Yesterday, on November 20th, Nintendo released Kirby Air Riders for the Nintendo Switch 2. As the name implies, Kirby Air Riders is a racing game based on the remarkably popular and long-standing Kirby series. Since the game’s release, fans have begun creating in-game content depicting a fan-favorite Kirby character in a bikini. Nintendo has since deleted several of these incredibly popular fan-creations, with players continuing to create and popularize new ones despite the deletions.
One feature in Kirby Air Riders is vehicle customization. Players are given the ability to create or customize vehicles using a limited assortment of accessories, shapes, and colors. Upon finalizing these creations, the creator can use it in the game’s primary racing mode and upload it to the Machine Market. At the Machine Market, players can purchase and then use each other’s creations using the in-game currency “miles.” The more people purchase a single design, the more expensive it becomes.
Fans were quick to push the vehicle customization feature to its limits, with some players making machines resembling Pokémon and Splatoon characters. The most popular fan creation, however, depicted Kirby’s Chef Kawasaki in an incredibly revealing bikini. The inspiration for said design comes from longtime meme in the Japanese Kirby community, which even spawned a now banned fan game titled Chef Kawasaki’s Micro Bikini Karuta.
This initial bikini-Kawasaki design skyrocketed in popularity, quickly becoming one of the most expensive machines in the Machine Market. Much to the dismay of Japanese players, however, Nintendo took down the design roughly six hours after it was published. Per a report from Automaton, one additional, equally popular bikini-Kawasaki themed machine has also been removed from the Machine Market.
Fans of the design are in luck, however, as the most expensive design in the Machine Market is currently the “Kawasaki succubus.” Although still in a bikini, and with a new pair of boots and devil wings, the bottom half of the machine is far less “revealing” than the initial bikini-Kawasaki design. Some fans hope that the latter change will help save the design from being banned.
The specific reasoning for the design bans is unclear. Additionally, it remains to be seen whether or not the Kawasaki succubus design will remain available for purchase or face the same fate as its predecessors.