Nintendo Direct: Kirby and the forgotten land debuts ‘Mouthful Mode’

More than Kirby can stomach?

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Kirby Sucks. That isn’t a critique, but a literal description. Nintendo’s most famous adorable omnivore is known for hoovering up anything in his line of sight. Rocks, plants, monsters. You name it, Kirby will do his best to chow down and absorb it. But has Kirby finally bitten off more than he can chew? As part of a trailer debuting during Nintendo Direct, it has been revealed that Kirby is receiving a new power-up in Kirby and the Forgotten Land. And it’s all about having eyes bigger than his stomach. If Kirby even has a stomach and not a candyfloss-coloured void attached to his portal-mouth…

A Real Mouthful

The new Kirby and the Forgotten Land trailer begins with Kirby fighting off a pack of beasties in the game’s mysterious abandoned locale. But in his hoovering haste, Kirby ends up sucking in a whole broken-down car as well. In previous games, non-sentient material was spat back out in a star-shaped burst of energy. But in this case, large objects will get stuck in kirby’s wide-open maw. And what’s more, he’ll gain new powers based on the type of object.

Let’s run down the various Mouthful Mode objects and their effects shown so far.

Car

Kirby wraps around the car like a particularly snug pink pillowcase. He can then operate the car and drive around the map at top speed! Given the variety and size of the Forgotten Land areas displayed so far, this traversal ability will surely come in handy

Vending machine

As if giving Kirby a gun wasn’t ammunition enough! Kirby can waddle around and spit out cans as dangerous projectiles while in this form.

Traffic cone

Absorbing a traffic cone doesn’t make Kirby any more safety conscious. In fact, it’s quite the opposite, as it grants him a particularly lethal ground-pound ability. As shown in the trailer, Kirby can use it to break damaged environmental objects.

Scissor-lift

Kirby propels himself upwards to visit hard-to-reach areas. Much like the car, this ability is traversal focused. But with more of an emphasis on finding hidden areas and secrets.

Rubber Ring

Kirby lets out a blast of air to propel himself forwards on a boat. Maybe he could have used this as a flotation device instead? No, that’s too slow for our Kirby. It remains to be seen if this mode will have offensive capabilities too.

Light-bulb

Fairly self-explanatory. Kirby serves as his own light source, illuminating darkened areas.

‘Arch’ mode

While we don’t get to see what object turns Kirby into this mode, it functions similarly to a paraglider. Smash Bros fans will already know about Kirby’s impressive aerial manoeuvring, and the mode looks to increase that even further.

Water-balloon mode

It isn’t exactly that Kirby absorbs a water balloon here. Instead, Kirby absorbs gallons and BECOMES a water balloon! Water can then be jetted out at will to clean toxic goop. Super Kirby Sunshine, anyone?

Kirby and the Forgotten Land: The Future

It remains to be seen how many more modes and power-ups Kirby will wield this time around. But if Mouthful Mode is any indicator, Kirby and the Forgotten Land will be an experience to remember.

Kirby and the Forgotten land will launch on Nintendo Switch on March 25th