After previously confirming that a new Kirby platformer is headed to Nintendo Switch next year, Nintendo officially announced the game’s title as ‘Kirby: Star Allies‘ during a Nintendo Direct broadcast today. The main hook of the game involves the chance to play both solo, or in co-op with friends, seemingly similar to the series’ Wii entry, Kirby’s Return to Dream Land.
The difference in Kirby: Star Allies however is that Kirby can recruit enemy monsters to become his allies, and can combine their abilities to both traverse environments and destroy other enemies! These can include combining Ice and Sword to make a frozen sword, or combining Psi and Stone to drop heavy statues on enemies, among many other examples. This appears to be at least loosely related to the game’s premise, which will see a cursed dark forest start to engulf Dream Land, with Kirby being the only means to stop it. The effects of the dark forest tease boss encounters against a zombie-like Whispy Woods and a very muscular King Dedede, suggesting that bizarre new takes on recognizable Kirby series foes will be a big part of Kirby: Star Allies!
Kirby: Star Allies is scheduled to release at some point during Spring 2018. It will follow Kirby: Battle Royale, a previously teased Nintendo 3DS multiplayer spin-off that features multiple Kirby’s competing against one another in various challenges. Kirby: Battle Royale was confirmed during this same Nintendo Direct to launch on January 19th, 2018.
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