Kirby's Dream Land

the simplicity makes it shine

I probably played through this short, easy and quietly iconic game fifty times back in the early 90s. Even more so than Super Mario Bros for Mario or The Legend of Zelda for Zelda, just about everything (except stealing powers and Meta Knight) about the play control and look/feel and classic enemies/bosses of Kirby was instantly established here in a way that the series basically remains faithful to a quarter century later.

Probably my most played Game Boy game as a child. I still own the cartridge because of its sentimental value. It's something special in that it never feels stressfully difficult, but it can still challenge gamers in unexpected ways. This has often been a theme with Kirby games, and while they don't all nail it, it's an achievement for those that do.

The first playthrough is braindead easy, the extra mode only slightly less so. Mechanically there's no sense of momentum or any need for good execution. Hell, in a lot of areas you can simply just fly over everything with little to no difficulty. For what it's worth, the game is extremely short and it has enough variety that it doesn't wear out its welcome. But frankly, there are far better platformers you could play in that era that wasn't babby tier braindead like this game is.