There were quite a few announcements at the Nintendo Direct last night, including two announcements for upcoming announcements. These included the confirmation that the Smash Fighters Pass would finally be ending, news about Chris Pratt being Mario for some reason, and, of course, the long-awaited reveal of Bayonetta 3 approximately 84 years after it was originally teased. Perhaps the most interesting reveal, however, came near the start of the show, with everyone’s favourite pink-ball-of-fluff-who-is-secretly-a-murderer moving into a vaguely open-world realm in Kirby and the Forgotten Land.
Kirby is a huge deal in the platforming world. He’s often overshadowed by both his Nintendo compatriots - Zelda, Pokemon, Animal Crossing, and Mario - as well as bigger platforming guns like Ratchet, Crash, Sonic, and, again, Mario - but in a way, he’s more interesting than all of them.
Kirby first launched in 1992, with Kirby’s Dream Lab. Since then, unlike other long-running platformers, Kirby has maintained one coherent lore. Appearances in the likes of Smash aside, Kirby has consistently been telling the same story. No reboots, no retcons, no alternate timelines. Just Kirby. Only Ratchet & Clank can claim the same, and even then, 2016’s entry was a retelling - plus the series has only been running since 2002 anyway.
Despite this consistency, you could argue Kirby hasn’t moved with the times. Kirby Star Allies, the most recent mainline Kirby, was the 16th in the series and the biggest seller since Dream Lab itself. Much like the entries before it, Star Allies was a side-scroller. It tried something different, letting four players run levels at once - hence the Allies - but as a side-scroller, it never quite made the most of this. If you’re fourth in line in a side-scroller, you’re not going to get much of the action.
While Star Allies does something different with the formula, it seems Kirby and the Forgotten Land is changing it entirely. By moving into open-world territory, this could be a huge step in Kirby’s evolution at the perfect time.
Following the commercial success of Star Allies, Kirby also earned a starring role in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, beginning as the only playable fighter in story mode. This is the time for Kirby to finally step up.
With the game set to launch relatively soon in Spring 2022, we got to see quite a bit of gameplay at the Direct, showcasing how Kirby moves around the world. It’s difficult to tell whether it’s a full open world (unlikely), a selection of smaller open-world levels, or a set of interconnected hubs that unlock as you go along. Even without that knowledge though, it already feels like Sonic Adventure. That’s a great sign, even if it is weird that it’s taken Kirby 24 years since Adventure to see if it can make a similar leap to full 3D gameplay.
Kirby has earned the right to a game like this. There's nothing wrong with 2D or 2.5D platformers, and aside from the largely ineffective four-player gimmick, Star Allies was a pretty good game. But Kirby is such an expressive character, with such inventive traversal and unique opportunities for mischief. There's a reason the big news of every new character's arrival in Smash is what character Kirby turns into when he eats them.
The trailer opens on a vaguely dystopian world, with overgrown plants, abandoned cities, and a general eerie calmness. We meet Kirby, washed up on the beach, and the scene suddenly bursts into life. He hops around crumbling buildings, races through an abandoned mall, and adventures through a disused amusement park. It has all the trappings of 'dystopia' but with a whimsical soundtrack, the merry melodies of Kirby's footsteps, and an oversaturated, colourful palette that is unmistakably Nintendo.
There's a lot of typical Kirby gameplay in there too. Climbing the ladders while avoiding cannon fire is a pretty classic Kirby challenge, while the transform power is obviously present as well, providing you with alternative approaches to combat and exploration. With a range of environments and varied enemies already being shown off, it doesn't seem as if the classic Kirby magic has been forgotten amongst the move to an open world.
Kirby and the Forgotten Land represents a huge change for Kirby, and as a result, it’s guaranteed to be a game worth paying attention to if you like platformers. If Kirby's more dated commitment to side-scrolling was putting you off the pink little ball who swallows everything in sight, Forgotten Land is probably going to be the perfect place for you to start.