Kirby and the Forgotten Land Release Time: When Will the Game Be Playable?

Kirby and the Forgotten Land may not be a fully open-world game, but it’s undoubtedly the biggest Kirby game yet in many of the ways that matter most. Of course, that just means that you’ll want to start exploring the game as soon as it is unlocked on March 25th.

Anyone familiar with the release strategy for most major Nintendo Switch games should have some idea of when they can expect to start playing Kirby and the Forgotten Land, but everyone else may be a little confused by the somewhat…odd way that first-party Switch games are typically released.

According to Nintendo’s website, first-party Switch titles (such as Kirby) are “usually” available to launch starting at 14:00 GMT (15:00 CET) in the UK and Europe. So, gamers in that region should be able to start playing Forgotten Land on March 25 around that time. The website also notes that “some third-party titles” may not actually be playable until closer to 17:00 GMT (18:00 CET), but that shouldn’t be the case here. If anything, new Nintendo games tend to be available a little early. As such, gamers in that region may want to see if they can get away with downloading the title a few minutes ahead of schedule.

The release schedule situation is a little clearer for gamers in the U.S. Here are the currently confirmed U.S. release times for Kirby and the Forgotten Land:

9 pm PT (March 24)
11 pm CT (March 24)
12 am EST (March 25)

As you can see, Kirby will be released at around the “same” time for all U.S. gamers with the exact differences between the release times being consistent with the natural time differences between those zones. That isn’t to say that you shouldn’t leave a little room for a slight margin for error, but it seems like Nintendo is fairly committed to a set and standard U.S. release schedule for the game.

Interestingly, we have seen Nintendo release some new games in the U.S. even earlier than that in the past, but that release strategy typically only applies to digital-only titles. Because Kirby is also receiving a physical release, you’ll have to wait a little longer to play it.

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find concrete information for Forgotten Land‘s release time in other regions. However, the consensus seems to be that you should be able to play the game no later than midnight on the 25th if you happen to live in a time zone not mentioned above. As always, though, you should probably go into this launch expecting the game to be delayed by at least a few minutes due to the usual array of technical issues. That way, you won’t be too disappointed if you have to wait just a little longer.

On that note, you should be able to also change your Switch’s region/time zone in order to access the game just a little bit early. If you’d rather not bother with all of that, though, then you will be able to start playing the game relatively soon.