Kirby's Dream Land 3

"This game, the last that Nintendo published in the USA for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, introduced Kirby's friends ChuChu, Pitch, and Nago. Helped by these new allies, Kirby set out to battle an old foe. A second player could control Kirby's pal Gooey and join in the action."

- Summary

Kirby's Dream Land 3, known in Japan as 星のカービィ3 (Hoshi no Kābī 3, meaning Kirby of the Stars 3), is a platformer Kirby game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) that was originally released in North America on November 27, 1997 and was then later released in Japan on March 27, 1998.

It is the third Dream Land game in the series, and the first released on a home console. Released late in the SNES lifespan, Kirby's Dream Land 3 excluded many of the new mechanics introduced in the previous game, Kirby Super Star, resulting in mixed reviews at the time. However, the game has gained a cult following in recent years revolving around its level design, its hand drawn aesthetic, and its musical composition. Notably, it was the last first-party video game ever released for the SNES in North America, making it a symbol for the end of the console's era.

This game was also re-released on the Wii Virtual Console on January 5, 2009. The next game in the series--and the next game in the Kirby's Dream Land saga--was Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards.

Plot
On a peaceful day on Planet Popstar, Kirby is enjoying fishing with his friend Gooey. Suddenly, a mysterious dark cloud begins to loom over the sky, breaking Popstar's rings in the process and reaching over the distant corners of the world. Coo quickly tells Kirby that Popstar is in trouble, and they soon set off to protect the world once again.

Gameplay
Kirby's Dream Land 3, like previous Kirby titles, is a platforming video game. Kirby is able to walk, swim, and fly throughout a variety of levels, using several his animal allies and Copy Abilities to avoid and defeat obstacles and enemies that lie in his path.

Kirby must travel across five different worlds, each with six stages and a boss. Unlike other Kirby games, however, each stage has someone that requires Kirby's assistance. If Kirby completes his required task and completes the stage, he will receive a Heart Star. If all Heart Stars are collected by the end of the game, the player will be able to fight the final boss.

Graphics
The most evident departure from the other Kirby games is the graphic presentation. Kirby's Dream Land 3 has pastel-like aesthetics with crayon drawings as backgrounds. The game uses a rendering procedure for the SNES termed "pseudo high-resolution", which is the use of dithering to blend adjacent colors of pixels together for a toned effect. It also uses the SA-1 chip which allows for greater performance of multiple special effects at a time and bitmap storage.

Animal Friends
Kirby's Animal Friends Rick the Hamster, Coo the Owl, and Kine the Sunfish return from Kirby's Dream Land 2, with new members Chuchu the Octopus, Pitch the Bird, and Nago the Cat. While Gooey only serves to heal Kirby when found in a sack in the previous game, Kirby can now call on Gooey's assistance at any time, and he behaves much like helpers do in Kirby Super Star. The main drawback is that it costs Kirby one square out of five of his maximum vitality whenever Gooey is out.

Levels

 * Grass Land
 * Ripple Field
 * Sand Canyon
 * Cloudy Park
 * Iceberg
 * Hyper Zone (accessible after collecting all Heart Stars)

Sub-games
Kirby's Dream Land 3 introduces Heart Star sub-games, which are a departure from the tradition of existing as separate activities accessed from the game menu or from the overworld. In every level of the world, Kirby will be challenged to accomplish an objective by a friendly character bearing a Heart Star, which Kirby will be rewarded with if the goal is successfully completed. There are no limits to how many times Kirby can retry a level to acquire the Heart Star, but once he does, all the character gives him is a 1UP instead if he completes the Heart Star objective again. These sub-games can be accessed from the file select screen in a mode called Super NES MG5, and after finishing all five of them, the player is taken to a total score screen. Playing this sub-game is necessary for 100% completion.

Boss Endurance
Boss Endurance in Kirby's Dream Land 3 is referred to no-so-subtly as Boss Butch. Kirby fights all of the bosses in the game in a set order, with no extra lives and without any healing items. Kirby cannot call on the assistance of Gooey in the fight, so it is a one-on-one fight. Playing this sub-game is necessary for 100% completion.

Goal Game
The goal game starts after finishing any regular level. Kirby (and Gooey if there are two players) are put in a small room where there are items including 1UPs and various Food under one layer of floor tiles. Jumping on top of the tile rewards Kirby with whatever item is underneath. After achieving a 99% completion rate, a variation of this game can be accessed from the main menu, in which it is referred to as "jumping". In this iteration, the player can choose to play as any of the animal friends as well as Kirby alone; the character must land on the tiles marked with smiley faces and avoid the ones with Ticks under them. Unlike the regular game, the track Gourmet Race plays during the minigame. Playing this sub-game is necessary for 100% completion.

