Kirby Star Allies

Kirby Star Allies (sometimes written Kirby: Star Allies), known in Japan as 星のカービィ スターアライズ (Hoshi no Kabi: Sutā Araizu, meaning Kirby of the Stars: Star Allies), is a game in the Kirby series, set to be released on March 16, 2018 worldwide. It is the first game in the series for the Nintendo Switch.

Story
In a part of space far away from Planet Popstar, countless lights scatter as a result of a mysterious ritual. One piece, known as the "Demon Heart", falls in Dream Land and lands in King Dedede's palace. Another piece known as the "Friend Heart" dissolves into Kirby, who is taking a nap. Kirby, awakened by this, notices some Waddle Dees carrying a large amount of food to King Dedede's castle, which has become surrounded by dark clouds. Kirby sets off to investigate this mysterious phenomenon.

Gameplay
Kirby Star Allies is a traditional platformer Kirby game, in which the player controls Kirby, whose objective is to get to the end of each stage through the use of Copy Abilities. Kirby retains his traditional moves; the Inhale, Star Spit, Slide attack, Air Gun, and floating.

The game is a 2.5D platformer, meaning that the characters move on a two-dimensional plane in a 3D environment.

Two game mechanics return from previous installments of the Kirby series; those of Mix abilities (from Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards and Kirby: Squeak Squad, though in this game they are called Friend Abilities) and Helpers (from Kirby Super Star and its remake, though they are here referred to as "friends"). In a manner similar to the mechanic shown in the trailer for the unreleased Kirby GCN, there can be four player-controlled or CPU-controlled friends at one time. Kirby can throw a Friend Heart at certain types of enemies in order to turn it into a friend by using the X button; friends can also throw Friend Hearts in order to change their ability. Even if Kirby has no friends, another player can join, taking Kirby's current ability similarly to the helper mechanic in previous games; Kirby can also turn a friend into an ability item by performing "Unfriend," which replaces the Drop Ability function if Kirby has none; this can also be achieved by throwing a Friend Heart at an enemy while already having three friends, and opting to cancel the action instead of replacing one of them. Friends can assist Kirby in multiple ways, allowing for combo moves such as creating a circular formation that allows them to roll ahead in certain areas. The player can also mix Friend Abilities by holing up on the analog stick and having a partner using an attack on the player's character.

Playable characters

 * Kirby

Friends

 * Beetley
 * Bio Spark
 * Birdon
 * Blade Knight
 * Bonkers
 * Broom Hatter
 * Bugzzy
 * Burning Leo
 * Chilly
 * Como
 * Driblee
 * Gim
 * Knuckle Joe
 * NESP
 * Parasol Waddle Dee
 * Plugg
 * Poppy Bros. Jr.
 * Rocky
 * Sir Kibble
 * Vividria
 * Waddle Doo
 * Wester

Allies

 * ChuChu (cameo)
 * Nago (cameo)
 * Pitch (cameo)

Enemies

 * Anger Masker
 * Beetley
 * Bio Spark
 * Birdon
 * Blade Knight
 * Blipper
 * Bouncy
 * Bronto Burt
 * Broom Hatter
 * Burning Leo
 * Cappy
 * Chilly
 * Chip
 * Como
 * Coner
 * Driblee
 * Gim
 * Gordo
 * Grizzo
 * Kabu
 * Knuckle Joe
 * NESP
 * Noddy
 * Nruff
 * Parasol Waddle Dee
 * Plugg
 * Poppy Bros. Jr
 * Propeller
 * Puppet Waddle Dee
 * Rocky
 * Shotzo
 * Sir Kibble
 * Waddle Dee
 * Waddle Doo
 * Wester
 * Unnamed enemy with a fire shield
 * Unnamed red enemy inside a water bubble
 * Unnamed confetti bird

Mid-bosses

 * Bonkers
 * Bugzzy
 * Mr. Frosty
 * Vividria

Bosses

 * Francisca
 * King Dedede
 * Meta Knight
 * Whispy Woods
 * Unnamed Cloaked Figure
 * Pon & Con

Copy Abilities
The game will feature 28 standard Copy Abilities, as well as the ability to mix certain abilities together into Friend Abilities, similarly to how mixing abilities worked in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards and Kirby: Squeak Squad. Abilities in bold are confirmed to be able to be imbued with an element to become a Friend Ability.

Copy Abilities

 * Artist
 * Beam
 * Beetle
 * Bomb
 * Cleaning
 * Cook
 * Cutter
 * ESP
 * Festival
 * Fighter
 * Fire
 * Hammer
 * Ice
 * Ninja
 * Parasol
 * Plasma
 * Sleep
 * Spider
 * Staff
 * Stone
 * Sword
 * Suplex
 * Water
 * Whip
 * Wing
 * Yo-Yo

Elements

 * Beam/Plasma
 * Cleaning
 * Fire
 * Ice
 * Parasol/Water

Items

 * 1UP
 * Food
 * Maxim Tomato
 * Picture Piece
 * Star
 * Treasure Chest

Objects

 * Apple
 * Cannon

amiibo Compatibility
During Story Mode, the player can scan an amiibo. Show/Hide table

Trivia

 * This game greatly resembles the first attempt at Kirby GCN, a cancelled game for the Nintendo GameCube. It resembles Kirby's Return to Dream Land as well, though this is because Kirby GCN was reworked into Kirby's Return to Dream Land.
 * Helpers can be mixed with abilities themselves, a first for the series. This was seen in the portion of the trailer with Whispy Woods.
 * Helpers wear the hat that corresponds to their ability, unlike Helpers in Kirby Super Star and its remake.
 * Helpers reflect the colors of the player playing them. Any helpers who are player 2 are yellow, helpers who are player 3 are blue, and helpers who are player 4 are green. This concept is reused from Kirby GCN.
 * This is Nago, Pitch, and ChuChu's first appearance in the flesh since their debut 21 years before Kirby Star Allies in Kirby's Dream Land 3.
 * King Dedede, when he transforms, greatly resembles his transformation in Kirby: Right Back at Ya! when he was possessed by the Demon Frog.
 * This is the first Kirby game to be localized into Chinese, in both Traditional and Simplified forms.
 * For unknown reasons, when the official Nintendo website lists Kirby Star Allies in a recommended games section, it states the release date of the game is June 30, 2018. This is incorrect, as the January 11 Nintendo Direct confirmed the actual release date to be March 16, 2018.
 * Kirby Star Allies is the fourth Kirby game to have an E10+ ESRB rating.
 * Kirby Star Allies is the first Kirby game to have a happy Kirby on the North American box art since Kirby and the Rainbow Curse.
 * Kirby Star Allies is the first Kirby game to see release worldwide on the same day.
 * This is the third Kirby game to have Helpers, the other two are Kirby Super Star and Kirby Super Star Ultra (if counted).
 * The power of the new Artist ability, when paired with the hat, is reminiscent of the aspiring artist, Adeleine from Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards.
 * This is the third Kirby game to run at 30fps instead of the usual 60fps after Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards and Kirby and the Rainbow Curse.
 * However, Kirby: Planet Robobot switches from 60fps to 30fps depending on the number of objects and effects onscreen.
 * This is the first Kirby game where Waddle Doo closes his eye, something only previously seen in Kirby: Right Back at Ya! and Smash Run from Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.