Kirby

"Hiii!!"

- Kirby

Kirby is an inhabitant of Planet Popstar and the main and titular protagonist of the Kirby franchise. He has appeared in every Kirby game ever since the first title, Kirby's Dream Land. Kirby is a spherical pink creature, and is the most prominent member of the species of the same name.

Kirby lives in a dome-shaped house in the kingdom of Dream Land. The ruler of Dream Land is King Dedede, who frequently causes trouble, leaving it to Kirby to protect his homeland. Kirby's signature ability is inhaling items and enemies, after which he can either swallow or spit them out. In most games since Kirby's Adventure, Kirby can obtain a Copy Ability from an enemy by swallowing it.

Kirby's Dream Land
In Kirby's Dream Land, Kirby goes on a journey to retrieve the food and Sparkling Stars that King Dedede stole from the citizens of Dream Land. Kirby must make his way through five stages: Green Greens, Castle Lololo, Float Islands, Bubbly Clouds, and lastly Mt. Dedede, where King Dedede is fought. Before Kirby can fight King Dedede, he must fight the four previous bosses again—Whispy Woods, Lololo and Lalala, Kaboola, and Kracko―in no particular order.

In the ending, after Kirby has defeated King Dedede, Kirby inflates himself to the size of a massive hot air balloon and carries Castle Dedede back to the inhabitants of Dream Land. A hatch opens beneath the castle, and all the stolen food pours down on the inhabitants. The game then ends.

Kirby's Adventure / Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land
In Kirby's Adventure and its remake Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land, Kirby goes on a journey to retrieve and reassemble the Star Rod, which had been stolen from the Fountain of Dreams by King Dedede and divided into eight pieces. Kirby must work his way through eight levels, each consisting of a few stages and then a boss fight at the end. When Kirby defeats a boss, he recovers a piece of the Star Rod.

At the Fountain of Dreams, Kirby finds King Dedede, who has the last piece of the Star Rod. Kirby defeats him in a battle and then proceeds to put the Star Rod on the Fountain of Dreams, even as King Dedede pulls on Kirby's foot begging him not to. Kirby ignores King Dedede and places the Star Rod on the Fountain of Dreams, immediately resulting in a different villain, Nightmare, to emerge from the fountain. This reveals that King Dedede had good intention by hiding the Star Rod from Nightmare. King Dedede then assists Kirby by inhaling both him and the Star Rod and then spitting them high up into the sky to battle Nightmare.

In the ending, after Nightmare has been defeated, Kirby rides on a Warp Star within the clouds, with King Dedede slowly following behind him.

Kirby's Pinball Land
In Kirby's Pinball Land, Kirby is introduced in his ball form, taking the role of a pinball. Kirby must play through three pinball tables that are owned by Whispy Woods, Kracko, and Poppy Bros. Sr. respectively, and each of them are fought as the boss in their own pinball table. After clearing all three pinball tables, Kirby can proceed to fight the final boss, King Dedede. Defeating him does not yield much of a reward, as the game has no plot, and Kirby can simply retry the three pinball tables again to aim for a higher score.

Kirby's Dream Course
In Kirby's Dream Course, Kirby returns in his ball form, this time substituting for a golf ball as he makes his way through eight different mini-golf courses. The game's plot involves Kirby going on a journey to retrieve the stars that King Dedede stole from the night sky. The objective is for the player to have Kirby fall into a cup at the end using as few shots as possible. He can even retrieve powers from an enemy to assist him in reaching the cup.

Kirby's Dream Course is the first game to introduce Kirby's yellow-colored counterpart, Keeby, who is controlled by the second player in 2P Game.

Kirby's Avalanche
In Kirby's Avalanche, Kirby competes against various characters in a game called Avalanche (which is actually just a game of ). Prior to each match, Kirby and his opponent have a brief conversation, and they show Kirby with a more arrogant attitude than in other Kirby games.

