Video Game Icons: Kirby

NOTE

I've only played everything up to Kirby 64, so I can't really say much about the newer games. But if reception of Kirby's Epic Yarn (the newest game out there when I first posted this) proves anything, the newer games are just as good. I'm just letting you guys know.

Intro

Kirby...probably the simplest name you can give one of the smallest video game heroes in history. He's pink, he inhales enemies, he spits them back out at other enemies, he copies his foes' powers, and he rides on warp stars.

Then again, he was always a simple hero.

Origins

Kirby's Dream Land originally showed up in Japanese video game magazines in 1991 under the name "Twinkle Popopo." He always had a pink body and red feet (shoes?) at the beginning, especially in video game magazine scans from that era - proof that Kirby was never white, not even in the early '90s.

Even less obvious, however, is how Kirby got his name. Some sources have told that he got his name from the Kirby Vacuum Company, but Kirby's creator Masahiro Sakurai says that he has no recollection on how Kirby got his name.

From the beginning, it was made clear that Kirby and his kind were inhabitants of Dream Land. Both then and now, however, no explanation has been given as to what species Kirby and others like him were. Twenty-plus games later, we still have no explanation...but in a way, it doesn't matter.

The Early Games

The first game to feature Kirby was Kirby's Dream Land, which came to American shoes in February of 1992 for the Nintendo Game Boy. Unlike the Kirby games that come out these days, this one was simple: Kirby couldn't copy powers; all he could do to enemies was inhale them and spit them back at other enemies in the form of stars. He could fly at the beginning, just by breathing a bunch of air and holding his breath, a seemingly simple ability which set him apart from other protagonists at the time.

Compared to future entries in the Kirby Universe, the first game was relatively easy. It still holds the record as the only game I've ever beaten the day I got it. However, it also came with an Extra Game mode that changed the appearance of some of the enemies and made the game harder, provided you know the (very simple) code that shows up when you beat the game.

The next game was Kirby's Adventure, which was released on the NES in 1993, during the sunset of the 8-bit era. Unlike just about every NES release, the game utilized a lot of data space - 6 megabits, to be exact - and took the NES's hardware to its full potential. It wasn't very showy or glitzy, even compared to the Super NES released from around this time, but it was a lot more colorful compared to other games on the NES and utilized parallax scrolling, special visual effects and even improvised 3D rotation for towers in a few stages. That last one made me stare at the screen like I was re-creating the Inglip face the first time I saw it, since I had never seen that in an 8-bit game before. It was also the first game where Kirby was not only revealed to be pink (to American games, anyway), but that he could also swallow enemies and steal their powers when the player presses Down after inhaling certain foes. Some powers, such as Beam, Parasol and Bomb would become mainstays, while other such as Tornado, Hi-Jump and UFO wouldn't show up in any other Kirby game. The game was remade on Game Boy Advance under the name Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land, and is slated to be released on the 3DS, supposedly with camera support.

1995 brought the next side-scroller entry in the Kirby universe: Kirby's Dream Land 2 for the Game Boy. This game brought us new help in the form of Rick the Hamster, Coo the Owl and Kine the Fish, who strangely have never figured into another Kirby game save for Dream Land 3. This was also the debut of Dark Matter, who would hound Kirby in other games - most notably Kirby's Dream Land 3 and Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. This was also one of the first games along with Kirby's Avalanche (a Super Nintendo Puyo Puyo clone) and Kirby's Dream Course (a Super Nintendo golf sim with Kirby as the ball) that depicted Kirby as pink instead of white on the American packaging.

Later Games, Non-Sidescrollers and Other Appearances

Kirby has appeared in many non-platformers throughout his existence. The first one was Kirby's Pinball Land for the Nintendo Game Boy in 1994. This game had Kirby acting as a ball in pinball-like worlds where he would fight other enemies in the Kirby universe, and proved that Kirby was better-suited to the pinball world than Mario, Samus Aran and - perhaps - Sonic the Hedgehog, whose Sonic Spinball was released in October of 1993, months before Kirby's Pinball Land. Since then, he's been a mascot in a Puyo Puyo clone, a golf ball, a racer, a fighter (he's been in all three Super Smash Bros. games, and he'll more than likely appear in the 3DS entry), a ball in a Breakout clone, and more.

In 1995, HAL released Kirby Super Star for the Super Nintendo, which was advertised as having eight games in one. Even though they were all short, it was the storylines as well as what you could do in each game that counted. There was Spring Breeze with its re-telling of Kirby's Dream Land, Dynablade with its simple worlds and worl map, Revenge of Meta-Knight with its dialogue running on the screen as you beat the clock, Milky Way Wishes and its interesting concept of letting you choose your power at any time (assuming you found it first), Gourmet Race and its food-gobbling races to the finish line...and quite possibly my favorite of them all, the spelunking adventures of The Great Cave Offensive. Looking for treasure, fighting bosses and riding mine carts appealed to me back then, and even though the exit to the pyramid section was right next to the pyramid, I would explore that pyramid for hours on end for no reason at all. The game also had a co-op mode that allowed Kirby to take their power and use it to create an ally with that power with a press of a button, who could then be controlled by a second player. The game has since been remade and re-released for the Nintendo DS, bringing the wonder of this game to a new generation.

The Kirby's Dream Land trilogy was completed with Kirby's Dream Land 3, released on Super Nintendo in 1997. Having come out in the twilight of the 16-bit era almost immediately after Kirby's Super Star and became what is the last first-party game ever released for the system in the West, the game has been considered underrated by some, but also brought in some great ideas that, once again, never showed up in any other game. Even though some of the things you could do in Kirby Super Star were absent, three new animal buddies along with a second player in the form of a black blob named Gooey who could do everything Kirby could and was instantly summoned in exchange for sacrificing two hit points made up for it. At least co-op wasn't out of the question: the second controller could be used to control Gooey.

In 2000, Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards was released for the Nintendo 64. Even though the graphics were in 3D, the gameplay was still entrenched in the 2D roots of the series. The big thing here was the ability to use two powers at the same time by swallowing one enemy, pulling the power out of the Kirby's stomach, and throwing it at another enemy to get a combination power-up, whether it be wielding a flaming zweihander, turning into a stone-cut version of one of the animal buddies and running into enemies, spewing volcanic rocks out of Kirby's head, they were as hilarious as they were useful.

As I admitted at the beginning, I haven't played any of the Kirby games that have come out after Kirby 64, but I'm pretty sure that everything after it is pretty interesting, especially the GT-revered Epic Yarn. Let's hope that the upcoming Wii game is just as good.