Kirby's Return to Dream Land

Kirby Wii, called Kirby Wii unofficially, is a Kirby game for the Wii, to be released in Fall 2011. The title "Kirby Wii" is the official tentative name, as its final title has yet to be revealed. Prior to Kirby Wii, it is simply known as "Hoshi no Kaabii" (Kirby of the Stars), which is the same title of Kirby's Dream Land (1992) for the Game Boy and the anime Kirby: Right Back at Ya! in Japan.

Story
The E3 2011 trailer shows a part of the game's introduction - while King Dedede and Waddle Dee are chasing Kirby holding a Strawberry Shortcake, a dark, five-pointed star-shaped void similar to Dark Nebula's appearance opens up in the sky. A crystalline airship with an unfamiliar insignia pops out trailing black smoke from its engines, and crashes nearby, and the trio investigates. Meta Knight joins the trio at the crash site, looking at the stricken airship. They embark on a quest to retrieve the spaceship's parts throughout Pop Star to repair the spaceship and help their new alien friends.

Abilities
Kirby Wii introduces several new Copy Abilities, and the abilities now have powered-up versions called Super Abilities, which are acquired from inhaling large versions of enemies glowing with a starry aura. When used, the game is paused for everyone except Kirby, and the super abilities hit most parts of the screen, destroying large parts of the environment which are otherwise indestructible. Super Abilities have an unlimited number of uses, but only last for a limited time, as indicated by a rainbow-colored bar with a star below Kirby.

Sword's Super version is called Ultra Sword, obtained from a glowing Blade Knight, and Fire's version is Monster Flame, obtained from a large Hot Head. These enemies leave behind the Ability Star even when defeated by players other than Kirby.

Each regular ability has multiple moves, similar to the versions in Kirby Super Star and Kirby Super Star Ultra. New copy abilities have been introduced alongside returning ones. Water appears to have been redesigned with a noticeably more pink Kirby rather than a translucent blue as depicted in Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, and he surfs on his own waves as an attack. Whip Kirby is self-explanatory and performed a fast attack similar to Meta Knight's standard A move from Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Leaf Kirby can encircle himself with leaves, conjure columns of leaves, and throw them as missiles, putting its role between Needle/Spark and Ninja. Stone Kirby now wears a rocky headdress similar to the one seen in GameCube footage rather than his old gear.

Kirby's discarded or lost Ability Stars have a unique coloration and icon for every ability, instead of its traditional appearance as a yellow, glowing star in all previous games. Stars of Super Abilities are larger than normal ones, but otherwise look the same. Statues similar to Copy Pedestals return, but now have the Ability Star on them instead of the enemy giving the ability.

Kirby's inhaling ability is more powerful than before, being able to inhale many more enemies at once and produce larger Star Spit. Shaking the Wii Remote while holding Button 1 makes Kirby perform his Super Inhale. He can inhale up to all three allies and use them as a projectile as well.

Up to three additional players can join and leave at any time, controlling specific characters, but there is little indication that the characters can be controlled by the CPU at this point, which would mean that the Helper system seen in Kirby GCN has been scrapped.

Players 2, 3, or 4 can join an ongoing game at any time, but it costs a 1UP to do so, and all players share the same number of lives with Kirby. Player one always plays Kirby, but other players can select whichever character they wish to play, as long as that character is not already in play. The selected character then appears right beside Kirby wherever he may be. Should Kirby lose all hitpoints, everyone has to restart the level from the start, but if players 2, 3, or 4 lose all hitpoints, they can reselect their character and beam right beside where Kirby was. Only Kirby can use Copy-Ability-related items and enter Doors to end the level. Should a player fall too far behind the others, the character beams to another like Helpers do in Kirby Super Star.

Food sharing by mouth-to-mouth food transfer has returned, and works the same as in Kirby Super Star, but now up to four players can share the same food.

Characters
Meta Knight, King Dedede and (Bandana) Waddle Dee are additional playable characters for the game's multiplayer mode. Their respective control schemes are not yet completely clear, though they wield their now-standard sword, hammer, and spear respectively, so Meta Knight and King Dedede's attack patterns and are very similar to Sword and Hammer's. Waddle Dee can jab from afar using the spear, throw it (he gets another), and perform his version of the charged attack, which is twirling the spear above his head like a helicopter blade, which also makes him hover at a set height.

