What if Video Games Stopped Receiving Patches? (with Nic McConnell)

While we don't do a lot of speculation here on Kirby Conversations, we had to talk about the biggest Kirby news lately: the announcement of Kirby and the World Beyond! Sean, Bridge, and Gigi are here, and join us as we discuss what we know about the game and what we're still curious about.

Kirby's Dream Land 3 has long been an expensive Super Nintendo game, but lately its been selling for over $1000! How did this game—which is readily available to play in the Switch's Nintendo Classics library—get so expensive? For this shorter episode, Sean, Bridget, and Gigi look back at the unique situations around the game's release, general changes in the prices of retro games, and other factors to figure out just how Kirby's Dream Land 3 became such a valuable and sought-after title.

If you want to remake a game, Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land is a perfect example of how to do it. It keeps almost everything players loved about the original Kirby's Adventure while adding new elements, quality of life adjustments, multiplayer, and even the opportunity to play as Meta-Knight. Rather than replacing the original, it offers a separate but familiar experience, wrapped in a new visual style and ready to be taken on the go with the Game Boy Advance. Joining Sean, Gigi, and Bridge today is writer, DJ, and podcaster Matt "Stormageddon" (@djstormageddon.com), here to share why Nightmare in Dream Land might be his favorite Kirby game of all time. And in addition to the main discussion, the group also closes the episode by looking more broadly back at the Game Boy Advance to share their other GBA recommendations.

We know listeners have been requesting more Smash Bros. content, so today we're going deep into the weeds of the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate meta with friend of the show Lucy "Winters" Hayes (@lucyelise.bsky.social on Bluesky). Lucy is a longtime Smash Bros. competitive player and commentator, and Sean and Gigi are talking with her about UltRank's carefully assembled 2026 SSBU tier list that was just posted in May. (You can find the list here, and it may be helpful to look at during our conversation.) As Sean and Gigi ask questions about the list, Lucy is more than happy to provide a wealth of knowledge on why the competitive community ranks different characters the way they do. We also discuss what characters may still have unexplored potential, how interested players can start getting involved in their local Smash Bros. scenes., and the other fighting games Lucy's been enjoying lately.

Kirby Battle Royale is a game often considered one of the worst Kirby games, and it was no doubt disappointing that the game wasn't larger in scope or equipped with better online features (especially for a game all about multiplayer battles). But behind the game's flaws is a clever minigame collection with surprisingly good 3D Kirby combat, a lot of unlockables, and creative experiments that still make the game stand out today. It was the first Kirby game to offer native support for online multiplayer, it offered post-launch DLC, and it gave players the rare opportunity to vote on new abilities to add to the game (introducing the only appearance of Sleep as a combat ability). While it might have fallen short of its potential, it's not short on fun gameplay, so for this episode, Sean, Gigi, and Bridget are giving Royale the royal treatment to show how you can acknowledge the game's flaws while still finding a lot to enjoy in it.