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.

Let's Play: 'Which Box Art is Better?' (Kirby's Return to Dream Land edition)

Sorry for barraging you with "Which Box Art is Better?" posts lately. I usually try to limit them to one per week, but I've been itching to push the "publish" button on this one since the box art for Kirby's Return to Dream Land was revealed back in August.

Why didn't I publish it back then? Because the brass at Nintendo of Japan decided to hold off on revealing the cover art for the Japanese version of the game--which is called Hoshi no Kirby Wii, or Kirby of the Stars Wii)--until yesterday, that's why.

Speaking of which, here is the radiant piece of art that will grace the cover of each copy of Hoshi no Kirby Wii when the game hits store shelves throughout Japan on Oct. 27:

The box art created for the European version of the game--called Kirby's Adventure Wii--is basically identical to what you see above, by the way. Well, except for the logo. (FYI: It will be released on Nov. 25.)

As for the art that will appear on the cover of Kirby's Return to Dream Land--which will hit the streets of North America on Oct. 24--here you go:

Although I can't help but roll my eyes at the "angry Kirby" that serves as the focus of the North American box art, I'd be lying if I said I didn't still prefer that cover option to its European and Japanese counterparts.

I'd love to say it's because of Kirby's big, er, "sword," but in reality it's because there's more movement to the North American box art.

As always, though, that's just my opinion on the matter. What's yours?

See also: Previous 'Which Box Art is Better?' posts