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Kirby is the main character and namesake of the Kirby series. He is a small pink creature who resides on and protects all of Planet Popstar, though his true origin is unknown. Despite his simplistic appearance, Kirby is easily recognizable by his ball-like stature, his large glossy eyes, and his cheerful demeanor. He is often seen riding a Warp Star, but can otherwise fly by taking in air and puffing up like a balloon. While Kirby has many ways to combat his foes, the most well-known by far is his ability to open his mouth wide to suck up his opponents and then swallow them whole. Doing this allows Kirby to copy the attributes of whatever he just ate, expanding his powers in ways that are difficult to predict. Using these abilities is often crucial for Kirby to overcome the greater challenges he faces on his adventures. Kirby is classified as a silent protagonist; that is, he does not speak audibly or in text to the player in most instances, but characters in-game are implied to understand him. However, certain supplementary material, especially earlier in the series' history, has shown Kirby with the ability to speak normally, often in separate continuities from the games. Despite this, he is very vocal, using lots of grunts, shouts, and monosyllables — most famously, his cheery elongated "Hi!"

Since 1992, Kirby has starred in over 30 video games (thirteen of which can be considered part of the core series, not counting remakes), has appeared to some capacity in several other Nintendo games and products, has had an anime series, several manga series, a novel series, and has a great deal of merchandise in the form of figurines, plush dolls, clothing, and the like. Kirby and his series were created by Masahiro Sakurai under HAL Laboratory, with the latter of which retaining the rights to the Kirby series and characters despite Sakurai's departure from the HAL Laboratory team in the mid-2000s. To this day, Kirby remains one of Nintendo's most famous and recognizable mascots, with Kirby games garnering millions of sales worldwide, thanks in part to his reoccurring role as a fighter in the Super Smash Bros. series.

Kirby has been consistently voiced by Makiko Ohmoto since 1999, when he appeared in the first Super Smash Bros. game on the Nintendo 64. Ohmoto also voiced his anime counterpart in all versions of the series, with the exception of some lines that were dubbed over by Amy Birnbaum for the English version. Prior to Ohmoto's debut, the role was passed between various actors and actresses for one-off appearances.

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This template is used on the main page to display the currently featured article. The featured article is changed every Monday at 00:00 UTC. The current queue of upcoming featured articles is as follows (subject to change):

• May 13th, 2024 - Daroach
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