Kirby (character)

Kirby (カービィ, Kābī^?) is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Kirby video game series, designed by Masahiro Sakurai in 1992 and developed by Nintendo and HAL Laboratory. Since his first appearance in Kirby's Dream Land for Game Boy, he has become one of Nintendo's most popular characters, to the point of starring in more than 20 titles - mostly platforms, although also other genres—and being one of the protagonists of the Super Smash Bros saga. It has also been incorporated into a variety of products ranging from a manga to a cartoon series.

Kirby is described as a pink spherical creature that lives on the planet Pop Star. His main ability is to absorb objects and enemies to throw them in a star shape, or swallow them and copy his abilities. He is also capable of expanding his body with air to fly over the stage. Since the first installment he has had a friendly and innocent appearance, and his games have been designed with the goal that anyone could complete them regardless of their experience. prior.

Character creation

The creator of Kirby is Masahiro Sakurai, a video game designer who had started working at HAL Laboratory, a developer associated with Nintendo. Sakurai proposed making a platformer for the Game Boy that any player could complete, which gave rise to Kirby's Dream Land (1992). At first he designed a character prototype, a smiling pink sphere with shoes, which would be used in graphic simulations until the final design was found. However, those responsible for HAL liked his simplicity so much that they decided to make him the protagonist.

Kirby underwent modifications during the development of the video game. At first it was going to be called "Popopo" (ポポポ), but Shigeru Miyamoto decided to change it to "Kirby" because that name had more sound. It was also a tribute to the lawyer John Kirby, who eight years ago had defended Nintendo in the case opened by Universal City Studios for alleged copyright infringement. There were also doubts regarding the color: Sakurai always wanted the character to be pink, while Miyamoto preferred yellow. However, developer Satoru Iwata could not use colors due to the technical limitations of the Game Boy, so both on the cover of Kirby's Dream Land and in the promotion for the United States Kirby was drawn in white. Even so, pink was kept in the official illustrations and starting with Kirby's Adventure (NES, 1993) it began to be used on the covers.

Features

Physical appearance

Kirby's body is spherical, pink, with stubby arms and two red shoes. Its eyes are oval and black, and at the bottom it has two rosy cheeks. Its body is soft and flexible, allowing it to increase in size, open its mouth to absorb enemies, or inflate itself to fly. Throughout history it has been redesigned several times to give it a more tender appearance, with rounded lines and larger eyes. According to Nintendo's official biography, he is 20 centimeters tall.

Although the saga has not developed this concept in depth, Kirby is not the only one of his kind and there are similar characters in his universe. The best known example is Meta Knight.

Personality

Kirby comes from the planet Pop Star, where he lives in a dome-shaped house in the imaginary place of Dream Land. He has a positive, friendly and naive attitude, and sometimes he is characterized as having a voracious appetite. He is also someone who is brave and always willing to use his powers to help others. This pattern has been maintained in both the Kirby saga and the Super Smash Bros. saga. Despite his friendly nature, Kirby sometimes has impulsive behavior.

Kirby's main rivals are King Dedede, a gluttonous penguin who debuted as the final boss in Kirby's Dream Land, and Meta Knight, a Kirby-like character who is armed with a sword and that debuted in the first NES installment.

Kirby's dialogue is usually limited to sound effects, onomatopoeia, and the description of aspects of the game in the menu. The dubbing actress who has provided her voice since 1999 is Makiko Ōmoto; She was previously played by Mayumi Tanaka (1993) and Taeko Kawata (1994).

Skills

Kirby's main ability since the first installment of the series is to absorb objects and enemies with his mouth, and then spit them out at high speed in the shape of a star. Both his mouth and body expand to inhale objects larger than he. However, he cannot absorb too heavy things or level bosses; His only option in these situations is to use the objects on the stage as ammunition or intercept the opponent's attacks to return them. Likewise, in each level there are foods that enhance his abilities, such as the lollipop (invincibility), the tomato (life points) or the spicy curry dish (fireballs).

In addition, Kirby is capable of absorbing air to float like a balloon, flying at low speed thanks to the movement of his arms. Although in most games he can float without limit, in others like Kirby 64 he runs the risk of exhausting himself. if he does not rest first. To transport himself to other levels, he uses a star-shaped ship (Warp Star) that allows him to move at high speed.

As of Kirby's Adventure, the character is able to absorb enemies and copy their abilities. For example, if an enemy swings a sword and Kirby absorbs it, swallowing it he becomes a swordsman. Kirby can only copy one ability and to swallow another enemy he must discard the previous power. In addition, if he suffers a lot of damage the power is expelled in the shape of a star, although he can recover it if he inhales it again. The concept of skills has been expanded in later titles.

On the other hand, Kirby can call on allies that allow him to complete levels more easily. In Kirby's Dream Land 2 he could ride three animals: Rick the hamster (speed), Coo the owl (fast flight) and Kine the sunfish (swimming). And from Kirby's Dream Land 3 the cast is expanded to seven allies: one who accompanies the protagonist and can be summoned at any time (Gooey) and six auxiliaries.

There are titles in which Kirby uses a different dynamic than usual to complete his adventures. In Kirby: The Brush of Power (Nintendo DS, 2006), the player must use the touch screen to control Kirby in courses drawn with the stylus. And in Kirby's Epic Yarn(Wii, 2010) the character is unable to absorb anything because he has been transformed into a thread and is hollow, so he must transform into other objects.

Games

Kirby series

Kirby stars in a series of video games that began with the release of Kirby's Dream Land for the Game Boy in 1992. Most of the titles are platform video games in which Kirby must fight enemies, solve puzzles and challenge final bosses. However, there have also been versions of pinball (Kirby's Pinball Land, Kirby's Block Ball), golf (Kirby's;s Dream Course), mini-games (Kirby Super Star) and even a racing video game (Kirby Air Ride). Many titles rely on features typical of Nintendo game consoles, such as the use of the touch screen on Nintendo DS (The Power Brush) and Wii U (Kirby and the Rainbow Paintbrush). The most recent titles in the series are Kirby and the Forgotten Land and Kirby's Dream Buffet, both coming in 2022 for Nintendo Switch.

Kirby's appearances are not limited to his saga: he has also made a cameo in The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Game Boy, 1993).

Super Smash Bros.

In addition to his own series, Kirby is one of the protagonists of the fighting video game Super Smash Bros., also created by Masahiro Sakurai. It has been available since the first edition for Nintendo 64 and was the only option available in its saga until Super Smash Bros Brawl, when Rey Dedede and Meta Knight were also included. In the adventure mode of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Nintendo Switch, 2018), Kirby is the only character available at the start and the player has to unlock the rest of the squad.

Manga and anime

In 2001, a children's anime set in the Kirby saga was released, Hoshi no Kirby (星のカービィ, Hoshi no Kābī^?), produced by Studio Comet with direction by Sōji Yoshikawa. In total, 100 episodes were broadcast over four seasons, and the last two were released first in the United States under license from 4Kids.

In addition, several kodomo manga series have been published. The longest, Hoshi no Kirby (星のカがたり span>, DeDeDe de PuPuPu na Monogatari^?), covers 25 volumes from 1994 to 2006, written by Hirokazu Hikawa, and has sold more than 10 million copies in Japan alone.