Early on Tuesday, Nintendo shadow-dropped a surprise trailer announcement for Kirby’s Dream Buffet. This new trailer shows Kirby and three friends playing mini-games in a food-themed world, competing to eat the most goodies. The trailer states the game will be available in “Summer 2022,” although it does not offer a specific release date. Unsurprisingly, this will be a Nintendo Switch exclusive.
The official Nintendo of America Twitter account also announced the new game this morning. “Hungry for some 4-player Kirby fun? Race through delicious obstacle courses, collect the most strawberries, and thwart your competition using familiar abilities. Get ready, Kirby’s Dream Buffet launches exclusively in Nintendo eShop this summer!” reads the tweet.
Nintendo’s press release offers slightly more details on how gameplay will work: “Players will race each other through these delicious obstacle courses to collect strawberries as Kirby grows, bumping other players off the stage and using familiar Copy Abilities–or Copy Food Abilities, as they are called in this game–to thwart the competition.” The press release also explains that the game will include both local and online multiplayer, although “additional games, systems and/or accessories may be required for multiplayer mode.”
The footage in the trailer invites many comparisons to Fall Guys, the online free-to-play minigame battle royale that took the gaming world by storm when it was released in 2020. However, there is one major difference between Fall Guys and this new title: Kirby’s Dream Buffet will not be free-to-play. The trailer does not mention a price, but a look at some of Nintendo’s most recent multiplayer games that feature first-party IP (such as Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Mario Kart 8, Super Mario Party, etc.) suggests Kirby’s Dream Buffet will be a full-priced title.
