Kirby and the World Beyond Could Be Nintendo's Biggest Kirby Celebration Yet

Nintendo appears to be going all-in on Kirby's 35th anniversary, and the announcement may be more important than it initially seemed. The recent Nintendo Direct ended with a new trailer for Kirby and the World Beyond, giving you your first proper look at what appears to be a much larger 3D adventure than anything the series has attempted before. Nintendo also confirmed it has official plans to celebrate Kirby's 35th anniversary, which could mean much more is coming beyond the new game.

The timing is particularly interesting because Nintendo doesn't treat every franchise anniversary in the same way. Fans often speculate about major celebrations whenever one of Nintendo's series reaches a 5-year milestone, whether that's 35, 40, or 45 years. However, the company has traditionally reserved its biggest anniversary campaigns for some of its largest franchises.

Zelda just celebrated its 40th anniversary, and Mario had its own 40th anniversary campaign. The Pokemon Company has been celebrating Pokemon's 30th anniversary all year. These celebrations can include games, presentations, merchandise, movies, theme parks, and other projects that keep Nintendo and its partners in the spotlight.

Other Nintendo series haven't always received the same treatment. Fans have wondered about major anniversary celebrations for franchises such as Xenoblade, Metroid, and Fire Emblem, but those milestones have generally received much less attention. That's what makes Kirby's situation particularly notable.

Nintendo didn't simply mention Kirby's anniversary in passing.

It closed its latest Direct with the first major trailer for Kirby and the World Beyond, then followed with the announcement of official 35th anniversary plans. That puts Kirby in a position more similar to Mario, Zelda, and Pokemon in how Nintendo is approaching its anniversary.

That could potentially lead to a dedicated Kirby 35th anniversary Direct sometime in early 2027. Such a presentation could outline Nintendo's plans for the celebration, with Kirby and the World Beyond naturally serving as one of its central pieces. Nintendo could also announce other games or projects.

One possibility is Kirby Planet Robot, the rumored remaster of the 3DS game that has been discussed for a couple of years. The project has been associated with insider Nate the Hate, and its continued absence has left many fans wondering what happened. If Nintendo still plans to release the remaster, putting it on the original Switch could give Kirby fans another game to play during the anniversary year, especially since Kirby and the World Beyond is a Switch 2 exclusive.

The anniversary could also extend beyond games. Nintendo could also announce something Kirby-related for Super Nintendo World, but other possibilities include a Kirby movie, TV series, anime, or even a LEGO line. Projects like these have become more common around big anniversary celebrations, especially when Nintendo wants to expand a franchise outside of its core games.

This wouldn't be Kirby's first official anniversary celebration.

Nintendo celebrated the series' 30th anniversary in 2022, with Kirby and the Forgotten Land being one of the major releases around that time. This time, though, the approach feels different. Nintendo is using Kirby to close a Direct with a major reveal while also announcing a dedicated anniversary campaign.

Nintendo also has a straightforward business reason for celebrating anniversaries this way. Major celebrations give the company a chance to sell new games and merchandise while tapping into the nostalgia and affection fans have for a series. When those celebrations connect with movies or theme parks, they can also introduce the franchise to people who might not normally play the games.

Nintendo has already seen how these different parts can work together with Mario. The company has also been expanding its approach to Zelda, with a dedicated anniversary Direct, the Ocarina of Time remake, an upcoming movie, and additional initiatives announced for the franchise's 40th anniversary that have not all been revealed yet.

Kirby could now be following a similar path. If Nintendo is planning a larger campaign, you could see considerably more Kirby throughout 2027 than usual.

At the center of that celebration is Kirby and the World Beyond, and the game's scale makes the announcement even more interesting. Nintendo described it as Kirby's latest 3D adventure, with players able to freely explore while using Kirby's copy abilities. The environments shown so far are much larger than the individual areas seen in previous Kirby games.

It feels like the game has big open areas, and by the end of the trailer, the world seems to open up even more. The title's "World Beyond" concept seems to be more than just a name, as Nintendo appears to be building an expansive world for Kirby to explore.

This also follows directly from Kirby and the Forgotten Land. That game was Kirby's first major 3D adventure platformer, and it became the series' best-selling title while earning strong reviews. Kirby and the World Beyond appears to take those ideas and expand them into something considerably larger.

