Kirby’s Dream Land was a surprise hit for Nintendo and from this unlikely engine that could sprung out a surprise new franchise from Nintendo. It was followed up by the great NES platformer Kirby’s Adventure and a couple of spin-off games (Pinball Land and Dream Course).

Dream Land 2 is another kind of animal entirely. This game (and as we will soon come to understand, this TRILOGY) was made by a different team at HAL Labratory and lead by the mysterious Shinichi Shimomura who no one seems to be able to confirm their gender, what they look like and some outlets have even rumored that this person might be dead.

This might sound goofy but Kirby's Dream Land 2 is almost like Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn. I mean that in the way that the number is a bit of a misnomer, it's really the start of a trilogy within a bigger franchise, in the same way that Wrath of Kahn, Search for Spock and The One With the Whales all directly tied into each other. We're gonna delve into stone one of this odd Kirby rock formation.

Kirby’s Dream Land 2

So the dealio is that a substance/entity/being called Dark Matter wants to turn everything to darkness and Kirby has to stop him. His animal friends Rick the Hamster, Coo the Owl and Kine the Fish are here to help!!

Going in from Adventure, there are only 7 copy abilities in Dream Land 2: Burning, Cutter, Ice, Needle, Parasol, Spark and Stone. Compared to Adventure’s 20 something abilities that might seem like a step backwards, but considering the Game Boy’s hardware limitations, it might not have been practical to program 20 plus Copy Abilities and assign them to their own corresponding enemy. A trick that the game designers used to make the player not feel deprived is to give a special combination attack that in only available when you’re riding a certain partner. For instance, here you have the Burning ability and are riding on Rick the Hamster, Rick spits out fire in a manner similar to Kirby’s Fire ability from Kirby’s Adventure. If you have the Spark ability when having Kine as your animal buddy, Kirby light up like a light bulb.

Rick as a buddy is okay, I feel that most of the time Kirby outclasses him. Kine is only truly useful underwater. Of the new buddies, Coo kind of wrecks the game… in a good way. His flying is ridiculous and I mean that in the best possible way.

Dream Land 2 expands upon the original in such a seemless way that you might not have originally noticed the change in creative teams. The game is still fast and Kirby is still very overpowered. But the overall game design is a bit more puzzle and exploration oriented, but just a tad. Dream Land 2 also popularized the franchise’s trend of having the-one-thing-you-need-to-collect in order to unlock the “true ending”. Some of the Rainbow Drops that Kirby needs to collect in order to engage the final battle with Dark Matter are obtuse to collect, I don’t even think it’s possible to get them all the first time around.

The look of Dream Land 2 utilizes several checkerboards and zigzags. there are a lot of zigzags in this game’s furnishings, probably to add some flair to make up for the Game Boy’s lack of true color. However, Dream Land 2 is one of a select elite of Super Game Boy enhanced games: aside from the extra colors, there are a few sound samples that can’t be heard on Game Boy, like applause on the title screen, Pop Star theremin-like ambiance and the sound of the wind rustling.

Dream Land 2 kinda pales in comparison to Kirby’s Adventure, but as a follow-up to the original Dream Land, it’s certainly not bad and is a good place to start with this trilogy. It’s a little bit more lengthy than the original, but not a way that the game is overly padded or anything. This certainly a top-ten worthy Game Boy game.