Kirby Star Allies is a 2018 platform game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is the twelfth main game in the Kirby series. The player controls Kirby as he tries to stop a priest named Hyness from bringing back a dark force that could destroy the universe. To complete each level, Kirby must jump, inhale enemies, and use his different abilities to move forward.
The game was created during the 25th anniversary of the Kirby series. Later, the developers added more content to include references from earlier games in the series. The game also has more detailed graphics with a wider screen view.
At first, the game received mixed reviews. Some people praised its graphics, gameplay, and music, but others criticized it for being too simple and not having enough depth. After free additional content was added, many people changed their opinions and began to praise the game for its improved difficulty. The game was a commercial success, selling 4.38 million copies by December 31, 2022. It became one of the best-selling games on the Nintendo Switch.
Gameplay
Kirby Star Allies is a side-scrolling game with 3D elements. Players control Kirby, the main character from the series, who can be joined by up to three allies. Kirby can throw hearts at enemies to turn them into allies. The game can be played alone, with computer-controlled allies, or with other players working together to control allies. When Kirby has allies, new special attacks become available. These attacks let Kirby use his powers together with his allies, a feature first introduced in Kirby: Super Star and not used again until Kirby: Squeak Squad. Elemental fusions stay active as long as Kirby holds the power or until a new element replaces it. Some combinations are one-time moves similar to those in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. When Kirby has three allies, they can perform special actions called "Friend Actions" on certain levels, such as "Friend Train" and "Friend Star." Stars are scattered throughout each level. Collecting 100 stars gives Kirby an extra life. Doors serve as checkpoints. If Kirby loses a life, he can restart at these doors. The game introduces the "Dream Friend" system, which lets players summon characters from earlier Kirby games as special allies with more abilities. Characters like Bandana Waddle Dee, King Dedede, and Meta Knight can be unlocked as Dream Friends by progressing through Story Mode. More Dream Friends have been added through software updates.
Plot
On the Jambandra space station, far from Kirby’s home planet, Popstar, a dark crystal heart explodes because of a mistake in a secret ceremony. This causes many pieces, called Jamba Hearts, to fly through space. These hearts land on Popstar, and several characters, including King Dedede and Meta Knight, are taken over while looking into the dark hearts. A pink heart hits Kirby, but instead of harming him, it gives him the power to make friends with enemies by throwing hearts. Kirby sees many Waddle Dees bringing food to Castle Dedede and decides to look into the situation. After Kirby defeats Meta Knight and King Dedede and frees them from the influence of the Jamba Hearts, a large fortress called the Jambastion lands on Popstar. Kirby and his friends then fight the Three Mage-Sisters, a group made up of Francisca, Flamberge, and Zan Partizanne, before traveling far into space.
Kirby and his friends create a path to Jambandra Base and pass through its defenses. They fight Zan again before meeting Hyness, a bad cleric who plans to use the Jamba Hearts to fully restore a dark force called Void Termina. After being defeated, Hyness sacrifices himself and the generals to bring Void Termina back to power. Kirby and his friends use a Friend Pedestal to call the Friend Star, but it changes into the Star Allies Sparkler because of the power from four Heart Spears trapped in Void Termina’s prison. After fighting Void Termina’s humanoid form, which also spits out Hyness and the Mage-Sisters, and defeating its bird form, Kirby learns that Void Termina’s real form is a purple-pink cluster with three dark eye-like spots that can look like Kirby’s face. Kirby destroys Void Termina using the Star Allies Sparkler, which brings his friends to help. The Sparkler is destroyed in the explosion, but Kirby uses a Warp Star to return safely to Popstar.
During pauses in boss battles, it is explained that Void Termina, Kirby, and other bosses from previous games may be rebirths of a powerful being called Void. When Void touches large amounts of energy, he is reborn in a new form, and his personality depends on whether the energy is positive or negative. During the fight against Void Termina, as well as in a non-canon battle called Void Soul on the Soul Melter difficulty, some attacks are the same as those used by past Kirby bosses, suggesting these bosses are also forms of Void. After extra content was added, a new difficulty called "Soul Melter EX" was introduced, replacing the Void Soul battle with a fight against Void himself. When Void is defeated, he smiles, showing he is now free to be reborn into a happier form.
Development and release
Kirby Star Allies was created by HAL Laboratory and released by Nintendo. The game is believed to be based on the first version of a canceled Kirby game for the GameCube. A trailer for that game showed Kirby making multiple helpers, a feature similar to the main idea of Star Allies. Development of the game started during the 25th anniversary of the Kirby franchise. The game was first mentioned under the temporary name Kirby during E3 2017. In September 2017, the game’s official title was announced in a Nintendo Direct presentation. The game was released for the Nintendo Switch on March 16, 2018. On March 3, 2018, a free demo of the game was made available on the Nintendo eShop, showing two of the game’s levels.
HAL Laboratory developer Shinya Kumazaki explained the world map concept and how the Nintendo Switch allowed for more open, high-resolution visuals. The team decided to make the screen wider compared to earlier Kirby games. This change let them make Kirby smaller while keeping his shape visible and showed more of the background at once. The larger background helped players avoid getting lost by giving them a clearer view of the environment.
The downloadable content was designed to highlight past Kirby games and the series overall. Instead of focusing on an existing story, the developers wanted to create a new experience for the characters. Kumazaki said that focusing on a complex story might reduce the fun of the adventure. When asked about the absence of other popular characters, he mentioned that some characters, like Galacta Knight from Kirby Super Star Ultra, were considered for inclusion. The team set a rule to select only one character from each game to represent the main series.
After the game’s release, two other games, Super Kirby Clash and Kirby Fighters 2, were released in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Both games used the same engine as Kirby Star Allies.
Reception
Kirby Star Allies received a "mixed or average" rating from Metacritic, a website that collects video game reviews, based on 83 critic reviews. The game was nominated for "Family Game of the Year" at the 22nd Annual D.I.C.E. Awards.
Reviewers praised the game's visuals and strategy features. Mitch Vogel from Nintendo Life said the graphics were "top notch," but wished the design had been more unique. Chris Carter from Destructoid called the backgrounds "beautifully designed" and noted that recruiting enemies to help the player was more than just a fun feature. EGM highlighted the friend concept, which kept the puzzles and gameplay elements fresh. Brendan Graeber from IGN appreciated the strategy involved in rearranging friends to solve puzzles and said the puzzles were creative and different each time. Critics also liked the music, calling it catchy and noting how it changed gradually. Peter Brown from GameSpot praised the visuals as "perfectly executed" and said the soundtrack provided motivation and enjoyment. He also liked the idea of teaming up with enemies.
Some critics said the game was not challenging enough, which made them feel uninvolved. Jeremy Parrish from Polygon called the game predictable and similar to other titles, such as Kirby: Planet Robobot. Kyle Hilliard from Game Informer said the game was forgettable and that the lack of difficulty made it feel like he was not fully playing.
After the game released its final post-launch content, some critics said the added features improved the experience. Stephen Totilo from Kotaku said the main game was easy, but the new "Heroes in Another Dimension" mode was challenging and required quick reflexes. He called Star Allies one of the most improved Nintendo games on the Switch.
When it launched, Kirby Star Allies became the fastest-selling Kirby game in the United Kingdom. In Japan, it sold 222,031 copies in its first week, making it the top-selling game in all formats. By the end of March, it had sold over 1 million copies. As of March 2019, it had sold 2.56 million copies. According to the 2023 CESA Games White Papers, as of December 31, 2022, Kirby Star Allies had sold 4.38 million copies.