Nintendo’s iconic “pink puffball” is having a banner year in 2022. Not only did Kirby and the Forgotten Land bring a new fully-fledged console adventure, but Nintendo is using their bouncy boy to appeal to the Fall Guys audience with the upcoming Dream Buffet. With new generations and new games come new fans, and those fans may be wondering what Kirby has been all about over the years. Dude’s been around since the early 90s, and starred in over 30 different games.
Unfortunately, depending on your means, playing all of them “legitimately” is an arduous task. And virtually impossible in a couple cases. So for the purposes of this list, we’ll be talking about emulation. If that’s a problem for you, well, this is not a wallet-friendly endeavor. Also, you have a time limit. Yeah, by the end of this list you’ll understand.
Related: Kirby and the Forgotten Land Review | Caught a Vibe
I’ll be breaking down the Kirby library by year, since bouncing around by platform would make this list even messier than it already is. So from 1992 to 2022, we’ll explore the different ways (when applicable) to play each Kirby game in chronological order. Godspeed Nintendo sickos.
Before we get into it, let’s go ahead and preface this list with a few facts. These are going to impact how you engage with this list, and it’s also gonna help me do a little more than “download everything.” If you want to travel back in Kirby time, you need to understand the following:
- You will need retro hardware, sometimes for a single game if you want to be thorough.
- Kirby’s Dream Collection for the Wii will knock out several core titles, but you’re looking at spending $80 minimum. Want all the extras? Try $200 or more.
- Many games were re-released on the Virtual Console, but you only have until August 2022 to use eShop cards for the 3DS and Wii U, which is less than a month from this article’s publication date. And those shops are donezo entirely in March 2023.
- Buying physical games secondhand feels good, but is prohibitively expensive and does not support the developers or publisher any more or less than downloading ROM files.
- Overwhelmed? Check out our list of the Best Kirby Games to narrow it down a little.
How to Play Every Kirby Game
1992
Kirby’s Dream Land
- Game Boy (GB)
- 3DS Virtual Console (VC)
- Kirby’s Dream Collection (Wii)
1993
Kirby’s Adventure
- Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
- VC (Wii/Wii U/3DS)
- 3D Classics: Kirby’s Adventure (3DS)
- Nintendo Switch Online (NSO)
- NES Classic Edition (microconsole)
Kirby’s Pinball Land
- GB
- VC (3DS)
1994
Kirby’s Dream Course
- SNES
- SNES Classic Edition
- NSO
- VC (Wii/Wii U/3DS)
1995
Kirby’s Avalanche
- SNES
Kirby’s Dream Land 2
- GB
- VC (3DS)
- Dream Collection
Kirby’s Block Ball
- GB
- VC (3DS)
1996
Kirby Super Star
- SNES
- VC (Wii/Wii U)
- SNES Classic
- NSO
Kirby’s Toy Box
- Satellaview (Japan-only Super Famicom rewritable cartridge; not fully emulated until 2020)
1997
Kirby’s Star Stacker
- GB
- Super Famicom (SFC)
Kirby’s Dream Land 3
- VC (Wii/Wii U)
- Dream Collection
- NSO
2000
Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
- VC (Wii/Wii U)
- Dream Collection
- NSO
Kirby Tilt ‘n’ Tumble
- Game Boy Color (GBC) – motion sensor in cartridge therefore difficult to port or emulate accurately
2002
Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land
- Game Boy Advance (GBA)
- VC (Wii U)
2003
Kirby Air Ride
- Nintendo GameCube (GCN)
2004
Kirby & the Amazing Mirror
- GBA
- VC
- 3DS (only via the “Ambassador” program)
2005
Kirby: Canvas Curse
- Nintendo DS (DS)
- VC (Wii U)
2006
Kirby: Squeak Squad
- DS
- VC (Wii U)
2008
Kirby Super Star Ultra
- DS
2010
Kirby’s Epic Yarn
- Wii
- 3DS (Extra Epic Yarn)
2011
Kirby Mass Attack
- DS
- VC (Wii U)
Kirby’s Return to Dream Land
- Wii
- Wii U (eShop)
2012
Kirby’s Dream Collection
- Wii
2014
Kirby: Triple Deluxe
- 3DS
Kirby Fighters Deluxe
- 3DS (eShop)
Dedede’s Drum Dash Deluxe
- 3DS (eShop)
2015
Kirby and the Rainbow Curse
- Wii U
2016
Kirby: Planet Robobot
- 3DS
2017
Team Kirby Clash Deluxe
- 3DS (eShop)
Kirby’s Blowout Blast
- 3DS (eShop)
Kirby Battle Royale
- 3DS
2018
Kirby Star Allies
- Nintendo Switch (NS)
2019
Super Kirby Clash
- NS (eShop)
2020
Kirby Fighters 2
- NS (eShop)
2022
Kirby and the Forgotten Land
- NS
Kirby’s Dream Buffet
- NS (Summer, TBD)
Wild, right? If this list was around a few years ago, you’d be looking at the same list in a very different context. By closing down the eShops for its previous consoles, Nintendo is shutting people out from most Kirby games. For those folks who value purchasing games officially, that’s a brick wall they can’t get around. On the other hand, using emulators like Dolphin, you can play through Kirby’s entire history all the way up to the Switch. You can just walk into a store and get those.
Whether you’re hunting down physical games at pawn shops, batch-downloading ROM files or… optimistically watching Nintendo’s Twitter feed for NSO updates, your work is cut out for you. But the effort could very well be worth it, as nearly every single Kirby game is an instant classic. Even the weird ones. I mean, Kirby’s whole thing is weird when you think about it for a sec.
