The perception of certain games and characters has driven certain “localization efforts” over the years across numerous developers and publishers. We’re not even talking about “those kinds of titles” that need censorship, but instead, ones that had a character looking a certain way in Japan, and then, when the box art was brought over to the US, the character looked different. For Kirby, the “adorable pink puffball” from Dream Land, many games of his featured him looking happy and cheerful overseas, but looking “tough” in the West.
According to a former localization manager for The Big N, Leslie Swan, this was to encourage U.S. gamers to give the games a shot. She told Polygon:
“Cute, sweet characters are popular among people of all ages in Japan. In the U.S., though, tween and teen boys tend to be drawn to tougher characters. We all thought the Kirby game mechanic was a ton of fun, and we wanted Kirby to reach the broadest audience possible. At Nintendo, we embraced the idea of the little guy facing the biggest, baddest enemies and somehow, with the player in control, triumphing. Think Link versus Ganon. Kirby had many cool transformations in the game and could be very tough. We thought he should be portrayed as a fierce, tenacious little pink puffball. I don’t think we ever thought of the artwork as angry so much as determined against all odds.”
Ironically, one of the things that worked against Kirby’s games after a while was the fact that the Game Boy didn’t feature true color…but other handhelds and consoles did. So, in the United States, the idea of young guys playing a character that was pink seemed like a stretch, especially since those kinds of games were labeled as “kiddie,” according to former Nintendo marketing worker Krysta Yang, who noted:
“There was a conscious effort from the marketing side to make Kirby seem tougher and to focus more on the game’s combat so Kirby [wasn’t] seen as something just for young kids. It certainly was a bit of a departure from smiling happy cute Kirby, but it also didn’t seem totally out of place since Kirby games are very action-based!”
Obviously, things would go on to change, and Kirby would be able to “be happy” in other box art. Many expect to see the “adorable puffball” on the Nintendo Switch 2 many times over.
