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Kirby and the Forgotten Land was a revelation when it hit the original Switch. It was the game fans had been wanting for decades: a full-blown 3D platformer that finally proved Kirby could be more than a 2D icon. It was charming, inventive, and had a surprisingly melancholic, post-apocalyptic vibe. It was also a game that was clearly pushing the original Switch to its absolute limits, with a 30fps cap and distant enemies that animated like a stop-motion flipbook.
The Switch 2 version isn’t a reinvention. It’s a restoration. This is Kirby and the Forgotten Land as it was always meant to be seen and played, with the hardware finally catching up to HAL Laboratory’s vision. It takes a game that was already an easy recommendation and turns it into an essential, must-play masterpiece.
Let’s get the most important thing out of the way: the game now runs at a buttery, locked 60fps. This is not just a nice-to-have bullet point for the back of the box; it fundamentally transforms the feel of the game. Kirby’s movements, from his signature float to the snappy new dodge roll, are incredibly responsive. Weaving through boss attacks and nailing precise jumps in the tricky post-game challenge stages feels better than ever.
The visual upgrade is more than just framerate. The original’s most distracting quirk – where distant enemies and objects animated at a lower framerate to save resources – is completely gone. The world now feels cohesive and alive, no matter how far away things are. Running on the Switch 2’s more capable hardware, the resolution is bumped up to a crisp 4K when docked, making the lush, overgrown environments look stunning. The textures on the crumbling concrete of a forgotten city or the rusted metal of an abandoned amusement park are noticeably sharper, adding another layer of beauty to the game’s unique “cute apocalypse” aesthetic.
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If you missed the game the first time around, the core premise is brilliant. Kirby is sucked into a mysterious, seemingly post-human world and must rescue hundreds of captured Waddle Dees. The game plays out across a series of vibrant, linear 3D levels that are packed with secrets. Alongside his classic copy abilities – which you can now evolve into wild new forms like the chain-exploding Bomb or room-clearing Storm Tornado – Kirby has a new trick: Mouthful Mode.
This is still one of the most joyfully absurd mechanics in modern gaming. Kirby inhales massive objects – a car to drive through walls, a giant lightbulb to illuminate dark areas, a vending machine to shoot soda cans – and it never gets old. It’s a constant source of inventive gameplay and pure, unadulterated fun. This, combined with the surprisingly robust Waddle Dee Town hub world that you build up over the course of the adventure, creates a gameplay loop that is satisfying from start to finish.
Verdict
Kirby and the Forgotten Land was already a top-tier Nintendo platformer, a game that successfully and confidently translated a beloved 2D character into the third dimension. It was held back only by the aging hardware it was born on.
This Switch 2 edition erases those compromises. It is, without question, the definitive version of the game. For anyone who skipped it, this is an absolute must-buy. For those who played and loved the original, the leap to 60fps and the vastly improved image quality make a powerful case for a double-dip. This isn’t just a simple port; it’s the game finally realizing its full, glorious potential.