One cancelled SNES game fans have known about for a long time is Kid Kirby, a title that was in development by DMA Design Ltd., the company that would eventually become Rockstar North. Kid Kirby was a game that would have made extensive use of the SNES mouse, to allow players to interact with a younger version of Kirby, but very little was actually known about the game. Well, until now that is, since a large batch of content has been discovered by the Kid Kirby Archive Twitter account which includes manual pages, and story details.
The content was provided by Steve Hammond, an ex-dev from DMA Design Ltd.., and includes a render of King Dedede, a design sketch of Kid Kirby, and manual pages with story details. The story involved Kid Kirby setting out to replenish the Dream Spring, which has dried up. Kid Kirby would pack up an adventure kit to bring with him on his journey, which would be used to him survive his mission and set things right with the Dream Spring.
Some lines of dialogue and other story planning can be seen here. As for King Dedede, he would have appeared as Prince Dedede, being younger as well, although it’s unclear what his role would have been.
It is really interesting to see the cancelled game resurface like this, and who knows what ideas appeared in later games either from Nintendo or DMA Design Inc.