@Guillaume
Thanks!

@GelatinousEncore
Sounds like you and I have similar tastes in ability movesets. No worries--not only does RtD bring back the full movesets for abilities, but it adds new attacks for almost every move (and has more abilities total)!

But you're gonna be writing the review, huh? Guess I should've spoken up sooner!

@ploot
That sounds a bit like when I play SSB with people who haven't played much of it--they get easily confused at where their character is!

I have to share the love for Water, though--it's fun as heck, fast, and has a large number of creative and enjoyable moves (like the surfing, the water spout, and the rainbow). Bomb is another one of my favorites--loved the heck out of it in KSS, and it's even better here. Newcomers Leaf and Spear are great too, as are Beam and Sword (as usual).

@Zero
I have no idea what's up with the shipping with this game, but it was a pain for me to get it too. K-Mart ended up having it before the others though, which is convenient for the 15 off coupon (and even moreso if I can just keep replenishing it by buying SM3DL, SS, MKW, etc)...

I've only played the first three levels of World 1, but so far so good. The music really reminds me of the SNES era for some reason. This is a VERY good thing. In fact, the entire game so far feels like something created during the 16 bit days. I think I'm really going to enjoy this game.

@OrbitalBeard
Welcome to the fold!

So Trish and I just opened up the boss door for world 3. Having a blast as usual. This is the first Kirby game since Super Star where I'm not just hacking through with the sword. Most of the abilities are really fun and I think my second-favourite is now the spear. That thing's speartacular!

Has anyone gone through Kirby games and chose not to steal abilities? You know, play them like Kirby's Dreamland? Waiting for the bosses to leave behind stars to shoot back at them... I sometimes do that. The end.

@TriforceBun No reason why we can't have multiple reviews.

Finished the first two worlds. It's very much an updated Super Star, and I like that. But it needs...something. Some inventive level designs. An exciting tune. A tough challenge. Some neat visual tricks. Some extra gimmick...actually, Returns to Dream Land may be the only traditional Kirby game without some unique hook to it (unless you count the multiplayer).

Ordered the game on walmart.ca (yup, I don't know since when you can order on their site, but finally, you can). I'm hoping it will show up tomorrow, like the site said.

@TriforceBun That's why I'm trying to get it from K-Mart, the $15 coupon! But no dice so far. Maybe I should find another K-Mart around here, there have to be some. Hmm, the idea of driving far out of my way to find a game is nostalgic, I'm so used to just doing up Amazon for most games nowadays. Of course, with today's gas prices, drive too far and the savings are barely worth it.

I'll put this on my Christmas list. The impressions in this thread are great!

I started back up tonight at world three, and was instantly in heaven. Parasol Kirby in a beach level, with falling coconuts, set to a tropical score... I mean, does it really get any better than this? What is so telling about this game (in my case) is how much I am enjoying it and its music without remixed songs of old. I love the classic Kirby music so much that usually not hearing it featured in new installments makes me quite grumpy. But the music in Return to Dreamland, while perhaps not as catchy as the founding Kirby platformers, is just so much fun to play to. It's as if the original Kirby music clan picked right back up where they left off. I finished up world three and can't wait to get started on world four. The game may be easy in that classic Kirby way, but it doesn't lessen the enjoyment factor one bit. That being said, I'd be very interested to see what Retro could do with this series after seeing what wonders they crafted with DKCR.

I'm deeper into the game and I've finally caught the last few abilities! Impressions below:

FIGHTER - Kirby's clearly been studying at the school of Ryu, Ken, Sakura and Gouken with this moveset. You can throw Hadokens (and charge them up). You can Shoryuken. You can do a number of different kicks (a sliding one, a rising triple-kick, and three [!] mid-air kicks) as well as a very cool grab. It's extensive as heck--possibly the most extensive moveset in the game, and as a result, it's one of the most versatile and fun. Fighter was one of the coolest and most useful moves in Super Star, and it's better than ever here--definitely one of my faves.

NINJA - Super Star's Ninja was a bit more style than substance, I thought, with the main source of attack (kunai) doing little damage. But with RtD, Ninja gets a well-deserved upgrade with a devastating dash move, a slick smoke bomb attack, much faster kunai, better range with the katana, and a crazy cherry blossom explosion move. The disappear-then-explode counter attack is easier to pull off than ever, and all in all, it's a contender for my all-time favorite ability in RtD! It's as BA as they come and truly a lot of fun to take on the world with. You'll feel invincible.

WING - Wing's never been particularly flashy, but the extra maneuverability and strong air-game have always made it a fun choice. The wing flapping still does damage (and cuts ropes), and the feather throw has thankfully been beefed up a bit. The air dives return in full force with a couple new options, but for the most part it's pretty similar to before (albeit stronger). A nice ability to round out everything.

