The variety of mini-games, which increases as you rank up, is a nice way to break up the races, but they’re overly simple, empty-calorie competitions. While there are different race layouts and designs, it’s a relatively uncomplicated romp through powdery and sugary locales. (I asked others playing the game and my experiences might be rare, but it’s still concerning for the future of a game so focused on online play.) The moment-to-moment gameplay is cute, but it does wear thin rather quickly. I suspect a lot of my matches had computer-controlled characters to round out the four-player games, though I could not prove this for certain. Online is a different story, where all players can customize their characters, but it’s alarming that hopping into a match took a while about two weeks after launch. It’s a shame that local multiplayer is handicapped with only one player having any degree of wide customization. A wealth of those items are different colors and adornments for your rolling Kirby ball to wear during matches. As you play, you level up your rank and unlock a variety of items and collectables. The split-screen is fun, but the second player has no customization ability, which is part of the overall charm. Locally, you can play in split-screen with one other player, while online competitions feature up to four total players competing.

The focus is on multiplayer, though the game can be fully experienced by yourself offline if you so choose. It’s a novel idea that starts to crumble along the way as this game aims to satisfy many types of players but doesn’t seem to hold their attention along the way.

While past spinoffs have touched on rhythm games and even Monster Hunter, Dream Buffet sets its sights on a Fall Guys-esque structure that pits rounded rolling Kirbys against each other in cake races and food-centric mini-game battles. Forgotten Land is up there with the best Kirby adventures ever, whereas Dream Buffet is the latest in a line of adorable download-only Kirby spinoffs that riffs on a familiar concept through the lens of a pink puffball.

Following up on the excellent Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Kirby’s Dream Buffet might be a bit of a sugar crash.

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