Kirby's Dream Land 3/Level 2-4

White pillars jut out into the sky from the vast sea of Ripple Field. Majestic waterfalls splash down on to the many corridors of this ancient structure. With devious traps littered about and a darkened interior that hides secret passageways, this ruined building can be quite hard to navigate. Can you help a mother find her child among the many chambers of this mysterious structure?

The waterfall ruins
Right from the get go, you will face several Bukiset, knight enemies which can grant you a variety of different abilities depending on the weapon they are holding. For example, the Bukiset holding a flaming sword will give you the Burning ability. There are also waterfalls that carry you down, preventing you from jumping up high while underneath one of them. Run right to see a gap on the floor, then drop down into the water below. Swim right first to get a Health Drink, then swim left to reach the door. You will encounter some aquatic enemies called Mony along the way, but they really aren't a threat to you.

Literal trap doors
In the first short section, enter the top left door to get Chuchu, the top right door to get Nago, and the bottom door to get Kine. You will do a fair bit of swimming in this level, and Kine does give some additional help when you need to go for the Heart Star. Continue on to reach a dark hallway with huge iron balls slamming down from above. Move slowly so you don't get surprised by the falling balls, and be careful whenever you get close to a door. Most of the doors here are actually Nidoo, camouflaged enemies that take the form of doors to lure you in. Real doors are slightly lighter in color, and you can spot one toward the right end of the section.

Before you go through the light grey door which does carry you over to the next section, there is actually a hidden door here. Whenever you are in dark rooms like this, if you happen to have Kine and the Spark ability at the same time, the lightbulb attack you can use will illuminate the room, sometimes giving away the location of hidden entrances. One such entrance is located to the right of the visible door. Even without the ability combination, you can still enter it by pressing around the area where the door should be. This will take you to a secret area with tons of stars and a Maxim Tomato. Exit the secret area and go through the door to proceed to the next area.

Ascending the dark tower
Some Como dwell upon the ceiling in this chamber, so be sure to attack or evade them when they drop down from the ceiling. Once you see an opening in the ceiling, use the platforms to jump up to begin an auto-scrolling sequence upward. You must now quickly climb up the level to avoid getting crushed by the bottom border of the screen. Watch out for any paths that have collectable stars on them, as they will also have an Oro waiting to surprise you.

At the very top of the section, there appears to be one door only. However, there is a secret door that can be revealed with the Kine and Spark ability combination, around where a door should be were the area perfectly symmetrical. If you don't have the ability combination, simply press up around the left end of the area to hopefully enter the door before the screen scrolls too far up. Going through this hidden door will take you down an alternate path, one that lets you obtain the Heart Star for this level.

Mid-Boss: Captain Stitch
If you're going through this area down the normal path, all you will have to contend with is a pretty short path to the next section. However, players going down the secret path will have to ascend up a tower lined with Gordos, as well as a ton of stars at the top. Enter the door there to face the leader of the Gordos, Captain Stitch!

Captain Stitch has a really simple attack pattern, but it is completely invulnerable to attacks due to its spiky armor. However, both of its attacks remove the spikes around its body, giving you a chance to do damage to it. It will slowly move around and float if you do the same. Then, it will either launch its set of spikes at you or charge straight at you, losing its spikes when it bumps into a wall. The spikes can be inhaled and used against it if you lack a copy ability. Captain Stitch is a really simple boss, as long as you wait patiently for the window of attack. The main difficulty of the fight will likely come from the size of the room, as you have little room to move in the confined space you're fighting Captain Stitch in. Swallowing Captain Stitch gives you the Needle ability, which is necessary for getting this level's Heart Star.

Heart Star: Rescuing little Gamugael
There are two Gamugaels living together in these ruins. However, the little one was separated from its mother, kidnapped by the evil Captain Stitch. Once you've defeated the boss, you can use the Needle ability to reach Gamugael. Touch the little toad to collect it, netting you the Heart Star at the end of the level. If you didn't take the secret path to the boss fight, you won't be able to reach Gamugael at all, unfortunately.

Marching down the ruined path
No matter which path you took, both routes will converge back at this one point. You will first encounter some Kapars, which can be handy if you want the Cutter ability, then its a long swim through half of the section. There are plenty of Squishies in the water that can leap out if you choose to fly over the entire body of water. After the wide pool is the final path, with many Waddle Dees roaming about and some Pacto hanging from the ceiling. Go past them all to reach the exit door.