There are a number of references to other Nintendo games in the items collected for "The Great Cave Offensive". They are as follows:

•Mr. Saturn: EarthBound series
•Bucket: Mario & Wario
•Koopa Shell: Mario series
•Pegasus' Wing: Kid Icarus series
•Falcon Helmet: F-Zero series
•Screw Attack: Metroid series
•Kong's Barrel: Donkey Kong series
•Triforce: The Legend of Zelda series

The following two are exclusive to Kirby Super Star Ultra:

•Gold Watering Can: Animal Crossing series
•Falchion: Fire Emblem series

On rare occasions, when using the Stone ability, Kirby can transform into a golden statue of either Mario, Samus Aran, or any of the three animal helpers (Kine, Rick, and Coo) from Kirby's Dream Land 2.

Mario, Luigi, Toad and Birdo can be seen on the left side of the arena during the battle with King Dedede in "Spring Breeze."

Scrolling outside of the viewable area via hacking also reveals cameos from Bowser, Princess Peach, and Poppy Bros. Sr. (Peach is still semi-viewable.) This may explain why Peach is fully viewable in the stands during the Dedede battle in Kirby Super Star Ultra.

The "Spring Breeze" sub-game is actually a recreation of Kirby's Dream Land for the Game Boy. Aside from the obvious gameplay changes between the two (most notably the ability to Copy abilities from certain enemies and Two-Player mode), Castle Lololo being removed and Lololo & Lalala being repurposed for Float Island's bosses, and other small changes in level design, the two have the same levels and intro cutscenes (save for Castle Lololo), and the same basic plot-line.

The "Moto Shotzo" enemy is likely based on Trax, a character that uses the same design from a Game Boy game of the same name, also created by HAL.

Due to Nintendo of America's regulations on Japanese culture, some of the foods were changed and edited to American foods when the game was localized.

When Kirby gets the Yo-Yo ability, he wears a cap and bears a resemblance to Ness from EarthBound. The combining of a yoyo and cap has a strong association with Ness, making this a possible reference. It should also be noted that after Kirby beats the boss battle against Computer Virus, the leveling up dialogue closely resembles the leveling up dialogue from EarthBound as well.

The Kanji on Chef Kawasaki's apron means "To Eat".

The enemy and helper Capsule J from the original game was removed from the remake due to an uncanny similarity to Konami's Twinbee.

It is actually possible to defeat the Heavy Lobster during its first encounter in the Revenge of Meta Knight sub-game before the main engine blows Kirby off the ship. However, despite disappearing after being defeated, parts of the Heavy Lobster still appear in the engine blast alongside with Kirby.

In the Japanese version, a Shoshinsha mark (a Japanese symbol that new drivers must display on their car for a year after obtaining their driving licence) appears in the background of menu asking whether the player wants to view the game's tutorial. When the game was localized to the West, the Shoshinsha mark was replaced by a picture of Kirby.

Although the colors of the buttons on the SNES controller were changed from purple to red, yellow, green, and blue in the pal release, the text was never altered in the game's tutorial, and so it still refers to the controller having purple buttons.

The game was released in Europe under the name "Kirby's Fun Pak". However, when the game was released on the Wii U Virtual Console in Europe, the game kept the name Kirby Super Star.

Meta Knight's ship is named the Halberd. The "Hal" in Halberd could possibly be a reference to the developers of the game, HAL Labratories, as well as the real-life weapon.

The credits for Milky Way Wishes has a maido sign on one of the Kirby graphics in the Japanese version. The maido sign was removed in the international versions due to Nintendo of America's regulations on Japanese culture.

At the very end of the credits in the Japanese version, two words will pop up that says "and more". In the International versions, it says "There's more".

After completing a round of Gourmet Race, the time on the very bottom of the screen will say "clear time" in the Japanese version. This was changed to just "time" in the International versions.

In the Japanese release there are weeds in the foreground of the "Samurai Kirby" mini game. They were removed in the international versions, possibly to make room for the translation text. The weeds were later revised in Kirby Super Star Ultra.

When Kirby Super Star was presented at E3 1996, a few things were seen that were changed when the game was released.

When choosing one of the eight games in the menu, a cartoony bounce sound effect can be heard when changing the selection, and while playing in any of the games the top-right corner of the screen shows stars, but it's unknown what they were going to be used for.

There are a few glitches that were fixed when the game was localized overseas, mostly involving pressing opposite directions simultaneously.
•When using Jet Kirby and doing a semi-charged or fully-charged boost in midair, pressing up and down while flying sends Kirby flying diagonally. If Kirby bumps into a wall after a semi-charged boost while holding up and down, Kirby will bounce upwards very fast.
•When using Fire Kirby while doing a running boost in midair, pressing up and down will cause Kirby to shoot down very fast, passing through floors.
•When using Plasma Kirby while holding left and right and pressing up will charge Kirby's plasma beam to the maximum immediately, allowing you to fire fully-charged shots right away.
•When using Yo-Yo Kirby, pressing up, down and Y in midair will cause Kirby to disappear from the screen. If this is done with a helper, the game will act as if the helper doesn't exist.
•Pressing up and down on a ladder causes the game to crash, or could possibly send you to the credits of Milky Way Wishes.