Nintendo's big year continues, with the Nintendo Switch 2's lineup of games always expanding – and the next in its parade of new options is one of the most interesting updates it's offered so far. Kirby and the Forgotten Land was a charming platformer when it launched way back in 2022, but now it's back with a full Switch 2 version that you can buy new or upgrade to.
The full title for the new version of the game is one of the longest you'll ever see: Kirby and the Forgotten Land – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Star-Crossed World. It's also an extremely straightforward way of describing what you get. It comprises a visually-upgraded version of the base game, plus a short but sweet expansion pack (Star-Crossed World) that drops some new levels and a titanic final boss into the base game's world map.
I played the game all the way through back in 2022 and had a great time, so I was keen to jump back in on my completed save file this time around, and the upgrade to the base game was immediately obvious. Where the game looked great on the base Nintendo Switch, it had limitations to its visual fidelity, particularly in the form of some visual fuzziness.
Now, running on the Switch 2, things are way sharper, and the game runs extremely smoothly. The game's frame rate has been boosted from 30fps to 60fps, and while Kirby isn't a game that constantly demands frame-perfect reactions and inputs, it still makes everything feel more responsive and slick.
I played a few base-game levels again to compare them, and the contrast was impressive, but the additional Star-Crossed World levels were really the more charming addition. These are all quasi-remixes of locations that Kirby journeyed through in the original game, but with starry layers added over them and some brand-new transformations unlocking new ways to move around.
They're as intricate and clever as any levels in the base game, full of fun little secrets and collectables that make it worth going through each a couple of times to uncover every secret challenge. As you collect these, you'll slowly chip away at a meteor that has landed on the world map – once you earn enough, you'll be able to take on a final boss.
Nintendo's keen for me to reveal as little as possible about this, but suffice to say that it completely blindsided me – it takes place on a scale I didn't think a Kirby game would get anywhere near anytime soon, and I couldn't believe some of what it threw at me.
The Kirby franchise has a reputation for being super-accessible games, and that's well-earned, but the reality is that The Forgotten Land had post-game content that offered up some genuinely challenging bosses on its harder difficulty. These smaller boss encounters are plentiful in Star-Crossed World, and charming enough each time.
Plus, the addition of a new boss-rush mode that ups the ante even further means that those who felt they mastered the base game might want to return to test their mettle. That said, it's worth saying that the extra levels are only roughly a couple of hours' worth of gameplay – this isn't too substantial an addition.
If you already own the Switch edition and haven't played the game or finished it, I'd call this an upgrade that's well worth picking up. If you've never bought it, meanwhile, and you own a Switch 2, it's the best way to play what is a genuinely charming and inventive exclusive.
That's something of a no-brainer, and basically puts this in the same category as something like the Switch 2 version of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. If you have a choice, why play any other way, basically? Still, I'll be curious to see how this game does comparatively – it probably has less of a cultural footprint, so perhaps Nintendo is hoping that this new port will give it a second wind.
