User:Superbound/Sandbox/List of misconceptions

The following is a list of misconceptions regarding the Kirby series. Note that this list only encompasses the most common and notorious ones, and is not exhaustive.

Characters

Kirby

Being the main and titular character of the series, many fan misunderstandings surround Kirby.

• Shigeru Miyamoto did not want Kirby to be yellow. Rather, Miyamoto thought Kirby would be yellow when he saw his monochrome sprite, as other popular round characters round that time were usually in that color (e.g. Pac-Man or Noobow). As a matter of fact, Miyamoto wasn't the only one who thought so, as according to Masahiro Sakurai many of the staff was also suprised by his choice of color.

• Kirby's original name was not Twinkle Popo. Kirby's original name was Popopo, and "Twinkle Popo" was the original name given to the game itself, that would later become Kirby's Dream Land. The names are really similar, hence the confusion.

• Kirby was not named after the Kirby Company's vaccum cleaners. As Miyamoto revealed, "Kirby" was on a list of names they've gotten when naming Kirby. Miyamoto chose "Kirby" in-part to honor John Kirby, a lawyer who defended Nintendo in Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Nintendo Co., Ltd., as well as for the fact the name "Kirby" uses harsh sounds, which created a funny contrast with his cute appearance. The name connection to Kirby vacuums and that they both "inhale" things is purely coincidental.

• Kirby's main catchphrase is not "Poyo". This confusion comes from the Kirby anime, that had Kirby prominently say "poyo". However, that is not reflected in games, and only some spin-offs like Kirby's Epic Yarn and Kirby Mass Attack have Kirby say "poyo", all these games having other references to the anime as well. In the games, Kirby's catchphrase is instead "Hiii", which he often says when waving at the player, other characters, and emoting. In particular, Kirby's profile on Kirby Portal features Kirby saying "Hii!", and this is reflected on the American Nintendo Store section for the Kirby series, which also mentions his "hiiii" catchphrase. In various officially-licensed manga series, Kirby has unique verbal tics, ranging from "Pu" (プ) in Kirby of the Stars: Moretsu Pupupu Hour to "Pepoh" in Kirby of the Stars: The Story of Dedede Who Lives in Pupupu and Kirby Manga Mania, and those are often conflated with the "poyo" catchphrase in fan-made translations. Interestingly, a few manga series did make actual use of "poyo" as Kirby's catchphrase, including (Ultra Super) Pupupu Hero and Poyo Poyo Kirby.

• Kirby can say more than "Poyo". Related to the previous misconception, although this one also applies to the anime. In the Japanese version in particular, Kirby often says words such as attack names, character names, and Copy Ability names, and also repeats words other characters say. These vocalizations were almost all cut or replaced with "Poyo" in most dubs of the anime, hence the misconception. Outside the anime, Kirby not only rarely says "Poyo", he says way more than that.

• Kirby is capable of speech. Kirby is simply a silent protagonist in the games and he, much like most other protagonists of the series (King Dedede and Meta Knight in particular), rarely has direct dialogue in-game. Kirby often has implied or indirect dialogue in games (for example, how he introduces himself to Elfilin at the beginning of Kirby and the Forgotten Land, and how he talks through the narrator in Kirby's Epic Yarn), but he has had direct dialogue as well, such as in the Japanese exclusive opening cutscene of Kirby's Dream Course. In particular, mostly in the series' early years, Kirby was often shown talking in promotional material, such as in the game manuals (for example, he explains the controls to the reader directly in the manual for Kirby's Dream Land), promotional videos for Kirby's Adventure and Kirby's Pinball Land, and the Japanese website for Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. 20th Anniversary Kirby Pupupu Encyclopedia explicitly points out that Kirby can talk, using the pause descriptions for copy abilities (which are written in first-person in several games) as an example. Finally, most Kirby spin-off media, such as manga series and the novel series, feature Kirby speaking normally. The misconception of Kirby not being able to speak has roots in the anime series, which is the only Kirby media to make it clear that Kirby cannot fully talk due to being an infant, but this characteristic is only present in that series.

