Kirby 64 did not necessarily have to be a Nintendo 64 title. The very next year, 2000, saw the release of a new sidescroller for Nintendo 64 in the form of Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. in 1999, which was among several games during this time that used a new style dubbed 2.5D, three-dimensional graphics on a two-dimensional plane. However, the folks at HAL Laboratory never stopped thinking in 2D. Nintendo spent most of its time and effort crafting new three-dimensional games for Nintendo 64, and the genre that was once king of gaming laid dormant.

One type of game was conspicuously absent from these revolutionary times in gaming, and that is the 2D platformer. Other games made during this time ended up becoming catastrophes and relics of a strange time, a result of inexperience with the new third dimension. Some developers got it right and made gaming masterpieces that have gone down for the ages. During the transition of 2D to 3D graphics, gaming was like a gangly adolescent child stuck in the throes of puberty with no idea of what to do or where to go. The late 1990s were somewhat of an awkward time in video games.

Super kirby 64