It’s been a busy year and a half for Kirby fans. Kirby and the Forgot Land, Kirby’s Dream Buffet and Kirby’s Return To Dreamland Deluxe were all released during this period. One of those games, Kirby’s Return To Dreamland Deluxe, was particularly interesting. Not only did the game have additional content, but the graphics were somewhat unique. You may have noticed that in the game the characters have outlines around them.
Well, thanks to Nintendo Dream’s interview with CEO Shinya Kumazaki, director Yutaka Watanabe, and coordinator Kenta Nakanishi, we now know why. In an interview, translated by Nintendo Everything, the developers talked about it, revealing that it’s something they’ve been thinking about a lot. Even after they decided to do this, they were cautious about it and, according to Kumazaki, “we certainly kept reiterating the idea of adding outlines to make sure the finished look was natural and still beautiful.”
There were actually several reasons for the outlines. Kumazaki said they “wanted to differentiate it from the Kirby 3DS games at the time. Kirby Triple Deluxe and Kirby: Planet Robobot,” and that “we thought we had to do something about visibility. So we considered the theme ‘even if four people are playing, you won’t lose sight of your character’”.
