A Kirby game now costs more than it ever has for only the slimmest of reasons. Yay? Screenshot captured on Nintendo Swtich 2 by the author.

Kirby Deserved More Than His Latest DLC

Nintendo continues to test the $80 gaming price barrier

Three years ago, Nintendo released Kirby and the Forgotten Land, a whimsical 3D platformer starring their cute little pink blob guy. I loved the game. It’s one of the best games that came out in 2022, and probably the most enjoyable game in the Kirby series. It’s also a breezier, shorter game than most other Nintendo platformers, with an intentional design focused on accessibility and more forgiving jumping and combat mechanics.

Its short length and chill vibes didn’t stop it from selling somewhere around 8 million copies, and so for once in his long history Kirby found some true mainstream-level recognition. I’ve played pretty much all of his adventures going way back to the original Game Boy titles, and I’ve always been a fan. Forgotten Land has an optional harder difficulty and a bunch of tough bonus challenges for those that need more than its core 10-ish hours of whimsy, but it would rather delight you than frustrate, and that’s my favorite thing about Kirby as a franchise. Like other first party Nintendo releases, the game smartly doles out new powers and concepts every thirty minutes or so, making it feel even shorter than it already is thanks to its smart variety. It left me thirsty for more, and now Nintendo has delivered that, but in a more cynical…