BODY: The pink puffball is heading somewhere new. During the Nintendo Direct broadcast on September 9, 2026, Nintendo unveiled Kirby: World Beyond (星のカービィ ワールドビヨンド), the latest mainline installment in one of the company's longest-running franchises. The game is being developed for Nintendo Switch 2 and is scheduled to arrive in spring 2027.
The title itself hints at ambition. Following 2022's genre-redefining Kirby and the Forgotten Land, which finally brought the series into full 3D, "World Beyond" suggests developer HAL Laboratory intends to push Kirby's adventures into even broader territory. Nintendo has kept concrete gameplay details close to the chest, positioning the reveal as an early teaser rather than a deep dive.
For longtime fans, the announcement lands as one of the marquee moments of the Direct. Kirby has been a reliable pillar of Nintendo's first-party lineup for over three decades, and a fresh mainline entry built specifically for the more powerful Switch 2 hardware signals that HAL is treating the sequel as a flagship showcase rather than a stopgap.
A spring 2027 window also places the game strategically in the Switch 2's second full year, a period when Nintendo typically leans on established brands to sustain momentum after a console's launch rush fades.
The insider take
From Tokyo, the framing here is telling. Nintendo rarely commits a mainline Kirby to a next-generation platform this early unless it sees the property as a system-seller, and the deliberately vague "World Beyond" branding is classic HAL — the studio loves to withhold its central twist until closer to launch, as it did with the Mouthful Mode reveal for Forgotten Land. Japanese fan communities are already speculating that "beyond" points to interdimensional or multi-world traversal, a natural evolution of the 3D formula. Expect a fuller reveal in a dedicated Direct sometime in early 2027.
Originally reported by 4Gamer.net − 最新記事 (Japanese).