Kirby's Return to Dreamland is the 12th platforming installment in the series, and the first traditional Kirby platformer released in a decade after Kirby 64. The starship Lor Starcutter crash-lands on planet Popstar, and the extraterrestrial captain Magolor promises Kirby and friends a trip to his homeworld if they will help him find the scattered pieces of his ship in order to rebuild it. Like many Kirby antagonists before him, Magolor's true motives turn out to be nefarious, resulting in the Kirby gang once again fighting to save their galaxy.

Kirby's Return to Dreamland plays like a traditional Kirby game, seeing Kirby platforming through the game's 8 levels and inhaling foes to gain their powers. Elomavi flies through the game at incredible speed using the Wing copy ability's various fast-moving special moves (especially Condor Head). There is also a lot of flapping involved.

The author's commentary for the run is available in all of the encodes of the movie.