To date, there have been 28 Kirby titles, with 3 more slated to be released within the next year. 2017 marks the 25th anniversary of everyone’s favorite pink hero. And to celebrate, Japanese gaming magazine Inside-Games polled their readers to discover what their audience thought was the most memorable Kirby game of all time. With over 5600 readers responding to the poll, the list offers a fairly good look at what drives fans of the series to continue to support the franchise.
- Kirby Super Stars – 1996
- Kirby & the Amazing Mirror – 2004
- Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards – 2000
- Kirby Air Ride – 2003
- Kirby Super Star Ultra – 2008
- Kirby’s Return to Dream Land – 2011
- Kirby’s Adventure – 1993
- Kirby’s Dream Land 2 – 1995
- Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land – 2002
- Kirby’s Dream Land 3 – 1997
With only Kirby Air Ride leaving the side-scrolling formula, it’s obvious that fans of Kirby love the tried and true mechanics of the series. On the other hand, Kirby Super Star is on the list twice, and we have to wonder if we could have seen an entry like Star Stackers, Pinball, or even Kirby’s Dream Course in the mix there.
Kirby games perform well with the critics, usually scoring around an 86 on Metacritic, and while we would love to see more games like Canvas Curse or Epic Yarn, the players have spoken and we can probably expect to see more side-scroller “platform like” games akin to Planet Robobot in the future, interspersed with downloadable mini-games like Kirby’s Clash Deluxe.