Kirby Star Allies crushes the series’ debut month sales record

Kirby Star Allies has had the strongest debut month of sales in the U.S. in the franchises’ history, according to The NPD Group. The Switch side-scroller had a 90 percent better debut month than 2002’s Kirby Nightmare in Dreamland, which last held that distinction.

Star Allies came out for the Switch on March 16. It was the No. 4 best-selling game of March in the U.S., according to The NPD Group. This shows how the success of the Switch is giving Nintnendo’s franchises a boost. Kirby isn’t as big a seller as Nintendo’s top series — like Mario, Zelda, or Pokémon — but the excitement surrounding the Switch has helped Star Allies reach new sales heights. And Star Allies’ success shows that Kirby and co-op games can do well on the Switch.

Our review criticized Star Allies for lacking innovation or creative level design, but it has still found an audience. Star Allies features four-player co-op, so friends can play together. It also released during a quiet month for the Switch, so it didn’t have much competition on that platform.

The Kirby series started in 1992 with the release of Kirby’s Dream Land for the Game Boy. The franchise has made appearances — either with traditional platformers similar to the original or with weird spinoffs that take inspiration from things like pinball and mini-golf — on just about every Nintendo system released since. Star Allies is the first Kirby game for the Switch.