This article is about the character. For other uses, see Kirby (disambiguation).

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 over two 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.

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Character design

Conception

“ First you draw a circle, then you dot the eyes, add a great big smile, and presto, it's Kirby! ” — 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.[1]

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.[2] 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.[3] 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 female seiyū (voice actor) 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,[4] 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,[4] 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.[5] 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.[6] 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 and Gender

Kirby's age is never directly stated by Japanese sources.[7] 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.

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". According to page 15 of 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".[8] Other Japanese sources (except the manga) also do not confirm Kirby's gender, so he is referred to with gender neutral pronouns for a broader, more universal appeal in the Japanese market, along with most other Kirby characters; however, Kirby is directly referred to with masculine pronouns in official localizations. 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.[9] On the official Twitter account, Kirby is described on both sides of genders; he dressed up as an Empress doll in 2017 Japanese Doll Festival artwork,[10] and he is depicted together with female characters in 2018 Valentine's Day artwork,[11] while he is with male characters in 2019 White Day artwork.[12]

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.[13]

Personality

“ He's a pretty jolly guy. ” — 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.

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.[14] 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,[15] doing various action movie roles for Kirby's Adventure,[16] 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.[17]

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.[18] 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

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 of the Puyo Puyo genre titled 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 (and friends in the anime); one good bout of singing actually reduces Castle Dedede to rubble in the episode 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.

This section contains information that does not coincide with the main series canon.

In the anime, Kirby is portrayed somewhat differently from the games. He's more dimwitted and cowardly, frequently running from battles until he is instructed to fight and being easily lured into traps simply by dangling a watermelon above him. An example of his more cowardly nature can be seen in Kirby's Egg-Cellent Adventure, where, unlike in the games, Dyna Blade is the aggressor and Kirby is simply trying to survive. These differences in personality may be due to Kirby's reduced age in the anime, being implied to be essentially a baby.

Despite these differences, other aspects remain the same. He's extremely friendly, sweet and helpful, never holding grudges and always quick to forgive people the few times he's gotten angry at them. Kirby's still as determined and protective as in the games, watching over a robotic dog like an older brother, and refusing to give up any task no matter how tough it might be. In fact, his roommate is the consistently loud and sour Tokkori—who bothers everyone in town—yet Kirby chooses to live with him and never shows any irritation towards him at all. In The Big Taste Test, Kirby can swim in a pan of boiling water and not care, he even seems to enjoy it.[19]

In the episode Kirby Takes the Cake, Kirby's flashbacks show his inner side, where certain people (besides food) can mean a lot to him. When they don't treat him as well as they usually do, and he doesn't know why, he doesn't voice his thoughts or blame them, but he can get very upset about himself.

It is revealed in Beware: Whispy Woods! and Don't Bank on It that whatever Kirby eats enters some sort of dimension. In Beware: Whispy Woods!, Kirby travels inside himself and handles the things he swallowed. He also can cause himself to spit out select items that he ate, such as Whispy's apple.

Tiff deduces that Kirby may have been a monster created by Nightmare Enterprises during a conversation between Tuff, herself, and Kabu in Kirby's Duel Role, but no other event in the series or the games either confirms or denies this possibility.

Other aspects

Kirby is shown to have an impulsive side to him, such as when he accuses Dedede of interfering with the Fountain of Dreams in Kirby's Adventure, and then leaves to retrieve the pieces of the shattered Star Rod without even letting Dedede explain himself. This personality feature of his is also an important plot element in Kirby: Squeak Squad, where Kirby immediately blames King Dedede for the theft of his Strawberry Shortcake without any proof, then later on releases Dark Nebula from a Treasure Chest that he thinks contains his missing cake. Despite his impulsiveness, he is relatively intelligent, as evidenced in his systematic destruction of the Halberd in Revenge of Meta Knight and his general resourcefulness in the Subspace Emissary. He is also eager to help everyone who isn't a clear enemy, a part of his innocent personality that is exploited by some characters.

When it comes to food, Kirby can be so focused on eating it that he puts his own safety aside, such as in the episode Cooking Up Trouble. It takes great effort for him to resist eating food already in his hands, but he does have a degree of restraint on himself that makes Tiff proud when reminded of the more important things, however Delivery Dilemma.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee, his trophy profile states that he is an "extremely skilled technician" but up until Kirby: Planet Robobot, Kirby himself is never seen doing anything particularly technical.

Abilities

“ Kirby has lots of moves! Try them! ” — Intro description • Kirby's Adventure

Inhale

Kirby's signature technique is his inhale and has been performing it since Kirby's Dream Land. It is available in almost every standard Kirby platformer with the exception of Kirby's Epic Yarn and Kirby Mass Attack. Kirby: Squeak Squad’s manual attributes this ability to his "powerful lungs", although all Kirby is ever seen doing is opening his mouth really wide and sucking up lots of air in the manner resembling a vacuum cleaner more than breathing. Traditionally, Kirby's inhale is unlimited in duration, but in Kirby & The Amazing Mirror, he tires after inhaling for several seconds and has to take a short break. Kirby's Super Inhale is also introduced in the game, where, after inhaling for about a second, it becomes more powerful and can suck up larger objects. The Super Inhale returns in Kirby: Squeak Squad, and becomes even more powerful in Kirby's Return to Dream Land, where he can suck up stone blocks and many enemies at once. In the same game, Kirby can inhale other Kirbys to steal their Copy Ability. In Kirby: Triple Deluxe, Kirby gains an ability known as Hypernova by touching a Miracle Fruit, which allows him to inhale things as large as trees or move things made of stone or metal more than twice his size. Hypernova allows Kirby to inhale almost anything and send it back. In all games except Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, Kirby cannot inhale underwater.

Copy Ability

After inhaling anything, Kirby has the option to either swallow it or spit it back out as a Star Spit attack. Starting from Kirby's Adventure onwards, Kirby gets a Copy Ability should the player choose to swallow an enemy with a special power. In Kirby's Adventure, Copy Abilities essentially let Kirby mimic whatever the enemy he had just swallowed, but in later titles like Kirby Super Star, each Copy Ability has multiple moves which Kirby can perform instead of just one or two. In Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, Kirby can combine Copy Abilities by inhaling two enemies at once or throwing Ability Stars at enemies.

