Kirby

Kirby's 2D Appearance

**Kirby** is the titular pink puff and main protagonist of Nintendo's *Kirby* series of video games. He made his debut appearance in 1992, starring in *Kirby's Dream Land*.

The series has been running for three decades, and over thirty titles have been released under Kirby's name, most of which are developed by HAL Laboratory, Inc. or published by HAL for co-developing studios.

Kirby has been featured in his own anime series, many manga publications in several countries, comics in numerous countries, and even an educational video co-starring Mario. The *Kirby* series is frequently merchandised by Nintendo, although most of its products are only released in Japan.

Kirby lives in his dome-shaped home in Dream Land, a country on his home planet Planet Popstar. His adventures take him throughout Dream Land and occasionally into local star systems for various reasons, and he has saved his homeland, and even the universe, many times.

## History

### Conception

 — Introduction • Kirby's Adventure

Kirby was conceived by Masahiro Sakurai, a video game designer then under HAL Laboratory's employment when designing a game for Nintendo's Game Boy. He was originally created as a blob placeholder sprite for the game, originally titled "Twinkle Popo" (ティンクル・ポポ *Tinkuru Popo*). Over time, Sakurai grew fond of the placeholder sprite, and preferred it over the conception of the original protagonist of the game it was being designed for, so Kirby became the star of his first game. Despite the developers keeping Kirby's model, he was known as ポポポ (*Popopo*) for a time before being renamed Kirby. The game was renamed 星のカービィ (*Hoshi no Kābī*) meaning "Kirby of the Stars" in Japan, and became known internationally as *Kirby's Dream Land*. Kirby's original name, Popopo, would later be referenced in *Kirby Mass Attack*, as it is set on the Popopo Islands.

Sakurai was deeply involved during the development of Kirby's anime known under the same name as *Kirby's Dream Land*’s Japanese name (星のカービィ *Hoshi no Kābī*), and dubbed under the name *Kirby: Right Back at Ya!* in North America. When asked about what was being considered during Kirby's design within the anime, the reply from Nintendo was that besides considering the ease of staining of colors and drawing, Kirby should instantly associate with people, be easy to remember, and easily become familiar.

### Name

Where Kirby got his name from is not known, since Masahiro Sakurai himself has been quoted as saying he does not remember how Kirby got his name. However, from within Kirby's fandom, it is believed that Kirby might have been named after the Kirby Company, which manufactures vacuum cleaners and suits Kirby and his inhalation abilities. The other explanation is that he might have been named in honor of Nintendo's legal counsel, John Kirby of Latham & Watkins LLP, who defended Nintendo against a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by Universal Studios over the similarities of *Donkey Kong* to *King Kong*.

Shigeru Miyamoto has been quoted as saying that the latter is partially why the name Kirby was chosen from a list of candidates, although Kirby was not named after John Kirby. He also noted the irony that Kirby's appearance is cute, while the start of his name is a harsh consonant, which does not conform to the Japanese common practice of matching a soft name to cute characters.

### Color

Sakurai intended Kirby to be pink when he conceived his character. This was in contrast with the wishes of Shigeru Miyamoto, the head of Nintendo's Entertainment Analysis and Development (EADS) branch who wanted Kirby to be yellow. Before Nintendo of Japan settled on Sakurai's preference of pink, the game was ported over to the United States where Nintendo of America had some confusion over just what Kirby's color was supposed to be. They ended up with the color white by basing it off his sprite's appearance on the gray-scale Game Boy screen. While the Japanese box art and artwork correctly depicts Kirby as pink according to Sakurai's wishes, his artwork, cartridge label, box art, instruction booklet, and even the television advertisement for *Kirby's Dream Land* depicted Kirby as white in America. Fortunately, this only happened to *Kirby's Dream Land* as the confusion was cleared up before *Kirby's Adventure* was released as a direct sequel.

Miyamoto's own preference of a yellow Kirby was not entirely ignored, however, since whenever a second player plays a second Kirby, the color defaults to yellow.

### Actor portrayal

Kirby is voiced by voice actress Makiko Ohmoto in his games and in the *Super Smash Bros.* series. Her voice work for Kirby in the original Japanese version of his anime *Kirby: Right Back at Ya!* was not changed for the English dub by 4Kids (with the exception of one scene in the first episode, due to name changes for other characters, in which case Amy Birnbaum stood in), so she voices both versions. Ohmoto considers working on Kirby's voice and with the teams on his games and anime to be a great experience.

