More than 2 decades after the original Kirby Air Riders was released, a sequel headed by Masahiro Sakurai is on the way to the Nintendo Switch 2. A direct hosted by the legendary game director himself aired today, giving players more details on what to expect from the 2025 racing game.
New Playable Racers
The first big thing Sakurai revealed was the new racers joining Air Riders. In addition to the pink powerhouse himself, a few other iconic Kirby characters are joining the roster:
King Dedede: A heavyweight rider who can lay the smackdown with his hammer.
Meta Knight: Can use his wings to glide over the racetrack.
Banadana Waddle Dee: Has a quicker Boost Charge and a spear attack.
Chef Kawasaki: Can recover extra food items. Will whack you with a ladle.
Cappy: Has a mushroom shield that degrades with each hit.
Magolor: High acceleration after Star Slides. Has a special attack after perfect landings.
Gooey: Uses his tongue for attacking and maneuvering.
Waddle Doo: Uses an eye-beam attack.
Knuckle Joe: Punches riders that get too close. Attacks can be charged.
Susie: Has a propeller to float in the air.
Starman: Excellent aerial maneuvering, jump for a speed boost.
All riders confer their own unique stats onto their machine. For example, Kirby provides better boosting and turning, while Dedede has better top speed, attack power, and durability. Some characters with close range attacks will do so automatically when they get near an enemy.
The game is also insistent the characters are called riders, not drivers. Presumably Nintendo will brick your Switch 2 if you call them otherwise.
Controls and Mechanics
Compared to other racing games Air Riders has a simpler control scheme. Players will not need to hold any buttons nor tilt the joystick forward to accelerate, they will move forward automatically. The B button is used for Boost Charge, braking the player’s machine while charging up a burst of speed. It bears some similarity to Mario Kart’s power slide system, and Sakurai even joked about the similarities between the games.
In addition to Boost Charge, there’s also Star Slide. Riders will leave a small trail of stars behind them during the race, and players can collect those stars to speed up. Sakurai also emphasized that damage you take from attacks is minor, and gaining speed by Star Sliding and attacking enemies on the course is what players should focus on.
While tracks don’t have any particular areas for huge jumps, most of the machines can glide after hitting a smaller jump. Players can control their glide by tilting the joystick forward and back, and landing parallel to the ground provides an extra burst of speed.
Sakurai then went on to lament the fact another button has been added to the control scheme, but it can’t be helped. Each rider now has a special meter that fills up over the course of the race, and can be activated via the Y button when full. Each rider has a unique ultimate attack that lets them run roughshod over the other racers. Kirby, being the main character, has four different ultimates depending on which color you select for him prior to the race.
Machines
Of course Air Riders features a variety of machines to choose from. Beyond simple stat changes like better Boost Charging or attack, some of the machines have entirely different ways of handling altogether. And all riders can freely choose which machine they use.
While the original Air Riders featured only star-type and bike-type machines, Sakurai announced a couple new categories of machines. Chariots run on two wheels, providing better stability and good handling in corners. Tank Stars will propel forward while boost charging, and will turn in the direction the player is facing when the charge is released. The machines shown in the presentation are listed below.
Warp Star: A good all-around machine that’s easy to handle.
Winged Star: Slower on the ground, but excellent aerial maneuvering.
Wagon Star: No Boost Charge, but makes up for it in other traits.
Wheelie Bike: Races on the ground, presumably with different handling and speed.
Shadow Star: Causes higher damage when hitting other riders.
Paper Star: Fragile, but features excellent acceleration and flight.
Bulk Star: Requires Boost Charge for fuel, but hard to damage.
Swerve Star: Can only be turned while stopping for Boost Charge.
Turbo Star: Harder to steer, but reaches higher speeds.
Slick Star: Hard to control, but offers a unique way to handle.
Rocket Star: Has a massive boost charge.
Rex Wheelie: A sturdy bike that with a high top speed.
Battle Chariot: A heavyweight chariot with high attack.
Depending on the game mode, machines can degrade over time and end up in a half-damaged state. But conversely, damaged machines actually receive a speed boost in that state.
Copy Abilities
Kirby retains his copy ability from other games, allowing him to gain new powers from enemies on the race course. Of course balancing Kirby compared to other riders would be difficult, so the devs threw up their hands and said “everyone can copy now.” That’s right, any rider can copy any enemies on the course.
Much of the copy abilities will be familiar to long-time Kirby fans, such as fire letting you throw bouncing fireballs, and sword letting you…well…use a sword. Some abilities from the previous Air Ride have been given QOL adjustments, such as plasma no longer needing to flick the joystick to charge.
To copy enemies, players just press the boost button when behind them. Enemies without copy abilities get turned into a star projectile to throw at other riders. Defeating enemies and launching projectiles also provides a small boost of acceleration to the rider.
Courses
In the standard game mode, Air Ride, courses are chosen before riders and machines, allowing the player to choose the character they think will do the best on the course. Below are some of the courses and descriptions shown in the direct.
Floria Fields: “A grassy field blooming with flowers. Feel the gentle breeze as you ride through it.”
Cavernous Corners: “Caper around caves deep within a jungle. Treasure awaits those brave enough to reach its depths…”
Cyberion Highway: “Piercing lasers? Collapsing platforms? Anything can happen in this digital cyperspace!”
Mount Amberfalls: “A scenic sunset ride down a mountain. Enjoy the views of a snowy peak and a twilight beach.”
Another course, Waveflow Waters was also shown, and there may be more courses in the final game.
Air Ride
Air ride is the standard racing mode, where up to six players will race to cross the finish line first. Six was an intentional choice by the developers to keep the race competitive, believing too many players would make the race messy. Sakurai then showed gameplay of the course Waveflow Waters, remarking that unlike beach-themed courses in other racing games, Waveflow is far more chaotic. Indeed, the race was very action-packed, with water buffeting the course as Sakurai went from dead last to finishing first place.
Air Ride mode is adjustable of course, with players able to choose different options like the number of laps and a tempo switch, which will slow the game down by adjusting the cruising speed of machines. There’s also a toggle to allow machine destruction, where a player will be knocked out of the race if their machine takes too much damage.
There’s also a nice feature for solo online players. As soon as they finish the race, they can automatically enter into a new one before the other players have finished.
City Trial
City Trial also makes a return. Set on the floating island of Skyah, players will explore a sandbox with a variety of areas such as the Urban District, Caves, and Colosseum among others. Each rider will start with the weak Compact Star, and have five minutes to find new machines scattered around the map. From there they will collect upgrades to improve them before time runs out. You can even steal damaged machines from riders by boosting into them. Events can also occur during the city exploration, such as short races where players race in a cordoned off section of the city and receive upgrades based on their ranking. There are even boss battles where players can team up to take down a larger menace.
Once time is up, players will compete in a series of randomly selected events to find out whose machine came out on top. Adding to the mind games, each player can vote on which event they want to participate in. These include Kirby Melee, Air Glide, Drag Race, Target Flight, Dustup Derby, Skydive, and Gourmet Race. The mode supports sixteen players over the internet or eight on local wireless (though you can add CPUs on local for a total of sixteen players).
Release Date
Kirby Air Riders will be launching on the Nintendo Switch 2 on November 20th this year. As a someone who played the original when I was a kid, I can honestly say this sequel is my most anticipated Nintendo game in recent memory. For more news, be sure to read more on our Other Games section.
