No one can deny that Kirby, with his round little pink self, has captured the hearts of millions and garnered international fame. The franchise has spun out more than thirty games starring the blush blob, earning big bucks for Nintendo and HAL Labs. But before becoming a video game icon, Kirby was actually created rather haphazardly. 

How Kirby became an adorable pink circle

The first Kirby game was called Kirby’s Dream Land, released on the Game Boy in 1992. Young designer Masahiro Sakurai was assigned to create a game that was simple enough for anyone to pick up and learn to play. (To this day, Kirby games are easy and accessible.) 

While the game was in development, Sakurai created a basic avatar to perform the primary movements of play – a little ball with arms and legs. This was meant as a placeholder, later to be swapped for something more definite. But throughout testing and animation, the team fell in love with this white blob, and they ended up sticking with it. But he was just that – white.

Since Kirby’s Dream Land released on the original Game Boy, its protagonist’s color was indefinite. Adding to the confusion, the game’s North American box art depicted a white Kirby, while the Japanese art showed the pink character we’ve come to recognize. Sakurai always imagined Kirby to be pink, while Shigeru Miyamoto (who created Mario and worked as a producer on Kirby) always imagined our hero to be yellow. Color was an afterthought – literally. They didn’t nail down the official pink hue until after the first game’s release.

Another thing that didn’t come until the second game was Kirby’s ability to copy his enemies’ powers after slurping them up. Kirby’s Adventure dropped on the NES in ‘93, and implemented copy abilities, which are now a characteristic trait of the spherical savior of Dream Land. 

How Kirby got his name

Sakurai’s project had a working title of Twinkle Popopo. But Nintendo wanted to go with a name that could create more draw for Western customers. After throwing around several options, the team finally named their character after… a lawyer.

John Kirby was a lawyer who worked long and hard on Nintendo’s behalf in a legal fight with Universal. The movie studio had sued over Donkey Kong, claiming the primate videogame character’s name was too akin to King Kong. (It’s like, totally a different Kong, geez.) Nintendo eventually won the suit, and named a character after Mr. Kirby as a way of saying thank you.

After many platformer adventures, pinball titles, 3D games, and Super Smash cameos, Kirby is now one of the most beloved characters in the video game industry’s history. Whether happily floating above Planet Popstar or bravely dueling with Meta Knight, his innocence and simplicity has captivated kids and grownups alike. And from the looks of it, he’s not stopping anytime soon.

In Nintendo’s latest Direct presentation, we were thrilled to find out that N64 and Sega Genesis games will be coming to Nintendo Switch Online. And in their abounding generosity, Nintendo even gave us a sneak peek of the first wave of titles that will be available on the service.

With quintessential mega-hits like Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and even Banjo-Kazooie, it’s a solid list. We’re certainly pleased. But the N64’s catalog is vast, and there are so many more titles that simply have to make it onto NSO. 

While some of these games non-negotiably need to be added like yesterday, others are items of the more “wish list” variety. So, just like our Game Boy/ Game Boy Color NSO wishlist, we have some thoughts. Here are seven titles we’d love to see on Nintendo Switch Online:

Donkey Kong 64

Donkey Kong’s first and only 3D title (for now…) was a silly game. Chucking pineapples and hitting bad guys with trombones – it was a real clown car. But Donkey Kong 64 was also an indisputably elegant platformer. With a few quality of life improvements like more frequent save spots, the game could really get a second wind and bring joy to a new generation of gamers.

Diddy Kong Racing

Now, for Donkey Kong’s smaller primate nephew. It takes real chutzpah to release a kart racing game in the long, looming shadow of Mario Kart. But Rare Ltd. was on fire in the ‘90s, and they pulled off an imaginative, innovative gem in Diddy Kong Racing. Not only did the game implement planes and hovercraft, but it also sported a challenging and captivating single-player adventure mode.

Super Smash Bros.

The OG. It’s hard to imagine a version of Super Smash with only twelve characters and nine stages, but that’s how we did our smashing back in ‘99. They were simpler times. And with Sora bringing the Super Smash Ultimate lineup to a close, it would be fun to go back to where it all began.

