Kirby is quite a cocky Jerkass in Kirby's Avalanche. More famously: Kirby is a much less straightforward hero than most of them, notably eating definitely sentient beings alive, and sometimes, going on quests and slaughtering people (a good number of them innocent and just being in his way) for rather... ambiguous reasons (in Squeak Squad: CAKE). This led to many alternative interpretations of Kirby. Conversely, exactly what happens when Kirby inhales an enemy isn't entirely clear. Sometimes the specific individuals Kirby inhales can show up again later (mostly) unharmed, which in addition to alternate interpretation leads to some Wild Mass Guessing.note In the Kirby Light Novels, enemies that Kirby eats return to normal after Kirby discards his Copy Ability, but since this takes place in an Alternate Continuity it likely doesn't apply to the games (where Copy Abilities turn into Ability Stars when Kirby discards them). In Super Smash Bros., the Inhaled opponent instead is released immediately... somehow, but is damaged in the process. Shinya Kumazaki would finally confirm in a 2023 interview that while the enemies Kirby swallows disappear, they aren't actually digested and do eventually "resurface somewhere else in the world".
Meta Knight squanders more than one opportunity to let Kirby know what's going on. Is he playing Idiot Ball or does he have some ulterior motive, such as ensuring another rematch between the two of them? If he does, does Meta Knight really crave a rematch so badly that he's willing to risk an Eldritch Abomination escaping into the world? Or alternatively, does he just not view telling Kirby everything as worth it and think Kirby is too stubborn to listen?
Galacta Knight has had no information released about him besides being so strong that he was sealed away and possibly having destroyed several planets in the past. Literally every piece of fandom conversation outside those few facts is an ACI.
Dark Nebula is laughably easy compared to the battle just before it. 02 is also easier than Miracle Matter.
Dark Crafter makes the above two bosses look difficult. It only has one, rather easy to dodge, attack and the strategy to defeat it is the same as Whispy Woods.
Audience-Alienating Era: The interim between Masahiro Sakurai departing from HAL in 2003 and Shinya Kumazaki stepping in as series director in 2008 is considered to be the series' weakest period. Due to the main team at HAL Laboratory being tied up in multiple failed attempts to continue the series, Kirby would be farmed out to various outside teams. The two mainline games released during this period would garner receptions ranging from divisive (Amazing Mirror) to underwhelming (Squeak Squad), while the spin-off Canvas Curse would largely be overlooked as an insubstantial Tech-Demo Game despite being fairly well-received. Kumazaki would eventually take control of the franchise after this period, starting with the Ultra remake of Kirby Super Star, then using the work on that game to put together a vision that would properly continue the mainline Kirby games with Kirby's Return to Dream Land.
As Bandanna Waddle Dee has become a Breakout Character and has started to be pushed as the fourth main character, fan opinion has started to become divided on him. Some love him for his adorable design, his use of a spear to round out Meta Knight's sword use and King Dedede's hammer use, his relationship with King Dedede, and for being built as an "underdog story" who was able to train and be on par with Kirby. Others dislike him for his design being little more than that of a generic enemy and having less interesting abilities than the other main characters. His detractors also feel that his position as the fourth main character would be better given to other characters like Gooey or Adeleine.
Fans who prefer Masahiro Sakurai's faster paced, more action oriented games versus fans who prefer Shinichi Shimomura's slower paced, more puzzle oriented games. They usually stood behind specific examples, pitting Kirby's Adventure against Kirby's Dream Land 2 or Kirby Super Star against Kirby 64. No single game attempted to build on Super Star or 64, pleasing neither camp until the Shinya Kumazaki directed Return to Dream Land, which took Kirby's controls from the Sakurai games and put them in the more puzzle-focused level designs of the Shimomura games.
The series has a bit of a broken base concerning the quality of the games between Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards and Kirby's Return to Dream Land. This era saw the series dropping Kirby's recurring cast of friends (who wouldn't be brought back to the spotlight until Kirby Star Allies) and experimenting a lot with different gameplay styles, even within the main series. Some fans prefer the more experimental titles and wish the canceled GameCube game had been released, while others prefer the more refined style started by Return to Dream Land and enjoy the focus on new and recurring characters.
While not to the extent of the Zelda franchise's tug-of-war between They Changed It, Now It Sucks! and It's the Same, Now It Sucks!, there is a similar overarching debate for the Kirby series as well. Which Kirby experience is better? The classic-style platformers where Kirby absorbs enemies to gain their abilities, or the ones that innovate (spin-off titles such as Kirby: Canvas Curse, Kirby's Epic Yarn, and Kirby's Blowout Blast) where the gameplay is given an overhaul? Critics of the former feel the formula grows stale, while critics of the latter feel that it's too gimmicky. Of course, quite a few fans like both and want to see what Nintendo comes out with next, and Kirby and the Forgotten Land seems to have found a happy medium by finally bringing the series into 3D.
Shinya Kumazaki stated during the Kirby: Planet RobobotAsk-a-thon that Meta Knightmare Returns and The True Arena are "what-if" scenarios and alternate storylines that aren't connected to the main story, which many fans have taken to mean the unlockable extra modes in general. Some would say it's a given because certain things happening in the extra modes would contradict what happened in the main story, while others lament that the events in those are too awesome not to be canonical. He did later clarify in a Kirby and the Forgotten Landinterview that the Kirby series has no clear canon or timeline, so elements of these stories can be considered canon; he believes having a concrete canon would limit the games' stories and settings, and focuses on character progression and continuity nods as threads that tie games together rather than a linear narrative. That said, this statement was also divisive, as while some fans enjoy that this means the canon is flexible, some would prefer for non-canon stories to be clearly delineated.
