History Franchise / Kirby

** Downplayed with King Dedede. While he resembles a penguin, he doesn't usually live in cold areas, but in ''VideoGame/KirbysDreamLand3'', ''VideoGame/KirbysEpicYarn'', ''VideoGame/KirbyAndTheForgottenLand'', he's encountered in their respective {{Slippy Slidey Ice World}}s, Iceberg, Snow Land, and Winter Horns.

** Downplayed with King Dedede. While he resembles a penguin, he doesn't live in cold areas, but in ''VideoGame/KirbysEpicYarn'' and ''VideoGame/KirbyAndTheForgottenLand'', he's encountered in their respective {{Slippy Slidey Ice World}}s, Snow Land and Winter Horns.

* SimpleStaff: [[TelescopingStaff Staff]] and Baton abilities, the latter being exclusive to the anime.

''Kirby'' is a multimedia franchise co-owned by Creator/{{Nintendo}} and Creator/HALLaboratory and originally created by Creator/MasahiroSakurai. The games star the titular Kirby, who is a [[KidHero young]], [[RealMenWearPink pink]], [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter blobby]], alien ...[[BuffySpeak thingy]]. He can [[VacuumMouth suck enemies into his mouth]] then [[SuperSpit spit them out with incredible force]] or, starting with the second game, ''VideoGame/KirbysAdventure'', devour them and [[PowerCopying absorb their powers]] -- he takes the old maxim "you are what you eat" quite literally. Throughout most of his adventures, he journeys across Dream Land (Pupupu Land in Japanese), a fictional country on the [[ALongTimeAgoInAGalaxyFarFarAway distant Planet Popstar]], to protect it from alien invaders and other threats to his home.

Kirby has also been featured as a regular character in the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' series (also created by Sakurai), and as of ''Brawl'', he is joined by recurring series rivals King Dedede (the [[DropTheHammer hammer-wielding]], [[AuthorityInNameOnly self-proclaimed king of Dream Land]] who debuted in the very first game as a villainous character, but later became more of an anti-hero) and Meta Knight (an [[WorthyOpponent honorable]] masked swordsman who first appeared in the second game, and has acted as both [[StealthMentor friend]] and [[DuelBoss foe]]).

Besides games, Kirby starred in his own anime series, ''Hoshi no Kirby'' (the franchise's Japanese name, meaning "Kirby of the Stars"); Sakurai retained a lot of creative input on the show. It was licensed by Creator/FourKidsEntertainment, so naturally a lot of the darker elements from the Japanese version were {{Bowdlerise}}d out. The dub, [[MarketBasedTitle retitled]] ''Anime/KirbyRightBackAtYa'', was still successful, managing to stay on the air for all 100 episodes. There is also an unrelated ''Kirby'' gag manga serialized by [=CoroCoro=] Comic that has not been licensed.

Most of the ''Kirby'' games are [[PlatformGame Platformers]], but the series has occasionally dipped into [[GenreShift other genres]] as well, as highlighted below:

The ''Kirby'' games are typically designed to be easy for young (or beginner) gamers to complete, but to also provide some extra challenges for experienced players, with one of the earlier challenges being the Extra Game in the first game, ''VideoGame/KirbysDreamLand'', which adds more enemies to the levels and replaces some of the ones from the normal one with tougher ones.[[note]]This mode is unlocked with a button combination on the title screen (available from the start, but the button combination isn't displayed in-game until beating the game normally).[[/note]]

* ''VideoGame/KirbyCanvasCurse'' (2005, Nintendo DS; Kirby is transformed into a ball, and the player draws lines to help guide Kirby through each level)

** Used in ''Return to Dream Land'', ''Triple Deluxe'', and ''Planet Robobot'' to unlock bonus levels in each world, which each have an extra collectable. Collecting all of THOSE in turn opens up new stuff.

