The Unintentional Christianity of Kirby

I've come to make an announcement! Kirby, a nearly 30-year-old video game franchise from industry titan Nintendo may have Christian underpinnings.

No, seriously! It does!

I have made no bones about my faith here on LinkedIn (with a majority of my posts being either concept art for my original series Eternity Kingdoms or fan art for things that inspire me), and I enjoy looking into secular media and finding Christian parallels. You could reinterpret Transformers as a metaphor for the spiritual warfare that goes on around us as we live life. For all of its narrative and pacing faults, you could look at Steven Universe as a story of redemption and love. And as abysmal as the reboot is, I feel like someone could reimagine She-Ra as a metaphor for a young woman becoming a Christian and trying to redeem a fallen world alongside her new brothers and sisters in Christ.

However, I'm not here to talk about those specific stories. Instead, I'm here to talk about the surprising depth of Kirby- both in terms of lore and in terms of parallels to my faith.

Let's say go!

SERIES OVERVIEW

Kirby is a series of video games born from the mind of Masahiro Sakurai (y'know, the Smash Bros. and Kid Icarus Uprising guy?) and developed by common Nintendo cohort HAL Laboratory. The series was born when HAL was assigned to develop an easy game for the Game Boy that could be played by anyone regardless of skill level. Development progressed smoothly, but something very interesting happened- the simple design meant to be a placeholder for a more realized character had endeared itself to those working on the title!

Originally named "Popopo" (in coordination with the game's title of "Twinkle Popopo"), the blob soon-to-be-known as Kirby gained his final name due to Shigeru Miyamoto (the man who we owe Mario and The Legend of Zelda to) wanting to honor John Kirby, the lawyer who defended Donkey Kong from Universal's claims that the big ape was a knockoff of King Kong. Miyamoto also found the guttural-sounding name humorous when juxtaposed against the character's cute appearance.

(On top of having a character named for him, John was awarded a sailboat named Donkey Kong and the exclusive right to name sailboats after the character.)

Unfortunately, Miyamoto and Sakurai butted heads when deciding the final palette of Kirby. Sakurai wanted the little puffball to be pink; Miyamoto insisted on him being yellow. The Game Boy's monochromatic screen combined with the two bickering over Kirby's colors led Nintendo of America to depict him as white in both the box art and advertisements for the first game Kirby's Dream Land.

(Miyamoto technically got his wish years later; yellow tends to be used as an alternate palette for when two players use Kirby in a spin-off title)

The first game was a success, following a simple narrative of Kirby fighting to save the realm of Dream Land (and its food) from the gluttonous penguin King Dedede and providing a fun, short experience. HAL would gain similar reception for Kirby's Adventure, one of the last NES titles to be released by Nintendo themselves, the first game in the series to utilize "Copy Abilities", powers gained when Kirby inhaled an opponent, and the first game to include the enigmatic Meta Knight. (Inhaling's kind of his thing) Sakurai included these to help motivate more experienced players to experiment with how they went through the game.

As the series went on, the "Kirby formula" was refined, albeit fragmented. Sakurai only worked on three more titles (the jam-packed Kirby Super Star, the racing spin-off Kirby Air Ride, and a remake of Adventure for the Game Boy Advance) due to his frustration with the increased sequelization of HAL. This frustration is somewhat justified when you consider how three games in the series directed by Shinichi Shimomura were a trilogy that excluded Meta Knight, brought in six animal friends, and focused on Kirby's battles against Dark Matter.

Currently, the series is under the guiding hand of Shinya Kumazaki. His games in the series follow a similar path to Sakurai's establishing titles while also beefing up the lore of the franchise significantly. They took the formula of Super Star and refine it to fit the modern era, which is a good thing because Super Star was and still is considered to be one of the best games in the series. Just in the last decade, we've had Kirby's Return to Dream Land, Kirby Triple Deluxe, Kirby Planet Robobot, and Kirby Star Allies. All four of these games build off of each other while still being plenty accessible to newcomers.

With that out of the way, let's take a deeper dive into the characters, their world, and how the series shows light and love triumphing over darkness.

PART 1: Kirby the Humble Servant

Kirby has never had a "set" origin story. Then again, many of Nintendo's heroes don't. Unless the story demands it (such as Metroid's Samus Aran or Super Mario Galaxy's Rosalina), their characters tend to serve the purposes of gameplay. Kirby is no different, but there's an aura of mystery that surrounds him.