Canon Fodder: While lots of story is given from Flavor Text, manuals, and Word of God, lots of them are left unexplained and mysterious. Star Allies hinted that many of the mysteries are tied to Void Termina and the ancients of Halcandra. However, there are still no solid answers.
Meta Knight. Where did he come from, and what is he trying to do? Why does he look like Kirby? Is he the same species, or even related? Can he inhale or copy abilities? And why is Kirby suddenly content with letting him fly around in the Halberd after what happened last time?
If Gooey is part of Dark Matter, why is he good? Why does he look so much different from all other Dark Matter? How did he meet Kirby?
What's the deal with Shiver Star? Why does it look like a frozen Earth? Is it After the End? What was that factory made for? What are the creatures in those tubes? Did the Haltmann Works Company invade the planet?
What are the "Soul" Final Bosses? Are they related, or even all possessed by a common threat?
Who was responsible for Drawcia's (and Paintra's) painting in Canvas Curse and Triple Deluxe? And how exactly is Vividria related to them (if she's even related in the first place)?
How did Dark Nebula get into its chest, and how did Meta Knight (and possibly King Dedede) know about it?
Who is Galacta Knight? Why did people fear his power so much?note Planet Robobot yields some information, casually implying him to be a Planet Destroyer. How was he sealed up? Where did he come from; where did he go? What happened to him in Star Allies?
Why does HR-D3 vaguely resemble King Dedede? How did it "drift in" from Another Dimension?
In Kirby's Return to Dream Land, what was Magolor talking about when he said that someone on Halcandra may know Kirby? Or, when he said that the ancients created lots of artifacts? Who are those ancients? What does "clockwork stars" refer to?note Presumably beings of the same "family" as Nova from Super Star (of which there are two known).
What is the Master Crown? How was it created, and who created it? How many have worn it before Landia?note Magolor says the ancients created it alongside the 'clockwork stars'. However, in Star Allies, Void Termina uses it as one of its attacks in bird form, so it could have created or worn the crown.
Magolor has a piece of dialogue where he notes that the Lor Starcutter is rumored to have a mind of its own, and hopes the ship will talk to him someday. When and under what conditions would this happen, if at all?
Just what is Void Termina in relation to Dark Matter/Zero? And for that matter, the many connections that it seems to have to other bosses opens up the question of how much of an influence Dark Matter has had on the universe. On top of that, Void Termina seems to link all of these things to Kirby himself.
Who or what is Morpho Knight? How powerful is it, and what are its motives?
Using Stone against any boss is basically a free win: just attack from above, hide in your invulnerable rock shield until you're safe, and then repeat. This strategy requires a good deal of patience, though, and the developers have caught on in more recent games by making certain bosses difficult to combat in this manner.
Both Kirby: Triple Deluxe and Kirby: Planet Robobot have Copy Abilities that make Kirby invincible. They are useable in the arenas, which make them far easier than they would be otherwise.
The Ultimate Choice in Star Allies is easily cheesed with CPU friends, since you can just hide while they attack the boss for you. The Three Mage-Sisters are an especially ideal partner for this strategy.
The Kirby games are developed by HAL Laboratory, and HAL has a great deal of control over the franchise, but it's common for non-fans to assume that it's fully owned by Nintendo.
Even to this day, it's not uncommon for people to accredit the entirety of the Kirby franchise to Masahiro Sakurai. While he is the original creator of Kirby and served as the director for many earlier titles, he hasn't had any direct involvement with the series since his resignation from HAL Laboratory back in 2003, with Kirby Air Ride being the last Kirby game he ever personally worked on. Even before his resignation, he wasn't responsible for every single Kirby game, with Shinichi Shimomura directing nearly as many games as him. Inversely, articles talking about Shinya Kumazaki (the current series director) often refer to him as merely a "developer," downplaying his greater role in the series' modern era.
It was incorrectly thought for a time that, like with Mallow and Geno, legal issues were preventing characters from Shinichi Shimomura's games (the Animal Friends, Dark Matter, Adeleine, etc.) from returning. They are fully owned by HAL, and many have made cameos in later games. Relatedly, there was an odd fanon that Gooey was Killed Off for Real alongside the rest of Dark Matter at the end of Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, even though Gooey assisted Kirby in destroying Dark Matter in Kirby's Dream Land 3 and nothing bad happened to him then. Kirby Star Allies put both of these to rest.
The "Gourmet Race" theme from Kirby Super Star is commonly thought to be the main theme of the series due to its use in Super Smash Bros.. The series' actual theme is most likely "Green Greens," which has appeared in nearly every game in some form.
Kirby's nature as a baby Star Warrior is exclusive to the anime, but it's often assumed to be canon to the games as well, when that isn't the case. "Star Warrior" also isn't Kirby's species, but a greater group that consists of many distinct species.
Though commonly assumed, Kirby isn't necessarily incapable of speech. This is also largely thanks to the anime, which establishes Kirby as unable to speak much. However, the games never actually establish this; themanuals for the first two games in the series show him speaking fully-formed and grammatically correct sentences. Additionally, in both the anime and Super Smash Bros., he can call his attacks when using certain Copy Abilities. Furthermore, he is portrayed as speaking certain quotes in Kirby's Epic Yarn, though his dialogue is conveyed by the narrator. While modern games show less of Kirby's verbal side, it's often implied that he does have the ability to speak, and Kirby's side of the conversation is merely unheard by the player. He is also capable of full speech in most manga based on the series, as well as the light novel adaptations.
