Last month was the 25th anniversary of the first Kirby game to be released in Japan. On April 27th, 1992 Kirby’s Dream Land was released for the Game Boy and not long after on August 1st, 1992 we got it here in the states! Kirby was originally developed by game director Masahiro Sakurai (who also made Super Smash Bros.!) under the game studio HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo. Kirby was named after the lawyer John Kirby who defended Nintendo against Universal when they claimed Donkey Kong was too similar to King Kong in 1984.
Kirby has come a long way since the black and white initial release! He is no longer black and white and now the lovable pink ball of hunger we’ve come to adore and love so much!
Kirby has had 23 original game titles released (and that’s not even including the remakes… Oh! And the other games he’s been featured in such as Super Smash Bros. and NES Remix!) Selling over five million copies, Kirby’s Dream Land is still one of the best-selling Nintendo games of all time but it was outsold by 1993’s Kirby’s Adventure. The second game in the franchise introduced Kirby’s ability to swallow his enemies and gain their powers. Kirby’s Adventure was sold on the original NES even though the Super Nintendo had already been released and still managed to reach insane levels of popularity.
Kirby continues to be a popular title both on Nintendo’s handheld devices and home consoles… but have you seen the cool collectibles?!
From First 4 Figures comes the Kirby’s Return in Dream Land Fighter Kirby 13-Inch Statue! Kirby is posed air born delivering a massive supersonic kick! Fighter Kirby is one of the most versatile abilities in the game and this piece shows the true power of the ability. It features the headband from the game which is nearly identical to the one in Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land but with a few more embellishments including the gold star and subtle pink stripes.
The Kirby’s Return in Dream Land Fighter Kirby 13-Inch Statue will not be released until January 2018 but make sure you pre-order yours now as it’s sure to sell out!
