First you draw a circle, then you dot the eyes, you add a great big smile, and Presto, it's Kirby!" -Kirby's Adventure opening
Kirby (カービィ, Kābī in Japan) is the main protagonist and the titular character of his own eponymous video gaming series by Nintendo. He's a small pink creature from Planet Popstar who spends his days eating, taking naps and going on adventures to save Dream Land or even Planet Popstar itself.
Why He's the Star of The Show[]
- Kirby's design, whilst somewhat simplistic, is well-made and it does a great job at making him look adorable.
- Despite how basic his facial design is, he's extremely expressive.
- Just like fellow titular protagonists Mario, Sonic and Crash, he has a flat character arc: his personality and traits go through very few, almost un-noticeable changes, but it works for him since he's meant to be pure and incorruptible.
- Kirby has many creative and cool abilities, like the iconic inhale and copy (which he can perform when he swallows an enemy with an ability), Super Abilities from Return to Dream Land, the Hypernova inhale from Triple Deluxe, the Robobot Armor from Planet Robobot, Friend Hearts from Star Allies, and more recently, the Mouthful Mode from Forgotten Land.
- In some games, Kirby can even combine two different copy abilities to create a one.
- He is one of Nintendo's classic icons next to the likes of Mario, Pikachu and Link.
- He has been featured in his own anime series, many manga publications in several countries, merchandise lines (although many of them are only released in Japan) and even his own line of cafés with absolutely adorable food themed after the franchise (also exclusive to Japan only, unfortunately).
- Makiko Ohmoto's performance is absolutely fantastic, and she still remains as the voice actor for him, even to this day.
- He has a positive attitude and helps to save the day through the use of his unique powers and abilities.
- No matter how high-stakes his adventures can get, he always puts up a brave face and remains determined.
- Similar to other Nintendo characters, he sometimes sneaks his way into other games, like in Zelda Link's Awakening, Arcana (which was also made by HAL) and Pokémon Stadium 2.
- Like a real-life kid, he's pretty playful, cheerful, full of energy and innocent.
- Over the years, he developed a great friendship with King Dedede: Kirby: Triple Deluxe's entire plot of that game revolves around him going to rescue Dedede after he was kidnapped by Taranza, but he wasn't aware of the existence of Queen Sectonia or the People of the Sky's plight, which means he just went on an adventure to save his royal friend.
Bad Qualities[]
- Kirby has been out-of-character at least twice in his games:
- He was very badly portrayed in Kirby's Avalanche/Kirby's Ghost Trap, becoming a rude and unlikable jerk, and in the first game where Kirby is portrayed in a negative light. Although, that game is non-canon since it was a reskin of Puyo Puyo.
- His portrayal in Kirby Squeak Squad is bad too, where he was totally clueless about the threat and only cared about his strawberry shortcake. Thankfully, it was only temporary and he reverted back to his normal personality in the later games.
- Due to having the mind of a child, he can be pretty gullible and inept.
Trivia[]
- Kirby was first called Popopo, and his model was created as a blob placeholder sprite during the development of what would be the first Kirby game.