Kirby's Dream Land: Hard Mode Challenge
Kirby's Dream Land is a pretty amazing game on its own, but what really elevates it to a higher greatness is the amount of customization.
For those of you who have never bothered to beat expert mode in Kirby's Dream Land, you get a code to unlock the Options Mode. By pressing Down, Select, and B on the title screen, you can now listen to the sound test, and adjust Kirby's number of lives and hit points.
I think a lot of us who love this game usually play on Expert Mode because the standard mode is too easy, but these customization tools offer the best experience for older Kirby's Dream Land players. Here's what you do...
It doesn't get tough until level 3, but that's also the stage where you start finding 1ups scattered about. The game is actually really well balanced when played this way, and you'll find yourself approaching certain areas with a whole new mentality than before. I encourage everyone to give this challenge a shot, and post how many Game Overs you got before you were able to finish the game. I will keep a list up top for those who participate. If you're already a fan of this game, I encourage you to try this out as it really reinvented the game for a longtime fan like myself. I'll give you a couple little pointers to help you out.
1) Be careful not to get trapped by Lololo and Lalala. It's best if you can knock one of them out earlier than later to avoid tricky situations.
2) Be careful of fish that leap out of the water in stage 3
3) Kracko is a pretty tricky boss in this style of play, so be careful against him. Just when you think you've got him figured out, he might throw some unexpected trick at you. I died a lot while learning how to fight him without getting hit.
4) You can enter the Moon at the end of stage four by pressing up on it. You can find two 1ups in the next room so long as you keep falling. You will want these for Kracko.
I don't remember how many attempts it took me, but I just today finished a perfect run of the game where I didn't get hit a single time. It was really fun, so give the challenge a whirl for yourself.
For those of you who have never bothered to beat expert mode in Kirby's Dream Land, you get a code to unlock the Options Mode. By pressing Down, Select, and B on the title screen, you can now listen to the sound test, and adjust Kirby's number of lives and hit points.
I think a lot of us who love this game usually play on Expert Mode because the standard mode is too easy, but these customization tools offer the best experience for older Kirby's Dream Land players. Here's what you do...
- Open the Options Mode
- Adjust Kirby's Health to One Hit Point
- Set Kirby's Number of Lives at 2
- Play the game on the standard difficulty setting
- If you get a Game Over, you are required to hit "End" on the Game Over Screen and start the game from the beginning.
- Picking up 1Ups is permitted
It doesn't get tough until level 3, but that's also the stage where you start finding 1ups scattered about. The game is actually really well balanced when played this way, and you'll find yourself approaching certain areas with a whole new mentality than before. I encourage everyone to give this challenge a shot, and post how many Game Overs you got before you were able to finish the game. I will keep a list up top for those who participate. If you're already a fan of this game, I encourage you to try this out as it really reinvented the game for a longtime fan like myself. I'll give you a couple little pointers to help you out.
1) Be careful not to get trapped by Lololo and Lalala. It's best if you can knock one of them out earlier than later to avoid tricky situations.
2) Be careful of fish that leap out of the water in stage 3
3) Kracko is a pretty tricky boss in this style of play, so be careful against him. Just when you think you've got him figured out, he might throw some unexpected trick at you. I died a lot while learning how to fight him without getting hit.
4) You can enter the Moon at the end of stage four by pressing up on it. You can find two 1ups in the next room so long as you keep falling. You will want these for Kracko.
I don't remember how many attempts it took me, but I just today finished a perfect run of the game where I didn't get hit a single time. It was really fun, so give the challenge a whirl for yourself.
Comments
I'll have to give that a try, since my primary complaint against Kirby's Dream Land is that it was ridiculously easy.
That said, I admit, I always forget about the options menu in Kirby's Dream Land, probably because I don't need the sound test that badly.
I think you guys are missing the point of Kirby's Dream Land, it was more intended for children.
I'm aware of that, but clearly the other features are there for a reason. Kirby's Dream Land is most certainly an entry point for kids, but the difficulty options are there to help kids learn to appreciate a challenge, and to give older fans something to enjoy. I don't feel like adjusting the difficulty is missing the point when the game gives you so many options to do just that. Give the challenge a try, and I think you'll see just how balanced the game is when played this way. The difficulty curve is perfect, and makes the game fun in a whole new way.