Kirby's Dream Collection Special Edition

"A celebration of all the fun we've had over Kirby's first two decades. Here's to many more!"

- Summary

Kirby's Dream Collection: Special Edition (Kirby's Dream Collection for short) is a compilation title released to commemorate Kirby series 20th anniversary. The playable content in the compilation consists of six past games and 13 previously unreleased Challenge stages on one Wii disc, and it comes with a complimentary soundtrack CD and a collectible 48-page celebration book.

Classic Titles
The included games are:
 * Kirby's Dream Land (Game Boy)
 * Kirby's Adventure (NES)
 * Kirby's Dream Land 2 (Game Boy)
 * Kirby Super Star (SNES)
 * Kirby's Dream Land 3 (SNES)
 * Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (Nintendo 64)

New Challenge Stages
The Challenge mode opens up in the interior of the Lor Starcutter. The camera pans slowly down to reveal Magolor typing on the Starcutter's main computer board. He turns around and greets the player directly. He introduces himself by saying that he's from Another Dimension, and that he can't get enough of Popstar. Magolor states that, to make up for all the fuss that he made in the previous game, he created an amusement park for Kirby to enjoy. The player then proceeds to go through these levels:

Happiness Hall

 * Sword Challenge
 * Parasol Challenge
 * Spark Challenge
 * Magolor Race 1

Apricot Atrium

 * Whip Challenge
 * Fighter Combat Chamber
 * Wing Challenge
 * Magolor Race 2

Last Land

 * Smash Combat Chamber
 * Normal Challenge
 * Magolor Race 3
 * Smash Combat Chamber EX (After beating Magolor Race 3)
 * Magolor Race EX (After beating Magolor Race 3)

After the player beats Magolor Race 3, the credits start to roll. Kirby then walks (with Magolor trailing along behind him) through all the levels of Planet Popstar in Kirby's Return to Dream Land and ends in Cookie Country. Magolor leaves Popstar on the Lor Starcutter, but not before giving Kirby a final wave goodbye. As Kirby nears the end of the walk, the music changes from the 20th anniversary theme to the original ending theme of Kirby's Dream Land, and he is greeted by King Dedede, Meta Knight, Bandana Waddle Dee, and a number of classic enemies from Kirby's Return to Dream Land. This will also unlock the option to watch the ending again via the file select screen. The player may now also play the Smash Combat Chamber EX and Magolor Race EX.

Kirby's History
Kirby's History is an interactive calendar documenting the Kirby series history both in the games and in the world. The games span Kirby's Dream Land to the very disc the player is using, Kirby's Dream Collection: Special Edition. The games are represented by their box arts. At the end of the "History Hall" is a bright light, which may represent HAL's hopes for Kirby to have a bright future. There are numerous statues of characters from the Kirby franchise (Kirby himself, Rick, Coo, Kine, and Waddle Dee) that are standing on pillars.

When in Kirby's History, when the player selects a game, a track from that game will play. An example is if the player selects Kirby Super Star Ultra from the list, Masked Dedede's theme from Revenge of the King will play. If the game is included in the collection (such as Kirby's Dream Land or Kirby Super Star), then there is an option on its menu to play it. Kirby selects a game to view by inhaling its box and swallowing it.

Three episodes of Kirby: Right Back at Ya! can be watched by viewing them on the Kirby history. These episodes are Kirby Comes to Cappy Town, Crusade for the Blade, and Waddle While You Work.

If Kirby attempts to inhale any of the golden statues, he will get tired, similarly to his super inhale from Kirby & The Amazing Mirror and Kirby: Squeak Squad. The golden statues represent years where little or nothing happened related to the Kirby franchise, instead providing just trivia about the real world (usually related to Nintendo or other technology). Interestingly, Kirby starts out the hall at Kirby's Dream Land, but there is a statue of Kirby himself if the player goes left, not right.

The gold statues in order are: Kirby, Lololo and Lalala, King Dedede, Meta Knight, and Magolor. All statues are represented in an 8-bit form (even though Magolor never previously appeared this way).

If the player waits long enough without observing any games, the music will shift from the Castle Lololo theme to Cloudy Park theme from Kirby's Dream Land 2. Also, while waiting, Kirby will get tired and fall asleep in place, much like he does when remaining idle in other Kirby games.

