Kirby's Return to Dream Land

Kirby's Return to Dream Land (Kirby's Adventure Wii in PAL regions) is a Kirby game for the Wii.

Story
The game's trailer at E3 2011 reveals part of the introduction, and the rest are revealed at Comic Con.

King Dedede and Waddle Dee are chasing Kirby, who is holding a large piece of cake resembling his Strawberry Shortcake from Kirby: Squeak Squad. They run past Meta Knight, who is lounging and reading a book under the sun by a large piece of rock on a grassy knoll. Suddenly, the sky flashes brightly and a five-pointed star-shaped portal reminiscent of Dark Nebula opens in the sky, and a crystalline, galleon-shaped, futuristic airship with an unfamiliar insignia pops out, trailing smoke and spilling pieces of gears everywhere. Moments after, the ship falls apart - first two banks of oars, then wings at its aft, then its engines and a piece of its bow, and finally its top mast. What's left of the hull crashes nearby, and the four heroes run off to investigate (Kirby abandons his dropped cake).

They reach the crash site and find the ship's hull mostly intact. Then its door opens. Kirby peers intently inside.

The heroes wander into the ship's shiny interior and find themselves right inside the ship's cockpit, but it's in shambles after the crash. A lone alien lies on its side, unconscious in front of a large screen flashing a warning sign.

The alien wakes up and immediately runs to the control panel, and a look of despair comes over him. The screen shows all 120 pieces of gears missing, and all five parts of the ship's hull had been scattered to the five corners of Pop Star.

Kirby offers to help, and the rest join in. The four heroes run off the ship while the alien stays behind on the ship to do repairs. What caused the ship to crash in the first place?

The alien is later introduced as Magolor, and his ship is the Lor Starcutter.

Leading up to the game title screen, a short cutscene plays that isn't exactly relevant to the story. After the HAL Laboratory sign shows, Kirby zooms by on his Warp Star. He passes King Dedede flying through the air, then flies into him. Dedede ends up on the Warp Star and gives Kirby a slightly annoyed look. As the two soar through the sky, Waddle Dee comes flying through the air as if shot out of a cannon, landing on the Warp Star as well. As the three nod at each other, Meta Knight flies by. Kirby, King Dedede, and Waddle Dee wave at Meta Knight, who soon joins them. Now together, the four give a silent "Yeah!" and the fly into the distance.

Abilities
The game introduces several new Copy Abilities, and the abilities now have powered-up versions called Super Abilities, which are acquired from inhaling large versions of enemies glowing with a starry aura. When used, the game is paused for everyone except Kirby, and the super abilities hit most parts of the screen. They can destroy parts of the environment marked with a certain star pattern which are otherwise indestructible. Super Abilities have an unlimited number of uses, but only last for a limited time, as indicated by a rainbow-colored bar with a star below Kirby.

Sword's Super version is called Ultra Sword, obtained from a glowing Blade Knight, Fire's version is Monster Flame, obtained from a large Hot Head, Beam's version is called Flare Beam, obtained from a glowing Waddle Doo, Hammer's version is called Grand Hammer, obtained from a glowing Bonkers, and Ice's version is called Snow Bowl, obtained from a glowing Chilly. These enemies leave behind the Ability Star even when defeated by players other than Kirby.

Each regular ability has multiple moves, similar to the versions in Kirby Super Star and Kirby Super Star Ultra. New copy abilities have been introduced alongside returning ones. Water appears to have been redesigned with a noticeably more pink Kirby rather than a translucent blue as depicted in Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, and he surfs on his own waves as an attack. Whip Kirby is self-explanatory and performed a fast attack similar to Meta Knight's standard A move from Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Leaf Kirby can encircle himself with leaves, conjure columns of leaves, and throw them as missiles, putting its role between Needle/Spark and Ninja. Stone Kirby now wears a rocky headdress similar to the one seen in GameCube footage rather than his old gear.

Kirby's discarded or lost Ability Stars have a unique coloration and icon for every ability, instead of its traditional appearance as a yellow, glowing star in all previous games (possibly because multiple players could get their abilities mixed up otherwise). Stars of Super Abilities are larger than normal ones, but otherwise look the same. Statues similar to Copy Pedestals return, but now have the Ability Star within a glass bubble on them instead of the enemy giving the ability. Sword Kirby can still throw sword beams at full health.