We're told in many post-Super Star games that Kirby blew into Dream Land on a "spring breeze" (the exact title of a mini-remake of the first game within Super Star). His age depends on where you look for information. He's sometimes described as a little boy, Super Star's tutorial jokingly described him as a "jolly fellow" (much to his consternation), and the anime portrayed him as a baby. An extremely potent baby, but still a baby.

Kirby: Right Back At Ya!, the short-lived Kirby anime (then again, 100 episodes isn't exactly what I'd call short-lived) portrayed our pink puffy hero as an infantile "Star Warrior", a member of an intergalactic band of heroic warriors who'd all but been snuffed out by darkness, with only Kirby, Meta Knight, and some anime-original characters being those who remained of the group. The games don't reflect the idea of Kirby being a baby or him being a Star Warrior, but they do portray him as being young and impetuous at times.

For example, Kirby's Adventure sees Kirby go on a quest to defeat King Dedede and retrieve the Star Rod, a magical staff that could grant dreams of all varieties to those who slept. The commercials from the time would paint the king as evil for doing this, but in actuality, Dedede was doing the world a favor. See, a dark being known as Nightmare had infested the Fountain of Dreams (a fountain powered by the Star Rod), and Dedede's solution was to split up the Rod and send it to his most trusted guards. Kirby, however, thought the king was acting out of malice and stormed to his castle with the restored Rod in hand-nub-thing.

Unfortunately, he released Nightmare by plugging the Star Rod back in, prompting him and Dedede to briefly panic before the two get their bearings and work together to defeat the dark wizard. Similarly, Kirby Squeak Squad sees our pink hero go on a rampage all because a gang of mouse thieves stole his strawberry shortcake. (Yes, really. That's the actual premise) In spite of these flaws, however, Kirby has a strong moral compass and very kind heart for his age.

Throughout the series, Kirby is shown to be friendly towards those who need help with their problems. This amenable attitude has been abused by those who want their dirty deeds done for free (see Marx of Super Star and Magolor of Return to Dream Land), but more often than not, it's paid off. The "Dark Matter Trilogy" and Star Allies emphasize this point, with both having a focus on Kirby's kindness causing a change of heart in his enemies.

In fact, Dream Land 3 (the middle chapter of the DM Trilogy) shows Kirby's kind actions being repaid by the people of Dream Land by the gift of "Heart Stars" and eventually culminating in him gaining the weapon needed to take on the true enemy of the game. His kindness is also able to impact former foes, with some of them redeeming themselves as the series goes on and returning in later games as playable allies.

Notably, Kirby isn't doing his heroic work for the sake of glory or praise from others. He's just going off of what he believes to be right and his own judgement. There have been times where he's missed part of the picture (as mentioned earlier, he didn't know about Nightmare and assumed Dedede was acting out of malice), but he never seems to take on the various threats facing him and his home for the sake of looking cool. He sees a problem, and he makes efforts to set things right, whether it be something as small as returning stolen food or something as gargantuan as taking down demonic abominations with the literal power of friendship.

In a sense, Kirby is humble in how he approaches his work. Christians are called to have faith like little children and to clothe themselves with "compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." (Colossians 3: 12-14) Kirby embodies all of that, even with his lapses in judgement relating to his gut instinct.

His rivalries with Dedede and Meta Knight are less nemesis-like and more akin to friendships that occasionally go sour because of poor decision making on the king and knight's ends. He's more than happy to help those who need it, even if he may be backstabbed. He's willing to offer redemption, even when those who he's offering grace to have hit their moral low points. And he's willing to love even when he may face hate for it. All of this is seen in how he approaches the world- instead of choosing to abuse his power for his own glorification, Kirby uses it to benefit others' lives.

I've noticed that over the last four Kumazaki-directed games, the main antagonists' pride override their better judgement, leading to their downfall. Kirby's humility, while the games don't emphasize it, triumphs over the haughty villains, and in some cases points them towards redemption. "God opposes the proud and rewards the humble," after all.

In fact, even the juxtaposition of a tiny, puffy hero against a massive threat far greater than himself evokes a David and Goliath-like dynamic, but on a much grander scale. Later games emphasize their one-off gimmicks that have Kirby overpower his final opponent, but I've always found the image of Kirby utilizing the "real super power of teamwork" (to borrow a quote from the Sonic series) or a weapon that embodies all that is good against a massive monster that embodies the darkness and horrors of the world to be far more impactful.

Overall, Kirby is the ideal hero. He may look like a blank slate and casual observers would assume that he's got a vacant mind, but looks can be deceiving. "People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16: 7) And if God were to look at Kirby (if he was a real being and not a fictional character), I would assume He'd be quite pleased with the pink puffball's humility and content of his heart*.

