Kirby's Dream Land

Kirby's Dream Land is the first title of the Kirby franchise. It was originally released for the Game Boy in 1992. The game stars Kirby, who goes on an adventure to retrieve the food and Sparkling Stars that King Dedede stole from the Dream Landers. In 1995, the game received a sequel, Kirby's Dream Land 2.

In 2011, Kirby's Dream Land was ported to the Nintendo 3DS's Virtual Console. A year later, in 2012, Kirby's Dream Land was included as one of the games in the Wii compilation title, Kirby's Dream Collection.

Story
Kirby's Dream Land takes place in Dream Land. One night, the game's main antagonist, King Dedede, and his gang steal the Dream Landers' food as well as their Sparkling Stars, which they use to gather food. Without their supply of food, the Dream Landers began to starve. A young Dream Lander named Kirby decides to go on a journey to retrieve the food and the Sparkling Stars from Mt. Dedede, where King Dedede's castle is located.

In the ending, after defeating King Dedede, Kirby turns into the shape of a massive hot-air balloon. Kirby carries Castle Dedede back to Dream Land, where he releases all of the stolen food to give them back to the Dream Landers.

Instruction booklet
"On a tiny star somewhere far, far away from earth, there is a very special place known as Dream Land. The Dream Landers are very happy people who use their magical Sparkling Stars to play and work among the heavens. That is until one dark night when the gluttonous King Dedede and his rotten band of thieves swooped down from neighboring Mt. Dedede for a midnight snack in Dream Land. Not only did they steal all their food, but they stole the Dream Landers' treasured Sparkling Stars as well. Because the Dream Landers didn't have the Sparkling Stars to gather food anymore, they began to get very hungry. Suddenly a spry little boy named Kirby happened along and said, "Don't worry, I'll get your food and your Sparkling Stars back!". With these words, Kirby set off on his quest toward the dreaded Mt. Dedede. We wish him luck!"

Gameplay
Kirby's Dream Land is a side-scrolling 2D platformer starring Kirby, who must make his way through five different stages. Every stage starts with a short cutscene of Kirby within that area. While Kirby is capable of jumping, one of his unique characteristics is having the ability to hover in mid-air indefinitely, although this does not allow him to go off-screen.

Kirby encounters several enemies along the way, and his main attack is to inhale them. In doing so, Kirby can either exhale them back out in the form of a star, which damages most enemies within its path, or swallow them. Whenever Kirby has an enemy in his mouth, he cannot hover and is incapable of jumping as high. If the player presses while Kirby is in midair, he spits out an Air Pellet before falling back onto the ground. If Kirby falls from high enough, he dives down, and automatically performs a Dive Attack if he lands on an enemy. The game features a score, and to gain points, the player can have Kirby damage enemies or break certain objects such as blocks. Aside from basic enemies, there are mid-bosses, who are stronger than regular enemies, and can be found in certain parts of several stages. At the end of every stage, there is a boss whom Kirby must fight. After Kirby defeats the boss, they release some Sparkling Stars, and by touching it, Kirby briefly does the Kirby Dance before continuing on to the next stage.

Stages are separated into different areas, and Kirby can transition between areas by entering open doorways along the way. Some stages have underwater segments that require Kirby to move underwater. While underwater, Kirby cannot inhale enemies.

Kirby's health is measured by six vitality bars. If Kirby takes damage from an enemy or hazardous obstacle, he loses one or more vitality bars, depending on how powerful the enemy or obstacle is. Kirby can regain health by touching or inhaling food. Kirby's health is automatically reset when he continues to the next stage. If Kirby loses all of his vitality bars, he loses an extra life, meaning he has to either restart the stage or at the most recent checkpoint. If Kirby falls down a pit, he instantly loses a life. If Kirby loses all of his lives, the player receives a Game Over, forcing Kirby to restart the stage and with the score reset. Unlike subsequent Kirby games, there is no save function, so restarting the game resets the progress and the score regardless.

From the title screen, the player can enter a certain button combination to either activate the Extra Game or to access the Configuration Mode, respectively. The Extra Game, which significantly increases the difficulty over the original game, can be activated by pressing (up),, and , and is provided to the player once they have completed the original game. The Configuration Mode can be accessed by pressing, (down), and , and is where the player can adjust Kirby's maximum number of vitality bars (ranging from 1 through 6) and how many extra lives he can have at once (ranging from 1 through 9). They can also access the Sound Test to listen to music and sound effects freely.

Controls

 * (any direction): Move
 * (up): hover, enter or exit doorways
 * (down): crouch, swallow an enemy, jump below certain platforms
 * Jump
 * Inhale enemies and/or food, spit out a star pellet
 * Pauses the game

Pressing, , and  simultaneously resets the game back to the title screen.

Stages
There are five stages in Kirby's Dream Land, each having their own setting.

Enemies
Many of the recurring Kirby enemies were introduced in Kirby's Dream Land, being the first game, but some enemies have seldomly made reappearances. In Extra Mode, several enemies are replaced by a stronger counterpart.

Hazardous objects
While they are not enemies themselves, hazardous objects may still serve as a hindrance to Kirby on his adventure.

Items
There are a couple of items that Kirby stumbles across during his journey. Many of these items restore Kirby's health, but some grant him a temporary power-up. A few of the items would be reimagined as Copy Abilities in subsequent Kirby games.

References in later games

 * Kirby's Adventure / Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land: The sixth stage of Rainbow Resort is designed after areas from Kirby's Dream Land, and it even reuses graphics (including the gray background) and the Green Greens theme.
 * Kirby Super Star: One of the featured games, Spring Breeze, is a shortened version of Kirby Dream Land.
 * Kirby Super Star Ultra: Introduces a harder version of Spring Breeze, Revenge of the King, which takes some inspiration from Kirby's Dream Land's extra mode.
 * Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS: There is a stage named Dream Land GB, which transitions through various locations featured in Kirby's Dream Land.