What Can We Learn From Kirby's Character Design?

Today, we’re kicking off a renewed spotlight series highlighting famous character designs, and who better to start with than the classic Nintendo character Kirby, and trying to figure out what we can learn from him (and King Dedede, Meta-Knight, and other Kirby characters) as artists, writers, creators and storytellers.

Brookes Eggleston On Social:

Character Design Forge 2018

[CharacterDesignForge]

"that he a ball lol can we get this comment to a zillion likes"

What characters would you like to see examined in future Character Design Spotlights? Let me know here!

[Ruby_Coast]

I've always said that Kirby being this pure and simple and cute character that regularly kills cocky gods is great. In the face of para-existential dread and all-powerful chaotic beings, Kirby is perfect for the job because Kirby is the purest hero you could ever ask for. The brightest light in a world of dark matter.

[ZarroTsu]

Missed opportunity to show a picture of Kirby with human limbs when mentioning realism.

Or, perhaps, an intentionally avoided opportunity.

[Cameron-yqug]

He protecc
He attacc
But most importantly
He a vacc

[WulffDen]

DID YOU KNOW KIRBY'S DESIGN WAS ORIGINALLY A PLACE HOLDER (GIANT CIRCLE)!?!?

DID YOU ALSO KNOW THAT KIRBY'S DREAM LAND WAS ORIGINALLY A GAME CALLED DOKI DOKI PANIC IN JAPAN

[DavidKyokushin]

Every adult i know who loves watching superhero movies refuses to go see spiderverse because it's a cartoon. It's infuriating! It's legit the best superhero movie ever made in my opinion.

[akirabaes]

When a placeholder character makes it big.

[reformedorthodoxmunmanquara]

To me Kirby is a history textbook that you can interact that keeps adding on to itself and is actually genuinely interesting. Kirby lore gets deep especially in Star Allies and even more especially the final boss of Star Allies. This series makes me hungry for more juicy lore unlike any other series

[Rozdlc]

When you got to the "more realistic=better" part of the vid I half expected to see Jigglypuff from Detective Pikachu as an example of what a "realistic" Kirby could have looked like.

[MicahBuzanANIMATION]

That's a good point that Kirby's transition to 3D has gone smoothly because the creators haven't tried to force realism on Kirby.

[poposao]

Shouting out *Air Ride* AND *Squeak Squad* ?
You have, such good taste in cosmic horror!

[nobu]

As a kid, when I first saw Kirby I loved him for being colorful and sparkly (via abilities). Today, I like him for being an antithesis to "having to be cool", be overly masculine/ feminine or bump up the design in terms of realism. Good for you, Mr. Sakurai, for claiming the most simple sphere as a character! 👍
(Also, this is off topic, the upbeat soundtrack still gets me going even today ♫ ) Great video!

[Surkk]

players - "kirby games are easy, make them harder"
HAL - OK... (Releases Heroes of Another Dimension and Soul Melter EX)

Jokes aside, Kirby is my favorite series and probably what inspired the art style that I have.
Well, that and Megaman. Good Vid, keep it up.

[takemetoyonk]

I never though about his limb movement and lack of true structure! Also loved your point in Kirby's simplicity also allowed for the advanced-self character to exist.

[israelw]

Dedede is also one of the few Nintendo villains to redeem themselves and truly join and befriend the hero

[edwardreed]

I love the concept of Kirby. This tiny little ball of fun, walking along in Dreamland, is actually one of the most dangerous things in the universe! That is hilarious, and awesomely terrifying.

[disgracedsphinx]

I think the bosses in kirby games have the coolest designs IMO. They go from spheres with eyes, powerful warriors, or just corrupted versions of themselves. Void termina has to be my favorite design since he looks like he would be a boss in a RPG, but still fits in the kirby universe. Also their themes really slap.

[kurtislachance]

"Everything was fine on the planet of Popstar... until someone stole Kirby's hamburger.

Something. Something. Something.

Fight a Cosmic Horror."


Yeah I'd say that's pretty accurate.

[SkuttIefish]

Kirby inspires me so much, as a learning character designer, so it’s really great to watch something like this. I often fall into the trap of making designs too complex for no reason whatsoever, especially villains and eldritch monsters, so stepping back and looking at my favorite villains in Kirby like Zero, Zero Two, Drawcia and whatnot makes you realize cool/horrifying doesn’t need a lot of stuff, just thought

Thanks for the video! Never seen you but I really enjoyed it!

[a.j.morrow]

Okay first of all damn man, your Kirby shrine is bigger than my Ys shrine...*cough*...if I had

Second, I really enjoyed Spider-Verse.

I found Kirby and Mega Man to be alike in many ways. Compared to all the other robots in the Mega Man franchise, Mega Man is a very simple character, design-wise. It's his copying ability that gives him the power to fight back, while in some cases still being at a disadvantage.

I've always admired simple characters that have the ability to tell a bigger story. Mega Man barely talks in his games, but the way he is portrayed throughout the series gives us the knowledge to understand his character.

The same can be said for Kirby. We know Kirby is more childish, one of the dead give aways is when he does a victory dance at the end of each stage, like a kid who wins a competition.

It just goes to show how far a simple idea can go.