In early games, having a Copy Ability does not change Kirby's appearance drastically, aside from his color changing to orange or cyan in Kirby's Adventure, or wielding a weapon for abilities like Sword or Hammer. Kirby Super Star introduced a continuous Health system instead of the traditional six bars of life, and is best known for introducing copy ability hats for Kirby, where most Copy Abilities give a different hat and makes Kirby look different, such as a burning headdress for Fire, a frozen crown for Ice, or a backwards baseball cap for Yo-Yo and Wheel. While the hats are absent after their introduction in the games Kirby's Dream Land 3 and Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, both of which are incidentally not designed by Masahiro Sakurai, they are featured consistently in later titles.

Kirby Super Star also introduces the Helper system where Kirby could sacrifice a Copy Ability to create a Helper, an allied version of the enemy he had previously swallowed. Helpers have the same function as Gooey in Kirby's Dream Land 3. The new Helper would be controlled by the game or a second player. This feature has only been included in one later Kirby game, specifically, Kirby Star Allies, where Kirby can summon three helpers at once, though it was included in Kirby Super Star’s remake, Kirby Super Star Ultra. Helpers were meant to be included in the unreleased game Kirby GCN, where Kirby could summon three at once, similar to Kirby Star Allies.

Since Copy Abilities are only present in Kirby's Adventure and most games after that, in Kirby's Dream Land, Kirby uses the inhale solely for the Star Spit attack. There are certain power-ups which he can collect, such as a Mint Leaf (Sweet potato in Japan) which lets him shoot out unlimited and more powerful air pellets for a limited time, and Superspicy Curry, which has the same effect, but lets him shoot fireballs instead of air pellets. Kirby can collect food or other special items like lollipops that grant him beneficial effects such as healing or temporary invincibility.

Other techniques

“ Press A repeatedly while jumping to hover through the air. ” — Use Hover to take flight! • Kirby Star Allies loading screen

Kirby has a soft, flexible body. This allows him to be flattened or stretched, always returning to his original shape. He can inflate himself, making himself more buoyant, and he can flap his arms to hover. In most games, he can do this indefinitely. He can exhale to deflate himself and use the exhaled air as an attack. This technique is known as the Air Gun. In certain games—Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, the Super Smash Bros. series, and Kirby Air Ride—Kirby's ability to hover is limited.

When underwater, most of Kirby's Copy Abilities do not work, and he is largely limited to using the water gun attack, where he shoots a bubble of water in one of four directions (or a constant spray in some games), unless he happens to have Sword, Hammer, Parasol, or a few other abilities which can be used underwater. The water gun works just like the air gun, but Kirby does not need to inhale beforehand. In Kirby's Return to Dream Land, having the Water ability strengthens Kirby's water gun attack by having it reach farther and do more damage to enemies. In Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, Kirby can inhale underwater.

In all games after Kirby's Adventure, Kirby can do a move known as the slide kick or slide attack while crouching as a basic attack that does minor damage. In Kirby & The Amazing Mirror and Kirby: Squeak Squad, if Kirby does a slide kick facing down a steep incline, he will roll down and over any enemies in his way. The slide kick is useless against most bosses and mid-bosses. He also preforms slide kick when fighting Kung Fu Lee in the anime.

In most games, Kirby's jump off the ground can be used as a headbutt attack. Its effects differ between games: Primarily, the attack allows Kirby to destroy Star Blocks by hitting them from underneath. In certain games, however, Kirby is able to damage enemies with it as well. Foes with a lot of health in Kirby Super Star/Kirby Super Star Ultra often require a few headbutts to defeat. Enemies in Kirby's Dream Land 3 are defeated with one headbutt and enemies in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards are defeated with two. Kirby deals the most damage when he has just left the ground and is most vulnerable at the peak of his jump.

In Kirby Super Star (and its remake), Kirby's Return to Dream Land, and Kirby: Triple Deluxe, Kirby has the guard move, which allows him to protect himself from enemy attacks, and take little to no damage. When playing with multiple players in Kirby's Return to Dream Land, the team attack, which sends out a large ball of energy, is performed by two or more characters guarding and releasing their guard at the same time after a set amount of time while riding piggyback.

He can also perform the normal beam in Kirby Super Star and Kirby Super Star Ultra near Helpers to revert them to an item state, which Kirby can inhale to reacquire the Copy Ability for himself. In the same games, he can get rid of his ability and toss it as an item, which Helpers can touch to claim that ability, which also saves the Helper from dying if they have run out of health.

Kirby Super Star and recent games have a feature where Kirby and other playable characters can share food with each other to restore health in a motion that resembles kissing. This is done by one character touching a recovery item, and touching another player within the next few seconds. It became a popular topic to parody in the Japanese manga series, and the 4Koma panels have a running gag about Kirby and Bonkers kissing each other when one is at critical health. The Kirby Super Star Ultra booklet refers to it as face-to-face food transfer. In Kirby Star Allies, this technique is referred to as sharing.

In Kirby's Dream Land 3, Kirby can summon Gooey, who has the same function as Helpers in later games. Summoning Gooey sacrifices one of Kirby's pegs of health and makes his maximum health four pegs instead of five. Kirby can inhale Gooey again whenever he likes to restore one peg of health.

In the anime, Kirby is an astonishingly fast runner. In Dark and Stormy Knight, he could run fast enough to skim across water and get over to the horizon within seconds. It is also explained in the episode Beware: Whispy Woods! that whatever Kirby consumes enters another dimension. Kirby can also run a lot faster than usual in Kirby Super Star and Kirby Super Star Ultra’s Gourmet Race, as can King Dedede.

In Kirby: Planet Robobot, it is stated that Kirby has infinite power, and such power allows the Invader Armor's limitations to be removed due to the armor's ability to mimic its user's abilities. This turns it into Robobot Armor. Whenever the Animal Friends are present for Kirby to use in Kirby's Dream Land 2 and Kirby's Dream Land 3, Kirby is able to sync his Copy Ability to the Animal Friend in order to perform different moves for each Animal Friend depending on the ability.

