Kirby's Dream Land

North American cover art.

Kirby's Dream Land, known in Japan as 星のカービ [Hoshi no Kabi], "Kirby of the Stars", is an action platformer developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo on the Game Boy in 1992. It is the first Kirby game and, since Kirby's ability to steal powers from the monsters he's eaten has not yet been established, the game plays more like a basic platformer.

I first played this game after already having played several Kirby games, so I was very disappointed by the lack of stealing powers, and it was so short and easy, I beat it on my first attempt.

Status

I do not own the game, but I have beat it.

Review

Overall: 3/10
Best Version: Game Boy

Good

The graphics are nice and cute and a lot of the characters seen in later games are introduced.
The cuteness of Kirby is spot-on.
The game has a pretty complete manual.

Bad

Overall, the game is kind of dull.

Ugly

The game is too easy. Even younger kids won't have much difficulty beating it.
At only five levels, the game is incredibly short, easily beatable in a single play-through.

Box Art

The Japanese box features a reddish Kirby standing in front of a grided background collage of the game characters. I like the curved text, but it's a bit plain.
The American box has a white puffed-up Kirby in front of the boss of stage 1. The lettering is simple, but effective. I prefer this box.