Kirby's Return to Dream Land

"When a mysterious traveler crash-landed on Planet Popstar, Kirby and his friends rushed to his aid, and an amazing adventure began! This game featured extra-powerful Copy Abilities called Super Abilities, which gave Kirby incredible new attacks. Kirby's inhale ability also got powered up in this game. Additional player could join and leave the game at will. Moves like Piggyback and Team Attack let players help each other through tough spots. This game also included minigames that could be unlocked as the story progressed."

- Summary

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

Intro
The game opens to show King Dedede and Bandana Waddle Dee running after Kirby, who is holding a large slice of cake resembling the Strawberry Shortcake in Kirby: Squeak Squad. They run past Meta Knight, who is sitting by a large rock on a grassy knoll, reading a book and relaxing under the sun. Suddenly, the sky flashes brightly and a dark, star-shaped portal reminiscent of Dark Nebula opens in the sky, which startles the four of them and causes Kirby to drop his cake (but only after King Dedede bumps into him). The Lor Starcutter - a crystalline, galleon-shaped starship with an unfamiliar insignia - pops out, trailing smoke and spilling pieces of Energy Spheres everywhere. Moments after, the Lor 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.

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, Magolor, lies on his side, unconscious in front of a large screen flashing a warning sign.

Magolor wakes up and immediately runs to the control panel, and a look of despair comes over him. The screen shows all 120 Energy Spheres missing, and all five parts of the ship had been scattered to the five corners of Pop Star.

Kirby is the first to offer his help, and the rest join in, and so the four heroes run off to gather up the parts while Magolor stays behind to tend to his ship. The question remains: What caused the ship to crash in the first place?

Dream Land
Kirby and company venture throughout Dream Land, searching for the parts to reconstruct the Lor Starcutter piece by piece. When they finally get the mast from Grand Doomer in the final stage of Nutty Noon, they return to Magolor and complete the repairs to the ship. Ecstatic that now his ship is now functional again, Magolor offers to take the four heroes on a trip to his home world, Halcandra, and so the Starcutter opens another one of the star-shaped portals and warps there.

Halcandra
Just after the Starcutter enters Halcandran atmosphere, Landia - a crowned, four-headed dragon - blasts the vessel out of the sky with fireballs. The Starcutter crashes again (this time with its main parts intact), but fortunately its occupants are unharmed. Magolor explains that Landia must be stopped and the Master Crown retrieved. Kirby, always happy to help, decides to go after Landia.

The four venture through the hostile Halcandran lands and defeat Landia at the pinnacle of the Volcano at Dangerous Dinner. While they are still rejoicing at their triumph, Magolor calmly arrives at the scene, applauds them for taking down the dragon for him, then dons the Master Crown and takes all its power for himself, leaving Kirby and the rest stupefied. As it turns out, the moment Magolor ran into Kirby and company, he had been using them to fulfil his own scheme, which turns out to be conquering the universe with the Master Crown - starting with Pop Star, Kirby's home world.

Magolor then leaves with the Starcutter, leaving the four stranded on Halcandra. But then Landia comes to and offers to help, recognizing that it was a misunderstanding when they fought. Kirby, King Dedede, Meta Knight, and Bandana Waddle Dee each take mount on one of the four separated Landias pursue Magolor through the Lor's portal which leads into Another Dimension.

Another Dimension
The team braves all manner of Doomers and hazards inhabiting Another Dimension before finally catching up to Magolor in transit. He has now possessed the Lor Starcutter and he uses it to fight them. After that doesn't work, Magolor manages to get a little further before he is caught up again. This time, Magolor attacks using the power of the Master Crown himself. Kirby, Dedede, Meta Knight, and Bandana Waddle Dee are shot off of Landia and land somewhere in Another Dimension, where Magolor attacks them.

Magolor is knocked unconscious after fighting them on the ground, but then the Master Crown revives him. After managing to beat him yet again, the Master Crown shatters and Magolor's body fades away. But then the whole of Another Dimension begins falling apart, and the portal to Pop Star is shut. Just when everything seems lost, Landia and the Lor Starcutter return. The Landias swoop Kirby and company up while the Lor Starcutter re-opens the portal for everyone to escape just before Another Dimension disappears entirely.

Epilogue
Kirby wakes up in Dream Land and finds Bandana Waddle Dee and Meta Knight next to him as though they had just dropped out of the sky. They all laugh at Dedede, who had landed head-first and has a flower stuck to his head. They gaze at the Lor Starcutter and Landia flying overhead, and then the Lor opens a portal and leaves with Landia.

