Kirby is a prominent video game series known to be manufactured by HAL Laboratory and later published by Nintendo Switch. The main story of Kirby Games revolves around the character of a pink hero who is on a mission to protect his home. This hero possesses various abilities, which include his ability to inhale enemies as well as things and use them as projectile spit material. The Kirby series is famous for being one of the top 50 best franchises for selling video games. An estimate shows almost 39 games in this series, with sales of millions.
Evolution from Kirby’s Dream Land to Forgotten Land
The game was first introduced in 1992, and with the passage of time until now, there have been a lot of improvements as well as changes. Let’s have a look at the table below to understand the sequence of Kirby’s evolution from Dream Land to Forgotten Land.
Year of release | Name of Kirby Series |
1992 | Kirby’s Dream Land & Kirby’s Adventure |
1993 | Pinball Land |
1994 | Kirby’s Dream Course & Kirby’s Avalanche |
1995 | Dream Land 2, Block Ball & Toy Box |
1996 | Super Star & Star Stacker |
1997 | Dream Land 3 |
1998 | Super Star Stacker |
2000 | The Crystal Shards |
2002 | Nightmare in Dream Land |
2003 | Air Ride |
2004 | Amazing Mirror |
2005 | Canvas Curse |
2006 | Squeak Squad |
2008 | Super Star Ultra |
2010 | Kirby’s Epic Yarn & Kirby’s Mass Attack |
2011 | Kirby’s Return to Dream Land |
2012 | Kirby’s Dream Collection |
2013 | Kirby’s Triple Deluxe |
2014 | Fighter’s Deluxe & Drum Dash Deluxe |
2015 | Rainbow Curse |
2016 | Kirby’s Planet Robobot |
2017 | Kirby’s Blowout Blast & Battle Royale |
2018 | Star Allies |
2019 | Kirby’s Extra Epic Yarn |
2019 | Super Kirby Clash |
2020 | Fighter’s 2 |
2020 | Kirby and The Forgotten Land |
2023 | Kirby’s Return to Dream Land and Deluxe |
This evolution is categorised into different eras.
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The Era of Initial Kirby Games
Kirby games, released between 1992 and 1999, fall under this category. The Kirby series began with the first game, Kirby’s Dream Land, released in 1992 for the Game Boy. It introduced Kirby’s ability to inhale enemies and objects and featured an unlockable hard mode called the “Extra Game.” The second game, Kirby’s Adventure, introduced Kirby’s ability to gain special powers called Copy Abilities when he ate certain enemies. The game was later remade in 2002 on the Game Boy Advance, titled Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land.
The series received several spin-off games, including Kirby’s Pinball Land, Kirby’s Dream Course, Kirby’s Avalanche, Kirby’s Dream Land 2, Kirby’s Block Ball, Kirby’s Toy Box, Kirby Super Star, Kirby’s Star Stacker, and Kirby’s Dream Land 3. Kirby’s Dream Land 3 was a direct sequel to Kirby’s Dream Land 2, featuring the return of Kirby’s animal friends. It had a multiplayer option, with the second player controlling Gooey, a recurring character, and Dark Matter as the antagonist. The game had a unique pastel-drawing art style and used dithering to improve visual performance.
A planned game called Kid Kirby was scheduled for release on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1995 but was cancelled due to declining mouse sales. The series continued with various spin-off games, such as Kirby’s Dream Land 2, Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, and Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land.
The Era of 3D Graphics in Kirby Games
We can categorise this era by the games released between 2000 and 2004. The Kirby series began with the release of Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards in 2000, which featured 3D graphics and a compound ability system. It directly followed Kirby’s Dream Land 3 and included three four-player minigames. The next game, Kirby Tilt ‘n’ Tumble, was one of Nintendo’s first motion-sensor-based games, with players tilting the Game Boy Color to move Kirby on the screen. The game was later cancelled due to the poor sales of Mario Family.
In 2002, Nintendo released Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land, an enhanced remake of Kirby’s Adventure for the Game Boy Advance. Kirby’s Air Ride 64 was a sequel to Kirby’s Dream Course but was cancelled for unknown reasons. The GameCube had its own original Kirby game, Kirby for Nintendo GameCube, but was cancelled due to issues with incorporating a unique multiplayer mechanic.
Kirby & the Amazing Mirror was released in 2004 on the Game Boy Advance, featuring Kirby in a Metroidvania format and an in-game phone that summons up to three additional copies of Kirby to fight enemies and solve puzzles.
The Era of Touch-Based Kirby Games
Taking a keen look at the games released in this era, we can say that the touch-based gameplay style improvement was a massive boost to the evolution process of the Kirby game series. These touch-based games were part of the 2005–2011 period.
Kirby: Canvas Curse was released on the Nintendo DS in 2005. It is a game where the player paints paths with the stylus to direct Kirby’s movement. The game revives traditional Kirby gameplay and uses touch-screen storage for items and copy abilities. Kirby Super Star Ultra was released in 2008, and we can say it’s a remake of Kirby Super Star, featuring updated graphics, pre-rendered cutscenes, and a touch-screen map. Kirby’s Epic Yarn was released in 2010.
Kirby Mass Attack, released in 2011, features multiple copies of Kirby in touch-screen-based gameplay reminiscent of games like Kirby Super Star Ultra. The series continues to evolve with new games and features.
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The Era of 2.5D Platformer Gameplay
2.5D Kirby platforming games were manufactured and made public within the years 2011–2021. Kirby’s Return to Dream Land was released in 2011, and it had the ability to allow up to four players to play simultaneously. The game featured a unique multiplayer mechanic where all players stack on each other, hold A, and release at the same time.
Kirby’s Dream Collection was released in 2012, featuring six games from the early history of the series. In 2013, Nintendo announced Kirby: Triple Deluxe, which was a new untitled original Kirby game for the Nintendo 3DS. This game included a multiplayer fighting minigame called Kirby Fighters and a rhythm-based action minigame starring King Dedede. Over 250 in-game “Keychains” were also released.
In August 2014, Kirby Fighters Deluxe and Dedede’s Drum Dash Deluxe were released. In 2015, Kirby and the Rainbow Curse was announced as a direct sequel to Kirby: Canvas Curse. In 2016, Kirby: Planet Robobot was released, featuring two new minigames, Kirby 3D Rumble and Team Kirby Clash. For Kirby’s 25th anniversary, three new Kirby games were announced: Team Kirby Clash Deluxe, Kirby’s Blowout Blast, and Kirby Battle Royale. In 2018, Nintendo unveiled Kirby Star Allies, an untitled original instalment for the Nintendo Switch.
In 2019, Epic Yarn received a remake/port on the Nintendo 3DS, and in 2019, Super Kirby Clash was released as the successor to Team Kirby Clash Deluxe. In 2020, Kirby Fighters 2 was released, expanding on the previous instalment with new game modes and an exclusive ability known as Wrestler. Without the development of these 2.5D games, the present modified form of Kirby games would have been impossible.
The Era of 3D Gameplay
This era starts from 2022 to the present day. Nintendo Direct has released three new Kirby games: Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Kirby’s Dream Buffet, and Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe. Kirby and the Forgotten Land is the first true 3D entry in the series, which was released on March 25, 2022, becoming the highest-selling game. Looking at the sales graphs of all Kirby games, this was the top-ranking game.
The evolution of Kirby games from Dream Land to Forgotten Land was not a cup of tea. It took almost 30 years for the Kirby game series to have an advanced, modified version of the older versions of the game.