Kirby and the Forgotten Land developer says the game was a "turning point" for the series - just like Breath of the Wild was for Zelda

Kirby and the Forgotten Land
(Image credit: Nintendo)

Kirby and the Forgotten Land "revolutionized" the Kirby series, much like Breath of the Wild did for The Legend of Zelda series.

In an interview with IGN, Shinya Kumazaki and Tatsuya Kamiyama of developer HAL Laboratory were asked whether they believed Kirby and the Forgotten Land played a similar role to Breath of the Wild in terms of it reshaping its respective long-running series.

"If we're talking about what Breath of the Wild perhaps did for the Zelda series in that it was a revolution, revolutionized the series, I think Kirby [and the] Forgotten Land was kind of at a turning point," Kumazaki said. "I think you can consider it as the first step in our kind of ongoing moving forward challenge of now also creating 3D Kirby games." 

Talking about the future of Kirby, and whether all of the pink blob's adventures will be 3D going forward, Kumazaki added: "Really, it's about the kind of gameplay experience that we can provide to the players, and how best to optimally bring that gameplay experience that really dictates how we kind of express that in the game."

Kumazaki continues: "It's just that now we have this new genre of 3D as another method, another way, another form of providing that optimal gameplay experience through an optimal Kirby gameplay experience.”

This was just one of the takeaways from this year's Game Developer's Conference (GDC). Elsewhere during the multiple-day event, the previously mentioned Tatsuya Kamiyama held a presentation in which they explained the difficulties with bringing Kirby into the 3D space in 2022's Kirby and the Forgotten Land. 

Although Kamiyama's presentation seemed very insightful, the main thing everyone is focusing on (including those who didn't attend the event) is the hilarious Kirby-themed PowerPoint slides that featured the little guy in a number of questionable situations.

Looking for something to play after The Forgotten Land? Take a look at our best Kirby games list. 

Hope Bellingham
News Writer

After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at 12DOVE before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training.  My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.