6 Crafty Kirby facts

Today we are taking a closer look at our favourite pink ability copying puff. Making his debut in 1992 on the Game Boy, Kirby has gone on to become one of Nintendo’s most iconic characters and has starred in 24 of his own games. Let’s not forget that he has been a Smash bros staple since day one too! So sit back, prepare for cuteness and Letsa Go as we explore 6 epic Kirby facts!

Number 6

Over the life time of the Kirby series there have been games that had started development but then were abandoned.

One of these titles is “Kirby Tilt ‘n’ Tumble 2” which would have been a sequel to the first game and was even announced at Nintendo Spaceworld 2001. Despite being a GameCube title, the game was set to use a Game Boy Advance as a controller via a link cable and a special game cartridge that had motion sensors; this would allow the player to control Kirby by tilting the handheld in the direction you wanted to roll. In 2002 however development for the game changed. Kirby was removed and the title became “Roll-o-Rama”, which eventually was cancelled too.

In fact over an 11 year gap between home console releases after the Crystal Shards on the 64, there were 3 Kirby games that were being developed but never were released, these have now become known as “the 3 lost Kirby games”.

The first of these 3 lost games was a 3D platformer unofficially named “Kirby GCN” or sometimes “Kirby Adventure”, This game was even shown at E3 and would have seen four-person simultaneous gameplay if it all worked out.

The second game was a more challenging experiment which put Kirby in a 3D space and allowed players to freely move around.

The third game was an animated 2D pop up book styled game which would have supposedly renewed and powered up the copy abilities. Apparently all 3 of these lost Kirby games didn’t meet the quality standards of Nintendo which lead to them being scrapped.

Number 5

Even though Kirby can pack a mean punch in Smash bros I’m not sure I would exactly describe him as being “tough”. This happens to be what Nintendo America thinks a Western audience wants out of a floating pink puff though! If you compare the Japanese boxart to the American releases, it becomes evident that Kirby is a lot angrier in the west. During an interview with Gamespot, director of Kirby: Triple Deluxe, Shinya Kumazaki revealed that this all comes down to regional marketing. He went on to say that in Japan “The most powerful image of Kirby is that cute image, we think that’s the one that appeals to the widest audience.” Kumazaki then added that he had heard from Nintendo of America the “…strong, tough Kirby that’s really battling hard is a more appealing sign of Kirby, so that’s what we feature in the US.”

Number 4

A neat little insight into the origin of Kirby’s name here at number 4. During an interview with the official Nintendo Magazine, Shigeru Miyamoto confirmed that Kirby was named after John Kirby, an American Lawyer who successfully defended Nintendo in the Universal City Studios v. Nintendo case of 1984 when they were sued for a likeness between Donkey Kong and King Kong.

Number 3

Back in 2012, Nintendo organized an event in Seattle at Pax Prime to attempt a Guinness World Record. As Part of Kirby’s 20^th anniversary they managed to assemble 536 Kirby fans to take on the World Record for most people blowing bubble gum simultaneously. Since it was Kirby themed Nintendo even gave out Kirby t-shirts and printed Kirby Themed bubble blowing instructions to ensure the group would comply with the strict Guinness World Record rules!

They did manage to beat the previous world record of 304 participants, however this record has since been beaten again by ChupaChups in Spain, where they managed to collect 737 people in 2014 to perform the feat. No Kirby though.

Number 2

Kirby’s design that we know and love today was originally only a place holder character that was meant to be replaced. Popopo was originally planned as the protagonist to parallel Dedede, and the series would have been called Twinkle Popo. Thankfully there were some issues making the in game sprite work correctly which lead then 19 year old creator Masahiro Sakurai to grow more and more fond of his placeholder character that is now Kirby.

Popopo never made it into any games himself, but he did make a cameo in Kirby’s Dream collection’s celebration book which describes the original ideas for Kirby’s Dream land in which Popopo would have starred.

Number 1

There was some debate at Nintendo as to what colour Kirby would actually be, especially since he debuted on the Game Boy. Miyamoto originally wanted Kirby to be yellow whilst Sakurai was a fan of Kirby being pink. Obviously Sakurai got his way in the end but Miyamoto’s input wasn’t forgotten either! Often when there is a second Kirby playing in games like smash bros or Kirby air ride, the default colour given for the second player is yellow.

This colour choice indecision is most apparent on the box art of the debut classic Kirby’s Dream land. When this game was released the colour choice still wasn’t made so Nintendo’s art department made him white to work with the greyscale graphics of the game boy to play it safe.

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