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

Written by Eric Hauter on 9/9/2025 for SW2  

Heading into this review, it is probably important to deliver a confession that will give context to the proceedings. Not only did I not play Kirby and the Forgotten Land on the Nintendo Switch, I have never played any Kirby game before, ever. It’s not that I have an aversion to little pink puff balls. I enjoy all of Nintendo’s mascots, and I’m a fan of 3D platformers. I just kinda never got around to it. Year after year, Kirby games have come and gone, and each time I’ve thought, “Maybe I should check that out.” But I never have until now.

So, no, I’ve never played the base game of Kirby and the Forgotten Land before now, but even without that context, it’s not difficult to tell what new material has been added to Kirby and the Forgotten Land: Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Star-Crossed World (phew, that’s a mouthful) that accounts for the “Star-Crossed World” part of the title. Though it has been woven into the campaign of the original, the new material is blazingly obvious, clearly labeled, and visually distinct from the base game. Though it’s all mixed up, the line of delineation is clear enough that I can discuss the two sections of the game clearly, even as a newbie.

Some structure talk about the base game first, to help this make sense: Like most platformers, the base game is divided up into worlds, which contain a certain number of levels. Play through one level, and the next one opens up. Completing each level awards the player with a certain number of “Waddle Dees,” which are little dudes that Kirby is attempting to rescue—similar to the little bots that Astro finds hidden all over the place in Astro Bot. Gather enough of these dudes, and you can open up the boss level, which in turn gives you access to the next world. It’s a fine-tuned and well-loved cadence that will feel immediately familiar to fans of the genre.

Kirby’s game mechanics also feel very familiar and comfortable, if I can say that while still giving credence to how frequently they surprised me and made me laugh. Anyone with a passing knowledge of Nintendo probably already knows how this works whether they have played the games or not. Kirby has some pretty whack basic moves (jump, float, eat stuff), but can quickly become a powerhouse based on whatever he decides to inhale.

Inhaling certain enemies gives you access to their attacks, which makes Kirby exponentially more powerful. You can also suck in a surprising array of large objects to overcome obstacles in the game. Kirby can inhale springs and flying wings, and all sorts of good stuff. He can inhale staircases and then waddle over to cliffs, spit them out, and then climb up to new areas. Watching Kirby eat a car in the first world and then go zipping around was an unexpected delight, to say the least. I also loved trying out Kirby’s various powers, all of which can be leveled up at the small hub village.

Kirby climbs and explores and floats around, doing all of the expected platformer activities. I quickly discovered that the challenge with Kirby isn’t in getting through the levels themselves—all of the combat and platforming is pretty straightforward. The real challenge is in finding and unlocking all of the discoverable mysteries and locating all of the hidden Waddle Dees. Levels in The Forgotten Land are dense with secrets, and you have to keep an eagle eye out all the time, or you will miss the game’s sometimes subtle visual cues that something cool is nearby. This requires a somewhat deliberate pace, as if you run rampant through a level, you will miss a ton of stuff, and finding the stuff is the whole point of the game.

One thing about Kirby and the Forgotten Land that struck me immediately is that about 85% of the game is fully playable with amazing co-op. The primary levels in the game can be navigated with two players: one of you controls Kirby and the other controls a not-helpless Waddle Dee (Waddle Dee doesn’t get Kirby’s powers, but he’s pretty handy with a sword). This isn't the sort of multiplayer where one player flips a switch so the other player can get through a door. Instead, this is the sort of multiplayer where everyone swarms through the level all chaotic and jumping all over the place like loonies. 

Multiplayer is great fun when playing with my nine-year-old son, who has become completely obsessed with the game. It is also greatly frustrating, because Kirby contains one gameplay element that drives me up the wall: the levels are littered with points of no return. Go through certain passages, and you won’t be able to backtrack to find stuff you missed. So, I’ve resolved myself to the fact that when I play with my son, I’ll be going back through the levels again without him to clean up anything we miss from his constant exuberant need to go, go, go!

So, what is all of this “Star-Crossed World” business all about? In the Switch 2 version, after you beat the first boss level, a meteor crashes down, which opens up alternate versions of certain levels. You can still play through the unaltered levels—indeed, you have to do so to proceed. But there is a second entry point to certain levels on the world map, which allows you to enter the somewhat remixed version of the level.

“Remixed” actually feels like a bit of an understatement. These levels are dramatically altered, with large new areas that you would never have seen otherwise. There are new collectables, new stronger enemies, and new…what do we call them? Things to eat? Sure, new things to eat, which give Kirby his unique shape-based powers.

You can tackle this stuff—or not—as desired. The game is pretty freeform in that way, and I imagine if you beat it already on Switch 1 and ported your save, you could likely just go swooping through the new material at will. I tended to play through each world in its vanilla form first, then after the boss fight I would go back and clean up the Star-Crossed levels.

Is this upgrade worth an extra $20 to players that already have the base game? I think so, as it adds a significant chunk of content to the game. If you enjoyed Kirby and the Forgotten Land in the first place, you’ll probably like having a bunch of new, slightly more difficult levels to run through. I imagine there are also quite a few players out there like me that are new to the franchise and are looking for something new to play on their shiny new system now that Donkey Kong is winding down. The main question they will have is, “Is this total package worth the $80 entry fee”? And I feel like it really is worth it, particularly if you have kids or a buddy you want to play with.

The co-op in this game adds so much value, and is really unique for a game of this depth and quality. Sure, it can make me grind my teeth a little bit to try to hold in my howls when I spot a secret the moment before my son goes barreling through a doorway, but I’ve decided to consider that “part of the fun” instead of “insanely frustrating.”

Kirby and the Forgotten Land: Nintendo Switch Edition + Star-Crossed World is hugely clever and has laugh-out-loud moments of surprise. This is a great platformer, which offers hours of entertainment, but it isn’t a genre-smasher like some other recent games. It doesn’t quite reach the heights of something like Donkey Kong Bananza, for example. Of course, not every game needs to redefine its genre to be fun. The laughs I’ve had with my son are more than enough testament to the power and quality of this game. Veterans already know, but if you are new like me, rest assured that Nintendo has delivered yet another winner.