Kirby's Dream Land 3

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 also the third Dream Land game in the series. Unlike its predecessors, Kirby's Dream Land 3 was on the SNES. Not widely acclaimed by modern fans, Kirby's Dream Land 3 undid many of the advances made in the previous game, Kirby Super Star, resulting in mixed reviews from critics. It was released on Thanksgiving 1997 in the United States and Easter 1998 in Japan. This game was also released on Virtual Console on January 5, 2009. The sequel to this game is Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards.

Plot
On a peaceful day on Pop Star, Kirby is enjoying fishing with his friend, Gooey. A dark comet streaks across the sky and lands on Pop Star. The comet is a black circle with a red eye and it begins to create tentacles that extend across the sky. This is the work of Dark Matter, so Kirby rises up with Gooey to save the world!

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 animal allies and enemy powers in order to reach the goal at the end of each level. However, a variety of obstacles lie in his path. These obstacles range from pits to enemies.

As with other games, Kirby must travel to five themed worlds each with six stages including the boss. Each stage progresses as usual Kirby stages and to complete it the player only needs to reach the end. However each stage has an NPC that requires Kirby's assistance. If Kirby completes his required task then at the end of the stage the assisted entity will emit a glowing heart for Kirby to collect. To truly complete the game, Kirby must collect all the Heart Stars and defeat Zero, before completing the Extra Game of Kirby's Dream Land 3 called Super NES MG5.

Graphics
The most evident departure from the other Kirby games is the graphic presentation. Kirby's Dream Land 3 looked pastel drawn with very picture-esque drawings as backgrounds. Kirby's damage counter is reverted to blocks compared with the bar style in Super Star. Each hit Kirby receives results in the loss of half a block of life and falling down a pit still qualifying as a instant "death".

Animal Friends
All three Animal Friends (Rick, Coo, and Kine) return from Kirby's Dream Land 2, with three new additions (Chuchu, Pitch, and Nago). See the main article.

Levels

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

Mini-games
There are no minigames in Kirby's Dream Land 3, but boss endurance is available.
 * Boss Endurance

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 1 layer of floor tiles. Jumping on the tile on top of the item gets the player the item.

Allies
Grass Land
 * Tulip
 * MuchiMuchi
 * Pitcher Man
 * Cahmu and Goku
 * Mine
 * Pierre

Ripple Field
 * Kamuribana
 * Bakasa
 * Elieel
 * Gamugael and Little Gamugael
 * Hiiru
 * HB-002

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

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

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

Hyper Zone
 * None

Trivia

 * Various characters from the Metroid and Gyromite games make cameo appearances.
 * Metroid reference: In one stage, Samus Aran wants Kirby to defeat a horde of Metroids in exchange for a Heart Star.
 * Gyromite reference: In another stage, R.O.B. has been broken up into pieces. If Kirby has found all of the pieces and puts R.O.B. back together, Professor Hector will give him a Heart Star.
 * Two other cameos come from the Japan-only series Yūyūki and Shin Onigashima.
 * This, along with Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, are the only games where Chilly does not wear a necklace with a gold bell on it.
 * This was the last game published by Nintendo to be on the SNES, being released in 1997/1998.
 * Even though the game used blood, it was rated E by ESRB, where as today, it would be rated E10+. This is because E10+ wasn't a rating back then, and there wasn't enough bad violence in the rest of the game to qualify for the T rating.