Kirby games are relatively simple. The true challenge is in collecting all the trinkets and unlockables littered through the progressively more complicated stages. Their difficulty is based on how deep into the gameplay you really want to go, making them tremendously accessible. 

Kirby's Return to Dream Land, on the other hand, is a brutal sucker-punch of difficulty.

Return to Dream Land continues Kirby's whimsical, adorable premise, but now the emphasis is entirely on platforming. if you cannot manipulate his jumps accurately and maintain copy abilities, just making it through a level is a frustrating affair.

It's as if Kirby ate Mario and changed Dream Land's structure forever. All the unlockables remain, but they add an infuriating complexity to levels requiring the player to deftly switch from power to power while desperately trying to stay alive. Like previous games, Kirby's ability to take on the attributes of the enemies he eats helps him through in-game obstacles.

Return to Dream Land uses those abilities like keys. If you are not constantly switching powers,  Kirby may have a difficult time progressing. And since he's no longer completely immortal like he was in Epic Yarn,  if you die enough times, you're back at the beginning of the level.

This dramatic change in difficulty is okay. I like that Kirby is an actual challenge now but still a tremendous joy to play. The game rewards your efforts with one of the most gleefully maniacal changes to the series yet: super powers. Occasionally, Kirby will have the chance to eat special glowing enemies. If he absorbs their abilities, he turns into a fierce creature that destroys everything in his path. These segments often build up to unlocking extra boss fights, but I prefer to think of them as palate cleansers.

Kirby's Return to Dream Land is still a very charming game, but you can't really say it's easy. Plowing through frustrating parts ultimately rewards you with brief segments of much-needed cathartic destruction.

Without the super abilities, I think I would have broken my already stress-fractured Wii remote. And Kirby would dance his taunting little victory dance because he'd know he'd finally bested me.