Kirby and the Forgotten Land (NSP, XCI) ROM

Kirby and the Forgotten Land Embark on a thrilling new adventure as Kirby, the powerful puffball. Explore a 3D world filled with abandoned structures, including surprising locations like a shopping mall. Copy enemies’ abilities, such as the new Drill and Ranger, to unleash powerful attacks and save the kidnapped Waddle Dees from the menacing Beast Pack.

This is a 2022 platform video game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is the thirteenth mainline installment in the Kirby series, as well as the first game in the series in full 3D, excluding spin-offs. The player controls Kirby in an adventure through the titular forgotten land called the New World to rescue Waddle Dees kidnapped by the ferocious Beast Pack.

To complete each stage to save the Waddle Dees, Kirby can use a wide range of copy abilities to help battle enemies and progress. Inhale real-world objects to transform Kirby using Mouthful Mode, gaining unique abilities like shooting cans or crashing through walls. Join forces with a friend in co-op play as Bandana Waddle Dee, using teamwork to overcome challenges.

Test your skills in dynamic boss battles and choose between different difficulty modes. Rescue Waddle Dees throughout themed stages to expand Waddle Dee Town, unlocking shops, leaderboards, and the ability to evolve copy abilities. Enjoy mini-games, use amiibo accessories, and collect charming items to decorate Kirby’s house. Get ready for an unforgettable adventure!

GAMEPLAY

Kirby and the Forgotten Land is the first platform game in the series with full 3D gameplay, where the player must guide Kirby through various stages to save the Waddle Dees at the end. As in most Kirby games, Kirby can jump and slide as well as inhale enemies and objects which he can either spit out like projectiles or swallow to gain a copy ability. Alongside returning copy abilities, this game introduced two new copy abilities in the form of Drill and Ranger, as well as a new “Mouthful Mode” where Kirby can swallow and control larger objects, such as cars and vending machines.

Similar to Kirby Battle Royale and Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, a second player can join in and play as Bandana Waddle Dee, who uses a spear as his main form of attack. Copy Abilities can be upgraded at Waddle Dee’s Weapons Shop in Waddle Dee Town. These upgrades make the Copy Abilities stronger and give them more attacks for Kirby to use. To upgrade an ability, Kirby needs to have Rare Stones.

These can be obtained by completing special Treasure Road levels found throughout the game. Kirby also needs the Blueprint for the upgrade, which can be found in a level. After completing the game, Rare Stones can be used to power up a Copy Ability, increasing the amount of damage it can deal. The goal of each stage is to rescue the Waddle Dees, who are freed by finding them trapped in cages, as well as by accomplishing certain goals specific to each stage.

Once rescued, they are returned to Waddle Dee Town, the main hub of the game.[9] As the player rescues more Waddle Dees, the town size increases as well as unlocks minigames that the player can compete with others online for the top score. Among them include fishing, working a part-time job at Waddle Dee Café, and a puzzle minigame akin to Kirby Tilt ‘n’ Tumble. The game also supports Amiibo functionality.

PLOT

One day on Planet Popstar, a dark vortex appears over Dream Land, sucking up everything on the planet in its path. Kirby is among those sucked into the vortex and finds himself in an abandoned civilization called the New World, where he discovers that the Waddle Dees from Dream Land are being kidnapped by the native wildlife, the Beast Pack. Eventually, he finds the destroyed Waddle Dee Town and a chinchilla-like creature called Elfilin, who helped the Waddle Dees settle there. After being rescued from the Beast Pack, Elfilin explains to Kirby that he and the Waddle Dees attempted to fight back but were overwhelmed.

Kirby offers to help Elfilin rescue the missing Waddle Dees, and the two, along with Bandana Waddle Dee, set off together. As Kirby, Bandana Waddle Dee, and Elfilin make their way through the New World, save Waddle Dees, and defeat the Beast Pack’s high council members, the two discover that King Dedede is helping the Beast Pack for unknown reasons. After being defeated, Dedede captures Elfilin and escapes, with Kirby in pursuit. Kirby frees Dedede from the Beast Pack’s mind control and ascends into their center of operations, Lab Discovera, to find Elfilin while Dedede stays behind to hold off the remaining Beast Pack members.

A tourist attraction within the lab explains, via pre-recorded narration, that a powerful extraterrestrial under the identification tag ID-F86 tried to invade the New World. It was captured by the planet’s inhabitants and placed in the lab, where its ability to create space-time rifts was researched. Thirty years after research began, ID-F86 split into two halves during a “warp-experiment incident”; one half, Elfilin, escaped in the chaos, while the other half, Fecto Forgo, was placed in permanent suspended animation within Lab Discovera’s Eternal Capsule. Kirby then meets the leader of the Beast Pack, a lion named Leongar, who is holding Elfilin captive.

Leongar explains that the previous inhabitants of the New World used ID-F86’s power to depart for “a land of dreams,” and that he intends to do the same by reuniting Fecto Forgo with Elfilin. After Leongar is defeated, Fecto Forgo awakens; speaking through Leongar, they reveal that they had formed the Beast Pack by controlling Leongar, possessing King Dedede, and kidnapping the Waddle Dees to the New World to use as slaves, to resume their invasion. They break free from the Eternal Capsule and absorb Leongar, the Beast Pack, and Elfilin to become their original form, Fecto Elfilis.

Kirby manages to weaken Fecto Elfilis enough to free Elfilin, but Fecto Elfilis creates a large portal back to Popstar, intending to cause the two planets to collide. Kirby narrowly defeats Fecto Elfilis by ramming a semi-trailer truck into them; he and Elfilin then find themselves back in Dream Land, where the portal is still open. Using all his power, Elfilin seals the rift between the two worlds, with himself in the New World. In the credits, it is revealed that Elfilin can open rifts to Popstar, and the inhabitants of the two worlds have become friends.

However, Leongar’s soul remains trapped in an alternate dimension called Forgo Dreams, created by Fecto Forgo’s psychic power and populated by phantoms generated by their memories of the Beast Pack. Caroline, a member of the Beast Pack and friend of Leongar, discovers a rift in Waddle Dee Town that leads to Forgo Dreams. After being sucked into this dimension, Kirby and Elfilin rescue Leongar, who is possessed by Soul Forgo. Kirby defeats the possessed Leongar, separating Soul Forgo from his body. Before they can attack Kirby, a scarlet butterfly flies into the lab, absorbs them, and transforms into Morpho Knight, a Valkyrie-like warrior who delivers souls to the afterlife. Kirby defeats Morpho Knight and Leongar is properly freed; Soul Forgo partially absorbs Morpho Knight’s power and vanishes in the aftermath.