Species

Kirby's species has been a common topic of debate in his fandom. Unlike many other video game mascots, such as Link being Hylian or Pikachu being a Pokémon, Kirby's kind has never been given an official name, but fans commonly refer to his species as "puffs," such as puffballs or cream puffs, or simply as "a Kirby." While Kirby is the one given the most emphasis, he is not the only member of his kind. There is evidence of the existence of other members of his species from the similar-looking characters seen in the ending of Kirby's Dream Land and the remake Spring Breeze in Kirby Super Star. While not officially confirmed, Meta Knight is a likely member due to almost identical facial features to Kirby aside from color and minor differences. In Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land and Kirby & The Amazing Mirror, players play different colored Kirbys in multi-player games. In the case of the latter, they are the result of Kirby being divided into four by Dark Meta Knight. In general, members of the species all look similar, but sometimes have different colored skin, eyes, and feet.

When not referring to Kirby's species in the generic sense, the term "Kirbys" (occasionally "Kirbies") usually refers to only one character, who is none other than Kirby himself. Although he may be split into multiple separate entities, they are all part of him. In the English manual of Kirby & The Amazing Mirror, the term "Kirbys" is used at certain points to illustrate the feature of having four differently colored versions of Kirby active in the game simultaneously. In Kirby Air Ride, since the other colors of Kirby are separate individuals, and the term refers to all of them.

The term "Dream Lander" refers to any inhabitant of Dream Land. Kirby is a Dream Lander, but so is King Dedede, most Waddle Dees, and everybody else. The Super Smash Bros. Brawl biography states that Kirby is a citizen of Dream Land.

Largely attributed to misinterpretation of the English dub of the anime, Kirby's race is sometimes taken as Star Warrior. That is a common but incorrect understanding, and understandable since other characters say something along the lines of "Kirby is a Star Warrior" quite often. Kirby's species is not Star Warrior or Warp Star Knight or Warp Star Warrior. "Star Warrior" is a term used in the anime series to describe a group of legendary warriors from many races. The terms "Warp Star Knight" and "Warp Star Warrior" have only ever been used in advertisements where it is translated even less accurately, and the terms are never used in any game or the anime.

In Kirby's Dream Land 3, mysterious characters called Batamon appear. They resemble Kirby aside from a more flattened shape and different face and are unique in that the player can almost never directly come in contact with them. They are always seen walking past walls or ceilings beyond Kirby's reach, with the exception of a single stage in Cloudy Park, where Kirby can continue past the exit and come into contact with one.

Relationships

Kirby is not as strongly affiliated with other Dream Landers as some of them might be with each other, for example King Dedede and his Waddle Dees, or Meta Knight with the Meta-Knights. In the games, during Dream Land's peace time, Kirby is either seen sleeping on a grassy turf or eating something rather than being with someone else most of the time. When Dream Land is in need of saving, Kirby mostly adventures solo, but occasionally gets help in the form of Animal Friends in Kirby's Dream Land 2 and Kirby's Dream Land 3, a small party in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards and Kirby's Return to Dream Land, and sometimes Helpers in Kirby Super Star, Kirby Super Star Ultra and Kirby Star Allies.

Kirbys

In single player where additional Kirbys are controlled by the CPU, all the Kirbys existing simultaneously are part of Kirby himself with the exception of Kirby Air Ride, so each of them helps each other out, and share food with each other. In multiplayer and in certain sub-games such as Bomb Rally, the Kirbys exhibit some sort of friendly rivalry since such is the nature of the sub-games, although certain activities they partake in like crashing Air Ride Machines into each other and tossing bombs to each other to see who it explodes on don't look particularly "friendly". In Kirby's Dream Course’s multiplayer, Kirby and Keeby compete with each other to enter the golf hole first. In any case, Kirbys are never seen harboring ill intentions towards each other.

King Dedede

King Dedede is Kirby's arch-rival and ally, as there is a long-standing grudge and love-hate relationship between the two of them that is developed throughout the series. In the games, King Dedede is not as narrow-minded as he is in the anime, but he does have his faults. Incidentally, many of King Dedede's pranks involve stealing something associated with stars; he stole all the stars from Dream Land's skies in Kirby's Dream Course, took one of Mr. Star's pieces for himself in Kirby's Super Star Stacker, stole Dream Landers' Sparkling Stars and hid them away, and broke the Star Rod in Kirby's Adventure and its remake, which makes for some sort of irony between Kirby and his relationship with Dedede since Stars are strongly associated with Kirby.

The reasons for him doing so is not always obvious (there usually is one), but sometimes it can be attributed to plain selfishness or to the fact that he simply wants to cause trouble, such as when he provokes an exhausted Kirby to race with him in Gourmet Race. The few times Dedede acts plain evil is when he was under possession of some sort. The other times where King Dedede and Kirby come to disagreement is when Dedede takes action in his own outrageous methods, such as breaking the Star Rod, but then decides to take a bath in the Dream Fountain's waters, and Kirby didn't let King Dedede fully explain himself before undoing what the King did for a good reason.

Despite their occasional and brief bouts of animosity, Dedede holds a grudging respect to Kirby, seeing him as a true hero of Dream Land. However, his respect does not stop Dedede from trying to best Kirby in combat or settle their grudge, and he goes to great lengths to do so in Revenge of the King in Kirby Super Star Ultra. Other times, the respect does lead him to help Kirby, reluctantly or willingly. He bitterly helps out in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, happily in Kirby's Return to Dream Land, and unhesitantly in Kirby: Triple Deluxe, likely as a result of Kirby's efforts to save him from captivity. These alliances have made their rivalry in later games more friendly. In The Subspace Emissary, Dedede reunites with Kirby (after earlier at odds with him) and tackles him in a hug, likely happy that Kirby is alright.

King Dedede is a lot more hostile to Kirby in Kirby: Right Back at Ya!. In the majority of the episodes, for some reason he tolerates Kirby's presence in his castle with Tiff, Tuff, Sir Ebrum, and Lady Like, but never ceases to think about new ways to get rid of the pink puff. It wasn't until near the end of the entire series in D'Preciation Day when he reveals that he has the same respect he has for Kirby in the games, where he weeps his heart out thinking he really killed Kirby by going too far with his schemes to exacerbate the rivalry between the two of them.

Meta Knight

What Meta Knight intends to do with Kirby is often unpredictable. In Kirby's Adventure and Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land, he appears to want to stop Kirby as much as everybody else since King Dedede had entrusted him with a piece of the Star Rod, and sends his Meta-Knights every now and then against Kirby, but sometimes tosses him a rare Invincibility Candy instead. In later games, Meta Knight's motivations are often clearly for the betterment of Dream Land when the plot becomes clear at the end, but sometimes still brings Kirby and himself into conflict with each other since Meta Knight doesn't tend to explain himself. While Kirby ends up fighting Meta Knight for whatever reason, the knight often tosses him a sword to arm himself with beforehand to show that he fights fairly.

