Kirby games have been around for 30 years and for that entire run, its creators have prided themselves on creating an approachable series that can be played by almost anyone. That being said, while Kirby's creator is incredibly proud of what he and the team at HAL Laboratory achieved via The Forgotten Land, he fears its final boss was a little too difficult for a Kirby game.
The Forgotten Land broke ground for Kirby in a number of ways. Most notably because it was the first 3D game in the series, something its creators previously believed to be impossible. It was also the first that tasked players with selecting a difficulty. “We provided two different difficulty levels to really try to also provide an option for the experienced gamer audience to get a more fulfilling gameplay experience,” Shinya Kumazaki told IGN.
Kirby games also try to not have the difficulty steepen too much too fast as the game progresses, at least not until the final boss. However, Kumazaki is worried that the uptick in difficulty at The Forgotten Land's final hurdle was a little much. “The steep uphill curve towards the end of the game, especially the final boss, might've been something that's maybe slightly too steep,” he said.
“Perhaps we can look into maybe balancing it out a little bit. That's something that I want to continue to explore.” Spoilers for those of you who haven't reached the final boss in The Forgotten Land, the game not only gets more difficult than you might expect, but its ending is also pretty dark. Its final boss is Fecto Forgo, an alien that attempted to overthrow The Forgotten Land years before.
The Forgotten Land's final fight also doesn't end once Fecto Forgo has been defeated, which may be why Kumazaki believes it was a little too challenging for the series. After Forgo has fallen, you then have to defeat Fecto Elfilis. It's not as simple as swallowing the bosses whole either. Perhaps they were unaware that even if that did happen, Kirby wouldn't digest them once in his stomach. He simply uses his magical insides to teleport them elsewhere.