Why Kirby's Dream Buffet is So Different
Channel: Video Game Story Time
Date: 2022-08-19

Kirby's Dream Buffet is the latest in a long line of oddball, bizarre Kirby spin-off titles that all fundamentally rethink the way the pink puffball controls and plays. For years, HAL Laboratory has been pumping out Kirby titles with very little connection to each other in terms of gameplay, in a seemingly never-ending line of diverse, unusual spin-offs.

Why?

Well, according to developers at HAL Laboratory, most notably longtime series overseer Shinya Kumazaki, these spin-off games are more than just an exercise in branding. They're an opportunity to train up younger developers; a space to give them the freedom to try out new game design ideas, and to practice and experiment with concepts that can then be brought back into the core Kirby platformer series.

It's a strategy that certainly seems to be working. Between Kirby's Dream Buffet and Kirby and the Forgotten Land, there's certainly a lot of Kirby goodwill in the air at the moment!

Lots of love,
BretonStripes (http://twitter.com/bretonstriped) and Kotor (http://twitter.com/kotorcomics)

Sources:

https://nintendoeverything.com/hal-laboratory-planning-for-the-next-stage-of-kirby/
https://www.gonintendo.com/archives/307009-hal-discusses-the-design-process-of-kirby-games-spin-off-titles-difficulty-and-hal
https://web.archive.org/web/20220428044659/https://nintendoeverything.com/kirby-design-director-wants-to-make-a-non-action-spin-off-says-therell-be-a-lot-of-variety-in-the-future/
https://bleedingcool.com/games/kirby-design-director-would-like-to-make-a-new-spin-off/
https://kotaku.com/approachable-yet-deep-the-designers-goal-for-new-kirby-1833970471