’s and complete some of the treasure roads to earn rare stones so he could upgrade his favorite powers the following day.

This isn’t the Mario Odyssey experience I was hearing about early on as we discovered that each world is broken up into levels that are 100% linear and full of secrets galore. That does not take anything away from it as the platforming, boss fights and world design are all top notch. It’s all important to note that contrary to what I have heard, Kirby is easy, don’t be fooled. We only died once in the game which happened during the final boss. Then again my son has beaten Cup Head solo, so maybe take our opinion with a grain of salt.

Time: 14 hours
Date: 4/22/2022

Super Mario Odyssey is a divisive game with some praising it and others hating it. There are certainly some flaws but overall this is one of Mario's Best. The return to a more Open 3D style like that of Super Mario 64 is refreshing. The insane amount of control and options the game presents to you makes it extremley replayable if you are willing to put in the time to expirement with it. Mario´s Cappy mechanics allow for not only more movement potential but more ideas to be presented through its capture mechanics. The worlds of the game are fimilar but diviate from many of the trends you would expect from a mario game. The amount of moons (The collectiables) may be a flaw if you are a completionist but otherwise add more variety on repeat playthroughs. The music while not quite as perfect as the galaxy games is one of the best Video game soundtracks of the modern era. The graphics also hold up suprisngly well for a nintendo switch game. Super Mario Odyseyy is the bold jump Mario needed in this era.

When this game launched, it was undoubtedly a 10/10.

Back then, this was one of the biggest adventures ever put on a handheld system.

Back then, 151 seemed like a MASSIVE number.

Back then, Pokémon felt new and fresh. The novelty was off the charts.

Needless to say, the games haven't quite held up. Each game in the series has improved on the foundation laid by Red and Blue. When revisiting Gen I, it's odd going back to a time before the Physical/Special attack split of Gen IV, or even before Special Defense was its own stat. There's no Mega Evolution, Double Battles, Breeding, Z-Moves, Dynamaxing, or animated sprites. There's no Steel, Dark, or Fairy type, and Ghosts and Dragons have practically zero moves. You can't even run!

But Arceus knows I still appreciate the simplicity.

I'd never say these are "better" than any other Pokémon game, but it's like a simple bowl of Vanilla ice cream. Sometimes that's all you want.