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GAMING FEATURE

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1992: Kirby’s Dream Land Game Boy A blob is born! 1993: Kirby’s Adventure NES A colourful introduction to copy abilities. 1995: Kirby’s Dream Land 2 Game Boy Kirby makes some animal friends. 1998: Kirby’s Dream Land 3 Super Nintendo Multiplayer arrives, with a pastel aesthetic. 2001: Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards Nintendo 64 Kirby gets into the 3D act, and King Dedede gets playable. 2003: Kirby’s Air Ride GameCube Time for a bit of a racing game, Kirby style! 2004: Kirby and the Amazing Mirror Game Boy Advance Kirby does Metroidvania. 2006: Kirby: Power Paintbrush DS New controls for Kirby via stylus. 2011: Kirby’s Epic Yarn Wii Kirby makes his way back to consoles. 2014: Kirby Triple Deluxe 3DS Three games in one – platform, rhythm, and fighting. 2015: Kirby and the Rainbow Paintbrush Wii U it was sequel time again! 2018: Kirby Star Allies Switch Introducing dream friends and turning enemies into pals. 2022: Kirby and the Forgotten Land Switch Kirby gets to explore like never before. 2023: Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe Switch AWii classic reborn, with subgames, four-player, and the all-new Mecha Copy! KIRBY CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

Fresh from celebrating 30 years in the entertainment business, everybody’s favourite pink glob of gaming goodness is back this month in a Switch update of the classic Kirby’s Return to Dream Land . So, what better time than now to take a wander down memory lane and look at three decades of fun with Kirby? Words Amy Flower I t was 1992 when the world first got to play PINK POWER!

with Kirby, in the side-scrolling platformer from developer HAL Laboratory, Kirby’s Dream Land – known as Kirby of the Stars in Japan. As much as we all now know and love Planet Popstar’s most famous export as a bastion of pinkness, the ever-positive young Kirby started life colourless, mainly because the original Game Boy was also resolutely monochromatic. On the initial box art, the character was just a plain white blob. But creator Masahiro Sakurai, for whom Kirby’s Dream Land was a first go at creating a game, had always intended

• Kirby’s Return to Dream Land

back in 1999 on the Nintendo 64. The field of video games hasn’t been able

Deluxe is out on Feb 24

to contain our lovable blob of pinkness though, with a

Kirby to be pink, despite Nintendo legend Mr Miyamoto wanting the little ray of sunshine to be yellow. As soon as Kirby’s world turned to colour, in 1993’s Kirby’s Adventure for the NES, pink was the order of the day. As for that rotund shape, the Kirby that we know started out as a simple placeholder before the many charms of the simple character were acknowledged and were allowed to live on. And live on Kirby has, having appeared now in more than 40 games, running the gamut from starring roles through to various spinoffs and, of course, there’s been a regular spot for the brave battler in every Super Smash Bros . release since the series debuted

starring role in the Japanese anime series Kirby: Right Back at Ya! . Over some 100 episodes, it took detours from the established gaming story, and introduced some darker themes to proceedings, but all under the watchful eye of Kirby’s creator and guardian, Sakurai. Kirby has also been the subject of several manga series. Kirby may look cute and harmless, but as all fans know the hero is also bold and courageous. As we relive some classic adventures in Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe this month, we can but wonder at what new escapades await our spherical pink popstar in the future.

SUCK ‘N’ BLOW A staple of Kirby games is his ability to inhale both enemies and objects around him, then copy their powers. The mechanic debuted in Kirby’s Dream Land as the cute little protagonist set out to defeat nasty old King Dedede to bring peace back to Dream Land.

NAMING A LEGEND Known as Popopo in development, Kirby was ultimately named in honour of American lawyer John Kirby, who won for Nintendo when Universal

City Studios sued over Donkey Kong ‘s resemblance to their King Kong in 1984.

10 FEBRUARY 2023

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