Kirby and the Forgotten Land – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Star‑Crossed World Review

It’s not every day you get to re-review a game you already adored, only to fall in love with it all over again. Yet here I am, tripping over my own nostalgia like Kirby in Mouthful Mode, thanks to Kirby and the Forgotten Land – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Star-Crossed World. This isn’t just a re-release. This is a full-on pink-polished rebirth with a crystalline twist, the kind of love letter Nintendo writes once a generation to remind you just how good they are at what they do.

The original Forgotten Land marked a bold pivot for the franchise: Kirby’s first fully 3D mainline platformer, offering tight level design, whimsical combat, and just enough emotional weight beneath its puffball surface. Now, with the new Star-Crossed World expansion, Nintendo adds frosty flare and cosmic stakes that reinvigorate every corridor and corner of Dreamland’s most mysterious landscape. The result? A surprise masterclass in how to blend comfort and innovation into one cozy, sugar-sprinkled power move.

What’s new this time? Not just technical improvements, though those are immediately evident. The Switch 2 Edition runs smoother than Kirby sliding across an ice rink, and the visual fidelity is dazzling. But the meat of this update lies in Star-Crossed World, an expansion pack that does the impossible by making reused assets feel fresh, exhilarating, and just a little dangerous. There’s an urgency here, a tension woven into the icy platforms and glittering boss arenas that make this Kirby’s most mature-feeling outing to date. And no, I don’t mean that in a gritty, grimdark way, he’s still adorable, but he’s also kind of a beast now.

Nintendo has never been shy about remixing its classics, but this is something else. Whether you’re a returning fan or a fresh recruit to the pink army, Kirby and the Forgotten Land – NS2 Edition + SCW proves that a sequel isn’t always the answer, sometimes, you just need to reforge greatness with sharper teeth, colder winds, and one very determined puffball on a mission to chew the universe into shape.

🌌 Dream Realms and Meteor Showers

Setting and Story in Kirby and the Forgotten Land – NS2 Edition + Star-Crossed World

Kirby’s world has always teetered on the edge of cozy absurdity and interstellar drama. Forgotten Land leaned heavily into that duality, placing our squishy pink hero in a seemingly post-apocalyptic theme park of a planet. Now, Star-Crossed World picks up that strange baton and launches it straight into orbit, quite literally. A glowing meteor crash-lands in Dreamland and suddenly the familiar becomes unfamiliar again, frosted, fractured, and flecked with cosmic mystery. This is not just a world in danger, but one being rewritten by crystalized stardust and eldritch anomalies.

While the base game already delighted in enigmatic ruins and overgrown shopping malls, Star-Crossed World takes these old stomping grounds and overlays them with a shimmering sense of dread and urgency. Remixed stages like the mall and beachfront aren’t just visual rehashes, they’re narrative echoes, resonating with a new kind of cosmic tension. Each zone pulses with the aftermath of that celestial impact, and Kirby, ever the silent protagonist, dives into danger armed with only his adorable resolve and an ever-expanding toolkit of absurd transformations.

The stakes, though wrapped in pastels and puffball antics, feel deeper this time. There’s a new drive to the narrative: save the Starries, uncover the truth behind the meteor, and fend off a glimmering, crystallized chaos creeping across every biome. The world is evolving, reacting to this starborne corruption, and it’s up to Kirby to both explore and repair what’s breaking down. Story beats are revealed through environmental storytelling and carefully staged boss fights, where corrupted allies and newly introduced enemies hint at the larger threat looming over this already-fractured planet.

As with all good Kirby tales, the emotional core remains delightfully simple: help those in need, overcome impossible odds, and do it all while transforming into a traffic cone or vending machine. But Star-Crossed World adds a layer of gravitas without sacrificing charm. It’s a storybook written in frost and crystal, and while Kirby may not utter a word, his quest through this surreal, frigid dreamscape speaks volumes.