In more recent installments, Meta Knight has actively aided Kirby or has received Kirby's aid. Meta Knight joined Kirby's party in Kirby's Return to Dream Land, and Kirby liberates him from the control of Yin-Yarn and the Haltmann Works Company in Kirby's Epic Yarn and Kirby: Planet Robobot, respectively.

The only time where Meta Knight plays the role of a villain is during the events of Revenge of Meta Knight, a sub-game in Kirby Super Star and Kirby Super Star Ultra. He powers up the Halberd and attempts to take over Dream Land for himself to end the lazy lifestyle of Dream Landers by force. Kirby foils his plans and sends the Halberd to the bottom of Secret Sea, but despite Meta Knight's great personal loss, he doesn't appear to harbor any misgivings toward Kirby in their future encounters, and if he did, he does not show it.

In Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, Meta Knight is a Star Warrior like Kirby, and his goal is to guide the pink puff towards mastery of his abilities so the two of them can confront Nightmare one day. In fact, Meta Knight became King Dedede's servant after the great war against Nightmare so he can secretly build the Halberd and wait for a young Star Warrior to come by. Sometimes Dedede orders him to fight Kirby, and he does, if only to test the limits of Kirby's skill. His methods can be harsh, as pointed out by Tiff, but since it is the only instance of Star Warrior training, it is not known whether all of them train using such methods, which are arguably effective.

Bandana Waddle Dee

“ He looks just as tough as you, Kirby! Be careful! ” — Bandana Waddle Dee • Kirby Battle Royale

Kirby and Bandana Waddle Dee's relationship is first explored in Kirby Super Star Ultra’s Revenge of the King sub-game. Working as a loyal servant to King Dedede, Bandana Waddle Dee informs the king of Kirby's progress throughout the final stage, allowing Dedede to prepare various Mid-Bosses to attack Kirby. Once Kirby has defeated all Mid-bosses, Bandana Waddle Dee decides to take Kirby on himself. Additionally, in the final boss against Masked Dedede, Bandana Waddle Dee is seen cheering whenever Kirby takes damage.

While King Dedede was shown to hold a strong grudge against Kirby in Revenge of the King, expressing his annoyance by calling Kirby a "cursed pink lump" and growing angrier as he progressed throughout the final stage, Bandana Waddle Dee mainly appeared to be working in loyalty to the king, and didn't appear to be motivated by a particular disdain for Kirby. As a result, in subsequent installments, Bandana Waddle Dee was able to develop a much quicker friendship with Kirby than Dedede did. In Kirby Mass Attack's Strato Patrol EOS sub-game, Bandana Waddle Dee's first appearance after Kirby Super Star Ultra, he is seen cheering during the fight with Meta Knight, possibly in favor of Kirby. He happily joins Kirby in helping Magolor without hesitance during the events of Kirby's Return to Dream Land. Throughout Kirby Triple Deluxe and Kirby Planet Robobot, he aids Kirby with Assist Stars. Bandana Waddle Dee also joins Kirby in his adventure in Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, in which his figurine description calls him a "faithful companion" to Kirby. In Kirby Battle Royale, Bandana Waddle Dee decides to team up with Kirby in The Cake Royale, staying by his side throughout the entire tournament, even aiding Kirby in defeating the Dededestroyer Z, despite his previous devotion to King Dedede.

Gooey

Gooey is a blob of friendly Dark Matter. With the exception of cutscenes in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, Kirby is mostly solitary, but he is seen fishing together with Gooey during the introduction of Kirby's Dream Land 3 before the Dark Matter invasion so Gooey is probably one of his closer friends.

Gooey was first seen in Kirby's Dream Land 2, but his role was minimal; he is sometimes found in a sack after a mid-boss fight and only serves to heal Kirby when eaten. In Kirby's Dream Land 3, Kirby can summon Gooey like a Helper at the cost of 2 hitpoints; the CPU or second player controls Gooey, or Kirby can swallow Gooey for the 2 hitpoints at any time, which makes Gooey seem like some sort of food to Kirby as well as being his friend.

Tiff

This section contains information that does not coincide with the main series canon.

Tiff is a character only in the anime, Kirby: Right Back at Ya!. She is the first person Kirby meets after crashing on Popstar. Tiff was intrigued by the whole notion of a Star Warrior and the fact that one is coming to Cappy Town, but Kirby's initial impression wasn't quite what she expected. After Kirby saves her from falling to her death in a ravine, she quickly warms up to him.

Most of the time, Tiff is like an older sibling to Kirby, although she refers to him as a friend. She helps him settle into Cappy Town and protects him from Kirby's other peers (Tuff, Iroo, Spikehead, and Honey) who are often less considerate about his age and capabilities. She is the one who suggested building Kirby a house after King Dedede sabotages her efforts in finding Kirby a place to stay. As Kirby is too young to summon the Warp Star for himself, Tiff is the only one who can do it for him as she loves him the most.

While she is friendly to most other people, especially to Kirby, she is slow to forgive and even slower to forget when it comes to King Dedede and Escargoon's schemes. Her intellect and past history with Dedede would often make her suspect that the King is up to no good when other people may believe what he said, and her efforts in discovering more about his plans make Kirby's eventual fight against the monster(s) a lot easier. She occasionally gets impatient with Kirby's inability to fend for himself in the mildest of situations, however, and sometimes gets fed up with him if only because her own temper got the better of her.

She had suspicions that Meta Knight's agenda was in line with King Dedede's at the start, but it was proven to be false when Meta Knight saves Kirby and herself several times. For the most part, she values the explanations Meta Knight can give about Kirby's abilities and the Warp Star, but she takes issue with Meta Knight's harsh methods to improve Kirby's capabilities, which involve Kirby literally fighting for his life.

Appearances

Games

Kirby stars in all the games in the Kirby series, most of which are platformers.

He hails from Planet Popstar, where he lives in a dome-shaped house in Dream Land. He is the hero of Dream Land, which he usually has to save from whatever evil that attacks it, sometimes traveling to other lands or planets to do so. Often, near the end of the game Kirby gains a Final Weapon that he must fight the main villain with.

