Franchise: Kirby

According to Masahiro Sakurai in a YouTube video he made on Kirby's Dream Land, the character's signature float came about as a way to avoid losing a life when simply missing a jump in a heavy platforming section, as he found such an occurrence in games like Ninja Gaiden and Castlevania, among others, to be particularly frustrating.

In an interview with Polygon writer Chris Plante, series director Shinya Kumazaki stated that although Kirby appears to devour his enemies, the foes that he swallows are not killed; instead, they simply get "poofed" elsewhere in the world. According to Kumazaki, this concept is meant to make the series more approachable to lay audiences by presenting a comedic alternative to the "extreme or violent expression" of Kirby digesting his opponents.

Series director Shinya Kumazaki maintains an art gallery on his personal website where he showcases paintings that he makes in his spare time. Several of these pieces depict dystopian surrealist versions of characters from the Kirby franchise, including Miracle Matter, Queen Sectonia, Taranza, and Drawcia.

In 1996, the Club Nintendo magazine in Germany printed a comic titled Kirby's Biggest Case, depicting the usually lovable Kirby as a depraved detective who smokes, drinks alcohol, reads "dirty magazines", and sneaks into women's restrooms. Writer Claude M. Moyse claimed that this portrayal of the character as, in his own words, "a freak" was a way of getting back at creator Masahiro Sakurai, who he had a grudge against for unknown reasons.