🎮 Springy Combat, Crystalline Combos

Gameplay and Mechanics in Kirby and the Forgotten Land – NS2 Edition + Star-Crossed World

The joy of a Kirby game has always been rooted in its moment-to-moment gameplay: absorb, adapt, conquer. Forgotten Land nailed this loop in 2022 by marrying traditional copy abilities with a semi-open 3D structure, but Star-Crossed World levels it up, quite literally. With enhanced physics and more dynamic environments thanks to the Switch 2’s capabilities, the game’s mechanics feel tighter, snappier, and surprisingly demanding. This isn’t just a power trip for beginners anymore. It’s a well-balanced platforming gauntlet laced with challenge, experimentation, and a surprising amount of crunchy combat.

The standout addition is undoubtedly the new Gear Mouth transformation. While Mouthful Mode was a delightful gimmick in the base game, this latest form takes the idea of environmental absorption and turns it into a tactile, puzzle-solving powerhouse. By chomping down on massive gears, Kirby can climb vertical surfaces, rotate heavy machinery, and activate old-world contraptions in ways that feel as tactile as they are strategic. The subtle resistance in HD Rumble feedback only adds to the illusion, you can practically feel the metallic teeth grind beneath Kirby’s squish.

Combat, too, gets a frosty makeover. New crystalline enemies and bosses, many of whom return in shardified forms, now boast altered move sets and elemental resistances that require a bit more finesse. No longer is it enough to brute-force your way with a hammer or spit out stars, you’ll need to read attack patterns, time dodges on slick ice surfaces, and utilize the new transformations like Spring Mouth for vertical mobility and Sign Mouth for speed-focused takedowns. This adds just enough mechanical depth to satisfy returning players without overwhelming series newcomers.

Collectibles and challenge stages round out the gameplay experience. Each remixed level hides a plethora of Starries and EX-mode upgrades, encouraging exploration and replay. Unlike many platformers where collectibles feel like padding, here they enhance the game’s flow. Finding hidden gear pieces or optional puzzles mid-level feels less like a chore and more like a delightful detour. Kirby’s charm has always been in how it makes even the smallest mechanical flourishes feel magica, and here, every bounce, suck, puff, and slam feels like it belongs in a meticulously polished playbox.

👯 Double the Kirby, Double the Chaos

Multiplayer and Replayability in Kirby and the Forgotten Land – NS2 Edition + Star-Crossed World

Kirby games have always walked the line between solo satisfaction and couch co-op delight, and Forgotten Land was no exception. With the Star-Crossed World content baked into the Switch 2 Edition, multiplayer remains a core strength, now smoother, snappier, and slightly more chaotic thanks to the upgraded performance and increased level complexity. Two-player drop-in, drop-out co-op continues to be delightfully accessible, with the second player assuming the role of Bandana Waddle Dee (still criminally underrated) wielding his spear like a pro while Kirby handles the transformation-heavy lifting.

What’s immediately evident in co-op is that Star-Crossed World was designed with this shared experience in mind. The new remixed levels add verticality, timing-based traversal, and cooperative triggers that benefit from (though don’t require) a second player. Whether it’s opening crystalline gates together, smashing synchronized switches while platforming on a frozen Ferris wheel, or simply tag-teaming a tough boss with back-and-forth crowd control, the experience is richer with a buddy. Even better? It scales gently for players of different skill levels, my seven-year-old had no issue diving in, and neither of us ever felt “in the way.”

Replay value gets a hearty boost with the inclusion of the EX Collectibles Directory, an expansive checklist of rare finds and hidden items peppered across both old and new levels. If you’re a completionist or just like a good treasure hunt, Nintendo’s placed some true gems behind smart puzzles and off-the-path detours. It encourages you to return to levels with new powers and experiment with alternate routes, especially since many EX items are only accessible through specific transformations or precise mobility maneuvers.

There’s also the hidden “score attack” appeal of mastering levels using different transformations or seeking out secret paths and bonus rooms. The Star-Crossed World maps are bite-sized but dense, layered with optional content and environmental storytelling that warrants multiple visits. Add in the redesigned challenge rooms and the Colosseum’s mysterious additions, and the game quietly makes a strong case for becoming a 100-percent-run favorite, not just for kids or casuals, but for anyone who respects tight, clever platforming design.