During the prerelease of Kirby and the Forgotten Land, a common theory circulating at the time was the idea that Elfilin was actually a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing manipulating Kirby who was going to betray him and become the game's Final Boss (which ultimately turns out to be completely wrong aside from the Final Boss part, and even then, not in the way fans were expecting). This led to some fans claiming this to be an incredibly common occurrence that happens regularly in the series, citing Marx from Kirby Super Star and Magolor from Kirby's Return to Dream Land as examples. The thing is that those two are the only examples of false friends manipulating Kirby, and there's an almost 15-year gap between their games. Though Super Star's remake, Super Star Ultra, was released only three years before Return to Dream Land, which might have made the similarities in the plots more obvious to newer players unfamiliar with the original Super Star. But even then, previous Fairy Companion characters such as Ribbon or Elline are unambiguously heroic for the entire game, while antagonists such as Taranza or the Mage-Sisters are openly hostile to Kirby from the start and ultimately pulled heel-face turns. Yet those in the "Elfilin is evil" camp would have you believe that Kirby getting betrayed is a weekly occurrence for him.
A common misconception is the idea that Kirby takes place in a literal Dream Land since the primary setting of the series is known as… Dream Land. Not helped by the fact that Nightmare was arguably the series' most recognizable villain for most of the early 2000s due to the anime, nor the fact that Kirby shares a very similar tone, aesthetic, and fanbase to the Klonoa series, which does take place in a literal land of dreams. While dreams do play a major role in the overall lore, Dream Land itself is simply a country on Planet Popstar, which is in fact a physical location in the Kirby universe. This confusion is nonexistent in the Japanese fandom due to the Japanese name for Dream Land being Pupupuland, which is just a nonsense word. There is a "Fountain of Dreams" within Dream Land, which is the source of the dreams the characters have while sleeping, but there are several planets in the series with fountains of dreams on them.
Morpho Knight's design is often cited as being an unused concept design for Meta Knight from Kirby's Adventure. This isn't true; Morpho Knight was designed for the canceled GameCubeKirby game as a unique character. Even before this was directly confirmed within a Nintendo Dream interview, the concept art's complexity makes it apparent that it was designed for a 3D game rather than an 8-bit 2D one. The misconception stems from Morpho Knight's concept art being placed on a page about Meta Knight within the Kirby's Dream Collection booklet; with no other context, people had no reason to assume it was meant to be a unique character.
King Dedede is sometimes touted as the series' main villain by fans and other people less familiar with the series, though this hasn't actually been true for quite a while. While he does appear as the main antagonist in several spinoff games like Kirby's Dream Course and Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble, he hasn't been the main villain or final boss of a main series game since the original Kirby's Dream Land. King Dedede would undergo a slow Heel–Face Turn following this game, gradually moving from Kirby's archnemesis to his friendly rival and ally over the course of the series, which is compounded by official material showing him having a largely cordial relationship with Kirby and his other friends. Nearly every one of the king's appearances since then has had him either conflict with Kirby as a rival, fight Kirby due to brainwashing/possession or a misunderstanding, or as a playable hero. Some of this confusion might stem from the fact that Dedede takes an unquestionably villainous role in the anime, which paints him as a much bigger jerk than in the games given that he hadn't quite solidified into his "friendly rival" characterization yet.
A very popular theory arose from Triple Deluxe's side mode Dededetour that Dark Meta Knight was the one to corrupt Queen Sectonia via the Dimension Mirror, due to him being the final enemy of said side mode. This theory became so widely accepted throughout the fandom that it's often stated by fans to be canon, despite not being implied even in flavor text. All official statements have pointed to the mirror itself being what corrupted Sectonia.
Complacent Gaming Syndrome: When it comes to Boss Rush modes that offer abilities, many players will stick to only one ability throughout the entire run. Most of the time, they'd stick with abilities that can deal heavy damage as quickly as possible, such as Hammer, Plasma, Tornado, or Smash Bros. or abilities with great defensive options such as Stone, Leaf, or Archer.
Continuity Lockout: You don't have to be a long-time Kirby fan to understand the basic plot of most games, but a lot of the references, callbacks, and background lore will fly over your head if you don't read up. This is especially true for Kirby Star Allies, what with so many past characters returning as playable Dream Friends, as well as the Big Bad's plan revolving around what is supposedly the source of every major antagonist's power, directly or indirectly.
Cult Classic: Air Ride has been getting more and more popular each year since its release thanks to its sandbox-like City Trial mode. Helps that it was the last Kirby game that Kirby's creator Masahiro Sakurai worked on before leaving HAL Laboratory to start his own company.
Designated Villain: Dedede in Squeak Squad actually did nothing wrong, but becomes a boss anyway because Kirby accuses him of stealing his cake. In other games, he's often Brainwashed and Crazy and becomes the "villain figurehead". In fact, the two times Dedede has ever done anything openly villainous were stealing all of the food from the citizens of Dream Land in the first game, which he tried again in Kirby Super Star. Granted, these are some of the most influential games in the series, with Dream Land being the first and most well-known. Regardless, every other antagonistic action Dedede takes of his own free will is solely to mess with Kirby and is rarely intended to be harmful.
