Highlights

• Kirby's Dream Land 2 is one of Kirby's greatest adventures, expanding on its predecessor with new friends and endless possibilities.
• Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards introduces a unique ability to combine copy abilities, adding depth to the gameplay experience.
• Kirby Superstar offers multiple memorable campaigns, showcasing classic Kirby gameplay in concentrated doses.

Kirby is one of the most memorable characters in Nintendo's history, and leave it to them to make a pink circle, two eyes, and a mouth a cultural juggernaut that is taken with the same level of respect as Mario, Sonic, and Link.

The Nintendo Switch is a home for both the newer and older titles in the Kirby series, thanks to Nintendo Switch Online's retro collection and Hal Laboratory's dedication to keeping the Kirby renaissance going. But, with every great series comes a question: which game is the best, and which should I spend my money on?

Updated on March 19, 2024, by Kyle Chamaillard: Kirby has starred in a lot of games, and fortunately, most of them are available in one way or another on the Nintendo Switch. We've decided to update this list to include even more titles and rank them, so you know which ones to play first.

17 Kirby Fighters 2

Kirby Fighters 2 is okay for what it is: a fighting game consisting entirely of Kirby characters. With 22 playable fighters (17 of which are Kirby abilities, and the remainder, buddies), it does exactly what it needs to be a passable fighting game.

The thing that drops it to the bottom of the list is that it plays so similarly to Super Smash Bros. that you might as well just play that since it offers more content and overlaps a decent amount with Kirby Fighters 2. If you just can't get enough of Kirby, though, this is the game for you.

16 Super Kirby Clash

Super Kirby Clash is a fine free-to-start experience that doesn't touch any of the highs of the rest of Kirby's titles but is still a fun time nonetheless. You'll spend most of your time taking on challenging missions, which are essentially mainline Kirby boss fights, with three other players (or CPUs) of varying RPG classes.

While there is a lot of content here, most of it revolves around a singular experience that you can only play in small bursts before running out of in-game currency, which either restores by itself over time or is purchased for real money. If you like Kirby boss fights to the max, maybe Super Kirby Clash will scratch your itch.

15 Kirby's Dream Buffet

Like most of the games on the top half of this list, Kirby's Dream Buffet is just okay– there aren't any bombshell titles that are terrible, only games that are underwhelming. Kirby's Dream Buffet centers around a gameplay loop of racing three other players to the end of food-filled tracks to get the biggest bounty of strawberries.

There are a decent amount of tracks, a variety of bonus game modes, and cute costumes that you can make Kirby wear, but at the end of the day, the core of the gameplay is more something you might pull out at a party than call your favorite Kirby game.

14 Kirby's Star Stacker

Kirby's Star Stacker launched on the Game Boy internationally, but the Super Famicom version of the game - the one that is currently available on Nintendo Switch Online - was only available in Japan until recently. The console version features better graphics and a competitive multiplayer mode, which makes it superior to the handheld Star Stacker.

If you enjoy puzzle games like Tetris or Dr. Mario, it won't take long for you to be sucked in by Star Stacker's surprisingly engaging gameplay. The colorful blocks and character portraits create a friendly atmosphere for a game that can also be incredibly challenging if you play on one of the higher-difficulty settings.

13 Kirby's Avalanche

Kirby's Avalanche is Puyo Puyo. No, not like Puyo Puyo, and not borrowing from Puyo Puyo– Kirby's Avalanche is, one for one, a Puyo Puyo game with a coat of paint resembling the pink puffball and his world.

There's not much to say here– if you like Puyo Puyo, this does the job and provides something new to look at while playing. Even so, you won't be blamed if you're looking for a little more that actually concerns Kirby in a game that has his name on it. At least Kirby gives you something to look at by hopping around the screen as you play.

12 Kirby's Dream Land

Kirby's Dream Land for the Game Boy was the protagonist's first adventure, though most of his iconic features wouldn't be introduced until Kirby's Adventure for the NES. Here, Kirby can eat and spit out enemies, but he doesn't have the power to copy their abilities yet.

While Kirby's versatility is a defining characteristic, Dream Land is still a great platformer that introduces iconic characters, like Whispy Woods, King Dedede, and Kracko. If you're a completionist who wants to play every Kirby game available, the first chapter of his story should take roughly an hour to complete.

11 Kirby Tilt 'N' Tumble

Kirby has starred in some interesting spin-offs and Tilt 'N' Tumble was one of the first examples of how flexible and weird the pink protagonist is willing to get. When it first launched on the Game Boy, the cartridge had a built-in accelerometer, so you could tilt your console to control which direction Kirby rolls toward.

It's a fun gimmick that only gets frustrating when it misreads what direction you want Kirby to go in. This mechanic has been carried over to Tilt 'N' Tumble on Nintendo Switch Online, so you can move your console around - preferably in handheld mode- to get Kirby to the goal in this unique title.

