Kirby's Return to Dream Land - References and Trivia

[Music] when it comes to Kirby games there's a little doubt that the current modern style began with Kirby's Return to Dreamland directed by Shinya kuma Zaki with the help of the whole team of veteran Kirby developers this Kirby game is a culmination of the best features of the series legacy in the formula continues on in triple deluxe planet robobot and Star Allies one thing to Misaki loves doing in his games is referencing older titles be it through cameos nods or direct level design callbacks and I mean he really loves to do it goo misaki's games are filled to the brim with references and returning elements that make longtime kirby fans overjoyed some of which you probably wouldn't even have realized so in this video I'll be going over as many references and trivia as I can possibly find in the first game to start the trend Kirby's Return to Dreamland or Kirby's Adventure we in PAL regions the game really lives up to its North American namesake as there are a ton of familiar things inside that make it a true Return to Dreamland there's a lot of cool stuff to talk about so grab a snack sit back and let's dive into a plethora of nerdy Kirby goodness [Music] [Music] the first thing to note happens right before the title even appears on screen the opening sequence starts off with the camera focused on the Hal laboratory in Nintendo logos before quickly pulling away the catch Kirby flying at a warp star this could easily be brushed off as nothing but it actually references the same thing done in the opening sequence of Kirby air ride speaking of the title of the game as I've mentioned Kirby's Return to Dreamland is called Kirby's Adventure we in PAL regions while the game is obviously not a Wii version of the original Kirby's Adventure as the name might imply you'll see in this video that has a ton of references to the NES game so the name is fitting enough the Japanese title is simply Hoshino copy we oshino copy being the franchise name rather than just kirby however according to Shin Akuma's Aki via an old miiverse post celebrating the game's fourth anniversary kirby wheeze superfriends was a tentative title for the game he explains that this title would fit invoked a feeling of adventuring with friends while also tying in with the super abilities found in game the opening cinematic starts off with a glimpse of another usual dane dreamland kirby is being chased by king dedede and waddle dee who are perhaps in pursuit of that slice of cake held in his hands the cake is a strawberry shortcake which is a nice little nod to kirby squeak squad where that game's plot practically revolves around it all of a sudden the sky flashes and the star-shaped portal opens up from which the lowest star cutter emerges these kinds of portals make a regular appearance throughout the game and are similar to the ones made by the crystal shards in kirby 64 that bring the game to the next planet the lower crash will ends and Kirby and his friends meet magolor and when Kirby steps up to offer help he does a little hop and confidently Pat's his chest the very same gesture he used in kirby 64 as well when helping out ribbon he does this again later on and after the Lord's attacks by LAN dia to the planet of pop star is once again the main setting of the game with a new heir Yun you twits five points taking a page from Kirby's Dreamland three the first game in the series to do this furthermore Dream Land 3 and Return to Dreamland share the same level themes on the planet grass water desert sky and ice each level also has their own little hub room where stages are entered through a numbered door this structure is taken from Kirby's Adventure Albia without the extra stuff like museums and sub games as those are now located inside the lower the level names even hide a secret besides being all witters of we named after different foods lining up the first letter of each level will spelke round foreshadowing the events of the story some other languages have their own spin on it too in the french version the level names fell parfait meaning perfect and in the latin american spanish version it's karnar meaning to crown this acronym based naming scheme has been a continuing trend with kima's Aki's games like Kirby's Adventure was the first game to do it in that game the level name spell out Vicky's aura which is backwards for ROYGBIV kirby canvas curse does this as well with its global spelling out the word rainbow and speaking of kirby canvas curse that games training mode introduces the basics with this dingdong sound effect similarly before you start the first stage in Return to Dreamland you'll be reminded that you can play with friends at any time with a very similar dingdong which plays again when you recover your first energies here [Music] you so now we've made it to our first destination cookie country it's a typical world one grassland leveled the game in these environments you'll come across these strange-looking pillar things that stick up from the ground whatever these things are exactly they've been around since the original Kirby's Dreamland and have gone on to be a staple in the grassy fields of pop star another thing you'll find in cookie country is this big old tree with windmill like weeds I personally always found this thing really cool and the very same concept can be found in Kirby air ride where you race straight through one of them and fantasy Meadows though weaves on this one are more like insect wings but the inspiration is still queer but perhaps the most recurring environmental elements you'll encounter are pop flowers these little flowers can be found popping up throughout the game and adapt to the environment by changing form and shape pop flowers not only adapt to the environment but also the character you play as so you might think that their petals are always pink but that's just because of Kirby purple petals will bloom for Medan eight red for King Dedede orange for Wildey and each different colored kirby is respective color anyways now for some level design inspiration in stage two you'll arrive in this room that looks like you're inside of a tree a needle ability essence is to the right and Anita Laos is minding its own business further up this concept originated from Kirby's Adventure and stayed for of vegetable valley where you would also enter a tree to find the needle granting togas ooh nightmare in dreamland the remake of Kirby's Adventure makes this reference even more evident with the introduction of needle house there are a lot of secrets and hidden areas to find throughout the game in stage 4 of cookie country just so happens to have one in its first room ignoring the door at the end and reaching the edge of the screen you can head back to find that a big chunk of land does mysteriously dropped opening at a secret door and tall grass going inside you'll find yourself in this room howl is spelled out in star blocks with a little broom Hatters we've been dust off with the L another one of these howl rooms can be found in stage 5 of Ag engines do so what's the deal with these structures the obvious answer is that how laboratory is a developer of Kirby games which is where the letters come from the room itself first appeared in Kirby's Adventure by glitching a warp star out of existence and stage due of vegetable valley you could go beyond the intended boundary of the room and find the howl rooms stashed away complete with the broom Hatter - it wasn't until Kirby Super Star Ultra where it could be found again by normal means by entering the secret entrance in revenge of the Kings illusion Islands after fighting mr. tick-tock the howl room awaits while we're on the subject of the hal room an arrangement of the classic kirby song green greens plays in both of them take a listen [Music] what's special about this arrangement is this part of the latter half the song the instrument used for that specific part matches the trumpet leg instrument used in Kirby navarran