Recently, I was back reading over my original Kirby and the Forgotten Land review to get a quick reminder of how I found the base game when it released in 2022 (what is time?) and, yeah, it seems I fairly enjoyed that one, now that I’ve rebooted my brain a little bit.
I jest, of course, I fully remember the experience, thank you very much! Usually, Kirby is a little low-stakes for my liking, but Forgotten Land swerved my personal issues with this series by giving us a fantastic 3D adventure that was as creative and exciting with its mechanics as it was beautiful to behold. And remember how excited we all got for Mouthful Mode? Remember Kirby car? Oh, how we laughed!
Anyway, Kirby hath returned, and he’s packing a surprising amount of new content to boot in Kirby And The Forgotten Land – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Star-Crossed World (or KATFW – NS2E + SCW for short). Here, Nintendo has given the game a bit of the old “come and look what our fancy new console can do, mate!”
With the Switch 2 Edition, Forgotten Land now looks and runs much better, and there’s a fully-earned triumphalism in the re-themed, remixed levels you get in Star-Crossed World, as you bash mysterious crystals and watch old levels magically come alive with frost and ice, sparkling gems and frozen paths carved into the sky. All of this reflecting and glistening in ways the Switch 1 may well have keeled over trying to process.
It’s all very fancy. And the reason for all of these icy shifts in tone? Well, I won’t ruin the story, for what it’s worth, but a big mysterious meteor has crash-landed, and Kirby’s services are once again required in order to hoover up crystals, defeat bosses, rescue cute little ‘Starries’, slap the silliness out of a whole load of diamanté-encrusted poodles, and so on and so forth.
The arrival of said meteor sees two remixed levels opened up on each of the game’s six original map regions, for a total of 12 new levels overall. In the game’s first region, Natural Plains, you get a new version of the opening beach arrival level, and a further remix in the form of a revisit to the game’s mall. These remixes, whilst initially maybe a tad disappointing, in that they’re essentially re-using areas, soon prove themselves to be some of the best, flashiest, and most exciting levels in the entire package.
As you progress through your icy return trip to the mall, as an example of this, the game goes out of its way to lift you up, out and above where you’ve been before, as it does in all the rest of these new offerings, and the platforming action that results is the tightest and most challenging I’ve played in a Kirby game thus far. My one recurring issue with the series resolved in an icy instant — difficulty. Slippery surfaces create a little more tension in making jumps and landings, new ice-based mini-bosses prove fun to best, and some of the best aspects of the main game, such as the car, make a return in fun ways.
So it’s a hefty amount of new game all told, especially considering the reasonable price of upgrading for players who own the base game already. And that’s not all, as whilst the number of new remixed regions comes in at a solid amount of new content by itself, Nintendo has gone the whole hog and added new transformations, a whole new collectibles ‘EX’ directory, and a few other things besides that I won’t spoil.
I’d even go so far as to say that the new Gear Mouth transformation, which I’m sure everyone has seen by now, is one of the most engagingly tactile Kirby alterations ever. And this wee guy has turned into a whole lot of things in his life. I love how the cog’s teeth stick to walls, and the way the HD Rumble really lets you feel the weight and bumpiness as you trundle up platforms and across gaps. This is top platforming fun, no matter who you are or where your skill level might be with this stuff.
Add in a few more transformations such as Spring Mouth (jump really high and then smash through stuff), and Sign Mouth (downhill racing, anyone?) and you’ve got a perfectly balanced sprinkling of new things to try out across a bunch of levels that look and play amazingly well. Again, I don’t feel like you’re getting short-changed because these are “just” remixed levels, as the amount of new things to do, see, and collect makes them feel like much more.
For me, all this added goodness makes it impossible not to re-run through the entire game alongside the new levels. Thankfully, Nintendo has made this nice and easy to do here, as you can jump between normal base game stuff and the new additions, all from the same map. Plus, switching to stage lists and collectibles takes nothing more than a quick press of ‘X’ to cycle between Forgotten Land and Star-Crossed World stats. For two-player co-op, which is also a cinch to jump in and out of, there’s a ton of colourful fun to be had, too, and my kids were blazing through it all with no issues.
The base game, with its fantastic campaign, has never looked or felt better to play, either. These are big upgrades, from 30fps (with the odd creak) and a slightly smeared look, to buttery smooth 60fps and crystal clear resolution in both docked and handheld. So mixing things up, jumping back in to retread old ground whilst bashing through new areas for more Starries, it all feels equally fresh and looks fantastic across the board.
One final detail to note is that the hub town’s Colosseum also has something new going on, although I can’t go into that just now! All in all, though, it rounds out what is a very generous helping of new things on top of a visual and performance touch-up that makes it very hard for me to pick holes.
Honestly, as far as Kirby goes, this really is now his finest platforming hour, with the only thing really holding him back being the repetitiveness of some of the reused bosses in the base game, which is still an issue here. Regardless of this minor issue, though, this is still easily one of the best and most polished 3D platformers on Switch or Switch 2.
Conclusion
Kirby And The Forgotten Land – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Star-Crossed World gives you the base Forgotten Land experience at a delicious 60fps with a whole big bunch of new content thrown in for good measure. The 12 remixed areas that make up the DLC are uniformly delightful, the new transformations are excellent, and there’s even new challenges for hardcore Kirby fans to get stuck into.
One of the best games on Switch, and one of my favourite 3D platformers in years, polished to a sparkly sheen and packing some meaningful new content? That’s a very easy recommendation and a truly excellent addition to the Switch 2’s early lineup.
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