What year was the first Kirby game released?

The first Kirby game was released in 1992: Kirby's Dream Land debuted in Japan on April 27 of that year for the original Game Boy.

Developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo, Kirby's Dream Land introduced the pink hero and established the series' central idea of inhaling enemies and objects. It was directed by Masahiro Sakurai, who designed Kirby as a simple, approachable character for players unfamiliar with action games.

The game contains five main stages, with Kirby setting out to recover Dream Land's stolen food and Sparkling Stars from King Dedede. A common mix-up is confusing the original game's release year with later regional dates: North America, Europe, and Australasia received it in August 1992. Another distinction is that Kirby's signature Copy Abilities were not yet part of this first adventure; that feature arrived in Kirby's Adventure in 1993.