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Last week's Nintendo Direct had a number of announcements to get fans happy about what was coming up in the year ahead - but in the midst of everything that was being confirmed, the company also noted that it will be supporting one of its upcoming releases with some beloved downloadable content.

Kirby Star Allies, which will be making its way to the Nintendo Switch, enables the pink puffball to enlist help over the course of his journey by hiring on "Dream Friends". These are characters within the Kirby universe that, once connected with a Dream Friend pitch, come along and enable their abilities to be used in conjunction with Kirby's, thus creating some new super techniques that can be real game changers.

The game will have a number of "Dream Friends" to choose from, but Nintendo doesn't want the party to end there. The company confirmed during its Nintendo Direct that it will be adding even more characters to the game over the course of the next few months. What's more, they'll be added free of charge, so you won't have to worry about paying extra to utilize them. Whew.

These characters are sure to be recognizable to long-time Kirby fans, including some that first appeared in Kirby's Dream Land 2, as well as a few new faces for good measure. How they'll use their abilities to help out our pink hero has yet to be seen, but they're sure to surprise.

Thus far, Rick, Kine and Coo from Kirby's Dream Land 2 are confirmed, along with Marx from Kirby Super Star and Gooey from Kirby's Dream Land 3. And Nintendo will add more as time goes on, so Kirby won't run short on friends to call upon.

We don't yet have a schedule as to when these friends will release, but Nintendo will likely update Star Allies on a monthly basis, following the game's initial release late this week. So prepare for a boatload of friends! Kirby Star Allies releases on March 16 for Nintendo Switch.

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