🎨 A Canvas of Color and Crystals

Graphics and Sound in Kirby and the Forgotten Land – NS2 Edition + Star-Crossed World

Let’s be clear right off the bat, Kirby has never looked this good. The Forgotten Land already impressed with its bright palettes and gently post-apocalyptic whimsy, but the Switch 2 upgrade pushes it into a visual stratosphere that would’ve made Dream Land’s developers in 1992 gasp into their Game Boys. The upgrade to 60fps brings a newfound smoothness to movement and combat, particularly evident in boss fights and Mouthful Mode sequences. Whether you’re springing across cloud platforms or wrangling Kirby-car through icy caverns, it all animates like a playable Pixar short.

The Star-Crossed World additions are where things really start to sparkle, literally. The icy remixes bathe levels in shimmering frost and glistening gem tones that respond dynamically to environmental lighting. You’ll spot reflections bouncing off crystal ceilings, shifting shadows dancing across frozen lakes, and glowing meteor fragments embedded in ruined architecture. These details are more than eye candy, too, they affect mood and atmosphere with surprising subtlety, painting the world with a melancholic beauty that echoes the mysterious backstory behind the meteor strike.

Kirby’s transformations get their own graphical glow-up. Gear Mouth, in particular, stands out with chunky metallic textures and delightfully exaggerated animations. The way the cog’s teeth scrape against walls or clunk against surfaces is visually satisfying in a way few platformers manage. The use of particle effects, spark trails, shimmer pulses, frost clouds, is carefully restrained so it never feels overwhelming, but always magical. It’s Nintendo’s signature polish applied with a glittery trowel.

On the audio side, Forgotten Land continues to be one of the most melodically inventive entries in the Kirby franchise. The remixed soundtrack in Star-Crossed World builds on the original’s orchestral flair with new themes that blend icy ambience with plucky, percussive rhythms. There’s a crystalline elegance to the soundscapes that pairs beautifully with the new environments. HD rumble adds physical feedback to key transformations, and Kirby’s iconic “poyo!” remains timelessly charming. All in all, this is a game that dazzles your senses at every turn.

🌠 Final Poyo

Final Thoughts on Kirby and the Forgotten Land – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Star-Crossed World

There’s something profoundly comforting about Kirby. He’s the soft pink marshmallow of gaming, endlessly charming, deceptively powerful, and always up for an adventure that somehow turns adorable chaos into an art form. With Kirby and the Forgotten Land – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Star-Crossed World, Nintendo has elevated that formula to near-perfection. This isn’t just a visual polish or a minor DLC drop. It’s a celebration of Kirby’s 3D renaissance, enriched with genuinely meaningful additions that make a second (or third) playthrough feel not just worthwhile, but essential.

The 12 Star-Crossed World stages are a textbook example of how to remix existing content intelligently. They don’t just slap a frosty coat of paint on old levels , they twist them, layer in verticality, tighten platforming demands, and inject fresh combat rhythms. Combined with new transformations like Gear Mouth and Spring Mouth, the gameplay loop feels revitalized. Even if you’ve 100%-ed the original, these stages manage to surprise, delight, and occasionally challenge in ways previous entries rarely did.

More importantly, the game’s new pace and difficulty curve give longtime fans something they’ve been craving, a bit of resistance. While it never dips into Soulslike territory (nor should it), there’s just enough tension in the ice-slick levels, tougher bosses, and timed sequences to make you sit up straighter in your chair. For younger or more casual players, however, the same accessible co-op options and generous checkpoints ensure it remains family-friendly.

In the end, this is Kirby at his most refined, visually striking, joyously creative, and packed with personality. If Forgotten Land was the soft reboot the franchise needed, Star-Crossed World is the glistening crown atop it. Whether you’re here for the cuddly mascot appeal or the crisp platforming challenge, this version delivers the definitive Kirby experience.

We prepared this review with a digital copy of the Kirby and the Forgotten Land – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Star-Crossed World for the Nintendo Switch 2 version provided by Nintendo.