*DISCLAIMER: I am not speaking for God in this statement. I am merely going off what I've learned about Him and His character.

PART 2: The King and Knight, or "ReDeDeDemption"

As mentioned two paragraphs ago, King Dedede and Meta Knight have unique roles within the Nintendo pantheon. They're not outright villains like Bowser or Ganondorf; they're in classes all their own. Let's start with the king who uses the smashy thing, shall we?

In the first game in the series (and its mini-remake within Super Star), Dedede is nothing more than a greedy tyrant who stole all of Dream Land's food to satisfy his own gluttony. However, Adventure shifted his character slightly. He took the Star Rod and split it up not to prevent the people of Dream Land from having sweet dreams, but rather to prevent them from being subject to Nightmare's torment. In fact, after Kirby releases Nightmare due to not knowing of the dark wizard's presence within the Fountain of Dreams, Dedede immediately takes action by inhaling Kirby and the Star Rod, spitting them skyward so Kirby can engage in the final fight.

This was an interesting character shift. Suddenly, Dedede wasn't a villain. He had the potential to be a hero, even if he had moments where he seemed antagonistic or selfish. Notably, his only appearance in Super Star outside of the mini-remake of the first game and the "Samurai Kirby" minigame was in a subgame which saw him and Kirby having a competition to see how much food they could gobble while racing.

Two games of the "Dark Matter Trilogy" (Kirby's Dream Land 2 and KDL 3) all show Dedede as the "final" boss, but he isn't himself in these battles. If you gather all the collectibles necessary to gain these games' good endings, he is revealed to have been possessed by Dark Matter, a hive mind of dark beings capable of overtaking the minds and hearts of those they control. Kirby 64, the final game in the "trilogy", repeats the plot beat of Dark Matter-possessed Dedede, but unlike the past games, the king helps Kirby out at various intervals, offering his trusty mallet's help as he smashes through barriers.

There were still moments when the king was making trouble (Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble saw him steal all the stars in the sky), but everything after Adventure tended to portray him as selfish but good-hearted with an on-off rivalry with Kirby. The Kumazaki-directed games (with the exception of Planet Robobot) even go as far as making Dedede one of the heroes you can play as, solidifying his transformation from greedy penguin man to occasionally selfish "frenemy" to Kirby.

I can't think of an exact Biblical parallel for Dedede, but there were many people (whether they be self-righteous religious sorts like Paul pre-Damascus, kings like Nebuchadnezzar or generals like Naaman) who were transformed by God to proclaim His glory and carry out His good work. Considering how many times he's been saved from dark possession by Kirby, one could easily argue that those rescues made his one attempt to do right by the Dream Landers into many efforts to protect his land.

Right Back at Ya! didn't reflect this character transition, sadly. The anime incarnation of the king was a borderline villain, trying various times to outright off- er, clobber Kirby and the kids who'd taken older sibling-like roles to the young Star Warrior. It gets rather disturbing when you consider anime!Kirby is practically a baby, making Dedede something of a Herod-like figure determined not to let a young upstart from the beyond overshadow his position.

Fortunately, anime Dedede softened his efforts to get rid of the pink puffball as the series went on, settling on attempts to ruin Kirby's image. One particularly hilarious episode sees him trying to make a cartoon on an incredibly tight schedule (with the Dream Landers' help) to bash his nemesis's character and the end result... is gloriously terrible. It's honestly one of the best and worst things to come out of the show, and I recommend you look up "Dedede: Comin' At Ya!" if you're in need of a good laugh.

Ultimately, Dedede is the most visible example of Kirby's morals and actions shaping the person of another character. He's gone from gluttonous tyrant to occasionally-selfish hero, and even then, he's been considerably less selfish than he was in the early days of the series than he is now. Now that the king's all discussed, let's move onto Meta Knight.

MK first appeared in Kirby's Adventure, where he set many precedents for his later appearances within the series. He refuses to fight Kirby until the pink puffball takes the sword given to him (thus creating a balanced fight), he provides a burst of challenge in a mostly easy game, and defeat causes the masked swordsman's mask to break, revealing a Kirby-like visage that's visible for a few seconds before he swoops off to repair his broken mask. Simple as that.

However, there's an aura of mystery around Meta Knight. Who is he? Why does he look like Kirby beneath the mask? Why does he know how to fight so well? The anime attempted to answer this, portraying Meta Knight as a hardened Star Warrior who served Dedede as a guard but acted as a secret mentor to Kirby, teaching him how to fight. Basically, the anime portrayed him as Mando and Kirby as Baby Yoda.

