Kirby's Rainbow Resort

Something about both these series just makes them both go well together.

But first of all, what kind of game would it be? How would it work? How would characters from both series come into play together?
If anything, it would likely have to be an entirely different kind of gameplay.

That's a good question (and such a wonderful idea)! I personally would love a crossover between the two since they were both integral parts of my childhood.

I guess first it would be good to figure out what kind of game style we'd hypothetically want. Both franchises have roots in 2D platforming but since Mario's more versatile we could consider something like an RPG or 3D platformer instead.

There's so many possibilities, the more I think about it. What if there was a game where Mario and Kirby could tag team back and forth in a way similar to Donkey Kong Country (or even like how the helper system works in Kirby Super Star)? Or a game where it's an RPG where Mario/Kirby has to be a party member at all times but then you can switch out people from both of the franchises (Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Dedede, Meta Knight, Bandanna Dee, etc).

There's even non-game mechanics stuff to consider: like imagine a Goomba holding a Waddle Dee's parasol, or a Waddle Dee wearing a Shy Guy mask.

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I feel like the core mechanics of the characters' platforming abilities wouldn't mesh especially well, Mario is all about momentum and precision while Kirby tends to focus on flashy attacks and such. An area I do think the franchises would synchronize is as a racing game, Mario Kart X Kirby Air Ride! Give all of the Mario Karts the flying/hovering abilities of the various stars from Air Ride, 32 courses over 8 different cups, and at least one good city for a City Trial mode (maybe even multiple cities?) and you've got yourself a fantastic video game right there!

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You 2 raise some really good points!

Thinking about it- unless there was some sort of Sonic Generations style switching to justify the mechanics change between Kirby and Mario, I don't think a platformer would be smooth with them. And even then, having those 2 play separate stages is not the integration a crossover would merit.

And I agree, Keeby, that racing isn't the way to go. As cool as that would be, I have a feeling that it'd end up feeling like Mario Kart with some Kirby DLC.

An RPG would be interesting, imho, especially if we took a Super Mario RPG approach to it. Make it so that all times either Kirby or Mario is in the party, but allow the player to switch out characters. You could even take it a step further and integrate some Subspace Emissary into it by having parts of the game where the party gets split up so that your team has to be constructed a bit differently. That could result in some fun combos like a Mario + Dedede + Peach team or a Kirby + Waddle Dee + Luigi. Idk who we'd actually want to be playable (or if we even want a SMRPG format) but it's fun to think of weird combinations.

Another thing to consider, regardless of it's an RPG or not, is who the "big bad" is. In Mario games it's usually Bowser but Kirby games tend not to reuse that many enemies for plot related stuff. For villains, I feel like it shouldn't be Dedede (if anything he could be an early game boss who joins your side after defeat), but who else is prominent and recurring in a Kirby game? Meta Knight and Dedede fall under the category of "could be enemies but would also be your friend after defeat, probably". You could argue for Dark Matter/Zero, I guess? Otherwise (for the most part) you've just got a bunch of one-off villains to choose from.

If we're just saying what we'd like to see, I'd love to have a game where Haltmann and Wario are the villains, motivated by greed. It's probably not sinister sounding enough, but honestly I just really love Haltmann as a villain.

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I never really liked Haltmann that much. In fact, just in general Planet Robobot wasn't my thing. I think Wario could be a mid-game boss who joins you as a hero after you defeat him. Same with Waluigi.

I'd love a Fire Emblem style RPG. Imagine Waddle Dee using a tanooki suit(he can wear an outfit based on a tanuki in Battle Royale), or Peach with a beam rod.

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I think that you could have a whole bunch of other characters from both series taking part in this adventure. Kirby's going all out with bringing back various past characters lately, but Mario would have to keep it at characters from the main games. As in, the likes of Nabbit, Cappy, Luma, Rosalina, Sprixies, Broodals, etc.

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If we are going the RPG route, I'd much rather see something more like Mario & Luigi or Paper Mario, seeing as how those are fairly established RPG series already, except perhaps having Kirby in the Luigi position, or perhaps as a third character like with Bowser from Inside Story or Paper Mario from Paper Jam. Given Kirby's variety of copy abilities he could likely have those as a counterpoint to bros moves for his own special attacks, with trio attacks utilizing the bros incredible gymnastic abilities in tandem with a copy ability of some sort.

I figure if we're talking villains here, 0/Dark Matter is generally the way to go. Dark Matter has possessed King Dedede plenty of times before, so I don't see why King Bowser wouldn't be any different in that regard, resulting in a "teamup" that's a little more forced than usual. It could also allow for a variety of possessed iterations of Mario villains and other characters to show up, in a similar vein to how Rabbid versions of various Mario foes showed up as bosses in the Mario/Rabbids crossover game. This could also allow Kirby characters to show up under similar circumstances, with a possible possessed Dedede/Bowser duo battle, perhaps with their own "Bros" moves? Heck, have some iteration of Zero filling up the third slot and they could even do some kind of trio attacks themselves.

I think Dark Matter would be a good choice. One thing I think would be pretty cool is if the whole game looks like it was drawn with colored pencils like DL3.

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If you’re ever feeling lonely, watch this video:
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...But a lot of people may not.

It just doesn't work for a game like this at all. This is Mario + Kirby we're talking about. You'd have to keep them both at their standard, base art styles.


Also, if anything, I think that the final boss of such a game would be a Dark Matter-fused Bowser. Or Bowser fused with something else bad enough.

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That would totally cheapen the idea of a Mario/Kirby crossover though. Why on earth would you waste such an opportunity on that? It would do nothing to take advantage of what both series are known for and would ultimately make it suck.

Work in both Mushroom Kingdom and Dream Land.

Well this is never going to happen anyway, it's just ideas we thought of for fun...

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Well, let's come up with something better then.

As for how the story would start, something terrible is going on in Dream Land. So bad it's prompted Kirby to escape Pop Star, but then he ends up crashing into Mario's world. Then the two meet and it all unfolds from there.


Now, how would you work in any other characters? Let's see...

Wario (with Waluigi in tow) tries to fight Dedede, but gets beaten by him?
Squeak Squad VS the Broodals?
Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings try to take on Meta Knight and the Halberd?
Rosalina could be somewhere in there, but up to what...
Taranza or even Susie could be around too...