Draco in Leather Pants: Many Kirby fans think Zero is a lonely, sad being that just wants some friends — though this does have some basis in canon, as Dark Matter Blade is said to be a lonely being who wanted to destroy the world out of jealousy, this trait is often conflated onto Zero due to its Tears of Blood making it look like a Tragic Monster. While not an entirely invalid interpretation, this could just as easily be Zero's eye being bloodshot due to the fact it never closes, especially since it attacks with literal blood shots in Kirby's Dream Land 3.
Even Better Sequel: Kirby's Dream Land was a fairly standard side-scroller that was pretty enjoyable for what it was, but was laughably short and easy (although the latter is compensated by the unlockable Hard Mode — and it lives up to its name, all right) and didn't even allow you to copy abilities! Kirby's Adventure then came out on the NES and blew the original out of the water by offering more levels, the series-trademark Copy Abilities, and a save feature! It also introduces the Breakout Character Meta Knight. Kirby's Dream Land 2, while slower and not quite as elaborate as Adventure, at least brought these improvements down to a portable level, while also adding the Animal Friends to offer unique variations on Adventure's pre-established gameplay and introducing the concept of multiple endings to the series.
King Dedede is sometimes referred to as "DDD", "Triple-D", or "3D".
Meta Knight is often called "MK". He has several nicknames aside from that:
The Japanese fans sometimes call him "Papa Knight" for his anime portrayal, i.e. being shown to care more for Kirby than in the games.
The early fansite Kirby's Rainbow Resort often called Meta Knight's anime portrayal "Señor Noodle Arms", referring to his inexplicable Spanish theming and notably exaggerated Rubberhose Limbs in the series.
He's also referred to as "Kirby Batman" or "Batkirby".
Bandana Waddle Dee is often shortened to just "Bandana Dee" or occasionally "Bandee." The former was what many called him back when he was only officially referred to as "Waddle Dee," and the latter was a name that the staff had considered, but rejected naming him for his appearance in Return to Dream Land.
Chef Kawasaki is affectionately referred to as "KWSK" in Japanese communities.
The sailor-capped Waddle Dee crewmember from Revenge of Meta Knight also originally had No Name Given, so they were given the name "Sailor Dee" among fan circles until a sticker in Kirby: Planet Robobot confirmed their name as the basically-identical Sailor Waddle Dee. Some fans shorten the nickname further to "Saidee", to match "Bandee".
Kirby's Dream Land 2, Kirby's Dream Land 3, and Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards are collectively known as the "Dark Matter Trilogy" due to the three games having Dark Matter as the main villain(s). All three games were directed by Shinichi Shimomura instead of series creator Masahiro Sakurai (who directed all other non-spinoff games in the series prior to his departure post-Air Ride), and have more of a focus on puzzle solving rather than combat. Other similarities these games share include:
Collectible stars for extra lives.
Having no traces of Meta Knight whatsoever.
Having King Dedede be possessed by Dark Matter, then fighting him.
Having some form of Copy Ability mixing system.
Having a True Final Boss only accessed by collecting all of a certain collectible, which then form a weapon used to combat said boss.
Magolor is sometimes referred to as "Mags" by fans.
The pre-release version of Magolor was originally referred to as "Daizen" and treated as a separate character due to the filename of his picture. Eventually people figured out that "Daizen" actually referred to the book that the picture came from and switched to "Betalor".
"Blob" for the female Gooey in the international version of Kirby's Dream Land 2, which allegedly originates from Nintendo Power. It was actually Gooey himself that they called a "blob character", with the female being the "Girl blob".
The fandom tends to use "lore" as shorthand for the descriptions in pause menus during boss fights (which first started appearing in Super Star Ultra), due to them being the main source of exposition in the Kumazaki-directed games.
Ever since Team Kirby Clash Deluxe where he served as a shopkeeper that sold gem apples for exorbitant prices (asking for real world currency), Magolor (or, at least, that version of him) has gained the nickname Microtransagolor. He's also commonly referred to as an egg, and Easter is now referred to as Magolor Day on Reddit since he's egg-shaped and Sundays were always Magolor days in Team Kirby Clash Deluxe.
The Fairlight CMI's "ARR1" sample, which is frequently used throughout the series' music, is often called "That Synth" by Kirby fans as a result of its distinctive sound (though it's technically not a synthesizer; it's a compressed recording of a woman singing Melismatic Vocals).
Fandom-Specific Plot: Crossovers between Kirby's anime and Kirby's games. It sometimes portays the two continuities as two different universes, with characters from the games ending up in the anime-verse or vice versa; sometimes the universes are melded into one utilizing elements from both.
Kirby's Power Copying ability technically gives him an unlimited array of potential powers. And with Kirby having Copy Abilities that range from martial arts and electricity to ringing bells and holding parasols, it's quite fun to imagine potential powers for the little guy. And what makes it even more fun is the possibility of them becoming actual Copy Abilities in an official Kirby game.
What would happen if other characters found Nova or another wish-granting machine, and what wishes would they make?
What are the Mirror World versions of characters we haven't seen yet?
If the Robobot Armor can take the ability of its wearer, what would happen if someone other than Kirby used it? Related is the potential other powers (that don't appear in Planet Robobot but do in other games) that could be a Mode for the mech, and how they'll work; a similar thing happened for the Super Abilities in Return to Dream Land, especially with how a "Super Cutter" was considered but then got Dummied Out.
