The first Kirby game, I actually got a Game Boy specifically to play this game on it’s original console, truthfully there isn’t too much that can be said about this game. The Kabula fight is 100% my favorite part of the entire game, the music is really good for being on a Game Boy. The development of this game is certainly interesting, with Kirby himself originally just being a placeholder which was kept around because people liked it so much, and the entire game was made using a trackball, how you’d program a game using just that is beyond me. A simple game which had a strange development, but was ultimately the start of a huge series.

This may actually be my number one game of all time, but that could also be nostalgia speaking. This was the first Kirby game I ever played, I remember my mom and I discovering in on the Wii Shop Channel (rest in peace) and downloading it. My mom, dad and me played it a bunch, I remember we were stuck on the Butter Building boss fight for a good amount of time. Meta Knight’s fight was definitely my favorite part of this game as throughout he simply followed you, sometimes gave you items, and sent other people to fight you but getting to fight him one on one with the sword was so cool. This game introduced a bunch of stuff which set how almost all Kirby games would work from that point onwards. King Dedede being more of a rival than an outright enemy, the introduction of Meta Knight, the final boss being some sort of otherworldly entity, and most impactful of all, copy abilities. I feel like the franchise wouldn’t have lasted long without them, and they’re really fun to mess with.

A lil’ game where you do a bit of golf. The multiplayer mode is definitely the highlight of this game, I do wish there was a bit more content for it, maybe a sequel or something. But yeah this is one of those games that’s really good for a rainy day.

I feel like this and Kirby’s Adventure are the two most important Kirby games. This game introduced a ton of stuff which would be called back upon later or just became staples of the series. This was the first Kirby game to have ability caps, which added so much more personality to the copy abilities, blocking too became a primary move for Kirby. Stuff like Clockwork Stars and the Halberd would become relevant again later on. Multiple combos for one ability came to be here, which I think was because this game was inspired my fighting games at the time. I don’t why it took until Return to Dreamland for them to become a mainstay, but this addition made the copy abilities vastly more interesting.

Out of all the Kirby games, I’ve beaten this one the most. I’ve memorized almost every part of it by heart, and have 100% completion on it. The Great Cave Offensive is my favorite out of all the subgames, going into all the nooks and crannies to find all the treasures really makes my urge to check everything in a game to see if something there satisfied. If I had to get a sequel to one spin-off or sub-game, it would be The Great Cave Offensive. I know other Kirby games have collectibles, but it doesn’t feel the same as this subgame had the collectibles as its primary focus, I guess others had collectibles as a major focus, but something about this subgame just had something to it that hasn’t been replicated since. It also let you backtrack really easily, which can’t be said for other Kirby games. Revenge of Meta Knight is also really good, loved the style of a serious sci-fi-esque drama with the Kirby characters. I also really like how the HUD changes depending on the sub-game, like in Revenge of Meta Knight the life meter changes from “Energy” to “Vital” it’s a little thing but I love it so much. But yeah, brilliant Kirby game that really solidified the characters of the Kirby universe.

The second in what people called the “Dark Matter Trilogy” the animal friends and missions are the two main components of this game. The missions in this were simultaneously the most frustrating but most fun part of the game to me. Some of the missions felt incredibly cryptic and I admittedly had to look up how to do some of them. But at the same time I did like trying to figure out what to do, sometimes succeeding other times not. I will say the most annoying missions were the guessing game missions, if you got a single guess wrong you had to play through the level all over again. But overall I found most of the missions to be really enjoyable. The animal friends are just little guys and I wish they became mainstay characters. This game has a really nice color pencil artstyle, almost everything looks like it would be soft. There’s also the final boss fight which is famous for what probably is the goreist thing to come out of a Kirby game, it isn’t nearly as bad as people play it up to be though.

I’ll be honest when I say I’ve unfortunately haven’t beaten this one. I do really want to come back to this game though. I remember collecting the crystal shards wasn’t as enjoyable as Dream Land 3’s missions, but I haven’t played it since maybe age 10 so I might’ve just been bad at it. I really liked how Kirby’s friends had more of a presence here and like every Kirby fan on the planet I do wish Adeleine became more of a mainstay character, but they have been putting a bit more attention on her as of recent which is nice. A lesser-known gimmick with this game is that holding the enemies you inhaled actually had some abilities tied to them, like holding Bronto Burts caused you to fly a little, I really love little details like that in any game really, stuff pretty much no one would notice but give the game more character. Also love the headcanon that the Waddle Dee in this game is Bandana Waddle Dee, it would make a lot of sense.

The concept art of this game is also really interesting. It gives a strange surrealist kinda liminal vibe to me. I wish there was more of it. Good game. Need to beat it as I do remember getting stuck on the Pix boss fight as a kid.

This game is a labyrinth. Eachlevel is a maze and you have to find a way to get to the end of it. This game was both frustrating but also really fun to play. This is like the closest thing to an “open-world” Kirby game, with a ton of branching pathways and you could just beat the worlds out of order if you wanted. I think the only thing that made this game frustrating was the one-way pathways you’d sometimes get stuck to. This game also itched that scratch of checking every little thing in a game, as there was a bunch of little pathways that led to collectibles. Some of the most fun I’ve had was this game was trying to find the map of the area I’m in and after getting it I’d try to map out what pathway I wanted to go to and figure out how I’d get there. It’s probably the longest of all the Kirby games in my experience due to the maze-like nature of it all. It was always really satisfying to finally find the right pathway that you wanted to go to, as you didn’t just go from world to world, every world was connected to one another. I do understand why people would like another Kirby game in this style, it would be really cool to see.

