Kirby
- For other uses, see Kirby (disambiguation).Missing image
Kirby_NES.PNGKirby exhaling, in the first level of Kirby's Adventure, Famicom/NES
Kirby (Japanese: カービィ Kābi) is a character in a series of video games published by Nintendo for their video game consoles and handheld video game systems over the years. He has been the star of a number of namesake games which were developed by HAL Laboratory. Kirby has also became a popular anime character in recent years.
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Overview
Kirby is a small, pink, round ball-shaped character with large feet and small arms. He is a fantasy character that was originally named Popopo, and the model was created as a blob placeholder sprite for them to use for development. After working with it for a while, Masahiro Sakura started to prefer this design over the one they originally had in mind. Kirby's color has been the source of some confusion: the box art and cartridge label of Kirby's Dream Land features Kirby as white, on account of the fact that Kirby's color had not been decided at that point. Another issue on his color is that Shigeru Miyamoto wanted to make Kirby yellow. Ultimately, Kirby's creator Masahiro Sakurai insisted upon pink. It should be noted that all three of these colors would be depicted as white on the Game Boy, the platform on which Kirby made his first appearance. In Super Smash Bros. Melee, all three colors appear as palette swaps for the character.
Kirby is an oddly heroic resident of Dream Land, which is on the planet of Popstar (alternately spelled Pop Star). The cute, peaceful residents of Dream Land often find themselves being terrorized by some form of evil creature, which Kirby must venture out to defeat.
Kirby's signature ability is to "suck up" enemies with his big mouth and swallow them, stealing their powers. Kirby games feature an enormous variety of powers to gain. Swallowing one enemy may grant him the power to shoot needles from his body; another may allow him to become a spinning wheel or a fireball. Kirby can also spit out objects that he's sucked up at high velocity to knock out enemies. Alternatively, the sucking power can be used to suck up air, allowing Kirby to fly. Note that Kirby did not have the power to steal his opponents' abilities in the original 1992 game.
In later games (starting with Kirby's Dream Land II on the Game Boy), Kirby was assisted in his quest by three animal friends, Coo the owl, Rick the hamster, and Kine the ocean sunfish.
In some later games, Kirby also gains the ability to summon computer-controlled allies to help him in battle, such as the friendly monsters from Kirby Super Star, Gooey from Kirby's Dreamland 3, or the Mirror Kirbys from Kirby and the Amazing Mirror.
Also, Kirby's ball-like form has earned him a place as the ball in a number of sports or arcade related games, such as pinball and golf.
Creation
It is said that the appearance of Kirby's character came during testing of a prototype for the Kirby game. In this phase, testers were simply viewing a block that assumed the space a later character would occupy during gameplay. Apparently, the testers fell in love with this block and decided to adopt a character around it- and thus, Kirby was born.
Other Major Characters
- King Dedede is the self-proclaimed king of Dream Land, and Kirby's main nemesis (essentially he serves as the Bowser to Kirby's Mario). He has appeared in all of the Kirby games except for Kirby and the Amazing Mirror. While not exactly evil, Dedede is quite greedy, and his penchant for stealing Dream Land's food or other resources often puts him into conflict with Kirby. He's in charge of the hordes of monsters Kirby has to fight through in each of the games, and in most games he's the boss enemy of the final normal level. Dedede has sucking powers similar to Kirby, able to inhale Kirby, spit him out, as well as inhaling air to fly around. Dedede's also quite heavy, and likes to try to jump into the air and smash down onto Kirby. He also fights with a large wooden hammer which he attempts to pound Kirby with. While he was the final enemy of the original Kirby's Dream Land, in most games after Dedede is defeated he turns out to be misguided or possessed, and a secret additional level is made available containing the real end-of-game boss monster. Dedede often helps Kirby access this secret level, usually by spitting him into space. In Kirby's Adventure, King Dedede was believe to be destroying Dream Land as an evil act, and Kirby had to find the eight pieces of the Star Rod that King Dedede broke up and gave seven of them to his allies to prevent anyone from reforming it, and keeping one of them. Kirby fought and defeated him, and while King Dedede tried his hardest to stop Kirby from putting it back in, but Kirby put it in anyway, releasing Nightmare, which King Dedede was trying to prevent. Dedede has also appeared as a helper in Kirby 64, where he could carry Kirby and break through walls. Dedede was later cast as the regular antagonist of the anime series, where he often ordered monsters from Nightmare Enterprises, believing that Kirby could lose to them and become unpopular with the Cappies.
