* ContentLeak: About a month before ''Deluxe'' was released, a Canadian [=GameStop=] employee got ahold of [[https://i.ibb.co/NY2yxZF/Magolor-Epilogue.png the back of the game's box]], revealing the Magolor Epilogue before its official reveal in a WebVideo/NintendoDirect about a week later.
* CompletelyDifferentTitle: The original Wii version's European title is ''Kirby's Adventure Wii''.
* DevelopmentGag:
** Seeing how long it took for this game to be released, there are quite a few of these, notably [[spoiler:HR-D3 being a retooled model of the Dedede Robot from the E3 2005 trailer for the canceled [=GameCube=] game (and [[VideoGame/KirbyMassAttack Kirby Quest]]).]]
** The music from the E3 2005 trailer for the canceled [=GameCube=] game, "Road to Victory," was also used as The Arena's battle theme for this game, which itself uses a recurring leitmotif present in ''Return to Dream Land'', suggesting it was lifted from the [=GameCube=] as well. Another track, "Exploring the Cave," was later found out to have also been originally used for the [=GameCube=] game, after more footage of the E3 event surfaced.
** Several backgrounds from the [=GameCube=] iteration were used, most notably the one used for the Mid-Bosses in The Arena.
** Also from the [=GameCube=] game, it shows the ability to stack multiple players/helpers before this game uses it.
** The updated artstyle of ''Deluxe'' seems to be a reference to an early prototype of the game that had a pop-up book artstyle, [[https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/wii/kirby-dream-land/0/0/ shown in an Iwata Asks interview.]]
* DummiedOut: There are various unused data in the game, including early versions of used music or different music altogether. There's also data for two unused Super Abilities, Super Spark and Super Cutter, the former with only a single texture. The latter is mostly complete, having a fully-modeled hat and unique attack animations, but is speculated to be unused because it would have been too similar to Ultra Sword.
* MarketBasedTitle: Was [[WorkingTitle originally]] called ''Kirby [[SuperTitle64Advance Wii]]'', although the game's final Japanese title is "''Hoshi no Kirby Wii''", the European version is "''VideoGame/KirbysAdventure Wii''" and the Korean title is "''Byeol-ui Kirby Wii''". The Switch version retains the ''Kirby's Return to Dream Land'' name for the European translations, albeit with promotional material still using the ''Kirby's Adventure Wii'' name when referring to the original Wii version, in a similar manner to what happened with ''[[VideoGame/KirbySuperStar Kirby's Fun Pak]]'' and ''Kirby Super Star Ultra''.
* MilestoneCelebration: The VideoGameRemake, ''Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe'', is one of several games made to commemorate ''Kirby'''s 30th anniversary. The game acknowledges this by bringing back the Festival ability from [[VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies the previous anniversary game]].
* MovedToTheNextConsole: The game is what ultimately became of the scrapped [=GameCube=] game.
* NewbieBoom: The game's success gave rise to a new generation of ''Kirby'' fans, and even older fans consider the game to be the start of the "modern" phase of the franchise in part because of this.
* TheOtherDarrin: Dedede goes from being voiced by Creator/MasahiroSakurai to Shinya Kumazaki (who first voiced the character in ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar Ultra''), while Meta Knight goes from being voiced by Creator/AtsushiKisaichi to an anonymous HAL Laboratory staff member. They do a good job imitating their predecessors, so it can be hard to tell.
* RecycledScript: This game is essentially the gameplay of ''VideoGame/Kirby64TheCrystalShards'' merged with the plot of [[VideoGame/KirbySuperStar Milky Way Wishes]]. There are 120 energy spheres scattered throughout the game that require skill, paying attention, and/or having the right power to collect them. Two of Kirby's [[EnemyMine enemies team up with him]]. As for the plot, [[spoiler:Magolor asks you to collect the lost parts of his ship so that he can return home, then he offers to take you there. Once there, you retrieve a dangerously powerful artifact, which Magolor steals from you to rule the galaxy, and you have to stop him.]]
* RefittedForSequel:
** Trailers for the [=GameCube=] iteration of this game prominently featured a HumongousMecha in King Dedede's likeness. That mecha returns as an enemy in ''VideoGame/KirbyMassAttack''[='s=] Kirby Quest sub-game, and [[spoiler:in the final version of ''Return to Dream Land'', a similar-looking {{palette swap}}ped robot named HR-D3 appears as a surprise {{superboss}} in the Extra Mode]].
