Kirby Studio Says Nintendo Has Helped To Reinvigorate And Redefine Franchise

Kirby Studio Hal Laboratory has praised Nintendo for their ability to redefine and reinvigorate the pink puffball’s adventures throughout the years. In an interview with CVG, Kirby series director Shinya Kumazaki has admitted that due to working on Kirby for so many years, the development team often become sentimental with the series and, as a result, are more lax in changing up the format. But Kumazaki says that’s when Nintendo steps in, invigorates the team, and occasionally throws the rule book out the window.  

“Kirby is something that we hold very dear to our hearts. We have our own ideas about what Kirby is, and how Kirby should appear, and what Kirby should do. But at the same time while we feel like we’re protecting Kirby, we also realize in some ways that’s restricting what Kirby can be and what Kirby might be.

“And that’s where it’s really nice working with Nintendo, because they come in and they invigorate us and they add a lot of new ideas and help us redefine Kirby. So when we ask ourselves that question Nintendo provides a lot of energy to that discussion.

“It’s essential for us to take the rules we’ve created and sometimes throw them out the window and start over and think of new things. And Nintendo helps us when we have to do that and adds new challenges for us to face and overcome, and in that way the series continues to grow.”

Kumazaki then concluded, “I really think, throughout this long development history, Nintendo has grown to trust HAL. And we of course at HAL have grown to trust Nintendo, it’s a relationship built on that trust that we share. I think it’s a really great relationship, and I think it’s proven out in the development of the series.”

Hal Laboratory hope that the trust gained from working with Nintendo will spur them on to create more high quality Kirby titles for many years to come. Kirby: Triple Deluxe is released this Friday, May 2,  in North America, with a May 16 release for Europe, and has gained favourable reviews among the critics.