- Meta Knight could be described as Kirby's evil twin. This masked swordsman first appears as the last boss before Dedede in Kirby's Adventure, occasionally showing up in earlier levels to sic his minions on Kirby. Meta Knight seems to prefer that Kirby duel him with a sword, as it is provided for him at the beginning of their battles, unless the player chooses to let it sit there for thirty seconds. Whenever Meta Knight is beaten, his mask falls apart to reveal his face, which looks just like that of Kirby's. The games themselves have never explained this mystery, although the closest explanation comes in the anime series, where it is revealed that Meta Knight is a Star Warrior just like Kirby.
- Gooey is apparently Kirby's best friend. He appears in Kirby's Dreamland 3, and is essentially a small blue blob of goo with a silly expression on his face. Gooey has the similar powers to Kirby (except that he licks up enemies), and a second player can take control of him while the first player controls Kirby. In a single player game, Gooey can be summoned as a computer-controlled ally. He's apparently a non-evil version of the Dark Matter, and during the game's final battle in space, Gooey's flying form is similar to the first form of the Dark Matter.
- Coo, Rick, and Kine are a hamster, owl, and sunfish team that aides Kirby in many of his later adventures, beginning with Kirby's Dreamland 2. By riding one of his animal friends, Kirby unlocks new combinations of powers determined by the specific animal friend and the enemy power Kirby is currently using. In Kirby's Star Stacker and its sequel, the player dropped them to sandwich stars and gain points. All three characters were also featured semi-regularly on the anime series, where Kine developed romantic feelings for Tiff, despite the fact that she was not a fish like him. Interestingly, in the English dub, Rick speaks with an Australian accent.
- Nago, Chu Chu, and Pitch are a cat, octopus (or a pink blob with a ribbon), and bird team that appears in Kirby's Dreamland 3 in addition to Coo, Rick, and Kine. Chu Chu's species is unknown, but many assume her to be a flapjack octopus based on her appearance. Like Coo, Rick, and Kine, Kirby can ride them and gain new variations on his enemy abilities. Unlike them, though, they did not appear in the anime series.
- Ribbon is a pink-haired fairy who appeared in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. She assisted Kirby all the way through by collecting the shards of her home planet's precious crystal after Dark Matter tries to steal it. She is noted for being as close as Kirby's ever gotten to a romantic interest. This is because at the end of the game with 100% completion, she kisses Kirby on the cheek at an award ceremony on her home planet.
- Dark Matter serves as the ultimate evil in Kirby's universe. First appearing as the secret final boss in Kirby's Dreamland 2, in most of the games he turns out to be the true final enemy. Usually manifesting as a large black ball with a single eye at its center, Dark Matter has the power to possess creatures and turn them evil (usually Dedede and his minions), and it can even mutate characters it has a particularly powerful hold over (such as Dedede in Kirby's Dreamland 3). Impervious to normal attacks, Dark Matter can only be fought if Kirby manages to collect all the pieces of the game's special magical item (such as a rainbow sword or heart rod) needed to defeat him. When fought, Dark Matter has a variety of forms, and Kirby usually fights it in a mid-air battle in outer space over Popstar. In Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards Dark Matter is known as Miracle Matter and 02 (Zero Squared) in the game's final battles. Whether or not Dark Mind is a mirror image of him, Nightmare or is some completely new villain altogether is debatable, although the form of the creature is similar to Dark Matter.
- The Cloaked Nightmare is the final boss of Kirby's Adventure, and begins the series' trend of having a boss after the defeat of King Dedede. Apparently, Nightmare infests the Fountain of Dreams in order to give the people of Dreamland nightmares, but King Dedede foils his plans by stealing the Star Rod (the Fountain's source of power). At the end of the game, Kirby defeats Dedede and restores the rod to the fountain, despite King Dedede's attempts to convince him otherwise, unwittingly releasing Nightmare. Dedede sucks up Kirby and the Star Rod, and blasts the two of them into space to fight the Nightmare. Initially, Nightmare manifests as a star-filled ball of space that fires stars at Kirby, but after Kirby and Nightmare crash on the moon, he transforms into a large-chinned, vampire-like wraith (complete with cape and horns), sometimes known as "Nightmare Wizard", for the game's final battle. In this form, he continues to fire stars at Kirby, and is only vulnerable to a Star Rod blast fired into the staticy, glowing whirlwind of energy that makes up his main body. Destroying Nightmare also blasts a decent-sized chunk out of Popstar's moon. Despite having only appeared in one game, the Nightmare was the ultimate villain of the anime, where he ran an evil monster-manufacturing corporation known as Nightmare Enterprises.