** One of the cancelled attempts to make the game before the final version is a stage that is played in full 3D. Later on, this concept is revisited in ''VideoGame/KirbyPlanetRobobot'''s "Kirby 3D Rumble" and its standalone [=eShop=] title, ''VideoGame/KirbysBlowoutBlast''. A full 3D ''Kirby'' game would finally come to fruition with ''VideoGame/KirbyAndTheForgottenLand''.
** A character designed for the [=GameCube=] iteration, [[spoiler:Morpho Knight]], was held off until making its surprise debut in ''VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies''.
* RoleReprise: Although it wasn't strictly necessary, all of the playable characters received new voice clips in ''Deluxe''; while Kirby (Creator/MakikoOhmoto) and King Dedede (Shinya Kumazaki) get new voice clips regularly, Meta Knight also has new clips from his anonymous HAL Laboratory voice actor for the first time since 2017's ''VideoGame/KirbyBattleRoyale''. For the Dress-Up Masks, Makiko Ohmoto also provides new voices for [[VideoGame/KirbyTripleDeluxe Queen Sectonia]] and [[VideoGame/KirbyPlanetRobobot Susie]] for the first time since their respective debuts (2014 and 2016).
* SavedFromDevelopmentHell: This game started as a Platform/NintendoGameCube title, was scrapped, then went through several re-imaginings until this became the final product. According to [[http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/wii/kirby-dream-land/0/0 this interview]], development started as soon as ''Kirby 64'' was completed, meaning it took ''eleven years'' for it to be released. That said, the actual game that became ''Return to Dream Land'' had a fairly brisk development time of only a year and a half, in part thanks to all the reused assets from the previous versions.
* SequelGap: Discounting spin-offs, ''Return to Dream Land'' was the first ''Kirby'' game on a console since ''VideoGame/Kirby64TheCrystalShards'', which came out 11 years prior. It was also the first ''Kirby'' game that wasn't a spin-off or remake since ''VideoGame/KirbySqueakSquad'', which came out 5 years prior.
* SwanSong: The remake was the last game developed by Vanpool, before shutting down on May 31, 2023.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** Magolor went through [[https://preview.redd.it/cvvf2xbejqz41.jpg?auto=webp&s=3e8658dee63abba2baa0ae54bad7eb9b3a5f6f0d a few concept designs]], including one where he was [[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DZwhCM9XUAE2Vcj.jpg a girl]]. Another one of these designs uncannily resembles President Haltmann from the later-released ''VideoGame/KirbyPlanetRobobot''.
** [[spoiler:The scene after beating Magolor in which the Master Crown shatters and he disappears into light was originally going to only be viewable to players who got all 120 Energy Spheres as a good ending, but [[https://web.archive.org/web/20170829071206/https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAACAAADVHkji2ulKw the developers decided they couldn't "leave Magolor's liberation from his crimes out of the main storyline."]]]]
** The [=GameCube=] version would have had new enemies/helpers such as Heat Phanphan for Fire (returning from ''VideoGame/KirbyAirRide'') and a tiny, beach ball-riding enemy for Bomb, Golems returning since ''VideoGame/KirbyAndTheAmazingMirror'' as the enemy/helper for Stone (now as {{Mighty Glacier}}s) along with Cleaning (which wouldn't return until ''VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies'') with Broom Hatter being the enemy/helper, the ability for Kirby and his allies to ride on top of each other in a tower-like fashion and Water having its look from ''Anime/KirbyRightBackAtYa'' and having the ability to spray bubbles around from his mouth and an early precursor to Pluid as the enemy/helper and Hammer gaining a miner's hat.
* WorkingTitle: It was announced under the name ''Kirby Wii'', a literal translation of the Japanese name, ''Hoshi no Kirby Wii'' (''Hoshi no Kirby'', meaning "Kirby of the Stars", is the series' Japanese name). According to [[https://kirbydevpostarchive.tumblr.com/post/164951856636/hal-laboratory-イシダ-hallaboratory-10232015-908 a Miiverse post]] from Shinya Kumazaki (via Satoshi Ishida's account), this was a truncation of the longer proposed title ''Kirby Wii: Super Friends'', the subtitle of which emphasized the super abilities and four-player co-op.
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