Aiieeeeeee!!!!
Is this a dream? Am I about to wake up? ANOTHER Kirby anniversary celebration? And right after I finally wrapped Ten Years of Kirby...surely, those folks at HAL must be spying on me!
With this on the table, I really do wonder what's up for Kirby in 2017. We just had Planet Robobot come out this year, but I suppose there's nothing stopping the Mass Attack/Rainbow Curse B-Team from churning out another solid title. Another compilation package in the vein of Dream Collection would probably be too much for my heart to take.
Anyone got any ideas? Thinking of writing a Nintendojo article on this...
Anthony,
ReplyDeleteAt first I thought it was just a once-off tweet and didn't realise it was a new account, mostly due to a article that was unnecessarily cryptic. Thanks to you, my good friend, that oversight has been cleared. Now I can gush.
Though unlikely, I wouldn't rule out a Switch game, perhaps for the Holiday season. Another WiiU one is not happening, not with it stopping as the Switch starts and Rainbow Curse failing to grab sales momentum. I wonder how people feel about the WiiU not getting a traditional Kirby game a lá the GameCube. Not as bad, given there hasn't been a drought of console Kirby platformers, but still... What says you, Anthony? It'll been four years since a traditional Kirby game on a home console, and while that's no 11-year wait, I feel a Switch game, compilation or otherwise, would be a pretty sweet Holiday treat.
It'll likely be mostly small side things and maybe a game. I wouldn't expect a media blitz or nothing, not like when the anime was done. Though at least if an anime were done again (to be honest, I'm fine without another for now) it'd get a decent dubbing treatment. And a game compilation isn't likely, as the old spin-offs wouldn't attract a lot of folk and I'm not sure I see Nintendo combining the 2000s games quite yet. Probably give it another five years.
But I am loving the excitement already, as it proves how much Kirby has come to mean to me. The other day I was discussing with some friends our top three most personally impactful games. I gave one slot to Pokemon as a whole since I couldn't narrow my impact down to one, and I had to single out Galaxy as the Mario game that most sparked a sense of wonder and fun. I debated about whether Kirby justified a spot since we weren't even acquainted for three years yet, but he justified it. And what game took the spot? Dream Collection. My personal experience with the game, playing all six titles and everything else in it, over nearly a year and a half, all of which were fresh and new, can never be repeated. That they were all new to me made the Collection framing all the more special, and even though I had already played nearly half of the library at the time, it still captivated me in a whole new way. Maybe I can never have that feeling again. But I'm glad I had it at all, and I can look back on it with childlike nostalgia for something I didn't even experience as a child.
And that is why I'm excited for Kirby's 25th Anniversary. Maybe it won't have that feeling of getting me deeper into the series (although, how much deeper can I go?). Planet Robobot didn't, love it though I do. But I will get to experience an anniversary. Having lived through Pokemon's 20th, the notion of experiencing that again, even if not on the same scale, would be wonderful. In fact, that's something I've come to love about Kirby - that he's not a media blitz can make him and the series personal in a way Pokemon often can't.
Are you experiencing anything like this, Anthony? Or did you already back in 2002? Or in 2012? I'd suspect so. Be sure to let me know!
On a side note, I read someone complain that Metroid was getting no acknowledgement yet again like in 2012. I guess I can understand that, especially since the franchise has been so ill-treated since Other M and especially with Federation Force bombing on all accounts. However, what those people fail to acknowledge is that Metroid has never been developed primarily by one studio, with the early games bouncing around non-EAD teams at Nintendo, the Primes by Retro Studios and the rest by individual studios, mostly. Whereas Kirby is HAL's baby, thus, they're far more likely to be passionate about him to warrant anniversary celebrations. That, and Kirby still sells well in Japan, where Nintendo games are made or at least commissioned. That, and even in the West, Kirby has always sold better then Metroid. So, yeah, a little research as to why goes a long way.
Mike.
Well, the Wii U wouldn't be the first Nintendo home console not to receive a traditional Kirby game; remember what happened with Kirby GC? Seeing as how the Switch is a hybrid, I suppose Planet Robobot fills in the shoes of the "late-release Kirby game" (although with how the 3DS is still slated to be supported...).
DeleteI also agree it probably won't be anything too major, but gosh, I can't help but get excited. Already I was salivating at the thought of Kirby/Pikmin attractions at Super Nintendo World, but now this? I already get the cases of Heavy Breathing when seeing all the new Kirby merchandise on Twitter/GoNintendo, and this is making things worse! I gotta know! Augh!
As for Kirby nostalgia and whatnot...well, not recently, although there's always that warm spark whenever I start up Kirby's Adventure. The NES Classic Mini finally gives that game the emulation it deserves!
You raise some good points about Metroid but I can't blame fans for being disappointed: Other M stunted the series momentum and Federation Force is probably the biggest case of a product made for no one in modern Nintendo history (possibly ever). Recently, I was thinking back to that one Nintendojo article I wrote where I had analyze just how "tone-deaf" it and Paper Mario: Color Splash, and that was really difficult. You could at least make some excuses for PM (and hey, apparently it turned out pretty okay), but there's no getting around to FF's disappointment. I think the sales bomb has already served as wake-up call to Nintendo to get their act together for the series' future, particularly since a fangame remake (Project A2MR) got more attention than their official product. Samus Aran deserves better.