Kirby Conversations | Exploring Kirby, Nintendo, and More

In this episode we're off to the races, revisiting the Gourmet Race from Kirby Super Star. This short subgame gave us our first taste of Kirby racing back in 1996, and while it may just take a few minutes to reach the end and beat King Dedede, the game packs a surprising amount of depth for those looking to maximize their best times. Bridget has a few tips to share for anyone trying to shave a few seconds off their runs, and we als...

While Kirby games are known for their accessibility, they also have a reputation among some for being on the easy side. But even if a particular game isn't hard enough for you, there are always ways you can add your own twists or gameplay ideas to turn up the challenge. So for this episode, Bridget, Sean, and Gigi are sharing their ideas for how you can make Kirby games harder—through timed challenges with your friends, playing wit...

In this episode we're looking back at the history of Flagship—a unique studio founded by Final Fight/Street Fighter II creator Yoshiki Okamoto. Flagship received startup funding from Nintendo, Sega, and Capcom, and its game credits include everything from the Resident Evil series to Zelda and Kirby titles. We're also very intrigued by Okamoto's YouTube channel, but translating that will have to wait for another day...

Kirby Conv...

The summer is upon us (at least in the U.S.), and with it comes a bevy of new game announcements from events like Summer Game Fest and the Steam Next Fest. And in the spirit of summer game festivals, we're also looking back at the late, great E3.

For this episode, Ky "Captain Dangerous" Parker is sharing more of her favorite memories from E3's she's attended in the past—the exhibits she saw, the people she met, and what it was ...

Bridget has acquired a Switch 2, so for this episode she's sharing her first impressions and what's she's been playing on it so far. We also go over the significant performance boost she's seeing for older Switch titles, including fixing some noticeable slowdown in Kirby Star Allies. And we close with some reflections on the Switch 2's exciting new GameCube library.

What GameCube games would you like to see come to the Switch 2?...

After Smash Bros. was first released in Japan in 1999, players flocked to the game's website, where Masahiro Sakurai posted survey results, game tips, and even answered players' emails. There are reams of emails left from this period that offer a fascinating, funny, and even touching look at nascent Smash Bros. culture. In this episode, Sean, Gigi, and Bridget look over some of these early surveys and conversations Sakurai had with...

We're back with more listener questions this week, including some of the trickiest questions we've gotten so far. What are the hardest Kirby games to speedrun or 100%? What are our top three favorite Kirby games? And what our top three favorite games overall? There's some tough ranking to be made in this episode, and we appreciate listeners giving us some deep questions to chew on (or perhaps just inhale and swallow whole).

Que...

How well does the original Super Smash Bros. hold up today? Who better to help us answer that question than our friends Gooey and McKenna of Flashback 64, the chronological Nintendo 64 podcast. Together we reflect on the game's development history (did you know one early idea for it was to make all the characters dogs?) and our own history with the game, which continues to be one most of us return to again and again. Despite the sl...

Thank you to everyone who visited our booth at the Midwest Gaming Classic this month! It was great to meet you, and thank you for submitting such thoughtful, creative, and funny questions to the show as well. It'll take several episodes to respond to every question, but for now here's a mailbag episode where we answer the first batch, about Smash Bros. characters, potential future Kirby gameplay ideas, and even one notorious recent...

After all the news from the April 2nd Nintendo Direct, we had to put out a bonus episode with our reactions and some of the additional information we've found about the Star-Crossed World upgrade for Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Kirby Air Riders, GameCube games on the Switch 2, and more. Who is this mysterious new Waddle Dee with a telescope in Star-Crossed World? Could Sakurai and Bandai Namco be bringing some of their sensibilit...

First announced in 2004, Kirby for Nintendo GameCube (which never received an official title beyond that) looked to be an ambitious Kirby adventure for a new console generation. But despite several exciting announcements, screenshots, and trailers that had Kirby fans of the 2000's eagerly anticipating its arrival, the game was quietly canceled, and it would be years before Kirby saw another non-handheld release. What happened to Ki...

Gigi, one of our co-hosts and the Editor-in-Chief of WiKirby, is back from a long trip to Japan. During the last episode we talked with her about her more Kirby-centric experiences, like the Kirby Cafes, and for this show we're moving the conversation more generally to the other Nintendo things she saw--including the Nintendo Museum. There are some parts of the museum they don't let visitors photograph, so we enjoyed hearing this i...

Gigi recently spent several weeks in Japan, and she's back to tell us all about it! In this episode we mainly focus on the Kirby experiences, including a detailed discussion of her time at the Kirby Cafes. She has plenty to share on how to secure a reservation at one of these massively popular theme restaurants, her thoughts on the food and décor, and how it all compares to the similarly popular Pokémon Cafes. We also discuss Kirby...

Drumroll please...it's time for an episode on drumming to Kirby music in non-Kirby games. Music class is in session as Bridget introduces Sean and Ky to the history of the Taiko no Tatsujin series, some of which contain Kirby songs and cameos. They also reflect on the iconic DK bongos and the Kirby songs that were playable in the GameCube's Donkey Konga series.

The 2000's saw a surprising boom of rhythm games with instrument pe...

In this episode, Sean and Bridget are joined by special guest Nic McConnell, Age Ratings Manager at Riot Games, to discuss his favorite Kirby game: Kirby Canvas Curse. Together they reflect on Canvas Curse's amazing visuals and level design, the enduring appeal of the DS's touchscreen controls, and the unique background of the game's director Motomi Katayama (who worked on a surprising range of series from Ridge Racer to Tekken). T...

Ky "Captain Dangerous" Parker has been away from the podcast for a bit, so in this episode we're catching up with her on her latest miniature projects, current photography work, and what it's like to be a Nintendo Ambassador during the quiet period before a new console launch. Speaking of which, the Switch 2 was just revealed, so we've got some thoughts and reflections to share on that as well—particularly when it comes to those po...

For this episode, Sean sits down with composers Megan Kelz (https://diamondthorns.bandcamp.com) and Duncan "PixelTea" Smith (https://duncansmith.carrd.co/) for a conversation all about the music of Kirby. They go in-depth on the artists behind Kirby's famous songs, highlighting many of their favorite tracks along the way, and explore the actual music theory and instrumentation behind what makes that signature Kirby sound.

Megan ...

As you gather with friends and family for the holidays, you may consider returning to 2022's Kirby's Dream Buffet—a budget-friendly party game that packs a lot of fun into $15. While not a traditional Kirby game (he's just rolling in ball form here), Dream Buffet still has tons of unlockables and more than twenty food-inspired stages of racing, battles, and mini-games. For this episode, Bridget, Sean, and Gigi dig into the feast of...

For this episode we're heading back to 1990--and forward to 2056--for Kabuki: Quantum Fighter, a pre-Kirby sci-fi platformer that marked the first time HAL Laboratory published a game they did not develop themselves. Sean and Bridget are here to discuss this bizarre adventure, in which a kabuki actor (actually a colonel who got uploaded into Earth's main defense computer) flips and hair-whips his way to defeating an evil virus. It ...