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Kirby (カービィ, Kābī) is a video game character created by Masahiro Sakurai. He was introduced in the Game Boy video game Kirby's Dream Land, a game developed by the video game studio HAL Laboratory. Today he is one of Nintendo's most advantageous franchises. His prosperous first appearance in video games led to the creation of a variety of sequels and spin-offs. Kirby first appeared on scene in 1992 with Dream Land and quickly garnered attention for its unique, and perhaps more-so its accessible, gameplay. Most iterations in the series are completely 2D.
Kirby is a round, eight inch pink creature that resembles a ball with stubby arms and large feet. He comes from the location known as Dream Land, and possesses the unique ability to replicate the abilities of enemies that he inhales. Kirby is capable of sucking in basic enemies with his mouth. Quite a few enemies bear unique skills such as being able to breath fire or turn into stone. After sucking an enemy in, Kirby will be able to copy these creature's powers and use them for as long as he wants until he is hit a considerable amount of time. Some enemies don't possess powers, however, and some, such as bosses, need to be defeated before you can steal their powers. Kirby was given this ability in the Nintendo Entertainment System video game Kirby's Adventure.
Series
Kirby series
First game
Kirby's Dream Land
Created by
Masahiro Sakurai
Kirby (カービィ, Kābī) is a video game character created by
History and storyEdit
An image of the first Kirby game, Kirby's Dream Land.
HAL Laboratory was developing the first Kirby game with the intention of making it a game for beginners or children. Created for the Game Boy, Kirby's Dream Land was originally known as Twinkle Popopo, and Kirby was known as Popopo. Character creator Masahiro Sakurai wanted to make Kirby pink, while Mario and Zelda series creator Shigeru Miyamoto had visualized him as yellow. Since the Game Boy couldn't render pink or yellow, Kirby's color would be visible only on promotional material and on the boxart. When Nintendo of Japan sent the video game over to America, there was no clear indication as to what color Kirby should be, so they made him white. In Japan, however, he was pink as Masahiro had wanted.
The name Popopo would eventually change to Kirby, though the exact reason for this isn't clear. There are many speculations as to this choice. Perhaps the most common one is that they named him after the company Kirby Corporation. The Kirby Corporation is best known as a manufacturer of vacuums, which, like Kirby, suck things up. Some also say that he was named after John Kirby who represented Nintendo in a heated lawsuit against Universal Studios regarding Donkey Kong. It has been said that after the original game was released, someone sent John Kirby a copy of it which gave him a good laugh. Unfortunately, no one within the team that created Kirby seems to recall how exactly he got his name.
In the original game, Kirby's nemesis King Dedede, who made himself the king of Dream Land, pillaged his kingdom's resident's food. The power which was used to create more food was likewise stolen by him. Subsequently after this, monsters started to inhabit the kingdom, and Kirby knew he had to put a stop to this mess, and travelled his home taking down a constant stream of enemies until he finally defeated King Dedede. In this game, Kirby wasn't yet granted with the ability to copy his enemies' powers. He could, however, float for an infinite amount of time and could also inhale enemies. It wouldn't be until this game's successor, Kirby's Adventure on the NES, would he gain this power.
Kirby staring at the Fountain of Dreams.
After the game became a success, it was time to make more titles for the NES and the Game Boy. Directly after the events above, Kirby sleeps at night and wakes up without having any dreams. He goes to the Fountain of Dreams to find that the Star Rod has been removed and broken into seven pieces by King Dedede. The pieces were then scattered across Dream Land. Kirby brought all the pieces together and after doing so it unleashed a creature named Nightmare that had possessed the rod. King Dedede broke it in order to stop the beast, contrary to what Kirby had originally thought. Kirby defeats Nightmare and the game ends.
Kirby had gone on many adventures, fighting foes and saving Dream Land. Story has never been the emphasis of the video games, but instead the developers have focused on trying to make the game as enjoyable as possible. Each game's story is similar to the previous one, and there's never any continuation. Over the games, Kirby has battled many foes ranging from the previously mentioned King Dedede and Knightmare to others such as Meta Knight, Dyna Blade, Marx, and more. In Kirby Super Star for the SNES, the players could participate in a wide range of different stories. There has been multiple games in which Kirby was required to take down a foe named Dark Matter, who will occasionally take over King Dedede.
Meta Knight, while sometimes an enemy, will every once and awhile attempt to save Dream Land. He once tried to save Mirror Land, though Dark Meta Knight fought and beat him before he could do so. Dark Meta Knight then attacked Kirby, which caused him to split into four different Kirbys, each with a different color. Kirby, with the help of his three counterparts, eventually saved the day when a being named Dark Mind was revealed to be controlling everything.
In Kirby Canvas Curse, Kirby is transformed into a limbless ball by a witch named Drawcia and turned the world of Dreamland into a world made entirely of paint. With the help of a magical paintbrush, Kirby manages to take down the foe using rainbow colored paths that the player creates. Despite not being able to inhale enemies, Kirby can ram into them which will cause him to replicate their powers. In Kirby Squeak Squad for the Nintendo DS, Kirby goes after a gang named the Squeak Squad.
Other gamesEdit
Kirby has appeared in more than just platformers, though the titles are generally considered spin-offs instead of entries in the main series. Like Mario, Kirby has participated in a variety of sports. In Kirby's Dream Course, for example, he plays the role of a golf ball, while in Kirby's Air Ride he races against a multitude of other characters. There were also a series of Satellaview video games in which Kirby would take the roll of a ball in different ball-based sports such as baseball, though not much is known about these titles due to their limited availability. There have been many other games that star Kirby that have been released over the years that are part of genres such as puzzles and adventures. There have also been several remakes of Kirby games too.
Super Smash Bros. seriesEdit
Kirby as he appears in the Subspace Emissary in Brawl.
Kirby has appeared in every Super Smash Bros. video game to date as a playable character. While in the Kirby series he is eight inches tall, the developers increased his size (size alteration is common for the series) so that he can manage to fight the other characters in the game. He first appeared in Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64. Super Smash Bros. was directed by Masahiro Sakurai, the same person who created Kirby. There are many similarities between the Super Smash Bros. and Kirby series, including the overall feel of the game. Kirby is a light weight fighter in all of the games. Whereas in the Kirby series the character can float in the air for as long as he wants, he has a finite amount of jumps this time around as not to overpower him. In the games Kirby can perform a wide range of attacks that he can execute in the series, such as Stone, which causes him to turn into a stone and crash back down to the stage, Final Cutter, his recovery move, and Inhale, which will cause him to suck in one of the other characters and steal their powers. Super Smash Bros. Melee introduced the Hammer move, which simply makes him swing a hammer around. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, his Final Smash was Cook, which made him bring a whole bunch of characters into a boiling pot, thus heavily damaging them and launching a bunch of recovery items around.
