The Gaming Historian - Kirby

Kirby is one of Nintendo's most popular franchises. Isn't he adorable? Kirby was created for beginner gamers, but he eventually ended up becoming a staple character for Nintendo and appealing to a wide audience of gamers. But where did this pink puff ball come from? The answer may surprise you. Kirby has always been such a simple character. He's basically a smiley face with two little arms and legs. Nevertheless, he remains one of Nintendos most popular characters, appearing in many different video games, a television show, even manga.

It began...as a blob. It was 1991, and at the young age of 19, Masahiro Sakurai was given the task by his company, HAL Labs, of creating a game boy game for beginners that would be easy to complete.

Sakurai had his idea in place. But before they could begin graphics and coding for the game, he needed a placeholder graphic for his main character, who he dubbed Popopo. So, he drew a blob with two eyes and a smile. Over time, Sakurai and the rest of his staff began to grow quite fond of their little blob. It was cute....simple....it seemed perfect in a game for beginners. Sakurai decided to expand on this character. He added two arms and two legs, and presto, Kirby was born. After the game finished, development, HAL Labs took their creation to Nintendo. His name was soon changed from Popopo, to Kirby.

So how exactly do you come up with the name Kirby? The most common belief is that Kirby is named after the vacuum cleaner company, Kirby. It would make sense since a vacuum cleaner sucks, and sucking is kirbys main ability. However, Another belief is that he is named after John Kirby, Nintendo of America's former lawyer who represented Nintendo in the case vs Universal Studios over Donkey Kong. Theres also a rumor that John Kirby received a copy of the game Kirby's Adventure and apparently he got a good laugh out of it. However, Sakurai has been quoted as saying he does not remember how he got his name.

When Kirby was presented to Nintendo, Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of Mario, wanted Kirby to be yellow. Sakurai however, intended Kirby to be pink. Sakurai had his wish granted, and the first game, Kirby's Dream Land (known in Japan as Kirby of the Stars) was released. In the first game however, Kirby lacked the ability to copy enemies. All he could do was suck them in and shoot them out at enemies. The game was relatively easy, but was popular nonetheless. Kirbys Dream Land was in black and white due to being on the Game Boy. Thus, when it was brought to North America, Kirby is depicted as being completely white on the cover.

Less than a year later, Kirbys Adventure was released on the NES. This time, he was correctly shown as pink on the North American cover. Kirby's Adventure introduced Kirby's copy ability. Sakurai added this ability to give the more hardcore gamers some gameplay mechanics to mess with and make the game more challenging. Beginner gamers could still suck up enemies and spit them out as usual as well. Kirbys Adventure was released on May 1st, 1993 in North America. The game really pushed the NES to the limit with its impressive colors, catchy music, and scrolling levels.

After the spinoff games, Kirbys Pinball land, Kirbys Avalanche, and Kirbys Dream Course, Nintendo released the finest evolution of the Kirby series with Kirbys Dream Land 2. It featured new powerups, puzzle solving, and animal friends to help Kirby out. The game also had increased colors when played on the Super Game boy. Kirbys Dream Land 2 is my personal favorite in the Kirby series, because growing up, it was probably the #1 game in my Game Boy. It was just that good. I was obsessed with finding every little secret in the game, as well as experimenting with all of the different powers that combined with each animal.

Kirby reached a milestone in his career with Kirby Super Star, released on September 20th, 1996 on the Super Nintendo. It featured 9 different games on one cartridge, and is widely regarded as the greatest kirby game of all time. A remake of the game, Kirby Super Star Ultra, is currently being made for the Nintendo DS.

After his success with the Kirby games, Sakurai and Hal Labs created a new game that many people are familiar with. Super Smash Bros., which premiered in 1999 on the Nintendo 64. Sakurai left HAL in August 2003 and worked with Q Entertainment. This collaboration resulted in Meteos, an addicting puzzle game released in 2005. He then formed his own company, Sora. He is currently working on new titles since completing Super Smash Bros. Brawl.