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“A young traveler who came to Dream Land with the Spring Breeze. That's me, Kirby. A glutton who'll inhale anything. I copy my enemies abilities and transform!” ― Kirby • Manpuku Kirby
“By the way, I knew about you long before our fateful meeting. The great hero, Kirby, hailing from Dream Land on Planet Popstar. He travels the cosmos, fighting foes and helping those in need. You're a real celebrity, you know. I'm so lucky to have met you. Me, friends with the legendary Kirby! Maybe later you can give me your autograph.”
― Magolor about Kirby • Kirby's Return to Dream Land
Kirby is the titular character and main protagonist of the Kirby franchise. He's a young alien lifeform who lives on Planet Popstar and spends most of his days eating, napping, or playing with his friends in his incredibly peaceful home of Dream Land. His background is unknown, other than the fact that he was a traveler who arrived in Dream Land one day on the Spring Breeze, and has been living there ever since.
Although his adorable appearance and youthful demeanor make him easy to underestimate, Kirby is an incredibly powerful fighter with many unique abilities. He is a hero who has saved his planet, galaxy, and universe countless times from evil forces like Nightmare, Dark Matter, Marx, Queen Sectonia, and the Haltmann Works Company, just to name a few.
Kirby is a kind-hearted hero who is always willing to help a person in need, even if it's a complete stranger from a distant planet or another world entirely, and has made many of his former enemies into his friends, most notably his friendly rivals, King Dedede and Meta Knight.
His design is adorably simple, yet it can also be expressive and animated when it needs to be. One famous example would be his shocked face, which appears frequently throughout the games. In fact, Kirby's design was originally simply intended to be a placeholder for the original protagonist of Kirby's Dream Land. However, the team behind the game grew attached to the cute design and considered how its simplicity made it easy for kids to draw, so they decided to stick with that placeholder design.
Despite his powers, Kirby is a young, innocent, heroic, friendly, and jolly fellow whose heroism drives him to help out anyone in need. However, he's lazy, gluttonous, and prone to being tricked or jumping to conclusions, such as times when he got fooled by Marx and Magolor (Kirby Super Star, Kirby's Return to Dream Land) or the times when he misjudged King Dedede (Kirby's Adventure, Kirby: Squeak Squad). Kirby is a reliable hero who can overcome any odds to save the day. His good deeds go beyond simply "beating up the bad guys", such as when he helped raise Dynablade's chicks in Kirby Super Star, or when he selflessly gave the heart fruit he adventured tirelessly to find a Waddle Dee, knowing that they needed it more than him, in Take Courage. He's just a nice, helpful little guy.
Outside of simply liking food and being a good person, in Kirby Super Star, Kirby goes out treasure-hunting, not because it'll save the world or because someone put him up to it, but just because he wants to, showing an adventurous side to him.
Kirby's adorable childlike nature makes fun nice to watch or read whenever he's getting into some wholesome shenanigans, such as in the cutscenes of his games, in episodes of Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, in the It's Kirby Time series of picture books, and in his various manga series like Morestsu Pupupu Hour! and Sparkling★Pupupu World (both of which, and more, are available scanned and fan-translated here). But although Kirby is certainly young, he still has his own agency, and doesn't need to be told when to take action!
Another notable, yet extremely obscure, source of Kirby wholesomeness would be the drama CD, Kirby and the Story of the Dream Spring.
One of the central themes in the Kirby series, if not, the central theme, would be friendship, and Kirby embodies that theme perfectly. Kirby has formed bonds with so many characters, such as King Dedede, Meta Knight, Bandana Waddle Dee, Rick, Kine, Coo, Ribbon, Adeleine, Prince Fluff, Elline, Elfilin, and so much more. Kirby will risk life and limb for the people he holds dear, like in Kirby: Triple Deluxe, where for the majority of the game, Kirby's entire motivation was to save King Dedede from Taranza, even before he had any knowledge of the People of the Sky's plight, or even their and Queen Sectionia's existence. There's no true main villain in the Kirby series, as almost every antagonist finds themselves redeemed by the end of the same game they debut through Kirby's influence.