Dreamlands arrangement of green greens a neat little tidbit of nothing else at the end of every stage you'll play a quick little goal game of flinging Kirby as high as you can through different tiers of clouds this is taken directly from Kirby's Adventure and nightmare in dreamland complete with a UFO that gives you goodies but here's the cool thing in the original if you land a seven six five four three two and then one all in a row you'll be treated to 30 extra lives instead of just one and if you manage to pull off the same thing and Return to Dreamland I'm sure enough to wrap up cookie country in true Kirby fashion the first boss of the game is none other than whispy woods there isn't too much here out of the ordinary but if you're playing extra mode or the true arena you'll face whispy woods ax instead with purple leaves than a darker trunk and you might as well just call him wispy as revenge as he's basically the same enemy returning from Kirby Super Star Ultra in that game he could spit tornadoes from his mouth and spin around to drop enemies both attacks are retained in Return to Dreamland one new attack whispy woods e^x can do though is shooting up his roots from the ground like this something wispy first did in Kirby's Dreamland team when he finally defeat him he'll shrink in size but some things will never change as he'll still shed that single tear before I move on I think now would be a good time to touch upon a few animations as you've probably noticed Return to Dreamland is a good-looking game and there's a lot of extra polish all around including the animation Department for example just look at the utter despair this Cappy exhibits when Kirby eats his cap anyways let's look at Kirby's idle stances when Kirby's left alone he'll sway his arms do a big stretch survey the surroundings and sit on the ground tapping his little feet this last one was actually lifted straight from Kirby 64 leave him alone in that game and he'll do the same thing on top of this though all these animations can be found in the Kirby's Dreamland puzzle of the StreetPass Mii Plaza on 3ds [Music] also in this puzzle is an angry battle stance a waving gesture and this happy pose which is similar to another one in Return to Dreamland you'll also notice the parasol waddle Dee's floating around in the puzzle and sure enough the same animation is used in Return to Dreamland [Music] the puzzle using assets from Return to Dreamland makes sense as it predates the game by a few months likely being developed at the same time as for the rest of the gang waddle Dee's shares the same idle stances as Kirby because of their similar stature Meta Knight is fascinated by a sword Dee Dee however is where things really shine for one his allergies seemed to be flaring up over the course of the game Oh bless you but truly the best first impression is given on the title screen just just what look at that so much personality dee dee making funny faces and laughing at Kirby's bewilderment while Dee you laughing - because he's Delia's crony after all and he can just feel meh tonight's embarrassment when he realizes he's stuck with these goofballs for a whole adventure when he all waved though despite how much he doesn't want to show it yep he's in there for the ride okay moving on to the scorching sands of level 2 raisin ruins in the first stage of the level you'll come across this room being greeted by two flamers circling some floating chunks of land this setup is similar to another one from Kirby's Adventure found in stage three of vegetable valley in this room of stage three you'll meet a star man the enemy that grants the high jump ability and above you is a checkerboard of star blocks that you can tackle your way through this setup could be a truncated version of this room in yet again Kirby's Adventure in stage 5 of a scream island there is also a similar room and stage one of gem jungle in Kirby squeaks quad further on up is a bunch of cannons you'll need to shoot yourself out of and there's a couple things to note about this bit of the stage for one the layout of these cannons match the layout of the ones in this part of the superstar it's great cave offensive you'll also blast scar fees and bronto burts out of the way while collecting star pieces shooting in the right direction will net you an energy sphere as well with these points this room also seems to take influence from the second stage of shiver star in kirby 64 stage 4 immediately presents a key to you and when picked up these Red Scare fees will demon up and start chasing after Kirby as long as he's holding the key with a floating ball of nightmares and keys it's hard not to think of the phantos from Super Mario Brothers 2 who also get angry when their key is picked up [Music] upon arrival at onion ocean you're treated with this remix of kind steam from Kirby's Dreamland to [Music] and as you're listening to it you'll happen a warp star to the next area but the way it travels should look a little familiar to those who played Kirby's Adventure and stage 2 of vegetable valley a warp star will take you further into the level by jumping platform to platform and this is replicated and Return to Dreamland the level also introduces this boot item in stage 2 and like the scar fees from earlier it's kind of hard not to make more Mario connections as this is similar to the goombas shoe from Super Mario Brothers 3 onion oceans bosses this guy named fatty puffer a reference to the superstar boss fatty whale and it makes me wonder just what's in the ocean that's making all these sea creatures become fat anyways the similarities end with their name though as they're completely different into how they fight but if we want to talk about new enemies that are similar to old ones Return to Dreamland is definitely not short on those quite a few irregular and amused behave almost exactly like some from Kirby's Dreamland 3 so here's a side by side comparison claim pops up from the ground like auro shelled has protective armor and cowardly runs away when it's broken like gabem cerulean glides around Wisla homing in on kirby and bouncing off walls like Terran crabby does a little dance like Connie and barek who can latch on to kirby like joe the shark there's also this enemy in kirby 64 called flora whose behavior and looks are similar to leaf in in addition there's an unused enemy left in the game's internal files called here Belle a floral enemy that's been partially animated based on these animations it seems like it would have behaved like who lovely from kirby superstar another flower enemy that attacks Kirby by grabbing him in its petals [Music] some bosses also have attacks and behavior based on previous enemies but I'll talk about them as we move along [Music] [Music] as you move through the white wafers Tundra shooting yourself from cannons you'll notice that you're being fed an awful lot of bananas and it really becomes evident when you're shot into the secret area this isn't a Kirby reference but a Donkey Kong Country reference of all things in those games you practically can't go two seconds without being a shot from barrel cannons and collecting bananas Stage five has a couple minor things related to wild DS for one watt pods originating from Kirby's Dreamland three no longer have arms which I know is probably the most mind-blowing thing in this video but there's also this pair of living waddle dee is enjoying each other's company with no intent on attacking you or anything could be a coincidence but they're similar to these waddle Dee's in Kirby's Epic Yarn who fell asleep with each other but going back to the monkey themes as soulful as going on the boss of white wafers as a gorilla Goliath named the Gareth [Music] his main point of interest is during the second phase of the battle when he wither his health down to half he'll flare up and have wicked golden air if this doesn't sound familiar already you probably haven't heard of this guy before [Music] these fast fuels might have been a little