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 game in the Kirby series. 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 undid many of the advances made in the previous game, Kirby Super Star, resulting in mixed reviews at the time. It was released on November 27, 1997 in the United States and March 27, 1998 in Japan. This game was also re-released on 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. Notably, it was the last first-party video game ever released for the SNES in North America.

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 five 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.

Animal Friends
Kirby's Animal Friends Rick the hamster, Coo the owl, and Kine the ocean 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 third 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 ojective again.

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.

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 Kirby must land on the faces marked with smiley faces and avoid the ones with Ticks under them.

Allies
Grass Land
 * Tulip
 * MuchiMuchi
 * Pitcher Man
 * Chao & Goku
 * Mine
 * Pierre

Ripple Field
 * Kamuribana
 * Bakasa
 * Elieel
 * Gamugael & Kogamugael
 * Pitch Mama
 * HB-002

Sand Canyon
 * Geromazudake
 * Obachan
 * Caramello
 * Donbe & Hikari
 * Nyupun
 * R.O.B. & Professor Hector

Cloudy Park
 * Hibanamodoki
 * Piyo & Keko
 * Tamasan
 * Mikarin & Kagamimocchi
 * Pick
 * HB-007

Iceberg
 * Kogoesou
 * Samus Aran
 * Chef Kawasaki
 * Nametsumuri
 * Shiro
 * Angel

Trivia

 * This was the last game in America published by Nintendo to be on the SNES, being released in 1997/1998.
 * 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 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 uses 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 manga-style.
 * 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 Zero. 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 different style compared to the other version.
 * The game's Virtual Console description 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 the Dark Matter influence), if the player returns to that boss, he/she will not fight the boss and instead take a Warp Star out of the level.
 * 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.