Kirby's Return to Dream Land had an extremely lengthy development cycle, actually beginning in 2000 for the GameCube and taking 11 years before it finally came to satisfying fruition. It underwent many failed builds, most of them focusing heavily on multiplayer action. Multiplayer is available in Kirby's Return to Dream Land, but the primary focus is still the single-player experience.

So here's the story: while scooting around with food on the lovely surface of Popstar with his buddies King Dedede, Waddle Dee, and Meta Knight, Kirby spots something odd happening in the sky. A star-shaped wormhole appears, and out pops a strange crystal ship (literally resembling an old-tymey pirate vessel, just a bit shinier and with fewer barnacles clinging for dear life) ready to crash. And it does. And it's dramatic in a comical way. It turns out this is the Lor Starcutter, hailing from a distant world known as Halcandra (likely a pun on HAL, the developer). Upon entering the ship, Kirby and friends find only one passenger: Magolor, a dark round alien being with an unfortunate lack of feet. He easily admits defeat now that all the parts of his ship have flown off to different territories of Popstar. Kirby, possessing a big heart, offers his services to get back the parts and help Magolor return home. That's sweet.

The game is structured very much like Kirby's Adventure. Each region contains doors leading to the separate stages, a definite nod to the NES days. Completing one stage unlocks another and so forth until you get to the final boss, grab the Starcutter part, and move on. I'll say one thing about those stages: they certainly aren't short. Some of them feel like you're going to be there a long time, and you'll have wished you brought a sleeping bag and an extra pair of boxer shorts for the trip. The length certainly isn't a bother when you look at the lush and color-splashed environs of every stage. You can definitely tell that a lot of painstaking efforts went into beautifying this game. For a 2D side-scroller, this is truly one of the more eye-catching entries into the genre.

Pack your salbutamol, because you're about to do some serious inhaling.

Kirby also has his beloved copying ability, being able to inhale and swallow enemies and steal their powers. (And Kirby's lungs seem to be much stronger, as shaking the Wiimote while inhaling causes him to suck up much larger quantities of objects with absolute brute force!) All the classics are there: Beam, Bomb, Hammer, Fire, Ice, Parasol, Stone, Sword, etc. They also threw in a couple of new ones I hadn't seen before (not that I necessarily keep up with Kirby abilities on a regular basis, mind you), such as the Whip ability (complete with a cute little red cowpoke hat) or the Spear. In certain situations, Kirby is provided with Super Abilities, which are basically overpowered visually-fancied versions of regular attacks. These can easily slice through everything on-screen and also reveal hidden secrets. The Ultra Sword, for example, allows Kirby to whip out a gigantic sword and cut through giant blocks and all foes. The Snow Bowl, however, turns Kirby into a giant snowball and, by shaking the Wiimote, lets you speedily run down everything in your path as an avalanche with sparkly eyes. It's very satisfying, but these special abilities are strategically placed only in stages designed specifically for them.

I'll also say this: Kirby's Return to Dream Land keeps the tradition alive of being accessible to both novice players and those with a long history of Kirby allegiance. Although there are a few points in the game where difficulty could strike (the final boss being the most obvious), for the most part, it's a pretty casual romp through the Kirbyverse. Having said that, I'm sure there are more than a few of you looking for a true challenge. HAL thought of you.

In each stage, there are Energy Spheres hidden in semi-clever places that Kirby needs to dig up and collect for Magolor. There are 120 in all. They're not really a requirement to finish the game, but doing so unlocks more and more wonderful extras. First are the Challenge stages, in which you have but a few minutes to make it through a custom level using only one specific power. Completing the normal quest also unlocks the Arena, where you tackle all the game's bosses on a single life, as well as Extra Mode, a version of the original quest with tougher enemies, harder bosses, and a smaller health meter. It's not for the faint at heart.

Also unlocked are a couple of mini-games that a bit more novel and actually make much better use of the Wiimote's capabilities. Unlocked by collecting a specific number of Energy Spheres, you can play Ninja Dojo and Scope Shot. Ninja Dojo puts Kirby in the samurai spirit by throwing a series of targets in front of you, one by one, and you have to swing the Wiimote forward, imitating a shuriken toss, to try and hit it as close to the bullseye center as possible. Miss one and the game ends! Scope Shot pits you against a giant mech robot, and you use the Wiimote to point at it and try to shoot off its various components to eventually reveal its weak point. This one's especially difficult in the final round against Robo Dedede whose movement patterns are very quick and tough to keep up with! Challenge seekers need look no further...