Years ago, I remember getting myself a copy of Kirby and the Forgotten Land. Unfortunately, due to some real-life troubles and circumstances, it ended up just going to my ever-growing backlog. I’ve always meant to pick it up, but never really had the opportunity to do so. However, one thing is for certain: it was one of the highlights of 2022, especially following the height of the pandemic.
However, with the release of Kirby and the Forgotten Land‘s Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, now’s my chance to answer the question: should you spend $20 for the Upgrade Pack, or even… a staggering $80 for both the original game and upgrade pack? Not to be a bit of a downer, but after the borerline disaster that was Super Mario Party Jamboree: Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Jamboree TV, I was admittedly very cautious about this being not worth it. So, let’s dive into the game and see if it’s worth upgrading to or if you should stick with the original Nintendo Switch version.
A Foreign New World
In Kirby and the Forgotten Land, our titular protagonist Kirby gets sucked into a vortex that connects to a brand-new world. There, he meets a mysterious new companion named Elfilin, and learns that the Waddle Dees have all been captured due to an attack by several monsters that the game calls the Beast Pack. And of course, Kirby isn’t the type to leave his friends hanging, so he sets out on this journey in order to rescue them and to learn more about this new world. And that’s really the entire premise of the game. The story features hardly any dialogue after the initial cutscene. Instead, it focuses its presentation solely on its gameplay and stages, with the occasional tutorial on the bottom right simply instructing the player on what to do, and dynamic camera angles as events around Kirby unfold.
The objective of these stages is straightforward: to reach the end and rescue the trio of Waddle Dees that have been captured. However, in addition to them, you also have many other Waddle Dees to rescue, some of which are hidden behind objectives. And this is where the Japanese name, which is Kirby of the Stars: Discovery, comes into play. This is all about discovering the various stages and their secrets.
Which, it has to be said. These courses feature what I can only describe as some of the most ingenious pieces of level design HAL Laboratory has ever made. Each level has an interesting gimmick to it, and it is a joy to go through them. With that said, I do think there is one core issue, and that is… the mini-bosses. There are only four of them, and after you’re introduced to the fourth one, they reappear over and over again, feeling rather repetitive, especially in some stages, where you’re essentially just doing a boss rush of them over and over.
As you clear enough stages and rescue the Waddle Dees, they’ll slowly rebuild their village, adding in several amenities such as a Coliseum, and my favorite spot, the Weapons’ Shop. By collecting blueprints scattered across the world, you’re able to upgrade Kirby’s Copy Abilities into significantly more powerful ones. My favorite has to be the Meta Knight Sword and the Dragon Fire abilities.
Buttery Smooth Performance on Switch 2
When it was originally released, Kirby and the Forgotten Land did make some attempts to run at 60 FPS on the Nintendo Switch, but you could clearly see it drop frames, especially in areas with a ton of action. Enemies that were far away also had their animations simplified to a choppy 10 frames per second. This sort of thing felt like it could’ve been optimized.
Well, say goodbye to stutters, because on Nintendo Switch 2, the frame rate is a stable 60 FPS, and the loading times are extremely fast. What used to take seconds now takes no time at all — from the stage selection screen to the transitions inside the stages. All of them feel smooth and snappy. While you can see some texture popping in some parts of the game, it’s significantly less evident than in the Nintendo Switch version.
In general, you can expect to take around 11 hours to complete the main story of the game, but if you want to get everything, then I would expect that to take an additional 11 to 13 hours. There’s a very meaty post-game in the form of the Coliseum, with the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition even adding an EX mode that offers a massive challenge. Furthermore, you will also have to collect every single Waddle Dee, Copy Ability blueprint, and also collect all figurines to 100% the game.
Rescue The Starries And Save the World
For Nintendo Switch 2, similar to Super Mario Party Jamboree‘s Jamboree TV expansion, Kirby and the Forgotten Land includes a new wave of content called Star-Crossed World. In this additional scenario, a mysterious meteor falls, causing enemies and several other locations to transform. To access this DLC package, you surprisingly do not have to completely finish the main game’s story. Instead, you can immediately get started with Star-Crossed World after completing the first world.
In total, there are twelve new stages, spread across the worlds you’ve cleared from the base game. Now, I can practically hear you say: That doesn’t sound like a lot. And you’d be right. Star-Crossed World doesn’t really add hours upon hours of gameplay, and I would go as far as to say that you can get through the entirety of this DLC in less than two hours. Maybe even on a single sitting.
And this is where it dawned on me. This is our third $80 game, because the base game is $60, and the upgrade pack is $20 on top of that. And after playing through Star-Crossed World, I simply don’t think there’s enough content here to justify its price. Don’t get me wrong, I love these new levels. They provide a fresh new take on otherwise familiar scenery, and the way HAL Laboratory decided to change them up is marvelous and really innovative at times.
Furthermore, Star-Crossed World introduces new enemies and even a new boss, but doesn’t address one of the base game’s core issues—the mini-bosses. All you get are “crystallized” versions of them with slightly new attacks, but they’re ultimately still the same. I would’ve half expected we would see something new, rather than repeats of the same bosses.
A Great Game That’s Hard to Recommend at the Price of Admission
To be completely blunt: Kirby and the Forgotten Land remains the 2022 platformer that will certainly give you a great experience, and you should definitely play this title if you haven’t had the chance to. If you haven’t picked up Kirby and the Forgotten Land, this is far and away the definitive version of the game. It’s one of Kirby’s best games ever, featuring innovative stages and just an excellent 3D platforming experience. The Nintendo Switch 2 upgrades to frame rate and resolution are fantastic, and Star-Crossed World is fun, too, with solid new twists on familiar levels.
Yet, the fact still remains that if you want to get the Switch 2 experience, then you’ll be forced to shell out $60 for the base game and another $20 for the upgrade pack, totaling $80. I struggle to recommend the game at $80, unless you can somehow find a physical copy of the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition at below the MSRP. You might even be able to find a physical Nintendo Switch copy for below $60, so that’s an option, too. The game and the new content are both excellent, offering an amazing 3D platformer. However, the additional two-hour expansion being $20 feels like a big ask, especially when looking at other similarly priced DLC content on the market. Even though I had a lot of fun going through the game, I overall feel Nintendo could’ve just made this upgrade a little cheaper.
Despite this, for what this package is, Kirby and the Forgotten Land – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Star-Crossed World is some of the most fun you can have on the system—just be prepared to probably spend more than you’d like, whether you’re a newcomer or returning player.
Disclaimer: Kirby and the Forgotten Land – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Star-Crossed World was reviewed on Nintendo Switch 2 and purchased by the reviewer.
