Former Nintendo staff explain why Kirby used to be angrier in the west

Back in the day, Kirby fans used to talk about how the character appeared angry – but that applies only to the west. If you looked at key art or boxart for the series’ various games in Japan, Kirby was often seen smiling and looked happier. It was overseas where things were different. So what was going on there?

Polygon caught up with a couple of former Nintendo of America staffers to get insight into the situation. Leslie Swan, the company’s former localization manager, first spoke about cultural differences between the United States and Japan and how “tween and teen boys tend to be drawn to tougher characters” in the west. However, it also seems that Nintendo didn’t exactly believe they were making Kirby angry – rather the character was depicting a look in which he’s “determined against all odds.”

Swan 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.”

Swan went on to talk about the Game Boy days. Kirby is pink, but back then, color wasn’t an issue. However, after that, “a puffy pink character for boys who are trying to be cool just wasn’t going to get the sales that everybody wanted.”

Krysta Yang, who worked in marketing at Nintendo of America from 2007 to 2022, chimed in on this as well.

Yang said:

“There was certainly a period of time for Nintendo, and even gaming in general, to have a more adult/cool factor. […] Having a game that was labeled ‘kiddie’ was really a curse. Nintendo still needed to focus on its kid audience, but there was a shift in trying to make its characters more broadly appealing to a wider audience. One example is the marketing for the Nintendo DS’ Kirby Super Star Ultra [in 2008]: The marketing focused on making Kirby a more appealing character, especially for boys, so the marketing tagline was ‘Super Tuff Pink Puff.’

“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,” Yang says. “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!”

Eventually things changed at Nintendo and Kirby now sports universal artwork across all regions. According to Yang, Nintendo made a change in its business strategy “to have more global marketing.” The main thing, of course, is that angry Kirby is no more.

Speaking of Kirby, you can check out our thoughts on the series’ best games ever here.