Kirby's Return to Dreamland Deluxe: How More Isn't Always Better
May 28, 2023
Kirby games are always two things: simple and fun, and Kirby's Return to Dreamland is no exception from this standard. The Story Mode is a fun quest, easy enough for newer players to get through, yet still with plenty of extra challenges to keep more experienced players entertained. And the Magolor Epilogue brings a fun side story, expanding on a major character's story in a new way, adding new mechanics for players to use, and more levels for players to adventure through.
But while Magolor Epilogue is a great example of more content being better, this game also has an example of more content simply being used to pad the game with some extra playtime. What I'm talking about is Extra Mode.
Extra Mode is essentially just a repeat of Story Mode... However, you only have half of your original maximum health, and there are some very minor changes to the placement of enemies. It sounds like it's just a hard mode, and it basically is, but it doesn't feel like enough of a hard mode to be worth an entirely separate playthrough in order to achieve 100% completion.
But yet, there is still some content locked behind the completion of this mode. If you want to try the hardest challenge of the game, The True Arena, then you are required to beat Extra Mode. But considering that Extra Mode just feels like another playthrough of all the story mode levels, it starts to feel like a slog. It feels like you're forced to play through the game twice if you want to fully complete it.
Extra Mode just doesn't do enough to differentiate itself from Story Mode. There was plenty of opportunity to move around obstacles to change up the challenges, straight up swap enemies around in levels to provide the player with different circumstances, or even make entirely new challenges within those levels. But the game doesn't use any of those opportunities to do anything interesting with it.
Extra Mode would be fun for a second playthrough, maybe months later, once the memory of the original levels has faded, but having to play it immediately after the first playthrough it just makes it feel like a slog.
It took me less than a month to beat Story Mode, and I beat Magolor Epilogue in only a single play session because I enjoyed it so much I just couldn't put it down. Yet here I am, two months later, still trying to power through Extra Mode. It's gotten to be such a slog to open up and play because it just doesn't feel as fun playing through everything I've already done before.
And yet, I refuse to just drop it, because I really want to do The True Arena.