Physical appearance
Kirby has a pink, spherical, body with small stubby arms and large red feet. His eyes are oval-shaped and are white (eye shine) at the top, black in the center and dark blue on the bottom (all black in early games) with rosy cheek-blushes near his eyes. Kirby's body is soft and flexible, allowing him to stretch or flatten and adopt different shapes, open his mouth really wide to inhale foes, or quickly inflate himself with air to hover in midair. According to Super Smash Bros., Kirby is 8 inches tall. Kirby's appearance has changed subtly over the years, becoming more rounded and defined, mainly in his face and larger blue eyes.

Kirby was originally colored white in artwork associated with the international release of Kirby's Dream Land. While Kirby was always depicted as pink in Japan, there was conflict between Masahiro Sakurai, who wanted Kirby to be pink, and Shigeru Miyamoto, who wanted Kirby to be yellow. Because of this, Nintendo of America decided to depict Kirby as white on the game cover art and other related artwork, therefore matching his in-game monochromatic sprites. Since the second Kirby game, Kirby's Adventure, Kirby has been consistently colored pink in other regions as well.

Personality
Kirby has a positive attitude, and frequently helps to save Dream Land through the use of his unique powers. Kirby's age is never directly stated, although he is referred to as a "little boy" in the Kirby's Dream Land manual's Story section. Kirby is cheerful and innocent, and is often shown to have a voracious appetite. Kirby also likes to sing, although he is tone-deaf.

The same personality and nature is presented in the Super Smash Bros. games. In Super Smash Bros. Melee, one of Kirby's trophies describes him as being an "extremely skilled technician." Although Kirby appears cute and innocent, many commercials and ads have contrasted this with his extreme fighting skills when he takes on the abilities of an enemy.

Kirby is a character of few words and rarely speaks in-game. His dialogue is largely limited to appearances in some games' instruction manuals, and brief comments such as "Hi!" or "Poyo!" in games including Super Smash Bros. and Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. Despite his lack of dialogue, Kirby narrates the functions of certain Copy Abilities on the pause menu in Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land, Kirby & the Amazing Mirror, and Kirby: Squeak Squad. Kirby gives short descriptions of various menu options when they are highlighted. The concept of Kirby being mostly mute is supported by Masahiro Sakurai's insistence that Kirby does not speak in Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, although he does occasionally say the names of his special attacks and certain foods and sometimes repeats other words that he hears. In the Super Smash Bros. series, when Kirby copies a foe's ability, Kirby says the name of some attacks, such as Captain Falcon's Falcon Punch, Ness's PK Flash, Lucas's PK Freeze, Ryu and Ken's Hadoken, "Jump/Speed/Shield/Buster/Smash" when using Shulk's Monado Arts and Terry Bogard's Power Wave. There are some notable exceptions where Kirby actually does speak in-game, such as Kirby's Avalanche, Kirby no Kirakira Kizzu and Kirby's Epic Yarn.

Kirby sometimes acts in an impulsive or naive way, such as when he accuses King Dedede of interfering with the Fountain of Dreams in Kirby's Adventure, and then leaves to retrieve the pieces of the shattered Star Rod without receiving a full explanation. He also attacked Meta Knight in Kirby Squeak Squad for ownership of a chest that he believed contained a slice of his stolen strawberry shortcake. In reality, the Star Rod was going to be taken by Nightmare, who would corrupt the Fountain of Dreams and turn every dream into a Nightmare, and the chest that Kirby wanted contained Dark Nebula, a powerful being with evil intentions. King Dedede and Meta Knight were aware of these problems, and were trying to protect the world.

Abilities
Kirby's main ability is inhaling enemies and objects and spitting them out with incredible force. Both his mouth and body expand to allow him to inhale things much larger than himself. However, there is a limit to what he can inhale; excessively large or heavy foes like bosses can resist Kirby's inhale. Against these opponents Kirby must find smaller characters to use as ammo or intercept his opponent's attacks and send them back at them.

Kirby is able to hover like a balloon by inhaling a gulp of air to make himself more buoyant, flying slowly by flapping his arms. However, his only method of attack in this state is to spit the gulp of air, sending him back towards the ground. While in most games he can float indefinitely, he gets tired in some games such as Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, Team Kirby Clash Deluxe, Kirby Fighters Deluxe and the Super Smash Bros. series.