• Kirby does not use gender-neutral pronouns in Japanese. Kirby is a gender-neutral character in Japan, but this misconception stems from misunderstanding how Japanese pronouns work, which is very different from how they work in English. Third-person pronouns are rarely used in Japanese, while there are dozens of first- and second-person pronouns. Japanese pronouns may reflect the speaker's gender (as well as age, social status, and relationship to the listener), but are not strictly tied to it. Kirby consistently uses the first-person pronoun ボク (boku) in Japanese media, and when necessary, is referred to by the third-person pronoun かれ (kare). These both have masculine connotations, but do not mean that Kirby is not a gender-neutral character. Relatedly, it is commonly said that Kirby was deliberately made gender-neutral in Japan to give him "universal appeal", but there is no source for this claim.

• Kirby does not wear shoes. Kirby's red feet are sometimes mistaken for shoes due to being a different color from his body. The answer is straightforward: Masahiro Sakurai was asked on the official Super Smash Bros. Melee website if Kirby wears shoes, and the answer was that he does not. Likewise, when Shinya Kumazaki was asked the same question (relating to a piece of popular fan art depicting Kirby's feet as shoes), his response was that "the mysterious composition of Kirby's body is top secret". Manga series often depict Kirby's feet as shoes, but these are different continuities.

• Kirby does not have bones. There is a popular image of Kirby's skeleton circulating the internet that is often mistaken for official material. However, this is unofficial and merely an artist's speculation of what Kirby's skeleton could look like. Similarly to the above, Sakurai was asked on the Super Smash Bros. Melee website if Kirby has bones, and the answer was that he does not. The games have never depicted Kirby with bones, and have only rarely depicted Kirby with teeth in certain sprites in 2D games. Manga series often depict Kirby with bones or teeth, but these are different continuities.

• Kirby has no confirmed relationship to Dark Matter. (incomplete)

King Dedede

• King Dedede is not evil. (incomplete)

Meta Knight

• There's no confirmation if Meta Knight is the same species as Kirby or not. (incomplete)

• Meta Knight is not evil. (incomplete)

Bandana Waddle Dee

• There's no confirmation if the Waddle Dee from Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards is Bandana Waddle Dee. While there are often references to how they are similar in official material (such as Adeleine & Ribbon's Dream Friend trailer for Kirby Star Allies using Bandana Waddle Dee to represent Waddle Dee), there are no official sources that would indicate they are connected.

Dark Matter

• Dark Matter, as an individual, only appears in Kirby's Dream Land 2 and Kirby's Dream Land 3. He is often confused with an entity known in Japanese as "dark cloud", but erroneously called Dark Matter in English material. The dark cloud is used to take over Popstar and control its inhabitants by Dark Matter and Zero in Kirby's Dream Land 3 and by 0² in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, but is still distinct from them. The Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards trio also have their own names: Dark Rimuru, Dark Rimura, and Dark Rimuro.
• The only confirmed relatives of Dark Matter are Dark Matter Clone, Zero, and Gooey. As stated by 20th Anniversary Kirby Pupupu Encyclopedia, any relation to other characters suspected by the fans — such as 0² and Dark Nebula — is unknown.

Adeleine

• It is not confirmed that Ado from Kirby's Dream Land 3 is the same person as Adeleine. There is plenty of evidence for both sides of the argument, but HAL has avoided giving a clear answer in various occasions ever since 2012, with a statement present in the 20th Anniversary Kirby Pupupu Encyclopedia. See here for more exhaustive look on the matter.

Shadow Kirby

• Shadow Kirby is not a coward. While this may be assumed from his behavior in Kirby & The Amazing Mirror (as he shies away from Kirby and only indirectly helps him fight Dark Mind), this is never officially stated, and both Kirby & The Amazing Mirror and Kirby Fighters 2 imply that he is competent at being the guardian of the Mirror World.

Squeaks

• Spinni is not female in Japanese. While not a common misconception these days, at one point in the English fandom, there was a belief that Spinni was considered female in Japanese. Naturally, this does not add up to begin with, as Japanese is not a heavily gendered language; not only that, no text in Kirby: Squeak Squad refers to Spinni directly, and in Kirby Mass Attack, the few times Daroach addresses Spinni do not use any pronouns in Japanese. Only in the Kirby novel series, Spinni has dialogue and uses the first person pronoun オレ (ore), which is overall masculine, but as mentioned previously, first person pronouns in Japanese are not simply just "male or female", and could be used by someone of any gender. Regardless, nothing points to Spinni being female in Japanese in particular.