After the end credits roll, Landia and the Starcutter are seen flying through space.

Abilities
The game introduces four new Copy Abilities, as well as a set of five powered-up versions called Super Abilities, which are acquired from inhaling large versions of enemies glowing with a starry aura. All the Super Abilities have no limit on the number of times used, but they only last for a limited time, as indicated by a rainbow-colored star below Kirby. They can destroy parts of the environment marked with a certain star pattern which are otherwise indestructible. The main objective of doing so is to reveal a portal to unstable dimensional space perpetually erasing itself, in order to retrieve additional Energy Spheres, but entering one of these will cause Kirby to lose his current ability.

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, and these ability stars persist indefinitely.

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 is noticeably different from the one depicted in Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, giving Kirby a set of long-range and hovering moves. Whip Kirby can fly for a short while, and can grab items through walls. Leaf Kirby has area and missile attacks and a unique guard move, Spear is a longer-ranged version of Sword with an additional hover move, and Stone Kirby now wears a rocky headdress similar to the one seen in Kirby GCN 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. 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.

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. The other players can play as Meta Knight, King Dedede, a spear-wielding Waddle Dee, or a different-colored Kirby. Kirby is the only one who can copy abilities, while the other three characters each have the moveset of a different copy ability (Meta Knight has Sword, King Dedede has Hammer, and Waddle Dee has Spear). 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. If a player quits at any time, player 1 does not gain a 1UP back unless they do so with full health.

Player 1 holds the greatest responsibility, because if his or her character loses all HP, everyone has to restart the level, but if the same thing happens to Players 2, 3, or 4, they can simply reselect the desired character and beam right beside where Kirby was.

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 (Bandana) 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 moves. Dedede's moveset is similar to Hammer, but he is able to use Hammer Throw without losing the ability. 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. Should more than one player wish to play as Kirby, palette-swapped Kirbys are also available.

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. 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.

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. By doing so, 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 the Stomper Boot, the Invisibility Stone, a fireworks-shooting Cracker, the French horn-like Prism Shield, the Candle, the Balloon Bomb, as well as 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, jumping, and slide kicking unless it is dropped or used.

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.

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
 * Bandana Waddle Dee
 * Yellow Kirby
 * Blue Kirby
 * Green Kirby

Sub-games
Each of the sub-games is unlocked by collecting a set number of Energy Spheres. Players are awarded medals (bronze, silver, gold, or platinum) depending on their performance.
 * Ninja Dojo
 * Scope Shot
 * The Arena
 * The True Arena
 * Challenge
 * Sword Challenge
 * Whip Challenge
 * Hi-Jump Challenge
 * Water Challenge
 * Bomb Challenge
 * Wing Challenge
 * Item Challenge

Development
The game has had an extended development cycle of 11 years. It was initially designed for the GameCube to be released soon after Kirby Air Ride. Its concept of a 3D platformer like Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards went through three major iterations before all the ideas were coalesced into the game for the Wii.

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 game 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 North American localization's title is finalized as Kirby's Return to Dream Land

Music
The official sound track is currently only available in Japan via Club Nintendo.

Trivia



 * The game's 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.
 * This is Kirby's first title to be rated E10+ (for mild cartoon violence) rather than the usual E in the United States.
 * Kirby's Return to Dream Land is released in Japan three days after its release in the North America - this is unusual as the vast majority of Kirby titles are released in Japan first.
 * The first letter of all levels except Another Dimension, in order of appearance, spell the word "CROWNED." In the game, "CROWNED" is the name of the theme that plays during the battle with Magolor Soul. Interestingly enough, the French names of the worlds spell "PARFAIT" -- which translates to 'perfect' in French.
 * The Disc Menu music is a short remix of the menu music in Kirby's Dream Land.
 * This is the first game to give Mike and Crash Copy Essences.
 * The shoe-like power up is similar to Kuribo's Shoe in Super Mario Bros. 3.
 * Inspecting the game files reveals models, images and movements for Super Cutter Kirby, which is not in the released game. The prospective "Super Kibble" enemy that would have granted Kirby this ability is not found in the game files, suggesting an early omission. There is also a reference to Super Spark, but very little remains of this form. There is also a mysterious normal and super "clock" icon, which may have been either a placeholder or time/space-based ability.
 * 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 (or the other characters) in a similar fashion to a Lovely and Lovely Rose.