Warp Stars are Kirby's main method of transportation. By clinging to the side of a Warp Star or riding it like a surfboard, Kirby can move quickly through the air as well as between areas.

Since Kirby's Adventure, Kirby can inherit an enemy's primary attribute, called a Copy Ability, by swallowing them. In doing so, Kirby gains an ability, such as Fire from a fiery creature or Needle from a spiky creature. Kirby can only have one Copy Ability at a time and must discard his current one if he wishes to use another. If Kirby takes enough damage, his Copy Ability gets knocked out of him in the form of a star, but if Kirby is quick enough, he can inhale it again. The game also introduces a few other moves for Kirby including sliding, dashing, and using the Water Gun.

In earlier games, Kirby was given only one move from a Copy Ability that replaced his Inhale. Kirby Super Star expanded upon the concept behind Copy Abilities, as the extra buttons on a Super Nintendo Entertainment System controller than a Nintendo Entertainment System controller or a Game Boy unit allows Kirby to use a few more moves. In games prior to Kirby Super Star, whenever Kirby has a Copy Ability, his appearance received minimal changes, such as his color changing to orange or snow white, or wielding a weapon for abilities like Sword or Hammer. Since Kirby Super Star, each Copy Ability gave Kirby a unique costume, such as Fire giving a fiery crown or Sword giving a floppy green cap resembling that of Link's.

Several Kirby games have unique mechanics involving Kirby's use of Copy Abilities. In Kirby Super Star, Kirby could get rid of his current Copy Ability to create a Helper, which is a friendly counterpart of the same enemy whom Kirby retrieved the Copy Ability from. The Helper could either be controlled either by the game or by a second player. This gameplay mechanic would not be seen again until Kirby Star Allies, where Helpers have been renamed to Friends, and Kirby can have up to three of them with him at a time. In Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards Kirby can combine two Copy Abilities to create new and unique ones. This returns in Kirby: Squeak Squad in a limited form, but only with Bomb and Sword which are both able to combine with Ice, Fire, and Spark. The ability returns again in Kirby Star Allies, which allows for a greater variety of combinations than Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. In Kirby's Return to Dream Land, some Copy Abilities received enhanced versions called Super Abilities, which can destroy scenery and interact with the environment, although their use has a time limit unlike regular Copy Abilities. Similarly, in Kirby: Triple Deluxe, Kirby can eat a Miracle Fruit to become Hypernova Kirby, temporarily enhancing his inhale ability so that he can also inhale massive objects.

As is the case with many platforming games, Kirby makes use of a variety of power-ups and items. In Kirby's Dream Land, before the introduction of Copy Abilities, Kirby could make use of a temporary power-up, such as a Mint Leaf, which enables him to shoot out endless air pellets for a limited amount of time (except for in the Kaboola boss fight), and Superspicy Curry, which allows Kirby to shoot fireballs from his mouth. In most games, Kirby can eat food or other special items like Maxim Tomatoes to recover his health. There are also Invincibility Lollipops which make him temporarily invincible. In Kirby Super Star, Kirby & the Amazing Mirror, and Kirby's Return to Dream Land, Kirby can share his food with his companion.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Kirby's Final Smash is his Cook ability from Kirby Super Star, allowing him to briefly cook opponents, items and certain objects. In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Kirby's Final Smash is an Ultra Sword attack.

At the start of Kirby's Epic Yarn and its remake Kirby's Extra Epic Yarn, Kirby inhales a Metamato, and it transforms his entire body into yarn for most of the game. The game introduces a variety of forms, many of which are a type of vehicle, such as a Car, a UFO, or a Fire Engine. Kirby cannot suck up enemies in the game because air travels through his yarn body; instead he uses a yarn whip to grab enemies and turn them into yarn balls, which have a variety of uses including being thrown at other foes, attaching to buttons, and moving zippers.