He features in several spin-offs of varied genres, including racing, pinball, breakout, golf, and falling-blocks games, among others. He also makes cameo appearances in other games.

This section contains information that does not coincide with the main series canon.

In Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, Kirby is a legendary Star Warrior who was sent across the galaxy from an unknown location, meant to sleep in his space ship for a certain number of years before awakening to confront whatever evil there is. However, as Kirby's space ship nears Popstar, it detects monsters of King Dedede bought from Nightmare Enterprises and warps towards it. This wakes Kirby 200 years too early, and since he does not yet know how to control his space ship, it crash lands on Popstar, and Kirby is thrust into the midst of King Dedede and Escargoon's schemes and faces an impending invasion by Nightmare's army of monsters.

Masahiro Sakurai intended Kirby to be largely mute in the anime. In the Japanese version, Kirby usually only says "Poyo," although he sometimes says names and has a limited vocabulary. In The Meal Moocher, Kirby could say "kani" (crab). In Shell-Shocked, Kirby could say "Nyūin" (hospitalized). In the English dub, Kirby could say "Name," "Tiff," "Tuff," "Fololo and Falala," "Chilly," "Fofa," and "Dedede." Makiko Ohmoto's voice work for Kirby calling out the names of his attacks is removed in the dub.

Due to his stubby arms, his body language is a little odd. When he shrugs, he puts his hands in the air, since he has no elbows or shoulders. When scratching his head, he simply just rubs his palm on his cheek, because he has no fingers. Some of his poses are copied from the other characters, including Knuckle Joe's nose scratching and Kung Fu Lee's fighting pose.

Manga and Comics

Kirby stars in several manga series, none of which have been released outside Japan.[20] The second-longest running of these series is titled Kirby of the Stars: The Story of Dedede Who Lives In Pupupu, written by Hirokazu Hikawa and published in May 1995.[21] Other Kirby manga are typically one-shot comedy 4koma (four-panel manga) based on the games and have multiple artists. They have recurring themes and running gags despite having different creators.

Two German comics were released in the German equivalent of the Nintendo Power magazine, Club Nintendo, titled Kirby and the Mystery of the Slime and Kirby's Biggest Case. In these comics, Kirby is portrayed as a detective and King Dedede as his friend. Kirby is also friends with a blue fish (not Kine, but with a similar appearance), an informant who works at the Blue Fish Bar with fellow blue fish. Kirby's Animal Friends Rick, Coo, and Kine appear in Kirby's Biggest Case as pets of a female Kirby look-alike with a red bow and what appears to be a pair of red high heels, ostensibly one of Kirby's girlfriends. In the same comic, he meets Lolo, Lala, and Lulu, the stars of HAL Laboratory's Adventures of Lolo series. These comics were advertisements for Kirby games that would be released in Germany.

Kirby has appeared in every Super Smash Bros. game to date. He retains many of his abilities from his own series, such as being able to inhale his enemies. He also incorporates Copy Abilities such as Fighter, Backdrop, Suplex, Ninja, Stone, Hammer, and Yo-Yo into his moveset without having to copy these abilities from enemies.

Kirby can inflate himself and float in this game, but he can only flap his arms six times before it appears that all the excess air leaves his body and he falls. He cannot float again until after touching the ground. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, along with Jigglypuff and Mr. Game & Watch, Kirby is a character whose appearance does not change from Super Smash Bros. Melee.

After Kirby inhales another fighter, he can swallow them by pressing down or B, which grants him a hat or costume, and use of the swallowed character's neutral special move in place of his own neutral special move. Most of these abilities contain references to the Copy Abilities Kirby obtains in his games; for example, Bowser's Fire Breath and Charizard's Flamethrower work similarly to the Fire ability, the Ice Climbers parka looks like the one Kirby wears with the Freeze ability, and R.O.B.'s Laser ricochets off slopes just like the Laser ability does. If Kirby inhales and swallows another Kirby, it only does minor damage, but if he swallows another Kirby with an ability, he will steal that Kirby's ability.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee, Kirby received two new attacks: a dash attack based on the Burning ability, and an attack where he swings a large hammer, similar to the Hammer ability. The latter is his side special, a fourth special attack introduced in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Ninja, Backdrop and Suplex moves are incorporated into Kirby's throws; Backdrop is his back throw, Suplex's Rock Drop is his forward throw, Suplex's Fury Stomp is his down throw, and Ninja's Air Drop is his up throw. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Kirby's Burning dash attack from Super Smash Bros. Melee is replaced by Yo-Yo's Break Spin, and the Cook ability is Kirby's Final Smash; in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, however, the Ultra Sword Super Ability is Kirby's Final Smash. In the upcoming Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Kirby regains his Burning dash attack from Super Smash Bros. Melee, replacing the Break Spin.

In the first Super Smash Bros. game, Kirby is ranked 2nd out of 12 on the tier list, just above Captain Falcon, due to his fast dash speed, excellent recovery, small size, and ability to copy the moves of others, making him one of the best characters in the game. However, this was not the case in the sequel, Super Smash Bros. Melee, as he was severely reduced in power in said game; his speed went from above average to below average, and his attacks were changed and greatly weakened. He is now placed in 26th, last place for the worst character in the game.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Kirby's attacks were once again changed, this time for the better. He is one of the faster characters, retains his great recovery jumps, and has a very good Final Smash. He is placed 20th out of 38 on the tier list.

Kirby appears as a sticker three times, using his designs from Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, Kirby & The Amazing Mirror, and Kirby: Squeak Squad. The first sticker allows any fighter to increase their Swim Time by 40. The other two stickers, applicable by only King Dedede, Kirby, and Meta Knight, increases Body and Spin Attacks by 22 and Arm and Leg Attacks by 17, respectively.

Victory Poses

All of Kirby's victory animations are variations of the Kirby Dance. In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, there are now three Kirbys, just like in some versions of the dance.

Super Smash Bros.

Does several handstands across the screen.

Slides and dances across the screen.

Super Smash Bros. Melee

Skids side-to-side, then thrusts up his left hand, just like his victory animation from the Kirby series.

series. Does some dances, then thrusts up his left hand.

Jumps and spins about, then thrusts up his left hand.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Does some flips, then holds his hand up.

Spins, then holds his hand up.

Skids to each side, then holds his hand up.

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U

Does a flip and faces away from the screen briefly, then jumps and flips towards the screen again, and holds his hand up.

