Kirby's Dream Land

A pink ball that swallows anything — that's how Kirby's Dream Land entered the world of video games, the debut of one of Nintendo's most endearing characters ever. The 1992 game was created by HAL Laboratory and, along with it, the then-young designer Masahiro Sakurai, later the creator of the Super Smash Bros. series. It was he who built the whole concept on a simple but brilliant idea: you can suck enemies into your mouth and either spit them out as a projectile or swallow them.

Unlike later installments, Kirby here still can't copy enemies' abilities — that iconic mechanic only arrived with Kirby's Adventure on the NES. But the core gameplay is all the purer for it: Kirby can take a breath and float through the air practically without limit, which makes the platformer unusually accessible and forgiving. Sakurai deliberately designed it so that even a complete newcomer could handle it, while a hidden harder mode rewarded seasoned players.

The retro community treasures Kirby's Dream Land precisely for that laid-back, thoroughly friendly atmosphere. Its adorable design, disarming music, and the feeling that the game wants you to win make it a perfect entry point into the genre and into one of Nintendo's longest-running series.