Emote

Emote
Kirby performing his iconic wave emote in Kirby and the Forgotten Land.
Details
First game	Kirby and the Forgotten Land (2022)
Latest game	Kirby Air Riders (2025)
Other game(s)	Kirby's Dream Buffet Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe Kirby and the Forgotten Land – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Star-Crossed World
User(s)	Kirby, Bandana Waddle Dee, Meta Knight, King Dedede, Magolor, every rider in Kirby Air Riders
Similar	Idle animation

“Want to greet a friend or react to something surprising? Press + to use four different emotes!”

— Tasty Tidbit from Kirby's Dream Buffet, describing emotes

Emote is an action that can be performed by Kirby and other playable characters in every Kirby game starting with Kirby and the Forgotten Land, which typically allows them to display certain audio-visual expressions when using auxiliary directional inputs, similar to how taunting works in the Super Smash Bros. games. By default, there tend to be four Emotes, one for each direction, though the specific emotes used vary depending on the game and/or circumstance. These actions are distinct from idle animations, which happen automatically and have been in the Kirby series for much longer.

Game appearances

Kirby and the Forgotten Land / Kirby and the Forgotten Land – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Star-Crossed World

Emotes made their first appearance in Kirby and the Forgotten Land, and returned in its Nintendo Switch 2 Edition. Here, Kirby has access to four when the +Control Pad is pressed in each direction, and Bandana Waddle Dee can make use of these as well. In addition, a number of Mouthful Modes have their own unique emotes.

In the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, Gear-Mouth Kirby also has a unique emote. Additionally, Kirby's emotes have more possible voice clips in addition to the ones from the original game.

The following table lists every emote in the game, along with details on them:

Emotes in Kirby and the Forgotten Land
Emote	Direction	Description	Notes
Kirby and Bandana Waddle Dee
	↑	Kirby stands on the tips of his feet and waves enthusiastically while calling out "Hiii!".	The exact voice clip used for this emote varies. Bandana Waddle Dee does not have a vocalization. If Kirby uses this emote near Elfilin or most of the Waddle Dees in Waddle Dee Town, they will wave back at him.
	←	Kirby smiles, then gets up on one foot while raising his arm upward while shouting "Hi!" with his eyes tightly closed.	The exact voice clip used for this emote varies. Bandana Waddle Dee does not have a vocalization. If Kirby uses this emote near Elfilin or most of the Waddle Dees in Waddle Dee Town, they will react excitedly.
	→	Kirby looks to his right and then his left with a curious expression.	This is also one of Kirby's idle animations in the game.
	↓	Kirby sits down and taps his feet gently with a smile on his face, then gets back up shortly afterward.	This was an idle animation in previous games.
Mouthful Modes
	↑ or ↓ (Car Mouth)	Elfilin pops out and rubs the top of Car-Mouth Kirby's hood, making him relaxed from the massage until seemingly asleep. Then he pops back to attention as Elfilin disappears again.	This emote can only be used when Elfilin is with Kirby. Otherwise, the other Car Mouth emote is used.
	← or → (Car Mouth)	Car-Mouth Kirby bobs back and forth on his wheels a couple times.
	Any direction (Cone Mouth)	Cone-Mouth Kirby does a headstand and spins for a while, then gets back upright.
	Any direction (Ring Mouth)	Ring-Mouth Kirby does a sitting spin, and then nearly loses his balance when getting back up from it.
	Any direction (Gear Mouth)	Gear-Mouth Kirby closes his eyes and moves his mouth slightly.	Only in Kirby and the Forgotten Land – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Star-Crossed World.

Kirby's Dream Buffet

In Kirby's Dream Buffet, Kirby has access to four different emotes, which he can use any time during normal gameplay, as well as on the results screen. When on the Home Table or in Free Rolling mode, Kirby will orient himself toward the camera before using his emote. In online play, the emote comes with a caption that displays above the head of the Kirby that uses it. The following are all of the emotes in the game:

Emotes in Kirby's Dream Buffet
Emote	Direction	Description	Notes
Hey!	↑	Kirby waves with one hand while vocally greeting with his eyes closed tightly.	The exact voice clip used for these emotes varies.
Yay!	←	Kirby wiggles his limbs about while giving an ecstatic expression and a longer happy shout.
Huh?!	→	Kirby gives an exaggerated shocked expression and vocalization as his eyes enlarge in cartoonish fashion.
Hiii!	↓	Kirby waves both hands and feet while giving a greeting.

Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe

One of the new features added to Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe over the original game was the addition of Emotes, which are activated using the right control stick. Each playable character has access to four emotes. When playing single-player, the camera will zoom in a bit on Kirby when he uses one in most cases.