Reception
Kirby's Dream Land 3 received mostly positive reviews, holding a score of 66.25% on Game Rankings based on 4 reviews.

Trivia

 * This was the final first-party SNES game in North America and Europe, being released in 1997/1998.
 * This is currently the only Kirby game to feature the Clean ability, though it was planned to make an appearance in the cancelled Kirby GCN.
 * Characters from the Yūyūki, Shin Onigashima, Gyromite, and Metroid games make cameo appearances.
 * Kirby's Dream Land 3 and Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards are the only games where Chilly does not wear a necklace with a gold bell on it.
 * The back of the game's North American box misspells "latest" as "lates," omitting the "t," and mislabels "King Dedede" "Kind Dedede."
 * In the Japanese version of Kirby's Dream Land 3, Boss Butch's title screen has the phrase "NINTENDO 16" written across the top. This is a Nintendo 64 reference applied to the Super Famicom, as the Super Famicom is a 16-bit console.
 * The Heart Star goals in each world actually follow a pattern: The first level has Kirby assisting flowers (a mushroom in Sand Canyon); the second level requires that Kirby using a certain ability, sometimes with the aid of an Animal Friend; the third level has Kirby play a sub-game; the fourth level tasks Kirby with fetching something or someone to collect; the fifth level needs Kirby to take an Animal Friend to the end of the stage; the sixth level has Kirby collecting multiple objects in the odd-numbered worlds and carving Star Block structures in the even-numbered worlds.
 * Oddly enough, there are two versions of the good ending:
 * 1) The first one, as shown in the following video, shows Ado's portraits being sketched out and cartoonish. The last two pictures (before a sketch of Popstar) are of the allies' comrades, and the other Heart Star characters. Ado's mouth is closed in the first frame, her eyes are closed in the second, and in the same frame, she's drawing a circle. Gooey's portrait is similar to his in-game render, and is of his standard form. Kirby's portrait is exactly like his gameplay sprite. Also, Ado's self-portrait is drawn in a stylized form typical of manga & anime.
 * 2) The other one, which plays at the end of Boss Butch, shows the portraits being more realistic, with blends of sketches and watercolor. The third to last drawing is of Dark Matter, and the next is of 0. Ado's mouth is open in the first frame, her eyes are open in the second, and in the same frame, she's drawing an X. Gooey's portrait is less like himself, and has a brighter coloration scheme (the portrait is of his flying form. In the drawing, he is given a snake-like appearance). Kirby's portrait is merely an outline. Also, Ado's self-portrait is drawn in a more simplistic, sketchier style.
 * The game's description on the the Wii Shop Channel erroneously states that King Dedede is suspected to be the main antagonist. However, the game's instruction manual and prologue imply that Kirby and co. recognize that a larger force is at work since the beginning.
 * Once Kirby uses the Heart Stars to pacify a boss (that is, using the Heart Stars to cleanse the area of Dark Matter's influence), if the player returns to that boss, he/she will not be able to fight the boss. Instead, a Warp Star will remain there waiting to take the player out of the level while the boss peacefully toys around.
 * The information page for this game's eShop release has a glitch. Below the trailer video are three images: Kirby floating through the air, Pitch, and a hole from Kirby's Dream Course. When the viewer clicks the hole image to enlarge it, a screenshot of Kirby and Nago pops up instead.
 * In the Music Room in Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, Kirby's Dream Land 3 is represented by an image of the number three; this is the same three used in Kirby's Dream Land 3 ' s logo.
 * When playing amiibo tap: Nintendo's Greatest Bits, if the player taps an amiibo product to the Wii U GamePad, there is a chance that he/she will unlock a demo of Kirby's Dream Land 3.
 * A remix of this game's boss theme was used as the boss theme for Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. Another remix was used as the mid-boss theme for Kirby: Squeak Squad. The music was used, again as the mid-boss theme (Halcandra) for Kirby's Return to Dream Land. The theme was also used during the battle against Masher in Kirby 3D Rumble from Kirby: Planet Robobot.
 * This would be the first Kirby game in which the characters and environment are designed to look like a specific crafts material (crayons and pastels in this case), the others would be Kirby: Canvas Curse (paint), Kirby's Epic Yarn (yarn), and Kirby and the Rainbow Curse (clay).