short on references but that's all about the change now that we're here nutty noon in this level you'll start by climbing a hill and taking the warp star into the skies above but if you ignore the warp star a hidden parasail copy essence is on the other side for players who leave no stone unturned the opening of the stage is reminiscent of the second stage of shipper star in kirby 64 which also has he climb up a hill to be shot into the sky as by a ziba furthermore on the other side of that hill is a hidden treasure in the form of a lone star piece throughout the game and especially in these beautiful sunset levels of nutty noon there are these switch handles that you pull the open doors and activate other things and I can't help but to think of the ones from Kirby mass attack since these games were developed at the same time though there is either some design overlap or add salt just a coincidence anyways after a quick battle with mondo in stage 2 you'll come across three wooden stakes with an energy sphere trapped behind a wall underneath start pounding them with the stone ability and the walls all crumble but become tempted by the third one and you'll be locked out of your prize similar versions of the setup actually have a history in the kirby series as an intentional recurring thing or not kirby superstar uses a setup with Bob blocks in this part of the great cave offensive except it's the second one that blocks you from getting the treasure and in Kirby in the amazing mirror this time it's the third one that blocks you from entering a door and moonlight mentioned as nutty noon as a sky themed level let's talk about its relationship to another one in the kirby series level 4 if Kirby's Adventure is grape garden and as he bounced around through its clouds you'll be listening to this waltz [Music] returned a dreamland has a beautiful new arrangement of the song and a couple levels of nutty noon not only that but in this room of stage four the only pieces of food you'll find lying around our bunches of grapes kind of a cool subtle detail that I've never noticed until my recent playthrough [Music] now stage 5 is none other than the ominous midboss tower in it you'll progressively work your way to the top stopping to fight a different mid boss on each floor and if you're feeling up for a challenge you can enter the bard off window at the beginning and to fight even more mid bosses rewarding you with a bunch of 1ups at the end the stave just once again a callback to one in Kirby's Adventure as the second stage in rainbow resort was the mid boss Towers debut Return to Dreamland version more closely resembles that of nightmare and Dreamlands however as the two share more of the same visual and audio elements not found in the original Kirby's adventure like the iron bars indicating the secret entrance the sloped floors in between the mid boss rooms the windy ambience outside of the tower Anna music thinking building [Music] [Applause] the further drive the reference home there's a maximum tomato at the end of the stage and that one up stash at the end of the alternate route both of course found in the source material as well but wait there's more Kirby's Dreamland 3 also has a mid-boss tower and should you want to get the heart star prize at the end you'll need the clock of various feathers to do this you'll have to use each mid bosses respective copy ability in the room following their battle to break blocks that can only be broken by that ability returner Dreamlands mid boss tower takes some inspiration from this as you won't be able to get introduced fears without the ability of the mid boss he just fought at the highest point of nutty noon you'll climb a tower with shot so is installed on the outsides a neat set of decorations sure but there's no doubt that is a direct reference the tower you climb before fighting King Dedede and Kirby's Dreamland to where there are also shots those on the outer walls after that you're alerted to a false sense of victory by supposedly getting the last of the wardship parts but the victory theme takes a turn [Music] as an intentional reference or not a similar situation happens in Kirby's Epic Yarn when you begin yarn [Music] anyways grand Doomer is indeed the boss of nutty moon whether kirby likes it or not this guy has a lot of references to past bosses in the kirby series for starters grand Doomer does this thing where he rapidly teleports all around the screen sometimes this is something other bosses in the kirby series like to do particularly final bosses like nightmare and marks also similar to marks is when grand numeral lurks in the shadows on the ground to try and attack Kirby from below but the cooler part of grand Doomer is that he has a couple attacks that are lifted directly from drazi as Sol the final boss of Kirby canvas curse in that game she would hang out in the background most of the time until when attacked where she starts bouncing bouncing and slamming into the foreground when grand Doomer envelops himself in stone he'll spawn enemies head into the background and do that same attack furthermore when you fight grand Doomer e^x in extra mode or the true arena you'll notice that he also does this big fireball sweep attack sure enough that's taken from gracia soul as well [Music] our next stop is in another dimension on the planet how can drill but first another quick detour the first time Return to Dreamland was revealed was through a short video shown in a financial briefing on the intended Japanese website only about nine months before its release it was later given a proper trailer during e3 of that year under the name Kirby we and there were a lot of minor adjustments made in the game between the announcements and the game's full release so I thought it'd be fun to real quickly compare the beta footage to the final product let's start with that initial blurry reveal footage in the first scene Kirby crashes down into this part of what we now know as stage 2 of cookie country right away we can see that some of the tree canopies in the background have been moved in the final version but also it sounds like the music is continuing on from when Kirby was riding the warp star we're in the final game the song doesn't start until entering the room in this scene of cookie country stage for these falling stone pillars were originally pretty stiffened unanimity and would explode into dust when they hit the ground they were made a lot more wobbly and bulbous in the final and exploded the smaller rocks when they crashed down as you might know in the final game a little cutscene happens when you use a super ability for the first time this is shown off in the reveal footage except the weapon he uses is the scimitar instead of the classic ultra sword this might imply that the scimitar was going to be ultra sword kirby's default weapon instead of just one of many he pulls out to attack also waddle Dee's and Puppet waddle Dee's originally had a much redder hue than the orange ones in the final game [Music] so in this scene listen closely to the background music for one it's different than the sphere Doomer dimensions final music [Music] but that original son still ended up in the final game as it turns out it's actually a song that plays in stage 4 beg engines [Music] here's that scene in the reveal footage spliced in with the final sign [Music] [Music] and finally in the room before mr. do turns bossfight there was originally a line of enemies on the final slope absent in the final version the e3 trailer starts up a peek at the opening cinematic where Kirby has a blank face in the original while smiling in the final and the Strawberry Shortcake was spruced up a lot more as a lot more frosting falls off of it in the final when it's bumped out of Kirby's hands the scene where the gang approaches the lure was completely flipped horizontally too [Music] during actual gameplay we can see quite a few changes made to the HUD that were also present in a reveal footage it was given