KIRBY, Texas, Dec. 7, 2002 - It's not every day residents of Kirby, Texas, celebrate the arrival of a real-life hero. And when he's round, pink and his name also happens to be Kirby, it calls for one "Big Blow Out!"

Kirby, one of the most widely recognized video game characters in the world and the sworn protector of the wondrous star-shaped planet, Dream Land, celebrates the debut of his new game, Kirby™: Nightmare in Dream Land on Nintendo's Game Boy® Advance with a tournament style series of contests at Kirby Junior High School. The citizens of Kirby turned out this morning to watch kids put their Kirby-like skills to the test.

His royal pinkness himself, famous for inhaling and blowing out objects, and copying enemies powers to do battle, cheered contestants on as they blew the world's largest pink bubble gum bubble ("World's Largest Bubble"), ate the most pink pie in record time ("World's Fastest Pink Pie Plunge") and blew up three-foot pink balloons (World's Strongest Lungs ").

To determine a grand-prize winner, finalists went head-to-head in the "World's Biggest Blow Out" competition requiring them to fill their mouths with three pieces of gum and then blow out the gum as far as possible. Juan Ceh, 13, from Kirby, Texas took home the coveted title, blowing his wad a total distance of 15 feet.

Kirby recently hit television superstardom on Fox Network's Fox Box with his nationally broadcast cartoon, "Kirby: Right Back at Ya!" and has always been a top-selling franchise character for Nintendo, but to Kirby, nothing is more exciting than celebrating a first appearance on a new Nintendo game system in Kirby, Texas.

More than 20 million Kirby games have sold worldwide. Nintendo is spending more than $10 million over the next two years to support Kirby in his "superstardom" through licensed products, cartoons and video games.

"We're proud of Kirby's accomplishments as he continues to transcend his past success to become the star of his own hit TV show and his first Game Boy Advance video game," says Gail Tilden, vice president, brand management, Nintendo of America, Inc. "We know this will be a day the residents of Kirby, Texas, and Kirby himself, will never forget."

Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land is available for $34.95 and rated E for everyone. Game Boy Advance is available for $79.95.

As the worldwide leader and innovator in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co. Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its popular home video game systems. The systems include Game Boy®, Nintendo® 64, Game Boy Advance and Nintendo GameCube™. Since the release of its first home video game system in 1983, Nintendo has sold more than 1.6 billion video games worldwide, creating enduring industry icons such as Mario™ and Donkey Kong® and launching such franchises as Zelda™ and Pokémon®. As a wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo's operations in the Western Hemisphere.