10 Iconic Video Game Features That Were Invented By Accident
4. Kirby's Design
Kirby has an iconic design. He’s pink, he’s round, he wears little shoes… and who couldn’t love that simple, smiling face? It’s rather shocking to learn that the little ball of joy was actually just a placeholder design.
Masahiro Sakurai, Kirby’s creator, needed a placeholder design for the player character when he was developing the action-platformer’s gameplay. As such, he dropped a ball into the game to serve as a character; only later would he come up with a fully-fledged design. When it finally came to production, however, Sakurai believed that the little round fellow “served the character better”, and thus Kirby was given a face and a name.
The design of Kirby has always been known for its simplicity. He is an alien, but this isn’t immediately clear; he just looks like a ball with a face, and we love him for it. So is it marvel or madness that no actual thought went into his design? Given Nintendo means 'leave luck to heaven', maybe it's no surprise they were blessed with this happy accident.