- Marx is a resident of Dreamland who is apparently of a similar pink, cloud-like species as Kirby. Marx has a very distinct appearance, with a big jester's cap, large clown shoes, and demented-looking facial features. He moves about by bouncing on a large ball. In Milky Way Wishes, the final chapter of Kirby's Super Star, Marx deceives Kirby by traveling to the artificial comet Nova, awakening him and stopping the Sun and the Moon of Pop Star from fighting with eachother (who some believe are Mr. Shine and Mr. Bright). In reality, Marx wants ultimate power, and when Kirby revives Nova, Marx knocks him out of the way before he can make a wish, and wishes to rule Popstar. Nova transforms Marx into a larger, more powerful form, and begins floating towards Popstar. The Sun and Moon join together to prevent Nova from reaching the planet, and Kirby battles Marx on a nearby planet. Marx flies around and has a variety of powerful attacks, including freezing breath, rapid-growing vines, firing cutters from his wings, firing a powerful energy beam from his mouth, and transforming into a black hole, but ultimately Kirby is able to destroy both him and Nova. After Marx makes his wish, it is speculated that Marx becomes the strongest being in the universe, even stronger than Dark Matter, although is not as big of a threat, because Dark Matter can never truly die.
- Dark Meta Knight appears in Kirby & the Amazing Mirror as the boss in Radish Ruins (one of the areas in the game) and as one of the final bosses. He is simply a mirror version of Meta Knight.
- Shadow Kirby or Dark Kirby appears in Kirby & the Amazing Mirror as a minor enemy who appears once in the areas. If you hurt him, he will leave behind an item and walk out of the screen. He is just like Kirby only black, which is similar to the look of Dark Meta Knight. In the final battle against Dark Mind, if you lost Master, Meta Knight's magical sword, Shadow Kirby throws it back to you from near the edge of the screen, then walks off again. It is later revealed that Dark Kirby is not as evil as he looks.
- Kracko appears in most Kirby games as a level (or area) boss. He is a big white cloud with an eye in the center that floats around shooting lightning and dropping Hi-Jump ability characters out of himself. In Kirby & the Amazing Mirror, he also drops raindrops, and instead of Hi-Jumps, he drops out Waddle Dees with parasols, which give the player the Parasol ability, Flamers, Burning Ability-bearing foes, an finally Twisters, whose ability is Tornado.
- Whispy Woods is a living tree known for usually being the first boss of most of the games. (Kirby & the Amazing Mirror, surprisingly, does not feature him at all, but rather a similar boss named King Golem.) Whispy's method of attack is shooting puffs of air and dropping apples, the latter of which Kirby can spit at him. Interestingly, the anime portrayed him as a good guy and leader of a whole forest of living trees whom Dedede often tried to destroy in order to build a golf course. (These particular episodes are thought by many American viewers as very boring episodes.)
- Lololo & Lalala are the brother and sister duo who originally appeared as the stars of the Adventures of Lolo game trilogy that HAL had produced for the NES, ahtough they seem to have turned bad. Their first Kirby-related appearance was in the second boss battle of Kirby's Dream Land. However, the anime reached back to their former good guy status and featured them as confidants to Kirby. It also revealed that they were formerly a wimpy Nightmare-created monster named Lola, who was later split into two by a more powerful monster named Slice 'n Splice. Strangely, the English dub changed their names to Fololo & Falala, most likely because their original form, whose name would be changed to Fofa, had a rather feminine name despite clearly being a male.
- Kaboola is a large blimp holding a Shotzo. Kirby fought this machine with an item that gave him infinite flight, and he attacked Kaboola with puffs of air from his mouth.