I think I want to write a review of this game as well! It's interesting to me and I'm enjoying it a lot.

EDIT: Wow, the remix of Grape Garden is beautiful! A great version to an already great song. Definitely my favorite in the game so far.

EDIT 2: Is there a reason it's not letting me hyperlink? This was the link to the song mentioned above: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1JZCcU-Lso

So I went to another K-Mart... still didn't have it. I give up.

@nate38 Do you feel it plays it even safer than New Super Mario Bros Wii?

I replied to nate's post, yet mine showed before his. I CAN SEE THE FUTURE!

100%

I don't know how I feel about this game. I love that it clearly uses Super Star as its inspiration, but it doesn't really improve on it in any way. Really, I just think that the game just played it too safe. None of the other Wii sidescroller revivals gave me that feeling, even Epic Yarn, but I honestly can't remember any moment of Return to Dream Land that really blew me away or even impressed me. It's more Super Star, and hey that's great, but I feel like the game doesn't quite build enough of its OWN identity to stand out as something great.

- Love the challenge rooms in the Lor Starcutter, wish there were more

- The endgame was pretty cool, very reminiscent of Super Star (as is the rest of the game, of course)

- The minigames are surprisingly good too, I'll bet they're pretty fun in multiplayer

- I was a bit disappointed by the hidden Sphere things, there really weren't any that I thought were especially clever.

- Ninja is probably my favorite. Range, power, style...it's got it all. Really, all of the copy abilities are pretty cool and all of the returning ones are even better than they were before. Barring the one inexcusable omission (where is my SUPLEX man?), this game has the best repertoire of copy abilities in the series.

- There is an extra mode after completing the game. It's a hard mode where some enemies are beefed up and you only have about 60% of your maximum health. All of the Spheres seem to be in the same spots, but you have to earn them all over again anyway. I only tried a bit of it, and it doesn't compel me to keep playing. Still, it's better than nothing, I guess. It would have been nice to have it from the start.

SUPER DUPER 100% COMPLETE

Took a bit over 15 hours.


MODE SPOILERS BELOW

More details listed on the mode in the last post: All of the bosses and minibosses in Hard Mode are different. The minibosses are usually quicker, bosses get a few new attacks, and the Level 6 boss actually gets a few more forms. One of them is what became of the boss originally shown for the canceled Gamecube game like six years ago. Also, some regular enemies are bigger and can take an extra hit sometimes. Finally, the Challenge Stages are altered a bit, mostly just more stars in trickier places.

The very final mode: True Arena, an ultra-hard boss rush just like in Super Star Ultra. Uses all of the EX version bosses, and there's one extra boss thrown in as well. Your health bar is at max, unlike the shortened Hard Mode health bar. And it's a good thing, these bosses are tough and you only get three Max Tomatoes to use. I barely got through it using Spark, which seems kind of overpowered. I got plenty of arm exercise, though!

Overall...I like the game. It didn't blow me away, it's just a very solid Kirby game. Close second to Super Star, I'd say.

I just played through the game this weekend when my friend brought it over and it was pretty dang fun. I love the new powers, and teaming up with my friend was great.

We played a bit of the extra mode and that definitely made the game a bit more challenging, but still fun! I hope to get this game when I can.

I just played 1-1 and 1-2, but I gotta stop because it's late.

By god, I really like Kirby games. Those animations are so awesome! It's just fantastic to cut a spider's string and see it fall flat on its face, or watch the little dances Kirby does, or see his unimpressed expression when I completely fail at timing my jump after beating a level. Seriously, these games could almost just coast on their graphics and charm for me (well, to an extent).

Nothing too challenging so far, as expected, though I quite like already how cleverly some of the stuff was hidden.

The combat moves are just great, and I found myself really getting into that fight with the bat boss, in the first... alternate dimension thingy.

Yup, those are my impressions so far. I should probably pace myself, though. In fact, there's someone I should be playing it with.

I do NOT enjoy the powers that have you shake the Wiimote. A quick jerk to twirl in NSMBW is fine. But shaking like a madman to project needles? So not worth it.

And I never liked shaking the Wiimote when held NES style anyway. The Nunchuck set-up for DKCR was so much better.

You can always rotate the D-pad. Of course, for moves like Spark and Tornado, this interferes with movement.

I think I might do a review of this soon. I 100%ed the main mode and I feel I've seen nearly everything the game has to offer.

@TriforceBun

Oh. I did not see that when I looked up the different moves. That might come in handy.

Looking forward to your review! even though it will break my monopoly on Kirby reviews...