WiKirby:April Fools/2024/Kirby: Difference between revisions

[[Masahiro Sakurai]] conceptualized his first game project to be simple so that beginner players could easily clear it, and as a result included the ability to use enemies as weapons, as well as avoid obstacles by flying over them. Originally, the player character would grab enemies with a long tongue, but this was changed to be inhaling and then swallowing or spitting them out instead.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBRt2D2YN44 Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games - Kirby's Dream Land]</ref> During the early development of what became ''[[Kirby's Dream Land]]'', the developers at [[HAL Laboratory]] created a placeholder sprite intended to convey these ideas for a presentation. This placeholder sprite, a round little blob with a smiling face, became popular among the staff and, with a few tweaks, eventually became the final design. Notably, Sakurai's drawings of the character did not have blush marks, with these being added later by a different artist.<ref>[https://www.nintendo.co.jp/nom/0003/miryoku/page03.html Nintendo Online Magazine - Interview with Masahiro Sakurai ca. 2000]</ref>

Despite being among the simplest-looking of Nintendo's cast of video game mascots, Kirby has a surprisingly large amount of detail<ref>"Model stats / Dream Buffet (Main body only): 16,340 vertices, 16,596 faces" —{{twitterlink|/ObscureKirby|1559657985433124875}} and [https://web.archive.org/web/20220818121232/https://twitter.com/ObscureKirby/status/1559655435724005380 Wayback Machine snapshot of thread]. (For comparison, the character model for [[zeldawiki:Link|Link]] in [[zeldawiki:The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild|''The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild'']] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jF5a6ltOsK0&t=20m28s uses 12,541 triangles]. If we consider triangle count to be a measure of detail (treating face count as a lower bound for triangle count), Kirby in ''Kirby's Dream Buffet'' has at least 32% more detail than Link in ''Breath of the Wild''.)</ref> to his character, concerning both the particulars of his anatomy as well as his personality and backstory (so much so that a [[Kirby's characteristics|separate page]] exists to document them more completely). Despite this, Kirby is typically presented - both in appearance and personality - as simple, fun, and straightforward, though with a few surprises here and there. His round pink body stands at no more than eight inches (20 cm) in height,<ref>{{Cite|The 8-inch high Kirby hails from a distant, peaceful star.||Kirby's in-game description in ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]''}}</ref><ref name="OnlineMagazine">[http://web.archive.org/web/20230327141303/https://www.nintendo.co.jp/nom/0003/miryoku/ Nintendo Japan (Nintendo Online Magazine - Kirby's profile - March 2000 issue covering ''Kirby 64: the Crystal Shards'' release)]</ref><ref>{{Cite|Even though he's only about eight inches tall, Kirby is an extremely skilled technician.||''Super Smash Bros. Melee'' trophy}}</ref><ref name=20th>{{Cite book|quote=高さ:20cmくらい　好きな物:トマト　苦手な物:毛虫　性別:不明　出身:不明 (Height: About 20 cm tall, Likes: Tomatoes, Dislikes: Caterpillars, Gender: Unknown, Birthplace: Unknown)|book=[https://web.archive.org/web/20200609004402if_/https://shogakukan.tameshiyo.me/9784091065117?page=4 20th Anniversary Kirby Pupupu Encyclopedia]|publisher=Shogakukan|page=15}}</ref><ref name="20th_himitsu">Profile of Kirby and other characters compiled to answer questions from magazines, as shown on [https://i.imgur.com/liSCa0L.jpeg page 119 of the Pupupu Encyclopedia] ([https://gigi9714.wordpress.com/2022/07/11/translation-of-kirbys-secrets-from-the-20th-anniversary-kirby-of-the-stars-pupupu-taizen-book/ translation])</ref><ref name="underestimate"/><ref>In [[Chop Champs]], the Kirbys are roughly the size of the logs, which are 25 cm tall.</ref><ref>[[:File:A_Farewell_to_Kirby_sketch.jpg|The sketch of the "Farewell to Kirby" Celebration Picture]] has a note that says "20cmなので" ("Because (Kirby) is 20cm tall").</ref><ref>[[Masahiro Sakurai]] explains in his ''Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games'' video about [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B0cpF8fQ4s units of speed] that the speeds in ''[[Kirby Air Ride]]'' are rather low because Kirby is the size of a 20cm cube.</ref><ref>In [[Dash! Jump!]] in ''[[Kirby: Canvas Curse]]'', distance is measured at 1 centimeter per pixel, with Kirby's sprite being 20 pixels in size, meaning that he would be 20 centimeters tall. However, the North American release instead measure distance in inches, accidentally implying that Kirby is 20 inches in size.</ref> and in his normal state, his movement speed is only modest, particularly when he takes in air to [[hover]] above the ground or tries to [[swim]] in [[Water (environment)|water]]. Where Kirby stands out is in his signature inhale ability, which he has made use of ever since his debut in ''[[Kirby's Dream Land]]'', allowing him to swallow lesser [[Enemy|enemies]] whole and return the projectiles of [[Mid-Boss|tougher]] [[Boss|foes]] back at them.  

| In ''[[Kirby: Squeak Squad]]'', swallowing a [[Bubble (container)|bubbled object]] will store it in the [[Copy Palette]].

| While underwater, Kirby can swim in any direction, and will not need to come up for air, though he cannot inhale in most games. In ''[[Kirby and the Forgotten Land]]'', Kirby can only swim on the surface of water, but can use his inhale while swimming.

| Calling the clones requires phone battery power.