Kirby's Dream Land 3 / YMMV

Awesome Art: The game's lush, pastel-drawn style visuals can only be described as being absolutely beautiful to look at.
Awesome Music: The soundtrack is also fantastic, even having its own version of the Gourmet Race theme. See the main Awesome Music page for more great tracks.
Ensemble Dark Horse:
- Nago, Pitch, and ChuChu, the three animal friends who got introduced in this game, joined the other three animal friends, Rick, Kine, and Coo, as some of the more popular characters despite this game being the only time they have a major role. The Puppy Love Ship Tease between Chuchu and Kirby most certainly is a major contributor to this, and the distinctive, appealing designs and characterizations of Pitch and Nago also endear them to the fanbase quite a bit. They eventually started making cameo appearances in later Kirby games starting with appearances as collectible keychains in Kirby: Triple Deluxe and even appear as moves in the updated Cleaning ability in Kirby Star Allies.
- The game's True Final Boss, Zero, is extremely popular in the Kirby fandom, featured in many pieces of fanart and considered by the fandom to be the series' Greater-Scope Villain despite having no dialogue and only appearing in this game.
- One enemy, KeKe, has become noticably popular amongst the Japanese fandom, likely due to being a Cute Witch.
Fanon: While she is a girl canonically, some fans tend to portray Ado as being a boy instead, either out of Viewer Gender Confusion (see below) or to separate her from Adeleine and make her a Spear Counterpart. The confusion about whether Ado and Adeleine are the same character or not has kept this fanon alive to the present day.
Goddamned Bats: The Bronto Burts and Pteran placement in the later levels of this game rival that of the Medusa heads in the early Castlevanias. And yes, also bats.
Goddamned Boss: Captain Stitch returns here, and his shielding gimmick as a miniboss is carried over as well. Once again, he takes a considerably long time to set up attacks that allow him to lower his defenses, which can drag out fights against him for longer than one feels is necessary. Jumper Shoot returns too, which translates to a lot of waiting times as he attacks Kirby with his spinning attack as opposed to the one that's actually needed to turn the tides against him. One would be wise to bring a copy ability in advance.
Hilarious in Hindsight: Both ROB and Samus would eventually become playable alongside Kirby in the Super Smash Bros. series after both making cameos here. Bonus points for Kirby freezing Metroids for Samus, as Metroids are also fought in Smash Run in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.
It's Easy, So It Sucks!: The main criticism of the game is that it's far easier and slower-paced compared to other titles, to the point where you can straight-up fly over most hazards and enemies. Even the bosses, usually the hardest part of a Kirby game, only have a few attacks each and aren't too hard to deal with. The hardest part of the game may be the Guide Dang It! aspect of getting the Heart Stars.
It Was His Sled: Zero is the (literally) bloody True Final Boss of the game.
Memetic Mutation: The first Sand Canyon theme became popular for its use in YTPMV remixes.
Nightmare Fuel: Has probably the most in a series famous for it:
- Whispy Woods's demon face when you cut his health down to half. He then starts walking forward to try to kill you.
- The black pyramid in Sand Canyon. Its dark scenery and background of blue wires make for a surreal and creepy combination, with a haunting song to go with it. And some of the blocks which make up the pyramid pulsate organically.
- King Dedede's Body Horror from being possessed by Dark Matter. His chest rips open in order to reveal a set of black teeth or Dark Matter's eye to shoot at you.
- To top it all off is Zero, who attacks by shooting blood at you, then tears out its eye in a last-ditch attempt to kill you.
Nightmare Retardant: In Boss Butch Mode, the background in Zero's fight changes from a dark blue sky with black clouds to a yellow sky with red and blue clouds. He still shoots blood at you, but it kinda loses its edge, especially since you'll be expecting it by now.
Nintendo Hard: Unlike Kirby's Dream Land 2, continuing in this title is impossible; losing all lives at any point will cause your game to be over for real.
One-Scene Wonder:
- Zero absolutely steals the show in his one and only clear apparition in the game.
- Any of the Nintendo-related cameos like Samus Aran and ROB.
Signature Scene: The Zero fight. Specifically, the part where it tears its eye out, which gained notoriety for being way more violent than what most people would expect from a Nintendo game, let alone a Kirby title. Many consider it the single creepiest thing in the franchise, only rivaled by the Fecto Forgo chase in Forgotten Land.
That One Boss: Ado, the boss of Cloudy Park. Not only is she a Sequential Boss, but each phase gets harder and harder as the battle progresses. The hardest phase of them all is when Ado summons replicas of Mr. Shine and Mr. Bright, who were already difficult enough in Kirby's Adventure and Kirby's Dream Land 2. Any veteran of those games would know exactly why that phase sucks so much. As a result, it's quite satisfying to see Ado jump down from her pedestal, blindly charge forward, and die to a single attack, even Kirby's sliding kick (which doesn't even SCRATCH other bosses).
That One Puzzle:
- The Heart Star mission of Sand Canyon 6. You have to collect the pieces of R.O.B. by going into various rooms, each with incredibly difficult puzzles involving abilities and animal friends. To rub salt in the wound, the kicker is that you have to collect the parts in a specific order ^note, or else you fail and you have to do the whole thing all over again. The stage itself is very short if you skip the mission altogether, but you miss out on the True Final Boss if you do.
- The Heart Star mission of Cloudy Park 5: escort Rick to his girlfriend Pick. In case you forget, Rick can't fly, only jump up walls like Mega Man X, but this level only has stone pillars to stand on, and the only way to get across the bottomless pits between each pillar is to bounce on the various airborne enemies, and then there's a section where you have to do some wall-jumping with Gordos along the walls, with very little room to maneuver without hitting one and falling all the way back down. Hopefully you've played a lot of Mario, since if you die once, you lose Rick and you have to do the whole level all over again.
Viewer Gender Confusion: Nintendo Power magazine's walkthrough of this game misidentified Ado as a boy, and naturally the western fandom followed suit, with debates over Ado's gender lasting until scans from the 20th Anniversary Kirby Pupupu Encyclopedia confirmed that she was a girl. Prior to this, Japanese guidebooks and manga had consistently called her a girl, but most had never been seen outside of the Japanese fandom. The confusion is understandable, seeing as her in-game sprite and artwork give her a boyish appearance.
Vindicated by History: The game did not get a lot of recognition on release since it was released a full year after the Nintendo 64 came out. Those who did play it often felt it was a disappointment compared to Kirby Super Star, due to its slower pace and simpler abilities. However, it's now a favorite among fans for the visuals, puzzle-solving gameplay, varied combination abilities, and especially its bevy of Surprisingly Creepy Moments. Being available on Nintendo Switch Online along with both Kirbys Dreamland 2 and Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, the other two games that directly tie in with Dreamland 3 and make up the Dark Matter Trilogy also helped out bolstering its memorability among Kirby fans.
Visual Effects of Awesome: The game looks like it has a higher resolution than it really does, thanks to the geniuses at HAL Laboratory programming the proto-HD filter into the game.
What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: Despite the game's heavy indulgence in surprisingly disturbing elements (even moreso than usual for the Kirby series up to that point) and especially the copious blood in Zero's boss battle (particularly the large blood spray that accompanies it tearing its eye out), the game was released with a K-A rating in the United States. Eventually it got re-rated E10+, but that still doesn't stop people from being surprised by its darker content.

YMMV / Kirby's Dream Land 3

Edit Locked