You can already see some familiar mechanics returning. The dodge mechanic shown in the trailer appears similar to what you could use during boss fights in Forgotten Land. Meanwhile, the overall structure seems to be moving away from the isometric 3D platforming style of games such as Super Mario 3D World.

Instead, Kirby and the World Beyond seems to be aiming for something closer to the scale of Super Mario Odyssey, and maybe even bigger. The larger environments and beefed-up copy skills provide the game with a more open-ended approach to exploration.

In particular, the ability to copy could become a big part of how you interact with the world.

They don't seem to be mere combat tools, but ways to explore and interact with the environment in new ways. That draws parallels to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, where Link's skills gave players multiple avenues for exploration and problem-solving.

That is what the "Breath of the Wild moment" comparison can mean to a franchise. It's not necessarily about cloning Zelda's gameplay. Instead, it's a show that's heading in a much grander, more ambitious direction, and that could push it to a whole new level of popularity.

Forgotten Land arguably already gave Kirby that kind of moment by finally moving the series into a full 3D platforming adventure. It became the bestselling Kirby game, showing that the series could reach a new audience with the right change in direction. Kirby and the World Beyond now has the opportunity to build on that success with an even larger adventure.

The lack of discussion around the game is somewhat surprising, given what Nintendo is attempting. This is a much more ambitious follow-up to one of the best Switch games, and this time it's being made specifically for the Switch 2.

Some of the muted reaction could be tied to expectations around 3D Mario.

There was plenty of discussion about whether the recent Direct could feature a new 3D Mario game. While such a reveal was possible, Nintendo's history with major 3D Mario releases made an immediate announcement less certain. Kirby, meanwhile, has historically released earlier in the year, so its appearance made sense, even if an open-world Kirby adventure was hard to predict.

The game's release window also makes the anniversary plans more interesting. Nintendo has confirmed that Kirby and the World Beyond is coming in spring, which places its potential release somewhere between March and May. Nintendo has a history of releasing major games toward the end of its fiscal year in March, so Kirby could serve as a major release around that time.

However, Kirby's anniversary falls in April, which creates another possibility. Nintendo could hold a major anniversary presentation around April, similar to how it has structured other anniversary celebrations, with Kirby and the World Beyond serving as the centerpiece before the game potentially launches later in the spring.

Either way, Kirby appears positioned as an important Switch 2 game early next year. It could help close Nintendo's current fiscal year or open the next one, while also giving the company a major release around Kirby's 35th anniversary.

The trailer itself also seems to hint that Nintendo has more planned for the game's world.

One of the most interesting scenes features a massive creature in the background with large glowing blue weak points. It looks like the kind of large overworld boss you might encounter in a game like Breath of the Wild.

If more enemies like this appear throughout the game, the scale could differ significantly from previous Kirby adventures. The creature's size even brings to mind Shadow of the Colossus, where massive creatures became major encounters in their own right.

The trailer also showed Kirby wearing a sword and hat, giving the character a more adventurous look while also serving as an obvious nod to Zelda. It's a small detail, but it fits the game's broader direction as Kirby moves into a larger world built around exploration.

Another possibility comes from Kirby's history with multiplayer. Most Kirby games have included some form of multiplayer, co-op, or mini-games, and Forgotten Land allowed another player to join the adventure. Since Kirby and the World Beyond is apparently built around a much larger world, Nintendo may be developing its first open-world co-op experience.

Whether that is technically feasible at this scale remains unclear. A larger open world could make cooperative play harder. Still, Kirby and the World Beyond's visual style could also make it easier for Nintendo to sustain multiplayer without compromising the game's overall presentation.

For now, the game appears to take the foundation established by Forgotten Land and expand it into much larger environments.

If Nintendo retains the accessible platforming and copy-ability mechanics that made Forgotten Land work while giving you a much bigger world to explore, Kirby and the World Beyond could represent another major step for the series.

More importantly, the game appears to be just one part of a much larger plan. Nintendo has officially announced Kirby's 35th anniversary celebrations, and with the new game being such a major reveal, there's plenty of room for more games, merchandise, media projects, theme park appearances, and other announcements throughout 2027.

For Kirby fans, that means the upcoming anniversary could see much more attention on the franchise than normal. Kirby and the World Beyond has already kicked off the main attraction, but Nintendo has yet to reveal the full details of its 35th-anniversary plans.