Emotes in Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe
Direction	Description	Kirby	King Dedede	Meta Knight	Bandana Waddle Dee
↑	Waving (or saluting in Meta Knight's case) with one hand while vocally greeting the player.
←	Looking around, becoming excited at the sights in the latter half of the motion.
→	Putting on a dour expression and raising one hand into the air, giving a determined shout.
↓	Stretching exercises varying by character. Kirby takes a moment to stretch his back, wearing a grin as he then rolls his arms down to his feet. King Dedede does side stretches on each side. Meta Knight twists to each side. Bandana Waddle Dee stretches forward and then back.

In Merry Magoland, inputting any direction on the right stick causes the character to pose in one of two emotes at random while riding the Warp Star. If they do this near anyone on the grounds, they will wave back.

Emotes from the Warp Star in Merry Magoland
Kirby	King Dedede	Meta Knight	Bandana Waddle Dee

Magolor Epilogue: The Interdimensional Traveler also introduces emotes for Magolor.

Emotes in the Magolor Epilogue
Direction	Description	Emote
↑	Magolor looks up and around.
←	Magolor looks crestfallen and wipes his eyes.
→	Magolor scratches his head with a nonplussed look.
↓	Magolor looks down at his hands with a nonplussed look, and then appears to sigh as he closes his eyes.

Kirby Air Riders

In Kirby Air Riders, emotes appear exclusively in the paddock. Each character has five emotes, for a total of 105, the most in any game thus far. They are tied to preset messages, with the action performed changing depending on the message selected. There are three ways of performing emotes: by pressing Y to bring up a radial menu, by tilting both the left and right sticks to bring up a window in the bottom right, or pressing either L or R to bring up a pair of radial menus operated with the left and right sticks. Messages are arranged into four categories, each having four messages, for a total of sixteen:

Messages in the paddock
Category	Left Stick	Right Stick*	Message
Greet	↑	↑	"Hello!"
→	"Thanks!"
↓	"I'm happy!"
←	"Congrats!"
React	→	↑	"Ready?"
→	"OK!"
↓	"Whoops!"
←	"No!"
Announce	↓	↑	"Great job!"
→	"Sorry I'm late!"
↓	"Next time!"
←	"Wait a sec..."
Mingle	←	↑	"Voice chat?"
→	"Please enter!"
↓	"Nice!"
←	"Let's start!"
*The right stick isn't needed for the Y button radial menu.

The animations are tied to the message selected, and they are as follows:

• Animation 1
  • "Hello!"
  • "I'm happy!"
  • "Next time!"
• Animation 2
  • "Thanks!"
  • "Ready?"
  • "Sorry I'm late!"
• Animation 3
  • "Congrats!" (also includes confetti and an applause sound when used)
  • "OK!"
  • "Great job!"
• Animation 4
  • "Whoops!"
  • "No!"
  • "Wait a sec..."
• Animation 5
  • "Voice chat?"
  • "Please enter!"
  • "Nice!"
  • "Let's start!"

Kirby

Kirby's emotes
Image	Description	Notes
Animation 1	Kirby smiles and waves with his left arm.
Animation 2	Kirby spins on both feet before balancing on his right foot, winking with his left eye.	References one of his taunts in the Super Smash Bros. series
Animation 3	Kirby applauds with both arms above his head.	Taken from his results screen defeat animation in the Super Smash Bros. series.
Animation 4	Kirby stomps his feet alternately twice, shaking his head with an angry expression.
Animation 5	Kirby does a small jump while smiling.	Kirby also does this animation when woken up.

King Dedede

King Dedede's emotes
Image	Description	Notes
Animation 1	King Dedede waves with his right arm.
Animation 2	King Dedede raises both arms twice.
Animation 3	King Dedede smiles and applauds.
Animation 4	King Dedede angrily stomps the ground twice with his right foot.
Animation 5	King Dedede does a small jump while smiling.	His pose mimics Kirby's version of the emote. He also does this animation when woken up.

Meta Knight

Meta Knight's emotes
Image	Description	Notes
Animation 1	Meta Knight waves with his left arm.
Animation 2	Meta Knight raises Galaxia in the air and twirls it around a bit.
Animation 3	Meta Knight applauds.
Animation 4	Meta Knight swings Galaxia twice, while splaying out his left hand.
Animation 5	Meta Knight raises his left arm and then holds it in front of him.	He also does this animation when woken up.