The educational video starring Kirby and Mario called the *Mario Kirby Masterpiece* in 1993 is one notable title where Kirby was not voiced by Ohmoto. Mayumi Tanaka provided Kirby's voice in that video instead.

## Character

### Appearance

Kirby is a small pink spherical creature with two stubby arms, two red feet and two oval-shaped eyes with black pupils (with a faint shade of blue at the bottom starting with *Kirby Super Star*, which was brightened in later appearances). Kirby's cheek-blushes weren't introduced until his second game, *Kirby's Adventure*, where they appeared as two black whisker lines in artwork. In subsequent games until *Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards*, they were depicted as three red diagonal lines in artwork, although they were usually always solid red ovals in-game (except *Kirby's Dream Land 2*, where they were missing from his sprite).

Kirby's body is soft and flexible, allowing him to flatten himself or expand like a balloon. Officially he is 20 centimeters (8 inches) tall, but the *Super Smash Bros.* games depict his height as about three feet when compared to the other characters, and when compared to Adeleine, a human from Kirby’s own series, he is about half the size of her. His weight is not known, although several parts of the anime and the *Super Smash Bros.* series suggest that he is light enough to be easily carried.

Kirby has no form of skeletal structure nor does he have teeth. The latter is confirmed in the anime episode A Dental Dilemma, where Hardy couldn't find Kirby's teeth to clean. His appearance has changed subtly over the years, his arms and body becoming more rounded and his facial features more defined with larger eyes. The new design has been used in all subsequent games.

With regards to Kirby's appearance on the box art of games and certain artwork, there is a phenomenon fans refer to along the lines of the "angry Kirby" look. For some undisclosed reason, although likely attributed to cultural differences and atmosphere at that time, Nintendo of America decided to depict Kirby's eyes as significantly sharper-looking than his usually benign expression on the North American box art of several games, starting from *Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land*, and including (in chronological order) *Kirby Air Ride*, *Kirby & The Amazing Mirror*, *Kirby: Canvas Curse*, up to *Kirby: Squeak Squad*. *Kirby Super Star Ultra* and *Kirby's Epic Yarn* are exempt from this phenomenon, although the trend continues into *Kirby Mass Attack* and *Kirby's Return to Dream Land*. The same thing happened for the promotional material for *Kirby: Right Back at Ya!*.

However, even the Japanese boxart for *Kirby: Triple Deluxe* as well as *Kirby: Planet Robobot* feature a distinctly angry looking Kirby.

### Age

Kirby's age has never been confirmed by Japanese sources. In Japanese, Kirby is introduced as 「若者」 (*wakamono*), which means a young person. In the anime, where he more or less acts like a little child, Kirby's peers Tiff and Tuff sometimes call him a "baby" (in the Japanese dub, Meta Knight also implies this when he tells Tiff that he was born 200 years too early). Along with his high-pitched voice and "poyo language", it's implied that Kirby is at least young.

### Gender

According to *20th Anniversary: Kirby of the Stars Dream Land Encyclopedia* (20th Anniversary 星のカービィ プププ大全 *20th Anniversary Hoshi no Kābī Pupupu Taizen*), Kirby's gender is "unknown." Other Japanese sources also do not confirm Kirby's gender.

In the English instruction booklet for *Kirby's Dream Land*, Kirby was introduced as a "spry little boy", while in the Japanese version he was referred as 「若者」 (*wakamono*), which translates to a more general "youth." Kirby uses 「ぼく」(*boku*), a masculine first-person pronoun, in the Japanese instruction booklet for *Kirby's Dream Land* and on the Japanese *Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards* website. Kirby is directly referred to with masculine pronouns in official localizations. Also in Japanese, there are instances where Kirby is referred to with 「かれ」(*kare*), which is a masculine pronoun, such as the Pause Screen description of the Mike ability in *Kirby Super Star* and the instruction of The Arena in *Kirby: Planet Robobot*.

On the Japanese *Super Smash Bros.* developer's site, Masahiro Sakurai once teased a player surprised to know that Samus is a female character that Kirby (and Pikachu) might actually be female as well, but jokingly left the idea as a mystery instead of outright confirming it, and he stated that he thought of Kirby's profile with the gender listed as "unknown." Makiko Ohmoto has also stated that Kirby's gender is unknown.

On the official Twitter account, Kirby dressed up as an Empress doll in Hinamatsuri art in 2017, and he appears together with female characters in Valentine's Day artwork in 2018 and male characters in White Day artwork in 2019.

