6B * THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
ENTERTAINMENT
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2002
CAPTAIN RIBMAN in Name Blame Game
by Spremgelmeyer & Davis
Nintendo's Kirby bounces back
The Associated Press
REDMOND, Wash. — Kirby's finally hitting the big time.
After a decade of relative obscurity, he's starring in a new TV show. His Web site is generating thousands of visits a week. And he has teams of people plotting his every move and word.
All this for a blob the color of Peno-Bismol.
You bet.
Nintendo of America, the company that unleashed the Mario and Pokemon phenomena, is hoping to do the same with Kirby, the protagonist of dozens of Nintendo video games.
Redmond-based Nintendo plans to spend $10 million over the next two years turning the Pink One into a worldwide superstar.
"Kirby: Right Back at Ya"
debuts Sept. 14 on Fox (9 a.m.
and 11 a.m. EDT).
Nintendo knows the power of a personality.
The cost of characters that
starred in Pokemon games spawned a huge following that not only boosted sales of its games and hardware, but has translated into $15 billion to $20 billion worth of non-game merchandise sales for Nintendo worldwide, said Guil Tilden, a Nintendo vice president.
Already in Japan, where Kirby marketing efforts have a year headstart on the rest of the world, sales of non-game Kirby merchandise are expected to hit $150 million to $200 million this year, she said.
What's Kirby about? He's a Warpstar knight in training. After crash landing on the planet Poparst, he becomes the sworn protector of Dream Land, where all the happy dreams in the universe originate.
He can inhale the various special powers of his enemies and then use them against them. He says very little — only parroting a few words here and there. And children especially like his taste-of-your-own-medicine special
powers.
Kids like that although Kirby can turn tough when he needs to be, he's still "so unassuming," said Tilden. "He's like a pink round ball."
Well, he is a pink round ball.
And much of the responsibility of turning the ball into a sensation is on Tilden and Nintendo brand manager Melinda Porter.
The two oversee the marketing efforts for Kirby in North America and Europe, while a Nintendo joint venture in Japan handles the Asian market.
But building a star has taken months of effort on even the smallest of details.
The two spent six weeks poring over hundreds of logo designs, whitting them down to the final pink, burgundy and yellow logo (the colors appeal to boys as well as girls, Tilden notes).
They've lined up a fast-food partner (which they won't disclose yet) to include a Kirby toy in a kid's meal later this year.
Crossword
ACROSS
1 Geometric measures
6 Snarl and growl
10 Ring
14 Word with sienna or umber
15 Hard to find
16 Hideous creature
17 Make merry
18 Historical novel
19 Recent
20 Merits
22 Shark in business waters
24 Requisite
25 Penny
26 Is unable
29 Concessionary comment
33 Otherwise called
34 Chatter
35 Before, before
36 Open storage
37 Novel writing
38 Runny cheese
39 Arctic surface
40 Hart or Stephen
41 Beeped
42 Baby bird
44 Touch affectionately
45 Social standing
46 Shoe form
47 Play text
50 Scandinavian of the past
54 McCowen or Baldwin
55 Love god
57 Face the day
58 Saturate
59 Took the train
60 Spint in a bottle
61 Nimble
62 Comprehends
63 Mystery award
DOWN
1 Down for the night
2 Hold sway
3 Important times
4 Aerials
5 Sound systems
6 Avarice
7 Siestas
8 Jackie's second
09/04/02
$ \textcircled{c} $2002 Tribune Media Services, Inc All rights reserved.
husband
9 Produce anew
10 Well-mannered
11 Oh my gosh!
12 La commedia
dell!
13 Salacious stare
14 Fido's doc
23 Starter chips
24 Purse
26 Log structure
27 Wonderland
visitor
28 Golf course
halves
29 Incorrect
30 Brink
31 People
conquered by
the Inquois
32 Obloist's
purchase
34 Practical joke
37 PC adjuncts
38 Traded without
money
40 Thunder peal
41 Way through
Solutions
43 Requiring caution
44 Motor vehicle
46 Misplaces
47 Unwanted lip
48 Hoof beat
49 Hindquarters
50 Protuberance
51 Gordon's
    "Merciless" foe
52 Katmandu's
    place
53 ___ do-well
54 Lobster eggs
EVERYTHING
BUT ICE
BEDS • DESKS
CHEST OF DRAWERS
BOOK CASES
unclaimed freight &
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936 Mass.
"Layaway now for summer"
the student perspective
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