Random: Kirby’s Dream Land 2’s Animal Friends Might Not Be What They Seem

Nintendo has quietly released a patch for its Game Boy emulator on Nintendo Switch Online, and while version 1.1.1 hasn’t changed much at all, the one thing it has changed may have a serious impact on Kirby lore.

Spotted by OatmealDome after being notified by their followers on Twitter, the description for Kirby’s Dream Land 2 — which was added to the service just last week — has changed very slightly, and it has implications for Rick, Kine, and Coo, Kirby’s three animal friends.

The original text refers to the trio as “Rick the Hamster, Kine the Fish, and Coo the Owl”, but the updated text has changed this to “Rick, Kine and Coo, who look like a hamster, a fish, and an owl, respectively”. So Rick’s had his hamster status revoked!

This apparently new lore has sent shockwaves through the Kirby community, as previously the three animals have always been referred to as their real-life counterparts of hamster, an ocean sunfish, and an owl. Even in the original Game Boy manual and the 3DS Virtual Console version of Kirby’s Dream Land 2, the trio were just animals.

So, what does this mean? Probably not much. One fan, WiKirby_86, speculates that because these animals are from Planet Popstar, they’re not actually a hamster, fish, or owl. After all, King Dedede is referred to as a penguin-like creature.

So does that mean Nago isn’t a Japanese Bob Tail cat, then? It’s likely. Well, thanks Nintendo for dropping critical Kirby lore in a tiny little NSO update.

Has your world been rocked by this Kirby lore news? Puff up in the comments and let us know.