Kirby's Adventure was released for the Famicom in Japan on 23 March 1993 and reached North America on 1 May the same year. It was directed by Masahiro Sakurai at HAL Laboratory, with Satoru Iwata among the producers and music by Hirokazu Ando. It is the second Kirby game and the only one on the Famicom/NES, built on a 6-megabit cartridge.
This is the game that introduced Copy Abilities: HAL created over 40 of them before choosing the final set. It was also the first to show Kirby in pink and the first appearance of Meta Knight. Its 41 levels are spread across seven worlds, and the game saves automatically after each level, a first for the series.
In Europe it came out in 1993 in English, with separate French and German releases. It was later re-released on the Wii Virtual Console and as 3D Classics: Kirby's Adventure on the 3DS, and remade for the Game Boy Advance in 2002 as Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land, which adds four-player co-op and a Meta Knight mode.12
Names and releases
| Region | Title on the box | Platform | Date | Publisher | Src |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NA | Kirby's Adventure | NES | May 1, 1993 | Nintendo | 3 |
| NA | Kirby's AdventureVirtual Console | Wii | Feb 12, 2007 | Nintendo | 2 |
| JP | 星のカービィ 夢の泉の物語Hoshi no Kābī: Yume no Izumi no MonogatariFamicom; 6-megabit cartridge with MMC3 mapper and battery save | NES | Mar 23, 1993 | Nintendo | 1 |
| EU | Kirby's Adventuresources disagree on the day: 12 September (English Wikipedia), 1 December (TCRF), 9 December (Japanese Wikipedia); separate French and German releases | NES | 1993 | Nintendo | 1 |
| EU | Kirby's AdventureVirtual Console; TCRF notes it carries the PAL version's 50 Hz audio changes | Wii | Feb 16, 2007 | Nintendo | 2 |
| JP | 星のカービィ 夢の泉の物語Virtual Console | Wii | Feb 27, 2007 | Nintendo | 2 |
| WW | 3D Classics: Kirby's AdventureNorth America and PAL; sources give 7 or 17 November | Nintendo 3DS | November 2011 | Nintendo | 1 |
| JP | 星のカービィ 夢の泉の物語3D Classics, Nintendo 3DS eShop | Nintendo 3DS | Apr 25, 2012 | Nintendo | 1 |
| WW | Kirby's AdventureNintendo Switch Online NES library; 'Kirby's Adventure SP' save-state version added 13 March 2019 per Game Informer | Switch | Feb 13, 2019 | Nintendo | 1 |
Also known as: 星のカービィ 夢の泉の物語 JP4Hoshi no Kābī: Yume no Izumi no Monogatari JP1Kirby of the Stars: The Story of the Fountain of Dreams JP1Приключение Кирби RU23D Classics: Kirby's Adventure WW1
Box art by region

NA Kirby's Adventure 
EU Kirby's Adventure 
JP 星のカービィ 夢の泉の物語
Box art © its publishers, shown to identify each release. Scans: libretro-thumbnails.
Version differences
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TitleNES (NA/EU)
The international logo is simpler than the Japanese one, adds two yellow stars and recolors the background stars.3
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TextNES (NA/EU)
Some names changed in localization: the Burning ability became Fireball, and "The Fountain of Dream" became "The Fountain of Dreams."3
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Bug fixNES (NA rev 1)
The second US revision fixed a counter underflow glitch with the Mike ability and corrected typos such as the "Li'l Traueler" rank. It became the basis for the European, French and German releases.3
Translations
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German Official
Nintendo1993NES · US rev 1Released · complete
Official German NES release from Nintendo (1993), also based on the second US revision.3
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French Official
Nintendo1993NES · US rev 1Released · complete
Official French NES release from Nintendo (1993), based on the second US revision; the Cannon ability is spelled "Canon."3
Where to play legally today
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Nintendo Switch Online Subscription
Reception
Kirby's Adventure topped Famitsu's Japanese sales chart in May 1993, was named NES Game of the Year 1993 by GamePro and holds an 84% average on GameRankings. Russian Wikipedia puts NES sales at about 1.75 million copies; HAL's president claimed a million in Japan alone, a figure director Masahiro Sakurai disputed.1
In lists
Sources
- 1en.wikipedia.org
- 2ru.wikipedia.org
- 3tcrf.net
- 4ja.wikipedia.org
- 5nintendo.com
- 6dtf.ru
- 7ja.wikipedia.org
- 8ja.wikipedia.org
- 9ja.wikipedia.org
Checked: 2026-10-13Text reviewed: 2026-10-13
Spotted a mistake? Write to atlas@old-games.net.