Galacta Knight

• Galacta Knight is not non-canon. This is widely assumed by the fanbase due to Galacta Knight never appearing in the Story Mode of a main-series Kirby game, but it is a misconception tied to the idea that Extra Modes are non-canon, which is not the case (see #Lore).
• Galacta Knight is not confirmed to be one of the "four heroes of yore" mentioned in Kirby Star Allies. Some relation is implied by Aeon Hero (Dark) using an attack that wields weapons resembling spears of the heart, but anything else is unconfirmed beyond speculation.
• Galacta Knight is not related to Morpho Knight. This misconception is largely due to a lack of context regarding Morpho Knight's appearance in Kirby Star Allies. Due to the vague phrasing of the English localization — saying that Morpho Knight was "brought into existence by [Galacta Knight] and reborn as a knight of doom through years of adversity" — some assumed that Morpho Knight was a reincarnation of Galacta Knight or that the shape it took was influenced by Galacta Knight's appearance. As Kirby and the Forgotten Land shows, Morpho Knight feasts on souls but does not cause them to reincarnate, and it takes on its knightly form regardless of who it subjugates.

Taranza

• Taranza is not female. (incomplete)

Queen Sectonia

• Dark Meta Knight is not confirmed to have corrupted Queen Sectonia. All official material states that she was already beauty-obsessed and vain, and as she constantly stared into the Dimension Mirror, the mirror's power twisted her vanity into tyranny, which ultimately caused her own demise. Dark Meta Knight is not indicated to have had any part in it other than being physically trapped inside the mirror.

Susie

• The Japanese version of Kirby Star Allies does not explicitly state that Susie has reformed and is no longer evil. This misconception stems from her Guest Star pause screen; these are generally written in first-person perspective in the Japanese version of the game. In the English version, her description states "she uses science to advance her mission—mechanizing new planets and peoples." In the Japanese version, this statement is instead, from Susie's perspective:「科学の力で 家族だんらん、幸せな くらしを ごていきょう… そんな理念の もと、ヤバンなヤツは くじょ、いたしますわ！」("We provide harmony in families and happiness in life through the power of science... based upon this ideal, I'll exterminate you savages!") While the nuance is slightly different, the Japanese description still states that Susie "has inherited his (President Haltmann)'s volition" (あの方の 意志をうけつぎ). This indicates that her quote about "harmony in families and happiness in life" is merely an extension of her usual behavior, using positive-sounding corporate-speak to mask her true intention (for example, see Clanky Woods 2.0 and its discussion of being cost-reduced and eco-friendly).

King D-Mind

• King D-Mind is not Shadow Dedede and/or Dark Mind. (incomplete)

The Three Mage-Sisters

• The Three Mage-Sisters are not related by blood. (incomplete)

Void

• Kirby is not Void. This misconception is one of the most infamous ones of the series, and is rooted both in the vagueness of various texts in Kirby Star Allies, as well as changes and omissions present in the English localization of said game. Void is a being that can become anything and is directly influenced by who first awakens him,, as well as the type of energy collected. Hyness planned to revive Void as Void Termina, Destroyer of Worlds, and while he partly succeeded, Void was also influenced by Kirby and "started to feel something", and then resembled his face. Thus, Hyness's wish for Void to be revived as a "destroyer god" conflicted with the friendly influence he received from Kirby. As such, various pause descriptions depict both Void's evil and aggressive nature (as Hyness wanted him to be), as well as Kirby's own easygoing, bold, and friendly nature (due to Kirby's direct influence on Void as he was born). The latter is often misinterpreted as Void eventually going to be reborn as Kirby, but what is said in official media goes along more with Void being reborn as a more generic "friend". It is often misinterpreted because, in the English translation of Void Soul's Special Page, the wording of what Void can "rise again" as implies that there are only two possibilities, these being positive (often assumed to be Kirby) and negative (often assumed to be Dark Matter); however, the Japanese text does not directly mention positive or negative energies, and instead just mentions energy more generically, and says that Void can turn into "all sorts of beings".
• Void is not the source of all Dark Matter, and has no direct connection to Dark Matter either. This misconception primarily stems from Void Termina's Final Core bearing a great resemblance to Dark Matter and 0², as well as Hyness mentioning in his rant that "we [are] masters of a matter most dark", which may imply a connection but does not outright state anything, much less that Void is the origin of Dark Matter. The Japanese version states that Void is formed by the union of dark matter (the literal substance, not the character or species) with "dream", "soul", and "heart" matter, combined with chaos and infinite possibilities. The Korean and Chinese versions contain a similar statement.
• Void is only called a God by Hyness and The Three Mage-Sisters, and is not officially confirmed to be one. (incomplete)

Morpho Knight

Meta Knight's artwork from Kirby's Adventure (left) and the art that is often mistaken to be his early design (right). Note the differences in the amount of detail and art style between them.

