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Kirby fans are laughing at the fact that the Switch re-release of Kirby and the Crystal Shards has been given a "T for Teen" rating because of Blood and Violence.
One of the things that the Kirby community loves the most about the series is its tendency to come off as cute and cuddly for most of the game, before suddenly throwing in an eldritch monster as the final boss that wouldn't be out of place in some of the darker Final Fantasy games. The series has become known for it now, but it's interesting to look back on older games in the series and see how they'd be perceived now.
That's exactly what it looked like Nintendo has had to do with the Switch Online re-release of Kirby and the Crystal Shards, also known as Kirby 64. The studio released a trailer for the game on Twitter, which begins with a PEGI rating claiming that the game has been rated "T for Teen" for its "Blood" and "Violence".
This instantly set off the Kirby community, with fans of the series laughing that the game seems to have been given a more mature rating in 2022 than the "E for Everyone" it managed to get back when it was originally released. Most are blaming the game's final boss, Zero 2, which is a giant eyeball that looks like it's bleeding and explodes when you hit it.
In reality, the reasoning for this is that the rating applies to the Nintendo Switch Online service as a whole, not for Kirby and the Crystal Shards specifically. For example, if Conker's Bad Fur Day was ever added to the service, then every other trailer for it would need to be rated "M for Mature".
That hasn't stopped the Kirby community from drawing fan art, making memes, and arguing about whether a Kirby game could ever see such a rating. It's not too far from the truth either, as Zero 2 does actually look like it bleeds when you hit it and there's certainly a lot of violence in Kirby games. Just look at The Forgotten Land's Fear rating from earlier in the year to see what can happen.