Cipher methods Symbols
Kirby (Forgotten Land)
The Kirby alphabet is the fictional script appearing in Kirby and the Forgotten Land (HAL Laboratory / Nintendo, 2022, Nintendo Switch). It is the first entry in the Kirby franchise (since 1992) to go full-3D — a major turning point for a series historically in 2D.
The game takes place in the ruins of a vanished human civilisation: Kirby and Waddle Dee, sucked into this new world, explore abandoned cities (Néo-City, amusement park, shopping centre) where human script is everywhere on billboards, urban maps, menus and vending machines. The community quickly reconstructed the Latin ↔ Kirby mapping on the game’s release (April 2022). The alphabet is drawn by HAL Laboratory in a rounded, colourful style, true to the franchise’s pastel aesthetic. 26 letters + 10 digits.
How does the alphabet work?
The cipher relies on a monoalphabetic substitution: each cleartext character (letter or digit) is replaced by the corresponding Kirby glyph. Same mechanic as the Caesar cipher (~50 BC), except the “key” is an image table from a major Nintendo game of 2022.
The table holds 36 glyphs (26 letters + 10 digits). The glyphs are rounded and colourful, in Kirby’s emblematic pastel style (introduced by Masahiro Sakurai in 1992). The photogenic look makes this alphabet particularly popular for dressing up escape rooms or Nintendo fan-cons.
Cryptographic strength: low. Monoalphabetic substitution → trivial frequency analysis. The goal was never cryptographic: it’s a brilliant narrative immersion device — the writing of vanished humans that Kirby cannot read but the player can decode by trial and error.
Historical and modern usage
- Kirby and the Forgotten Land game (Nintendo Switch, 2022).
- Kirby community — fan art, cosplay, fan-con riddles.
- Playful pedagogy — learning by in-game observation.
- Nintendo pop culture — nod to the franchise’s 30 years.
Related variants
- Goron (Zelda) — see our entry, another recent Nintendo alphabet.
- Sheikah — see our entry, another recent Nintendo alphabet.
- Simlish — see our entry, another popular video-game language.
What are the weaknesses?
- Monoalphabetic substitution — frequency analysis is immediate.
- Public table — available on WiKirby and dCode.
- Close-looking glyphs — rounded shapes sometimes confused.
The 36 glyphs