“Planet Popstar's destined rivals!” That's how King Dedede usually describes this special relationship, so he was crestfallen when he arrived in the new world and couldn't find Kirby.” ― Destined Rivals figure description • Kirby and the Forgotten Land
“They fight with each other, and although not always conventionally, they are basically good friends.” ― Shinya Kumazaki about King Dedede and Kirby's relationship • Nintendo Dream interview (translated by Falco)
Dedede embracing Kirby. (Super Smash Bros. Brawl)
Kirby embracing Dedede. (Kirby: Triple Deluxe)
Expanding on that previous point, Kirby and Dedede has developed a great relationship over the course of the series. With how many times they have faced each other in the past, it's easy for those who are not fans of the series to assume that Dedede is the "big bad" of most of the games, much like Bowser, Ganondorf from The Legend of Zelda, or Dr. Eggman, when in actuality, Kirby and Dedede are friendly rivals, with the context of most of their battles being Dedede being possessed/brainwashed/puppeted by the true antagonist or Dedede simply offering Kirby a challenge. The two have been through thick and thin and fought alongside each other numerous times. Kirby can even be seen as a little brother to Dedede. Shinya Kumazaki, the current director of the Kirby series, has described Dedede as a big brother figure, and it has been said many times that Dedede was the one who taught Kirby how to use the Hammer Copy Ability, with the hammer he uses also being a gift from the King. When Kirby tumbles down the stairs in the good ending of Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, Dedede is concerned for his safety, in Kirby's Return to Dream Land and its remake's title screen, Dedede will try to amuse Kirby with a silly face, in Kirby's Dream Collection's intro animation, Dedede launches Kirby by hitting him with his hammer, not as an attack, but because Kirby himself eagerly asked him to, like a Bros. Attack you'd see in the Mario & Luigi series, and according to a figurine description in Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Dedede was crestfallen without Kirby when he first arrived in the New World. While Dedede is always the one to challenge Kirby, their rivalry is not one-sided, as Kirby is always quick to accept these challenges with no hesitation out of his own volition and is also sometimes shown to tease Dedede back playfully and bicker and banter with him in media outside of the games. They are the only people to each other they genuinely see as rivals, not only because they've had the longest history with each other, but also because they're very similar people at their core. Both are optimistic and carefree gluttons who enjoy spending most of their days eating and napping and will fight to uphold that peaceful lifestyle when an outside force threatens it. Both are incredibly powerful, but can also be rash and impulsive in their decisions at times. Finally, they're both able to attract many people who genuinely admire them through their charisma (with Bandana Waddle Dee seeming a bit torn between the two). They are able to understand each other better than anyone else, and that's what makes their "destined rivalry" so special.
As a playable video game protagonist, Kirby is incredibly unique. He has many innovative and creative abilities, like the ability to puff himself up and float like a balloon and his trademark ability to inhale and spit out enemies with great force, or swallow them to copy their abilities (in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, Kirby is also able to combine two abilities together). He would also gain new powers as the series went by, like the Super Abilities from Kirby's Return to Dream Land, the Hypernova inhale from Kirby: Triple Deluxe and the brand-new Mouthful Mode from Kirby and the Forgotten Land. Kirby's abilities make his games very accessible to beginners so that anyone can be introduced to the series.
“Its energy signature far exceeds that of the Invader Armor, our combat mech. The nearly infinite power within this life-form is astounding. Calculating probability of survival... It doesn't look good.” ― Star Dream's final thoughts before being defeated by Kirby, narrated in a pause screen description • Kirby: Planet Robobot
Another often praised aspect of Kirby's character, is the sheer power he wields. It has been stated in in-game flavor text from Kirby: Planet Robobot that Kirby wields nearly infinite power, and most of the final bosses he faces and overcomes in his games are all-powerful deities whose power eclipses that of entire planets, stars, or even entire universes. In Sub-Games meant to test his strength, Kirby has shown to be capable of nearly cracking his own planet in half in Kirby Super Star's Megaton Punch, and sending an oncoming meteor flying 9999 light years away simply with a baseball bat in Kirby Star Allies' Star Slam Heroes. Kirby has notable earned titles such as "The Pink Terror" or "The Pink Demon". This cool, badass side of the character is perfectly balanced with his cute, kiddy wholesome side.
His voice actor, Makiko Ohmoto, does a perfect voice for the character. Her performance may go unappreciated since you don't hear much from him outside of "Hi!" and grunts in the games, but even if they aren't saying much, that doesn't make a character's voice any less important. In the Super Smash Bros. series, Kirby will impersonate certain character's whose abilities he's copied, for example: if Kirby has copied Ryu, Kirby will shout "Hadoken!" when using his ability, which is an extremely nice touch. In Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, Kirby mostly says "Poyo", but in the original Japanese version of the show, Kirby will shout out the names of his attacks.
Bad Qualities
Kirby has been out-of-character at least three times:
He was very badly portrayed in Kirby's Avalanche/Kirby's Ghost Trap, becoming a rude, overly sassy and wise-cracking jerk, and in the first game where Kirby is portrayed in a negative light. Although that was a reskin of Puyo Puyo, chances it isn't canon are really high.
His portrayal in Kirby Squeak Squad is bad, too. He was totally clueless about the threat and only cared about his strawberry shortcake. Thankfully, it was only temporary, and he reverted back to his normal personality in the later games.