Performs two slide attacks, spins, then bends over and holds his hand up.

Waves his arms, then flips while jumping and holds his hand up.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

The Kirbys jump, then waddle their arms, spin and hold their hands up. The camera will always zoom to the Kirby on the center.

The Kirbys walk backwards, slide and then they pose just like their artwork from Super Smash Bros. Brawl .

. The Kirbys jump sideways, waddle their body, jump backwards and hold their hands up.

Role in the Subspace Emissary

Kirby plays a rather prominent role in Super Smash Bros. Brawl’s story mode, the Subspace Emissary. In the beginning, a trophy of Mario and Kirby are thrown into an arena, where they come to life and spar. After the battle, the victor revives the fallen loser, and the two fighters celebrate and happily wave to the crowd when suddenly, dark clouds fill the sky and the Halberd appears. It drops many small, dark spheres into the stadium, which then combine to form several Primids. Peach and Zelda, who were watching their match, both come to their aid. After the battle, the Ancient Minister appears and drops a giant Subspace Bomb into the stadium. Two R.O.B.s appear and arm the bomb as the Ancient Minister flies back to the retreating Halberd. As Mario runs to stop the bomb, he, Kirby, Peach, and Zelda hear a loud noise behind them. A cannonball is fired at Mario from a cloud of smoke and he is blasted out of the stadium. As Kirby watches Mario fly into the distance, the two princesses are caged by Petey Piranha. Kirby then faces off against Petey, but can only save one princess (chosen by the player). Wario appears just as Kirby defeats Petey, carrying a giant gun called the Dark Cannon, which he uses to turn the princess Kirby didn't save into a trophy. He then escapes with the trophy, and as Kirby and the remaining princess begin to chase after him, Kirby sees that the Subspace Bomb is about to explode. As it does, they flee the Midair Stadium via a Warp Star. As they are flying away, the Halberd runs into them, they fall off the Warp Star and onto the Halberd. Soon after, Fox, in an Arwing, is hit by the Halberd's claw, forcing it to crash land on the Halberd. It flies past Kirby and the princess, blowing them off of the Halberd.

Later, on the ground, Kirby sees something and runs ahead, leaving the princess behind. She is then turned confronted by Bowser, turned into a trophy by his Dark Cannon, and a dark clone of Bowser possesses her trophy form. The princess, now turned into a dark version of herself, attempts to shoot at a pair of characters (Mario and Pit if Kirby saved Peach, or Link and Yoshi if he saved Zelda) with a Dark Cannon, but Link/Pit (Link if Kirby saved Peach, or Pit if Kirby saved Zelda) stops her by cutting the Dark Cannon in half. Mario and Pit/Link and Yoshi then fight and defeat the princess, turning her into a trophy, and upon seeing their fallen princess as they pass, Mario attacks Link (or Link attacks Mario), but the pair of characters who defeated the princess win. Mario and Pit/Link and Yoshi, now in trophy form, are grabbed by the arm of a cargo, driven by King Dedede (which he stole from Wario), which also has Zelda/Peach, Luigi, and Ness, in their trophy forms. Suddenly, Kirby appears from behind and uses Final Cutter to sever the arm, and revives Mario and Pit/Link and Yoshi. When Dedede attempts to escape, Pit/Link fires an arrow at his cargo, and the five pursue Dedede to save their friends.

Eventually, they find a cave that Dedede's cargo is parked by, and after getting through, they find Dedede's hideout. Upon exploring his hideout, which was already invaded by Bowser, they see a hole in the wall and decide to enter it. They then find Bowser on a cliff, who escapes to the Halberd after avoiding Mario and Pit's attacks. After the scuffle, however, Kirby finds a mysterious badge that fell off Zelda/Peach's trophy.

Some time after that, Kirby and the others find the Ancient Minister in a desert. Despite their best efforts against him and his R.O.B.s, the bomb still explodes, and they narrowly escape the blast, with Kirby flying away on his Warp Star as Link and Pit cling on to either side. Kirby and the others then aid Marth, Ike, Lucas, the Ice Climbers, and the Pokémon Trainer in warding off the Subspace Army troops that had come to face them on a mountain.

After defeating them, the Falcon Flyer and the Halberd (now under Meta Knight's control) land on the mountain, the characters inside the ships join Kirby and the others. The Subspace Gunship, commanded by Bowser and Ganondorf, appears out of Subspace, and fires a Subspace beam into the distance. The Halberd appears, with all the heroes on board, but the Subspace Gunship soon destroys it. Fortunately, the heroes continue toward the Subspace Gunship in an Arwing, the Falcon Flyer, Samus's Ship, and the Hocotate Ship. Kirby then appears on the Dragoon and flies through the Subspace Gunship, destroying it. Ganondorf and Bowser retreat into subspace and Kirby and the rest follow.

When they confront Tabuu, who had already turned Ganondorf into a trophy (after he turned Bowser into a trophy) and defeated Master Hand, he unleashes an attack that turns everyone, including Kirby, into a trophy. However, Kirby is "revived by hunger". Dedede's badge, which he had eaten upon finding it earlier, was set to revive a fallen character after a set amount of time. After going through Subspace alone and reviving some of the fighters along the way, Kirby finds Ganondorf's trophy. Before he can do anything, Bowser appears and attacks Ganondorf's trophy in revenge for turning him into a trophy earlier, before tossing it aside and stomping away. King Dedede then tackles Kirby and hugs him. Dedede points to Tabuu and drags Kirby along to confront him. Kirby then helps the others defeat Tabuu and save the world from subspace.

Kirby has one of the most important roles in the Subspace Emissary, as he revives the second half of the fighters after they are turned into trophies by Tabuu in Subspace; Luigi, Ness and King Dedede were responsible for reviving the first half. He's also the most-used character story-wise, likely to give credit to Masahiro Sakurai, Kirby and Super Smash Bros.’ creator.

Role in World of Light

Kirby serves as the player’s first usable fighter in World of Light (excluding added-in DLC characters), since he is the only one who survives Galeem’s rays of light by using his Warp Star. Galeem's rays of light imprison every other fighter, destroy the bodies of the non-fighters, and engulf everything in the universe until there's nothing left, creating the world Galeem had sought.

Moveset

Special Moves

Misc. abilities

Kirby can discard an ability copied by another character by taunting. The ability star is formed, but it quickly disappears. Kirby can also lose his ability by taking too much damage or by having another Kirby copy another Kirby's ability.

