Kirby (character)

''This article is about the Character. for other uses of the word "Kirby", see here.''

Kirby (カービィ, Kābī) is the main character of Nintendo's Kirby video game series created by Masahiro Sakurai and developed by HAL Laboratory. The Kirby series is one of Nintendo's many well-known game franchises, spanning nearly twenty games since 1992. His first appearance took place in the 1992 video game Kirby's Dream Land. Here he was portrayed by a two-dimensional sprite though he has also been conveyed by a three-dimensional computer-generated image in some games. He has been featured in video games from Nintendo, on Nintendo's merchandising, on comic books, and even a anime series.

Concept and Creation
Kirby was originally going to be named Popopo, and his model was created as a blob placeholder sprite during the development of what would be the first Kirby game, originally titled Twinkle Popopo instead of Hoshi no Kābī (translated as 'Kirby of the Stars') as it is called in Japan (or Kirby's Dream Land as it is called in the U.S.). After a while, creator Masahiro Sakurai started to prefer Kirby's placeholder design over the original conception. He later stated that he had envisioned Kirby as a 'game for beginners'.

Sakurai always intended for Kirby to be pink. However, Shigeru Miyamoto had originaly wanted him to be yellow. Because of this ambiguity, Nintendo of America was left with some confusion when the game was ported to the West. The American box art, cartridge label, instruction booklet, and even the television commercial for Kirby's Dream Land feature Kirby entirely white in color (based on the grey-scale visuals of the GameBoy game). The Japanese box art, however, correctly depicts Kirby as pink. A Yellow Kirby is however used for the second player in any Kirby game that features multyplayer.

There is a good deal of debate on the origins of Kirby's name. A widespread myth is that Kirby adopted his Western name from the Kirby Corporation, which is a vacuum cleaner company and would suit Kirby and his appetite. The other explanation is that Kirby was named in honor of Nintendo's legal counsel, John Kirby of Latham & Watkins LLP, after John Kirby saved Nintendo during a copyright infringement lawsuit over Donkey Kong filed by Universal Studios However, Masahiro Sakurai has been quoted as saying he does not remember how Kirby got his name.

Actor portrayal
Kirby is voiced by female seiyū (voice actor) Makiko Ōmoto in the Super Smash Bros. series, Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land (Mike ability), and in the anime Kirby: Right Back at Ya!. She considered the time doing Kirby's voice and working with others on the show and games to be great experience.

In a 1994 educational video starring Kirby and Mario called the Mario and Kirby Masterpiece Video Kirby was voiced by Mayumi Tanaka.

Powers
Kirby has the ability to inhale his enemies and spit them out (as stars) at a high velocity to attack or swallow them to gain their powers called copy abilities. In newer games he wears a unique hat for each copy ability but in earlier games, Kirby did not have a hat for his powers. He can also float in the air for as long as he wants (in some games he gets tired after a while) by inhaling air and blowing up like a balloon. While floating he cannot inhale and instead spits out the air in his mouth as an attack.

Games
Kirby stars in all the games in the Kirby series most of which are platformers. Here he is the hero of Dream Land, a country on the star shaped planet of Pop Star and usually has to save his home from whatever evil that attacks it (sometimes traveling to other lands or planets to do so). Often at the climax of the game Kirby gains a mystical weapon that he must fight the main villain with.

He has also been in spinoffs revolving around Racing, Pinball, Breakout, Golf, and falling-block games among others. He also cameos in many other games.



Anime
Main page: Kirby (anime character)

In Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, Kirby is a legendary Star Warrior, who crash lands on Pop Star after his space ship detects a monster bought by King Dedede there, because of this Kirby was awakened 200 years too early and is still in his infantcy

he is also said to be the creation of the emperor of darkness, Nightmare, but disobeyed him. Meta Knight starts to teach Kirby to become strong, so that one day, he could destroy Nightmare. Kirby can only say "Poyo" in a way similar way to how Pokemon "speak", though he can sometimes say names too (examples: Fofa, Dedede and his own), as well as the names of his attacks (this is only seen in the Japanese version of the Anime)

Manga and Comics
Kirby also stars in several manga series, none of which have been released outside Japan. The longest running series is titled Kirby of the Stars: The Story of Dedede Who Lives In Pupupu, and was written by Hirokazu Hikawa (ひかわ 博一 Hikawa Hirokazu). Other Kirby manga are typically one-shot comedy 4koma (panels) based on the games, and have multiple artists. They usually have recurring themes and running gags, despite having different creators.

