To my great shame, I have never played a Kirby game. This is what I told the gentleman next to me as I picked up the Switch 2 Controller to play the Switch 2 edition of Kirby and the Forgotten Land at the Nintendo Switch 2 event in London.
I am missing out, I was reliably informed, as I embarked on a time preview of one of the early levels of the game. Kirby and Forgotten Land + Star-Crossed World is definitely one of the clunkiest game titles we have seen on the Switch 2 so far, but it makes sense when you realise it’s a Switch port bundled with a brand new DLC. Fans will be glad to hear that if they already own Kirby and the Forgotten Land for Nintendo Switch, they can purchase the upgrade pack to play the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, complete with the DLC.
Around three years ago, we awarded the original Nintendo Switch release a lofty 9/10 for being “a gorgeous and vibrant new world to explore”, while also being an excellent 3D platformer for what was traditionally a 2D platforming series. The jump to the Switch 2 has certainly made it more vibrant. The display on the new console is gorgeous, and the jump in specs is certainly welcome, doubling the frame rate from 30fps to 60fps, and running at 1080p in handheld mode and 1440p docked.
The main difference between the Switch 2 version and the original, however, is the Star-Crossed DLC. Rather than adding new maps, it effectively remixes the existing one with an overlay. The world is struck by a whopping great meteor, scattering magical crystals throughout the campaign. Kirby must use his abilities, including some brand new Mouthful Modes, to destroy these crystals and pick up all the collectibles they drop.
The new bits are clearly differentiated from the original campaign in the way they look — the blue mystical gunk really stood out against the luscious green grass in the portion I played at the event in London.
As I played, the guy running the booth told me about how he played through the original campaign with his niece, and was now looking forward to the rerun. That kid is three years older and hopefully still into Kirby, and he was really looking forward to the bonding time and seeing how things would be different this time around, both in terms of the level and how she played the game.
I can see where he’s coming from. I grew up passing the controller to my brothers as we worked our way through the Crash Bandicoot games. Kirby, however, is fully playable in co-op – with the second player taking on the role of Bandana Waddle Dee. My own son is far too young to play this (he’s much more likely to just try and chew the controller), but I am already looking forward to kicking back with my wife and seeing what Kirby and the Wordiest Title on the Switch 2 has to offer.