Mouthful Mode is the Copy Ability I Didn’t Know We Needed in Kirby

Kirby and the Forgotten Land has quickly become one of my favourite Nintendo Switch games, and that’s actually pretty crazy because I’ve NEVER been a Kirby fan. Don’t play the games, don’t use him Smash…just…don’t! But Lochlan REALLY wanted Kirby on the Nintendo Switch so we picked it up, and so far I’m incredibly impressed, especially with Mouthful Mode.

Sure, all of Kirby’s copy abilities are pretty cool. Who doesn’t want to have a flamethrower for a mouth, or slash enemies with a giant sword courtesy of Meta Knight, or turn themselves into a ticking time bomb! But it wasn’t those standard abilities that made this game feel so unique, but was rather the new addition to the franchise – Mouthful Mode. When I initially saw Mouthful Mode, I think Nintendo introduced us to the car (cool) and the pylon (lame). Turns out, the pylon was actually cool, as was the glider, the soda machine, the wind blowing circle, the pipe, and more. I think Mouthful Mode has transformed the franchise and makes level design in Kirby and the Forgotten Land so good.

Ultimately, the car and glider were my favourites. Rushing through timed races with the car, or avoiding traps, falling beams, and fireballs with the glider, was such a blast, and kept me coming back and finding secrets that might be hidden. I actually wish instead of giving us some lackluster mini-games in Waddle Dee Town, that Nintendo doubled down on the use of these modes to give us racing and gliding options around the town.

I’m glad that Nintendo made all the Mouthful Mode abilities fun to use. While the Pipe and Lift Car are the least impressive of them all, they are used sparsely but well which makes them perfectly OK in my opinion. Too much, and it would have been a bit of a let down. But that is where else the development team shines – they didn’t overuse the abilities, which probably was tempting to do!

If you haven’t picked up Kirby and the Forgotten Land yet, give it a go! It is definitely worth it!