2022 will be a banner year Kirby Franchise. Not only did it celebrate the 30th anniversary of one of the best-selling Game Boy games of all time, but the series also launched its first full 3D mainline game, Kirby and the Forgotten Land.
Needless to say, the first use of 3D in a series that has been around for three decades is a big deal. As a Kirby fan since the first game, I wasn’t ashamed to say I was like Max at the end of Kirby Superstar Ultra when I finally saw my precious pink boy moving in beautiful 3D, HD space. Divided into two.
However, considering that developers HAL Labs have been wanting to bring Kirby into 3D space for years, it’s actually a much bigger thing. In fact, Kirby and the Forgotten Land is the culmination of more than 15 years of hard work that has finally come to fruition.
But that’s not to say the series hasn’t dabbled in 3D before. Back in the mid-’90s, when Nintendo was preparing to launch the Nintendo 64, it should come as no surprise to anyone that HAL Labs was ready to make the leap from 2D. Their first system game is tentatively titled Kirby Bowl 64 and features Kirby rolling in a 3D checkerboard landscape, occasionally jumping on skis.
The game’s concept was gradually adapted into a project called Kirby’s Air Ride, in which Kirby and many other familiar series characters compete against each other in colorful environments. While it was a good idea, the game didn’t get the popularity Nintendo wanted and was dropped from the Nintendo 64 release schedule after what was apparently a very long (and very quiet) development period.
In its place is Kirby’s real Nintendo 64 debut: Kirby 64: Crystal Shard. In a confusing twist, the title goes down the safe path with a 2.5D gameplay style rather than full 3D. Fans — or at least my kids themselves — can’t help but wonder why HAL Labs didn’t allow Kirby to take full advantage of the Nintendo 64’s capabilities. We want to see that pink meat ball from every angle! We’d love to see Kirby devour something in all three dimensions! Get him out of his 2D prison!
Even a generational shift can leave Kirby in trouble. Nintendo’s next home console, the GameCube, once again offers very little on the Kirby front. However, one version it does see is very important. Kirby’s Air Ride Witness the revival of victory – wait for it – Kirby Air Ride. As its N64 version started to do, it’s proud to showcase the first true 3D gameplay in the series.
“In Kirby Air Ride, there’s a mode called City Trial where players race around large 3D urban areas on Air Ride Machines,” Kirby series director Shinya Kumazaki told iGamesNews in 2014. “It definitely shows how good it is. Kirby-style action combined with a 3D environment, so I think [a full 3D Kirby game is] Given Kirby’s abilities, of course it’s possible! “
A possibility, of course, but one that, despite HAL Labs’ best efforts, won’t materialize for years to come.
In the GameCube era, the Kirby series had a rough time. While Kirby Air Ride is undoubtedly a delightful subtitle, 11 years would have passed without a mainline Kirby console game. Sure, we have The Curse of the Kirby Canvas and The Kirby Scream Squad, but those spinoffs didn’t quite appeal to kids of all ages craving more Kirby content.
Fans have wondered why this is happening for years, but the answer finally surfaced a few years ago during a question-and-answer session with Iwata, in which late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata will join forces from various franchises The developers of the operating rights conduct extensive behind-the-scenes communications. – Live interviews. It was revealed that immediately after finishing Kirby 64, HAL Labs tried all sorts of different ideas for the next mainline game: a traditional 2D game, another 2D game stylized like a pop-up book… yes, one even Features full 3D Kirby gameplay.
However, no matter how the studio tried, none of the three experimental games made it to the point of full release. It’s been a full decade of dead ends for the next big Kirby game. Speaking of the 3D title, Shigefumi Kawase (current president of HAL Labs) called it “an extremely challenging gameplay experiment that places Kirby in a 3D space and allows the player to move freely. But unfortunately, we couldn’t achieve that The quality we hoped for, and it was never done.” Later in the interview, he added: “We want to get it out when the fans want it, but the movement doesn’t feel right, or we want to surprise the fans more, we Can’t get it out. Final form. We’ve had 11 years of hardship.”
So when Kirby finally saw a return to home consoles in 2011’s Kirby’s Adventure Wii (known in the West as Kirby’s Return to Dream Land), they again stuck to the 2D style that worked so well for the previous work.
HAL Labs isn’t about to give up, though. Kirby released regularly in the 2010s, but the games all have a similar 2D style. However, these games offer multiple opportunities to experiment with Kirby in 3D in their own little ways and find something that will eventually click. The seeds were originally sown in the aptly named Kirby 3D Rumble, a mini-game in 2016’s Kirby: Planet Robobot.
The gameplay is simple — move Kirby around in 3D space, suck up enemies, and shoot at other enemies — but elegantly demonstrates how Kirby’s gameplay translates into 3D correctly. Whether or not HAL Labs found the results of their latest experiment encouraging, who’s to say, but anyway, the concept proved popular enough to warrant a budget standalone release a year later: Kirby’s Blowout Blast, with larger levels and Expanded gameplay.
In 2018’s Kirby Battle Royale, things went a step further, answering a long-standing question: “What if you had a bunch of Kirbys knocking each other out with 3D replication?” in these experimental games Each of these pushes the boundaries of the Kirby game, but the big leap is still years away.
This naturally brings us to today, and the next logical step in the Kirby series. The announcement of Kirby and the Forgotten Land, it’s been a long time since the video game community was excited and excited to see Kirby’s first true full 3D adventure. Looking back at how far the series has come — and how much blood, sweat and tears Hal’s lab has shed — reaching this point makes the March 25 release all the more triumphant.
We just hope it ends up being a decent, satisfying product and one that you can actually get into—after all, Kirby deserves it.