This casts an interesting light on his portrayal in the games, making his duel against Kirby in Adventure less of a straightforward fight and more of a test of our hero's skill with a sword. (Heck, that's what episode 3 of the anime is about) Super Star's "Revenge of Meta Knight" saw him launch an all-out offensive with an airship bearing his visage (the Halberd) to conquer Dream Land and free it from its "lazy lifestyle". You'd think this was out of character for him, but it really isn't. The only real "OOC" moment in the "ROMK" campaign was an oddly dark line of "Prepare to die!" brought in by the American translation team who thought he was a bonafide villain. (Thankfully, this was fixed in Super Star's remake)

Even after Kirby destroyed a majority of the Halberd in an effort to stop Meta Knight's "conquest", the masked warrior still insists upon Kirby taking up a sword before they fight. He still wanted an honorable fight where both parties were on equal terms. Following Super Star, Meta Knight is in a consistently heroic role. Kirby and the Amazing Mirror sees him give Kirby his sword to face an eldritch evil, and he's been playable within three of the four Kumazaki-directed games (minus Triple Deluxe).

Biblically speaking, I see Meta Knight as the Paul to Kirby's Timothy, especially if we layer his backstory from the anime on top of what the games already give us. He's an aging warrior who's fought to carry out good works passing on his wisdom and knowledge to his young student. Paul wasn't a physical warrior, but he prayed intensely for those who had yet to know Christ and wrote a majority of the New Testament to help flourishing churches, with his final books being dedicated to encouraging those he was closest to as they fought the good fight for winning souls.

In summation, Dedede and Meta Knight are notable among the Nintendo rogues gallery. Where Bowser may team up with Mario suppose a greater threat makes itself known, these two aren't villains or even that bad. They've found themselves in the position of heroes or mentors more often than not, and even when they're fought in later games, they're not fighting under their own volition. Dedede rede-de-deemed himself; Meta Knight mentored Kirby through their various sword fights. And since we covered two of Kirby's closest allies/occasional opponents, let's talk some about how the Kirby series provides in-story justification for multiplayer.

PART 3: Two (or Four) are Better Than One, or "Star Allies is a Good Game and Here's Why"

Kirby's Dream Land 2 saw the introduction of four new partners for Kirby. Coo the Owl, Kine the Fish, and Rick the Hamster joined Kirby on his quest to gather the Rainbow Drops necessary to fight Dark Matter. Interestingly, if a player were to go back to where they found one of the animal friends, you'll find a guy named Gooey. He replenishes Kirby's health, and that's about it for him.

The next game (Dream Land 3) saw Gooey bumped up from healer to ally for Kirby and "player 2" character. Interestingly, Gooey bore a resemblance to Dark Matter, specifically when flying around. This implies that Kirby somehow managed to break a chunk of Dark Matter away from the hive mind and befriend it. Gooey's not a particularly bright soul (he somehow failed to notice the Dark Matter invasion despite the GIANT MASS OF DARKNESS IN THE SKY), but he means well and he and Kirb have a good rapport.

Dream Land 3 also saw the introduction of Pitch the Bird, Nago the Cat, and Chuchu the Octopus, bringing the total amount of animal friends up to six. Sadly, the animal friends and Gooey went missing afterwards, only reappearing in Kirby Star Allies twenty-one years later. That game's going to be important in this section and the next one, folks.

Kirby 64 saw our pink hero ally with fairy Ribbon, artist Adeleine/Ado (both names are canon, Ado is just her nickname), Dedede, and a Waddle Dee (functionally the Goomba of the Kirby series) to take down Dark Matter once and for all while gathering shards of a powerful light crystal that could repel the heinous hive mind.

Out of the trilogy, Dream Land 3 is the only one to allow for Kirby to work alongside another character controlled by another player throughout the game. Sure, it means he's more vulnerable (summoning Gooey takes a small chunk of Kirby's health), but the game becomes a bit easier with Gooey at your side. Similarly, Super Star allowed for Kirby to sacrifice his current Copy Ability to create a "helper" based on the opponent who he stole the ability from. I don't know how Kirby's biology allows him to do this (and I don't want to know), but it's neat.

