Preview: Kirby and Forgotten Land Star-Crossed World Switch 2 Upgrade Feels Familiar

While testing out some early Switch 2 and upgrade pack games, I had a chance to revisit a stage in Kirby and the Forgotten Land Star-Crossed World expansion. That’s the part of the upgrade pack for the original game that adds a whole new story and area. There’s quite a bit new there! However, it’s incorporated in a way that makes it feel as though it was part of the adventure all along and doesn’t seem tacked on. The stage I played felt like it cohesively fit. The demo session for Kirby and the Forgotten Land Star-Crossed World began with Kirby and Elfilin flying on a Warp Star. A quick blurb mentioned a meteor crashed into the forgotten lands. Kirby lands on a beach, just like at the start of the original game, and heads toward an urban city center. However, this time there are crystal outcroppings as a result of the meteor. Visibly, it’s pretty impressive to see the environment on the Switch 2, especially since the areas seem “contaminated” and attacking additional designated clusters causes the effect to spread and grant access to new areas. I did feel like I noticed the 60fps change here and improved visuals. However, that 60fps alteration seemed even more evident when facing enemies. I went with the Wild Mode, a new harder option that is designed to make things “more challenging.” While the standard enemies didn’t seem too different, I will say that the ones “tainted” by the meteor did! Immediately heading into the stage, I encountered a Crystal Awoofy. It wasn’t too much more challenging an opponent, but it did take more hits to knock it out. Orabiroo were hopping about, and they seemed a bit more focused on me when I was nearby. The Big Kabu I encountered seemed to take more hits to defeat. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5peJd37J-k&ab_channel=NintendoofAmerica The most notable changes were the Crystal Tortorner and Crystal Wild Frosty. It was more than just a new color scheme and design for them. In the case of the former, I needed to use the new Spring Mouth Kirby Mouthful Mode to get past the turtle in Kirby and the Forgotten Land Star-Crossed World on the Switch 2. This ability involved inhaling a spring, then using it to jump higher or ground pound to get past obstacles and scale the vertical buildings in this stage. The jumping ability made it easier to dodge the Crystal Tortorner, while the only way to smash it was to be in Spring Mouth mode and pound down on it. As for Crystal Wild Frosty, I sort of felt like he was a bit more aggressive and took a few more hits to beat in Wild Mode. He would do his AOE attack, which involved leaping in the air and slamming down! He’d send off snowballs to attack. There was even a homing attack of sorts sending off ice. I’d picked up a Hammer power-up early on, which helped with really slamming down on him. The increased framerate also seemed to really help here, to further accentuate the attacks. As in the base game, it also featured extra stage challenges. In this case, that meant getting items from atop crystal formations to complete one objective. Another ended up being tied to finding Wild Starries, new creatures that appeared alongside the meteor. When in Spring Mouth mode, it turned out going out of my way to practice those big jumps by scaling the side of a building and jumping over a billboard on top of it completed one of those optional tasks. It still encouraged exploration. From what I saw, it seemed like the Kirby and the Forgotten Land + Star-Crossed World expansion could be a way to refresh the original game. What’s there seemed to build on the base game and offer a new approach to locations and enemies we’ve seen. The Spring Mouth ability seemed handy, especially for the new situations in that level. I also thought it looked pretty good on the Switch 2 with the upgrade pack’s additions. I’d like to see what else that story and additional adventure might offer. Kirby and the Forgotten Land + Star-Crossed World expansion upgrade pack will be available for the Nintendo Switch 2 on August 28, 2025, and the base game is available now on the Switch. The post Preview: Kirby and Forgotten Land Star-Crossed World Switch 2 Upgrade Feels Familiar appeared first on Siliconera.

Apr 5, 2025 - 00:08

Preview: Kirby and Forgotten Land Star-Crossed World Switch 2 Upgrade Feels Familiar

While testing out some early Switch 2 and upgrade pack games, I had a chance to revisit a stage in Kirby and the Forgotten Land Star-Crossed World expansion. That’s the part of the upgrade pack for the original game that adds a whole new story and area. There’s quite a bit new there! However, it’s incorporated in a way that makes it feel as though it was part of the adventure all along and doesn’t seem tacked on. The stage I played felt like it cohesively fit.

The demo session for Kirby and the Forgotten Land Star-Crossed World began with Kirby and Elfilin flying on a Warp Star. A quick blurb mentioned a meteor crashed into the forgotten lands. Kirby lands on a beach, just like at the start of the original game, and heads toward an urban city center. However, this time there are crystal outcroppings as a result of the meteor. Visibly, it’s pretty impressive to see the environment on the Switch 2, especially since the areas seem “contaminated” and attacking additional designated clusters causes the effect to spread and grant access to new areas. I did feel like I noticed the 60fps change here and improved visuals.

However, that 60fps alteration seemed even more evident when facing enemies. I went with the Wild Mode, a new harder option that is designed to make things “more challenging.” While the standard enemies didn’t seem too different, I will say that the ones “tainted” by the meteor did! Immediately heading into the stage, I encountered a Crystal Awoofy. It wasn’t too much more challenging an opponent, but it did take more hits to knock it out. Orabiroo were hopping about, and they seemed a bit more focused on me when I was nearby. The Big Kabu I encountered seemed to take more hits to defeat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5peJd37J-k&ab_channel=NintendoofAmerica

The most notable changes were the Crystal Tortorner and Crystal Wild Frosty. It was more than just a new color scheme and design for them. In the case of the former, I needed to use the new Spring Mouth Kirby Mouthful Mode to get past the turtle in Kirby and the Forgotten Land Star-Crossed World on the Switch 2. This ability involved inhaling a spring, then using it to jump higher or ground pound to get past obstacles and scale the vertical buildings in this stage. The jumping ability made it easier to dodge the Crystal Tortorner, while the only way to smash it was to be in Spring Mouth mode and pound down on it.

As for Crystal Wild Frosty, I sort of felt like he was a bit more aggressive and took a few more hits to beat in Wild Mode. He would do his AOE attack, which involved leaping in the air and slamming down! He’d send off snowballs to attack. There was even a homing attack of sorts sending off ice. I’d picked up a Hammer power-up early on, which helped with really slamming down on him. The increased framerate also seemed to really help here, to further accentuate the attacks.

As in the base game, it also featured extra stage challenges. In this case, that meant getting items from atop crystal formations to complete one objective. Another ended up being tied to finding Wild Starries, new creatures that appeared alongside the meteor. When in Spring Mouth mode, it turned out going out of my way to practice those big jumps by scaling the side of a building and jumping over a billboard on top of it completed one of those optional tasks. It still encouraged exploration.

From what I saw, it seemed like the Kirby and the Forgotten Land + Star-Crossed World expansion could be a way to refresh the original game. What’s there seemed to build on the base game and offer a new approach to locations and enemies we’ve seen. The Spring Mouth ability seemed handy, especially for the new situations in that level. I also thought it looked pretty good on the Switch 2 with the upgrade pack’s additions. I’d like to see what else that story and additional adventure might offer.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land + Star-Crossed World expansion upgrade pack will be available for the Nintendo Switch 2 on August 28, 2025, and the base game is available now on the Switch.

The post Preview: Kirby and Forgotten Land Star-Crossed World Switch 2 Upgrade Feels Familiar appeared first on Siliconera.