Kirby's Dream Land 3
Kirby's final SNES adventure against Dark Matter.
Kirby's Dream Land 3, a platformer for the Super Nintendo, came out in 1997 from HAL Laboratory and Nintendo. It's the fifth Kirby game and the third with Dream Land in its title. This was the last SNES game Nintendo put out in North America.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- HAL Laboratory
- Publisher
- Nintendo
- Director
- Shinichi Shimomura
- Producer
- Satoru Iwata; Hiroaki Suga
- Programmer
- Teruyuki Gunji
- Artist
- Tetsuya Notoya
- Composer
- Jun Ishikawa
- Series
- Kirby
Facts from the source article.
Plot
On a peaceful day on Planet Popstar, Kirby is fishing with his friend Gooey when a mysterious dark cloud appears, breaking Popstar's rings and spreading across the world. Coo warns Kirby of the danger, and they set off to protect the world. Two endings exist based on whether the player has collected all the Heart Stars. Without all Heart Stars, Kirby fights a possessed King Dedede, then Dark Matter, and after defeating them, a shadowed orb with one red eye—Zero—is revealed. If all Heart Stars are collected, Kirby uses the Love-Love Stick to battle Dark Matter and then Zero, the ultimate leader of the Dark Matter Army, restoring peace after Zero's defeat.
Gameplay
Kirby's Dream Land 3 is a traditional platformer in which the player controls Kirby, navigating stages by walking, swimming, and flying. Kirby uses Animal Friends and Copy Abilities to overcome obstacles and enemies. His moves include inhaling enemies to gain their abilities, Star Spit, Air Gun, and floating. Certain blocks require specific abilities to be destroyed. The secret true final boss, Zero, is a giant eye with a red iris that fights by opening cuts on its sclera and shooting blood, as well as summoning small Dark Matters. When weakened, Zero's iris rips out, and the final phase involves Zero ramming Kirby. Zero reappears in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards as '02', wearing plasters over the wound from the previous battle. Kirby can summon Gooey, a blue blob with a long tongue, at the cost of two hit points. Gooey can swallow enemies, copy abilities, and grab items; Kirby can inhale Gooey to reclaim the hit points.
Reception
Kirby's Dream Land 3 split opinions among players and critics. On GameRankings, the SNES version scored 66.25% from four reviews. IGN gave the Virtual Console re-release a positive write-up, calling it a direct sequel to the Game Boy original rather than a rival to Super Star. Nintendo Life's first review gave it a 6 out of 10, knocking its low challenge but liking the stylized visuals; a later reviewer scored the re-release a 7 out of 10, describing it as a lovable and worthy follow-up. Nintendo World Report gave it a 9 out of 10, highlighting the graphics and music. IGN later placed it 62nd on its list of the top 100 SNES games.
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