Some of Kirby's regular attacks (notably the Vulcan Jab, Spin Kick and the Smash Punch) are based on Fighter.

Kirby's dash attack in Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is based on the Burning ability or Fire's fireball attack. In the three installments after Super Smash Bros. Melee , he uses the Break Spin from Yo-Yo.

and is based on the Burning ability or Fire's fireball attack. In the three installments after , he uses the Break Spin from Yo-Yo. Kirby's throws are based on moves used by Backdrop, Suplex and Ninja.

Kirby enters a battle by crashing his Warp Star onto the stage, similar to his transportation whenever a new game is started in Kirby's Adventure and Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land, or when he enters a new part of a level via Warp Star.

Final Smash

His Final Smash inis Cook. It works in exactly the same way as it does in the Kirby series . Kirby puts on a chef's hat and "rings" a frying pan. Enemies and items within range (and anyor characters from assist trophies) are sucked into the pot and cooked. After adding salt, sugar, pepper, etc. into the pot, the opponents are thrown upwards out of the pot as random items fly out with them.His Final Smash inandis Ultra Sword. It captures a foe/foes and unleashes a flurry of attacks on them while they're unable to move. Kirby dons the Ultra Sword hat upon activating his Final Smash and lays into his opponent several times, very quickly, with the Ultra Sword before the sword grows in size and Kirby delivers a finishing blow. However, it does approximately the same amount of damage as Cook Kirby, dealing 40%.

The Ultra Sword returns as Kirby's Final Smash in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Snake's Codecs

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, if a player plays as Snake in the stage Shadow Moses Island and quickly inputs down taunt (referred to as a Smash Taunt), Snake can enter a conversation, talking about one of the present fighters, with his support team, along with Slippy as a cameo when talking about Falco. Here is the following conversation if Kirby is present:

Otacon: Snake! Watch out!

Snake: For what? That pink marshmallow?

Otacon: That's Kirby, also known as "Kirby from Dream Land". He's from another planet—in other words, an extraterrestrial. He's got a powerful stomach that lets him swallow and digest anything. And he also has a "Copy Ability" that allows him to mimic opponents, steal their moves, and use those moves against them. On top of that, he has the power to fly around the stage, so once he's got you in his sights, there's no place to run.

Snake: ...Huh? Yeah, got it. I'll keep an eye out.

Palutena's Guidance

In Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, if a player plays as Pit in the stage Palutena's Temple and inputs a Smash Taunt, Pit can enter a conversation, talking about one of the present fighters, with Palutena and Viridi (and Chrom as a cameo when talking about Robin, or Alucard when talking about Richter). Here is the following conversation if Kirby is present:

Pit: It's always easy to pick Kirby out of a crowd.

Viridi: Awww! He's so squishy and adorable!

Palutena: True, but he's a formidable foe.

Pit: He's got all kinds of moves and he's top notch at recovering! Does this guy have ANY weaknesses?

Viridi: Just what you'd expect: his weight. Or rather, his lack of weight.

Pit: So it shouldn't be hard to send him flying, huh?

Palutena: Right. The question is how to do that.

Viridi: Oh, that part's easy. Just keep whaling on him. Then we'll see who's stronger: that little puffball...or Kirby!

Music

The following section contains transcluded content from the Database. Source: (view • edit • help)

Quotes

“ Hi! I'm Kirby..... Pleased to meet you! I'll be doing the explaining from here on, so listen carefully as you'll need my advice to knock out King Dedede ” — And Here's Kirby! • Kirby's Dream Land Instruction Booklet

“ Let me introduce some of the items that will help me on my adventure. If you use them wisely, I can survive the fiercest of attacks. ” — Kirby's Arsenal • Kirby's Dream Land Instruction Booklet

“ Once in King Dedede's realm, there are five stages you must get through. To help you through my journey, here's a short peak at what lies ahead... ” — The Road Ahead • Kirby's Dream Land Instruction Booklet

Related Quotes

“ The 8-inch high Kirby hails from a distant, peaceful star. Like his simplistic appearance, he is an easily-understood character. True to his instincts, Kirby eats when he gets hungry and sleeps as soon as he grows tired. Nevertheless, Kirby remains a formidable opponent. In addition to his distinct flight and swallowing skills, he also has the ability to copy enemy attacks for ever-changing action. ” — Description • Super Smash Bros.

“ An 8-inch high creature from a distant star. He may look harmless, but using his Copy ability, Kirby becomes a formidable opponent. ” — Instruction manual • Super Smash Bros.

“ A puff ball that floats through the sky and boasts a variety of moves. ” — Instruction manual description • Super Smash Bros. Melee

“ A denizen of the far-off, peaceful planet Pop Star, Kirby became a citizen of Dream Land after defeating King Dedede. Even though he's only about eight inches tall, Kirby is an extremely skilled technician. He has the unique ability to absorb the powers of his enemies, and his elastic body makes him a versatile adventurer. ” — Trophy description Super Smash Bros. Melee

“ Kirby's small size lets him dodge many attacks, but his light weight makes him fly far when struck. Using his ability to inflate, he can jump five times. His Swallow attack creates wild combos; not only can he copy foes' moves, but he'll also put on special hats and mimic their voices. His Hammer is unwieldy but powerful. ” — Trophy description • Super Smash Bros. Melee

“ Kirby, a Warpstar Knight in training, crash-lands on the Planet Popstar amd accidentally ends up as the pink protector of the villagers. His most amazing ability is to inhale his enemies' powers and give them a taste of their own medicine. ” — Character description • Kirby: Right Back at Ya! official English website and Nintendo Power magazines

“ The Warpstar Knight-in-training accidentally ends up as the pink protector of Cappy Town. Though he seems harmless, Kirby has the amazing ability to blow away the competition by inhaling his enemies' attacks and sending them Right Back at 'em. ” — Kirby: Right Back at Ya! Character description Nintendo Power magazines

“ The little pink puffball with a gigantic appetite is once again the star of the show. This time around, Kirby's taking his copy abilities on the road in search of his stolen strawberry shortcake. ” — Characters • Kirby: Squeak Squad Instruction Booklet

“ Because of his light weight, Kirby is always in danger of being sent flying, but his ability to puff up and fly allows him to come back from amazing distances. His Final Cutter strikes on the way up and on the way down, and it sends out a beam of force upon landing. Kirby transforms into various objects and crashes down when he uses his Stone technique. ” — Trophy description • Super Smash Bros. Melee