** Every world in ''[[VideoGame/KirbysAdventure Adventure]]'', ''[[VideoGame/KirbyAndTheAmazingMirror Amazing Mirror]]'', ''[[VideoGame/KirbyCanvasCurse Canvas Curse]]'', ''[[VideoGame/KirbySqueakSquad Squeak Squad]]'', ''[[VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand Return to Dream Land]]'', ''Dream Collection'', ''[[VideoGame/KirbyTripleDeluxe Triple Deluxe]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/KirbyPlanetRobobot Planet Robobot]]''.
** For ''[[VideoGame/KirbyCanvasCurse Canvas Curse]]'', this applies not only to worlds, but also to the individual stages.
** In ''[[VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies Star Allies]]'', only the level names in the first two worlds are fully alliterative.

** ''VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies'' has the "Guest Star" mode, a "Helper to Hero"-style mode where, as a Friend or Dream Friend, you traverse the 5 worlds. 1-Ups, food, and picture pieces are now point items, and Maxim Tomatoes are now regular food. In addition, all Friend Star segments are omitted, and you fight [[spoiler: [[TrueFinalBoss Morpho Knight]]]] after Hyness.

** King Dedede's theme has one due to being a BootstrappedLeitmotif form of Mt. Dedede's theme from ''VideoGame/KirbysDreamLand'', namely the fact that it still opens with the notes originally meant to contrast with the game's normal boss theme (which opens up in a similar manner). On the other hand, Mt. Dedede's theme only was played in two places: when first entering the level and when fighting Dedede himself.

** All of the bosses except [[spoiler:Dark Matter and Zero]] in ''Kirby's Dream Land 3''. Although to actually free them you need all of that world's Heart Stars.

* BlackoutBasement: Some levels in the main platformers have candles to be lit or carried, or [[LightEmUp light bulb (or just light)]] powers to utilize. In ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand'', any power with electric or fire properties will extend the range you see in a dark room.

** In ''Revenge of Meta Knight'', Kirby caused the Halberd to crash into the ocean. In ''Squeak Squad'', "Secret Sea" is one of the worlds, and you eventually enter the flooded wreck of the Halberd, still at the bottom of the sea. [[spoiler:And then Meta Knight reveals that he's repaired it and flies it into ''space''.]]

* DirectionallySolidPlatforms: They're present and throughout the whole series, more so in some levels than others. Some you can drop back through again, others you can't.

* EasyLevelsHardBosses: The bosses are much harder than the levels. In fact, the ''Kirby'' series was once the TropeNamer for this variety of BossDissonance.

* EternalEngine: The Halberd, Nova, Mecheye, the final levels of Shiver Star, Egg Engines, and every level in ''Planet Robobot'' is at least partially this.

** ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand'' has an EX mode that is unlocked after beating the main mode of the game. While the levels remain largely unchanged, the bosses have been made considerably more difficult. Kirby (and his allies)'s health is also reduced by one-third.

* FloatingContinent: Blockworld and Floralia are both floating ''archipelagos'' in Dream Land's sky. Also the Bubbly Clouds and other levels like it.

* FunWithAcronyms: ''Kirby's Adventure'' has levels whose initials spell ''V-I-B-G-Y-O-R'', Which is Roy G Biv (The colors of the rainbow) backwards. ''Return to Dream Land'' spells C-R-O-W-N-E-D, ''Triple Deluxe'' spells F-L-O-W-E-R, ''Planet Robobot'' spells P-R-O-G-R-A-M, and the second world of ''Star Allies'' spells F-R-I-E-N-D-S.

** A level in ''Dream Land 3'' takes you through an apparently [[SlippySlideyIceWorld arctic]] [[LethalLavaLand volcano]].
** The fourth world of ''VideoGame/KirbyMassAttack'' starts as a LethalLavaLand, followed by a few graveyard-themed levels, then two levels that ultimately take the Kirbys to [[RecycledInSpace outer space]], then back to the graveyards, and finally to the volcano for the boss.
** Most of Orange Ocean in ''Kirby's Adventure'' is a mix of tropical islands and underwater levels. The last few levels, however, are cold and have lots of mystical-looking crystals, probably as a prelude to the next area, Rainbow Resort.
** In ''Triple Deluxe'', Wild World mixes JungleJapes, BigBoosHaunt and TempleOfDoom. Endless Explosions is in essence a giant volcano. However, two levels have giant pools of water inside of them.

