In August, fans of the Kirby series, namely the kart racer spin-off for the GameCube, Kirby Air Ride, finally received the Nintendo Direct presentation for the upcoming sequel, Kirby Air Riders. The game was first announced in April, and as we now arrive at the final weeks of October, inching ever closer to November—the month of Kirby Air Riders’ release—Nintendo surprised fans online with the unexpected announcement of the game’s second exclusive Nintendo Direct presentation. Today, October 23, Masahiro Sakurai, the series’ eccentric creator, is back again, like he never left. This time, with even more information to share about the highly anticipated kart racer sequel. While some of the information was anticipated by fans, such as the return of the time attack and City Trial free run modes, much of what was brought up in this presentation was brand-new and exciting information for Kirby fans everywhere.
Acknowledging right off the bat that the amount of content within the game did, in fact, require two separate presentations, Sakurai kicks off the event with a recap of what was covered previously. Topics like the gameplay overview, the addition of a secondary button to the original’s one-button control system, and the three modes—Air Ride, City Trail, and Stadiums. Continuing from the theme of new and returning game modes, Sakurai addresses the request from fans to bring back Top Ride, the top-down racing minigame present in the original Kirby Air Ride. Despite the mode’s minuscule nature compared to the rest of the game, it is soon revealed after a quick backstory on Top Ride that it has received a full revamp and will, as such, be featured in the final release. Described as utilizing the same mechanics present in the traditional Air Ride mode, Top Ride now sees up to seven racers online or not race using any machine/rider combination available in all other modes. This is a stark contrast from the original minigame, which only had a choice between two machine types, each with its own type of steering. These two distinct steering-type machines have been transformed into a single option slider in the game’s settings menu that acts to set your preferred method of steering for all machines game-wide.
Following the section covering Top Ride and all of the available courses and items within that mode, Sakurai dives into the subject of a previously unknown mode to fans of the series. Road Trip, effectively Kirby Air Riders’ story mode, sees your chosen rider and machine travel to a far-off location in search of something that seems to be calling out to you, or more accurately, your machine. At its core, Road Trip appears to be a mission-based mode where you clear miniature objectives while collecting ability-ups, items, extra machines, and other resources to aid you in your journey through the onslaught of battles that come your way.
The game’s online ranking system is detailed similarly to that of the Super Smash Bros. series’ Elite Smash mode, where your number of wins compared to all of the people who have more or fewer wins than you equates to a numerical value. This is then backed up by the presentation of the ‘Paddock’, a small open 3D environment where you and your friends can run around and interact while waiting between races online.
Never-before-seen copy abilities such as Drill, Fighter, Flash, and Missile are covered in a short and sweet sizzle-reel-style compilation, before Sakurai goes on to detail more of the game’s new, never-before-seen race tracks as well as their accompanying music. Connecting back to the idea of music, Sakurai goes on to speak about how fans of the original Air Ride greatly enjoyed its soundtrack. A true statement to be sure, but one spoken with a smirk as Sakurai reveals a rather big surprise to fans of the original Kirby Air Ride. This reveal is the faithful recreation of not only the music but all nine original race tracks from Kirby Air Ride within the new Air Riders engine. This addition sets the game’s track selection to nine brand new courses and nine returning ones for a total of eighteen unique courses.
More new features are detailed, such as the Swap Rally gamemode—which sees you choose three separate machines to drive for each lap of a race—new City Trail items such as special up, dizzy beam, item catcher, laser swiper, multi-missile, size up, and mega cannon, each with their own varying levels of destructive and personal gain capability. Next, the game’s special machines, Dragoon and Hydra, make their return from the original Kirby Air Ride as the only known special machines in the game as of now. Sakurai goes on to shift focus to City Trial’s sub-mode, in which it is explained that due to the increased player count in City Trial from 4 to 16, it is explained that there will also be an alternative Team Battle mode attached to City Trial. Team Battle sees teams of eight brawl it out for resources and priority on Skyah, with stadium battles being carried out by teams of four, effectively splitting each team in half to determine the combined scores at the end.
A slew of new playable characters are presented in another sizzle-reel-style compilation, detailing fan favorite characters like Taranza the spider from Kirby Triple Deluxe, Lololo & Lalala, Daroach from Kirby Squeak Squad, Rocky the rock, Rick the hamster, Scarfy, Marx the jester, and Waddle Dee. These exciting announcements are then followed by the announcement of new and returning machines: the Transform star, Formula star, Hop star, Jet star, Wheelie scooter, and Bull tank.
New and returning stadium match types are presented before Sakurai arrives at VS. Boss; the returning stadium match type from the original is given a new twist. This time, due to King DeDeDe being a playable character, the first featured boss is Mecha DeDeDe, a robot version of the penguin king given the ability to transform into a machine himself. Other VS. Boss mode bosses are teased, though not named, as is a trend throughout this presentation, as we see a few other new features given mysterious question mark names and silhouettes meant to obscure their form.
Second to last comes the reveal of full machine customization in the My Machine sub-mode, which affords players a vast array of options that can be expected of machine customization. This addition allows players to express themselves by altering and adding decals, colors, and extras to their ride of choice, which can later be shown off in the Garage or on the race track.
Finally, before the cinematic teasers for the new Road Trip mode, Masahiro Sakurai goes into detail on the Kirby Air Riders Amiibo planned to be released alongside the game. These Amiibo, described as like no other Amiibo yet, truly are a shocking change in the formula as they are visibly far larger in size compared to Sakurai’s example of the Super Smash Bros. Kirby Amiibo. Despite just a noticeable increase in size, however, you will notice that each of the four Kirby Air Riders Amiibo can be swapped with one another. As each rider sits on a machine in their Amiibo model, we see Sakurai pull them all apart, reattaching them after mixing and matching each one to his heart’s content. In retrospect, this swapping feature is reminiscent of the early 2000s Toys To Life game technology present in Toys for Bob’s Skylanders: Swapforce game. Amiibo detailed in this presentation include Kirby & Warp Star, Bandana Dee & Winged Star, Meta Knight & Shadow Star, and King DeDeDe & Tank Star.
With a slew of new and returning features, a massive cast of beloved characters, and a host of accessibility features meant to provide the best quality-of-life gaming experience, Kirby Air Riders is gunning for the top spot when it comes to the kart racer genre. Fans were surprised by the announcement of a second Kirby Air Riders direct, but even more surprised at the announcement at the very end of said event that Kirby Air Riders will be hosting a free online ‘global test ride’ demo event on Friday, November 7. Nintendo intends to release Kirby Air Riders exclusively on the Nintendo Switch 2 this November 20.