Pairing Meta Knight with Susie took off after the release of the latter's introductory game, Planet Robobot. Their main interaction in the game involves Susie forcibly mechanizing Meta Knight into what she describes as a "merciless fighting machine" who is made to fight Kirby twice. Susie describing being impressed with Meta Knight's strength and confidence likely fuels the pairing more, though a possible title screen interaction between the two in Star Allies implies Meta Knight still isn't over his mechanization.
Meta Knight and Galacta Knight make a semi-popular pairing, despite their only interactions being to fight with each other most of the time the latter shows up. Of course, this pairing is often used to fuel potential Galacta Knight redemption or character study plots as well.
Pairing together Kirby and Marx is fairly popular, though given Marx's implied Hazy-Feel Turn in Star Allies it's a bit ambiguous how much the "foe" part applies anymore.
With Super Smash Bros., as both series were minded by Masahiro Sakurai and share many mechanics. Many older Kirby fans (and some younger fans) were introduced to the series via Smash, and without Smash, Kirby would have a much harder time attracting fans of all ages.
Many Kirby fans are fans of HAL Laboratory's secondary franchise, BoxBoy!, as they share elements like cutesy aesthetics and unexpected lore. It helps that both series were prominent on the Nintendo 3DS and like to cross-reference each other. Fans of both also tend to like HAL's mobile title Part Time UFO (which later made it to the Nintendo Switch), which contains its own references to Kirby and BoxBoy.
Oddly enough, Kirby fans have this relation with Bayonetta fans, in spite of the two series having completely contrasting age demographics. This was briefly started back when Bayonetta was announced to be the last DLC Fighter for Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U as a Demographic-Dissonant Crossover character, but it really exploded when the September 2021 Nintendo Direct featured both the announcement trailer for Kirby and the Forgotten Land and the first real trailer for the M-rated Bayonetta 3. Since then, it's not uncommon to see fanart of the two title characters getting along well with each other.
Kirby fans also typically get along with Deltarune fans. Fanart depicting Magolor, Taranza, and Susie as the game's main trio (Magolor is Kris, Taranza is Ralsei, and Susie is Susie), along with Marx as Jevil has become very common. It helps that KirbyFandom VIP Gigi DG (creator of Hiimdaisy and Cucumber Quest) is a close affiliate of Toby Fox.
Many Kirby fans quickly get along with fans of the Klonoa franchise by Bandai Namco due to both series having a similar cutesy tones combined with some darker themes. Especially from fans who grew up with Door to Phantomile and Lunatea's Veil. The news of Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series arriving a five months after the release of Kirby and the Forgotten Land only increased both fanbases overlapping with each other, also further helped by the announcement of Kirby's Dream Buffet a few days after Phantasy Reveries Series's release. The fact that both franchises also had milestone anniversaries in 2022 (25th for Klonoa and 30th for Kirby, respectably) even helped.
Similar to Klonoa, fans of Osamu Tezuka's Unico also shares fanbases with Kirby fans (especially in Japan) due to both containing similar darker moments while both protagonists are adorable and badass. Nightmare (the Big Bad of Kirby's Adventure) even shares similarities with one of the antagonists Unico faces in the manga (and 1981 feature film). Such as "The Baron" (one of the several villains Unico faces) sharing similarities with Nightmare where both characters have a One-Winged Angel form. This even extends to other villains Kirby faces in the series who also shares similarities with other villains from Unico.
Rick the Hamster. With the Stone ability, he can roll.
Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble involves you rolling a round object through increasingly ridiculous and difficult (to the point of being hair-pulling) mazes via tilting the world around it. Fast forward to the 5th Generation of Consoles.
Meta Knight's identity as another member of Kirby's race is technically a spoiler on the grounds that you don't know anything about him until his defeat. The fandom's been talking about it for years, so never mind about that.
The existence of Dark Matter and Zero, as they're supposed to be True Final Bosses; by Dream Land 3, Dark Matter is basically a Late-Arrival Spoiler.
Galacta Knight is meant to be a major surprise in each game he appears in, but he's so widely talked about in the fanbase that his appearances don't come as much of a surprise anymore. Star Allies lampshades this by having his seemingly-gratuitous appearance actually be a Bait-and-Switch Boss. Funny enough, this continued bait and switch in later games has given a similar reputation to Morpho Knight and by extention, any seemingly incidential butterflies shown in any given cutscene.
Practically everyone knows about Marx being a Treacherous Quest Giver. Later games wouldn't even try to hide it, showing his Final Boss form in cameos. His pause screen description in Star Allies outright states that "this final boss is here to help". Magolor's betrayal is similarly widespread — Star Allies shows his final boss forms outright — but the fanbase is divided roughly down the middle as to whether they try to hide it or just say it outright.
Jerkass Woobie: King Dedede. Considering practically every game involves him being possessed, mind controlled, or duped into fighting Kirby and getting his ass kicked it's hard not to feel bad for him.
When it comes to Kirby character shipping, Meta Knight takes the cake. He's been paired with King Dedede, Kirby, Magolor, his mirror counterpart, his foe Galacta Knight, Daroach, Susie... really, considering his popularity among the fanbase, this should come as no surprise.
Magolor is no slouch in terms of pairings either, also likely due to his popularity. In addition to being shipped with the aforementioned Meta Knight, he's most often paired with Marx, who is implied to be a friend of his, as well as Taranza and Susie, fellow "modern era" villains.