Kirby may be attracted to female characters based on the hint of romance between Kirby and Ribbon in *Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards* where Ribbon gives Kirby a kiss on the cheek in the good ending, making both of them blush in embarrassment. In one strip of the Yonkoma manga series, Kirby announces to Ribbon that he has a girlfriend; he describes her to Ribbon and then Ribbon asks Adeleine to draw a portrait, and to Ribbon's shock, the portrait is of ChuChu.

### Personality

 — Tutorial description • Kirby Super Star Ultra

Kirby is largely innocent and has a cheerful demeanor and positive attitude. He likes to help other people so much that he sometimes goes out of his way to do it; in the Dyna Blade sub-game of *Kirby Super Star Ultra*, he feeds Dyna Blade's chicks on his own (though expresses annoyance at Dyna Blade's chicks' constant noise-making before dragging them off to Whispy Woods to be fed by the constant dropped apples from the tree's branches) and teaches them how to fly. He has been shown to have a sense of justice, and won't spare someone who is a danger to those around him, as evidenced by his battles against final bosses. Throughout the many dangers he is put through, he is notably brave, maintaining a neutral expression almost constantly. This is especially evident in the Subspace Emissary. In the anime, he doesn't harbor dislike for anybody, in particular, not even King Dedede or Escargoon who mostly cause trouble for himself, and mostly greets everyone he meets.

While he is brave and has a sense of justice, Kirby is quick to suspect King Dedede as the culprit for mischief, such as at the beginning of *Kirby: Squeak Squad*. In fact, Kirby has demonstrated a consistent impulsive streak throughout the series and can be as quick to start fights as he is to pass them by, fighting Dedede, Meta Knight and Dyna Blade on impulse. He also willingly responded to Dedede's call for a rematch and attacked Shadow Kirby without thinking. This recklessness can often lead him into trouble or cause him to create trouble (such as when he accidentally released Nightmare). However, in recent games, he seemingly no longer does impulsive acts having learned from his mistakes.

Kirby is shown to care deeply about those close to him. In *Kirby: Triple Deluxe*, he chases after Taranza, who had kidnapped King Dedede. After Kirby defeats Queen Sectonia the first time and Dedede regained consciousness from being mind-controlled, Kirby holds his hands and jumps and cheers, overjoyed to see that his arch-rival is okay. Kirby is known to be very forgiving as well, having become friends with nearly every antagonist in recent games. He even teams up with Marx and Dark Meta Knight in *Kirby Star Allies*, despite them not having made up for their past actions.

In his own universe, Kirby is very popular for his heroic acts. In fact, he is so famous, that in the Japanese versions of the games, he is known by the title of 星のカービィ (*Hoshi no Kābī*, meaning "Kirby of the Stars"); while this is usually localized as just "Kirby," in Snake's Codecs with Otacon, it is instead localized as "Kirby from Dream Land." Kirby’s fame has been spread around the universe, and even to other dimensions, as evidenced with Magolor, who said that he knew about Kirby long before they met, despite living in Another Dimension. Others also learn of Kirby by his fame after meeting him. In the Japanese version of *Kirby: Planet Robobot*, Susie uses his title to refer to Kirby when he takes off to fight Star Dream, despite him not having told her his name or title. In Heroes in Another Dimension, Zan Partizanne shouts his name, also despite Kirby not previously telling her it. In spite of his fame, Kirby never lets any of it get to his head, and still remains kind and helpful.

In the games themselves, regardless of region, Kirby retains his innocent and cheery personality, promotional materials such as advertisements and box art tends to be tweaked if not changed outright when released internationally due to cultural differences between Japan and overseas countries, in particular America, due to strong, tough characters being popular in the West. Regarding advertisements, the American versions of various TV advertisements generally depict Kirby in a tough manner, such as literally chewing a human into a spitwad for *Kirby's Dream Land*, doing various action movie roles for *Kirby's Adventure*, and having him and his friends being in a motorcycle gang and picking a fight with another motorcycle gang in *Kirby's Dream Land 2.*

