Despite playing the series later in life than most gamers, Kirby is one of my favorite Nintendo properties, and the entire reason for this is Kirby's Epic Yarn. The creative and cuddly entry to the series for the Nintendo Wii launched in Japan on October 14, 2010, and I still think about it at least once a week.
If you somehow missed this absolute gem of a game, here's the scoop. Kirby's Epic Yarn is a 2D platformer for the Nintendo Wii, which later appeared on the Wii U virtual console, and was rereleased in 2019 as the 3DS game, Kirby's Extra Epic Yarn. It sees Kirby face off against Yin-Yarn, an evil sorcerer, who terrorizes the people of Patch Land and keeps turning Dream Land into textiles. It's also the reason that I thought the M tomatoes in Kirby games were called Metamatos instead of Maxim Tomatoes for the longest time.
As well as the game's adorable aesthetics, which arguably led to the Yoshi game, Yoshi's Wooly World, one of its key selling points for me and my cousins who played it together was its couch co-op features. When you play solo, you take on the role of the titular Kirby, but if you add in a player two, you get to play as Patch Land's monarch, Prince Fluff, making it the ideal Kirby game for couples. Mechanically, it differs a lot from classic Kirby games, too, as the pink puffball loses his ability to inhale objects and instead relies on the Yarn Whip to lasso enemies, peel off patches, and pull on zippers in the environment.
While I could grab myself a cheap Nintendo Wii and a copy of the game online, or invest in Kirby's Extra Epic Yarn, I would much rather see this 15-year-old masterpiece get a remake - or at least a port - for the Nintendo Switch 2. Couch co-op has already proven popular in games like Kirby and the Forgotten Land and Super Mario Bros. Wonder, so why not bring this gem to a whole new audience? You could even expand the co-op to accommodate four players, adding yarn versions of Bandana Waddle Dee and King Dedede.
As excited as I am for the new Kirby game, Kirby Air Riders, I never spent time with the original in my childhood, so the prospect of a remade Wii classic is slightly more exciting to me. If you haven't hung out with the bubblegum ball in a while, make sure to check out our Kirby and the Forgotten Land Switch 2 review and Kirby Air Riders Gamescom preview to see what he and his companions are up to in 2025.