Kirby: Nintendo's Swan Songs

[MrPopo]

I don't mean to toot my own horn but I called it. Kirby's Return to Dream Land releases this week and the Wii U is expected to be released next year.

Any who, I don't know if Nintendo keeps on releasing kirby games in the death of their systems as a send off or they are merely afterthoughts by Nintendo being focused on Mario and Zelda titles at a console's launch. What do you guys think?

I think nothing sends off a console better than Kirby's end of level jingle.

[k.vlaros]

I don't mean to toot my own horn but I called it. Kirby's Return to Dream Land releases this week and the Wii U is expected to be released next year.

Any who, I don't know if Nintendo keeps on releasing kirby games in the death of their systems as a send off or they are merely afterthoughts by Nintendo being focused on Mario and Zelda titles at a console's launch. What do you guys think?

Can you link to where you read it was coming to Wii U next year?

[o.pwuaioc]

I think one flaw in this theory is that you didn't consider that the original Kirby on the Game Boy came late. It was released in April 1992, and the NES release came less than a year later in March 1993. Kirby's Dream Course came in SNES' prime in 1994. It may not be early in its life, but then again, you can't expect a game that only became popular after the SNES was released to be quickly made for that system. We got two intermediaries for the system (Dream Course and Avalanche) before we got Super Star late. Then the releases are in normal intervals. Likewise with Zelda and Mario.

SMW: 1990
SM64: 1996
SM Sunshine: 2002
NSMB: 2006/SM Galaxy: 2007 (split now into 2D and 3D)

If you want to fiddle with numbers, you could even say that Mario titles signaled the end, since Super Mario RPG came in 1996 at the end of SNES's life, NSMB came in 2006 at the end of GCN's life, and Galaxy 2 was released just last year. I'd rather think it's just the way creative is going, and it matches up mathematically with console releases.

Adventure to Dreamland 3 (4 years)
SNES to N64 (5 1/2 years)

Dreamland 3 to Kirby 64 (3 years)/Super Star to Kirby 64 (5 years)
N64 to GCN (5 years)

And Kirby actually skipped the Gamecube entirely, so I'm not sure how that fits in anywhere.

Seems to me it's just not that beloved by Nintendo, and fans agree, since their IP of choice is, as usual, Mario, but otherwise it's produced at regular intervals, not necessarily indicating Nintendo's shift toward a new console.

[gtmtnbiker]

And Kirby actually skipped the Gamecube entirely, so I'm not sure how that fits in anywhere.

Kirby Air Ride came out for the Gamecube. There was going to be a Kirby Adventure game but it was canceled.