a facelift after e3 with the icons notably having colored outlines in the final instead of black ones with the health bar at the bottom shows Kirby's face which certainly had larger features and a little star in the corner not in the final version while the bar itself was made flatter and given a lighter right-half in a scene where Kirby cuts this giant rope the Rope did not originally have tiny stars on its that indicate that it's breakable of environment peds during boss fights the bosses health bar was originally blue and just said boss instead of their actual names like in the opening cinematic Kirby is given more expression when being sucked into a dimensional portal and then the sphere Doomer dimension the signpost that teaches Kirby had a super inhale was given a concrete star block for more clarity you'll also notice that the green check mark that appears on the sign was originally a red circle this is actually a change made just for the International releases of the game circles are more commonly used in place of check marks in Japan and is still found in the final Japanese version the sparkling effect when another player joins in hasn't been implemented yet as shown by Meta Knight who just sort of pops in Delia's running animation was originally a lot slower than it is in the final and he also didn't originally wear goggles underwater finally waddle dee didn't have his bandana on in this icon at the bottom yet as far as the playable III demo goes there's a lot more minor differences to find mainly due to elements not being implemented yet or because the demo stages were amalgamations of different stages from the final version because of this I won't be saying too much about it but one thing I did find interesting is that in what we now know as egg engine stage 4 there was originally a Maxum tomato guarded by two concrete star box at the very end completely absent in the final version I guess that explains why it looks so empty oh and I guess I should touch upon some cut content while we're here like we saw with here bail earlier Return to Dreamland has its fair share of unused content left in the internal files and what particularly sticks out are these graphics for ability it's not meant to be these two look like they were first scrapped super abilities based on spark and cutter because of their sharp pointed stars that super abilities have in game the potential super cutter ability even has a fully modelled hat this ability graphic on the other hand might imply that a clock or time-based ability was considered at one point however these are evidently used as dummy normal abilities to revert Kirby back to normal also left on the games files are lots of early versions of different music tracks like this early skytower you've been listening to [Music] and what sounds like an early version of white wafers five those are the main points but we'll be looking back at more of the unreleased history in just a bit [Music] before that though we're moving on to halcón drah with how clearly being in the planets name once again referencing the developers of the game it could also be derived from one in the novel out of the silent planet called Malek Andhra in the novel Malek Andris and native named the planet Mars so this could also explain how controls craggy environments and red color the first level on this planet to egg engines is a big factory themed global and holds a few references to a certain other famous Kirby Factory in Kirby 64 the crystal shards there's an eerie factory of some sort on the planet chipper star creepy music aside you'll eventually hit to ride on King Dedede who will take you through a hallway of giant hammers that slam into the ground with a toothy grin on their faces back in egg engines you'll come across similar but toothless giant hammers that try to flatten you in the same way although they explode immediately afterwards in the second room of the first stage there are lots of sleep copy ability essences scattered around in some rather unfortunate places especially here where not even the floor crumbling to Kirby's doom will stop his urge to take a nap [Music] this isn't the first time sleep essences have been used as obstacles oh and kirby superstar is great cave offensive you'll come across a windy tunnel littered with sleep essences requiring too some tricky jumping in order to get the treasure grab one of them and you'll be pushed all the way back to the beginning as herb who sleeps as troubles away later on you'll get to this room in stage 2 the flamers and elec enemies crawling around in this floor sectional layout is definitely a callback to one room and stage four of rainbow resort in Kirby's Adventure Stage four as we saw earlier takes place in the sewers and pipelines of egg engines the point of interest here is once again the song that plays in a few rooms [Music] take a listen to the melody in the first part of the song though this is what I consider to be a signature of Jun Ishikawa one of the game's composers it was used twice before in the series starting in this song and Kirby's Dreamland three and returning in Kirby 64 and the bass line of the song [Music] [Music] Ichikawa can post for both of these games as well so this little piece of music is a welcome addition to a game already filled with old kirby references the boss of egg engines is metal general a robotic enemy that wields a sword having some movement vaguely similar to Meta Knight battles of the past more interesting than that though is the fact that every time you attack the guy a number pops out that tells you how much damage you've inflicted no other Kirby boss has done this before but something similar happens with computer virus a boss from kirby superstar much like a classic turn-based RPG you'll have a chance to deal damage every time the enemy hops off their window at the end of your turn the total amount of damage you've dealt will be detailed in the window above perhaps metal generals number quirk is slight nod to computer virus if you're playing extra mode or the true arena though metal general won't be going down too easily when you beat him he'll take to the cockpits of a giant robot called HR d3 and I gotta say this blew my mind when it first led the game this guy's originally from a cancelled Kirby game on the Gamecube as a DD robot as seen in one scene of its short gameplay trailer that shows a boss battle against it the concept of this guy was the lost fun time with the game but was eventually revived in Kirby mass attack where it was a boss in the sub-game Kirby quest the kid even use the same devastating laser beam he used on poor bonkers in the GameCube games trailer anyways the ddb robot returns again and Return to Dreamland just with a new coat of paint from metal general they can once again shoot its destructive laser [Music] but interestingly the more damage you caused to it the more the armor will fall off exposing the skeleton of the machine and other insides this may just be a parallel to the same thing that happens to the DD robot in the scope shot sub-game but I like to think that the Battle Damage is part of the original concept as well as this piece of concept art specifically depicts the inner workings the name HR d3 holds a lot of significance as well of course d3 is a reference to King Dedede of whom the robot was faced off of in the first place but HR is a callback to a Boston Kirby 64 called HRH later turning into HR II I don't think it's ever really stated what the HR stands for but either way it's a cool nod to a fellow Kirby hunting robot the similarities don't even end there though as both of the battles have two phases one where they fight from the background and another where they hop into the foreground plane [Music] their first phases share some similar tax as well specifically the side sweeping laser beam and the missiles you [Music] let's sidetrack ourselves a little bit more and talk about that cancelled GameCube Kirby gaming as there's a little doubt that it's