Much like with Gooey, Kirby sacrificing part of himself allows for those playing Super Star to provide a way for their friend or siblings to play together. Return to Dream Land saw a similar gimmick, albeit one that didn't allow for Kirby to make "helpers" and had Dedede, Meta Knight and a spear-wielding Waddle Dee in a snazzy bandanna aiding him on his quest. Again, Kirby had to give up part of himself (one of his "lives") to allow for other characters to join him on his journey/for other players to join in?

Isn't that how our relationships with friends are expected to be? "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken." (Ecclesiastes 4: 9-12)

Simply put, Kirby games with multiplayer have a reason to have multiplayer. Where many recent Nintendo games have multiplayer because the franchise has characters designed for multiplayer (Mario and Luigi), Kirby games have an in-game reason for it. A majority of Kirby's allies are either friends or former rivals who can come in at any time, but at a cost to our hero's self. He's giving part of himself so that others may benefit, and they give their part back.

And I couldn't think of a better game to use as an example than Kirby Star Allies.

Star Allies is a rather divisive title among Kirby fans, with some fans disliking it for its low difficulty (even by Kirby standards) and others liking it for its callbacks to past games and expansion of series lore. I'll admit, it's a tad easy compared to past games (especially if you're going for 100% completion), but it best exemplifies what I've said thus far regarding in-story justification of multiplayer.

In the game, a cult leader named Hyness unleashes dark energy upon Dream Land, corrupting Dedede, Meta Knight, and recurring baddies from throughout the series. However, Kirby has a new power that allows for him to purify those corrupted by Hyness's dark energy by literally giving them some love in the form of a "Friend Heart". Unfortunately, this doesn't come at much cost to Kirby, but the Friend Heart gimmick allows for Kirby to defeat his enemies not with a barrage of attacks, but with love and kindness.

Interestingly, the game also includes the Dream Rod, a magical device which allows for its wielder to summon a "Dream Friend" (a character from past games). Aside from Dedede, Meta Knight and Bandanna Waddle Dee, you can summon Gooey, the six animal friends, Ribbon and Adeleine, and even past enemies who've either reformed or are just there for the sake of venting their frustrations.

Alone, the allies are controlled by the game itself, but with friends, the game's potential is fully realized. You can work together to take down bosses, solve puzzles, empower each other's weapons with elemental qualities, and utilize special constructs to power through levels. It's a beautiful showcase of Kirby's amenable aura attracting allies and friends, and the final boss of the game (who we're going to go more in-depth with in the next section) is defeated by the unified body of Kirby and his allies.

One of the advertisements for Return to Dream Land when it was fresh and new had the narrator describe the playable characters of Kirby, Meta Knight, Dedede, and Bandanna Dee with "Alone, they are incredible. Together, they're unstoppable." Then, I thought it was cool. Now, I see God's hand on whoever wrote that line for that ad. Though one may be overpowered, two (or more) can defend themselves against whatever may come their way.

PART 4: The Light Shines in the Darkness, and the Darkness Understands it Not

"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." (John 1: 5)

Earlier in this article, I said that I found the image of Kirby and his friends or Kirby armed with a weapon of light and goodness going against a horrific, monstrous being to be far more powerful than Kirby overwhelming a titanic opponent with raw power. Now, to those who aren't familiar with the series, you'd assume that Kirby wasn't capable of anything truly horrifying. You would be mistaken.

Dark Matter and its variants feed off positive emotions, leaving darkness and anger in its wake. ("Dark Matter Trilogy", Squeak Squad, Kirby and the Rainbow Curse)

When possessed by Dark Matter, Dedede's belly morphs into a horrific chomping jaw. (Dream Land 2, 3, and Kirby 64)

The "Mirror World" version of Dark Matter, Dark Mind, manifests as a flaming bloodshot eyeball. (Amazing Mirror)

The Master Crown mutates the power-hungry Magolor into something twisted, almost as a punishment for his hubris in assuming he could control the ancient artifact. (Return to Dream Land)

Queen Sectonia succumbed to her vanity and tried to drown Dream Land in an eternal slumber, wrapped in toxic vines with her feeding off the planet's energy. (Triple Deluxe)

Star Dream, a wish-granting supercomputer, destroyed a father's relationship with his daughter and proceeded to attempt wiping out all organic life. (Planet Robobot)

And Hyness's cult was bent on summoning an ancient being of destruction capable that was simply known as "Void Termina, Destroyer of Worlds" (Star Allies).

Harrowing as these horrors are, Kirby is able to overcome all that comes his way. He and his allies took on Dark Matter with light and love, he took on Dark Mind with Meta Knight's blade Galaxia, he broke Magolor free from the Master Crown's grip, and he took down a destructive demon with the power of friendship. I don't count Sectonia or Star Dream among those who've lost to Kirby, as they were beaten with raw force rather than more Christlike means.

