Ever since Kirby's Dream Land launched in 1992, Kirby has been an extremely popular franchise. Fans around the world love the pink puffball and his diverse range of adventures. While Mario and The Legend of Zelda are regarded as some of Nintendo's biggest game franchises, Kirby has always quietly been in the background steadily pumping out high-quality titles. The last major game released in the franchise was Kirby: Star Allies in 2018, which received a somewhat mixed reception at launch but proved worthwhile through its many free content updates. Kirby's star-studded history of 2D platformers is still going strong to this very day, with more than 30 Kirby titles released.
Indeed, next year marks Kirby's 30th anniversary. The fan base expects a big celebration for Kirby, with a big new game to boot. Kirby Fighters 2 was a nice distraction, but it's beginning to look like something much larger is in the works. Earlier this year, a new Kirby art book was released. It contained art from Kirby: Star Allies, as well as a message from The game's director Shinya Kumazaki. Apparently, HAL Laboratory felt accomplished due to Star Allies ending an "11-year drought of side-scrolling titles on consoles," and for fully implementing cooperative multiplayer. Now, Kumazaki stated, the staff was ready to move on to Kirby's "next stage." What this means is currently unclear, but there have been some hints over the years that could shed some light on what Kirby's next game might be.
RELATED: Every Kirby Final Boss, Ranked
A few developer statements over the past couple of years have been telling regarding the intended direction for Kirby. Kumazaki followed up his previous statements by saying that he tries new things at work every day and discusses with his coworkers where the Kirby series should go next. According to him, the current plan is a sort of combination of the best aspects of the Kirby franchise. Kumazaki was not the only person to discuss the future of Kirby, however. A couple other members of the development team have spoken out in the recent past regarding the future of Kirby. In an interview with Famitsu magazine, lead action programmer Katsuyoshi Sumitomo made it clear that he wanted the next Kirby project to be the pinnacle of the series. Design director Riki Fuhrmann has also gone on record saying that he would like to create a non-action Kirby spin-off at some point.
However, the next Kirby game is not likely to be a spin-off. What is likely is the game the fandom has been hearing about for quite some time now thanks to rumors and leaks. Supposedly, there is a 3D Kirby game in the works, and it could be announced this year. Earlier rumors speculated that it was going to release late this year, but there was no sign of Kirby at E3 2021. However, dataminers searching through the code of the 2020 Kirby Fighters 2 spin-off found some interesting tidbits that may be related to an upcoming Kirby 3d platformer. The Fighters 2 files contain test code called "Kirby3d," which appears to be brand new. It seems irrelevant to the 2.5D platform fighter, so it could be leftover code from another project.
RELATED: Nintendo Game Boy Exclusives Trapped on the System
While this is by no means a confirmation of an upcoming 3D Kirby game, it certainly would be a "next stage" title in the series. Kirby has dabbled in 3D a couple of times before. However, none of Kirby's previous 3D games have been what fans were looking for. The beloved GameCube classic Kirby Air Ride was developed by Masahiro Sakurai as a kart racing game that also had a wide variety of alternate modes. Players could direct Kirby to walk around on foot and fly in the City Trial mode, but it was far from a 3D platformer. The same could be said for the 3DS spin-off Kirby's Blowout Blast. That game offered a top-down, score attack spin on the franchise, but once again did not properly replicate the normal Kirby gameplay of inhaling and copying enemies.
At this point, the fan consensus is that a 3D platformer fully adapting Kirby's trademark mechanics will be Kirby's next big game. This would involve Kirby platforming and flying through a 3d environment and copying enemies like he always has. This could have set camera angles like the Super Mario 3D games, or it could have a free camera like Mario Odyssey. It could even contain a mixture of 3D and 2.5D segments. It's also possible that this could be the end, at least for now, of cooperative multiplayer.
For the past few Kirby games, it's felt like the series has been building up to some sort of climax. Progressively stronger opponents have been faced, and more elements of the series' past have been brought back to the forefront. There have even been heavy hints regarding the true nature of the cosmology of Kirby's world. Kirby: Star Allies' revelations about Void, the presence of the Morpho butterfly, and perhaps even what Kirby seems to be building up some kind of epic narrative that's about to take a massive swerve. Even if the next game doesn't do something as significant as switching to full 3D gameplay, it can still feel like a "next stage" Kirby title by blowing the lid off the series' lore.
No matter what the end result is, fans are hopeful that the next Kirby platforming game will be worth the wait. Those who were disappointed by Star Allies' level design want to see a return to form for the series, and others want to see the running narrative reach some sort of climax. Still more wish for Kirby to take a dramatic new direction, perhaps expanding into 3D or radically altering its basic copy mechanics. Whatever one's desire for the next Kirby game, it's likely that HAL Laboratory understands that this is a crucial moment in the series' history. Whenever the current Kirby project is ready to be shown, it's probably going to be spectacular.
A Kirby game is rumored to be in development for Nintendo Switch.
MORE: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – Kirby's Strongest Copy Abilities