Waddle Dee

Waddle Dee's emotes
Image	Description	Notes
Animation 1	Waddle Dee waves its left arm, raising its left foot off the ground twice.
Animation 2	Waddle Dee jumps with its arms raised and then poses with a raised right arm after landing.
Animation 3	Waddle Dee jumps and applauds twice with its eyes closed happily.
Animation 4	Waddle Dee jumps twice and shakes its head with a panicked expression.
Animation 5	Waddle Dee jumps with its arms raised, lands on its left foot and leans left, before alternating right and then left again.	It also does this animation when woken up.

Bandana Waddle Dee

Bandana Waddle Dee's emotes
Image	Description	Notes
Animation 1	Bandana Waddle Dee waves his spear, raising his right foot twice.
Animation 2	Bandana Waddle Dee swings his spear down twice and then raises it upward.
Animation 3	Bandana Waddle Dee places his spear down and jumps twice with his eyes closed happily, alternating between facing right and left, and then picks it back up.
Animation 4	Bandana Waddle Dee points his spear forward and then moves it left, right, and left again with an angry expression.
Animation 5	Bandana Waddle Dee twirls his spear above him.	He also does this animation when woken up.

Waddle Doo

Waddle Doo's emotes
Image	Description	Notes
Animation 1	Waddle Doo waves its left arm while raising its left foot twice.	Similar to both Kirby and Waddle Dee's waving animations.
Animation 2	Waddle Doo does a small jump and then raises its arms after landing.	It also does this animation when woken up.
Animation 3	Waddle Doo jumps twice while waving its arms, alternating between jumping with its left foot and right foot.
Animation 4	Waddle Doo jumps twice while shaking its head with a panicked expression.	Similar to Waddle Dee's version of the emote.
Animation 5	Waddle Doo quickly raises its left arm and foot, then brings them down.

Chef Kawasaki

Chef Kawasaki's emotes
Image	Description	Notes
Animation 1	Chef Kawasaki pulls out his ladle and waves it with his right arm.
Animation 2	Chef Kawasaki twirls around and then poses with his ladle while smiling.	He also does this animation when woken up.
Animation 3	Chef Kawasaki applauds.
Animation 4	Chef Kawasaki jogs in place and then looks around with a panicked expression.
Animation 5	Chef Kawasaki hops and looks around while waving his ladle.

Knuckle Joe

Knuckle Joe's emotes
Image	Description	Notes
Animation 1	Knuckle Joe waves with his left arm.
Animation 2	Knuckle Joe jumps with his left arm raised, then lands with a backflip.	He also does this animation when woken up.
Animation 3	Knuckle Joe applauds.
Animation 4	Knuckle Joe shrugs and shakes his head with a sad expression.
Animation 5	Knuckle Joe punches three times, alternating between left hand, right hand, and left hand again.

Rick

Rick's emotes
Image	Description	Notes
Animation 1	Rick turns around and "waves" with his tail.
Animation 2	Rick turns around twice while jogging on the spot.
Animation 3	Rick applauds while balancing on one foot, alternating right, left, right.
Animation 4	Rick shakes his head erratically with his eyes shut, balancing on an alternating foot five times.
Animation 5	Rick briefly leans forwards and then does a small jump with both forepaws raised.	He also does this animation when woken up.

Gooey

Gooey's emotes
Image	Description	Notes
Animation 1	Gooey waves with his tongue.
Animation 2	Gooey jumps twice, rolling during the second jump.	He also does this animation when woken up.
Animation 3	Gooey jumps and twirls his tongue, before jumping again with two tongue twirls.
Animation 4	Gooey shakes erratically while balancing on his tongue.
Animation 5	Gooey jumpropes with his tongue twice.

Cappy

Cappy's emotes
Image	Description	Notes
Animation 1	Cappy pulls out its cap with its left arm and waves twice.
Animation 2	Cappy tosses its cap into the air, which spins and lands on its head, before putting it away.
Animation 3	Cappy puts on its cap, compresses its body and then extends to launch the cap up a short distance, bends left, right and left again before the cap lands on its head.
Animation 4	Cappy puts on its cap while turning upside down, before wiggling left and right.
Animation 5	Cappy does four quick hops, while bending left and right.	It also does this animation when woken up.

Rocky

Rocky's emotes
Image	Description	Notes
Animation 1	Rocky does a sumo stomp with its right foot, before spinning around on its bottom right corner with its feet retracted.
Animation 2	Rocky does two stomps, alternating between left foot and right foot.
Animation 3	Rocky leans left and then right, its eyes closed happily.
Animation 4	Rocky retracts its feet and slams down, then leans left and right with its eyes squeezed shut.
Animation 5	Rocky does a small jump with both feet raised, retracting them as it lands.	It also does this animation when woken up.

