Collection essentials #207: Kirby’s Dream Land 3 (SNES)

Kirby Super Star was a late-era SNES game and yet there was still more Kirby platforming on the console to come. Kirby’s Dream Land 3 is the last SNES game published by Nintendo outside of Japan, in 1997. The name of the game seems odd at first, since the “Dream Land” title had previously been used only with the Game Boy Kirby platformers. But it does make sense on a certain level, because Dream Land 3 brings back the “animal friends” feature from Dream Land 2.

The first striking thing you’ll notice about Dream Land 3 is the artstyle. The graphics of Dream Land 3 were done in a way to make it look like everything was drawn with colored pencil. It’s a very neat look that’s unlike pretty much anything else on the console. The game also features a fun and upbeat soundtrack to make sure multiple senses are pleased.

Dream Land 3 is not as feature-rich as Super Star. It’s a more concentrated experience, with the player undertaking a gauntlet of levels. As with the previous Dream Land, Kirby can team up with animal friends for different abilities, changing how he controls and also changes how his copy abilities work. There technically aren’t as many copy abilities as in Super Star, but considering that each copy ability has seven total forms due to the six different animal friends, there’s still plenty of variety. This is also two player co-op compatible, as Kirby can summon his friend Gooey at any time with the cost of some of his health bar.

This is one of those platformers that really wants you to go for 100% completion, and may leave you feeling underwhelmed if you don’t go for it. You see, every level in the game has a mission to complete. This can be as simple as clearing a minigame, or it may be something not so obvious that the player has to deduce. There’s no dialogue in the game at all, so the player has to pay attention to clues provided by the game to figure out what to do, and this will often require playing levels multiple times. Once you’ve completed all of these missions, the true final boss and ending will become available.

Dream Land 3’s reputation is not quite as high as some of the previous Kirby titles, especially Super Star. After Super Star provided a large amount and variety of content, I think this game felt underwhelming to some by comparison. However, I am one of few that actually prefers this one. I really dig the style of it, and the missions provide a neat gameplay twist so you’re not just romping through easy levels the whole time. I wouldn’t call it one of the very best platformers on the console, but that’s only because the competition is so fierce. This one is still clearly an essential.