In yesterday's Nintendo Direct, it finally happened: Kirby has made the full jump to 3D. Kirby and the Forgotten Land will be the first full 3D Kirby platformer, fulfilling the promise that Kirby Air Ride made on the Nintendo GameCube so many years ago. Kirby is seen moving through an abandoned city, with an assortment of wide-open environments to run and jump through. It seems like HAL Laboratory is really going as hard as it can for Kirby's big 3D platformer debut, as all of Kirby's signature mechanics are on display here, amidst a mysterious environment that is sure to hold story revelations.
After several side games and minigames experimenting with Kirby in 3D, it's a breath of fresh air to see a game actually commit to bringing Kirby to this medium. However, by doing this, Kirby and the Forgotten Land exposes itself to the pitfalls that many games before it have dealt with while transitioning to 3D. Kirby was built for and operated under 2D rules for decades, so it's hard to say how natural putting him in a 3D environment will feel. Hopefully, it will work out, but Kirby and the Forgotten Land may need to stumble so a future game can run.
The Potential Problems with Kirby Going 3D
Few transitions to 3D have gone flawlessly. Nintendo may have the best track record across all its franchises, but it can't be understated how deeply ingrained 2D gameplay is into the Kirby franchise. There is a very particular way those games are made to feel, and directly translating that into 3D like Kirby and the Forgotten Land appears to be doing could cause some problems. To its credit, the game does appear to accurately recreate what modern Kirby plays like. Kirby has floaty jumps and tumbles when falling from a height just like in his older games. Even the animations used by copy abilities look familiar. However, platforming and fighting in 3D just isn't the same as it is in 2D. HAL Laboratory needs to pay close attention to making Kirby's traversal feel just as satisfying as it always has been.
Another potential issue is Kirby's Legacy mechanics. The most obvious issue in a 3D Kirby game is the handling of flight. Kirby has always been defined as being a platformer where the player can choose to fly around any obstacles. In a 3D game, this might allow for players to simply circumvent the level geometry. By the looks of things, HAL has already taken this into consideration and implemented a maximum height for Kirby's flight, but this doesn't change the fact that this may need to be another linear Kirby game with no exploration just because it's there.
What Kirby May Have to Leave Behind in 2D
Kirby probably won't be able to keep everything going forward into 3D gaming. First and foremost, the multiplayer that defined Kirby's main games for the last decade will probably have to take a backseat, at least for a little while. It can certainly creep back in and be similar to Super Mario 3D World, but for now, the focus should be on ensuring that Kirby's dimensional transition goes as smoothly as possible. Kirby Star Allies was probably built up with such a huge roster for that very reason, giving many of Kirby's mainstays an exciting send-off. Even so, there's still a good chance that Kirby's various helpers (and the other colored Kirby's) will return as part of challenge modes or the usual assortment of mini-games. More 3D Kirby games will probably be made after this, so HAL can limit the scope of this one to make sure that what it made will work.
That scope must include copy abilities, but the real question is to what extent. Kirby's list of abilities changes from game to game, but it appears that the usual mainstays are still present. What isn't clear as of right now is how their move list looks, and just how many copy abilities there will be. Ever since Kirby Super Star, his abilities have gained a gradually growing fighting game-esque move list, and not all of them will be able to transition to 3D. The way Kirby and the Forgotten Lands' first trailer is cut seems to emphasize the core functions of each copy ability. This helps simplify things when it comes to designing the environments and the various collectibles and side paths containing them, but players will have to wait and see how many of Kirby's light beat-em-up elements will be preserved.
The Benefits of Kirby Going 3D
It can't all be doom and gloom if Kirby's transition to 3D has been anticipated for so long. Most of the concerns one could have about Forgotten Land are just well-meaning worries with incomplete information, and most fans are too excited for 3D Kirby to let that get to them. It seemed like a prototype for a 3D Kirby platformer had been brought up once a generation ever since Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, with Kirby's Air Ride taking the role of the first truly 3D Kirby game on the GameCube. Only two other Kirby titles have had full 3D movement ever since then, and those are Kirby's Blowout Blast and Kirby Battle Royale, both for the 3DS. Both of those games very noticeably felt like they were tests for 3D Kirby titles, one for the platforming and the other to demo the copy abilities.
Now, Kirby and the Forgotten Land is using everything HAL Laboratory has researched and learned over Kirby's 30 years to make a true 3D Kirby game. Even though Kirby would be remiss to completely discard 2D gameplay, it's nice to finally see this treasured mascot join Mario, The Legend of Zelda, and so many other Nintendo franchises in the 3D realm. Kirby's beautiful environments will be able to take on their grandest form yet, and Kirby combat will have its first major innovation in years. Kirby's signature relaxing platforming and casual puzzle-solving is back in full force, and it looks like Forgotten Land could be the revolutionary Kirby game fans have been waiting for.
Kirby and the Forgotten Land will release in Spring 2022 for Nintendo Switch.
