Kirby Super Star, despite being intended for a SNES release from the get-go, actually began development on the original NES. This unreleased prototype was used for internal purposes only, as a way of finalizing all the ideas that would go into the final product. This can be seen with the NES sprites for the Yo-Yo and Cutter abilities, which were released to the public over 20 years later in an issue of Famitsu: the sprites shown look nearly identical to their counterparts in the finished product, with the main exception being the lack of Super Star's signature ability hats. Director Masahiro Sakurai stated that this type of development style is beneficial to him, as the starting step of finalizing all of a game's ideas via an internal prototype makes the rest of development significantly easier.