• Morpho Knight was not originally an early Meta Knight design. Morpho Knight was intended to be a boss in the cancelled Kirby for Nintendo GameCube. The confusion likely originated from Kirby's 20th Anniversary Celebration Book, which puts early concept art for Morpho Knight on a page dedicated to Meta Knight with no explanation.

Elfilin

• Elfilin did not split apart from Fecto Elfilis exactly 30 years prior to the events of Kirby and the Forgotten Land. The Dream Discoveries Tour states that Elfilin split apart "30 years after research began" on Specimen ID-F86. Any indeterminate amount of time could have passed after this; thus, it is unknown exactly how long ago the event took place.
• Elfilin and Fecto Forgo are not exact halves of Fecto Elfilis. While Leongar refers to Elfilin as Fecto Forgo's "missing half" in his dialogue prior to his boss fight, this is not meant to be taken as Elfilin and Fecto Forgo being literal halves of one being; it is more accurately stated in figure descriptions that Elfilin is "a small, compassionate soul that hid behind greater, invasive ambitions", comparatively a much smaller part of the whole that makes up Fecto Elfilis. By comparison, the Japanese text uses the term 片割れ (kataware), which can be translated as "fragment" in this context.

Lore

• There's no set timeline and continuity in the series. (incomplete)

• The anime, manga series, and novel series, are not the same continuity as the games: each is their own continuity. (incomplete)

• The Kirby series is not confirmed to be set within the Milky Way Galaxy. This is a misconception due to the English name of Milky Way Wishes, which implies that the game (and thus, Popstar) takes place in the Milky Way. However, the Japanese title is "Wish Upon the Galaxy" and makes no reference to the Milky Way specifically; the manual for Kirby's Dream Land mentions that Popstar (unnamed at the time) is so distant that it is not visible from Earth, thus making it unlikely that it would situated in the Milky Way. The actual name of the setting of Milky Way Wishes, according to the description of the Starship, is the "starry path" (known as the "Milky Road" in Japanese); the galaxy that Popstar is located within does not have a confirmed official name (Gamble Galaxy likely does not refer to it).

• The inhabitants of the Mirror World are not all counterparts of characters from Popstar. The only entities confirmed to be counterparts of characters from Popstar are Dark Meta Knight, Shadow Kirby, and Shadow Dedede. Most of the enemies encountered in the Mirror World do not look any different from those encountered on Popstar, even those from Kirby & The Amazing Mirror that made appearances in later entries to the main series. In Kirby: Triple Deluxe, Queen Sectonia was corrupted into her wasp-like form after staring into the Dimension Mirror, while not stated to have created a Mirror World counterpart of her. In Team Kirby Clash Deluxe, Taranza has a dark counterpart - Dark Taranza, however he is summoned from the Black Mirror, which is not related to the Mirror World in any way. A Kirby JP Twitter game report for Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe also revealed that Magolor has no Mirror World counterpart even when he is reflected via the Dimension Mirror, further supporting this.

• Kirby: Triple Deluxe is not confirmed to take place directly after Kirby Super Star. This was just an example given by Shinya Kumazaki on the Kirby: Triple Deluxe Miiverse channel — "the opening cutscene starts in a way that could be picking up from the ending of Kirby Super Star, in that we see Kirby at home snoozing away in bed..." — as a point of comparison for the game's opening cutscene. While it is generally safe to assume that later Kirby titles come after earlier ones chronologically, there is no defined timeline for the series.

• Necrodeus is not confirmed to have created the Sun Stones. As above, this misinformation stems from a Miiverse post, in which Shinya Kumazaki theorizes that the Sun Stones could have been created by "someone who dislikes the sun", robbing Floralia of sunlight by turning it into jewels; he never specifically names Necrodeus. Necrodeus dislikes light and wishes to steep the world in darkness. However, the quote specifically focuses on sunlight, relating to Kirby: Triple Deluxe's recurring theme of stars and celestial bodies (i.e. the sun and the moon), rather than light in general. Furthermore, when addressing sunlight, it specifically mentions the sunlight of Floralia, and does not mention darkness as a factor at all. These aspects point to the quote more likely referring to Queen Sectonia, who is heavily associated with moonlight and jewels, and has a more obvious motivation to control the sunlight of Floralia specifically (to prevent the Dreamstalk from growing).

