Five things I love about Kirby's Return to Dream Land (thus far)

You may remember how I mentioned in this recent post that I've already "beaten" Kirby's Return to Dream Land. I've hardly experienced all it has to offer, though, as I haven't found each and every "Energy Sphere" (this game's take on the star coins that populate the New Super Mario Bros. series) and I've barely spent any time in its "extra mode."

Still, I've played enough of this rather precious Wii platformer to know that I completely love the stuffing out of it--with the five following aspects being chiefly responsible for said love:

1. The graphics--I know some people have complained about the graphics in this game. Specifcally, they've called them "GameCube graphics." Those people are stupid. Even if these were GameCube-level graphics, they'd be wonderful ones, in my opinion, and as such gamers certainly shouldn't complain about them. Well, unless they're stupid.

2. The locales--Honestly, the settings in this game are the best I've experienced in a Wii platformer thus far. They're all bright and colorful, as I suppose should be expected of a Kirby game, but what I didn't expect was all of the little (and sometimes big) details. The background on one late-in-the-game level--which finds Kirby strolling through a cloud-based stage while a neighboring planet spins in the distance--especially blew me away.

3. The abilities--In particular, I'm completely obsessed with the stone one. It is unfathomably fun to jump into the air and turn Kirby into a statue, or a stone fist, or a boulder that then squashes an unsuspecting enemy. (Sliding down a hill and bowling over baddies is a blast, too.) Yeah, I'm evil like that. Also mighty impressive: All of the super abilities that are made available to Kirby throughout the game--each of which are more enjoyable than they have any right to be.

4. The bomb-spitting item--Is it wrong that I gasp and then giggle like a school girl every time the item seen in the screenshot above (sorry, I have no idea what its official name is) presents itself to me? Well, if it is, I don't want to be right, because this little doohickey provides some of the most fun--and most destruction--in the game. In fact, it's so great that I think there should be an option (post-game, most likely) that allows you to run through each and every level holding one of these suckers.

5. The mini-games--I don't know which one I like better: Ninja Dojo or Scope Shot. I'm going to go with the latter--which reminds me of the boss stages in Ganbare Goemon 2 for the Super Famicom--for now, but I'm sure I'll change my mind sooner rather than later, as both of the unlockable mini-games in Kirby's Return to Dream Land are practically worth the price of admission themselves.

Don't take my failure to include the game's soundtrack on this list as some sort of indication that I'm displeased with it, by the way. On the contrary, I think it's splendid. It just doesn't trip my trigger as much as the things mentioned above, that's all.

See also: Previous Kirby's Return to Dream Land posts