The Kirby games began in 1992 with Kirby’s Dream Land, and Nintendo has been consistently putting out games since, with the newest addition, Kirby and the Forgotten Land. While long-time fans of the franchise can easily see how the art style has changed over the years, those new to the games might not realize just how far they have come from the start.
Thankfully, the cover art is a dead giveaway to what used to be. With around thirty titles in the Kirby franchise, there is a lot to go over, however, looking at some of the better cover art can still enlighten fans, even if it doesn’t look at all of them. These are some of the best cover art games in the franchise.
5 Kirby’s Dreamland 2
Of course, some of the more recent releases will have a better art style, but there is nothing wrong with looking at the older titles and enjoying the nostalgia of what Kirby used to be. The character design changed even from Kirby’s Dream Land, which was only a three-year difference. Not only are the colors more vivid from the past releases, but the covers started to be busier with how many additional characters appeared on the cover.
Waddle Dee with the Parasol, the spikey Gordo, the flying Bronto Burt, and fishy Blipper for water levels are iconic enemies that Kirby encounters in most of the games, and having them appear in this title introduces so many things that fans will see throughout the franchise.
4 Kirby And The Rainbow Curse
This Wii U release introduced Kirby as another material as him and his enemies were transported into a land of clay. The plot of the game is magical, bringing back color to Dream Land with the help of Bandana Waddle Dee and a paintbrush fairy, Elline. This was also the introduction to a new playstyle that can be like Kirby Canvas Curse, where players will need to use the Wii U GamePad to rainbow lines to guide Kirby around the game.
The cover art clearly portrays this plot and this game style with its detailed artwork and what is being shown. Not only does it look like Kirby and his friends have been made of clay, with is incredibly creative on its own, but also includes the Wii U Stylus along with the rainbow line that effectively shows fans what they are going to be diving into. For a game released in 2015, it is incredibly detailed and original.
3 Kirby’s Return To Dream Land
Released in 2011, this Kirby game tells a slightly different story than what is usually the case for Kirby and his pals. No longer dealing with the usual enemies of Meta Knight and King Dedede, Kirby is now investigating a strange ship that has crash-landed on Dream Land. They meet an alien and offer to find the missing pieces of the ship that it takes to fix it back up. The game has similar mechanics to the other Kirby games, but does offer new copy abilities not before seen such as the Whip, Water, and Leaf.
The cover art, like the rest of the franchise, properly showcases the game’s intent with presenting Kirby at the center with potential playable characters for additional fans. Not only is it strange to have the allies of these characters that are usually enemies, but having a huge spaceship at the background is exciting. Not only does is show the spaceship, but the various levels at the bottom with the dessert and the ice and the water. Kirby titles do a great job at showing fans what is being included in the game just from the cover art.
2 Kirby’s Epic Yarn
This was the first time that Nintendo introduced the pink ball as another form, yarn, and was incredibly successful in doing so. Like Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, Nintendo created a new material for Kirby to play in while producing a beautiful art style that vividly shows the medium. Kirby’s Epic Yarn is transformed into yarn and is teleported to Patch Land where he must help Prince Fluff collect magical pieces to stitch the land back together again.
Not only is the game completely adorable on its own, but gives players new mechanics, such as having a home that can be decorated with different items that are found on different levels. Kirby can also use his yarn abilities to hang from buttons to swing across the map, as well as transform into larger creations such as automobiles and a submarine. The art on the front properly shows this with its patchwork background, the simple, yet detailed work of Kirby’s outline and the zipper being pulled back on the top showing one of the many evils in Patch Land, Yin-Yarn.
1 Kirby And The Forgotten Land
Of course, a newer released game is needed for this list because of how well the art style has adapted over the years. Kirby and the Forgotten Land was released in 2022 and has one of the most detailed cover in the franchise yet. It doesn’t have the same concept as most of the other games by showing different characters and enemies, but it does Kirby justice with how much work they obviously presented here. In this game, Kirby is sucked into a portal and transported to a deserted civilization called the New World and is tasked with saving the kidnaped Waddle Dees. It brings King Dedede as one of the enemies that is helping a greater enemy, Beast Pack, kidnap the Waddle Dees.
The mechanics are fairly similar to the rest of the franchise, with two new copy abilities, Drill and Ranger, with an upgrade system for the copy abilities that bring out a new system to the copies. However, even with the similar mecahnics and playstyle, no fan, old or new, can disagree that this cover art is beautiful. Kirby is standing in the middle of a field where the grass tickles his feet, the flowers bloom so vividly, and the design of the deserted civilization can giveThe Last of Us vibes with the overgrowth over the buildings and the rust on the car. And if fans want to go a step further, it is ironic that this game was released during the worldwide pandemic of 2022 where some thought it was the end, was this inspiration? Whatever inspired the creators to design such a beautiful cover, fans are thankful because so far, this is the best cover seen in the Kirby franchise.
Kirby and the Forgotten Land is available now on Nintendo Switch.
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