Game

Kirby and the Forgotten Land

2022

0Score

Low Cash-Grab Risk

The sourced concerns are substantially offset by delivered value.

What counts as a cash grab?

Commercial extraction prioritized over meaningful consumer or creative value. Profit, popularity, adaptations, sequels, remakes, high budgets, and normal marketing do not count by themselves.

Why?

Kirby and the Forgotten Land launched on March 25, 2022 as HAL Laboratory and Nintendo’s first fully 3D mainline Kirby game, it received broad critical praise for design and technical craft and there is no credible evidence the original release used predatory monetization or real-money microtransactions. The game’s town features a Gotcha Machine that uses in-game currency and not purchases. A paid Nintendo Switch 2 upgrade pack including a new Star-Crossed World story and performance/graphic improvements was released for Nintendo Switch 2 on August 28, 2025, this is paid commercial extraction but it also contains substantive new content.

No evidence of real-money microtransactions or pay-to-progress systems at launch according to Nintendo product pages and guides.
The game represented a clear technical and design investment, cited as the series’ first full 3D platformer in developer interviews and reviews.
In-town 'Gotcha Machine Alley' is explicitly described as spending in-game currency, not real money.

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Nintendo sold a paid Switch 2 upgrade pack released Aug 28, 2025 that adds a new story called Star-Crossed World, this is commercial extraction but includes substantive new content.

Score factors

Direction	Factor	Evidence	Impact
Against	Substantial production craft, first full 3D entry	Developer interviews and mainstream reviews note the technical and design effort of transitioning Kirby to a full 3D platformer and the team’s development focus.[1][2][3]	-18
For	Paid Switch 2 upgrade pack	Nintendo released a paid Nintendo Switch 2 upgrade pack titled Kirby and the Forgotten Land - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Star-Crossed World, sold through the eShop.[4]	+18
Against	Upgrade contains substantive new content	Nintendo’s Switch 2 Edition description specifies an included new story called Star-Crossed World and new Mouthful Modes as part of the upgrade.[5]	-18
Against	Positive critical reception	Major outlets gave strongly positive reviews calling the title an important, well-made evolution for the series.[7][6]	-16
Against	Gotcha machine uses in-game currency	Nintendo’s product page and independent guides describe Gotcha Machine Alley as spending in-game money or Rare Stones to unlock figures, not real-money transactions.[1][8]	-11

Confidence: High · Assessment is based on primary Nintendo product and support pages plus major independent reviews and reporting; there is clear documentation of a paid Switch 2 upgrade but no credible primary-source evidence of predatory microtransactions or rushed/deceptive release practices for the original 2022 r · Researched 2026-07-23

Sources reviewed

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