Masahiro Sakurai literally said one day "yeah I'm just gonna casually make a game about a pink circle and have it become one of the greatest franchises of all time"
Kirby's Dream Land is a very simplistic game, but there's nothing wrong with that. you can beat the game in about a half hour so it never overstays it's welcome. on top of that, it's very easy to pick up and go through so you'll have a pretty chill time playing it.
the story's pretty simple: King Dedede, AKA one of the greatest fictional characters in existence, decides to steal all the food from Dream Land as if he was a hoarder from one of those tv documentaries that bore me to death. Kirby does not approve of this however and sets out to confront King Dedede and return all the food back to the residents of Dream Land. very simple story, but it's the first game so nothing wrong with that.
the gameplay is pretty simple too. you move from point A to point B until you reach the end of the level where a boss awaits you. what makes Kirby interesting however is that you don't jump on your enemies to defeat them, rather you inhale your enemies to get them out of your way. if you're a normal (and boring) person, you can hold down to swallow and completely get rid of your enemy, but if you're an absolute chad and epic gamer, you can press the inhale button again to spit them out at another enemy, killing two birds with one stone. another thing that makes Kirby cool is that you can fly over obstacles indefinitely, meaning if you ever find yourself in a situation where you need to fly over the enemies instead of confronting them on the ground (I'd be seriously concerned if you found yourself in that situation), you can do that and not put up with your enemies' business. Dream Land doesn't really go much beyond that outside of one-time use power ups that would be reworked into something else in later games, but it's fun and that's what matters. if you find yourself finding the game too easy, then there's an secret extra difficulty that makes the game a genuine challenge to go through! how do you unlock it? you'll have to play to game to find out ;^)
the graphics and spritework look pretty colorful for a game that's only in monochrome. on top of that you got a soundtrack composed by Jun Ishikawa, the unsung hero of video game soundtracks. the man started here, and since then he is still composing Kirby music 30 years later (technically 29 years later as I'm typing this but 30 years sounds cooler). Kirby soundtracks wouldn't become legendary until around Super Star and Block Ball, but that doesn't mean this game's soundtrack isn't lame. every single track here is very pleasant to listen to, from the iconic Green Greens to the catchy Float Islands to the epicness of King Dedede's theme, you can't go wrong with any of these tracks.
I suppose the only problems with this game is that it's a little too short then it should be and that there's not too much replayability compared to the later games. once you've finished the extra difficulty, there's really not much other reason to play this game unless you get into the Dream Land mood again.
but yeah Dream Land is still a fun game despite that. it's definitely not an epic triple AAA studio cinematic masterpiece like the ones you see nowadays, but you got a funny puffball that inhales and shoots his enemies out like stars, I'd say that's pretty close :^)
Kirby's Dream Land is a very simplistic game, but there's nothing wrong with that. you can beat the game in about a half hour so it never overstays it's welcome. on top of that, it's very easy to pick up and go through so you'll have a pretty chill time playing it.
the story's pretty simple: King Dedede, AKA one of the greatest fictional characters in existence, decides to steal all the food from Dream Land as if he was a hoarder from one of those tv documentaries that bore me to death. Kirby does not approve of this however and sets out to confront King Dedede and return all the food back to the residents of Dream Land. very simple story, but it's the first game so nothing wrong with that.
the gameplay is pretty simple too. you move from point A to point B until you reach the end of the level where a boss awaits you. what makes Kirby interesting however is that you don't jump on your enemies to defeat them, rather you inhale your enemies to get them out of your way. if you're a normal (and boring) person, you can hold down to swallow and completely get rid of your enemy, but if you're an absolute chad and epic gamer, you can press the inhale button again to spit them out at another enemy, killing two birds with one stone. another thing that makes Kirby cool is that you can fly over obstacles indefinitely, meaning if you ever find yourself in a situation where you need to fly over the enemies instead of confronting them on the ground (I'd be seriously concerned if you found yourself in that situation), you can do that and not put up with your enemies' business. Dream Land doesn't really go much beyond that outside of one-time use power ups that would be reworked into something else in later games, but it's fun and that's what matters. if you find yourself finding the game too easy, then there's an secret extra difficulty that makes the game a genuine challenge to go through! how do you unlock it? you'll have to play to game to find out ;^)
the graphics and spritework look pretty colorful for a game that's only in monochrome. on top of that you got a soundtrack composed by Jun Ishikawa, the unsung hero of video game soundtracks. the man started here, and since then he is still composing Kirby music 30 years later (technically 29 years later as I'm typing this but 30 years sounds cooler). Kirby soundtracks wouldn't become legendary until around Super Star and Block Ball, but that doesn't mean this game's soundtrack isn't lame. every single track here is very pleasant to listen to, from the iconic Green Greens to the catchy Float Islands to the epicness of King Dedede's theme, you can't go wrong with any of these tracks.
I suppose the only problems with this game is that it's a little too short then it should be and that there's not too much replayability compared to the later games. once you've finished the extra difficulty, there's really not much other reason to play this game unless you get into the Dream Land mood again.
but yeah Dream Land is still a fun game despite that. it's definitely not an epic triple AAA studio cinematic masterpiece like the ones you see nowadays, but you got a funny puffball that inhales and shoots his enemies out like stars, I'd say that's pretty close :^)