In fact, Star Allies has a very intriguing detail if choosing to rematch Void Termina in the "Ultimate Choice" boss-rush mode. It's a brutal slog to get to it (especially if you're doing it on higher difficulties), but there's an interesting way to damage the destroyer of worlds. If you throw Friend Hearts at it, Void will take damage. Through a gesture of love and friendship, Kirby is able to repel Void's assaults against him.

To me, this is a visual manifestation of (or parallel to) John 1: 5. Kirby's efforts to reach out to Void are light, and Void cannot understand why Kirby keeps doing this because of how monstrous it is. Amidst the darkness that is Void, Kirby chooses to shine his light and show love, even if his opponent fails to understand it.

I don't know if Kumazaki and the current Kirby team at HAL are Christian, but this was a very cool detail I appreciate. On top of that, Star Allies puts Kirby's kind heart first and foremost, allowing for him to purify Dedede and Meta Knight while turning lesser foes into friends and call upon past friends and ex-foes in times of need. It reaffirms the themes of love, friendship and kindness from past games, creating a sweet, beautiful conclusion to the game that best parallels Ephesians 2: 19-22.

"So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit."

The final fight of Star Allies pits Kirby and every ally in the game- whether they be former evil grunts, on-off rivals, long-lost friends, redeemed enemies, or others- delivering one final blow to Void Termina, destroying its dark power with their unity and friendship. Without Kirby, this ragtag band of oddballs probably would've never come together or changed for the better. Kirby has, in a sense, become the corner stone of the alliance of unlikely heroes of light who stood against Void's pure darkness. They were no longer strangers and alien to one another, but now they were all-star allies, brought together by some form of providence.

CONCLUSION

Why did I write this? I can think of at least three reasons:

1. Kirby is a series near and dear to my heart, and I wanted to voice my feelings on the series from a different angle than just "kIrBo Is GuD gaMe".
2. I wanted to write out something Christian for Holy Week this year.
3. There's a YouTuber by the name of Jeremy Chinshue (channel name: TerminalMontage) who makes absurdist animations reimagining video games, predominantly those from Nintendo. Kirby (or "Kirbo", as these videos call him) is portrayed as a comically exaggerated Christian who defeats demonic abominations with the power of quoting Scripture and holding up crosses. I wouldn't recommend them for kids due to certain imagery and violence, but if you're a gamer who wants to see ridiculous reimaginings of their favorite series, I'd give 'em a look.

Some will say I'm looking way too deep into "a kid's game" with all this talk of dark beasts and horrific monsters being defeated by a humble champion of light. I'll rebutt this with the point that Kirby games are designed for everyone and that most of the dark stuff tends to be hidden on the pause screens for each boss. The stories of the game is simple at first glance (Kirby fights stuff because his peaceful life got thrown off balance by whatever monster) but is far more complex upon closer inspection.

Kids are often smarter than executives think they are, and I feel like giving them something that requires little thought or creativity isn't going to help them in the long run. Thankfully, those at HAL still make Kirby games with layers, with one layer being "pink puffball who can take on cool powers and fight bad guys" and another being "wow, look at all this worldbuilding and history". Christ said to let children come to Him unhindered, and by teaching them to look within the stories they consume for Biblical parallels, they'll be more discerning and wise than they would be if we let them consume media without challenging them to look deeper.

To end this article, let me quote G.K. Chesterton regarding the role of darkness and light in children's stories.

“Fairy tales, then, are not responsible for producing in children fear, or any of the shapes of fear; fairy tales do not give the child the idea of the evil or the ugly; that is in the child already, because it is in the world already. Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon. Exactly what the fairy tale does is this: it accustoms him for a series of clear pictures to the idea that these limitless terrors had a limit, that these shapeless enemies have enemies in the knights of God, that there is something in the universe more mystical than darkness, and stronger than strong fear.”

And I feel that Kirby as a series does what Chesterton described as the qualities of a fairy tale. It doesn't exist to create fear in children through the fearsome, frightening foes he faces. Instead, it showcases humility triumphing over pride, kindness over hate, and light over darkness. For as scary as beings like Dark Matter, Sectonia, and Void are...

... Kirby provides a light, just as Jesus turned the condemnation of our sins into a way for us fallen sons and daughters of man to reconcile with the Father through a relationship with him.

Have a blessed Easter weekend, everyone. God bless!