- Buggzy is a large beetle monster that is commonly found in Kirby games. It has the ability to fly up into the air and slowly hover down onto Kirby, shoot out small beetle creatures that go towards Kirby, and can fly across the ground and grab Kirby, flipping him over. Sucking Buggzy up results in getting the Suplex move, which allows you to pick up and flip/throw enemies around. Appears in the anime as a Monster.
- Chef Kawasaki first appeared as a mini-boss in Kirby Super Star, and his method of attacks were themed to his occupation. By eating him, you gain the Cook power. Using the Cook power will cause any enemy or item to go into a pot, and after some cooking, they turn into food. The anime series featured him as Cappy Town's resident chef, and a rather unsuccessful one at that.
- Cappies originally appeared as weak enemies wearing mushroom tops over their heads. In the anime series, though, they were citizens of a town not far from Dedede's Castle.
Anime-Only Characters
These particular characters were only featured in the anime series Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, and have not appeared in any games to date.
- Tiff (Fumu in Japan) is the show's lead female character, and Kirby's biggest supporter, always trying to help him in his battles. She is usually the only one to show any suspicion about Dedede's plots, but in spite of her record on how many times she's right, the Cappies usually don't believe her until it's too late. Because of this, Tiff is often classified by viewers as the actual main character of the show, similar in character to Chris Thorndyke on Sonic X.
- Tuff (Bun in Japan), Tiff's little brother, was also exclusive to the anime (and in serious need of a haircut). Although he was also among Kirby's best friends, he could be more easily brainwashed by Dedede's schemes. Interestingly, his design seems based on the archer-like Yaban enemy drones seen in Kirby's Dream Land 3.
- Tokkori is a grouchy bird who dominates Kirby's house and blames most of his troubles on Kirby.
- Escargoon (Dr. Escargon in Japan), a commentative snail, is Dedede's sidekick, and usually accompanies the king wherever he goes. Despite being continually attacked by Dedede's mallet, Escargoon manages to keep his job around there. He is also quite smart, as he has been shown being able to develop a formula that can turn anything into a monster. (Why exactly Dedede doesn't use it more often rather than keep running up his Nightmare Enterprises bill is unexplainable.) Escargoon seems to have feelings for King Dedede, though most of this is cut from the dub.
- Salesguy (Customer Service in Japan) is Nightmare's employee, and as his name suggests, he sells the monsters his boss creates. Dedede is only able to speak with this character via videophone and is often ordering monsters that Salesguy sends to him. In the final episodes, it is revealed that Salesguy is actually about as short as Kirby.
Dream Land monsters
Boss monsters
While the various Kirby games tend to have original and creative boss monsters, there are a number of them that have incarnations in a variety of Kirby games. Following are a few of these recurrent bosses:
Kirby's Dreamland
- Whispy Woods - a tree that blows clouds and causes apples to fall.
- Lololo and Lalala - Apparently "bad" varations of Lolo and Lala, the heroes from The Adventures of Lolo.
- Kaboola - a huge blimp with a Shotzo mounted onto it.
- King Dedede - a greedy fat penguin who has proclaimed himself king of Dreamland.
Kirby's Adventure
- Whispy Woods - [see above]
- Paint Roller - a spheric rollerblading artist whose creations come to life.
- Mr. Shine and Mr. Bright - a sun and moon figure that cooperate.
- Kracko - an eye in a cloud, that shoots lightning bolts as well as drops Waddle Doos, Starmen, Twisters, or Flamers.
- Heavy Mole - a mining robot that shoots out Dyclops, missiles bearing the Hammer or Sleep abilities.
- Meta Knight - A mysterious cloaked knight who, when unmasked, looks a lot like Kirby.
Powers
As previously stated, Kirby's signature move is to suck up enemies and steal their powers after swallowing them. The following is a list of powers that Kirby has been able to get over the years.
- Angel - Kirby dons a halo, wings, and a bow complete with heart-tipped arrows. He can float and charge his bow to fire multiple arrows.
- Backdrop - With Fighter Kirby's bandana, Backdrop Kirby can inhale or dash towards an enemy to capture it. Then, he can execute a variete of moves to beat up his foe.
- Ball - Ball Kirby, with a rather odd cap, bounces around with near invincibliity.
