Kirby and the Forgotten Landhas made a sizable impact since launching this March. While the series has never been a sales juggernaut akin toSuper MarioandPokemon, Kirby is among Nintendo’s best-known mascots, andForgotten Land’s jump to 3D brought the puffball attention. It sold over 2.1 million copies in just the first two weeks, according to Nintendo’s financial report for the fiscal year ending in March 2022. HAL Laboratory’s prior outingKirby Star Allies(2018) sold about 2.56 million over its first year on the market, soForgotten Landmay become the series' best-selling entry.
GivenKirby Star Alliesreceived multiple waves of post-launch content like other tentpole Switch releases, there’s a good chanceKirby and the Forgotten Landwill too.Star Allieswas more a celebration of the franchise, with its added content including new “Dream Friends” based on major characters from acrossKirbyhistory.Forgotten Landis its own beast, so DLC could be more narrative-driven. One fun inclusion would be more copy abilities, with players able to see evolved takes on more fan-favorites.
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Kirby and the Forgotten Land’s Evolved Copy Abilities
Kirby and the Forgotten Landhas fewer abilities than usual, with Kirby only able to don 12 basic hats: Ranger, Hammer, Crash, Fire, Cutter, Sword, Bomb, Tornado, Drill, Sleep, Needle, and Ice. Of these, only two - Ranger and Drill - are new additions. HAL adapts the combat toForgotten Land’s 3D environments well, but mainly makes up for the deficit by letting players try unique variants.
Using Star Coins accrued through normal gameplay andRare Stones awarded by Treasure Road stages(as well as mini-games like Tilt-and-Roll), Kirby can visit the Weapon Shop in Waddle Dee Town to upgrade abilities using blueprints found across various levels. These range in utility from “Deep Sleep” giving Kirby an additional buff to “Meta Knight Sword” adding new combo moves and aZelda-style beam attack. The aforementioned Treasure Road stages require mastery of different abilities, so HAL gives players an excuse to try every tool in Kirby’s upgraded arsenal.
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Possible Copy Abilities to Bring Back in Forgotten Land DLC
DLC forKirby and the Forgotten Landcould focus on Meta Knight, who has a tertiary role protecting Waddle Dee Town off-screen. However, the end of the game suggests Kirby could return to Dream Land for a slate of new levels using the series' classic aesthetic rather thanForgotten Land’s post-apocalyptic setting. If so, there would be plenty of returning enemies, which could open up a host of new evolved copy abilities.
Kirby has used dozens of abilities over the last 30 years, so those with more unique gimmicks should take priority. Laser or Spark might be too close to the “Space Ranger” and “Storm Tornado” abilities fromForgotten Land, for example.Kirby Super Star’s Mirror ability has more potential, often including projectiles from a wand as well as letting Kirby attack by splitting into multiple copies of himself.Water fromKirby’s Return to Dream Landmay also offer a good standalone mechanic to iterate upon, letting Kirby ride bigger waves with more range that could take shapes akin to Sidon’s shark attacks inHyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity.
Another fun possibility is packing thematically similar copy abilities into the same line, such as Fighter Kirby branching into Suplex or Beetle. The Yo-Yo and ESP abilities could also be brought together to drive home HAL’sreference to Ness fromEarthbound. However, the developer would be remiss not to use some of the series' more iconic abilities. Umbrella could differentiate itself from Sword by focusing more on the defensive potential of different materials, and UFO could negateForgotten Land’s restricted floating to give players the power fantasy of blasting away with evolutions based on its usual attacks: a beam cutter and ranged laser beam.
If there are plans forKirby and the Forgotten LandDLC, it would be a shame not to see more copy abilities. ManyKirbygames have one-off gimmicks, likeTriple Deluxe’s Hypernova andPlanet Robobot’s mechs, so evolved copy abilities should get more time to shine before potentially being replaced. With HAL telling fans that3D platforming may not feature in all futureKirbygames, this outing should add more content to satisfy fans until the next one arrives.
Kirby and the Forgotten Landis available now for Nintendo Switch.
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