Kirby's first 3-D adventure is also his Nintendo 64 debut, and it finds the always-versatile hero battling a new enemy called Dark Matter. Dark Matter is after a distant land's powerful crystal, but a young fairy named Ribbon attempts to save it by escaping with the gem to Dream Land. Now the crystal has been broken, and it's scattered around the world. Take control of Kirby and help him journey across six worlds, battling a wide variety of enemies and challenging bosses, as he tries to collect all 100 pieces of the shattered crystal.

On the planet of Ripple Star, lives a group of kind and peaceful fairies. The planet itself is protected from danger by the power of the great Crystal, which watches over Ripple Star. This power, however, draws the attention of Dark Matter, who wishes to use the great Crystal for its own evil agenda. Its gigantic mass attacks and searches for the Crystal, blackening the sky and sending the fairies into panic. In response to the threat Dark Matter presents, the queen of Ripple Star orders a fairy named Ribbon to take the Crystal to a safe place. Ribbon tries to fly away with the Crystal in tow, but is stopped by three orbs sent by Dark Matter. The Crystal shatters into 74 shards, scattered throughout several planets, and Ribbon crashes onto Planet Popstar. Kirby finds one shard and gives it to Ribbon, whereupon the two set out to find the others. Once Kirby and his friends collect every Crystal Shard and defeat Miracle Matter, Dark Matter flees Ripple Star and explodes. The victory is cut short, however, as the Crystal detects a powerful presence of Dark Matter energy within the Fairy Queen and expels it from her, manifesting over the planet to create Dark Star. Kirby and his friends infiltrate Dark Star, and King Dedede launches them up to challenge 02. Kirby and Ribbon, armed with their Shard Gun, destroyed 02 and the Dark Star.