Kirby's inhaling ability is more powerful than before, being able to inhale many more enemies at once and produce larger Star Spit. Shaking the Wii Remote while holding Button 1 makes Kirby perform his Super Inhale. He can inhale up to all three allies and use them as a projectile as well.

Multiplayer Co-op
Players 2, 3, or 4 can join an ongoing game at any time, but it costs a 1UP to do so, and all players share the same number of lives with Kirby, as well with the other players can play as Meta Knight, King Dedede, a spear-wielding Waddle Dee, or a different-colored Kirby. If there are no more 1UPs left, the new player enters with a quarter of his/her health full. The selected character then appears right beside Kirby wherever he may be. Should Player 1 lose all hitpoints, everyone has to restart the level from the start, but if Players 2, 3, or 4 lose all hitpoints, they can reselect their character and beam right beside where Kirby was. If a player quits at any time, that life will return to Player 1. Only player 1 can enter Doors to end the level. Should a player fall too far behind the others, the character beams to another like Helpers do in Kirby Super Star.

Food sharing by mouth-to-mouth food transfer has returned, and works the same as in Kirby Super Star, but now up to four players can share the same food.

Characters
Meta Knight, King Dedede and (Bandanna) Waddle Dee are additional playable characters for the game's multiplayer mode. They can also be played as once the player beats The Arena as Kirby. Meta Knight's moveset is based off Sword with some of Wing's attributes. Dedede's moveset is similar to Hammer, but he is able to use Hammer Throw an infinite amount of times. Waddle Dee's attacks are the same as Spear's and is able to jab repeatedly, throw spears, and hover by using his spear like a helicopter blade. Alternately colored Kirbys from Kirby & the Amazing Mirror are also available in multiplayer mode.

All characters are capable of some manner of flight; Kirby and King Dedede float, Meta Knight uses his wings to fly, and Waddle Dee is able to do multiple jumps. Characters can hold onto each other during flight, like Helpers do in Kirby Super Star when they run out of air jumps. Players can stack up on each other's backs when moving about, similar to footage seen in Kirby GCN, and this does not slow down movement. All characters are capable of swimming; when they do, Kirby, Meta Knight, and Waddle Dee don goggles underwater that look like the version introduced to Kirby in Kirby Super Star. King Dedede also receives a pair of goggles, but they're designed differently and only cover his eyes.

By stacking up on each other, the four players can use a special attack. By holding and simultaneously releasing the A button, they can release a powerful attack that is unique to the character at the bottom of the stack. Kirby shoots out a giant blast of air, Meta Knight releases a giant Sword Beam, King Dedede smashes the ground, unleashing a giant shock wave (similar to Kirby's Grand Hammer), and Waddle Dee can launch multiple spear-shaped beams in multiple directions while performing his Multi-spear Attack.

Other features
Power-ups and items return. These include a large spiked boot similar to the Kuribo's Shoe, a crystal that makes the holder invisible, a fireworks cannon, a French Horn-like object that creates a protective barrier, a candle that illuminates dark rooms, a fireworks bomb that increases in size and power while being held, and keys that unlock doors. These pick-ups need to be held over the player's head, which makes them incapable of doing anything other than moving and jumping unless it is dropped.

Obstacles in the game are highly similar to the ones in Kirby Super Star, with Ropes and platforms, Switches, and all the classic blocks. Collectible Point Stars and Food items make a return. There are different denominations of stars, similar to Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. Large, red stars are worth 10 regular stars, giant blue stars are worth 30 regular stars, and every 100 stars give a 1UP.

Miniature starry voids are seen to warp Kirby to a space that is slowly being erased. Entering one causes Kirby to lose his current Copy Ability.

Controls
The game is played with the Wii Remote held sideways, like in most parts of Kirby's Epic Yarn.

Playable Characters

 * Kirby
 * Meta Knight
 * King Dedede
 * Bandanna Waddle Dee
 * Yellow Kirby
 * Blue Kirby
 * Green Kirby

Minigames
Minigames are unlocked by collecting the pieces of gears and returning them to the Lor Starcutter. It is not certain how many there are at this time. Players collect medals (bronze, silver, gold, or platinum) depending on how well they performed in the minigame.
 * Ninja Dojo
 * Scope Shot
 * Sword challenge
 * Whip challenge
 * Hi-Jump challenge
 * Water challenge
 * Bomb challenge
 * Wing challenge
 * Item challenge
 * The Arena
 * The True Arena

Development
There are similarities between Kirby's Return to Dream Land as announced at E3 2011 and Kirby GCN for the GameCube, which was announced six years ago at E3 2005. There has been much discussion about whether Kirby's Return to Dream Land is a direct derivative of the GameCube title, although if that was indeed the case, there has been extensive changes to gameplay systems throughout its development period.