GoldenEye 007

Who can forget the way that screen turned red when you got shot? What was meant as a fun accessory to promote the latest James Bond film turned out to be a masterpiece. Also developed by Rare Ltd., GoldenEye was a stellar first-person shooter, and arguably set the stage for games like Halo. This title would be the toughest to get rereleased, due to licensing red tape. But oh how we wish it would!

1080° Snowboarding

This popular snowboarding game actually preceded Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater by one year. Extreme sports were on the rise in the late ‘90s, and 1080° Snowboarding capitalized on it with a game that was graphically sharp and mechanically smooth for its time. Customize your ride at the lodge, then hit one of the trickiest slopes. This one would be a blast to play online with friends.

Mario Party

Yes, Mario Party Superstars includes boards from the original N64 game. But, like Super Smash, Mario Party has been reinvented and added-onto considerably since the first entry. Revisiting this zany series’ inception would be a pleasant trip down memory lane.

Pokémon Stadium

The N64 era was so exciting for so many franchises because it brought our favorite characters into the world of 3D. Consistent with this phenomenon, Pokémon Stadium took those cute monsters and gave them a dazzling three-dimensional makeover. This tournament-style strategy game let you transfer your ‘mons from the 151 Pokédex of the Game Boy games and fight them. It was a pivotal title in Pokémon and Nintendo’s illustrious joint history.

If you ask anyone who’s played Metroid Dread what they think about it so far, you might hear something like “to be honest, I had my doubts, but…” This game has been surrounded by immense hype. Metroid is a series with a deep history and deeper fandom. So the more cynical among us could see the propensity for the fine people at Nintendo and MercurySteam to rest on the laurels of this franchise and create a rote, victory lap of a game. Fortunately, they didn’t do anything of the sort.

Metroid Dread is the final chapter in the mainline, 2D Metroid story; a story development that’s been in limbo for almost two decades. And the title could not have been chosen more accurately. From the start of the game, Samus feels less the hunter and more the hunted. She’s been sent to the planet ZDR to research the malevolent X parasite, following a band of E.M.M.I. drones originally sent for the same purpose. 

The evil-turned E.M.M.I. robots contribute to a defining characteristic of Dread: its punishing difficulty. As the title’s name suggests, you feel like you’re always on the backfoot, struggling for survival. And it’s an adrenaline-juiced thrill. Besting the agile, wall-crawling bots takes navigation through each of the seven E.M.M.I. zones, defeating a mother-brain-esque central computer, and using its power for one blast to rule them all. It’s a challenge of pace and prowess.

Developers seemed to go through the Metroid formula with a fine-tooth comb, enhancing what we love from this game series. It’s the best a Metroid game has ever looked, with sharp, vivid graphics (especially on Nintendo’s shiny new OLED Switch). Controlling Samus is impressively smooth and snappy, with new moves and suits to boot. But boss fights are the highlight of this game. 

The bosses in Dread have to be studied. They can’t be outgunned. They can’t be outlived. You’ll have to go to school. While they’re tough, they’re also exceedingly rewarding. With variety and intuition, these boss battles keep you on your toes. It’s sure to afford Dread “gamer’s gamer” approval. 

Along with legitimately challenging battles, Metroid Dread also achieves a near-perfect balancing act in many ways. The characteristic nonlinear gameplay neither holds your hand nor leaves you hitting your head against a wall. The game balances narrative cutscenes with platforming action. It balances classic Metroid elements with new innovations. It keeps momentum building steadily throughout. And in true Metroid fashion, there’s a big twist at the end. 

You could argue that the developers of Dread drilled down on perfecting the game’s mechanics so much that it short-changed on some of the more atmospheric characteristics for which Metroid is beloved. But ultimately, fans of the series are just so glad that Nintendo did justice to this “final” installment of the mainline Metroid series. Dread reminds us why this game has an entire subgenre named after it. It’s an apex of 2D platforming.