Kirby games - why were they so "popular" back then?

I never played any of the Kirby games. Sure they looked fun to try to play but why were the Kirby games so popular or whatever? What made them so great for gamers to play with anyway?

I'm not sure Kirby has ever been popular. I feel like out of Nintendo's mascots, Kirby is probably the underdog. But anyhow, I love Kirby because they offered a very cool, unique platforming experience where you were encouraged to absorb you foe's abilities to get through the level. In addition to that, the levels, music and gameplay were very fun and entertaining. Kirby is one of my favorite franchises from Nintendo and I still play these games regularly. Although I already own all the game on the Kirby Anniversary comp for the Wii, I'll probably be picking that up once I get the money.

I'm not sure Kirby has ever been popular. I feel like out of Nintendo's mascots, Kirby is probably the underdog.

Shenmue_Jehuty

They fun, you get to suck up enimies and take there powers to use against them.

I'm not sure Kirby has ever been popular. I feel like out of Nintendo's mascots, Kirby is probably the underdog. But anyhow, I love Kirby because they offered a very cool, unique platforming experience where you were encouraged to absorb you foe's abilities to get through the level. In addition to that, the levels, music and gameplay were very fun and entertaining. Kirby is one of my favorite franchises from Nintendo and I still play these games regularly. Although I already own all the game on the Kirby Anniversary comp for the Wii, I'll probably be picking that up once I get the money.

Shenmue_Jehuty

[QUOTE="Shenmue_Jehuty"]

I'm not sure Kirby has ever been popular. I feel like out of Nintendo's mascots, Kirby is probably the underdog.

nintendoboy16

I don't disagree with you there, however I'm pretty sure no Kirby game has outsold any of the main metroid games ever.

Agree. the Metroid and Zelda games have sold more and more popular than a silly pink cloud that eats.

Kirby is a good game for kids. He's cute and the ability to float makes the platforming much easier.

The only time I was really interested in Kirby was the Kirby cartoon show that came on Fox a couple of years ago on Saturday mornings. The videogames I don't get why other people think the games are so great or whatever.

The gameplay was really satisfying. They got the swallowing enemies mechanics down perfectly, and gaining your enemies' abilities was still very original for that time.

My first exposure to Kirby was when I was a little kid and I was with my mother and my sister in a store where you could rent games. I wanted to rent Mega Man 3, but someone had already rented it. My sister picked up Kirby and said we should get that instead because she liked the cover. I was not happy, but nevertheless I gave in. I don't regret it though, I fell in love with it instantly. Being able to absorb enemies powers on the fly was mindblowing to me back then. Nowadays I don't really care for Kirby. I think it's probably the most kid friendly francise that Nintendo has.

Kirby games are fun, popularity doesn't matter.

I only had Kirby's dreamland on the Gameboy but it was one of my favourite GB games.

The worlds were interesting to explore, the gameplay was smooth, the music was AMAZING.

I played through the game many times.

It was a fairly standard platformer but just very well done.

I only had Kirby's dreamland on the Gameboy but it was one of my favourite GB games.

The worlds were interesting to explore, the gameplay was smooth, the music was AMAZING.

I played through the game many times.

It was a fairly standard platformer but just very well done.

PetJel

This is the most underrated aspect of the Kirby games.

News to me that Kirby was ever very popular. The first one came around quite late in the NES life cycle. The enemy absorption gimmick was a cool idea, but I don't think that any of the Kirby games were all that great - way too easy and short, and it didn't help that you could evade most enemies with ease by flying over them.

-Regular playthroughs of the games were easy enough to cater to kids and casuals who play the games.
-Getting 100% presented the more skilled players with bigger challenges, such as finding collectables, doing boss rushes, going through a harder version of the main game, and stuff like that.
-Kirby himself is a great mixture of "cute" (due to being small, pink, and squishable) and "bad-ass" (due to the many copy abilities, like sword, ninja, etc.), so he appeals to different kinds of people.
-The flying ability gives a very unique take on the platforming genre (albeit one which makes the games that much easier)
-The copy abilities allow you to mix things up within your playthroughs, so that there's less of a chance of you being bored, and playing through the same level twice can feel very different based on which ability you have. (plus you can give yourself an extra challenge by going through the game without picking up any abilities, unless they're required to progress)
-Each game tries to give you something different. This is especially true for the spin-offs, like Pinball Land, Dream Course,and Mass Attack, but it's also true for the main games. Super Star gave you more complex abilities and smaller games which gave you more variety, Dreamland 2 gave you animal friends, 64 let you combine powers and was a 2.5D game, etc. There are some which don't differentiate themselves as much as others (Dreamland 3 using animal friends again and Returns to Dreamland having the more complex abilities, as well as a bunch of other elements from previous Kirby games), but even they tend to expand on those ideas.