Information timeline

 * E3 2005 - The title Kirby was announced to be in development for the GameCube, along with beta gameplay footage in the trailer.


 * May 26, 2006 - IGN released an article stating a pending title labelled as 星の伝説 カービィ (Hoshi no Densetsu Kābī, meaning Kirby Legend of the Stars) based on a release list found on Nintendo Japan's corporate site.
 * September 14, 2006 - the title appeared on Nintendo Japan's website, on a list of upcoming games for the Wii in Japan.
 * December 2006 - Nintendo Power removed the previously-announced Kirby from the list of GameCube releases, but did not put the title onto the list of Wii releases.


 * E3 2007 - Two years after the announcement of Kirby, the title was not brought up in the initial presentation, but in an interview with a Nintendo representative, GoNintendo was reminded "not to forget about Kirby" (on the Wii) when asking about the abandoned Kirby for the GameCube.
 * December 2007 - In the "Ask Nintendo" section of the December 2007 issue of Official Nintendo Magazine, it was stated that a Kirby game for the Wii is not currently in development.

After all this fragmented and conflicting information, no further details about the game for one and a half years, so the game was presumed to have been cancelled for good.


 * July 31, 2009 - Nintendo included a vague Hoshi no Kābī in a list of expected 2009 releases in a press release.


 * January 29, 2010 - Hoshi no Kābī appears on a release list with a TBA (to be announced) release date.
 * May 7, 2010 - Nintendo confirms that the Kirby title was still in the making.
 * October, 2010 - After Kirby's Epic Yarn was released in 2010 for the Wii, this was thought to be the Wii that Nintendo was talking about, and the traditional Kirby project was presumed to have been cancelled.
 * January 28, 2011 - In Nintendo's investor briefing, the game was officially announced to be in development on the Wii, and was set to be released within the same year. Several seconds of video footage with a fixed sideways camera are shown.
 * E3 2011 - The game was given the official tentative title of Kirby Wii and was expected to be released in Fall 2011.
 * August 23, 2011 - The game's title is evolved from Kirby Wii to Kirby's Return to Dream Land

Trivia

 * The title was previously announced under the tentative name Kirby Wii at E3 2011. Prior to that, it was simply known as Hoshi no Kābī (Kirby of the Stars), which is the same title of Kirby's Dream Land (1992) for the Game Boy and the anime Kirby: Right Back at Ya! in Japan. This isn't far off from the final Japanese title, which is simply Hoshi no Kirby Wii.
 * Since Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, this has been the fourth (and only successful) attempt at making a major 3D Kirby platformer. Some qualities of these unreleased games have been built into Kirby's Return To Dream Land, such as the title music for the The Arena and The True Arena coming from the E3 2005 trailer music.
 * This is Kirby's first title to be rated E10+ (for mild cartoon violence) rather than the usual E in the United States.
 * Every time Kirby gets a Super Ability he yells Hi-ya!
 * The shoe-like power up is similar to Kiribo's Shoe in Super Mario Bros. 3.
 * The Disc Menu music is a short remix of Kirby's Dream Land menu music.
 * A copy of King Dedede's theme from Kirby no KiraKira Kizzu remains on the game disc, but is completely unused (or possibly a placeholder). However, there are two other renditions that are used in the final game - a copy of the Super Star theme against Robo Dedede, and a new version of the theme for the miniboss tower of Level 5-5.
 * There is at least one known enemy that was cut from the final game - Hearbell, a flower-like object that latches on or possibly eats Kirby in a similar fashion to a Lovely and Lovely Rose.
 * Inspecting the game files also reveals models and movements for Super Cutter Kirby, but the Super Ability is not available in the released game. Theoretically, this would be why Ultra Sword is the most common super ability, as the two may have shared similar puzzles. The prospective "Super Kibble" enemy that would have granted Kirby this ability has not been found in the game files, suggesting an early omission.
 * This is the first game to give Mike and Crash Copy Pedestals.
 * The use of different denominations of stars (in red and blue colors) is very similar to the coin system in Super Mario 64.
 * Interestingly, despite taking 11 years of development, this game was finished completely without Masahiro Sakurai's involvement.
 * Unlike in other games, Kirby does not lose his ability while doing victory dances.