The Kirby series entered the 3D realm with Kirby and The Forgotten Land in 2022. It pushed the original Switch visually and offered engaging linear 3D platforming for all to enjoy. Fast forward a few years later and Forgotten Land joins the initial wave of Switch games, receiving a Switch 2 Edition.
Alongside a nice visual and performance boost, a new Star-Crossed World campaign was added to the package. Does this offer a yummy course to consume? Or is it under-cooked? After finishing the campaign and revising the game’s twelve new levels, it’s a familiar but delightful experience all the same.
Publisher/Developer: Nintendo, HAL Laboratory
Release Date: August 28th
Price: $79.99 (Physical/Digital Bundle), $19.99 (SW2 Edition Upgrade Pack)
Platforms: Nintendo Switch 2
Kirby of the Stars – Revisiting Kirby and the Forgotten Land
Being the pink puff-ball’s first foray into the 3D realm (outside of Kirby Air Ride), The Forgotten Land set out to adapt a 2D franchise into a linear 3D platformer. Playing through the original campaign on Switch 1 years ago, I loved my time with the experience.
Kirby’s simple but tight controls made running through the game’s main adventure joy. Specifically, the way Kirby’s copy abilities translated into 3D. I hoped they would leverage more of the face buttons, offering the same moves as the 2D games. Kirby could do more than enough to make combat and exploration engaging.
Copy abilities weren’t Kirby’s only main ability, as he could utilize Mouthful Mode. These were like Copy Abilities, but level design was built around them. Kirby taking over a speeding car and using objects like a cone top were some of the wild options he leveraged.
Forgotten Land‘s main campaign translated Kirby’s fantastic quality into the 3D realm. However, what does this Switch 2 Edition add to enhance Kirby’s most ambitious adventure?
A Sparkly Cake – Visual & Performance Upgrades
Applied to both The Forgotten Land and the Star-Crossed World content, is a sharp increase to the game’s internal resolution and a doubling of the frame rate to 60 FPS.
These changes stood out to me when I played a demo earlier in 2025. However, seeing this applied to the full experience is impressive.
The original game maintained a smooth 30 FPS on Switch 1, though cutting frame-rates for objects in the distance. This, sadly, created a choppy look to what was otherwise a visual showpiece title. Seeing that frame-rate smooths out to 30 FPS instead of 15 FPS helps immensely.
In addition, Kirby himself feels smoother control, and that helps make tighter jumps. The game’s core visual identity remains the same, but the heightened resolution only enhances the colorful, ravaged world Kirby explores.
Crossing Wondaria – The Star-Crossed World Campaign
Upon loading a save file, a cut-scene plays showing a series of meteors crashing into the Forgotten Land. Kirby and Elfilin visit the crash site, finding a Waddle Dee investigating the event. They piece together that in order to repair the now fractured comet and prevent disaster, Kirby must save the Starries scattered about.
Always eager to help new friends, Kirby and Elfilin explore new areas to save cute little guys. Instead of replaying levels, new stages are added across the entire overworld. These levels appear to be the same stages Kirby visited, but upon touching crystal flowers, the level landscape changes.
Star-Fall – Remixed Level Design
These radically transform familiar level designs. Splitting the sea to explore the sea-floor, accessing new areas in a mall, and more keep level design fresh and engaging.
And these level design mix-ups only get more challenging as the campaign continues, pushing mastery of the game’s simple but fun platforming mechanics.
This also keeps players on their toes who played the main campaign, as missions to save Starries (similar to saving the Waddle Dees) return. So it was a common occurrence replaying levels to collect everything.
What a Mouthful – New Mouthful Mode Forms for Kirby
By far the biggest addition is three new Mouthful Mode forms for Kirby. Starting, we have the Spring Form. Kirby can jump high into the air and attack by ground-pounding. It starts simple, but the game quickly adds timing challenges into the mix, forcing you to always move.
The second form is the Gear Form. This gives Kirby a Metroid-esc Spider Ball ability, being able to roll around on walls and boost-jump between them. This was a ton of fun to mess around with, as the level design gets creative with this. The lava and carnival worlds stand out specifically.
Lastly, there is the Sign Form. This lets Kirby slide down hills and, when attacking, get a small boost to keep his momentum. In many ways, it reminded me of Crash Bandicoot’s animal stages or the snowboarding sections in the Sonic Adventure games.
These easily are the most transformative additions to Kirby & The Forgotten World, and they give me confidence in Hal Laboratory’s next mainline Kirby adventure. I wish that upon completing the Star Crossed-World campaign, challenge levels with these abilities were added to the overworld.
A Dulled Star – Final Boss & New Mini-Boss
The game doesn’t have any new boss encounters, save for a challenging final encounter. This has scale and visual awe-factor from the main game’s bosses, keeping me on my toes and actually killing me twice. It pushes players to use mechanics they mastered from the main campaign, like using the perfect dodge, to land skillful hits in.
One new foe that’s added, outside of the upgrade Beast Pack donning crystal attire, is a mini-boss. They have crystal armor that takes multiple hits to fully destroy, but if you enter Star-Crossed World with an upgraded Kirby from the main campaign, these aren’t very challenging.
This goes into the only real negative about the Star-Crossed World content, as while the level design feels ‘late-game’, the enemies don’t. So if you are looking for a challenge there, you will only find it in a new set of arena challenges undocked upon beating the Star-Crossed World campaign.
Symphonic Adventure – The Soundtrack of Star Crossed-World
When you play a Kirby game, you are in for an amazing score. And Star-Crossed World is no exception, featuring a new set of remixes for each of the game’s twelve new stages. They take the original themes and add a lot to them.
The hauntingly beautiful opening theme of ‘Meteor Shower’s Arrival’ kicks off the adventure and is supported with a jazzy and guitar-heavy mini-boss theme. The rest of the adventure has some of the best music in the entire Kirby series, and when the series has tunes like these, that’s something very impressive to pull off.
Closing Thoughts on Kirby & The Forgotten Land SW2 Edition + Star Crossed-World
Kirby & The Forgotten Land remains one of the best Switch games, and this Switch 2 Edition only improves the experience. Adding performance and visual boosts and a new campaign that matches the quality of the main adventure, it’s a worthy $20 upgrade.
But for those entering Kirby’s forgotten lands for the first time, it’s a hefty asking price at $80. Even at that high price point, Kirby & The Forgotten Land SW2 Edition + Star-Crossed World is a fantastic 3D platformer I can recommend for returning fans and newcomers alike.
This game was reviewed using a copy borrowed from my local library.
Score – 8.5 out of 10
Pros:
- Performance and Resolution Boost is a Noticeable Upgrade
- Star Crossed-World Levels are Well Designed and a Joy to Play
- Final Boss a Solid Challenge
- Music is Some of the Franchise’s Best
- Levels Encourage Multiple Playthroughs to Collect Everything
- $20 Upgrade Pack for Existing Owners
Cons:
- $80 Price Tag for the Entire Experience is a Hefty Cost
- Difficulty for Enemy Encounters Not Balanced for Late-Game Upgrades