Scarfy

Scarfy's emotes
Image	Description	Notes
Animation 1	Scarfy wiggles left and right.
Animation 2	Scarfy spins twice, alternating from counterclockwise to clockwise.
Animation 3	Scarfy spins counterclockwise twice, and then "hops" with its right ear raised.	It also does this animation when woken up.
Animation 4	Scarfy shakes and then morphs into Angry Scarfy briefly.
Animation 5	Scarfy spins around, morphs into Angry Scarfy and bites twice, before returning to normal with another spin.

Starman

Starman's emotes
Image	Description	Notes
Animation 1	Starman waves with his left arm, raising his left foot twice.	Similar to Waddle Dee's waving animation.
Animation 2	Starman jumps, spins around and then lands in a jumping jacks pose.	He also does this animation when woken up.
Animation 3	Starman applauds.
Animation 4	Starman falls backwards and does two hops while facing upward.
Animation 5	Starman swishes his cape with a raised left arm and then laughs with his arms at his sides.

Lololo & Lalala

Lololo & Lalala's emotes
Image	Description	Notes
Animation 1	Lalala hops onto Lololo and waves both of her arms.
Animation 2	The duo link arms and walk in circles around each other.
Animation 3	The duo pose with arms raised and then hop up and down.	They also do a variant of this animation when woken up, where Lalala is in front of Lololo instead of next to him:
Animation 4	The duo hop back slightly with shrunken pupils. A panicking Lololo then waves his arms about, while an angry Lalala hops up and down twice with her hands clenched into fists.
Animation 5	Lololo swings Lalala around slightly, then places her down as the duo face forward, each holding one of the other's hands and raising their free arm.

Marx

Marx's emotes
Image	Description	Notes
Animation 1	Marx leans left, right, and then left again.	If not wearing any alternate headgear, this emote also causes him to wave with the ends of his jester's cap.
Animation 2	Marx scuffs the ground with his right foot, and then his left.
Animation 3	Marx jumps twice, applauding with his feet while airborne.
Animation 4	Marx shakes his head angrily.	If not wearing any alternate headgear, this also causes the ends of his hat to swish about.
Animation 5	Marx does a small jump.	He also does this animation when woken up.

Daroach

Daroach's emotes
Image	Description	Notes
Animation 1	Daroach waves with his right arm.
Animation 2	Daroach does a frontflip and then lands with his left hand on the ground.
Animation 3	Daroach spreads his arms and then applauds.
Animation 4	Daroach brings his right arm forward and then shakes his head.
Animation 5	Daroach jumps and then poses with his right arm raised.	He also does this animation when woken up.

Magolor

Magolor's emotes
Image	Description	Notes
Animation 1	Magolor waves with his right hand.
Animation 2	Magolor backflips and then spreads his hands out, winking with his left eye.	He also does this animation when woken up.
Animation 3	Magolor applauds with a happy expression.
Animation 4	Magolor extends his hands in front of him, waving them left and then right with a worried expression.
Animation 5	Magolor brings his hands together and wiggles pleadingly.

Taranza

Taranza's emotes
Image	Description	Notes
Animation 1	Taranza waves all six of his hands slowly.
Animation 2	Taranza preens himself and then suddenly spreads his hands out.
Animation 3	Taranza applauds. The middle pair of hands clap together while his top left hand claps with the bottom left hand, and the top right hand claps with the bottom right hand.
Animation 4	Taranza panics, covering himself with his hands.
Animation 5	Taranza spins around and then brings his hands together above his head, collapsing them into a single pair.	He also does this animation when woken up.

Susie

Susie's emotes
Image	Description	Notes
Animation 1	Susie bows with her eyes closed.
Animation 2	Susie raises her arms and then waves them with a happy expression and hands closed.	She also does this animation when woken up.
Animation 3	Susie applauds and then leans left with a happy expression.
Animation 4	Susie leans forward and shakes her head angrily, then pouts.
Animation 5	Susie spins and then raises her arms.

Noir Dedede

Noir Dedede's emotes
Image	Description	Notes
Animation 1	Noir Dedede raises its left hand in a subtle wave.
Animation 2	Noir Dedede bows slightly.
Animation 3	Noir Dedede applauds.
Animation 4	Noir Dedede does a short hop and twists slightly as its cape and the ends of its bandana flutter slightly.
Animation 5	Noir Dedede backflips, placing its right hand on the ground briefly after landing.	The ending pose is similar to Daroach's second Emote, but with the other hand. It also does this animation when woken up.

Gallery

• 
  Kirby waving at some Waddle Dees using his emotes in Kirby and the Forgotten Land
• 
  An emote being used in an online lobby in Kirby's Dream Buffet

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	エモートアクション emōto akushon	Emote Action

See also

• Sticker (Super Kirby Clash) - These can also be used for online communication.