LGBT Fanbase: Nintendo's games in general tend to have large queer followings, but it's especially pronounced with Kirby. Much of this is owed to the franchise's cutesy aesthetic, which veers far away from the perceived hypermasculinity of the rest of the gaming industry, its themes of friendship and unity, and the fact that many characters feature androgynous designs and don't fall into conventional gender roles. Kirby's genderfluid nature becoming more widely known particularly furthered the series' popularity with trans fans (even if it's mostly indicated in supplementary material).
Kirby himself is this. There are Nintendo fans who firmly believe the pink puff's badassery is only rivaled by Captain Falcon. The fact that Planet Robobot described him as having infinite power (which would technically make him god-like) and the fact that Mass Attack concludes with Kirby killing the implied Death God has only amplified this, and it reached further extremes when Star Allies heavily implied that Kirby is a reincarnated Eldritch Abomination. The Super Smash Bros. community usually hype Kirby, Shulk, Bayonetta, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Pit as the five strongest characters due to them all canonically killing gods in their home series. It got an extra boost with the reveal of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's Story Mode, which involves every single character apparently dying at the hands of a Light Is Not GoodEldritch Abomination... except for Kirby.
King Dedede. His antics are continually over-the-top, and ups the ante with every new game. To quote a tip from Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, Dedede doesn't need to copy abilities like Kirby because he "is already perfect".
Meta Knight, from his introduction, has been seen as really, really kickass. Three things have solidified it: him summoning Galacta Knight just to prove that he can beat him, his complete Game-Breaker status in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and a cover of his theme winning a Grammy.
During the Boss Rush in Super Star, you will have to fight a Waddle Dee with at least ten times the health of a normal Waddle Dee. It's still a Curb-Stomp BattleZero-Effort Boss (he doesn't move, and you can still inhale him). A video on the internet portrayed him as an unstoppable god of destruction (via a player who thought it would be hilarious) and the fandom's pumped him up ever since. In case anyone wants to argue, here is Waddle Dee proving his point. Contains spoilers!
While Whispy Woods is usually a Memetic Loser, he's sometimes portrayed as an ironic badass by fans. Even though he gets curb-stomped by Kirby in nearly every game, he keeps coming back for more, and always brings flashy new attacks for each new battle. The fact that his spirit in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is stronger than Infinite helps.
Drawcia is the only boss to unambiguously beat Kirby, the only one to outright win. She only loses in round two because one of her own paint brushes, which she summoned, decided it didn't like the artwork she was making, flew to the player's hand and gave instructions on how to guide Kirby to victory. Even then she's invincible until the brush finds a way to remove her Deflector Shields at which point she goes mad, takes on a "soul" form and starts trying to direct attacks at the player on the other side of the screen in between token attempts to smash Kirby. While the opening cutscene states she mererly turned the country of Dream Land into a painting, as one plays through the game it's revealed her influence has spread to outer space itself and some fans go even further to suggest that she is a Dimension Lord, given the last level takes place in a space separate from even that. If one wants to 100% Kirby Canvas Curse they'll learn her copy of Paint Roller is far more reslient than the original, becoming the longest Marathon Boss in the series and frequently the Last Lousy Point in the game. The only reason this is "memetic" is because there are other bosses that Kirby wouldn't be capable of beating without an 11th-Hour Superpower; Drawcia simply demonstrates what happens when one shows up ten hours too early. Still, some fans like to portray Drawcia as the single most powerful foe Kirby has ever faced.
Freezy Rex, a slow moving glorified Advancing Wall of Doom, more stage hazard than character, is hyped up as the most powerful foe Kirby has ever faced by the fandom, more so than Kirby Mass AttackFinal Boss Necrodeus, because Freezy Rex can destroy Gordos. Such a feat had not been seen since the very first game, and that took multiple full sized members of Kirby's species working together to accomplish.
Whispy Woods, the series's usual Warm-Up Boss, is almost always incredibly easy, even by Warm-Up Boss standards. Fans frequently depict him as an Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain who constantly challenges Kirby, only to get crushed every single time (at least, when he isn't seen as a Memetic Badass, as mentioned above).
Dark Nebula tends to be a running joke among Kirby fans, due to how pathetically easy he is compared to other final bosses in the series.
Also, Dark Crafter, who dies in three hits and has one attack.
To a lesser extent, Paintra, and to a lesser extent Vividra, due to being the weaker siblings of Drawcia.
Kirby himself, since many of his enemies, especially Waddle Dees, are mostly harmless so long as you leave them alone. There are also a lot of jokes about how his main power revolves around eating people.
And of course, there's Dark Matter. While it was already a menacing force to begin with, whenever fans aren't portraying them as a DestroyerWoobie Species, they instead love to take their atrocities to the point where Dark Matter in fandom is often considered A Nazi by Any Other Name at best and basically the In-Universe equivalent to the Great Filter at worst.
Kirby, obviously. His baby-like voice in the anime also helps. Many other characters, even a lot of the enemies, are also cute.
As the rather large amount of Fan Art would show, Ribbon seems to get a lot of attention for her cuteness. She's a pink-hairedfairy girl, after all.
This whole series could basically be called Moe: The Series, as almost everyone (minus the Final Bossof most games) is utterly adorable. Even Meta Knight without his mask is pretty cute.
