Kirby’s Dream Buffet is another example of how the HAL laboratory is willing to experiment with Kirby in every way possible. Almost every year over the past decade, at least one Kirby game has been released, and with 2022 being the 30th anniversary of Pink Puffball, HAL decided to follow up with the great Kirby and the Forgotten Lands with much younger fall friends. – like a game.
In Kirby’s Dream Buffet, four players compete in four rounds to see who can eat the most strawberries. Whoever is the biggest Kirby in the end wins – the game has never been more complicated than this. A full round of matches will typically get you in and out of the lobby in under five minutes. The first round is always an obstacle course race, followed by a minigame, then another race, and finally ends in a battle round. The Dream Buffet is undoubtedly fun, but it’s almost never something that I think will hold your attention for more than a day.
Fall Guys-Lite
Screenshot by Gempur
Since Kirby’s Dream Buffet was announced, Fall Guys has become an instant comparison point for many. While I see the similarities, Kirby’s Dream Buffet is subtly so small compared to Fall Guys that it’s hard to mix the two. Matches in Fall Guys start with 60 other players and go on until one person is left standing. Kirby’s Dream Buffet only starts with four, and there are no knockout rounds. The first racing round starts with some Waddle Deez racing against you, but I’ve never seen them past the starting line, so I wonder why they exist.
The nice thing about how small the Dream Buffet is, is that it runs a lot faster than Fall Guys. Loading is almost instantaneous, and while Nintendo is notorious for providing a less than stellar online experience, the game works well for the most part. I had a few moments where the game would completely freeze in the middle of the round, but that was far and between.
byte-size round
Screenshot by Gempur
I enjoyed the racing rounds a lot more than the minigames and battle finals, as they are much longer and designed in a much more interesting way. You can get power-ups along the way trying to get an edge over your opponents, and I think that’s undeniably the best aspect of the game. As you are collecting strawberries, you also want to try and reach the end first because there are three plates of strawberries which can easily decide who wins and who loses in each match.
The minigames end in under 20 seconds, which is for the best, as none of the four minigames here are particularly flashy. It comes down to grabbing strawberries in a small area before the opponents arrive, and they don’t get any more expansive.
While I love the race the most, the finale battles can be chaotic and fun too. Strawberries fall while you all fight to keep them. While this round is going on, you can attack each other with power-ups and steal strawberries from each other. Server hands will also try and grab you with tongs, while also snatching away your hard earned money.
Overall, Kirby’s Dream Buffet is a good game to buy very cheaply on the Nintendo Switch eShop. If you have a few friends who play it, you can return to it to try your Gourmet ranks and unlock new costumes in the future. But after that is said and done, I suspect this is a game that most people will play for more than a weekend.
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