evolved into the Kirby's Return to Dreamland we have today a Nevada asks article was released around the time the game came out and revealed the gradual process of this transformation it's an interesting read as the game went through three different incarnations but the similarities become more apparent when you dissect some elements at the final game the most obvious thing is one of my favorite details about the game the short original trailer of the GameCube game played this dynamic son [Music] a lot of Return to Dreamland music directly uses riffs of this trailer theme [Music] you could say that the trailer theme became the main theme of the game itself even more the full version of the original song can be heard in the arena as both the title theme [Music] and the battlefield [Music] another relic from the original GameCube game is the piggyback feature when you're playing with friends it's possible to hop on and others back and make them carry you around and even stack up all four players to be one big totem pole of Kirby Friends this mechanic isn't shown in the original trailer but multiple screenshots showed in action one piece of official art depicts it as well the game Keith Kirby game was originally shown to include a wide variety of areas to explore and it might surprise you to know that many of those backgrounds actually made their way into the final game the background of onion ocean stage one features swirling palm trees and arched cliff sides and this section in particular looks like it came straight from the beach level shown in the GameCube game is trailer in the arena you'll fight the mid bosses in this Canyon like Battlefield the background in this area uses some of the same geometry from this screenshot specifically the precarious stone pillar and if we use some tools to move the camera around the train tracks in the foreground and the bridge up top are hiding there too the same stone pillar can also be found in the KO screen when pulling back the camera a few other noteworthy backgrounds are the ones from the mid boss battlefield of the true arena the rest area from the arena in the final part of stage 5 of nutty noon all of these backgrounds files in the game as well as the two others I talked about are labeled with gck in their names implying that they were all taken from the GameCube Kirby came when I talked about HR d3 I showed this piece of concept art it's actually one of many from the game that were officially published in the Kirby 20th anniversary encyclopedia which had a page on the Gamecube Kirby game a lot of these ideas seem to be left unused but interestingly there is one other piece of concept art that depicts this big octopus like creature hearing from underneath sunken ship look familiar in stage 3 of onion ocean you'll encounter a similar big octopus like creature that Pierce from der Neko sunken ship just without the beak and as grandiose of tentacle as the original head oh and another piece of concept art depicts this menacing character who might think we can all agree was the precursor to mecha lower because of the similar traits by introducing the modern style of kirby games Return to Dreamland redesigns some copy ability hats as well particularly once that were too similar to others or some that just needed a modern look bomb Kirby's hat was redesigned to look more like a party popper and stone Kirby set is now a clump of rocks these redesigns can also be traced back to the Gamecube Kirby game where it shows off bomb Kirby within the orange party popper hat and stone Kirby with AI hat with the clump of rocks as a side note the trailer also showed hammer Kirby wearing a new hardhat but the original headband was left unchanged and Return to Dreamland the Gamecube Kirby game trailer also marked the first appearance of water Kirby being in a game the ability previously debuted in the Kirby right back atcha anime has a fan-made ability designed by a contest winner and a GameCube game would have used the same design ultimately the ability received the same fate as the other two I talked about but the new designs certainly share some elements of the original also as a side note water Kirby in the GameCube game trailer was shown using a unique bubbly attack that the ability doesn't have in Return to Dreamland which would actually be repurposed in a way for the bubble ability and kirby squeak squad and finally one incredibly minor thing with the introduction of copy ability hats and kirby superstar kirby is also given goggles and a snorkel to wear underwater Kirby kept the snorkel part and most games to follow but only wore the goggles in the canceled GameCube game as seen in this screenshot perhaps as another relic of the GameCube game Return to Dreamland as the first released Kirby game where he just wears his goggles with no star regardless I think it's a nice change as using a snorkel when completely submerged wouldn't really do much anyway [Music] the final level of the game is fittingly named after the final meal of the day dangerous dinner despite its imposing volcanic environment there's not too much in this level as it only has three stages but they still hold a few tidbits toward the end of stage two you'll take the grand hammered super ability to this part of the room where you start to pound some pegs on a big structure based on a wizard if you're curious as to why there's this random Wizards tattoo in the depths of the volcano well salamanders have roots in a number of myths and folklore as a creature that can withstand extreme heat and fire you see this in a lot of games from Japan like Charmander from Pokemon or the candle banner from Kirby's Epic Yarn stage three hath you slicing your way through mid bosses left and right like a madman but don't let the excitement let you finish the level too soon before you enter the goal it might be a good idea to look above it first there's a whole lot of emptiness but in the middle is a small planetoid turns out you'll actually be able to enter it as if it were a door leading you to a little bonus room that you fall through for some goodies this was a recurring thing in the older Kirby games starting with the very first one entering the crescent moon at the end of bubbly clouds will take you to a bonus room shoot to Kirby's Adventure and it's remake have a level based on Kirby's Dreamland so it's only natural that the moon door is at the end of its public cloud segment superstar continues the trend and spring breeze with its bubbly clouds a segment too to be expected in LAN Diaz volcanic domain is at the end of dangerous dinner there isn't too much to talk about with this battle but there are a couple things that might remind you of another dragon in the kirby series at some point LAN dia will fly in the corner and flap its wings causing these air slashes and wind to push you back this attack might be a callback to one used by the red dragon from Kirby superstars computer virus boss where the text even describes it as flapping its wings but that's not all in Kirby Super Star Ultra the Red Dragons nameless changed to be the great dragon due to some bosses being given multiple color palettes while the great dragon is orange and most appearances he turns purple and Alfred hero likewise regular ilandia is orange and the LAN DX is purple [Music] nearing the climax of the game the game chases down Matt Lohr in another dimension with the help of Lamia this whole part is a greatest styled shooter much different than the rest of the game more specifically though it's influenced by the last part of the Milky Way wishes from Kirby super star we're in that game Kirby sets off to take down Nova from the inside in the shooting segment the similarities to this are apparent in another dimension and they even have similar enemies oh and while Kirby and the starship violently explode pom weaves in all HP is super star they instead slowly crush land off screen in Super Star Ultra this is how a LAN di prefers to go as well [Music] shooting bosses are