Trivia



 * Similarly to how the level names of Kirby's Return to Dream Land spell out "CROWNED," the names of the levels in Challenge Mode spell out the abbreviation "HAL", which is a reference to HAL Laboratory, the creators of the Kirby series.
 * Kirby's Dream Collection: Special Edition is one of the few Kirby games that launched in the United States with a price below the usual Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price; where most Wii games sold for $50, this game sold for $40.
 * The woodblock-based design of the keep case's cover art is a homage to the Japanese boxart of Kirby Super Star.
 * This is the first Kirby game since 2004's Kirby & The Amazing Mirror to be packaged in a cardboard box, primarily because of the keep case's inability to contain both the instruction manual and the commemorative booklet.
 * Consequently, the fact that the game's cover art is different on the box than on the keep case makes this the only Kirby game to have two different cover arts in a single release.
 * Much of the classic titles' original artwork was digitally remastered for Kirby's Dream Collection.
 * The answer concerning Cupid Kirby on page twenty-eight for the Cavalcade of Kirby's Quiz (located on the back of the celebration book) is incorrect; Cupid is from Kirby & The Amazing Mirror, not Kirby's Return to Dream Land.
 * Each level of the New Challenge Stages uses a track from a previous Kirby game. Happiness Hall uses Butter Building's theme from Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land, Apricot Atrium has one of the Ripple Field themes from Kirby's Dream Land 3, and Last Land has Shiver Star's level select theme from Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. All training rooms play the theme from the Beginner's Show in Kirby Super Star and Kirby Super Star Ultra, and the pre-Magolor Race screens in Happiness Hall and Apricot Atrium feature the theme from the Kirby GCN trailer, which was used as the boss theme in The Arena in Kirby's Return to Dream Land. The music in the Fighter Combat Chamber is the boss theme from Kirby Super Star; the music in the Smash Combat Chamber is Rainbow Run's music from Kirby: Canvas Curse; and the music in the Normal Challenge is Paint Panic's music (which is a remix of Gourmet Race's music) from the same game. Also, the music in the Smash Combat Chamber EX varies between The True Arena's music from Kirby Super Star Ultra and Miracle Matter's theme from Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards.
 * When observed closely, the letters of the names Kirby, Meta Knight, King Dedede and even Waddle Dee can be found on the "Credits" page, which is located in the back of the activity book. "Kirby" is highlighted in pink, "Meta Knight" is in blue, "King Dedede" is in green, and "Waddle Dee" is in orange.
 * Every classic title is modified to significantly reduce the slowdown that results from having an overabundance of sprites/models on-screen at once.
 * The ending from the Challenge Stages resembles the Bad Ending of Kirby's Dream Land 2 and Kirby's Dream Land 3.
 * This is the only Kirby Wii title to feature the exact logo on the game box's spine.
 * The game's disc features artwork of many characters from the Kirby series. A number of these artworks -- most of them from Kirby Super Star Ultra -- were never officially distributed in North America until the release of Kirby's Dream Collection.
 * Release dates between the Japanese and international versions of all the games were different throughout the series, due to the gaps caused by their international localizations. Additionally, one title in the series was never released in Japan at all, but rather in NTSC & PAL regions alone. In the Japanese version of Kirby's History, every year is filled with something except 1991, which is filled with an 8-bit Kirby statue. In the international version, the years 1991, 1994, 1998, 1999, 2007, and 2009 are empty; they were filled with 8-bit statues of Kirby, Lololo and Lalala, Waddle Dee, King Dedede, Meta Knight, and Magolor, respectively.
 * Being the final Kirby title released for the Wii, Kirby's Dream Collection: Special Edition is the last game in the series to come with a physical instruction manual; all later entries come with a digital manual only.
 * Kirby's Dream Collection: Special Edition takes up 31 blocks of Wii memory.
 * Kirby's Dream Collection: Special Edition and Kirby and the Rainbow Curse are currently the only games in the series that contain footage and/or photography from the real world.
 * The StreetPass Mii Plaza game Puzzle Swap contains a puzzle panel based on Kirby's Dream Collection: Special Edition, called "Kirby's 20th Anniversary." When completed, it plays an animation in which Kirby flies on his Warp Star as sprites of various characters from various games float past. There are several special character sprites that can only be seen by moving the camera with the Circle Pad. At the end, Kirby inhales a Warp Star sprite, transforming him into his appearance from Kirby's Adventure. The animation then loops.
 * In Kirby's 20th Anniversary Celebration Book, one page says that Gooey only appeared in Kirby's Dream Land 3. This is false; his first appearance was in Kirby's Dream Land 2.
 * Kirby's Dream Collection: Special Edition is one of the five Kirby games that has never been released as a permanent digital download, the others are Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble, Kirby Air Ride, Kirby Slide, and Kirby Super Star Ultra.