Nintendo eShop celebrates Kirby’s birthday with classic downloads

This week’s Nintendo eShop update is all about Kirby, the tiny, seemingly ageless pink ball who turns an unbelievable 24 next week. Three classic Kirby games are now available to download ahead of his birthday on Aug. 1, including two Virtual Console titles.

These are Kirby’s Dream Course, a Super NES game, and Kirby Mass Attack, originally for Nintendo DS. Dream Course is available for $7.99 on New Nintendo 3DS while Mass Attack is $9.99 on Wii U. Kirby’s Dream Course is also available on the Wii and Wii U Virtual Console.

Kirby Mass Attack came out late in the Nintendo DS’ life and gives players up to 10 Kirbys to control at once using the touchscreen. Kirby’s Dream Course, the fourth game ever to be released in the franchise, is a golfing spinoff where enemies threaten Kirby’s attempts at hole-in-ones.

Wii U owners have another older Kirby game to check out starting today: Kirby’s Epic Yarn, a $19.99 eShop download. The game first came to Wii in 2010, introducing a new, cloth-based look for the lead character. Epic Yarn’s unique art style was created using photos of fabric and has since been borrowed by the Yoshi series for Yoshi’s Woolly World.

Kirby: Planet Robobot hit Nintendo 3DS in June and is the little guy’s latest adventure. There are no other Kirby games announced as in development for now, but Japanese fans can soon try some of his favorite foods at one of a handful of Kirby-themed cafes throughout the country. They’ll open up in August.