Leave it to Nintendo to give us some more surprises this year. The company briefly leaked new Kirby title for the Nintendo Switch, Kirby Fighters 2, the previous day on their official website. Whether this was intentional or not remains a mystery, but what was even more surprising is that they officially unveiled the game right after that and it’s available to play right now through Nintendo Switch eShop for $19.99. No build-up, no teases prior to the leak, and absolutely no context was given for this unannounced spin-off sequel, and yet here it is.
For those who have never heard of Kirby Fighters, it’s a spin-off title of the Kirby franchise that was originally featured on the Nintendo 3DS title Kirby: Triple Deluxe. That mini-game would go onto have it’s own release on the 3DS, Kirby’s Fighters Deluxe. The basic premise of the series is that Kirby, along with several other well-known characters from the series, battle it out on a platform level similar to the Super Smash Bros. style, albeit without percentage damage and instead with regular health bars.
Kirby Fighters 2 continues with this formula, which also brings in 17 different versions of Kirby, each with their own unique powers and abilities that he is able to obtain throughout his various games. There’s also a brand new type of Kirby, a wrestler Kirby with a luchador mask to boot. Kirby is also joined by his usual gang which includes Bandanna Waddle Dee, Gooey, Magalolor, Meta Knight, King Dedede, and more.
The game has numerous different modes to play through which include Battle Mode, Online Mode, Local-Play Mode, and Single-Handed Mode. The real surprise here however is the inclusion of a full-blown Story Mode, something that the previous iterations did not have. In this mode, Kirby and another character climb a battle tower and eventually fight both King Dedede and Meta Knight at the very top. On the way up you’ll have to take on a different opponent on each floor, and with every victory, you can choose between three items to give you a certain advantage over the next fighter.
On top of all that, those who have save data on their Switch from either Kirby Star Allies or Super Kirby Clash, another iteration of the spin-off title, can earn special cosmetics for in-game use. Kirby Fighters 2 is available now for the Nintendo Switch through the Switch eShop.