In the gag mangas Kirby of the Stars: The Story of Dedede Who Lives in Pupupu and Kirby Manga Mania, Kirby is portrayed as a selfish, obnoxious, destructive, reckless, immature, thrill-seeking, cheeky, wild, bellicose, over-aggressive, boisterous, sociopathic, hammy, dimwitted, and attention-seeking jerk and screwball comic-relief who causes hardship for everyone around him with his unhinged incompetence, ranging from crashing Dedede's castle and ruining his day to breaking into homes, all while frequently evading consequences. Thankfully, in the later volumes of the latter, his shenanigans are more tolerable, and his characteristics are closer to his original personality.
Ironically enough, he isn't the show's star most of the time in Kirby: Right Back at Ya! (Tiff frequently steals the role from him), being made into a side character in his own anime with zero agency and having to be told what to do like a Pokémon. He is also portrayed as cowardly, often running away from fights instead of standing up for himself.
He has an unfortunate tendency to jump to conclusions without any evidence or be susceptible to corruption, though it's justified, as he's implied to be a child.
In 2018's Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, even though Kirby is still playable for a lot of people, his moveset is badly unchanged, where his down tilt move is still a flimsy kick, while it could have been changed from a flimsy kick to a foot dash from the Kirby franchise (of which he dives forward with a kick), and he still doesn't get the Copy Abilities from the Canon Kirby video game.
Trivia
Kirby was originally named Popopo during the early stages of the development of Kirby's Dream Land, but eventually Nintendo decided to change the name and polled Nintendo of America for suggestions as they wanted the name to appeal to kids outside of Japan. The name 'Kirby' was partially chosen to honor the late John Kirby, an attorney who defended Nintendo in a certain case against Universal, but it was also chosen because of the trend that cute characters normally have soft-sounding names in Japan, but the name 'Kirby' happened to have ''harsh sounds'' to it. Needless to say, the juxtaposition of a cute character with a harsh-sounding name felt amusing to some people.
In Japan, Dream Land is called Pupupu Land, which is similar to Kirby's original name. Additionally, the Popopo Islands, the main setting of Kirby Mass Attack, were named in reference to Kirby's original name.
It's commonly thought among fans that Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda and many other iconic Nintendo franchises wanted Kirby to be yellow while Masahiro Sakurai insisted on him being pink, and that it's due to this confusion that serves as the reason why Kirby is depicted as white on the American box art for Kirby's Dream Land. This is actually incorrect, as Kirby was pink in various bits of concept art for the game, including some that were made back when he was known as Popopo! As for Miyamoto, he was pleasantly surprised to see Kirby as pink and thought it felt fresh considering how characters like Kirby would normally end up being yellow, citing Pac-Man as an example. In a nod to this misinterpretation, games from Kirby's Dream Course onwards would typically feature a yellow Kirby as a second player. The developers named the yellow Kirby in Kirby's Dream Course Keeby, though it is unknown if any other yellow Kirbys that have appeared since are also Keeby.
It is often presumed that only gender-neutral pronouns are used for Kirby in Japanese media and that the English localization team invented the idea of him being referred to with he/him pronouns. However, there are some instances in Japanese media where Kirby is referred to with he/him pronouns, and his overall speaking style often tends to use masculine conventions. That being said, this doesn't necessarily contradict Kirby being a gender-neutral character. More info about this bit of trivia can be found here.
Some sources state that Kirby fears caterpillars. However, he is much more fond of butterflies and will try to chase them occasionally, making the former point of information a tiny bit ironic.
Due to Kirby not being able to read the letter given to him by King Dedede and Meta Knight at the beginning of Kirby Fighters 2's story mode, fans jumped to the conclusion that Kirby may be illiterate. While it is a fun headcanon, it is worth noting that the description for Revenge of the King on the Japanese website for Kirby Super Star Ultra suggests that Kirby can read, as he was able to read the letter from Dedede challenging him. With that in mind, it's likely that Kirby couldn't read the letter in Kirby Fighters 2 because of fancy handwriting.
Of course, Kirby has made various cameos outside of his series just like any other popular video game character; he appeared in the intro of the Super NES game Arcana, showed up as the cursor of EarthBound's debug menu, appeared as an enemy named Anti-Kirby in The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening and appeared on a movie poster in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, among several other cameo appearances.
As stated in an obscure interview with Masahiro Sakurai, Kirby doesn't have any bones or teeth. Additionally, he also clarifies that Kirby's feet are (thankfully) not shoes.
In Japanese media, Kirby actually has a motto! The motto in question is ''tomorrow's wind blows tomorrow'', which as a figure of speech is roughly equivalent to the English phrase ''tomorrow is a new day''. How fitting for someone as optimistic as Kirby.