Moral Event Horizon: Pratically every final boss in the games crosses that at least once, but the most relevant are:
In Kirby Super Star, Marx crosses it when he tricks Kirby into gathering the star pieces for him in order to become powerful enough to take over Pop Star, then left Kirby to die in space while gloating over his scheming and bragging of the fact that he will cause all the mischief he wants. Luckily, the pink puffball survives and kicks his rear. While Marx technically helps out Kirby later on, he's not doing it out of altruism, keeping this moment firmly as where he crossed the line.
In Kirby: Triple Deluxe, Queen Sectonia crosses it right from the start when she blasts Taranza off the highest tower of her castle after he and a puppeted Masked Dedede lose against Kirby. If not that, then she crosses it by fusing together with the Dreamstalk and sucking all the nutrients out of Planet Popstar, vowing that the entire planet will serve as her sustenance forever.
In Kirby Star Allies, Hyness more than crosses it when he drains the life energy out of the Three Mage-Sisters, who are fervently loyal to him, and begins to use their unconscious bodies as glorified baseball bats. On top of that, he then sacrifices them on the altar to Void Termina before throwing himself in for good measure, convinced that the Destroyer of Worlds will rise and annihilate everything.
While Masahiro Sakurai is the one who created the franchise and directed some of the main games through its run in the 90s (Dream Land, Adventure and its remake, Super Star), two creators are seen as having refined Sakurai's base into something special:
Shinichi Shimomura, director of the "Dark Matter Trilogy" (Kirby's Dream Land 2, Kirby's Dream Land 3, and Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards), gave the franchise a much more coherent direction than the titles directed by Sakurai, introducing a focus on intricate puzzle solving, story-telling reliant on environments and wordless cutscenes, and surprisingly dark villains in the Dark Matter clan, all of which would carry over into the games after Sakurai's departure from HAL.
Shinya Kumazaki, director and later general director of the franchise since Super Star Ultra, was responsible for bringing the Super Star combat systemnote having abilities with multiple moves into the modern Kirby games, as well as reconciling the action-oriented combat of the Sakurai-directed games with the puzzle-oriented approach of the Dark Matter Trilogy, creating a direction that brought the best of both worlds. Kumazaki also greatly fleshed out the universe and lore of the series compared to both Sakurai and Shimomura, bringing together elements introduced by both directors and introducing several of his own additions such as Another Dimension and Galacta Knight.
Although Bandana Waddle Dee originally made his debut in the Masahiro Sakurai-directed Super Star, it is universally agreed that Shinya Kumazaki is the character's true creator, as he took who was originally just one of several opponents you face in Super Star's Megaton Punch mini game and fleshed him out to be a unique character in his own right.
In Kirby Squeak Squad, Kirby goes on a quest (read: rampage) for his stolen piece of cake. In every other platform game, his goals are more noble, but some fans hang on to this one instance and insist Kirby is a Sociopathic Hero.
Meta Knight attempting to take over Dream Land in Kirby Super Star was very early on his characterisation but some fans would have you think he is still an outright villain despite being portrayed as an outright hero at best and a slight Anti-Hero at his absolute worst (except for Kirby Fighters 2) in pretty much every game he appears in since.
One True Threesome: Magolor, Taranza, and Susie are a decently popular trio in the fanbase, both platonically and romantically, mostly due to being popular villain characters from beloved 2010s Kirby games.
Only the Creator Does It Right: While few would say there's any outright bad game in the series, the games that aren't primarily developed by HAL Laboratory are held in less regard than the ones that are.
Periphery Demographic: Though the games are and remain mostly geared for people beginning to play video games, a good chunk of the fanbase are experienced gamers who grew up playing them and who gleefully return to each new installment, no matter how short or easy it is. It helps that the games tend to be well-made, and make up for the easiness by putting the difficulty into 100% Completion; in fact, their easiness and cuteness can be therapeutic for many people, and provide nice breaks for people who play "heavier" games.
Ron the Death Eater: Magolor is a Played for Laughs victim of this, since despite turning good after his defeat in Return to Dream Land, fans enjoy painting him as a deceitful Token Evil Teammate. The interpretation especially took hold after Team Kirby Clash Deluxe made him a shopkeeper; him managing microtransactions is joked to be a far greater evil than deceiving Kirby and pals so he could gain immense power with the Master Crown ever was. It also helps that he can be quite The Gadfly in later games.
While Kirby may not be as popular as other Nintendo franchises, it has an extremely good reputation, and it's rare to find a Nintendo fan that outright hates the games. Furthermore, while some may call a few games "lacking", the opinion that Kirby has never had a truly "bad" game is common, which is a rarity among Nintendo series.
It's practically impossible to even criticize Kirby as a character. One artist, Shenanigansen, played on this by making a tweet claiming that Kirby was the worst Nintendo character. After severe backlash from fans, he immediately apologized and withdrew his statement. Later, he posted this picture, likely indicating it as a joke. The series' other characters, such as Meta Knight and Dedede, also have such a reputation due to their unique, charming designs and personalities and lack of controversial character traits, particularly for those who find Kirby to be boring in comparison.
Scrappy Mechanic: Attacks that knock the ability out of you. It's been a mainstay for most games and can lead to a pretty bad cycle of getting hit over and over trying to recover the star, only for it to get knocked back out. Made worse by the fact that there's never actually any indication as to what will or will not, as even basic enemies can do it with contact damage occasionally. How often Kirby loses his ability from attacks varies by game. Recent games have many different enemy and boss attacks programmed to always knock out Kirby's ability, and in Kirby's Adventure, Amazing Mirror, and Squeak Squad, every means of taking damage will make Kirby drop his ability. This can get truly aggravating when going for the fastest possible times in Boss Rush modes, as you can't afford to get hit too much or you'll waste time.
