Kirby's Dream Land, released in 1992 for the Nintendo Game Boy, is the first game starring the spherical puffball known as Kirby. The evil King Dedede has stolen the Sparkling Stars, which provide all of the food of Kirby's home, Dream Land, and Kirby must get them back.

The game is rather short by platformer standards, even compared to earlier games like Super Mario Land. It consists of only five stages. Green Greens, Castle Lololo, Float Islands, Bubbly Clouds, and Mt. Dedede. An extra difficulty mode, unlocked after beating the game once, adds length to the game.

As Kirby's first adventure, this game lacks some of the elements seen in future games, such as the map screen and the ability to copy enemies' powers. Kirby's weapon is the ability to inhale enemies, blocks, or stars and either spit them out or swallow them.

Trivia

On the cartridge label of the Game Boy game, Kirby is depicted as being white; in all subsequent games he is pink. In Super Smash Bros. Melee, white is one of Kirby's alternate character colors, for nostalgic reasons.