Kirby (character) - Concept and Creation

Concept and Creation

Kirby was originally named Popopo, and his model was created as a blob placeholder sprite during the development of what would be the first Kirby game, originally titled 'Twinkle Popopo' instead of the current Hoshi no Kābī (translated as 'Kirby of the Stars'). After a while, creator Masahiro Sakurai started to prefer Kirby's placeholder design over the original concept. He later stated that he envisioned Kirby as a 'game for beginners'.

As Kirby's first appearance was on the monochrome screen of the Game Boy, his "true" color could not be represented in-game. Sakurai intended Kirby to be pink. However, Shigeru Miyamoto had envisioned him as yellow. Because of this ambiguity, Nintendo of America was left with some confusion when the game was ported to the West. The American box art, cartridge label, instruction booklet, and even the television commercial for Kirby's Dream Land features Kirby entirely white in color. The Japanese box art, however, depicts Kirby as light red.

One widespread view is that Kirby adopted his Western name from the Kirby Corporation, a vacuum cleaner manufacturer, leading to the belief the name is a play on Kirby's ability to inhale just about anything. The other possible explanation is that Kirby was named in honor of Nintendo's legal counsel, John Kirby of Latham & Watkins LLP, who represented them in the courtroom during a copyright infringement lawsuit over Donkey Kong filed by Universal Studios. However, Masahiro Sakurai has been quoted as saying he does not remember how Kirby got his name.