- Beam - Masahiro Sakurai's favorite, Beam Kirby wears a jester's hat and whips out a beam from his hand. His other moves include the Capture Beam (a throw move) and the Charge Beam. Given to him by Waddle Doo.
- Bomb - Bomb Kirby, with the Poppy Brothers' hat, merrily pelts explosives at his foes. Given to him by Poppy Bros. Jr. and Poppy Bros. Sr.
- Burn
- Burning - Also known as Fireball, Burning Kirby dons a fiery cap and flaming arm bands. He can ram straightforeward in midair for a short distance.
- Cleaning - A Kirby's Dreamland 3 exclusive ability, Cleaning varied depending on the partner you use. The standard form is simply a broom.
- Cook
- Copy
- Crash
- Curling Stone
- Cutter
- Double Cutter
- Double Fireball
- Double ice
- Double Needle
- Double Spark
- Double Stone
- Dynamite
- Electric Rock
- Electricity
- Exploding Gordo
- Exploding Snowman
- Fighter
- Fire
- Fire Starter
- Fire Sword
- Fireball
- Fireworks
- Flame Thrower
- Freeze
- Hammer
- High Jump
- Ice
- Ice Skating
- Jet
- Laser
- Light
- Light Bulb Blast
- Light Saber
- Magic
- Master
- Melting Ice Cube
- Mike
- Minimum
- Mirror
- Missile
- Needle
- Needle Gun
- Ninja
- Ninja Bombs
- Paint
- Parasol
- Plasma
- Power Drill
- Refrigerator
- Sleep
- Smash Bros.
- Snare
- Snowflake
- Spark
- Spike
- Star Rod
- Stone
- Stone Friends
- Suplex
- Sword
- Throw
- Tornado
- UFO
- Volcano
- Wheel
- Wing
- Yo-Yo
Games
Kirby:_Nightmare_in_Dream_Land.jpeg
Below are the games in which Kirby appears as the main protagonist, sorted by their US release date when available. All games were released for Nintendo gaming systems only:
- Kirby's Dream Land (1992 - Game Boy)
- Kirby's Pinball Land (1993 - Game Boy)
- Kirby's Adventure (1993 - Famicom/Nintendo Entertainment System)
- Kirby's Dream Course (1994 - Super Famicom/Super Nintendo)
- Kirby's Dream Land 2 (1995 - Game Boy)
- Kirby's Block Ball (1995 - Game Boy)
- Kirby's Avalanche (1995 - Kirby's Ghost Trap in Europe, Super Nintendo)
- Kirby Super Star (1996 - Super Famicom/Super Nintendo)
- Kirby's Star Stacker (1997 - Game Boy)
- Kirby's Dream Land 3 (1998 - Super Famicom/Super Nintendo)
- Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (2000 - Nintendo 64)
- Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble (2001 - Game Boy Color)
- Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land (2002 - Game Boy Advance) (an enhanced remake of Kirby's Adventure)
- Kirby Air Ride (2003 - GameCube)
- Kirby and the Amazing Mirror (2004 - Game Boy Advance)
- Kirby: Canvas Curse (2005 - Nintendo DS)
- Kirby Adventure GCN (Tentative Title) (Nintendo GameCube)
- BS Kirby no Omotya Bako Baseball (Satellaview, Super Famicom, Japan only)
- Kirby Super Star Stacker (Kirby No Kirra Kids, Super Famicom, Japan only)
Kirby is a playable character available at the start of both Super Smash games:
- Super Smash Bros. (1999 - Nintendo 64)
- Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001 - Nintendo GameCube)
Kirby has also made cameo appearances in other Nintendo games, such as The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening.
Anime and manga
Kirby stars in his own anime titled Hoshi no Kaabii ("Kirby of the Stars"). It is currently licensed in North America by 4Kids under the title Kirby: Right Back at Ya! and it aired on 4Kids TV, formerly the Fox Box (since 2002, heading to its final episodes), via Chubu-Nippon Broadcasting (since 2001 which has done 100 episodes). It is produced by Nintendo and HAL Laboratories.
Kirby also starred in his own manga series, which was never released outside Japan and is virtually unknown among English-speakers.
External links
- Kirby's "official" U.S. homepage
- Kirby's "official" Japanese homepage
- Kirby's Rainbow Resort (fan site)
- Tv Tome - Kirby: Right Back at Ya!