10 Kirby's Dream Course

Yeah, Kirby's Dream Course might just be golf, but it does such a great job of combining the sport with the world and key elements of Kirby that it can be excused. Rather than get to the hole in as few strikes as possible, you want to eliminate all the enemies on the field to reveal an exit to escape to.

Even further, copy abilities play a core role in gameplay, altering how Kirby moves when struck and causing you to be more intentional about the order in which you eliminate enemies.

9 Kirby And The Amazing Mirror

Kirby and the Amazing Mirror originally arrived on the Game Boy Advance and introduced a couple of fun twists to the classic Kirby formula. Firstly, the game's map is less linear than other titles and feels more like a Metroidvania than a straight platformer, and you can play it with up to three friends as long as everyone owns a copy of the game.

It's refreshing to see Kirby break the mold, but Amazing Mirror still has a handful of flaws that prevent it from being a better game. Still, it's great that you can play it wherever you like, and if your friends also subscribe to Nintendo Switch Online, you can play the entire game with them through online co-op.

8 Kirby's Dream Land 2

Kirby's Dream Land 2 takes everything from its predecessor and expands upon it to create one of Kirby's greatest adventures. While the first Dream Land lacked some personality and Kirby's iconic copy abilities, the sequel remedies this with colorful flair and seemingly endless possibilities.

More than anything, Dream Land 2 is often viewed as one of the more challenging games in a series that's often perceived to be for younger audiences. Earning 100% completion will require you to solve some tough puzzles with the help of some new friends - Rick, Kine, and Coo.

7 Kirby's Dream Land 3

Similar to how Dream Land 2 builds on the foundation of the first game, Dream Land 3 takes the mechanics and concepts from its predecessors and expands on them to create a rich and colorful new adventure.

While Kirby's Dream Land 3 doesn't bring much new to the table regarding gameplay, the big selling point is that it looks absolutely gorgeous, especially in comparison to the first and second Kirby's Dream Land. Even the partners, hailing from the second game in the Dream Land series, are back and looking better than ever.

6 Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards is technically the first three-dimensional game in the series, though since all gameplay is restricted to a single rail, it's more like two and a half dimensions. Introducing a new slew of characters and one of the more menacing antagonists in the series, Kirby 64 is a solid experience despite its age.

The big thing that sells the game is Kirby's new power to combine any two copy abilities and make a powerful new ability that shares their traits– for example, you can take Burn and Cutter to make a giant burning blade for Kirby to use. This little feature alone makes braving some of the game's dodgier design choices worth it.

5 Kirby's Adventure

Kirby's Adventure introduced two things that modern Kirby would be nothing without– firstly, it gave Kirby the iconic pink that makes him so recognizable, and secondly, it introduced the copy ability gameplay that has defined the series since.

The game looks fantastic for only being the second game in the series, and it played so well that very few aspects of the original design have been changed in modern iterations of this classic romp. At the end of the day, though, the newer offerings do a great job of adding elements to the gameplay that make this game feel overly simple.

4 Kirby Star Allies

Kirby Star Allies takes the small gameplay mechanic of spawning a helper introduced in Kirby Super Star and expands it into a main gimmick. Kirby's lovable exterior allows him to make a helpful ally out of any enemy he comes across.

While Kirby Star Allies is a great game in the Kirby catalogue, it's held back by having a worse overall level design compared to older titles in the series. Still, the friend system allows new ways to use and store abilities you don't see in other Kirby titles.

3 Kirby's Return To Dream Land Deluxe

Kirby's Return to Dream Land is the prototypical modern Kirby game; it takes everything great about the original Kirby's Dream Land formula and refreshes it for the modern era without removing any of the core pieces that make Kirby feel like Kirby.

The game doesn't really need a gimmick since it's a more consistent and streamlined version of the second game's ability-stealing gameplay, but it still adds Super Abilities to the mix to keep everything feeling fresh. Kirby's Return to Dream Land is undoubtedly the best traditional, linear two-dimensional Kirby game.

2 Kirby And The Forgotten Land

Kirby and the Forgotten Land attempts Kirby's second transition to the third dimension much better than the first, allowing him to move in the full environment rather than walking on a predetermined rail. The gameplay manages to still feel and play like Kirby despite the added dimension and makes itself intensely memorable by utilizing brand-new environments for Kirby to explore.

Kirby is at his very best in this installment, matching the level of quality seen in the rest of the series while upping the ante of the visuals and rarely retreading what has already been done. An incredible amount of work has been put into making sure this game feels like a natural extension of Kirby's classic gameplay.

1 Kirby Superstar

Kirby Superstar is the best Kirby game short of Superstar Ultra, but it's sort of cheating. Instead of going whole hog like the other titles in Kirby's repertoire, Kirby Superstar makes multiple smaller campaigns that are memorable due to being much more concentrated shots of classic Kirby gameplay.

The fact that Dyna Blade, Milky Way Wishes, and Great Cave offensive are some of the most referenced campaigns from Kirby points to how high quality they could be throughout their short run times.