Four Adventurers: Cookie Country
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"Four Adventurers: Cookie Country", also simply known as "Cookie Country",[2] is the title theme of Kirby's Return to Dream Land, as well as the theme for the Cookie Country level hub. It was composed by Hirokazu Ando.[1]
Composition[edit]
"Four Adventurers: Cookie Country" is an optimistic and resolute theme in F major and 4/4. It starts with a triumphant cadence setting the key, followed by a lively syncopated beat and a harp glissando. The main motif is made up of perfect consonances, starting with a quick falling fourth, then rise up the same fourth and a fifth forming a rising octave together, and the same octave now falling. The melody is performed twice by trumpets while backed by a flute and xylophone. The second section features a narrower and sweeter rising violin passage, to an extent foreshadowing the motif of "Halcandra: A New Enemy", and after playing twice, it makes way for the third section. Softer in volume, it features a quicker major variant of "Road to Victory", initially mirroring the opening cutscene "A Visitor from Afar", and then ending with rising harmonic functions. The track then loops from the syncopated beat.
Game appearances[edit]
Kirby's Return to Dream Land / Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe[edit]
In Kirby's Return to Dream Land and its remake, "Four Adventurers: Cookie Country" plays at the title screen, as well as in the level hub of Cookie Country.
Additionally, the theme's motif is featured in various tracks in the game:
- "The Adventure Begins" and "Limitless Power" – motif-carrying themes, coupling "Foud Adventurer: Cookie Country" with their motif in the second and foirth sections.
- "Time for the Results" and "The Victor Shines" – calmer versions of the first section mixed with "Kirby's Triumphant Return".
- "Crow in the Shadows" – features a diminished variant as its melody and a minor iteration in the quiet second section.
- "Dangerous Dinner" – minor variant of "Four Adventurers: Cookie Country" with "The Adventure Begins" instead of the second section.
- "Fly, Kirby!" – derived primarily from "Green Greens", features a minor version of the "Four Adventurers: Cookie Country" motif most clearly in its second section.
- "C-R-O-W-N-E-D" – features the motif alongside "Magolor, the Far-Flung Traveler" and "Road to Victory" in the second section.
- Cutscene themes: "A Visitor from Afar", "Halcandra: A New Enemy" (in its second variant from "A Visitor from Afar"), "Let Me Explain Everything", "Each to His Own World", and "Return to Dream Land".
The motif's influence can also be heard in less directly derived themes such as "Seabed Diving" and "Once Cleared, the Fun Begins".
Finally, Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe features new themes including the motif. These include:
- "Judgment of the Malus Pumila" – references the second "Four Adventurers: Cookie Country" iteration of "A Visitor from Afar".
- "Magolor's Tome Trackers - Title" – a major variant of "Let Me Explain Everything".
- "The Merry, Magical World of Magolor!" – includes the motif in the intro, as well as the "Let Me Explain Everything"/"Return to Dream Land" variant
- "Crossing into the Parallel with You" – played by a cello in the background during the "Road to Victory" segment, and by trumpets in the "Each to His Own World" segment.
- "Supreme Ruler's Coronation - OVERLORD" – primarily reused from Kirby Star Allies, features both "Dangerous Dinner" and the "C-R-O-W-N-E-D" version.
Kirby: Triple Deluxe[edit]
In Kirby: Triple Deluxe, the original version of the theme is reused in the secret room of Royal Road - Stage 8 EX.
Kirby Star Allies[edit]
In Kirby Star Allies, a slow-paced acoustic arrangement of the theme is used for Magolor's pseudo-HAL Room in Guest Star Magolor - Best Friends Forever. The notable difference is the addition of "Magolor, the Far-Flung Traveler" in the middle section. This version is titled 4人の仲間と:クッキーカントリー/スターアライズ アレンジ ver. (Four Adventurers: Cookie Country / Star Allies Arrange ver.) on Kirby Star Allies: The Original Soundtrack, and was arranged by Yuuta Ogasawara.
Other appearances[edit]
In addition to the original track, the Kirby Wii Music Selection features a medley of "Four Adventurers: Cookie Country", "Magolor, the Far-Flung Traveler" (as heard in the New Challenge Stages), "Green Greens" and "The Adventure Begins" titled ボーナストラック:4人の仲間と彼方からの旅人 (Bonus Track: Four Adventurers and the Far-Flung Traveler). The most notable difference is the change of the key from F major to A major in the first iteration, together with the use of bells simultaneously playing "The Adventure Begins", followed by the portion of "A Visitor from Afar" containing the "Four Adventurers: Cookie Country" motif, again succeeded by its original version with yet another brief addition of bells.
The original track is also present in the Kirby's Dream Collection Special Edition Compilation Soundtrack, where it is named in English as simply "Cookie Country".
Names in other languages[edit]
Language | Name | Meaning |
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Japanese | 4人の仲間と:クッキーカントリー yonin no nakama to: kukkī kantorī |
With 4 Friends: Cookie Country |
Traditional Chinese | 和同伴4人:蒼綠村鄉 hé tóngbàn sì rén: cāng lǜ cūn xiāng |
With 4 Friends: Verdant Countryside |
Simplified Chinese | 和同伴4人:苍绿村乡 hé tóngbàn sì rén: cāng lǜ cūn xiāng | |
Dutch | Vier avonturiers: Puddingprairie | Four adventurers: Pudding prairie |
Canadian French | Quatre aventuriers : Prairie paisible | Four adventurers: Peaceful Prairie |
European French | Quatre aventuriers : Prairie Paisible | Four adventurers: Peaceful Prairie |
German | Vier Abenteurer: Keks-Kulisse | Four Adventurers: Cookie Scenery |
Italian | Quattro avventurieri: Bosco Biscotto | Four adventurers: Cookie Woodlands |
Korean | 4명의 동료와: 쿠키 초원 samyeong-ui donglyowa: kuki chowon |
With 4 Friends: Cookie Grassland |
Portuguese | Quatro aventureiros: Campos Churros | Four adventurers: Churros Fields |
Latin American Spanish | Cuatro aventureros en la Campiña Caramelo | Four adventurers in the Caramel Countryside |
European Spanish | Cuatro aventureros en las Praderas Piruleta | Four adventurers in the Lollipop Prairies |
References
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