This is Classic Nintendo Gameplay

It seems that in the midst of Pikachu and friends, Nintendo has all but abandoned the rest of their mascots. While I await a new game (with full color support), I'll make do with this.

On a Dream, Far Far Away...

There lived this puffball named Kirby, one day he found that pieces of the Rainbow bridge have disappeared, that evil King Dedede is up to his old tricks again! Kirby now must recover the drops and with help from his new friends Kine the Fish, Coo the Bird and Rick the Hamster, he hope to assemble the drops and restore peace to the land.

What A Kirby Does Anyway

Kirby's Dreamland 2 plays closely to Kirby's Adventure for the NES. He still sucks enemies up and either spits them out or if an enemy has an ability, copies it for his personal use. This time he only has 6 or so abilities which in includes Spark (covers him with electricity), Fireball (he can do a dash fireball attack), Parasol (protects him above dangers and can float to the ground), Ice Beam (Can shoot a beam that freezes enemies), Needle (Becomes covered with spikes) and Stone (Becomes invulnerable to damage and can roll down hills). At first, when compared with the NES version, this seems cheap, but when he has a friend, he gains a almost new set of moves to copy. When he has Coo, the Parasol grants the ability to twist like a tornado. When he's with Kine, Spark shoots out lightbulbs. So rather than 6, all said and told, there are 18 different abilities to be had.

Friends Are Good

So, we've already met Kirby's friends (which is a first for the series), each has their own ablilities and specialties. Rick can walk on ice without slipping, Kine gives Kirby a stronger swim (great for currents), Coo gives Kirby enhanced air capabilities. The latter two also grant Kirby the ability to inhale enemies while swimming or flying. Some are also key to getting rainbow drops.

Going Through the Worlds

Kirby is fairly linear for a Nintendo game. Of course, there is the world map where you select a sub level. Also, these worlds grow in number as the game progresses. Unfortunately, there is no hidden levels (save for the last one, which isn't hidden, but blocked until all the drops are gathered). Each level has a number of sections which serve as continue points should Kirby die. The goal of each level is to get through and beat the boss. Also, you have to search for the Rainbow drops, which is (also strange for a Nintendo game) very difficult. World 1 is easy enough, but each level gets more and more devious and to placement of the rooms and how to access the darned little things (let's not even mention World 6's drop, cruel Nintendo, very cruel) Also progress through the game isn't easy. This game doesn't give out extra lives in droves, although continues are unlimited. Bosses are also challenging, having pretty strict patterns and attacking routines.

Looking Good

Kirby is one of the few B/W Gameboy games that look good on the GBC. Not Kirby's Adventure kind of good, but good nonetheless. Everything is defined well, Kirby's even pink. Some of the backgrounds don't do too well on the GBC, clouds are blue, the sky is white, the Red Canyon is anything but red. But this is slight nitpicking, I'm sure the game looks really good on a Super Gameboy. On the GBC it's above average, but some more tuning on the hardware part could have produced a gorgeous game rather than a good looking one.

Sound regurgitate

Kirby's sounds are all familar territory. There are maybe one or two new soundtracks, otherwise every song has been in a Kirby game previously. It's not really a bad thing, but the songs are nothing special in particular and hearing them again just don't stir up any emotions. The sound effects are also of an old hat, faithfully redone...again. Nothing bad, but veterans will have heard the exact same thing for the umpteenth time.

Played It, Been There.

Kirby's DL 2 isn't a bad game, but so much of the game is familiar territory, it really is hard to shake the feeling you've played it before. Granted, the animals do add to the game, it needs more. Preferably, a color sequel. Also, finding those drops can end up being a chore, if only there were more secrets, more hidden levels, this could have been great, instead merely good. If you find it cheap, go for it. It's not there's anything else like it for the system.