4:17 if you use Kine with the shock power, it lights up the dark room and that room contains hints for the correct sequence of powers to get through the level. So not necessarily trial and error if you stumble upon the hint

No wonder children believed all kind of overcomplicated "secret" codes back then, game developers trained them to be prepared for all kind of bullsh*t!!!

I don't even know if 6-2 rainbow drop is a game designing masterpiece or a deliberately cryptic puzzle, just so kids would ask parents to buy guide books

I remember running through this level (6-2) multiple times as a kid. After about halfway through all the puzzles, I realized that the whole point of this level was to have you go through all the partners and knowledge check you on how abilities work with them.

In this era where we have more games at our fingertips than we could experience in a lifetime, I know the frustration involved with some random game gatekeeping its 100% completion badge of honor behind something seemingly arbitrarily convoluted or stupidly difficult. But back when the game was released, it wasn't unusual if the Gameboy was one of your few game consoles. So if you were a really bored gamer, you really wanted to squeeze the replay value out of the games you bought.

That's why I still think Kirby's Dreamland 2 was worth its cost... but not so much Kirby's Dreamland.

When people say Kirby is easy tell them to 100% the games.

specifically Kirby Mass attack all gold stars

So glad that there’s a video talking about how actually painful these were - I mean I really enjoyed it but yeah….
Personally found the Iceberg rainbow drop harder (and I was playing on original hardware) but idk

Considering the stylish action orientation of the current Kirby series, if they brought back the animal buddies, chances are they would act more like the Robobot Armor in every stage, in that you encounter them for completing puzzles constrained within one stage, and never bring them away from said stage.

I did this as a kid back in the 90s. It's really not that bad. The game tells you you need kine, so you grab him from another level. Then you try to get coo with regular electricity, look for another solution, and that's pretty much all the logic steps required. It's a cool puzzle

The thing to remember is that this game came out at a time where most kids, myself included, only had a couple games, and if they wanted to play at all, it was going to have to be a replay of those ones. So when I was bored of beating Mario Land for the 100th time, it was nice to know that I always had the option to turn on Kirby and see if maybe this time I can figure out the puzzle to get the collectible. And when I finally had the brain power to figure all the puzzles out and unlock the final boss, it was a huge achievement in my childhood life.

>Be Shimomura
>Add the most annoying puzzles and interesting lore drops in the series (arguably)
>Refuses to elaborate and vanishes like Gaster

I’d rather 100% this game than Kirby 64.

KDL2 was actually my first Kirby game as a kid, and I didn't know what getting the bad ending with "The End?" meant, even though that's how you would learn the names of the various enemies and bosses back when you were a kid without the internet. I was actually surprised after collecting all the drops and then beating King Dedede a second time, and the game continuing after that.

I miss secrets like this. It don't have to be crazy but makes you feel good to figure out

Honestly, with the exception Iceberg Stage 4's beginning where you have to fight Efreeti, followed by THAT auto scroll section. I really enjoyed the puzzles in Dreamland 2.
Makes me wish that newer titles have more difficulty options, complex puzzles, etc.

Honestly I like the most "difficult/cryptic" vibe of this. It give me the trade quest vibe that I miss from older Zelda game ahah.

Sometimes I'll play games from my childhood and question how I ever figured some of this stuff out as a kid.

0:33 F*ndom 😭

The Dark Matter Trilogy has some very clever puzzles (less so for K64), and some of my favorite are from Dream Land 3. I've almost certainly talked about this before, but 3-6's Heart Star is my singular favorite puzzle in the entire Kirby series. It gives you all abilities and Animal Friends, and lets you traverse all the rooms to see what each puzzle requires. From there, it's a matter of thinking about what ability allows you to get a specific Animal Friend to the section that requires it, and all of these rooms can be figured out intuitively without searching up the answer. It encourages experimentation and logical thinking, which is fitting in a game where Kirby and their animal buddies are shown playing around and trying out new things.

5:36 you can also use rewind

I still can't believe I did this as a teenager without the internet.

I loved the rainbow drop puzzles as a kid, Kirby’s dreamland 2 is definitely my favorite in the series.