Likewise, with magazine ads, the advertising for *Kirby's Dream Course* and, to a lesser extent *Kirby's Avalanche*, depicted Kirby as a good kid who became a hardened criminal, including mug shots indicative of a police lineup, and an ad treating Kirby as the "face of terror" in *Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards*. Only two exceptions to this are known to exist: The first was with *Kirby's Block Ball*, which depicts Kirby demolishing people inside via the Japanese ad, while the American version was comparatively softer. The second was for the Japanese promotional material for *Kirby: Right Back at Ya!*, which depicted Kirby with a slightly serious, yet still mostly aloof, attitude. For the box art, with the exception of *Kirby: Triple Deluxe* and *Kirby: Planet Robobot* (which depicts Kirby having a determined expression regardless of the box version), *Kirby and the Rainbow Curse*, *Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble*, and to a certain extent *Super Smash Bros. for the 3DS and Wii U* (which depicts Kirby being in a relaxed and cheery disposition regardless of the version), and to a certain extent the English cover of *Kirby Mass Attack* (which depicts half of the mass of Kirbys on the cover as content, and the other half as angry), the various game covers starting with *Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land* has the Japanese version depicting Kirby in a cheery manner while the American version depicts Kirby in a more serious and angry manner. This was even noted in the May 2011 issue for Nintendo Power's coverage on Kirby, where it mentions that for box arts, he resorts to his "angry eyes."

### Appetite

 — Tiff, reminding Kirby not to eat a camera • Pink-Collar Blues, Kirby: Right Back at Ya!

Kirby never hesitates to help whenever Dream Land is in trouble, but when he doesn't have his work cut out for him doing that, he loves nothing more than eating and sleeping, especially during the day. Kirby's favorite food is tomatoes, Maxim Tomatoes in particular, and these fully restore his health in the games. In the anime where tomatoes are never seen growing, Kirby gorges on watermelons instead. Kirby's appetite for food is immense (but he does have his limits); he can eat whole tables' worth of food and still go on, and partially eat a cake as large as a mountain, as shown from a cutscene in *Kirby's Epic Yarn*, where he and Prince Fluff had an eating contest.

While it is undeniable that Kirby adores eating, it is not certain whether he enjoys the act of eating or the taste of food. Kirby has preference over certain foods but he eats just about everything. In the anime, since Cappies know about this attribute of his, they invite him to dinner whenever they have leftover food, and Tuggle often gives whole piles of expired food for him to finish. While the Cappies do it for their convenience more than for Kirby's benefit, Kirby doesn't realize nor seem to mind, and the expired food doesn't do him any harm. Even food hot enough to make people breathe fire The Hot Shot Chef doesn't seem to bother him one bit, but anything truly disgusting, like Belly Buster's pies in the anime, Mariels in *Kirby's Dream Land 3*, or Whispy's poison apples, Kirby would understandably hate or be hurt by.

### Speech

Kirby is a character of few words and rarely speaks in-game. Much of his speech is indirect, in the form of speech bubbles or monologues in games' instruction manuals, and brief greetings such as "Hi" in games including *Super Smash Bros.* and *Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards*. Story-wise, if Kirby is depicted as talking to another character, it is often in the form of text panels or narration. Kirby is depicted as rude and smart-alecky in the American-made spin-off *Kirby's Avalanche*, but despite being developed by HAL Laboratory, it was never released in Japan, and is not considered to be canon.

In the games, Kirby narrates the functions of certain Copy Abilities on the pause menu in *Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land*, *Kirby & The Amazing Mirror*, and *Kirby: Squeak Squad*. In *Kirby's Super Star Stacker*, he gives short descriptions of various menu options when they are highlighted. The most in-game talking Kirby ever did was in *Kirby's Star Stacker*, where he explains the game's rules, along with brief gameplay descriptions if it isn't already explained by Dedede. Kirby says the names of certain attacks when he uses a foe's ability in the *Super Smash Bros.* series.

In the anime, Masahiro Sakurai insisted early in the development process that Kirby would not speak in the anime series, as it makes the character more endearing and easier for people to relate to. The most common thing Kirby says in the anime is "Poyo", which is meaningless, but it allows him to use his voice in such a way that it conveys his emotions without actually saying anything meaningful, as illustrated here. Kirby does occasionally say the names of his special attacks in the Japanese version, the names of certain foods, and sometimes repeats names and certain words he hears, such as yuki (snow) or suika (watermelon). He also repeats names in the English dub as well.

In contrast with his usual speaking habits, Kirby loves to sing when he gets the Mike ability. Mike Kirby's amplified voice is devastating to enemies. In the anime, Kirby reduced Castle Dedede to rubble just by singing in the episodes Abusement Park and Fitness Fiend. Although the reaction from Kirby's audience suggests that his singing is bad to downright unbearable, Kirby never seems to realize it and enjoys himself regardless.