Seasonal Rot: While not outright bad, Kirby: Squeak Squad is considered to be significantly inferior to previous Kirby platformers due to very little originality and difficulty, weak level design, lots of recycled music and sprites from the GBA games, an asinine plot involving a cake, half-baked new abilities, and lackluster bosses (especially the final boss), resulting in a lack of polish overall.note As one of the first traditional platformers where Masahiro Sakurai had no involvement in development, this was also the last game developed by Flagship before closing down.
Squick: In Super Star (and a few other games with co-op), a player can share the effects of a recently consumed food item by walking up to their ally, at which point the two get face to face for a second. There's really no other way to interpret this animation as anything but player 1 spitting up what they had just eaten into player 2's mouth... Or they share the health gain with a kiss. Since healing items are food, Kirby's giving the chewed up remains to his sidekick. Meta Knight can do it too, through his mask. Somehow. This is joked a lot in fanarts, and if Kirby Super Star's manga adaptation is any indication, the creators are fully aware of this. . All ambiguity is thrown out the window in Kirby Fighters Deluxe and Kirby Fighters 2, where sharing food between teammates is accompanied by a visible "SMOOCH!" effect. In Kirby and the Forgotten Land, it is replaced with a high-five, likely due to how difficult it would be to share food this way in 3D, especially when in Mouthful Mode.
Some of the more experimental games like Mass Attack and Rainbow Curse can become this due to the unusual control scheme.
Suspiciously Similar Song: Whether intentional or coincidental, the Kirby series has some pretty interesting motif similarities to other songs in them.
In Kirby Super Star, the Revenge of Meta Knight ending theme bears similarities to The Animals' rendition of "House of the Rising Sun".
The game over screen in Kirby Super Star has a similar tune to the chorus of Queen's "You're My Best Friend".
King Dedede has been shipped separately with both the Ripple Star Queen and Queen Sectonia due to them also being royalty and the rulers of their own kingdoms.
Bandana Waddle Dee and the Sailor Waddle Dee from Super Star have been paired due to them both being Waddle Dees who work under one of Kirby's past foes (Dedede and Meta Knight, respectively).
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Ado and Adeleine are the franchise's only human characters (or character), stated to be visiting Popstar to study. Given how unique they are, you would think the franchise would delve into who they are and where they came from. Despite this, however, the franchise never touches upon any of those topics. It doesn't help that Adeleine would be Put on a Bus after Crystal Shards until Star Allies brought her (and Ribbon) back 18 years later.
Unexpected Character: Even if the two are just depicted as dolls in the artwork, nobody had expected the reappearance of Tiff and Tuff from Kirby: Right Back at Ya! in the key artwork◊ for the franchise's 30th anniversary, given how little HAL has acknowledged them outside of the anime.
He's pink and his name's Kirby, this was a given. Less so in Japan, however, as Kirby's gender is more ambiguous there.
For the longest time, many non-Japanese fans considered Ado from Kirby's Dream Land 3 to be male. However, Japanese material, mostly manga adaptations, has always referred to her as female.
Vindicated by History: Not an uncommon occurrence with Kirby games, since they're often released on consoles just as they're about to be replaced by their successors.
Kirby's Dream Land 3 was one due to coming after the Tough Act to FollowKirby Super Star, and undoing many of the new mechanics from that game, such as multi-attack abilities, minigames, and a more elaborate Boss Rush. Instead, the slow-paced gameplay and Animal Friends from Kirby's Dream Land 2 made a comeback. This was because the games were made by different development teams. It also was overlooked due to the release of the Nintendo 64, and the "coloring book" art style. Now, it's seen as much of a classic as that game, especially due to it improving the Kirby series' Minimalist Cast with Gooey and the Animal Friends, and being surprisingly Darker and Edgier than most games in the series. With its release at the launch of the Switch's SNES service, appearing on the console before Super Star, many people are experiencing the game for the first time without its more popular SNES outing to overshadow it.
Kirby Super Star itself was an Acclaimed Flop in Western regions, as it was released in those markets near-simultaneously with the launch of the Nintendo 64. Now it is almost unanimously considered to be one of the finest first-party Nintendo games and frequently cited as the best Kirby game period.
Similarly, Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards was disliked for many of the same reasons. Now, it's enjoyed for giving Kirby an Implied Love Interest, and being an Unexpectedly Dark Episode. However, the Kirby series switched back to Adventure style, then back to Super Star style due to the initial poor reception of these two games. Many fans are eager to see another game like them.
The Super Star manga, which ran with the "Sharing Health" mechanic by making Kirby's helpers all Camp Gay stereotypes constantly fighting for his affections (Bonkers and Knuckle Joe especially) and had a number of other risque jokes, such as big-breasted female versions of Kirby and Dedede, the former having six of them, the latter wearing BDSM gear.
The German Club Nintendo "detective" comics, which showed Kirby smoking, drinking, reading porn, and discovering a recently murdered corpse. The comics' writer Claude M. Moyse was ostensibly invoking this trope out of an unexplained grudge towards Sakurai. Oh, and in one of these comics, Kirby even says "Shit".
that while the enemies Kirby swallows disappear, they aren't actually digested and do eventually "resurface somewhere else in the world".