One last detail is that this was the final Kirby game to have detailed portraits for each copy ability. I’m sad that they got rid of them after this, they added so much personality to all of the copy abilities, not too sure why they rid of them.

There’s a good amount of people who don’t like this game and I’m not too sure why. The only thing I’ve heard is that the plot is too “goofy”. Which I guess so, Kirby gets his cake stolen and Meta Knight and King Dedede don’t tell him his chest of cake isn’t actually cake. I found this game really enjoyable though. I love how the Squeaks just appear every once in a while and cause havoc around the level. Fun little game.

This is one of the most relaxing games you can play. It’s really cheery, you can’t die, just lose gems, and has a very cute yarn artstyle. I have a good amount of memories playing this game with my parents. This is my dad’s favorite game, he really likes the music. It’s perfect game if you just wanna chill and not stress about a single thing.

This is the weirdest Kirby game to me. Not in a bad way, it just feels so different compared to every other Kirby game. I’ve also never beaten this one, I think part of it was that the sunken ship levels creeped me out as a kid. There’s so much concepts and enemies introduced in this game that just never come back. It feels like this game had like a non-Kirby artstyle. Something about it just felt different and I don’t know if that actually is the case or it’s just me. I do want to come back to this game again, I remember it being harder than other Kirby games, but once again I was young. I don’t really hear anyone talk about this game, it kind of felt like some sort of dream.

I remember coming home from school one day and seeing this game on the table next to the TV. The plot twist and discovering there were two whole worlds after it was genuinely a surprise to me as a kid. Pretty much every mainline game after this took some elements from this one, the sound effects in particular have been reused a lot. They also finally brought back blocking and abilities have more than one move as a permanent addition to the series, which as mentioned before wasn’t done since Super Star for some reason. I watched Let’s Plays of the game even after I already beat it. This was another one of those games my parents and I played, and I beat the game with my cousins. A lot of more of the modern plot points jumped off from here, such as ancient civilizations becoming a major theme from this point onwards. It’s also interesting how this game’s concept took eleven years before it was fully realized, with various concept videos/screenshots that showed stuff like helpers, a three dimensional Kirby game concept, and one with a pop-up book artstyle. I do wonder what was going on with development at the time, and I wish we got to see more from those old concepts. Anyways, to me this game pretty much encapsulates what the Kirby series is all about and encludes pretty much every major element of the series. It’s an amazing game and definitely what I’d recommend if anyone were to ask what Kirby game they should start with.

It’s probably a bit of an unpopular opinion but I personally just found this game to be a bit average. Hypernova felt forced to me, I feel like if you were to remove it pretty much nothing would change. I can’t say I outright hate it but it just feels like it doesn’t got a lot special going for it, (except for the references to Amazing Mirror and Canvas Curse) although I will say the new copy abilities that were introduced here were fun to play with. Not much to say about this one.

I enjoy the cheery yet dystopian vibe of Planet Robobot. It surprisingly has a lot brought back from Super Star, as it was released towards the 20th anniversary of that game. I enjoy how they had references to a bunch of previous games, but it never felt forced, I don’t really know how to describe it but it all just perfectly fit together with the new and the old. Also Robobot’s story is by far the heaviest in the entire Kirby series (if you know you know). People make jokes about the Kirby lore being dark and all of that and while I do think that’s an over-exaggeration I think if you put this game’s plot in nearly any other franchise/medium and fleshed it out more it would actually be pretty disturbing. Also the arena is probably the most brutal out of all the Kirby games, I remember seeing a ton of videos dying to the final fight in the True Arena. The Robobot Armor doesn’t feel too forced like Hypernova was, overall game’s a good experience, would recommend if you enjoyed Super Star.

Let’s be honest, this game was mostly fanservice. And to be completely honest I was a sucker for it. This game has call-backs to practically every major Kirby game ever, either way I’m glad to be reassured that HAL hasn’t forgotten about the old characters. This game also gave a bit Kirby’s possible origin story, which is pretty cool. I did enjoy the return of helpers from Super Star, now being able to have two more. While I can’t say I outright recommend this game if you’re a huge fan of the Kirby series you’d definitely get a kick out of all the call-backs, I know I did when I first played it. Truthfully this game felt like a bit of an appetizer before what would come next.

The latest entry in the series, and what I consider to be one of the best. I remember being a little kid and wondering: “Zelda and Mario got a 3D game, why not Kirby” I pretty much have always wanted a 3D Kirby ever since I discovered the series and seeing that thought finally become a reality was so exciting and satisfying to me. Combos for abilities, as well as the amount of the abilities were cut down a little for this game, but I’m fine with it as 3D games work vastly different from 2D games and the fact that copy abilities can be upgraded. The sleep ability is funnily enough really good when upgraded, giving you a free buff which can be stacked. I loved the missions and Treasure Road trials in this game, this and Super Star are the only two Kirby games I have 100% completion in. There is also a fishing minigame, and any game with a fishing minigame has my opinions on it automatically raised. I was also surprised to hear actual singing and full on voice lines in this game, gave me whiplash to hear an actual voice. I’ve waited for a game like this in years and it’s absolutely phenomenal. To me this game feels the liveliest out of the entire series, and I recommend it to everyone interested in the Kirby series.