“ A round, pink ball of cuteness from a distant, peaceful star. He can swallow anything with his gigantic mouth, then spit it out as ammo. He has the handy ability to copy powers and use them as his own. His hovering ability lets him fly through the air with ease. He's so round, he's sometimes treated like a ball. ” — Trophy description • Super Smash Bros. Brawl

“ This is Kirby, Warp Star-riding citizen of Dream Land who can suck up anything. His copy abilities allow him to steal the powers of other characters! Yeah... He’s the only character who really hasn’t changed much from his appearance in Super Smash Bros. Melee. He’s round, pink, and soft. ” — Official Super Smash Bros. Brawl website

“ Round little Kirby lives on the peaceful Planet Popstar, in Dream Land. He can inhale things with his big mouth, either copying their abilities or spitting them out again. In Smash Bros., Kirby can inhale opponents and copy their standard specials. He gets launched easily but recovers well. ” — Trophy description • Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U

“ Holding the special button and left or right will charge up Kirby's Hammer Flip attack. Charging too long hurts Kirby! The hammer strikes twice in the air, but landing the single blow on the ground is more powerful. Kirby's up special Final Cutter slices up and down, firing a shock wave upon landing. ” — Trophy description • Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U

“ Kirby can steal a copy ability from another Kirby who's already copied someone else's ability. Confused yet? ” — Tips • Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U

“ Kirby slices up into the air and then slices straight down again. The shock wave that appears when you land can also damage your opponents. ” — Tips • Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U

“ If fully charged, this move becomes very powerful, but Kirby will begin to take damage at full charge. ” — Tips • Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U

“ When Hammer Flip is fully charged and used on the ground, Kirby is invincible for a brief moment at the start of his swing. ” — Tips • Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U

“ If you press the attack button after sucking enemies in, you'll spit them back out. Use enemies to attack other enemies! ” — Tips • Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U

“ In addition to enemies, Kirby can inhale some items. You'll recover a little damage this way, but sucking in explosives will hurt! ” — Tips • Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U

“ When Kirby copies a Mii Fighter, he'll wear a mask that looks like the Mii Fighter's face. Only the face itself is taken, though, headgear not included. ” — Tips • Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U

“ Kirby's light body lets him jump six times more than most other fighters. If Kirby gets launched but not KO'd, you can almost bet he's coming back! ” — Tips • Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U

“ Kirby gains the ability to use Aura Sphere from Lucario. No matter how high his damage gets, though, the attack won't get any stronger. ” — Tips • Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U

“ Kirby gets a Luma of his very own after inhaling Rosalina! It doesn't stay long enough to team up with him, though it flies forward and then vanishes. ” — Tips • Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U

“ Kirby's form is different each time he uses this, but the move's effect is the same. ” — Tips • Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U

“ While falling, you can cancel the attack by entering the move a second time. It's a perfect way to trick other players! ” — Tips • Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U

“ Taunt to discard your current Copy Ability. Find the most opportune moment to change your ability! ” — Tips • Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U

“ #1 is a tie between Jigglypuff, Meta Knight, and Kirby, who can all manage six. #4 is King Dedede with five, and Pit and Dark Pit are tied at #5 with four. ” — The Jump Masters Tip • Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

“ #1 is Jigglypuff, #2 is Mr. Game & Watch, and #3 is Kirby. Light fighters are easy to launch but can easily escape from combos. ” — The Three Lightest Fighters Tip • Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

“ The original Kirby game, Kirby's Dream Land, was designed to be easy for beginners to play, but finishing it unlocks a more challenging mode. ” — Tips • Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

“ Kirby hasn't always been able to copy the abilities of the enemies he inhaled. That power debuted in his second title, Kirby's Adventure. ” — Tips • Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

“ Kirby made his debut in 1992 in Kirby's Dream Land for the Game Boy. The goal of his journey was to recover stolen food from King Dedede. ” — Tips • Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

“ The heroic Kirby is always ready to jump into action. And this time, his buddy Waddle Dee is along for the adventure. ” — Kirby and the Rainbow Curse website Officialwebsite

“ Our heroic hero is on a roll! He's on a mission to restore the color that's been stolen from dear old Dream Land. His preferred mode of travel is rainbow rope, and he can transform into three amazing Kirbys! ” — Figurine description Kirby and the Rainbow Curse

“ Our pink adventurer blew into Dream Land one day on a spring breeze. Since then, he's spent countless hours saving the day with his amazing abilities. He can swallow anything and spit it out. He can also use his copy ability. ” — Figurine description • Kirby and the Rainbow Curse

“ Kirby is the round, pink life-form from Planet Popstar who possesses infinite power and can inhale enemies to copy their abilities. ” — About Kirby • Kirby: Planet Robobot

“ Our hero—capable of swallowing almost anything! Use his Copy Abilities and Robobot Armor to help him on his adventure. ” — Instruction manual • Kirby: Planet Robobot

“ Press X to throw Hearts and make all kinds of friends! Change up your team for variety, and press ↑ to call upon the power of friendship and gain Friend Abilities whenever you need to! ” — Using Kirby • Kirby Star Allies

“ Kirby's ability to copy fighters is totally unique! While he is light and can be launched easily, he can also jump up to five times in the air, so he has great recovery. Look for his new Stone transformation, too. ” — #06: Kirby • Super Smash Bros. Ultimate website Officialwebsite

“ Kirby is a big eater who inhales any and everything. If he inhales an enemy, he can copy and use one of their abilities. He's also good at hovering by flapping his arms and puffing up like a balloon. ” — Tips • Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

“ After Kirby inhales a fighter, he'll spit them out as a star-shaped projectile. The heavier the fighter, the more attack power the projectile will have. ” — Tips • Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

“ This attack can sometimes cause an opponent to take a tumble. Watch your opponent carefully. If they start to fall over, follow up with a grab or smash attack. ” — Squish Kick (Down Tilt Attack) Tip • Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

“ He may only be eight inches tall, but you should never underestimate this little pink hero. On the planet Pop Star, Kirby used his elastic body and his uncanny ability to absorb enemies to save Dream Land from the mischievous King Dedede. Since then, he’s gone on countless other adventures and even become a force to be reckoned with in the Super Smash Bros.™ fighting game series. ” — Official Kirby Website

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