Kirby's Dream Buffet
| Kirby's Dream Buffet | |
|---|---|
Cover art | |
| Developer | HAL Laboratory |
| Publisher | Nintendo |
| Director | Shinya Kumazaki |
| Producers |
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| Designers |
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| Programmer | Hiroshi Ohnishi |
| Artist | Riki Fuhrmann |
| Composers |
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| Series | Kirby |
| Platform | Nintendo Switch |
| Release |
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| Genres | Racing, party, battle royale, action |
| Modes | Single-player, multiplayer |
Kirby's Dream Buffet is a 2022 action, racing, and party video game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch as a spinoff title in the Kirby series. It was announced via social media in July 2022 and was digitally released worldwide for the Nintendo eShop the following month. The game supports both local and online multiplayer.
Kirby's Dream Buffet's gameplay revolves around four player characters known as Kirbys, each controlled by either a human player or artificial intelligence, competing in a variety of dessert-themed race courses and minigames with the objective of collecting the most strawberries, growing larger in the process. Strawberries can be obtained through various means, including finishing races quickly, defeating enemies, and knocking out other racers, all of which can be achieved with food-themed power-ups that replace the series's traditional Copy Abilities.
Kirby's Dream Buffet received mixed reviews, with general praise for its visuals, divided opinions on its gameplay, and criticism for its online mode. It was nominated for Family Game of the Year during the 26th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, losing to Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope (2022). Many reviewers compared the game to Fall Guys (2020) both before and after its release. Kirby's Dream Buffet was released just a few months after the release of Kirby and the Forgotten Land (2022), a mainline Kirby game.