Kirby Star Allies releasing on March 16th worldwide, now available for pre-purchase in Europe

Kirby Star Allies is one of the games showcased during today’s Nintendo Direct Mini, where the release date was announced: March 16th for Japan… and Europe + North America. That’s right, for once, a Kirby game is getting a worldwide simultaneous release!

If you happen to live in Europe (or have a European Nintendo Account), you can now pre-purchase Kirby: Star Allies from the Nintendo eShop or Nintendo’s website. It costs 59.99€ / £49.99, and requires 2.8GB. Languages available include Japanese, English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, and Dutch (which means it’s the same SKU worldwide).

Here’s the trailer / footage showcased during the Nintendo Direct (only available in Japanese for now):

https://youtu.be/cIYUxvoQTrA

Kirby Star Allies will feature no less than 28 Copy Abilities (a record for the series), with both new and returning ones. Among the new Copy Abilities, we have:

• Artist: Kirby uses various art-related moves to defeat enemies, including sculpting, using paint, and more;
• Spider: Kirby uses spider thread to catch enemies, but also attack them directly.

One of the key features of the game is that Kirby can use the power of love (literally) to befriend enemies and have them help him on his quest. You can have up to 3 allies with you at any time, and yes, you can have your friends play as those allies instead of the CPU.

And those allies are not just there for show: it allows you to use something called Friend Abilities, that basically combine Kirby Copy Abilities and the enemies’. For example, the Sizzle Sword (Japanese name) grants Kirby the ability to burn down trees, and increases his attack power. As for Ooking Curling (Japanese name) allows you to attack enemies with… a curling slide stone!

There’s plenty of different combinations to use in the game, and finding them all is certainly going to be one of the key elements!

As for the story, Planet Popstar once again find itself in turmoil, this time because of the “Jama Heart” (Japanese name), a dark heart spreading chaos all over the place. Naturally, Kirby will once again go on a quest in order to save his home planet… yet again.

Finally, here’s various pictures for the game:

Kirby Star Allies comes out on March 16th, worldwide. The Upcoming Games page has been updated!

Source: Nintendo