Kirby's Dream Land 3 is a platformer developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the SNES. It came out in North America on 17 November 1997, months before the Japanese release, Hoshi no Kābī 3, on 27 March 1998. It was the last SNES game Nintendo published in North America.
Kirby teams up with six Animal Friends, Rick, Coo, Kine, Nago, Pitch and ChuChu, and a second player, or the computer, can control his partner Gooey. The graphics have a watercolor-like style that was reused only in Kirby no Kirakira Kids from the same period.
The timing worked against it. In Japan it sold 360,000 copies, and Nintendo ran no TV commercials for Super Famicom games at the time because it was focusing on the Nintendo 64. Europe and Australia first got the game in 2009 through the Wii Virtual Console, as the North American version.12
Names and releases
| Region | Title on the box | Platform | Date | Publisher | Src |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NA | Kirby's Dream Land 3 | SNES | Nov 17, 1997 | Nintendo | 1 |
| NA | Kirby's Dream Land 3Virtual Console | Wii | Jan 5, 2009 | Nintendo | 1 |
| NA | Kirby's Dream Land 3Virtual Console; same day in Japan, Europe 25 July 2013 | Wii U | May 8, 2013 | Nintendo | 1 |
| JP | 星のカービィ3Hoshi no Kābī Surī | SNES | Mar 27, 1998 | Nintendo | 2 |
| JP | 星のカービィ3Virtual Console | Wii | Apr 28, 2009 | Nintendo | 1 |
| EU | Kirby's Dream Land 3Virtual Console, North American version; first release in PAL regions | Wii | Jul 24, 2009 | Nintendo | 1 |
| JP | 星のカービィ 20周年スペシャルコレクションCompilation, released in the West as Kirby's Dream Collection | Wii | Jul 19, 2012 | Nintendo | 2 |
| WW | Kirby's Dream Land 3Nintendo Switch Online SNES library; 5 September 2019 per English Wikipedia, 6 September in Japan | Switch | September 2019 | Nintendo | 3 |
Also known as: 星のカービィ3 JP2Hoshi no Kābī Surī JP1Kirby of the Stars 3 JP1
Box art by region
NA Kirby's Dream Land 3
Box art © its publishers, shown to identify each release. Scans: libretro-thumbnails.
Version differences
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ContentSNES (EU)
Because of problems with the PAL conversion, the SNES game was never released in Europe or Australia; those regions first got it on the Wii Virtual Console in 2009, as the North American version.1
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GraphicsVirtual Console
The Virtual Console releases change the background colors in the battle with the final boss, Zero.2
Where to play legally today
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Nintendo Switch Online Subscription
Reception
Reception was mixed, with a GameRankings average of 66% from four reviews. In Japan it sold 360,000 copies, the lowest of the non-remake Kirby action games, and IGN later ranked it 62nd among the best SNES games.1
Sources
Checked: 2026-10-13Text reviewed: 2026-10-13
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