Alright, I know this is a bit belated, but meh. Laziness and other things.

So, a while back, I bought Kirby's Dream Collection for the Wii. If you read my blog, you know that already. So, I've been playing through the games, and currently I'm in the middle of Super Star (just beat Great Cave Offensive with 39/60 treasures, probably gonna go 60/60 eventually).

First thing you notice when you fire the game up and watch the intro video is the polish, even in the menus themselves. Nothing feels half-assed or anything. When you look through the gallery, you can read descriptions of the various Kirby games, watch short clips of them, and read bits of trivia, even things that aren't related to the Kirby franchise. There's all sorts of stuff to do without even launching one of the games.

Then, the game itself comes with an art book and a soundtrack CD, which contains select tracks from games in the series. And it all comes in a nice-looking package for all you collectors out there.

The games themselves are, of course, amazing. You've got Kirby's Dream Land 1, 2 and 3, Kirby's Adventure, Super Star, and Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. I'll keep the descriptions of each one brief, because, being in the same series, many of the mechanics are shared across the games.

Kirby's Dream Land. The Game Boy classic. Copy abilities don't exist yet, and the game's rather short, but it's still fun. Honestly, if you're like me and have played it before and still want the non-extra game to be challenging, hold Down, Select and B on the title screen and lower your max health to 2 or 3. As for the Extra mode, well, to this day I still get my flank handed to me by Kracko. That pattern of his...

Kirby's Adventure The game that brought us copy abilities. In color, it's much prettier to look at. Copy abilities keep the game interesting, and there are plenty of secrets to find. I've actually beaten the extra mode, and while you don't get an epic fanfare or anything, it's still satisfying to do so. Half health, and you have to do it in one go. The sound test feature you unlock is nice.

Kirby's Dream Land 2. Animal friends! Defeating minibosses gives you one of three animal friends: Rick, the hamster, Coo, the owl, and Kine, the fish. Rick runs faster and won't slip on ice, but cannot fly. Coo flies against currents and lets you inhale enemies while flying. Kine allows you to swim against currents and allows you to inhale enemies while swimming. Copy abilities function differently depending on which companion you have, if you have one. Completing this game 100% is pretty tough, because some of the Rainbow Drops are hard to get because they require you to get a certain animal-ability combination to a certain place. That, and the true final boss is pretty difficult unless you know the trick to defeating his forms.

Kirby Super Star is a collection of mini-games, ranging from a remake-ish of the first game in the series, to a race against Dedede, to games with a bit of length and complexity to them like Great Cave Offensive, which has you searching a massive, Metroidvania-style labyrinth searching for treasures.

Kirby's Dream Land 3. I haven't even played it yet, so I haven't anything to say about it.

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. This one, I had new back in the day, and I still have my cartridge after all these years. A great game, with a large assortment of copy abilities thanks to the ability to combine two abilities to make a new one. (Example: Combining Electricity with Ice to create a refrigerator that shoots food). There's a bit to do in this game, especially when it comes to finding all the titular crystal shards, many of which require certain combinations of abilities to get.

In closing, I'd have to say that if you have a Wii, get this game. If I had to complain about something, it would be the lack of Kirby & The Amazing Mirror, though part of me can see why they excluded it, as the game's multiplayer might have been difficult to implement. I have a copy of the actual cartridge still, at least.