• It's unclear why exactly the ancient civilization that once inhabited the new world left it. (incomplete)

• There's no confirmation that the habitants of the new world were humans. While the new world greatly resembles our world, there is notably no depiction of human beings in any part of it (for example, there are no mannequins within the malls, and car advertisements do not feature any people riding within them), and the previous inhabitants are never referred to as humans. The name of the "simple" staff roll theme, "From Those Who Departed for Space", may imply that the denizens of the new world were humans (the game's staff themselves being "those who departed for space"), but this is unconfirmed. At most, the depiction of Neichel at the Kirby 30th Anniversary Music Festival is the most compelling evidence, but this is itself a supplementary material that is not confirmed to be part of the games' continuity. Relatedly, within an interview in the festival's pamphlet, Shinya Kumazaki describes his thoughts on writing "Welcome to the New World!", which relate to the new world's similarity to humanity: "if there is a world, there will be civilization, and if there is civilization, there will be writing, signs of people, and language as well." (世界が あるなら文明があり、文明があるなら文字があり、そこには人の息吹があって、言葉もあるわけです。)

Gameplay

• The famous Hammer Super Jump glitch from Kirby and the Forgotten Land can be performed by any version of Hammer, not just Toy Hammer. (incomplete)

Game development

General

• Nintendo is not the sole or primary creator of Kirby games. This misconception often exists due to the fact that Kirby games exclusively release on Nintendo consoles, and how closely the series is related to Nintendo due to that. In reality, it is HAL Laboratory that makes most games, and while it is true that Nintendo often assists with production and publishes the games, most of the development of the game is done in-house by HAL (in particular, all main series games were developed at least partly by HAL). The only Kirby games developed internally by Nintendo were Kirby's Block Ball and Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble.

• Masahiro Sakurai has no involvement with recent Kirby games. Sakurai's last work on a Kirby game was on Kirby & The Amazing Mirror, as a "Special Advisor", and the last Kirby game he had full involvement on as a director was Kirby Air Ride. He has not been credited or known to be involved in any other Kirby game since.

Kirby Super Star

Spritework of some Kirby Super Star Copy Abilities, created on the NES as a prototype.

• Kirby Super Star was not originally developed for the NES. It was always intended to be a SNES title. This misconception stems from how an NES prototype for Kirby Super Star does exist and has been shown off. Masahiro Sakurai used his NES development tool to create rough concepts for Kirby Super Star — in particular, the size of the sprites and how they moved — because there was a waiting period before they received their SNES development tools. Sakurai explains this concept in more detail in this Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games video.

Kirby Star Allies

• Kirby Star Allies did not release in an incomplete state. There are many forms in which this misconception manifests, often alongside claims that content was withheld from the base game and added in updates due to a rushed development cycle. However, such claims have no source. When asked about this, Shinya Kumazaki stated that the game has deliberately brisk pace so that everyone can reach the ending, even young children who have never played a video game before. In addition, he stated that Kirby Star Allies had updates in order to keep interest in the game, as well as "keep long-time fans happy". While Dream Friends were part of the initial update plan, Heroes in Another Dimension was not, and was instead added in lieu of an extra planet for Story Mode because the developers "figured players might enjoy having an additional game mode even more". Moreover, HAL Laboratory staff have claimed multiple times that they only release games when they are complete and meet the company's high quality standards, so they would never release an incomplete game; this is the reason Kirby's Return to Dream Land took 11 years to develop.

Other

• Dream Land, the location, is always two words, never one (Dreamland). The word "dreamland" by itself is often written as one word, but this does not apply to Dream Land outside of rare instances where official material misspells it (i.e. "Return to Dreamland" being used in certain Miiverse posts and the Japanese name of the song "Return to Dream Land"). Moreover, while Eternal Dreamland parses it as one word, this is not referring to the location of Dream Land, but rather the concept of an "eternal dreamland" of endless sleep.
• HAL Laboratory is always singular — it is not "HAL Laboratories". Though the company currently comprises two locations, it was only one when it was founded, so it has remained a singular "laboratory". Furthermore, the HAL is always capitalized (it is not "Hal"), though it is also not an acronym. The name has been variously suggested by Satoru Iwata to derive from the fictional supercomputer HAL 9000, or because "each letter put them one step ahead of IBM".
• There are multiple Kirby manga series. (incomplete)