After the smash success of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, director Masahiro Sakurai decided his next project would be a sequel to Kirby Air Ride, a niche GameCube title that I don’t recall much about. It was a bit of a surprise to learn that a sequel was in the works, given how few people I remember playing it or even mentioning it throughout the years, but I guess I was wrong about the game’s longevity.
The sequel, Kirby Air Riders, builds upon its predecessor and showcases the ingenuity of its creator through sleek menus, numerous in-game rewards, and satisfying racing elements that are challenging to master yet easy to learn. In the last week alone, I’ve spent a ton of time doing my best to learn the ins and outs of Air Riders and feel like there’s a level of nuance I’ve yet to hit.
Kirby Air Riders Spotlights Why The Original Is So Beloved
Years ago, Kirby Air Ride launched for the GameCube, where it ultimately received middling review scores, citing its simplified gameplay and lack of button inputs. At the time, reviewers felt that having a single button was too simple for players. In 2025, Kirby Air Riders spotlights what made the original so beloved — City Trails let people play together however they wanted, the focus on speed was intoxicating, and the charm was off the charts. The sequel has all that and more, but is it enough to keep players coming back after a couple of weeks?
Kirby Air Riders is a detour for the series, trading platforming for arcade racing while keeping the character’s iconic charm. Over the years, Kirby has evolved across different genres, but it has continued to feature whimsical worlds, bright aesthetics, and rewarding mechanics. Air Riders tackles this scenario again with an excellent roster of characters and vehicle-forward gameplay.
The core of Kirby Air Riders seems deceptively simple, but it isn’t. You pilot Air Ride machines across several maps filled with verticality and obstacles, where learning to use throttle, boost, drift, and copy-abilities to outpace and outmaneuver opponents. Where traditional Kirby games use a mix of platforming and his copy ability, Air Riders implements the copying mechanics by making them limited-use in races, making it far more important to time when to use abilities over spamming them.
Air Handling
Usually, Kirby has the power to copy abilities, but it can lead to instances where Kirby is overpowered. So, Air Riders made it so the entire roster shares the same ability. Skills like Plasma no longer require charging; they are automatically applied, making it easier to focus on racing. You’ll want to kick off your time with Lessons to learn the ins and outs, though, as there’s quite a bit to learn between the basics, the advanced, and the copy abilities. The one thing I don’t recommend skipping, though, is the machine tutorial, which explains how different Bulk Star is from Slick Star.
Each rider — including Kirby — handles the ride differently, depending on their machine and chosen ability, ensuring variety. Some setups favour raw speed and straight-line burst, while others emphasize tight turning, aerial control, or disruptive special attacks that alter the course for everyone else. It’s a blast each time you pick a controller up and figure out who you want to play and how you want to engage.
Widely regarded as a racing game, Sakurai repeatedly mentioned that Kirby Air Ride is similar to Mario Kart. There are similarities, such as the basics of riding, and each Air Ride Machine has its own form and unique traits. Instead of pushing forward, you tilt the controls left and right. There is one button for Boost Charge, and holding B down brakes. However, it is essential to remember to tilt the left stick and hold B to drift. Tilting the left stick all the way forward raises the nose of your machine, allowing it to fly upward, and tilting it down enables descent. I guess the two series aren’t similar, huh?
For starters, there’s more chaos, more speed, and more corners than I remember in Mario Kart World. It’s harder to keep focus in racers in Air Riders, but it’s also easier to rebound. Kirby Air Riders adds a second button to expand the game’s depth. The Special button is for the Special Gauge, which, when the meter is filled, allows you to unleash a special move. Kirby can slash with a giant blade, King Dedede uses a jet hammer to press forward, Meta Knight uses his Night Wing to propel forward, Bandana Waddle Dee uses Spear Cyclone to swirl it in front and use it as a shield, Chef Kawasaki throws superspicy cooking for others to throw glames.
I had fun exploring the single-player Road Trip mode. It’s pretty straightforward, allowing you to choose a rider and head out on the open road. Each lets you pick a challenge, clear it and move on. You can collect machine parts, pick up items, stop at rest stops, change your route, and face off against a mysterious rider you’ll chase to the end. Every time you head to the road, you’re given three choices on how to proceed: a race in Fantasy Meadows or Floria Field, or a Time Attack or Drag Race. You’ve got enough variety to keep you busy. Most races are where you’re rewarded with health, boosts, and license card stickers as you grow in level. Races are generally one lap, so the benefit of this mode is that things unfold quickly and let you move on almost instantly.
Choose Your Ride
There are many Machines to utilize, too. Machines, which include the Warp Star, Winged Star, Wagon Star, Wheelie Bike, Shadow Star, and Paper Star. Sakurai says it isn’t just about speed or handling; the machine’s behaviour changes. The Bulk Star is extra tricky and uses charge as fuel, while the Swerve Star only accelerates with a hard stop. There are now more machine types, including Star and Bike machines. The developers have added Chariot and Tank Star to the mix, and some machines can even break in half.
The City Trail returns as a chaotic, battle royale-style game mode. You explore massive city maps and build your ideal Air Ride before taking it to a series of minigames and races. You have five minutes to explore, upgrade, and power up in City Trials before battling it out against other players. You can use power-ups to destroy enemy machines. Also littered across the map are collectible power-ups like Boost or Offence, which help determine how fast your machine accelerates or how much damage it deals. There are half a dozen power-ups you’ll encounter, and each provides its own boon if you collect them.
Machines appear throughout the City Trails, and you can freely jump between machines to find one that best suits your needs. Paired with power-ups that appear throughout the match, you work to build an optimal ride. The downside is that sometimes you might work toward a build, only to be thrown into a Stadium match and end up last because your machine might be more offence-forward and a bit slow. You also face massive obstacles, whether meteors are crashing down or Kracko is causing havoc. The real challenge is mastering the new machine you’ve built, despite not being the best choice for a race at that moment.
Playing alone is fine, but if you were able to join the City Trails demo period over the past weekend, you’ll know how much more fun it is to team up with other people and do your best to take them out as fast as possible. This is a game that, once it clicks, you can really go the distance in matches. My first few matches consisted of me bumping into walls, other players, and various obstacles before finally finding my groove. It’s so much more fun once you cross that initial hurdle, and it provokes you to get better each round.
Top Rides are a nice break from standard races, offering a top-down perspective in bite-sized races. It’s back again and is reminiscent of one of my favourite NES games, R.C. Pro Am. It returns from the original Air Ride, where eight players race to the finish.
At launch, Kirby Air Riders features 12 characters, including Kirby, King Dedede, Meta Knight, Bandana Waddle Dee, Chef Kawasaki, Magolor, Gooey, Waddle Doo, Knuckle Joe, Susie, Cappy, and Starman. There are also colour variations of some characters, like the obvious Kirby colours, which add some additional powers, like Blue Kirby having the Snow Bowl ability or Yellow Kirby having the Crash ability.
Verdict
Kirby Air Riders shares a lot of the same DNA as its predecessor, and it’s a sequel that belongs in this era. The simplistic controls might not be for everyone, but if you can look past that, you’ve got a competent racer that does its own thing instead of attempting to battle it out against Mario Kart World. Air Riders’ penchant for speed and chaos unfolds dramatically at times as races’ unpredictable outcomes unravel in humorous ways. I fully expect Air Riders to be divisive just like its predecessor, but as a sequel, you’re getting something unique. All of this might sound familiar, and it is, but it’s built on the foundation established two decades ago and delivers a fully realized vision from Sakurai.
[The publisher provided a copy of the game for review purposes.]
Reviewed on: Switch 2
