Nintendo of America, the company that unleashed the Mario and Pokemon phenomena, is hoping to do the same with Kirby, the protagonist of dozens of Nintendo video games. Redmond-based .

"Kirby: Right Back at Ya!" debuts Sept. 14 on Fox (9 a.m. and 11 a.m. EDT).

Nintendo knows the power of a personality. The cast of characters that starred in Pokemon games spawned a huge following that not only boosted sales of its games and hardware, but has translated into $15 billion to $20 billion worth of non-game merchandise sales for Nintendo worldwide, said Gail Tilden, a Nintendo vice president.

Already in Japan, where Kirby marketing efforts have a year headstart on the rest of the world, sales of non-game Kirby merchandise are expected to hit $150 million to $200 million this year, she said.

What's Kirby about? He's a Warpstar knight in training. After crash landing on the planet Popstar, he becomes the sworn protector of Dream Land, where all the happy dreams in the universe originate. He can inhale the various special powers of his enemies and then use them against them. He says very little � only parroting a few words here and there. And children especially like his taste-of-your-own-medicine special powers.

Kids like that although Kirby can turn tough when he needs to be, he's still "so unassuming," said Tilden. "He's like a pink round ball."

Well, he is a pink round ball.

And much of the responsibility of turning the ball into a sensation is on Tilden and Nintendo brand manager Melinda Porter.

The two oversee the marketing efforts for Kirby in North America and Europe, while a Nintendo joint venture in Japan handles the Asian market.

But building a star has taken months of effort on even the smallest of details. The two spent six weeks poring over hundreds of logo designs, whittling them down to the final pink, burgundy and yellow logo (the colors appeal to boys as well as girls, Tilden notes).

They've lined up a fast-food partner (which they won't disclose yet) to include a Kirby toy in a kid's meal later this year. They're working with merchandisers on selling everything from toys to pajamas. They're planning the release of a home video in November and a new Kirby video game in December.

And they're working closely with New York-based 4Kids Entertainment, which is handling the Saturday morning cartoon for Nintendo in the United States.

The Kirby show is part of Fox's revamped approach to Saturday morning programming, with the network leasing the programming block to 4Kids Entertainment. NBC has a similar deal with the Discovery Channel.

The network moves were prompted by the increasing competition from kid-oriented niche cable networks like Nickelodeon. Fox and NBC, in particular, have experienced declining Saturday morning ratings.

The verdict on whether Kirby will make it, of course, ultimately rests with the audience.

"Nintendo's been a genius at developing these characters," said Schelley Olhava, senior analyst with International Data Corp.

Still, Nintendo's $10 million bet isn't a sure thing.

"For every Pokemon or Mario that's been successful, I'm sure there's a bunch of characters that haven't gone anywhere," she said.

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