pretty common throughout the kirby series and the war star cutter fits right in with the others besides being able to attack using the ship parts you've been collecting throughout the entire game a lot of its regular bullet patterns are lifted straight from other bosses like bubas three bullet spread shot when its health reaches the halfway point it'll do these attacks for balls of energy that shoot in a straight line and then home in on Kirby this is also an attack that nightmare or from Kirby's Adventure does early in the fight the four bullets will shoot straight and later on they'll home in on Kirby after that the war will tackle off screen and start shooting bullets from the background [Music] [Applause] which is also something that Xero did with its blood spurts and Kirby's Dreamland 3 [Music] [Music] after all this been said and done the last we've reached the final boss mega yep to the guy Kirby and the gang helped out at the beginning was only using them to steal the master crown from LAN do all along this isn't the first time Kirby fell for someone's traitorous tricks though in Kirby super stars Milky Way wishes marks asks Kirby to summon the wish-granting comet Nova in hopes that it would stop the Sun and Moon from fighting but when the time comes to make that wish marks boots Kirby on the way and wishes to conquer popstar instead these two stories have quite the similar premise so you could say that marks and Matt Gore have a lot in common but there's more than that as it's possible that Matt Lauren marks even know each other throughout the game you can check into the lore and chat with mag lore he'll praise you for your efforts and get annoyed when you talk too much but right before fighting lan dia only in extra mode he'll say some pretty interesting stuff in one line after saying he knew Kirby before coming to popstar he'll say I even know somebody who knows you quite well there may even be some folks here who have fought with you before now granted this could be any one of Kirby's foes but when he talks about how the war was constructed he'll say this the same power gave rise to clockwork stars that soar the cosmos mysterious items that can bring dreams to light this is most certainly an allusion to Nova as it is a giant comet with clockwork aspects that can grant wishes so maybe that makes the linked marks more apparent but if you want even more connections to marks prepare yourself let's get battling [Music] McKellar can use two specific attacks lifted straight from marks a humongo laser beam that sweeps the bottom half of the arena [Music] [Applause] and the famous black hole [Music] for this one is easy enough to keep running to the side to avoid getting sucked in but fail to do that and Kirby will be brought to this hellscape of intervention and take massive damage magolor make sure to do the same trick with his black hole [Music] you can also pull these magic spikes from the ground which is similar to the spike attack drazi Dickens summoned Kirby Kansas curse an extra mode however these spikes will look more like thorns which look remarkably similar to zero to use taxes like tail functionality-wise it's possible that these thorns could further bring the Marx motif home as Marx will sometimes plant these tall thorny stalks [Music] anyways with a slices of victory the master crown takes full control over mag lore and warps him into a second form [Music] and the first thing you'll notice is that he has a pickle smile on his face you think he's happy to see you but it looks can be deceiving as its way to revealed that his smile is actually his true cycloptic hi if a big orb of darkness what the one-eyed doesn't immediately remind you of dark matter that faux smile might remind you of someone else as us a callback to the final boss of Kirby 6402 an extra mode and the true arena this forms colors are much cooler and his irises visible lot more often this version is called Magog or Sol which continues a tradition of soul final bosses in the series coming after DRA SIA Sol and Mark Sol also like grand Doomer from before in true kirby final boss fashion both of back allures forms like to rapidly teleports as well [Music] defeating the second phase for releases maggle or from control of the master crown the scene was planned to only happen if the player gathered every single energy sphere according to kuma Zaki in that miiverse post I shared earlier the scene was deemed too important to leave out of the main story though oh and one more thing it should be noted that regular old McClure looks a tiny bit like this little guy from Kirby's dream on three called Madhu who also wears a hood and has floaty hands [Music] whew that's a ton of stuff how we doing still with me well don't leave yet we may have reached the end of the game but they're still even more to talk about our first stop is the credits it's a feel-good closure to the game with triumphant music appropriately titled what else then returning to Dreamland the camera slowly pans upward from the fields of Dream Land into the skies and space above the sequence is directly lifted from kirby superstar but more specifically its remake superstar ultra as that game added pictures of scenes throughout the game which are of course in Return to Dreamland too while these little kirby icons appear in the credits of the original superstar they're notably absent in superstar ultros credits and won't appear until after revenge of the king similarly in Return to Dreamland the regular games credits don't have the icons but they will appear in the credits of extra mode almost all of Return to Dreamland icons are updated versions of the originals the new ones that Super Star Ultra introduced started there too oh and check this out this icon used for the public relations and the artwork sections detect Kirby holding a flush of themself as well as a copy of Kirby Super Star Ultra ain't that meta once the main game is finished a new adventure called extra mode will be unlocked as I've alluded to throughout the video extra mode takes you through these same levels and story but is overall a lot tougher of an experience extra mode is a concept that can be traced back to the extra game of Kirby's Dreamland where you'll play through the same story in levels only with tougher remixed enemies Kirby's Adventure also featured an extra game only this time the difficulty comes from your vitality being half of what it normally is and the inability to save your game while its remake nightmare Dream Land kept the half vitality in its extra mode this game was nice enough to let you save your file and even kept track of a separate completion percent return your Dream Land borrows elements from all of these different extra modes with its own slicing the vitality in half featuring tougher remixed e^x bosses and a separate completion percentage next up is the ninja dojo a sub-game there's not a lot to the game itself but on the title screen this song plays the thing about the song is that it lines up almost perfectly with the minigame theme from Kirby's Dreamland free both are even in C major [Music] once again June Ichikawa composed the music for dreamland three and Return to Dreamland so this is either intentional or just Ishikawa's composition style at work making it a neat coincidence the scope shot sub game has a few remixes of songs from kirby superstar fighting the waddle tank you'll hear the boss battle theme [Music] the gourmet race opening theme when fighting mecha Kawasaki [Music] actually quick sidenote about this one in the original version of this song that it cut off at this point but in Return to Dreamland it extends to a full version [Music] this full version was previously in Kirby Super Star Ultra special blooper reel movie [Music] but it was actually first heard in the Japanese version of the unmanned in the episode ultimate Ironman cook Osaka [Music] anyways back to scope shot during phase one of Robo DDD you'll hear the exact same arrangement of deities theme from