Kirby's Dream Collection: Special Edition

Kirby's Dream collection, published in 2012 in celebration of 20 years for the pink-puff. It was the last title Nintendo published for the Wii console. You get a big colorful cover box which is mostly pink because of all the Kirby(s) that populate it. Inside you will find another box, the game case with a cover art that looks like someone took a plank of wood and seared the titles right on.. with what looks like two (psudo-)foil stickers highlighting "New challenge stages" and "Kirby's History". I also found inside a nice color 45 page art-book. Inside the game case you will find the game on a disc, a color manual, and a soundtrack CD featuring 45 tracks from various Kirby games.The Kirby's History section of the disc allows you to control Kirby frantically running up and down a long hallway at a speed which rivals even Sonic the Hedgehog with no care of running into others. You get to see exhibits highlighting major events in Kirby and Nintendo history, including various trailers, gameplay videos, and 3 episodes from the TV show "Kirby: Right back at ya".The six Kirby games featured are:Kirby's Dreamland (1,2, & 3), Kirby's Adventure, Kirby Superstar (sadly the non-Ultra edition which was made for the DS), Kirby 64: The crystal shards. The Gameboy games are in B&W the rest are in color.They are all pretty much ports of the original games playing on your Wii/WiiU console. The early games feature the "Nintendo Hard" feel. The games I find myself returning to most are the last 3 games. Playing with a friend in co-op is a strong aspect in Kirby games. Kirby Superstar I think is the strongest game in this collection, I got quite a rush taking down Meta-Knight's Ship.Also included are extra challenge levels for "Kirby's Return to Dreamland" (original game not required), but it is a friendly poke to go and buy the previous release.I wished the collection included more Kirby games, like Kirby's "Nightmare in Dreamland", or "Kirby's Pinball Land". Overall this is a great collection for any Kirby fan, could have been even better but since there is so much content, and runs complementary to the previous game "Kirby's Return to Dreamland" it is hard not to love it. I would give it 4.5 "Warp-stars" but since I had such a blast with Kirby I would say it can easily be rounded up to 5. If you're excited for the next Kirby game for the Wii U but having a hard time waiting, consider this collection and the other fine Kirby Wii games.

I have to admit, that even as someone who loves Kirby, I wasn't expecting too much in terms of his anniversary collection (probably because Nintendo didn't do such a good job with Mario's anniversary). The game actually flew under my radar almost entirely, only getting me to finally pre-order it days before its release.Well.After popping the game in, I have to say that I'm impressed. One of the things I loved right off the bat, was that ALL the games included in this collection can be played with just the Wii Remote. You don't need a GameCube controller or a Classic Controller (although you can use those controllers if you own them) -- all you need is a Wii Remote :)The games included are:Kirby's AdventureKirby's DreamlandKirby's Dreamland 2Kirby's Dreamland 3Kirby Super StarKirby 64: The Crystal ShardsPerhaps it's just because I never got to enjoy anything on the aforementioned list except Kirby's Dreamland and Kirby Super Star, or perhaps it's just because these game still hold up today, but regardless I've found the collection to be much harder to put down than Mario All Stars (which I only played a couple times).The games feature a save state-like system. When you return to your Wii menu directly from the game, you can pick up exactly where you left off the next time you play. The only downside I could see, was that in order to return to the main menu in Kirby's Dream Collection you have to reset the software (there's no menu option to quit the games).Regardless.Not only does this collection include 6 awesome Kirby games (more if you consider that Kirby Super Star is like 8 games in 1), but it also includes challenge stages in which you have to master the use of certain copy abilities in order to complete them. The challenge stages are a completely new addition -- along with the museum section of the game (see the history of Kirby along a timeline that includes real life events such as presidential elections and the Olympic games, and view virtual box art and trailers for every Kirby game to date).Despite the fact that the collection is rather small, it's an awesome chance for anyone who didn't get to enjoy these games during their heydays (and for a fraction of the price, too).