Kirby

Kirby (カービィ, Kābī) is the protagonist of the colorful Kirby series. Though an usually a citizen from his homeworld Dream Land, Kirby is the hero who protects this land and the vicinity using his trademark ability to inhale his enemies and, if swallowed, copy their powers to use them against them. Kirby so far has made 2 appearances in the McLeodGaming media: his appearance as a 2-in-1 character in Super Smash Flash and a full-fledged character in the sequel, Super Smash Flash 2.

Character description
During his early development, Kirby was originally named Popopo, and his model was created as a blob placeholder sprite during the development of what would be the first Kirby game, originally titled 'Twinkle Popopo' instead of the current Hoshi no Kābī (星のカービィ, lit. "Kirby of the Stars"). After a while, creator Masahiro Sakurai started to prefer Kirby's placeholder design over the original conception. He later stated that he envisioned Kirby as a 'game for beginners'.

As Kirby's first appearance was on the monochrome screen of the Game Boy, his "true" color could not be represented in-game. Sakurai intended Kirby to be pink. However, Shigeru Miyamoto had envisioned him as yellow. Because of this ambiguity, Nintendo of America was left with some confusion when the game was ported to the West. The American box art, cartridge label, instruction booklet, and even the television commercial for Kirby's Dream Land features Kirby entirely white in color. The Japanese box art, however, depicts Kirby as pink.

There is a debate on the origins of Kirby's name. One widespread view is that Kirby adopted his Western name from the Kirby Corporation, a vacuum cleaner manufacturer, leading to the belief the name is a play on Kirby's ability to inhale just about anything. The other possible explanation is that Kirby was named in honor of Nintendo's legal counsel, John Kirby of Latham & Watkins LLP, who represented them in the courtroom during a copyright infringement lawsuit over Donkey Kong filed by Universal Studios. However, Masahiro Sakurai has been quoted as saying he does not remember how Kirby got his name.

Kirby is voiced by female Seiyū Makiko Ōmoto in the Super Smash Bros. series, Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, and in both versions of the anime Kirby: Right Back at Ya! since Kirby does not display extensive linguistic skills in the latter media. She considered the time doing Kirby's voice and working with others on the show and games to be a great experience. In a previous 1994 educational video called Mario Kirby Masterpiece, Kirby was voiced by Mayumi Tanaka.

In Super Smash Flash
In SSF, Kirby was a 2-in-1 character, meaning he was able to tag out with Meta Knight. He lacks his trademark and signature attack Inhale, for copy opponents' abilities, along with other special attacks from the original Smash Bros. games. He uses his Kirby Super Star sprite sheet.

In Super Smash Flash 2
Kirby returns without a doubt, this time with a newer and better look. Also the inhaling and copy opponent ability are present this time. He is now an individual character along with Meta Knight. His sprites now come from, ironically, Kirby Super Star Ultra, the remake of the game he previously used the sprites for. His move set is taken directly from Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He is ranked 16th on the current tier list.