* InsistentTerminology: What other games call "worlds" is what ''Kirby'' calls "levels", and what other games call "levels" is what ''Kirby'' calls "stages". This applies to every single game, starting with ''VideoGame/KirbysAdventure''.

** Single-level example: the last stage of Ripple Star from ''Kirby 64''.
** Another single-level example: the miniboss towers in ''Adventure''/''Nightmare in Dream Land'' in Rainbow Resort and a ContinuityNod and CallBack to it in ''Return to Dream Land'' in Nutty Noon and ''Triple Deluxe''[='=]s Endless Explosions.

* KudzuPlot: Has become somewhat infamous for this. The first four games have incredibly simple plots. Dedede steals all the food from dreamland and then scatters the pieces of the Star Rod to avoid Nightmare breaking loose, Dark Matter gets introduced and possesses Dedede and Kirby stops the sun and moon from fighting and [[spoiler:gets manipulated by Marx to summon a Galactic Nova so the former can use it to dominate the universe]]. Come Dreamland 3, Dark Matter returns and their leader, 0, is introduced. Then in Crystal Shards, Dark Matter returns again and 0 returns in a new form with 02. Then Amazing Mirror introduces the concept of parallel universes with the Mirror World. Then in Return to Dreamland we get introduced to the ancients, enigmatic beings who created multiple items like the Galactic Novas and the Star Rod. Triple Deluxe then reveals the Dimension Mirror was given to Sectonia as a gift, which resulted in her getting corrupted by it. And then Star Allies... [[WhamEpisode Hooooooo boy]]. Star Allies drops probably the biggest bombshell in the series by introducing Void, a destructive being which exists in all dimensions and caused the ancients to make the items found throughout the series, and then the DLC reveals that [[spoiler:Void is the source of EVERYTHING in the franchise, having so many likely relations to Dark Matter, with Kirby being a source of Void incarnated via positive energy. Even aside from that, it also reveals the Butterfly frequently landing upon Kirby is actually a being which brings judgement and can absorb people and other beings and grow more powerful by doing so]]. Then Forgotten Land reveals that [[spoiler:the previous inhabitants of the new world used Fecto Forgo to escape the planet, with it commonly being speculated that they would become the ancients.]] The lore has become so complex that it’s nigh impossible to understand it all. Luckly most of the lore is in the backround so the series doesn't suffer from ContinuityLockOut with the basic plot being self-contained.

* LevelInTheClouds: A frequent setting in the series, which includes Bubbly Clouds in many games, and the worlds Nutty Noon in ''Return to Dream Land'' and Fine Fields in ''Triple Deluxe''.
* LevelsTakeFlight: It's almost series tradition to have a level or boss fight that's entirely flying, such as Kaboola from ''Dream Land'' or the Halberd stages from ''Super Star''.

* MeaninglessLives: Continually played straight since ''Kirby's Adventure'', where in most cases extra lives are handed out by the dozens and a game over only sends you back to the hub (or the start of the level, if the game doesn't have one). This is especially exemplified in ''VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies'', as the developers freely admitted that they consider lives more equivalent to [[ScoringPoints score]]; going over 1,000 lives places a crown on the life counter. Still, they're not totally meaningless through the series. In [[VideoGame/KirbysDreamLand the original game]] and later games' extra modes, a game over will send you all the way back to the start, so stocking up on lives is important.

** There's also the other type of mood whiplash when you complete ''Return of the King''. AlasPoorVillain indeed.

** Think the original ''Kirby's Dream Land'' is too easy? Then try playing Hard Mode on it -- even the most seasoned gamers will be given a run for their money. That's ''still'' too easy for you? Try changing the options to giving you no lives [[OneHitKill and a max of one point of vitality]]. If you get hit even once, you'll have to redo ''the entire level'' over again. ''Kirby's Adventure'' followed suit by having an Extra Game mode which cut Kirby's health down to three hit points and took out the save feature -- although its remake ''Nightmare in Dream Land'' gave you a save feature in its Extra Game, it compensates with Meta Knightmare mode, which ''does not'' have a save feature. That said, neither of them can touch the original game's hard mode in terms of just how insanely frustrating it is. Also, The Arena from ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar'' and The True Arena from ''Super Star Ultra'' -- the latter is almost as hard as the original ''Kirby's Dream Land''[='s=] hard mode, even with the [[GameBreaker trusty hammer]] at your side! Helper to Hero in that game can also get downright nightmarish to play with the weaker characters.

