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Post by Nester the Lark on Jun 17, 2011 18:40:52 GMT -5
Maybe this belongs in the Cameos board or a trivia thread, but I wasn't sure. Anyway, in a recent Game Informer interview, Miyamoto was asked if there was any connection between the character Kirby and John Kirby, the lawyer who won the famous Donkey Kong lawsuit for Nintendo in the 80's. It turns out that he wasn't directly named after John Kirby, but that the name existed on a list of potential names for the character, and they picked it because it reminded them of John Kirby: I’ve heard rumors that Kirby was named after attorney John Kirby, the lawyer who defended Nintendo in a lawsuit by Universal during the 80s. Is it true?
Yes, it is a fact that I met John Kirby and got to know him when he was defending us during the lawsuit against Universal. And it is a fact that the Kirby name was partially chosen in connection to him, but it wasn’t named after him. Instead, we had a list of names that we were looking at and Kirby was one of the names on the list. As we were going through the list and narrowing down the selections we saw that Kirby was there and we thought John Kirby’s name is Kirby, and started thinking that if those two had a connection that would be kind of funny.
The other element to the naming is that the character is very cute. Kirby is this soft and fluffy character and he’s very cute. In Japan, for cute characters they use very soft names with soft sounds in them. I thought the name Kirby had these harsh sounds to it, and I thought the juxtaposition of this cute character with this harsh-sounding name was very funny. So, there is sort of a connection. Another Nintendo mystery solved! Now, if only someone would ask Miyamoto about that whole Zoda thing in F-Zero.  |
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Post by Johans Nidorino on Jun 17, 2011 19:01:30 GMT -5
I'm sorry, but the first time I heard the name or surname Kirby, it was on Kirby of Pop Star.
So it's funny to me, in the opposite way, when I hear "soft and fluffy names" like John Kirby or Jack Kirby ;D
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Post by Nester the Lark on Jun 17, 2011 19:41:06 GMT -5
^ It must be a cultural difference (or maybe even the viewpoint of the individual), because I always thought of Kirby as a "cute" name, too. Never thought of it as ironic.
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Post by Fryguy64 on Jun 18, 2011 3:29:31 GMT -5
K is generally considered a strong sound, but B's and M's are softer sounds. I still think the word Kirby is quite soft, but it has a strong consonant at the start. Birby and Mirby, sound more squishy.
Still, it's cool that they kinda picked a name that reminded them of someone we suspected ;D
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Post by nocturnal YL on Jun 18, 2011 4:58:24 GMT -5
"Kirby" sounds very cute to me because I got to know the character first, and it ends with "-by".
Well, there goes. The rumor's true.
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Post by Boo Destroyer on Jul 21, 2011 21:53:19 GMT -5
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Post by Dances in Undergarments on Jul 22, 2011 0:07:28 GMT -5
I'm surprised they didn't go with Kirby's Dreamland Returns to link it with Donkey Kong Country Returns a little more (I assume that is the intention with this name anyway).
Next stop on the 'Returns' train - Yoshi's Island, please.
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Post by Boo Destroyer on Jul 22, 2011 0:11:07 GMT -5
Next stop on the 'Returns' train - Yoshi's Island, please. I've always been in favor of that as well. |
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Post by Koopaul on Jul 22, 2011 0:15:01 GMT -5
I suppose Yoshi's Island DS doesn't count eh?
Also wouldn't Kirby: Return to Dream Land sound much better?
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Post by The Qu on Jul 22, 2011 0:24:20 GMT -5
That would sound better, Koopaul.
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Post by Fryguy64 on Jul 22, 2011 3:19:08 GMT -5
I quite like the name, mainly because it's stealing "Returns" from DK rather than the boring "New" from Mario.
Return of the Super Mario Bros. would have been awesome ;D
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Post by Prince~Of~Light on Jul 22, 2011 4:21:36 GMT -5
Quite sure the name gets changed up in European release and such. It then better be Kirby: Return To Dreamland.
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Post by Dances in Undergarments on Jul 22, 2011 6:22:08 GMT -5
I hate Title: Subtitle naming. Kirby Returns to Dreamland flows better (it should, after all its a sentence) and just sounds nicer than Kirby: Return to Dreamland. You guys are crazy.
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Post by Fryguy64 on Jul 22, 2011 6:23:23 GMT -5
The European names of Kirby games almost always get changed. I was actually quite surprised that Kirby's Epic Yarn stayed the same, especially as "yarn" isn't a common name for wool here.
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Post by nocturnal YL on Jul 22, 2011 9:22:19 GMT -5
I'm not sure what kind of sense is this name making. Kirby didn't particularly leave Dreamland - he did in a few games (Milky Way Wishes, Kirby 64, Amazing Mirror, Mass Attack), but it's unlikely that the Wii one is a sequel to those.
Kirby returns to platforming? Yes. Particularly returning to his home? Well... I don't know.
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