A few German comics released in the Nintendo Power magazines there feature Kirby as a detective and King Dedede as his friend. Kirby is also friends with a blue fish (Kine), an informant who works at the Blue Fish Bar with fellow blue fish. His animal friends appear in the German comics as pets of a female Kirby look-alike with red glass slippers, ostensibly one of Kirby's girlfriends. In one comic, he meets Lolo, Lala, and Lulu, the stars of the Adventures of Lolo series. These comics were advertisements for Kirby games that would be released in Germany.

In the Super Smash Bros. Games
Kirby has appeared in all three Super Smash Bros. Games. He retains his abilities from the games, such as inhaling his enemies. The abilities he earns are more often then not based on the Kirby games, for example: Bowser is similar to Fire. In addition, Captain Falcon borrows Fighter Kirby's moves. Kirby is the only character to appear in Brawl who is relatively unchanged from his Melee appearance.

Subspace Emissary
Main Article: Subspace Emissary In the introduction, Kirby and Mario are fighting in an arena. The loser is turned into a Trophy, and the other one changes him back, only for the Subspace Army to appear. Mario is blasted away, whilst Kirby must fight Petey Piranha, who has captured both Princess Peach and Princess Zelda. The rest of Kirby's story depends on which princess is saved.

Kirby's Special Attacks
Standard Special Move - Inhale Kirby sucks up his foes, to which he can then spit out or swallow them. If he spits out an enemy, he/she will turn into a star and will hurt others, much like it does in Kirby's Dreamland, however, if he Swallows an enemy then he gains the use of that enemies Standard Special Move and looks like that character (for example: inhaling Mario Lets Kirby unleash Fireballs and has him wear Mario's Hat) He couldn't move when he swallowed an enemy in the original Smash Bros (aside from changing direction), but in Smash Bros Melee Kirby can slowly walk around with the victim in his mouth, thus allowing a strategy known as Kirbycide to be used.For more information on what powers Kirby gets, see Super Smash Bros. Abilities.

Up Special Move - Final Cutter Kirby brandishes a Cutter, jumps up, then comes back down, creating a Cutter Beam on landing. Can lead to self-destruct. This can be used to recover after being knocked off the stage. It should be noted that in Brawl, you no longer lose all remaining jumps. In SSB, the move can be used as to "spike" people down, in SSBM, it just pushes them away. However, the game recognizes that when you do that, it's considered a Meteor Smash.

Side Special Move - Hammer Kirby swings his hammer horizontally (rather than vertically, like in games), it's rather unwieldy, but can instantly KO players with high percentage. When in the air Kirby swings the hammer around him, like he does in games. In Melee he spins vertically once, but in Brawl he will spin horizontally twice.

Down Special Move - Stone Like the ability it is named after, Kirby tunes into a rock-hard object. In the original Smash Bros, it Just turns into a Stone, but in Melee and Brawl, he turns into a variety of objects, ranging from Panel De Pon Garbage blocks and Thwomps to Spiked Balls and 100t Weights, as well as his standard Stone form (akin to Stone's behavior in Kirby Super Star). He's invulnerable when he's like this, Though he can still be victim to throws and Yoshi's Egg Lay, and the attack only does damage if an enemy happens to be underneath him at the time he crashes down. The Stone form slides on slanted terrain and also knocks opponents away who happen to be in the way, so care must be taken in stages with slopes in dangerous places, such as Brinstar Depths.

Misc abilities

 * Kirby can Jump for five times before having to use a recovery move (like Final Cutter). The only other characters than can do that are Jigglypuff, King Dedede, Pit, Meta Knight, and Charizard (though the last three fly with their wings)


 * Kirby can lose an ability by taunting.


 * Some of Kirby's regular attacks (notably the Vulcan Jab and the Spin Kick) are based upon Fighter


 * Kirby's throws are based on moves used by Backdrop, Suplex and Ninja. Certain throws can also be used to Kirbycide.


 * Kirby enters by crashing his Warp Star onto the Stage. Similar to how he did when a new game is started in Kirby's Adventure and Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland

Final Smash
His Final Smash in Super Smash Bros. Brawl is Cook. It works in exactly the same way as Cook works in it's video game appearances. Kirby puts on a chef's hat and "rings" a frying pan. Enemies are seemingly sucked into the pot and boiled. After a bit, miscellaneous items are "cooked" and are thrown out of the pot, and the opponents are thrown upwards. The Japanese update for the move featured a song that does not play during this move, but was only put up because the song relates to the move. The song is from a Japan-only cooking navigator "game", so the reference would likely have be missed by players outside of Japan.