Trivia / Kirby and the Forgotten Land

• Author's Saving Throw: Many Kirby fans had complaints about the localization of previous games occasionally removing or mistranslating details (most obviously the contents added in Kirby Star Allies version 4.0.0., which borders on a Dub-Induced Plotline Change). For Forgotten Land, the developers mentioned they worked much more closely with the localization teams to ensure that the game's original vision would be preserved in all languages. The menus were even designed in English first to prevent text space from becoming an issue.
• Content Leak:
  • Hours prior to the Nintendo Direct, Nintendo's Japanese website accidentally leaked the title and key artwork from the game, revealing its existence moments before its official announcement.
  • The Ranger copy ability ended up getting leaked by a listing on the ESRB site a couple of months prior to its official reveal in the second trailer.
  • The game ended up getting its street date broken just days before its official release, leading to much of the game and its plot (including Fecto Elfilis) getting prematurely leaked on the internet as a result.
• Defictionalization:
  • The Car-Mouth Cake began to be sold at the Japanese Kirby Café stores after the game's release, matching the Kirby Burger, which was already being sold.
  • Neichel, the fictional singer of "Welcome to the New World!", made a real-life appearance as part of the Kirby 30th Anniversary Music Fest. Keeping with her mystique, she wore a large hat that obscured her eyes.
• Milestone Celebration: The game came out in 2022, the 30th anniversary of the Kirby franchise.
• Refitted for Sequel: The idea of a fully 3D mainline Kirby game (instead of a 2.5D sidescroller) was one that dates back to the development of what eventually became Kirby's Return to Dream Land; it was one of two known ideas proposed for a mainline Wii title after the initial 2.5D sidescroller concept fell through, only to be similarly rejected because it was considered too difficult to execute at the time.
• Saved from Development Hell: Not so much the game itself, but rather its concept. HAL Laboratory had always wanted to make a fully-realized 3D Kirby game, but they were keenly aware that the Video Game 3D Leap could be disastrous if executed poorly; Return to Dream Land in 2011 as mentioned above was deemed too risky to try it at the time, and while they had the project's bare bones in the form of Kirby Air Ride in 2003, a racer and a platformer are two different beasts. The true 3D plans were tabled with occasional life support for 14-15 years until HAL Laboratory was finally brave enough to release short and simple Spin Offs (Kirby 3D Rumble^*a sub-game in Kirby: Planet Robobot, Kirby's Blowout Blast, Kirby Battle Royale) showcasing their 3D gameplay concepts to gauge the fanbase's reception, and they spent another 4-5 years carefully applying what they'd learned. Forgotten Land spent a lot of time in the oven, but the time and effort paid off, becoming the best-selling Kirby game to date and viewed as a crowning example of the 3D Leap done right.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Kirby has unused but fully functional parameters to turn his skin yellow, like the second player Kirby from previous games, suggesting that the second player could've potentially played as a second Kirby rather than Bandana Waddle Dee.
  • Kirby's colors were originally going to change depending on the copy ability and evolution he got, like in several of the early 2D games. The feature is connected to the above-mentioned also unused parameters to make Kirby's skin yellow, but none of the ability colors are in the game's files. Interestingly, it is still fully functional in-game, suggesting it was cut late into development.
  • The developers mentioned that they considered including the Animal ability from Kirby: Squeak Squad, but decided against it because the Beast Pack is made up entirely of animals, which would mean that basically every Beast Pack enemy would be expected to provide Animal. Instead, they incorporated some of its aspects into the new Drill ability, which more concretely ties into the Urban Ruins theme of the game.
  • One idea for Tropic Woods was supposed to be a monkey (associated with the Beast Pack) instructing him what to do.
  • One mouthful mode ability that didn't make it into the final game was the Airplane◊ Mouth◊, which appears to have been reworked into Arch Mouth.
  • Leongar's early designs were drastically different from the final game◊, giving him a chibi and limbless appearance closer to standard Kirby characters as opposed to his final, limbed design.
• Word of God: According to director Shinya Kumazaki, "Welcome to the New World!" is a fictional song sung by Neichel, the artist name of a popular diva (whose real identity is unknown) that was popular in the New World.

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