** HAL seems to have listened to the complaints about ''Star Allies'' being too easy, which definitely shows in the rather sudden DifficultySpike with ''Heroes in Another Dimension''. Most notably, the bosses got some pretty serious upgrades, to the point where even ''Whispy Woods'' can lay an ass-whooping if the player isn't prepared.

** ''Kirby's Adventure''[='=]s penultimate level reminisces about ''Kirby's Dream Land''. [[spoiler:So does ''Star Allies''[='=] final bonus level]].

** The final world of ''VideoGame/KirbysEpicYarn'' is [[spoiler:Dream Land transformed by [[BigBad Yin-Yarn]]]], featuring arts-and-crafts versions of classic ''Kirby'' game elements such as star blocks and Shotzos.
** The final non-boss level of Nutty Noon in ''Return to Dream Land'' is a tower filled with minibosses much like the one in Rainbow Resort in ''Adventure'' and its remake ''Nightmare in Dream Land''. Both towers have a hidden entrance above the main one and the expanded soundtrack in ''Nightmare in Dream Land'' made King Dedede's theme from ''Dream Land'' the level music instead of simply the miniboss theme as in the original version, and this carried over in ''Return to Dream Land''.
** In ''Star Allies''' Guest Star mode, when playing as a Dream Friend, certain bits of level design will be replaced with corresponding levels from the characters' original games.
* NoticingTheFourthWall: Since ''Return to Dream Land'', the first time Kirby boards a Warp Star he will turn to face the camera, then smile and wave at the player. It's often echoed in the final world, where Kirby will [[LetsGetDangerous give a determined nod]] instead.

** Many common enemies are palette swapped for their helper counterparts and late-game levels.

* PermanentlyMissableContent: In ''Kirby 64'', you're only allowed to fight the Waddle Doo, the possessed Adeleine, and the possessed King Dedede once and only once. After you beat them, these battles do not reappear when revisiting their levels. The only way to fight them again is to start a new file. Thankfully, it's subverted in another case. You can miss collecting the bad ending cutscene in the theater by collecting all the Crystal Shards before fighting the first final boss, but the cutscene will be added to the theater anyway after beating the TrueFinalBoss.

* SequentialBoss: The worst offender is the final boss in ''Kirby & The Amazing Mirror'', which has you fight against the second-last level's boss again but with more attacks, then the same Warlock-ish form of Dark Mind ''four times'', with the only reason being to have a different area to fight him in and some power-ups, then a giant eye form of Dark Mind, ''and then'' a smaller version of that eye flying away, with you trying to finish it off ''during the credits''. Although, once the credits start, you've already won, and are just playing a scored game of ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill.

** In one of the ghost levels in ''VideoGame/KirbyMassAttack'' of Level 4, one of the pieces of background music played is very reminiscent of the Threed section in ''[=EarthBound=]''; the game's composer, Shogo Sakai, worked on ''VideoGame/MOTHER3''.
** In ''Revenge of the King'', Kabula fires what seems to be Bullet Bills from the ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' series at you during your boss fight with it. Kabula's redesign with its ferocious smile also heavily resembles the Banzai Bills from the same franchise.

* SpikesOfDoom: Needle Kirby lets him shoot out spikes around him to impale enemies. Cutter + Cutter is a spiky boomerang. Some obstacles in the levels are spikes, although they only do damage instead of being OneHitKill.

** The final world in ''Dream Land 2'' is the Dark Castle, where [[spoiler:the possessed]] King Dedede resides. In ''Triple Deluxe'', the final world Royal Road is set in a giant castle, while ''Planet Robobot's'' Access Ark (the final world) is the main villain's mothership.

