Kirby has had his self-titled series' own fair share of characters, and several of the minor characters happen to have been unexpectedly popular with fans, as shown on this page.
Characters introduced in the games:
- Lololo and Lalala gathered a following over the years due to many reasons: having a simple yet likable design, a game they came from — "Eggerland" (better known as Adventures of Lolo), and (most likely the biggest reason) them being Kirby's lovable allies in the anime.
- Kracko, due to being a Wake-Up Call Boss and various weather-based attacks. The fact that he's one of the most Recurring Bosses in the franchise is proof of it.
- Rick, Kine, and Coo are beloved by the fanbase, enough that in spite of only being part of the gameplay in their debut game and its sequel, they make multiple cameos throughout the series, before being Promoted to Playable as a single unit in Kirby Star Allies. They even got to appear in the anime, even though they were not created by series creator Masahiro Sakurai.
- Gooey's role in Dream Land 2 was just giving you power-ups upon opening an Animal Friend bag while already having one. Then he got Promoted to Playable as the co-op partner in Dream Land 3, and the fandom found him quite endearing. He eventually got to make a comeback in Star Allies as one of the Dream Friends, which helped many younger fans discover him and made him popular with a whole new group.
Kirby Super Star (and Ultra)
- Chef Kawasaki is just a mid-boss who provides a unique ability, but fans love him for his goofy design. His popularity notably spiked in 2018 thanks to his appearances in Kirby Star Allies as a playable Friend, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as an Assist Trophy, and the reopened Kirby Café as one of its mascots.
- Heavy Lobster, the Halberd's signature Humongous Mecha. It has a cool design, gets featured in memorable scenes throughout the sub-game, has a fun boss fight, and gets its own awesome music track in Ultra. Many fans were upset when it didn't show up in Planet Robobot despite the game's technological focus.
- Galacta Knight, who, despite merely being a optional boss for the Video Game Remake, gained huge popularity with the fandom, particularly in the area of speculation regarding his relation to Meta Knight and Kirby. Having a heavy metal battle theme doesn't hurt, either. The higher-ups were savvy enough to pick up on this, as Galacta Knight returns as a surprise boss in The True Arena of Kirby's Return to Dream Land, later as the Final Boss of Meta Knightmare Returns in Kirby: Planet Robobot and as the Final Boss in Super Kirby Clash.
- Bandana Waddle Dee from the Megaton Punch mini-game. Starting with Kirby Super Star Ultra, his role started to expand from a minor side-game character and by Return to Dream Land, he was fully promoted to one of the main characters of the series as a result of his surprising surge in popularity.
- In a similar vein, the Sailor Waddle Dee who works under Meta Knight.
- Pitch grew on fans for having some of the best copy ability variants in the game.
- ChuChu gained some extra leverage for the amount of Ship Tease she had with Kirby.
Kirby's Star Stacker
- Gryll is the most obscure True Final Boss in the entire series, only appearing in the SNES version of Kirby's Star Stacker (it's exclusive to Japan, unlike the Game Boy original) and only fighting Kirby if the player uses no continues. Despite their lack of appearances, they've become very popular for their Cute Witch design, and they often get grouped together with the other "mage" characters (Marx, Magolor, and Taranza) in fan works. While Gryll still has yet to appear in another game, they have made a cameo in 25th anniversary art and as a Stone transformation in Kirby Star Allies (where they're featured alongside Brobo, another forgotten Kirby boss from Kirby's Block Ball).
- Adeleine. She is the least prominent of Kirby’s partners in the game and only appears sparsely throughout the game. In spite of this, she is incredibly well loved and popular amongst fans, due to being one of the only humans exclusive to the franchise, making her stand out amongst the cast, on top of her adorable design and artist abilities. Despite her absence since 64, it is not uncommon to see fans have her be as part of the main group in fanworks, such as Brawl in the Family and requests to have her reappear were incredibly commonplace during her absence. Unsurprisingly, when she was announced that she (alongside Ribbon) would be coming back in Star Allies, fans went absolutely bananas and were ecstatic over her reappearance. As an extension of this, she is often one of the most requested Kirby characters for Super Smash Bros., alongside the more prominent Marx and Bandana Waddle Dee.