kirby superstar and a remix of heavy lobsters theme from Super Star Ultra during phase two [Music] the object of the sub game is to obliterate the armor of all these mechs revealing their skeletal insides and as I've touched upon earlier this could possibly be a leftover idea stemming from this piece of HRD 3 concept art another minor detail here is that kabura in her superstar altered design makes cameo appearance in the background and can be shot for bonus points another set of extras in the game are the copy ability challenge stages as you could guess these test your skills with different copy abilities and stages designed around their quirks the final one on the list is actually the item challenge though which instead focuses on Kirby's regular move sets and the many handheld items found throughout the game the inclusion of set items is actually an interesting point about Return to Dreamland as not many kirby games before it really had any however Kirby's Dreamland did feature them prominently and it being Kirby's first game featured plain old Kirby without any copy abilities knowing these points maybe not something that influences the item challenge not to mention this challenge stages background song is unique being green greens a song that originated from Kirby's Dreamland [Music] here's something probably not many people have seen the elusive game over screen it borrows elements from ones and past games as you'd expect like sleep kirby sleeping away and the little hand that messes with them but I'd say this one is most similar to the game over screen of kirby nightmare in dreamland when continuing the game the hand will pester Kirby to wake up and get going not unlike in other Kirby games but if you choose to end the game the hand will try to wake Kirby again only to be sucked up and will struggle to get out these actions are replicated in Return to Dreamland [Music] you [Music] [Applause] now let's talk about the true arena it's a tougher version of the arena that features buses from extra mode and is another coup mazaki tradition first appearing in Kirby Super Star Ultra in that game the waiting rooms before the final four bosses appropriately called the last four would have a darker atmosphere and eerie music while Return to Dreamland doesn't have the last four by name this change of scenery in the waiting rooms is carried over when there are four rounds left and even plays this ominous arrangement of the iceburg map theme from Kirby's Dreamland three [Music] perhaps one of the bigger surprises in the game is the boss fight against Galacta Knights returning from Kirby Super Star Ultra exclusive to the true Arena upon entering the battlefield he'll descent from inside a crystal the same one from Super Star Ultra it's been told that he's been sealed in and then strike his signature pose of course he has his rock and theme song in the second half of the fight too [Music] the fight itself plays like how you would expect from Galacta nights with some returning attacks and some new ones [Music] but the only huge difference is that he had rather stand on the ground during combat instead of constantly hovering like in his Super Star Ultra the overall look of his battleground especially this hexagonal ground is reminiscent to that of Dark Star from Kirby 6040 when you beat the true arena after a 100% of the whole game you'll be treated to a special little video called Kirby Master a quick stage show performed by the gang to celebrate your accomplishments [Applause] this has become somewhat of another Kubasaki tradition appearing first in Super Star Ultra when you reach 100% to [Applause] [Music] as you can see the one in Return to Dreamland is practically identical to that of the DS games even including marks in the audience finally to wrap this whole video up let's talk about copy abilities and multiplayer capabilities in Return to Dreamland work like how they do and kirby superstar some have the exact same move set some have been given additional moves and others of new and old that weren't in superstar have been given new moves to match the others I won't be going over all of the abilities of course but a few of them hold some interesting references let's start with stone Kirby an ability that holds a heap of cameos starting in kirby superstar Stone Kirby could transform into multiple different statues and rocks and this feature is brought back in Return to Dreamland some formations make a direct return the regular stone form a Kirby statue a rounded star block the macho man and an eight-ton wait Super Star Ultra added a few new forms to the mix not found in the original and back in Return to Dreamland are the fist statues of Rick Q and keine now combined into one the golden Hal Viper toriel gogo and Mount Fuji with an added building the building in question actually seems to be based on one of how laboratories of research and development centers it's located in the Yamanashi Prefecture of Japan an area that overlooks Mount Fuji and you can see the similarities for yourself completely new stone forms included star block the dragon star from Kirby air ride marks bouncing on his ball wham bam rock the masks and wings of Meta Knight and Galacta Knight a statue depicting the star rod the magical paintbrush from Kirby canvas curse and the triple star cane from Kirby squeak squad and the pixel Kirby stone Kirby also received a new melee punch attack with a fist that could remind you of when BAM rocks metal Kirby this is one ability that wasn't in superstar but still received a few new moves in Return to Dreamland that all have roots in Kirby history 1 attack us is a mega needle which mimics the behavior of ticks another enemy that grants the needle ability first appearing in Kirby's Dreamland 3 another is the rolling needle which is similar to how togas oh and needle house attack needle Kirby can also shoot as spines in all directions with the needle burst attack which is similar to the needle ability combined with choo-choo from Kirby's Dreamland 3 [Music] finally you can cling to walls and ceilings with the ability a feature that was first introduced in Kirby 64 spark Kirby received a huge upgrade previously only having the spark attack spark and Return to Dreamland is essentially a competition of spark and plasma from past games the regular attack is still the spark attack but mashing the d-pad or shaking the Wii Remote builds up different levels of power just like plasma and is able to shoot a spark arrow spark laser and spark wave of course also like plasma having power built up puts a barrier around Kirby as for brand new attacks spark and summon a bolt of lightning with a new Thunderbolt attack which is similar to spark her be combined with cou from Kirby's Dreamland to and more accurately at drool and three the upward bolt is also property the ability had in canvas curse and speaking of properties carrying over from Kansas curse the beam ability in that game will circle all around Kirby and holding down the attack will make him stay still with it constantly revolving around him Beamen Return to Dreamland got the revolution beam attack which allows Kirby to guide the beam in a complete circle while suspended in midair his pretty common knowledge that sword Kirby has a lot of similarities to link from The Legend of Zelda series starting in the kirby superstar surd kirby received a floppy green wink lake cap and could shoot sword beams when at full health in Return to Dreamland the ability gains a spin slash attack another one of Link's moves crashing my car to abilities that have never had hats and games before return your dreamland while crash did have a hat in the anime in the form of this elaborate headdress this became his new proper in-game hat Mike on the other hand has certainly been depicted wearing headphones and other hats but never actually wore them unless an attack was used from Return to Dreamland onwards he'll wear headphones even when moving around another interesting thing about Mike is awake