All characters are capable of some manner of flight; Kirby and King Dedede float, Meta Knight uses his cloak / wings to fly, and Waddle Dee hovers by using his charge attack. Characters can hold onto each other during flight, like Helpers do in Kirby Super Star when they run out of air jumps. Players can stack up on each other's backs when moving about, similar to footage seen in Kirby GCN, and this does not slow down movement. All characters are capable of swimming; when they do, Kirby, Meta Knight, and Waddle Dee don goggles underwater, and the goggles look like the version introduced to Kirby in Kirby Super Star.

Other features
Power-ups and items return. Kirby is seen jumping in a giant Kuribo's Shoe-esque boot with spiked heels, and holding a Fireworks Cannon while having separate Copy Abilities. There is a class of items best described as pick-ups. Kirby is seen holding a candle, which illuminates a dark room. There is a blue, crystal-like object that phases Kirby out and lets him go through certain walls, and keys, which unlock doors when thrown at them. These pick-ups need to be held over the player's head, which makes them incapable of doing anything other than moving unless it is dropped.

Obstacles in the game are highly similar to the ones in Kirby Super Star, with Ropes and platforms, Switches, and all the classic blocks. Collectible Point Stars and Food items make a return. There are different denominations of stars, similar to Kirby 64. Large, red stars are worth 10 regular stars, and every 100 stars give a 1UP.

Miniature starry voids are seen to warp Kirby to a space that is slowly being erased. Entering one causes Kirby to lose his current Copy Ability.

Controls
The game is played with the Wii remote held sideways, like in most parts of Kirby's Epic Yarn.

Ability list

 * Beam
 * Bomb
 * Cutter
 * Fire
 * Ice
 * Leaf
 * Needle
 * Parasol
 * Sleep (probable, as Noddy is in the latest trailer)
 * Spark
 * Stone
 * Sword
 * Tornado
 * Water
 * Whip

Enemies

 * Babut
 * Blade Knight
 * Blipper (normal and big-sized)
 * Bouncy
 * Bronto Burt
 * Broom Hatter
 * Cappy
 * Como (normal and big-sized)
 * Galbo (Water)
 * Glunk
 * Gordo
 * Hothead
 * Kabu
 * Mumbies
 * Needlous
 * Nelly (or Nruff)
 * Pacto
 * Scarfy
 * Shotzo
 * Sparky
 * Squishy
 * Sword Knight
 * Twister
 * Waddle Dee
 * Waddle Doo
 * An unnamed tiger-like enemy that gives the Whip ability
 * An unnamed glowing knight enemy that gives the Ultra Sword ability
 * An unnamed Hothead-like enemy that gives the Monster Flame ability
 * Waddle Dees that hide under a large paper-mache Waddle Dee-like object

Bosses

 * Whispy Woods
 * A unknown blue genie-like boss that uses bombs to attack
 * An unknown shadow bat-like boss

Links to Kirby GCN
See also: Kirby GCN There are strong links and similarities between Kirby Wii as announced at E3 2011, and Kirby GCN for the GameCube, which was announced over five years ago. There has been much discussion about whether Kirby Wii is a direct derivative of the GameCube title, although if that was indeed the case, there has been extensive changes to gameplay systems throughout its development period.

After Kirby GCN's announcement, there was no further information for a prolonged period, and the game's page from Nintendo's website was removed, so the game was presumed to be cancelled for good (this was also presumed after the release of Kirby's Epic Yarn, mainly because it was for the Wii). While the game's development cycle was subject to much gossip, a press release from July 31, 2009 officially confirmed a vague "Hoshi no Kirby" game in development for the Wii.

It was a very long time before any more information became available, which was in a Nintendo investor briefing, and the several seconds of video footage resembles Kirby Wii more than Kirby GCN, with a fixed sideways camera.

While the title appears to be far more polished than the intitial beta screenshots and media from Kirby GCN, it has changed much throughout the years. Very little else is known about it besides the previously-revealed and rather outdated information. Iwata himself (CEO and president of Nintendo Japan), however, did apologize for the long wait and promised a release date for the title sometime in 2011. After Nintendo's later E3 conference, new information was released, again confirming the mystery Wii title is nearing completion. Fans have also noted that the music used in the latest trailer is a remix of the music from the GameCube title.