- The Fairy Queen, while a minor cutscene-only character, is popular for being absolutely adorable and for having a Surprisingly Creepy Moment in the game’s bad ending.
- Plugg was just another generic baddie exclusive to this game for a long time. Then he got a surprising inclusion in Star Allies as the new Plasma Friend, letting him get plenty of attention for his simple, cute design.
- While the game is a bit of a contention point for most Kirby fans, many admit to really liking Spinni, thanks to being a Badass Adorable ninja mouse. Daroach and the Squeaks in general tend to be pretty popular, to the point where they pretty much eclipse Dark Nebula in popularity, or in extreme cases, the entier game period.
- Paintra has quite a bit of fan art due to her cool and unique design. Her (highly implied) connection with Drawcia also helps a lot.
- Vividria, the new mid-boss introduced this game. Her popularity comes from her being the Friend for the new, beloved Artist ability, her cute Drawcia/Paintra-like design, and her Guest Star bio, which mentions that she’s trying to impress her sisters (who may or may not be Drawcia and Paintra) by getting into a good art school.
- Francisca, one of the Three Mage-Sisters, quickly became a fan favorite due to her Badass Adorable design, as well as her cool weapon, all in a way that would possibly make Susie jealous. Likewise, the same can also be said of her sisters, Flamberge and Zan Partizanne. The fact that all three would become playable Dream Friends in the Wave 3 update upon meeting certain unlock conditions has even been met with huge amounts of enthusiasm.
Characters exclusive to Kirby: Right Back at Ya!:
- Many of the anime's Canon Foreigners (except Tokkori) get a lot of love from fans due to fond memories of watching the anime. Special mention goes to Escargoon for being a combination of a Butt-Monkey and a Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
- A lot of fans have noticed that certain characters from the anime have made cameos in Kirby Mass Attack, and fans of said anime naturally squeal with joy upon seeing them again. These characters include the aforementioned Escargoon, as well as the NME Salesguy, Chef Shiitake, and Max Flexer.
- For such an underused character, Sirica, the daughter of the legendary Galaxy Soldier Garlude who appeared in Episode 60, happens to be insanely popular with fans of the anime. She earned her love for being a badass Action Girl with a transforming weapon, and for being able to put up a decent fight as a contrast from main character Tiff (who often ends up being a damsel in distress). She was even popular enough so that she herself even reappeared alongside Knuckle Joe, Sir Arthur and his three knights in the five-part series finale.
- Slice n' Splice is very popular for having a unique and badass design as well as having a personal history with one of the major characters of the show (Lololo and Lalala, in his case), providing several of his episode appearance's hilarious moments, and being one of the few monsters to remain loyal to King Dedede in the end. Special mention even goes to the fact that his sun and moon rods contain references to Kirby bosses Mr. Shine and Mr. Bright.
- The flame monster Wolfwrath was also met with lovely reception for being a badass, fire-breathing wolf monster and for having a part in Sword Knight and Blade Knight's pledging of allegiance to Meta Knight for saving them from it. It's become the first monster to actually injure Meta Knight (in this case, paralyze him by embedding one of its own fangs into his forehead), and it even helps that it looks delightfully terrifying in appearance. Some of its fanart would depict it as either scarier or cuter, even to the point where some fans draw a baby Wolfwrath puppy.
- All the Star Warriors and Galaxy Soldiers, including but not limited to the aforementioned Garlude (Sirica's mother), Knuckle Joe's father, and even the traitorous Yamikage, have also been met with lovely reception. Especially Garlude and Knuckle Joe's father, the latter of who was even given the fan name of "Jecra".
- Demon Kirby has become this to a lesser extent. He's basically what Kirby himself would be like if he was a bad guy or straight-up possessed by Dark Matter, which happens to have instantly made him a fan-favorite. Memes have also been spawned revolving around Demon Kirby, and he even had a cameo on the difficulty select section of Kirby Star Allies' Boss Rush mode.
