Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards is now available on Nintendo Switch Online

“Some call it a puffball, some call it a marshmallow, but most people prefer to simply call it Kirby.” This was the beginning of Kirby 64. Back when Nintendo donned an even more finicky website, the teaser for Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards still rings true over two decades later. As a Kirby fan through and through, the amount of people asking me what exactly Kirby is never ends: let’s settle on pink puffball.

As of today, May 20, the pink puffball cometh to Nintendo Switch Online and Expansion Pack members in the form of Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. Initially released on the Nintendo 64 back in 2000, the game was HAL Laboratory’s first dabble with making Kirby 3D.

It wasn’t until this year, with Kirby and the Forgotten Land, that we saw Kirby go on their first fully 3D adventure. It wasn’t an easy ride though, and Paul Cecchini delves just how long and complicated Kirby’s journey to 3D was in this article.

After planet Ripple Star’s beloved Crystal is destroyed by a force known as Dark Matter, one of its fairy inhabitants, Ribbon, needs help. Clutching a Crystal Shard, they fall onto planet Pop Star and encounter the pink puffball themselves, Kirby. It then becomes Kirby’s task to recover as many Crystal Shards as possible and restore peace to Ripple Star.

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards is the fourth instalment in the Kirby’s Dream Land series, and this is not its first rodeo with Nintendo’s modern consoles. Since its initial launch for the N64 in 2000, the game also became available on the Wii in 2008, and the Wii U in 2015.

If you’re not already a member of Nintendo Switch Online and the Expansion Pack, there’s more on offer than just Kirby 64. The pack also includes the likes of Super Mario 64, Star Fox 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Yoshi’s Story, Paper Mario, and more titles from Nintendo and SEGA.