Why Kirby’s always looking angry on western box art

Kirby Triple Deluxe director Shinya Kumazaki has revealed the reasons as to why Nintendo’s adorable pink ball often adopts a tougher image on western box art.

Predictably, that’s largely due to the company approaching the markets in different ways – Japan being more susceptible to his more cutesy charm, whereas western consumers prefer seeing that he means business.

“For the Japanese versions we are, at [Kirby series developer] HAL, involved in everything throughout development, including the package design”, discussed with GameSpot.

He continues, “The most powerful image of Kirby is that cute image, we think that’s the one that appeals to the widest audience. While it does start cute, we know there is a serious side to Kirby as well, and throughout the gameplay we see more and more of that, and the games themselves have quite a bit of depth.

“That being said, we recognise that Kirby’s cuteness is his biggest draw in [the Japanese] market. What we have heard is that strong, tough Kirby that’s really battling hard is a more appealing sign of Kirby, so that’s what we feature in the US”.