** ''VideoGame/KirbysEpicYarn'' features both vertical shmup levels and horizontal shmup levels.

** ''Planet Robobot'' has the Robobot Jet Mode segments in two levels, as well as [[spoiler:Halberd Mode]] for the FinalBoss fight. The former is a horizontal shooter, the latter is a RailShooter.

* VideoGameFlight: Kirby is one of the few characters who can generally fly anywhere, any time. Don't think you can just fly over everything, though -- there are enemies in the skies, and some levels are pretty tight. A few games also have a time limit on how long you can fly, namely ''Kirby 64'', the ''Smash Bros.'' games, ''Kirby Fighters (Deluxe)'' and ''Battle Royale''.

** The Super Famicom version of ''Kirby no [=KiraKira=] Kids'' (better known as ''Kirby's Star Stacker'').
** ''Nightmare in Dream Land'', which is a remake of ''VideoGame/KirbysAdventure''.

* NiceHat: Kirby's current ability is often denoted by one of these, ranging from a crown of flames to a pointed hat very similar to [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda another famous swordsman]]. A few of those hats are also [[WeaponizedHeadgear directly weaponized]] depending on the ability.

** This is the premise behind ''Dream Buffet'', where Kirby is shruken to the size of a marble and a normal-sized cake becomes an obstacle course.

* MacroZone: ''Mass Attack'' has Kirby split into ten half-size Kirbys, so obstacles like giant flowers and crane machine claws abound.

* ''Kirby's Dream Buffet'' (2022, Nintendo Switch; an multiplayer racing game where four tiny multicolored Kirbys must traverse through various food-themed obstacle courses and collect the most strawberries to win)

* LevelOneMusicRepresents: Green Greens, which has since become a {{Leitmotif}} for Kirby.

* NewWorkRecycledAssets: The GBA and DS games are particularly infamous for this, as assets from ''Nightmare in Dreamland'' were reused for virtually every single game on ''both'' systems.

* ''Kirby's Star Stacker'' (1997, Game Boy; another FallingBlocks PuzzleGame)

* ''Kirby's Block Ball'' (1995, Game Boy; a BreakingOut game)

* ''Dedede's Drum Dash Deluxe'' (2014, Nintendo 3DS; stand-alone version of the sub game in ''Triple Deluxe'')

* ''VideoGame/KirbyAndTheForgottenLand'' (2022, Nintendo Switch; the first full 3D ''Kirby'' game which allows Kirby to half-swallow objects to [[DinnerDeformation take their shape]] for various functions)

* BlackHoleBelly: Kirby can swallow many things much larger than him. In ''Squeak Squad'' and the anime, his stomach is shown to be a literal black hole, and in ''Triple Deluxe'' he can transform into [[SuperMode Hypernova Kirby]] to make this ability [[UpToEleven even stronger]].

** ''VideoGame/KirbyTripleDeluxe'' takes it UpToEleven by introducing the Miracle Fruit which turns Kirby's stomach into a black hole, allowing to eat enemies too big for him to swallow in his normal state.

** Miracle Matter in ''Kirby 64'' cranks this UpToEleven, being a twenty-sided dice with eyes on every side.

** Shockingly, the majority of ''Canvas Curse'' can be classified as this as the environmental hazards turn UpToEleven by Level 4, and God help your soul if you are going for OneHundredPercentCompletion... getting all of those medals is just as bad (if not worse) than the True Arena.

** ''Star Allies'': [[spoiler:Void Soul]], who serves as the true final boss in The Ultimate Choice and has an altered final phase. The Wave 3 [[DownloadableContent update]] adds [[spoiler:Void]] as the ''[[UpToEleven True]]'' True Final Boss in the new [[HarderThanHard Soul Melter EX]] difficulty in the Ultimate Choice mode.

** In the WhatIf scenario of ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStarUltra'' [[spoiler:Marx is reanimated by pieces of Nova and has gone even more insane [[UpToEleven if you could believe that]].]]

[[AC:Games in the ''Kirby'' series]]

[[AC:Other Works in the Franchise]]

* ''LightNovel/{{Kirby}}'' (light novels)