Video: Sakurai Doesn't Make Kirby Games Anymore, Y'know

Nintendo not making Kirby games is a very M. Night Shyamalant plot twist!

ok so who didn't know that the developer for Kirby was HAL, and not Nintendo?

Nintendo publishes them in the same way they publish Monolithsoft and Game Freak games.

Nintendo also publishes certain Square Enix games too, and you never get people thinking that Dragon Quest is a Nintendo series.

You didn’t even mention Kumazaki or any of the other people who work on the modern series and got Kirby where it is now starting with super star ultra😑

tbh I thought this was common knowledge but I've been following Kirby since SSU so that's probably why

Methinks Kirby needs a bra for those eyes.

Well, Kirby, as well as things like Pokemon, are practically synonymous with Nintendo, one can easily make the mistake of thinking they are the developers.

I certainly wouldn’t “well, actually” somebody for saying Kirby was made by Nintendo. Knowing a little bit about HAL Labs doesn’t change much about Kirby as a Nintendo game. Knowing more does make the distinction more notable.

What’s a Nintendo game anyway…they have their own internal studios called Nintendo EPD or Nintendo Software Technology etc. but those could easily be called something completely unrelated to Nintendo, they’re just studios within the company. It’s like saying Metroid Prime isn’t a Nintendo game because it’s made by Retro or Luigi’s Mansion 3 isn’t a Nintendo game because it’s made by Next Level.

More apt to say that HAL aren’t a Nintendo developer. But when you have the backing and development support from Nintendo and the IP is co-owned by them…yeah, Kirby is a Nintendo game.

I'd be interested to see a breakdown of people who know who Sakurai is and people who know what Sakurai does. I feel like most people who know his name would be more likely to associate him with Smash Bros at this point, and most of those who are well informed enough to know he created Kirby probably also know he hasn't been directly involved with HAL for a while. And only the most well informed know his real best game is Kid Icarus Uprising. I'm assuming the number of people who remember Meteos exists is so small that they're not worth counting.

@larryisaman the distinction is that Kirby was always a HAL Labs creation. But as I say, it’s not until one knows the broader history of HAL that Kirby becomes both a legitimate ‘Nintendo game’ as well as a ‘HAL Labs game’

@EarthboundBenjy Monolith Soft is a first-party Nintendo studio. Game Freak is a good comparison for HAL though, as is Intelligent Systems.

Am I going nuts or was this already an article?

Next thing you're gonna tell me is that Capcom made handheld Zelda games O.O

@Einherjar but then someone finds that out and suddenly realizes that’s why they always thought those games were the better portable Zeldas, lol

Happily ignoring the know-it-alls, hope more videos of the same kind are in the cards. I knew the things, but I don't see how that diminishes the value of the video. Why be negative when you can be positive.

@NinChocolate What is a nintendo game?

@ReaperMelia
Ahh, okay. I will admit it is a little confusing.

yeah, like Pokemon and Game Freak

HAL moved their offices into the same building as Nintendo’s Tokyo division in 2020. They bailed them out of bankruptcy in the 1990s, then Iwata was appointed to the President role of the company.

Either Nintendo owns them (or majority stakeholder), but they retain their “independence” is whole other question.

Nintendo co-owns the Kirby IP with HAL. Nintendo has published all of HAL’s games for decades… we all know they make Kirby games. Don’t know why this is an article.

Games developed by Sakurai:
Kirby's Dream Land (1992)
Kirby's Adventure (1993)
Kirby Super Star (1996)
Super Smash Bros. (1999)
Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001)
Kirby Nightmare In Dreamland (2002)
Kirby Air Ride (2003)
Meteos (2005)
Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008)
Kid Icarus Uprising (2012)
Super Smash Bros. 4 (2014)
Super Smash Bros Ultimate (2018)

Everything else is not a Sakurai game, kids!

He was probably involved in a way. Whether credited or not. Likely visited the office to say wats up, looked over the new Kirby games, gave his quick thoughts, and said "Ok cool, I like!" and left the office.

@larryisaman Kirby and the Forgotten Land

Obviously its not made by Sakurai. We all know Kirby’s creator is the legendary Miyamoto.

Off-topic: Has Sakurai said what he thinks of Kirby and the Forgotten Land?

@Kyloctopus ah yes, we all remember how miyamoto would tell the story about exploring caves as a child and thinking he saw a floating white orb that lived in them 😝

I thought that was pretty common knowledge lol. It's like people thinking Xenoblade is made by Nintendo as well, Pokemon too

@progx It’s like saying “Did you know Activision don’t actually make Call of Duty?!”

@HammerGalladeBro He doesn't talk about games much online. Just post screen caps and articles. He did say in an interview he was thrilled for new Kirby and is proud that Kirby is so versatile that he imagines many different developers would want to work on a Kirby game. He also did congratulate Kirby and the Forgotten Land's release on twitter. I'm sure contrary to what some stubborn fans think, he's quite proud that interest in Kirby had been maintained. We know he owns games like Triple Deluxe in his collection directed by Kumazaki. They are also pictured together and seem to be on good terms. Not long ago I saw Kumazaki likeing Sakurai's post on Instagram. So I imagine he's into it even if he's nostalgic or more comfortable talking about his own works.

@Anachronism I remember Meteos and it's legit my fave puzzle game. SO ADDICTIVE

I'm more interested in seeing what Sakurai thinks of Kirby games he hasn't worked on...which is quite a number already. I especially want to see him talk about the Forgotten Land, because it seems to have derived off of a GameCube beta that Sakurai was working on, before it got scrapped.

I think if you're a frequent visitor of the site, you already that Hal makes the Kirby games

HAL Lab has been a Nintendo Studio since the Super NES days, of course them making it counts as Nintendo making it. The guy (Satoru Iwata) who founded HAL Lab was a Nintendo president at one time. Sakurai no longer makes Kirby doesn't mean he had no involvement in the Kirby franchise, Sakurai is still involve in some of the direction the franchise evolve to and lend his voice to character like King Dedede. At this point HAL Lab is very much a Nintendo Studio as much as Monolith Soft was, it wouldn't surprise me if one of the leader at Monolith Soft became the next president at Nintendo of Japan.

@Specter_of-the_OLED

nope its independent. nintendo owns monolithsoft but not hal 👍

i get that it's closely associated, and HAL is one of my top devs of all time, but it is not owned by nintendo and its relationship is not at all the same as monolithsofts.

This distinction is probably why Kirby isn't featured very much inside the Nintendo stores.

@EarthboundBenjy Monolith is a 2nd party studio, though. So Nintendo owns them. HAL isn’t 2nd party, they’re just /mostly/ loyal to Nintendo.

@Specter_of-the_OLED Hal Laboratory is a independent second party studios for Nintendo, Nintendo own Monolith Soft

I already knew this, the last Kirby game Sakurai made was Air Ride.

@Kirby_Girl Thanks a lot for the heads-up. It's nice to know there are no hard feelings between Sakurai and Hal.

@Anachronism I have Meteos and as soon as I popped it in I knew it was a Sakurai game.

@EarthboundBenjy tbf enix doesn't have all their games on Nintendo systems