curvy screams into the microphone in most games mike has been in this iconic noise would be part of it however a nightmare in dreamland decided to drop this noise in favor of new voice clips more in line with Kirby's actual voice Return to Dreamland does this as well just with update voices although you'd still be able to hear as deep bassy voice when doing the encore attack [Music] Snowbowl kirby's traps enemies in the snowball and sends them flying when it explodes which could draw some inspiration from the double ice ability from Kirby 64 monster flame Kirby sweeps the screen with these bursts of dragon faced fire intentional or not this could remind you of the flame dragons from Kirby air ride found in magma flows and the heat top area of city trial [Music] speaking of kirby arid sleep Kirby has a purple hat with the yellow polka dots in the game making it unique from all of its other appearances where it's a greenish hue with white or yellow polka dots that is until Return to Dreamland and onward where the purple hat has become the new regular of course Kirby isn't the only playable character in scheme King Dedede and Meta Knight are both playable as is wobble Dee the spandana clad waddle dee has previously appeared in kirby super star's Megaton punch sub game and in Kirby Super Star Ultra taking on a bigger role neither of these games saw him using a spear as a weapon though in fact spear waddle Dee's seem to have originated from the kirby right back after anime where waddle Dee's served as a guards for King dilly and often add Spears the games would introduce spear waddle Dee's afterwards and as Super Star Ultra depicted bandana waddle dee as Dee Dee's most faithful subject it's only natural that he had learned to use the spear at some point - even if some model DS beat him to the punch playing as the other guys is comparable to using their respective copy abilities King Dedede has all the attacks of hammer Kirby waddle dee might just be what created spear kirby in the first place with what I just talked about metally is a little special though you can be seen as sort of a combination of these sword and winged abilities as he has similar attacks to both of them being part winged he has the shuttle loop attack but with some interesting new properties he can use it without the need of an enemy and when pulled off he'll glide around for a while this is almost certainly lifted straight from the Super Smash Bros Brawl as metal Nate's recovery move the shuttle loop sends him gliding as well while Return to Dreamland boasts is for player multiplayer as a main point and actually isn't the first main Kirby game to have it Kirby nightmare in dreamland allowed for players to link up in each play as their own Kirby either pink red yellow or green these four colored Kirby's are also featured much more prominently in Kirby in the amazing mirror serving as the main story and gameplay features if you don't want to play as the other guys in Return to Dreamland you can still play as different colored Kirby's this time though the team affords a little different of course pink and yellow are here as always but red has been dropped in favor of blue green Kirby also differs a little bit from before as these shoes are now a darker green instead of a orange a brown looking more like the green kirby from kirby air ride one last point I'd like to make about multiplayer is that when a friend gets kayoed you'll hear the subsidy at first he might just brush it off as a truncated version of the regular ko jingle but check this out when playing a minigame in Kirby's Dreamland 3 pick an incorrect answer and you'll hear this sounds like we've got a better match now the sound effect was also used in the paint panic sub game and Kirby canvas curse now admittedly these last few references are a bit of a stretch but hey it's fun to make connections whether intentional or not so I'm gonna go all out flare bean Kirby is a super ability that's all about remote controlling a big ball of beam while it's more likely to be based off a sparker be combined with pitch from Kirby's Dreamland 3 considering its loose control it reminded me of Pikachu's final smash volt tackle from Super Smash Bros Brawl with what I just talked about with Meta Knight the reference might not be entirely out of the question right [Music] another possible brawl reference can be found in water Kirby's running attack the wave surf which could have been influenced by Piplup surfer back water Kirby also has an attack called the water crown Kirby executes this deadly attack by splashing some water on the ground now this one is certainly a coincidence and probably just shows my useless Kirby knowledge more than anything but there's this glitch you can pull off in Kirby's Adventure when you drop an ability that doesn't use a weapon and get hit by an enemy at the same time you'll get a splash ability press the B button and a splash of water will appear at Kirby's feet but it doesn't do anything besides that I mean a this is what I thought when I use the attack for the first time [Music] so there you have it I've scoured it every inch of this game and found loads upon loads of Kirby references trivia discoveries and goodness despite my efforts though I wouldn't be surprised if there's even more than what I dug up still hiding in there but with the sheer amount of stuff I have shown you I hope you've come to realize how brilliantly crafted Kirby's Return to Dreamland is not only is it a solid and an incredibly polished game of the whole but is also a huge love letter to longtime Kirby fans and being one myself I wanted to share my appreciation with the world as my favorite kirby game for a reason kuma Saki and his team clearly made this game with a lot of love and they did their research to make it a true celebration of the kirby series as a whole it doesn't just return a dreamland that's Phil to the brim with these references though you can bet that the games that follow it carry the torch as well other modern Kirby games like triple deluxe planet robots and especially star allies are just crawling with them so maybe I'll just have to bust out my useless Kirby knowledge again in the future but hey thanks for hearing me talk until the ends this video is actually something I've really wanted to make ever since the game first came out back in 2011 and altogether it took over two years to make so I'm glad that it finally saw it through and made it happen these are actually the very original notes I made way back when I'd like to thank these people for contributing my good buddy ulti Zeta for recording all the footage of the D s Kirby games I saw in the video and given me some great feedback throughout the editing process namond for providing a lot of info about the Gamecube Kirby game which by the way you can read even more about in this reddit post settling at the description meteors for providing the scans of the game Keith Kirby game concept art Kirby wiki for a couple tidbits I hadn't previously note about the cutting room floor for some info about some stuff hitting in the game's files GameXplain for the juicy e3 footage which again is linked in the description if you want to watch more and finally my patrons who support me on patreon for sticking with me and supporting what I love doing it if you like this video consider subscribing the babe I definitely want to do more of these videos about other Kirby games if I ever have the time I'm also primarily an artist and make cool time-lapse drawing videos of my artwork like this piece I drew a few years ago of return or dreamland and this one of Star Allies but thanks again for tuning in and watching this till the end it really means a lot I am tor Kirby and I will see you later [Music]

Channel: torkirby

Views: 704,247

Keywords: Kirby, Kirby's Return to Dream Land, Kirby's Adventure Wii, Kirby Wii, Nintendo, Wii, references, trivia

Id: jWunf9M65oo

Length: 84min 30sec (5070 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 21 2019